Would you sell out?

[Chizip]

Say you were given a choice...

A) Make music that you really believe in, but something that will never make you famous, play small clubs and barely make enough money to get by, but man it's all about the music and what you love.

orrrrrrrr

B) Sell out and make crap music like Linkin Park, Nickleback, Creed etc... and know that the music really kinda sucks, but gets you tons of radio time, sells millions of records, you get to play in front of packed arenas and sold out tours, and really make the big money.

Which would you choose?

 

[martha]

I picked art over commerce.

 

[Axver]

Well, I'd stay true to the music, but I've always thought it would be hysterical to do a combination of the two.

For example, let's say I start a boy band. All the preteen girls on earth fall in love with the group's hits. We release albums until we reach the point of being able to do a big stadium tour. We're rolling in money and life is good. So about halfway through the stadium tour, we take the stage, begin a perfectly choreographed performance of our latest hit ... and then halfway through, abruptly change instruments and rip into the most fearsome death metal song this side of Gorguts' Obscura. Oh, the teenyboppers would be terrified. It'd be hilarious.

 

[UberBeaver]

A.)

The problem with combining the two is that I think it gets hard to say "This is enough."

I'm all about the music. I like a lot of bands that never made a dime, but they made great music.

ETA - Well, I like to think I wouldn't anyway. Who knows for sure, though?

 

[Chizip]

out of 9 people so far im the only one who would sell out??? youd all really turn down millions of dollars and adoring fans???

 

[martha]

I like millions of dollars. I could do without the adoring fans stalking me and wanting to collect my bodily fluids.

 

[Zoots]

I would stay true to my heart, make the music I want to make and still sell stadiums and make tons of money. Just needs some thinking to figure out what's in that grey zone of (self interest + catering to others).

 

[indra]

I've never been one to do what others tell me to do, even if it's "for my own good," so I picked no sell out. Even if I wanted to sell out I doubt I could keep up the charade for long.

Of course I can't play music worth a damn anyway. I am really good at pressing play on a cd -- or whatever -- player though.

 

[redkat]

I'm not talented. I'd sell out and get out fast then hope VH1 never tracked me down for a where are they now special.

 

[Zoots]

I'd sell out and get out fast then hope VH1 never tracked me down for a where are they now special.

 

[impy13]

I said no, but in many cases, I don't think they're mutually exclusive.

 

[nightninja56]

I said no, but in many cases, I don't think they're mutually exclusive.

agreed, i said yes, only on the basis of that i would still write amazing music that comes from the heart, but still play stadiums and date supermodels (or keira knightley )

but yes, i would love to be a rockstar

 

[Screwtape2]

out of 9 people so far im the only one who would sell out??? youd all really turn down millions of dollars and adoring fans???

If you sold out how long would you actually be making those millions and have adoring HIGH SCHOOL fans? People who sell out don't last as long as those that make art. Plus most of the groupies would be underage. Who would want to live with the constant fear of arrest?

 

[BonosLil'Pal94]

True to the heart

 

[Axver]

I like millions of dollars. I could do without the adoring fans stalking me and wanting to collect my bodily fluids.

Yeah. I sleep better at night knowing there's no Axver equivalent of PLEBA. While the money would be nice, I'd rather earn it in a way that does not cause me to be followed by people who know how many hairs I have on my head.

 

[AtomicBono]

I couldn't make music that I thought sucked. If I come up with a cool guitar part and turn it into a song, I'm not just going for mediocre. It has to be something I really believe in. I'd be way too bored writing crap songs.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I don't think Nickleback, Creed etc are/were 'selling out'. I'd say they are/were 'staying true' as much as any Arcade Fire are now. I'm sure Linkin' Parks heart and passion are as much in the right place as anyone. They're not the right examples IMO. 'Selling out' - a term I despise - has nothing to do with your genre or size or ambition or whatever. It's not going into stadiums or having your song in a beer ad. To me, it's a conscious decision to change what you are doing for the gain of cash and nothing else. Even then, it's no crime as long as you're honest about it. I don't mean coming out and saying "Oh, no, on this album we're just goin' for the villa in Italy". I mean, undercutting your talent - and this goes beyond music - for simple financial gain, to me, isn't wrong, but it isn't right. You don't want to see a pro athlete sign with a shit team for max cash just because they know there's no expectations there, and they can cruise for a few years, stack on the kilos, earn a truckload and coast into retirement. You want to hope that the passion and goal is still competing and winning, but at the same time you don't hold it against them for making decisions that are best for them financially, as everyone would and should. Same with bands, to me. I don't want to see a band that could be making amazing music, or used to make amazing music, that you suspect are still capable of doing exactly that, undercutting that talent and deliberately sabotaging it to create dumbed down, simplistic stuff that sells more to the masses, but at the same time, if they want to set themselves up financially, go for it.

For me personally, I'd like to be somewhere in the middle. One of those bands - and there are plenty - who do have commercial success and all the luxuries that come with it, but aren't making creative sacrifices to do so. Not so much the hundreds of millions and private jets and homes across the globe, but they're certainly still earning a shitload, enough to live well for life. And I think I'd be pretty reclusive. PLEBA style attention would just drive me up the wall, and frankly, freak me out. Mind you, I'd snag me a supermodel in a heartbeat.

 

[got_edge]

But I love Creed

 

[Lancemc]

I'd totally sell out for enough $$$.

 

[Angela Harlem]

I'd sell out for long enough to cash me up for the rest of my life to pursue my real loves - art or music, etc. And like Redkat, hope I'd be the 'has been' no one ever finds.


But I vote 'die', chip.

 

[BVS]

Why does it have to be one or the other?

Why can't you stay true to your heart and somehow be what everyone wants to hear?

 

[Chizip]

because its a hypothetical question, obviously doing what you want plus being successful is the ideal.

but if you had to choose between being in a crap band but being huge, or being in an obscure band that made good music which would you choose?

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

43,000 k in college debt plus interest says it'd be about time to sell out.

well, i know you can't work in fast
food all your life
but don't sign that paper tonight, she said,
but it's too late.
i don't remember what i read, i don't remember
what they said, i guess it doesn't matter,
i guess it doesn't matter
anymore - you're gonna go to the record store
you're gonna give 'em all your money
radio plays what they want you to hear
they tell me it's cool but i just don't believe it...

sell out, with me oh yea, sell out, with me tonight
record company's gonna give me lots of money and
everything's gonna be. (all right)

no more flippin' burgers puttin' on my silly hat you
know
i don't want that no more, i didn't ask when we'd
get paid, i quit my day job anyway, i guess it
doesn't matter, i guess it doesn't matter anymore
you're gonna go to the record store, you're gonna
give 'em all your money, radio plays what they want
you to hear, they tell me it's cool, but i just don't
believe it

sell out, with me oh yea, sell out
with me tonight, the records company's gonna give me
lots of money and everything's gonna be.

i don't think it'll be so bad
i know it won't be so bad
cause the man said "that's the way it is" and the
man said "it don't get better than this" no no no

so i signed on to the record company,
they say they're
gonna give me lot's of money,
if i play what they want you to hear
they tell me it's cool,
and i sure believe it.

 

[bayou12780]

the answer is in here

 

[BVS]

because its a hypothetical question, obviously doing what you want plus being successful is the ideal.

but if you had to choose between being in a crap band but being huge, or being in an obscure band that made good music which would you choose?

Well in that case, I choose obscurity.

 

[Pop Artist]

There's something to be said for selling out... I have the rest of my life to make the music I want in obscurity...I'd sell out, make my millions and then get out (or be pushed out). Then I'd have the money to make the music I want for the rest of my life, in obscurity or not, without having to worry about where the rent money is coming from!

 

[snowbunny00774]

Cheque please

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Yeah. I sleep better at night knowing there's no Axver equivalent of PLEBA. While the money would be nice, I'd rather earn it in a way that does not cause me to be followed by people who know how many hairs I have on my head.

Forget the "where are they now" special, you can always join this when the sell out dosh runs out:

Has been heaven

 

[Earnie Shavers]

It's all about the supermodel. Underground or sell out, genius or trash merchant.

 

[intedomine]

Sell out, if I could only choose between the two

That said, there is no reason why a band can't play stadiums and have millions of adoring fans without making authentic, original and really classy music.

Anyone ever heard of U2?


Selling Out is good in some ways. If you "sell out", you can get all this money behind you and then start making music as "art". The Beatles probably wouldn't have ever been given the time and the financial security to write Strawberry Fields Forever had they not had ridiculously remarkable commercial success beforehand.