Patti Smith, the grandmother of punk is back on the road and she is making some money too! Tickets to her shows in Los Angeles and San Diego start at $59. That is for the back of the house she is playing in. This is not punk rock this is big business! Punk rock is a bar or a club not a huge theater with corporate rock prices. Punk rock is DIY. Patti Smith is punk rock no more. So sad to see one of the pioneers selling out like this. Sure artists deserve to be paid for their work but being paid and being PAID are two different things. The "Rock and Roll Nigger" is now a big business.
She's playing for FREE in Golden Gate Park this weekend in San Francisco.Sounds like a cool punk rock attitude to me.
ReplyDeleteI just love it when pundits who have never worked a tour in their lives make holier than thou pontifications on working musicians. The fact is that since piracy has eliminated the ability of record companies to supply tour support for artists the artists must find that money elsewhere or not tour. It is incredibly expensive to mount even a modest tour on a professional level. The money must come from somewhere - either by corporate sponsorship or by raising ticket prices, in some cases both.
ReplyDeleteI just can't see Patty Smith being sponsored by Budweiser, Red Bull, General Motors, Bank of America or Nike. They wouldn't sponsor her and I doubt she'd accept corporate money if they would.
So that leaves the fans. The increase in ticket prices is the inevitable result of the idea that if you're losing money on your records you try to make it up touring. You people who download pirate music have made your bed - now you (and the rest of us) must lie in it. Welcome to Music Business 2.0!
And you, Mr Carney, need to STFU about subjects you know nothing about.
I like how you assume you know so much about me! Perhaps She doesn't get corporate money but it is the venues that are chosen this is where the money goes. Perhaps I know more about what I am talking about than an un-named poster.
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