Gene Simmonsin mukaan rock on kuollut, tämä rokkari on samaa mieltä

KISSin Gene Simmons totesi taannoin;
"There was an entire industry to help the next Beatles, Stones, Prince, Hendrix, to prop them up and support them every step of the way. There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters — the creators — for rock music, for soul, for the blues — it's finally dead.

'Rock is dead' ja ainakin kitarasankari Yngwie Malmsteen allekirjoittaa Simmonsin väitteen.

Australialainen Music Business Facts haastatteli Malmsteenia ja kitarasankari antoi omakohtaisen esimerkin musiikkibisneksen hyytymisestä.

Malmsteen on aikaisemmin julkaissut levyjä oman yhtiönsä kautta. Jakelijana toimi suuri kansainvälinen tekijä. Mutta sitten jälleenmyyjät alkoivat vähentyä. Levykaupat kuolivat pois, levykauppaketjut lopettivat. Samalla Malmsteen päätti olla julkaisematta levyjä. Minne levyt päätyvät, kun ei ole enää kauppojakaan.

"only two outlets that would still sell CDs were Best Buy and Wal-Mart. They now have stopped selling it. There's nowhere you can go into a store and buy a CD in America. That's how it is."

Malmsteen ihmettelee, miten artistit onnistuvat nykyään tekemään levyjä. Ne maksvat rahaa, mistä dollarit?

"If I create something and somebody wants it, it's not free. Why would it be free? Free, what's that? Free. It's like going to a gas station and saying, 'Give me free gas for the car'".

"He (Gene Simmons) meant that the industry is gone, the money… the big wheels that were turning, with everybody putting their finger in the pie, that's gone, and that's not his opinion, it's a fact. Gone."