Poll: Have you sold out?

[CrashBang]

There's a quote I remember by Frank Carter of Gallows (one of my favourite bands) from when they signed to a major label. He roughly said that he was happy to admit that he sold out, because now he's a millionaire; he can buy things for his mum, for himself and move to a nice place, have a good life.

And still make his music but use the record company to promote it and gain a wider audience.

Apparently, making money off of your music constitutes "selling out" regardless of musical content.

Take Kings of leon, for example. I liked their earlier stuff and not the new, but seriously, fuck anyone who bitches about how "OOOH THEY SOLD OUT THATS WHY I DONT LIKE THEM ANYMORE THEY JUST WHORED THEMSELVES TO THE MAN" No, they became more popular and moved into a style you could call more "poppy". The band is still making the music they want to make, if they want to start some big gigging singalongs and get some catchy tunes out there then they can do as they please. It's no-one but the band's business what kind of music they make, but if they change to a style that earlier fans dislike and get cash for it, then that makes them a bunch of sluts, apparently. KoL are just an example, this can apply to a huge number of artists.

Song appears on popular mainstream film? selling out (It's never "they want to reach a wider audience" but always because there's some apparent moneylust and crumbling integrity going on). Band appears on popular mainstream TV show? Selling out (they never just enjoy performing for television or like the show). Poppier music? Selling out (but god forbid they just want to do that style regardless of the money they make). I like to think that it's just how opinionated old fans of a band try to justify the band's actions, because they refuse to believe the band may like something that they don't. This happens regardless of whether the band didn't want to "sell out" anyway.

Now if a band starts sowing a lot of seeds and bringing in money any which way they can, quite obviously abandoning old principles and visibly becoming less good in exchange for cash, then we maybe have grounds for calling them out. Otherwise, it's all a load of fan whining.

Wow, uh, sorry for tangental rant.

Frank Carter ftw.

This rant made me very happy. I'm so glad there are people out there who don't whine and ***** and throw around the term 'sellout'. AFI used to play more hardcore punk music and after deciding to turn to more alternative rock/electronic stuff they were abused by hardcore fans, being called sellouts etc. I myself am a long-term fan of AFI and love their new stuff as much as their old stuff. It is a band's own choice if they become disinterested in a style of music they've been playing for years. It happens, tastes change, directions are changed, this is not them selling out. Fans need to understand this

 

[CrashBang]

There's a quote I remember by Frank Carter of Gallows (one of my favourite bands) from when they signed to a major label. He roughly said that he was happy to admit that he sold out, because now he's a millionaire; he can buy things for his mum, for himself and move to a nice place, have a good life.

And still make his music but use the record company to promote it and gain a wider audience.

Apparently, making money off of your music constitutes "selling out" regardless of musical content.

Take Kings of leon, for example. I liked their earlier stuff and not the new, but seriously, fuck anyone who bitches about how "OOOH THEY SOLD OUT THATS WHY I DONT LIKE THEM ANYMORE THEY JUST WHORED THEMSELVES TO THE MAN" No, they became more popular and moved into a style you could call more "poppy". The band is still making the music they want to make, if they want to start some big gigging singalongs and get some catchy tunes out there then they can do as they please. It's no-one but the band's business what kind of music they make, but if they change to a style that earlier fans dislike and get cash for it, then that makes them a bunch of sluts, apparently. KoL are just an example, this can apply to a huge number of artists.

Song appears on popular mainstream film? selling out (It's never "they want to reach a wider audience" but always because there's some apparent moneylust and crumbling integrity going on). Band appears on popular mainstream TV show? Selling out (they never just enjoy performing for television or like the show). Poppier music? Selling out (but god forbid they just want to do that style regardless of the money they make). I like to think that it's just how opinionated old fans of a band try to justify the band's actions, because they refuse to believe the band may like something that they don't. This happens regardless of whether the band didn't want to "sell out" anyway.

Now if a band starts sowing a lot of seeds and bringing in money any which way they can, quite obviously abandoning old principles and visibly becoming less good in exchange for cash, then we maybe have grounds for calling them out. Otherwise, it's all a load of fan whining.

Wow, uh, sorry for tangental rant.

Frank Carter ftw.

This rant made me very happy. I'm so glad there are people out there who don't whine and ***** and throw around the term 'sellout'. AFI used to play more hardcore punk music and after deciding to turn to more alternative rock/electronic stuff they were abused by hardcore fans, being called sellouts etc. I myself am a long-term fan of AFI and love their new stuff as much as their old stuff. It is a band's own choice if they become disinterested in a style of music they've been playing for years. It happens, tastes change, directions are changed, this is not them selling out. Fans need to understand this

Fans will never understand a whole lot. While I'm ranting, I also hate the fans that think the band owe them in some way. One Biffy fan once said "This new album sucks. I was ok with the previous one because there was some stuff on there for the core fans, but now they just don't care anymore".

Where do you start with that?

I was actually gonna mention Biffy. I've got a friend who thought that Only Revolutions was their second album and was gobsmacked when I told him it was their fifth. I played him some stuff from Blackened Sky and he loved it, but didn't like anything from Infinity Land (which is also my least favourite Biffy album) and it got me thinking about how hardcore Biffy fans love Infinity Land, calling it the real Biffy stuff, and yet their very first album was far closer, in terms of 'heaviness', to their newer stuff. There was also an article in Rock Sound about how Biffy fans feel that the band have a duty to please them and how embarrassing that sounds. Surely, as a fan, one should appreciate and at least try to admire the bands progression? Not feel that the band owe them anything