Longtime Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein has become the latest artist to lament the lack of money received by artists from streaming services.
Ever since streaming became the most popular way for music-lovers to discover new tunes, artists have hit back at the services for the lack of money the musicians actually receive in the process.
While artists like Disturbed’s David Draiman and Car Seat Headrest have defended services like Spotify, others such as Portishead have previously noted how they received a paltry $3,280 from 34 million streams.
Now, longtime Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein has opened up about his experience in the industry, noting that illegal downloading and streaming has forced him to participate in meet and greets just to make ends meet.
Speaking to The Liquid Conversations (via Ultimate Guitar), Doyle explained that the state of the music industry has changed so much that it’s forcing artists to make money by other means at times.
“The thing that sucks the most about [the music industry] is that everybody steals music,” Doyle began. “You spend a fucking hundred thousand dollars to make a record and all of these fucking scumbags are just fucking stealing it.”
“And then they want more, and then you’re a dick because you’re doing a meet ‘n’ greet for 50 fucking bucks to make up for it, which you don’t want to do. You think I want to meet all these fucking people? I don’t.”
“When I’m done, I just want to take a shower and go to bed. I just worked, so…”
Check out Doyle’s interview with The Liquid Conversations:
“You want to steal shit?” Doyle continued. “If I was making motorcycles and they came in and took one, would that be a crime? Why can’t we punish people for stealing songs? There should be a $10,000 fine.”
“They should really fucking police that shit. Shut the internet down for a fucking day and fix it.”
Likewise, Doyle explained that artists have been receiving almost nothing from services such as Spotify, seemingly inferring that Spotify should charge more money to justify the sheer amount of musical access they offer.
“[Artists] make nothing [from Spotify], it’s $9 a month, and you can listen to a song 10,000 times if you want. If there’s enough time in that month to listen to it 10,000 times, I don’t know, I can’t do the math.”
“But how much do you think the bands get? It’s like a hundredth, maybe a thousandth of a penny you get. My girlfriend [Alissa White-Gluz of Arch Enemy] went to their office, she said it was insane. I would’ve went fucking mental, I would’ve started breaking everything.”
“Lars Ulrich was right when he sued fucking Napster and everybody thought he was a dick. He didn’t do it for him, he’s got the fucking money, he did it for fucking jerk-offs like me.”
Check out the Misfits’ ‘Skulls’:
