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If you became famous how would you choose to sell out?


Kimbabig

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You guys crack me up. [flapper]

 

My favorites are the artists who play 60 dates on a tour by flying a chartered jet from city to city, have the limo pick them up at the airport and take the to the suite, then to the show, back to the suite, then the airport.

 

Then talk about how exhausting the tour was.

 

Yea...I'd be him. [biggrin]

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The obvious... A Gibson Signature Les Paul, Autograph 100 of them.(Sell Price $6,000) Sell the un-autographed ones for less.

 

Become a judge on American Idol and make $20,000,000 per year. [biggrin]

Buy a mansion that I'll never see. [biggrin]

Get me an office with gold records on the wall and never answer any messages. [biggrin]

 

Sound familiar??? [flapper]

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The obvious... A Gibson Signature Les Paul, Autograph 100 of them.(Sell Price $6,000) Sell the un-autographed ones for less.

 

Become a judge on American Idol and make $20,000,000 per year. [biggrin]

Buy a mansion that I'll never see. [biggrin]

Get me an office with gold records on the wall and never answer any messages. [biggrin]

 

Sound familiar??? [flapper]

he was a sellout before then

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1. Signature Chuck Taylors.

2. guitar picks. I would want an endless supply of Dunlop Tortex Fins 1.14 mm.

3. An action figure like one of those Todd McFarlane things!

 

Can't really think of anything else worth slapping my name on. Does a signature guitar count as selling out? If so, sign me up. ESP, Ibanez or Gibson (in that order). A relic of my fav Fender strat would be pretty f-ing sweet.

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First I'd leave my wife, marry an oriental woman of no fixed talent, then write songs about imagining life with no possessions all the while living in multimillion dollar apartments with limos and chauffeurs. Then....................Aww never mind it's been done.msp_flapper.gif

Cookieman! you are the man,best post I have seen on here in years-keep up the good work

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Who came up the concept of "selling out"? I think that's a load of crap.

Aren't most people in this business to make money? Yes, you can argue that it's an art form, and it is that also. Even artists need to eat. Most acts may last only 5-10 years, why not get a little nest egg going.

If they think a product with their name on it will sell to fans, why not?

The name of the game is: SHOW BUSINESS and it's based on CAPITOLISM!

Records don't bring the revenue it used to, why not make some money on the side-

I don't fault anyone for trying to make a buck, if it's something I'm interested in, I'll buy it, if I'm not interested in it- I'll pass.

P.S. How come no one complains about athletes "selling out"?

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Who came up the concept of "selling out"? I think that's a load of crap.

Aren't most people in this business to make money? Yes, you can argue that it's an art form, and it is that also. Even artists need to eat. Most acts may last only 5-10 years, why not get a little nest egg going.

If they think a product with their name on it will sell to fans, why not?

The name of the game is: SHOW BUSINESS and it's based on CAPITOLISM!

Records don't bring the revenue it used to, why not make some money on the side-

I don't fault anyone for trying to make a buck, if it's something I'm interested in, I'll buy it, if I'm not interested in it- I'll pass.

P.S. How come no one complains about athletes "selling out"?

 

 

Exactly!

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Making tons of money, is fine...as long as you don't compromise

your "art," too much, in the process. Dylan, for just one example,

has stayed pretty true to his nature, and art, over the decades.

And, he makes quite enough money, without becoming and edorsement

whore. "Fame" all too often, kills real Rock & Roll, when the

"artists" start believing and catering to, the "machine," too much.

Some compromise is inevitable, I suppose, just to "make it." But,

when it adversely effects your "art," and corrupts everthing around

you...that's when it's "selling out!"

 

When individuals, bands, or any other artist, becomes a commodity for

"Corporate Amarica," that's "Selling Out!" Again, IMHO.

 

CB

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Well... I've already commented in terms of questioning "selling out."

 

All kidding aside, I'll wager that many of us have met musicians who once were in at least regionally-known bands who had choices to make in that grinder of the entertainment business.

 

There are so many "one hit wonders," regional miracle bands and such that have changed the lives of the musicians one way or another that it's kinda hard for me to even think of the concept of "selling out" because somebody is trying to make a living.

 

Recording producers make their cash by trying to give the public what they perceive will make a buck for the company and for the artists; right or wrong, they do tend to make a big difference in what "we" hear in terms of any sort of mass media.

 

As has been noted, too, the bucks no longer are there for record sales that once were, and the dollars have to come from somewhere.

 

Also "we" as musicians change and grow as we walk through this world. I don't see the changes I've made in what and how I play as "selling out," so why should I criticize someone who makes their living at music when they change and grow?

 

And if "we" do not change and grow, and find ways to finance that growth, doesn't that indicate there's something wrong with our heads?

 

Right now if somebody said, "M, we'd like to take you on a music tour doing metal, and we'll guarantee you the cash..." it'd be hard to say "No," I think. Have I played metal? I think not. <grin - remembering that definitions are often odd> But would I figure I've sold out? Heck no, at least not if I like the folks I'd be pickin' with and whatever it might be I'd be asked to play or do PR for.

 

Another point: You've got 15 new songs. You can use only 10 on a new CD. The producer does the choosing and suggests change. Have you sold out, or are you being a professional in the entertainment biz? Ditto if a proven successful producer suggests making some sound changes for the record?

 

CB: Chet Atkins made some major changes in "country" as a producer. Was that selling out? I'd say if you're asked to do something you consider less than honest, that's selling out whether I agree with you personally or not, that's your integrity. But if it's honest and honest cooperation to do well in the biz, so be it.

 

m

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Well... I've already commented in terms of questioning "selling out."

 

All kidding aside, I'll wager that many of us have met musicians who once were in at least regionally-known bands who had choices to make in that grinder of the entertainment business.

 

There are so many "one hit wonders," regional miracle bands and such that have changed the lives of the musicians one way or another that it's kinda hard for me to even think of the concept of "selling out" because somebody is trying to make a living.

 

Recording producers make their cash by trying to give the public what they perceive will make a buck for the company and for the artists; right or wrong, they do tend to make a big difference in what "we" hear in terms of any sort of mass media.

 

As has been noted, too, the bucks no longer are there for record sales that once were, and the dollars have to come from somewhere.

 

Also "we" as musicians change and grow as we walk through this world. I don't see the changes I've made in what and how I play as "selling out," so why should I criticize someone who makes their living at music when they change and grow?

 

And if "we" do not change and grow, and find ways to finance that growth, doesn't that indicate there's something wrong with our heads?

 

Right now if somebody said, "M, we'd like to take you on a music tour doing metal, and we'll guarantee you the cash..." it'd be hard to say "No," I think. Have I played metal? I think not. <grin - remembering that definitions are often odd> But would I figure I've sold out? Heck no, at least not if I like the folks I'd be pickin' with and whatever it might be I'd be asked to play or do PR for.

 

Another point: You've got 15 new songs. You can use only 10 on a new CD. The producer does the choosing and suggests change. Have you sold out, or are you being a professional in the entertainment biz? Ditto if a proven successful producer suggests making some sound changes for the record?

 

CB: Chet Atkins made some major changes in "country" as a producer. Was that selling out? I'd say if you're asked to do something you consider less than honest, that's selling out whether I agree with you personally or not, that's your integrity. But if it's honest and honest cooperation to do well in the biz, so be it.

 

m

 

Changing things, for the better, (honestly) helping people, is GREAT. I'd never argue that, ever!

I guess I equate "Selling Out," more with unbridled "Greed," than anything else, really.

How much, is "enough?" Is there even a limit, anymore? Was there ever? What will it cost you,

in your integrity, and/or ethtics, and "worth," to do what it takes...and, is it really worth it? "Selling Out,"

probably doesn't even seem that, prior to one's doing it. It's only later, that the toll is paid,

and the consequences realized. Some, have no problem, whatsoever with "selling out!" They do it

all their lives, in one form or another. Others, have a real problem, with it, later. We've seen

countless people drink and drug themselves to death, after the realization, of the darker side of "selling out."

Then again, some folks would do that, anyway. So...??? ;>b

 

And, anyway...anything I write, is always just "my" opinion...

nothing more. Please take it, or leave it, as that. ;>)

 

CB

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Hey Charlie Brown!

Interesting that you bring up Dylan. Robert Zimmerman created a persona and named it Dylan for the expressed reason to be a star. I am not saying that as a insult, I think he is a genius. If he had failed he could have gone on being Robert Zimmerman and bury Bob Dylan...

All kidding a side in his biography he said as much, when he left home and went to the Village he honed his skill at writing by hanging around with others, he had made up the name Bob Dylan, and made up stories about his past, and soon became Dylan the song writing singing phenomenon.

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Elliot Charles Adnopoz...

 

Ramblin' Jack Elliot?

 

Actors whose names they were not born with such even as Marion Morrison?

 

American history, at least, is full of folks who recreated themselves when they could.

 

I guess to me we have a deal where I see two types of musicians: Those who choose to, and have the ability make their living at a different sort of lifestyle in a different sort of business, and those who don't.

 

A lady friend told me once she envied how music was part of my lifestyle but was a truly free part of it. Whether I played saloons or simply played for me, it could be what I felt relatively happy doing. She was playing in a major symphony orchestra; had a decent paycheck and outlet for her love of music but was controlled by the schedule and decisions on what music would be performed.

 

Did she "sell out?" I think not, really, any more than a car salesman who has an opportunity to go to another dealership to manage a sales staff or to go to work for a car corporation as a district rep. We make our choices in how we make a living for our own reasons.

 

Cash isn't even always what makes those decisions. Sometimes we do things we simply have to do even if they may not be the best choice for our personal economic future because they rely on more tenuous factors. Been there, done that.

 

I think those who make their living at music have a future to look to just as the rest of us. How will they live their lives? How will they eat? In what economic strata will they be able to live and what strata do they determine they require? What are costs of error?

 

I personally see nothing odd or wrong about someone my age playing rock, for example, even in a more "new" rock band on the way up if it were perceived that musically and personally I had something to offer the whole. Yet some here think if you're over 40 you should hang it up - and I'm easily old enough to be a parent of a 40-year-old.

 

Bottom line, I guess, is that if you break your own integrity, it ain't a good thing for you internally; if you don't, and it ain't illegal, patently immoral or fattening, why not?

 

m

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You're 1st, 2nd, and 3rd albums you are expressing your art, because you have worked on, or developed those songs for years, truly, your 'art'

After the 3rd album, it changes from 'art' to 'business', fulfilling contracts,etc.

Not in every case, but, in a lot of cases. At least that's been my observation.

There are exceptions, such as Dylan, Tom Petty, etc. but they do still 'sell out' in a different way- how many boxed sets, collections and greatest hits packages and re-releases come to mind? Also, isn't there a Dylan signature harmonica series, talk of a Dylan guitar, and there was a Tom Petty Signature Rickenbacker, that was sold in very limited numbers, at a pretty high price.

,

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