Why fans killed the music industry, according to Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons is one of the biggest critics of how the music industry operates these days. The vocalist and bassist of Kiss states that the entire music market is “dead” — and, in his opinion, the culprits are the fans of the artists and bands themselves.

The subject was addressed by Simmons more than once over the last few years. One of the occasions took place in 2018, during an event that had a question and answer session. As transcribed by Ultimate Guitar, rock’s most famous loudmouth said that “Pandora’s box” has been opened with the current model, where, in his view, fans no longer pay for the music they consume.

“It breaks my heart, because new bands don’t have a chance. There are a lot of talents out there who will never get the chance. The big band now is the Foo Fighters, but they’re over 20 years old. The guys are older than your grandmother, they’re not ‘new band’. They’ll be around for a long time, but they started before the record label collapse. After them, no band managed to reach the point of selling out stadiums.”

As the reflection unfolded, it became clear that Simmons seemed to refer more to the rock scene. However, there are some arguments that also apply to music as a whole — like the statement below:

“This happens because the fans are the villains. Because they’re the ones who decided they’re not going to pay for it.”

Fans or young fans, Gene Simmons?

Three years later, Gene Simmons addressed the topic in another interview, this time on radio Q104.3 (via Igor Miranda website). When commenting specifically on the state of rock music today, the vocalist and bassist cited streaming platforms, which, in his opinion, pay artists very little.

“Rock is dead in every sense. And the culprits are the young fans. You killed what you love. As soon as streaming arrived, you took the chance away from the good new bands that are in the shadows, who can’t quit their jobs because they don’t make money from their music. When you download something, it earns you a hundredth or thousandth of a penny. You need to have millions or even billions of downloads before you can earn a few thousand dollars. The fans killed it.”

In the view of “Demon”the next great rock bands will not have the same chances as the old ones, like the band itself Kissthey had.

“This business is dead. And that means the next Beatles, or the next person, whoever it may be, will never have the chance we had. We had record companies that gave us millions of dollars so we could make records and tour, and not worry about a formal 9 to 5 job. When you’re worried about clocking in, you don’t have time to dedicate yourself to your art.”