Rage Against The Freeloaders
Ex-Blizzards mainman and Voice of Ireland mentor Bressie has extremely forthright views on the way musicians are taken for granted – and on subject of free music downloading.
Stuart Clark, 05 Mar 2012
Part of the problem is that it’s only established artists with a few hundred thousand in the bank who are prepared to speak out against illegal downloading – newer ones are afraid to do so, in case they’re perceived as being money-grabbers.
“Most good bloggers get paid for doing it, so who do they fucking think they are to tell us we should give our music away for free?” Bressie fumes. “The big issue is, not enough people are educated as to what it takes to make a record and the shit you have to go through. You could be a priority signing to Sony worldwide, spend two years making a record and then be told the production’s not right or they can’t hear a hit single. The whole concept of the album as a piece of art has been belittled to the point where musicians are losing their sense of self-worth. The Blizzards sold 75,000 records in Ireland and never saw a penny from it. We have to reverse that trend.”
On a more upbeat note, Bressie is thoroughly enjoying his role as a Voice Of Ireland mentor.
“My initial reaction when I was asked to be on it was, ‘No, I don’t want to be involved in another show that humiliates people on a Saturday night’,” he reveals. “I wouldn’t have touched an X Factor-style thing with a barge pole, but the producers explained that this’d be different. The contestants would be judged solely on their musical merits and given constructive critcism rather than being ripped apart because it makes for entertaining TV. The ‘having your back to them’ part is obviously a bit of a gimmick, but it means you’re judging their singing, not their image.
“I’m confident that whoever wins The Voice will have the opportunity to build themselves a proper musical career,” he adds. “By ‘proper’ I mean taking their time to release three or four albums rather than rushing out some awful hodge-podge of covers, which lands them back on the scrapheap. With the X Factor you have no say in the producer; hardly any say in the songs; and very little say in how you’re marketed. You’re essentially a puppet, there to make short-term financial gain for somebody, rather than a really great record.”
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