Shirley Manson has elaborated on the announcement she made last month that Garbage were to “curtail” their “headline touring business.”
The band are currently on a lengthy North American tour, but you may recall that Manson suggested onstage last month that it will probably be their last. She said in Washington DC: “We have just decided that the economics have become untenable, so this is kind of the last time that we’ve decided we’re going to get on a bus and just tour all over North America.”
Now, this week at Denver’s Mission Ballroom, she expanded on the reasons behind that decision. “It has become entirely unsustainable for a band like us to come and tour anywhere except the coasts,” Manson said.
“And it’s upsetting, but we’ve had a glorious 30-year career, and we really have no complaints. But I bring this up every night because I think it’s imperative that we all start to understand what exactly is going on in the music industry.
“And it’s difficult to get your head around, right? Because you see all these big pop stars, and they’re making billions and billions and billions of dollars and they’re rich and they’re glamorous and they’re amazing. But the problem is that most of the music industry is not made of these big pop stars. They’re made of working musicians.”
She continued: “This is not a pity party for us. This is an alarm call for all the young generations of musicians who are in our wake, and who we feel duty-bound to speak up for because there’s nobody speaking up for them. There is no governmental body. There’s no fucking real effective union for musicians that fights for young musicians to get paid.”
(It should be mentioned that there is the American Federation of Musicians, and in the UK, their equivalent, the MU. But point taken.)
Manson went on to make specific mention of Spotify and Ticketmaster, saying: “The average musician makes $12 (£9) a month on Spotify. They’re sleeping in their vans, they’re holding down numerous jobs, and they’re playing their guts out every night.”
“The fact that they are not even able to sell a record and it’s taken from them by rich motherf***ers on streaming platforms who get paid royally by record labels, who get paid royally by Ticketmaster, who get paid royally by merch companies, who get paid royally – the list goes on and on and on. There’s accountants. There’s lawyers. They’re all f***ing getting paid, except for the musician.”
She ended with a warning for the future: “You are the ones who will lose out on generations of esoteric, risk-taking, creative, adventurous weirdos, rebels, agitators, and provocateurs. You’re gonna get f***ing white bread. That’s it.”
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