Gene Simmons: fans have killed the record industry

Gene Simmons: you won't catch him using Limewire.
Gene Simmons: you won't catch him using Limewire.

Rarely one to keep his opinions to himself, Kiss frontman Gene Simmons has accused music fans of killing the record industry.

"The record industry is dead, it's six feet underground, and unfortunately, the fans have done this," he said recently. "They've decided to download and file share."

Of course, one could argue that, had the music industry embraced rather than fought file sharing earlier, they could by now be making a pretty penny out of it, but Simmons doesn't see it that way.

"There is no record industry around so we're going to have to wait until everybody settles down and becomes civilised."

MusicRadar pledges to support Simmons by never downloading, sharing or listening to any of Kiss's music. Ever.

Ben Rogerson

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.