IIRC, they never toured to support and album, they did very few live shows. Considering the way music is stolen rather than bought these days... could a band like Steely Dan even exist today, as a new act. We would be so much more poor without them. I hate to think that there are similar musicians who are thinking, I would love to release this music but I am not up to touring and I am not going to go to all this trouble just to give it all away and lose money.
 
The fred with the Stranglers guy interview got me wondering about this.
 
J

I can't remember who said it, but I remember reading a book on the recording industry several years ago that said, "Everyone wants to be Steely Dan, but no one else can pull it off."

I can't remember who said it, but I remember reading a book on the recording industry several years ago that said, "Everyone wants to be Steely Dan, but no one else can pull it off."

 
I can believe that... some people want to be Frank Zappa and they can't pull that off either.

They'd probably make about $32,000 a year.

 

Interesting thought.  Like the Beatles, Steely Dan did tour for a few years before they went studio.  They're doing more tours now than when they were at their most popular.  I think they'd find a way to prosper.  It's not like they're trying too be Justin Bieber or Brittney Spears anyway. 

They'd probably make about $32,000 a year.

 
Yeah, but wouldn't they have to tour to do that? I guess they could write and produce the songs and get some other poor schumck to record and tour... seriously, I don't know the answer.
 
J

I think the other question is, "Can today's music business exist?"

















I have a headache right now and I'm blaming my mood on that.

Hmm...how much does one get paid to have one's music available on Spotify these days?

Interesting thought. Like the Beatles, Steely Dan did tour for a few years before they went studio. They're doing more tours now than when they were at their most popular. I think they'd find a way to prosper. It's not like they're trying too be Justin Bieber or Brittney Spears anyway.

 
So today... the superstars can make money off their shows and fees for other appearances but other good artists are relegated to the "working poor"... or either get a gig in the band with the superstar, or as a studi musician... that still leaves out a lot of people. Things have changed SO much... as bad as things once were for musicians, it seems like today they are worse. The fans rip them off worse than the record companies ever did, aside from plain crooked promoters. I don't know...
 
J

I really like Steely Dan, but their latest studio album, from 2003, didn't even go Silver.

I'd say they face the same challenges as every other group of great musicians.

The market is flooded and a level of recognition is determined, to a large extent, by how much push advertising someone is willing to expend on your brand.

It's always good to hear about a true ground swell of some particular band that makes it through and breaks out on it's own merit, but it seems very rare these days.

It's a good time to play music because it makes you happy and makes you feel good.

best regards,
mike