Of course, you've heard everywhere that the record industry is falling apart, but it still takes concrete examples now and then to drive the point home. The latest example, unfortunately, is a pretty sad one: indie mainstay Ted Leo has revealed that he may be forced to quit the music industry come 2011.
As Buzzgrinder points out [via the The Daily Swarm], Leo admitted to Joseph Lord in print-only publication Velocity (based in Louisville, KY) that 2011 might mark the end of Leo's musical journey.
"I'm going to be totally honest with you," Leo said. "By next year, there's no way I'm going to be able to be on tour like I have been these last few years. There's no way I'm going to be able to keep writing and recording and playing music."
The reason, Leo claims, is stuttering record sales.
"People don't think record sales matter to musicians. If you're selling less than 10,000 records, it probably doesn't matter. And if you're selling more than 100,000 records, it probably doesn't matter. But if you're selling somewhere in the middle, it can make a huge difference.
"It's a losing proposition for us at this point. It's something we can't keep doing. It's a simple, unfortunate fact. In our particular case, it is totally tied to a downturn in record sales."
UPDATE: Leo has issued a statement on his website shedding more light on all this retirement talk, warning fans not to read too much into all this. Here is the statement:
It's true - I've said it before and I'll say it again - doing this as a full-time thing, as wonderful as it is, has been a losing proposition for us for a while now. The crowds, while amazing, are mostly diminishing, the record sales, while appreciated, are a pretty weak percentage of what they were during the brief two year window in which we actually seemed to crack some sort of indie glass ceiling and make all ends meet and have a little left over to boot; and regarding other income streams that everyone likes to point to, I don't sell my songs to commercials, and we keep our CD, LP, and t-shirt prices $10.00 a piece. There's no money in it for us anymore, and to maintain even a semblance of solvency, we have to keep up the same touring schedule that we and I have been keeping up for the last nearly twenty years - a touring schedule that even the most hardened in our community will tell you is exceptional.
The energy we have inside us is not as boundless as it once seemed, and the amount we have to expend each year becomes more and more of a drain for less and less pay off. These are simple facts - it's not at all a "woe is me" type of complaint - in fact, it's not even a complaint at all - anyone who's seen us play in the last few months knows that we're having as good a time doing it as we ever have, and from my side of things, I can tell you that we're actually having MORE fun most of the time - but I've decided to be honest with interviewers who ask me about "the state of things," because what's the point in sugar coating the realities? As we all push toward forty, exactly how to go forward wisely, in a way that allows each of us to live a full life (and not die between rest stops on I-80), is something I need to think about, and I am thinking about it.
It's true - there's no way we can continue forever as we have - but that doesn't mean we won't continue in some other way.
As Buzzgrinder points out [via the The Daily Swarm], Leo admitted to Joseph Lord in print-only publication Velocity (based in Louisville, KY) that 2011 might mark the end of Leo's musical journey.
"I'm going to be totally honest with you," Leo said. "By next year, there's no way I'm going to be able to be on tour like I have been these last few years. There's no way I'm going to be able to keep writing and recording and playing music."
The reason, Leo claims, is stuttering record sales.
"People don't think record sales matter to musicians. If you're selling less than 10,000 records, it probably doesn't matter. And if you're selling more than 100,000 records, it probably doesn't matter. But if you're selling somewhere in the middle, it can make a huge difference.
"It's a losing proposition for us at this point. It's something we can't keep doing. It's a simple, unfortunate fact. In our particular case, it is totally tied to a downturn in record sales."
UPDATE: Leo has issued a statement on his website shedding more light on all this retirement talk, warning fans not to read too much into all this. Here is the statement:
It's true - I've said it before and I'll say it again - doing this as a full-time thing, as wonderful as it is, has been a losing proposition for us for a while now. The crowds, while amazing, are mostly diminishing, the record sales, while appreciated, are a pretty weak percentage of what they were during the brief two year window in which we actually seemed to crack some sort of indie glass ceiling and make all ends meet and have a little left over to boot; and regarding other income streams that everyone likes to point to, I don't sell my songs to commercials, and we keep our CD, LP, and t-shirt prices $10.00 a piece. There's no money in it for us anymore, and to maintain even a semblance of solvency, we have to keep up the same touring schedule that we and I have been keeping up for the last nearly twenty years - a touring schedule that even the most hardened in our community will tell you is exceptional.
The energy we have inside us is not as boundless as it once seemed, and the amount we have to expend each year becomes more and more of a drain for less and less pay off. These are simple facts - it's not at all a "woe is me" type of complaint - in fact, it's not even a complaint at all - anyone who's seen us play in the last few months knows that we're having as good a time doing it as we ever have, and from my side of things, I can tell you that we're actually having MORE fun most of the time - but I've decided to be honest with interviewers who ask me about "the state of things," because what's the point in sugar coating the realities? As we all push toward forty, exactly how to go forward wisely, in a way that allows each of us to live a full life (and not die between rest stops on I-80), is something I need to think about, and I am thinking about it.
It's true - there's no way we can continue forever as we have - but that doesn't mean we won't continue in some other way.
