Down guitarist Bobby Landgraf says the music industry is doing little to help up-and-coming bands.
He says Down are in the fortunate position of having a team of people who work behind the scenes for them, but that new acts have to do it for themselves – often with limited success.
Landgraf tells The Front Row Report: “With Down there’s a label and management and people who take care of that kind of stuff. But when you’re up-and-coming, you’re trying to do it yourself.
“Shit, the industry is not even an industry any more. You just do what you can on your own and see how far you get it. Throw the flag up and see who salutes.”
Like many musicians, Landgraf puts some of the responsibility for the state of the industry on the internet and file sharing. Although he says copyright has been around a lot longer than the web.
He adds: “You had to buy boxes of cassettes, but when you internet pirate you just hit buttons. It’s all sharing, there ain’t nothing we can do about it. Once it’s in one computer, it’s in everybody’s. You make your money on shirts and shows.”
Landgraf says they’ll start writing the next Down EP – the follow-up to 2014’s Down IV - Part Two – before the end of the year.
He adds: “We’re trying to knock ‘em out one a year. We gotta finish writing it, but it’s coming out sooner than the other ones did.”
