Billy Joel: "If you’re a real musician, that’s all about music, not sales, charts"

[Teletubby 122,375]

Since putting out his new song, Joel knows people want to know if that means an album is coming. But he has a quick answer to that: “Nope!” 
“Who makes albums anymore anyway?” he asks. “I think the only person making new albums these days is Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo. I don’t know other people who make albums. I don’t know what the marketing of that is like now.” 
Plus, Joel doesn’t like writing, calling it “a form of torture.”  

But he has no idea what advice he’d give a new artist coming up today. 
“Have good-looking parents,” he quips. More seriously, he adds, “Do not listen to record industry people because they want you to create things that sell a lot. A musician really wants to make the best music they can make. If you’re a real musician, that’s all about the music, not about record sales, charts and numbers … There’s a lot of pressure to sell records, market your material. ‘Give us product, product, product.’ You’re not a product; you’re a musician. And there’s a ton of pressure about that, and younger people can really get hung up in it.” 
https://variety.com/2024/music/features/billy-joel-cbs-concert-special-cut-off-new-album-1236040439/

Edited June 18 by Teletubby

[madmagical6 1,409]

He ain't lying is he Gaga 

[JessFletch 2,726]

edit- the idea of albums becoming a thing of the past is interesting though.

Singles & singles & singles, whenever an artist feels like it/is able,

is almost preferable? Am I mistaken?

Edited June 18 by JessFletch

[Agunimon 20,736]

Stream Dopamine, Billy!

[Ladle Ghoulash 12,403]

9 minutes ago, JessFletch said:

Even Billy Joel is fed up with Gaga & Rihanna's games.

edit- the idea of albums becoming a thing of the past is interesting though.

Singles & singles & singles, whenever an artist feels like it/is able,

is almost preferable? Am I mistaken?

To some people, ig. I love the album format because I like the idea of releasing a cohesive body of work that tells some kind of unified story, but I can see why the way people consume music in the digital era might phase that out. 

[River 95,618]

that's one of the dumbest thing I heard in a while. like open billboard or spotify

[NATAH 33,856]

??? literally everybody is making albums in every corner of the industry lol

the only people not making albums are those trying to be mainstream artists that have been signed by a label that's too scared to invest in them until one of their droplet singles smashes

[Anderson123 32,471]

What a random thing to say but ok.

[Edonis 26,948]

Does he mean albums as in total bodies of work? Or like, no one but them is releasing actual physical albums anymore? Both are wrong, just want to see to what degree of wrongness he'd fall into lol

[tylerjs 4,608]

you have no talent or artistic vision, what do you want us to do about it old man

[MOT 2,195]

Well obviously he's wrong about Taylor and Olivia being the only people who are making albums, but maybe he just means 'all I ever seem to hear now is Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo'. Billy has been around for a long time, he's definitely old enough to be yelling at clouds.

It does kinda raise the wider question though of do albums make sense in the modern world, seeing as you don't have to walk into a shop and buy vinyl or a cd any more ? I think they probably do still make sense in that artists make the bulk of their (music) money from concert tours and the album provides a basis for a tour. That's why the people who kept banging on about how TCB was never gonna happen were never gonna be right. TCB was always gonna happen.

Edited June 19 by MOT

[VTV 11,170]

iykyk

[altern8version 378]

his quote in the headline is right though.

you don't need a 20 million dollar contract, 234 variations of the same album, and to be # 1 on the charts to be a successful musician. 

but if you want to be a "pop star" with all the merchandise, the big stadium tours, then you go after the charts, the money, etc etc etc.

I tried making this point in a different thread the other day. there's a difference between a musician and a "pop star." It's like the difference between an actor and a movie star.

there are many well known and respected music acts that don't play the charts game so intensely, and they're doing just fine. it IS possible just to find your audience and make good music they enjoy, without having ~being palatable to everyone~, and being the most popular, as the end goal.

Edited June 18 by altern8version

[Agunimon 20,736]

13 minutes ago, tylerjs said:

you have no talent or artistic vision, what do you want us to do about it old man

??

Billy Joel is a legend in the music industry.

[TheSine 5,875]

26 minutes ago, tylerjs said:

you have no talent or artistic vision, what do you want us to do about it old man

I'm dead.