what does "selling out" or "making it" mean to you?

[shmo]

what bands out there could have made it much bigger, but for artistic reasons, kept it small? and how did they put on the brakes? 

would you, in their shoes?

 

 

[Andy Varian]

Making it, to me, is being able to sustain your life with your music as your sole source of income. Selling out, to me, is adopting a more mainstream sound for mass appeal and record sales. 

[Chris Henniker]

I'd say Chisel were one who could have been big, but knew when to quit.

[Alison]

Selling out means changing your sound/vibe/look/ethos in order to please the masses and get more attention and make more money.

[kopper]

Exactly.

Alison said:

Selling out means changing your sound/vibe/look/ethos in order to please the masses and get more attention and make more money.

[John Carlucci]

  As someone who holds a BFA in fine Art & who has been playing music for 40 years, my feeling on the subject is that any real artist needs to be true to themselves. That is why I decided to stop trying to make a living off music. I have another career that supports me. This way the music I make is music that I like. I don't have to compromise or sell out because that's not my goal.

[Stoned Again Productions]

I think if a band can stay together for a long period of time it is making it. It says a lot about a band / group. It's hard to get 3,4,5 musicians to always agree 100% on everything. Even more so the longer they are together.

To me selling out is when it becomes all about the money, and less about putting out good music. Please don't just toss an album out there with one damn good song and 7-8 other crappy songs for fill space.

"I was listening to music long before rock 'n roll."   Bill Wyman

[John Battles]

I remembered seeing this a long time ago. And I still agree. It was weird hearing "What Do I GET" OR "Blitzkrieg Bop" in a beer commercial the first time , but, so what?
 Punk Rock does'nt pay old age pension , much less , Medical insurance, so , if those people who were fortunate enough to not be Dee Dee , Joey and Johnny Ramone and drop off and die when the checks started coming in , and are making some of the money their labels and publishers denied them , I can handle hearing it in a commercial. It's about creative placement of songs , not enticing fans. How many people even know this stuff ? The average Joe knows a handfull of Ramones songs , but , The Stooges , the monks , or Link Wray? I don't think so. Most jockboys would'nt know what you were talking about if you mentioned "Rock'n'Roll Pt. 2", and they've heard it more times than we have .

I hear The Clash , The Ramones , and Sweet in my local supermarket , now , and I don't have a problem with that.
kopper said:

Exactly.

Alison said:

Selling out means changing your sound/vibe/look/ethos in order to please the masses and get more attention and make more money.

[Max Reverb]

I was gonna throw my two cents in here but it seems to already be pretty well covered.

[Ghislaine]

woops i remember posting a discussion about the definition of ''selling out '' a  while ago,the discussion turned sour  and it was finnally closed.:( The Remains...kept it ''small''if i may dare to say while they deserved the top cos they are heroes!I read that it was poor decision making of them  that they split due to abuse of substances.But who knows if it wasnt for artistic reasons?Cos ,when you write 21 songs that are ALL hits...maybe you gave it all...i dont know.

[Kendal Killjoy]

I  usually think Rollins can come off pretty douchey and pretentious...but I found myself nodding along in agreement to this whole segment of his

John Battles said:

I remembered seeing this a long time ago. And I still agree. It was weird hearing "What Do I GET" OR "Blitzkrieg Bop" in a beer commercial the first time , but, so what?
 Punk Rock does'nt pay old age pension , much less , Medical insurance, so , if those people who were fortunate enough to not be Dee Dee , Joey and Johnny Ramone and drop off and die when the checks started coming in , and are making some of the money their labels and publishers denied them , I can handle hearing it in a commercial. It's about creative placement of songs , not enticing fans. How many people even know this stuff ? The average Joe knows a handfull of Ramones songs , but , The Stooges , the monks , or Link Wray? I don't think so. Most jockboys would'nt know what you were talking about if you mentioned "Rock'n'Roll Pt. 2", and they've heard it more times than we have .

I hear The Clash , The Ramones , and Sweet in my local supermarket , now , and I don't have a problem with that.
kopper said:

Exactly.

Alison said:

Selling out means changing your sound/vibe/look/ethos in order to please the masses and get more attention and make more money.

[The Pulsebeats]

Everything said, true. I think we baulk at the idea of our favourite band being used in commercials and all that because we want to keep them "our little secret." I think as long as an artist doesn't allow the use of their songs for something that they are fundamentally opposed to, just to earn money, then they are not selling out. Regardless what people think, they gotta eat! The Black Keys covered it pretty well.

In the UK, Iggy's done car insurance ads and John Lydon's done butter ads! Beats the latest slapstick, nose-jobbed face from The Voice!

[D. A. Anguiano]

Well I think we've officially heard from the "Take the money and run" camp. I was planning on typing out a few sentences on why I think its a dogshit idea for independent musicians to schill for a particular movie/corporation/tv show/book, but I'm tired. So this Steve Albini quote about Sonic Youth being idiots will have to do:

“[A] lot of the things they were involved with as part of the mainstream were distasteful to me. And a lot of the things that happened as a direct result of their association with the mainstream music industry gave credibility to some of the nonsense notions that hover around the star-making machinery. A lot of that stuff was offensive to me and I saw it as a sellout and a corruption of a perfectly valid, well-oiled music scene. Sonic Youth chose to abandon it in order to become a modestly successful mainstream band — as opposed to being a quite successful independent band that could have used their resources and influence to extend that end of the culture. They chose to join the mainstream culture and become a foot soldier for that culture’s encroachment into my neck of the woods by acting as scouts. I thought it was crass and I thought it reflected poorly on them. I still consider them friends and their music has its own integrity, but that kind of behavior — I can’t say that I think it’s not embarrassing for them. I think they should be embarrassed about it.”