[FM] Steve Earle pans music industry

[Smokefeath@aol.com]

Thought some people here may find this interesting:
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Steve Earle pans music industry 
Rapid-fire address sprays many targets 

03/17/2000

By Thor Christensen / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN - A music-biz black sheep such as Steve Earle isn't supposed to be 
applauding record-company mergers and takeovers. But in his keynote speech 
Thursday at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference, the San 
Antonio-born singer reasoned, "When there's only four corporations, it makes 
it easier to find out where those . . . [expletive] are: I like all my snakes 
in one basket where I can see them." 

Related story
More South by Southwest coverage
 

His quip drew hearty laughter from the Austin Convention Center crowd - which 
presumably contained some of the same serpents Mr. Earle was referring to. 
Picking up where Lucinda Williams left off in last year's keynote speech, the 
godfather of alt-country painted the music industry as a gigantic danger zone 
where artists need to keep a healthy distance from big record labels. 

"We have no more in common with these corporations than Michelangelo did with 
the Vatican," he said. 

Although his address lasted less than 15 minutes, the 45-year-old singer 
managed to spew venom at a wide array of targets, from record-industry sharks 
who prey on gullible young musicians to Texas' use of the death penalty (a 
subject he wrote about in his 1990 song "Billy Austin"). 

But some of his best shots came at the expense of pop-culture "revisionists" 
who now claim that Andy Kaufman was hysterical and that Kiss was the epitome 
of cool. "Kiss was never cool. Kiss is not cool now. And Kiss will never be 
cool," he said sternly. 

Later, in a question-and-answer session with journalists, he talked about his 
upcoming CD (due in June on Danny Goldberg's new Artemis record label), his 
next producing job (for Canadian singer Ron Sexsmith) and his leeriness of 
becoming a full-time producer: By staying part-time, he's free to "say . . . 
[expletive] you to a record label I think is being unfair to an artist." 

Yet for all his high and mighty statements, Mr. Earle was quick to admit he's 
not quite as righteous as he seems. "Someday, someone will come along with an 
embarrassing amount of money and we'll sell out . . . and become the 
establishment," he said. "Then some kids will come along and kick our asses. 
That's how it's supposed to work." 

In a question-and-answer session later Thursday at the convention center, 
punk legend Patti Smith addressed some of the same art-vs.-commerce topics as 
Mr. Earle. Only she seemed to be having a far less enjoyable time talking 
about them. 

"Don't I have a dentist's appointment right about now?" she said, looking at 
her watch after being asked about her tepid record sales. "I think that would 
be more fun than this." 

Most-tedious-seminar-of-the-day honors went to "Selling Music Today & 
Tomorrow," which looked at the Internet's huge impact on music distribution. 
Moderator Rosemary Carroll did pose one intriguing question: "Why does it 
matter if it's easier to get music, if the music still sucks?" 

But even after 90 minutes, nobody had come up with an answer