Chester Bennington interview snippets (30 Seconds To Mars: Artifact)

Transcript

00:00I've heard someone like Trent Reznor say,

00:02you know, you work for a fucking year on something,

00:05and you put all of this time and you spend all this money on creating these songs,

00:10and a cup of coffee at the end of the day costs more than your song.

00:15It goes back to how the music industry was set up

00:18in the very early stages of the recording industry.

00:21Taking advantage of uneducated, easily swayed artists

00:26who don't really care about the money.

00:28I don't know if most people have seen long form contracts.

00:31They're insane.

00:32And there's all these little things thrown in.

00:35It's kind of like legislating, you know, legislature for a government.

00:38They put up this big issue, but underneath that issue,

00:41there's like 17 other little laws that they threw in

00:45that they're not talking about.

00:47So when you say yes to this one thing,

00:49you're actually saying yes to like 45 other things.

00:52Artists generate so much money for so many people

00:55that have nothing to do with the creative process at all.

00:58There's no road you can go down that the artist isn't fucked.

01:02And by the way, if we don't feel like pushing your records anymore

01:05and we don't feel like you're going to sell, we're not going to let you go.

01:08We'll just kind of put you on the shelf over here.

01:11We won't really let you work, but we're not going to let you leave either.

01:17I just remember the whole time thinking it was not a good idea

01:21to go into a pissing contest with the record company

01:26who holds all the cards.

01:29It's like a war of attrition.

01:31It's like whoever wears the other person down first is going to win.

01:35For a band to do a 360 deal,

01:38well, now they're turning over their real cash prize,

01:42which is their ability to make money touring

01:45and make money selling merchandise.

01:47Music will never die. It will always drive industry.

01:50It will always drive innovation.

01:52It will always be available to everyone,

01:55and everyone always is going to want it.