Gene Simmons wants to “sue everyone” over file sharing

The Seeker of Good Songs

Well-Known Member
Ah, Gene Simmons. Where would the world be without you? Just when we started to think that Axl Rose’s antics were the most fun to blog about, you come along with stories like this one.
Speaking recently at the MIPCOM convention in Cannes, France, the KISS singer revealed his thoughts on file sharing. His solution: sue, sue, and sue some more.
When he says lawsuit, he’s dead serious. “Make sure your brand is protected,” Simmons said (via ars technica). “Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars. Don’t let anybody cross that line.”
When it comes to incursions, the frontman takes that to mean every P2P file sharing kid out there. Like his stage persona The Demon, Simmons is pissed, and he’s pointing the finger at the music industry.
“The music industry was asleep at the wheel,” he lamented, “and didn’t have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we’re left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There’s no industry.”
Of course, KISS is still doing just fine profit-wise despite the lack of industry. The reason Simmons was there in the first place was to promote the 100th episode of his show, Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels. (Personal side note: the fact that this has 100 episodes and shows like Firefly only had 14 makes me want to scream.) Combined with the profits from both TV and music, the artist’s enterprise has about 3,000 items in total on the market.
“Everything from KISS condoms to KISS caskets,” Simmons disclosed. “We’ll get you coming and we’ll get you going. We literally have everything from KISS Hi-Def television sets that are about to come on the market to KISS Motorcycles. Well, it’s Planet KISS. Oh, I’ve already trademarked that, I forgot that.” How lovely. Oh….wait…not lovely. The word I meant to use was legitimately insane.
So, thanks, Gene Simmons. I’m glad to see people can get more mileage out of you than just laughing at your Cherry Dr. Pepper commercials.


from: http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/10/08/gene-simmons-wants-to-sue-everyone-over-file-sharing/
 
Don't worry gene there's no kiss files on my hard drive in case youre worried. Tit.
 
The Music Business. Who fleeced the customer with high prices, fleeced the artist with low percentages and sat back happy. But suddenly it changed. No longer in control of the market the record companies cried "foul!". All those talented artists who the record company cares about sooooo much, unable to earn a decent living. So they devise new style contracts, press the artists to work harder, and threaten the customers.

Who gains from all this? Not the artists, on the whole. Publicity, distribution, access to venues, advances to invest in equipment and studio time, all dependent on the Record Company. Aspiring bands still have to sign on the line.

However, the artists with an already-established name, an already-large fanbase and smart merchandising business practice are better placed. Except not quite enough according to Mr S.

I'm all for people paying a fair price for the product. And all for the musicians getting the benefit from their hard work. Maybe it's time to develop a new business model where that actually happens.

Like Mr S said, the Business got complacent and tried to bolt the door after the horse had gone. And as we have seen recently, still trying to squeeze further revenue out of re-releases, best-ofs and re-hydrated nostalgia acts.
 
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