Memoirs of a Geisha hooker with a heart of gold.

Only if it has pictures.

/candid photographs...wink wink, nudge nudge

kaminariko:/candid photographs...wink wink, nudge nudge

SAY NO MORE, SAY NO MORE!

Julia Roberts is overrated. I can't stand her, myself. The last movie I watched with her was one of those stupid Ocean movies.

my god..you mean he's doing it for the music?!

Now I don't feel so bad about bootlegging his CDs.

I have actually bought Lyle Lovett's music. That's more than I can say for Julia Roberts' movies.

"Apparently, Lovett has sold 4.6 million albums in the United States since 1991 and signed with Curb/Universal in 1985."

Either he owed a ton of money to the record company that they took straight off the top, or he's exaggerating. If he didn't like his deal with Curb/Universal, he could have renegotiated it over a 23 year period. Either that or he's not too smart with money. A common theme in the music industry. Good artist though.

JohnCougarMelonhead:"Apparently, Lovett has sold 4.6 million albums in the United States since 1991 and signed with Curb/Universal in 1985."

Either he owed a ton of money to the record company that they took straight off the top, or he's exaggerating. If he didn't like his deal with Curb/Universal, he could have renegotiated it over a 23 year period. Either that or he's not too smart with money. A common theme in the music industry. Good artist though.

The problem is he doesn't sell enough units per CD. As you all know, the record company fronts costs for production, promotion,etc. Those cost are recouped from the artists portion of the royalties. This is pretty common for mid range artists who, while successful overall, do not have multi-platinum unit sales.

I worked for Columbia Records/Sony Music in the late 80's/early 90's, this is pretty much the norm. A moderately successful, very well-known band I was responsible for never made a dime. In fact, the band members were basically payed a salary of $300 per week/per member while they toured, and have never got out of debt with the label.

A large part of the problem is that labels prey on the fact that bands will sign away everything just to have a shot. What the label does is lay a number of bets on "x" number of bands during a budgeted period, like playing multiple bingo cards. So, the extremely rare successful group pays for all the failures, as many of you already know. It sucks that the successful bands pay for the multitude of failures, but that is the way it goes.

Things are starting to change though, but I don't know if it for the good.

No wonder the guy can't get to a good barber. He's been cutting it himself all along.

I haven't made a dime from his album sales either, so I am getting a kick out of these replies.


/Kiss my ass, I bought a boat. I'm going out to sea.

He also records and tours with a gigantic band. That's got to have something to do with it, too.

The problem is that the Industry has made it so that music just isn't profitable. The high costs of production and promotion make it impossible for a record to make any money without going multi-Platinum. That's just INSANE.

It's the same thing that killed movies. "Jaws" and "Star Wars" soon forced EVERY movie to have to be a Blockbuster. It's all about the opening weekend. "Star Wars" actually has a weak opening, taking to or three weeks to take off. In today's environment, it would be considered a bomb.

Likewise, if you look at the numbers "Sergeant Pepper" did in 1967, it would be a flop. In fact, albums didn't sell at multi-platinum rates until the mid-70s and then only a handful did.

Then when an artist IS successful nowadays, it turns into a war over the RENEGOTIATIONS. The record companies have to pay bonuses up front and just hope the artist can possibly make them the astronomical sum they just gave away for nothing, with no clue as to how the artist's career may be headed five-ten years down the road. Which forces them to put more into production and promotion. Which reduces their profits from even the most successful artists down to nil.

I don't even know if the Record Companies even give a toss. Whether it's all a tax write-off. They're appliance companies and cable companies. They should just freaking DIVEST and give music back to the musicians.

what he says is what ive always heard about being a musician.

the band makes money by touring and the merch thats sold during that tour.

unless you get an advance from a signing. and most of that money goes back to the label anyways...

fark labels.

/go indy.

sunsawed:
I don't even know if the Record Companies even give a toss. Whether it's all a tax write-off. They're appliance companies and cable companies. They should just freaking DIVEST and give music back to the musicians.

Whether the music industry wants to or not, the musicians are TAKING it back. Look at the sales of web-releases...pretty damn good considering that they're self-promoting.

The Record companies can go fark themselves.

No one told Lyle in order to make money off record sales he had to first sell records. I don't get America's love affair with Julie Roberts. Must be because she played a hooker and you know how much America is a sucker for a good hooker tale. Just ask Spitzer's girl.

Fark the RIAA.

/Required.

No big surprise here. Unless you sell eleventy brazillion copies you don't make much money. As stated a couple of posts above, bands make money by touring and selling merchandise (and songwriting royalties).

That said, LL is freaking awesome in concert, especially when he tours with the big band. Great songs, great singer and top-notch musicianship.

Labels got out of the business of actually selling music a long time ago. They decided to be in the business of selling plastic discs instead -- it's just that these discs happened to have music recorded on them. The artist was almost incidental to the process; as long as the content could move the plastic discs, the labels were happy.

But alas, technology moved on and the plastic discs are no longer necessary. The music can be grabbed out of the air as it were, and now the decision to focus on those old-style plastic discs seems kind of dumb. It turns out that the artists are the real draw. Who knew?

Musicians for most of human history have made their living by, well, playing in front of crowds. Recording technology gave rise to this weird "bubble" where money could be made in endlessly reselling a certain performance of a song via a recording, but this usually didn't benefit the musicians much. They continued to make most of their money by...playing in front of crowds.

Recording technology fooled lots of people into thinking that music was a product, something to be packaged and sold. And they were successful at it, for a while. But what technology gives (the ability to record, store, and re-sell a musical performance) it also takes away (the ability to drive down the cost of recorded music to almost nothing). Music is simply reverting back to what it has always been: a performance-based art.

I saw Lyle and his Large Band three days ago so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.

/no seriously
//farking awesome. go see him!
///hi Lyle.

I submitted this with a more "fark the RIAA" oriented headline.

here's a photo from the concert three days ago. I hope this works because this is my first attempt at posting a photo.

gregario:here's a photo from the concert three days ago. I hope this works because this is my first attempt at posting a photo.

D'oh!

oh fark it. I don't understand the instructions on how to post photos. I'm a luddite.

So much for listening to the Recording Industry Ass of America wailing about file sharing hurting the artists.

Somaticasual:my god..you mean he's doing it for the music?!

Either that, or it's a subtle jab at the Metallicas of the world who whine about people stealing from them, when really, they're not losing a whole lot over that theoretical album sale.

I also love how the headline entirely distorts what he said. Yes, his first sentence in the quote states he hasn't made any money off his record deal, dating back to '85. But wait... check out the sentence after next: "I make a living going out and playing shows." Sounds like maybe, just maybe, he has made some money since 1985. But I guess the headline doesn't have to be factual, since it's only a blog, and those aren't real news.

Lyle is greatness, and as far as a Julia Roberts "tell-all," he's far too much of a Texas gentleman to pull that kind of crap.

LarrytheBlueOkie:Kiss my ass, I bought a boat. I'm going out to sea.

Well I'm a long tall Texan, I wear a ten-gallon hat.

/not really
/the part about the hat

Have seen LL 3x and highly recommend it. The Large Band is awesome - great musicians and incredibly tight. Lovett is a good raconteur with a terrific sense of humor in setting up some of the songs. Best appreciated in venues under 2000.

i listen to music on analog magnetic cassette tapes recorded from records other people have purchased so i am really getting a kick out of these replies.

/old hotness: blithely recording records someone else bought
//new and busted: fussing about the record industry as if they never tried to stack the deck til you came along
///ban the reel-to-reel!

Farker_Texas:Lyle is greatness, and as far as a Julia Roberts "tell-all," he's far too much of a Texas gentleman to pull that kind of crap.

LarrytheBlueOkie:Kiss my ass, I bought a boat. I'm going out to sea.

Well I'm a long tall Texan, I wear a ten-gallon hat.

/not really
/the part about the hat

That's right you're not from Texas
But Texas wants you anyway

I think "Road to Ensenada" was his Julia Roberts tell-all. Listen to "One-Eyed Fiona" and dare to disagree.

I have tickets to see him here in San Diego in a few weeks. I'll remember to bring some extra change for his troubles.


Brilliant songwriter, by the way. Incredibly mellow and a voice that drips with emotion and humor.

Lyle is probably the ugliest man in Christendom, but he has a wonderful, wonderful voice.

But man oh man, is he incredibly ugly.

The record companies have a LONG history of doing this. Find some articles and interviews from artists of the 50's. They didn't make a dime from the records.
Take Bo Diddly just recently passed. He had to play shows till damn near up until his death in order to make his money.

ChaoticLimbs:Lyle is probably the ugliest man in Christendom, but he has a wonderful, wonderful voice.

But man oh man, is he incredibly ugly.

And very, very sexy.

Sexy and ugly, dunno how, but he is.

1) I dont believe he means this literally; I'm sure hes made a
little but as someone else said

2) If his contract was so bad why didnt he renegotiate over the
course of 23 years?

3) I, too, think Julia Roberts is a POS and think SHE got the better
part of that marriage

4) I've seen him on and off for almost twenty years. I skipped the
last time cuz tickets were over $75 but he's here on Wedndesday
for about $50 so I just might go.

5) If you get the change SEE HIM! EXCELLENT SONGS, EXCELLENT MUSIC!

Lyle's story sounds about right, and pretty typical. Going by this article, it seems he lives pretty simply down on the family spread in Texas:

The house is a small, one-story frame house of a style called pier and beam, which means that it sits on blocks. It has clapboard siding and is painted white, and has a wide front porch with columns. It is surrounded by shade trees, and there is a pond in front of it. The walk through the horse barn to the back door of Lovett's mother's house is about a hundred yards. Among the horses in the barn are ones that Lovett and his father bought to breed and race.

The house is furnished sparely. In the parlor, the principal adornments are two saddles, each in a corner on a sawhorse.

So what they're saying is that Lyle's place won't be on MTV Cribs any time soon.

Stroszek: He also records and tours with a gigantic band. That's got to have something to do with it, too.

That is exactly what I was thinking. A Large Band will do that to you every time.

This hatred for the RIAA is a simple misunderstanding. The full message is "the only way a recording artist will ever make money from recording sales is if every citizen in the world buys eight copies of said recording. If you do not buy eight copies, you are personally responsible for depriving the artist of the ability to make money. Sure, the record company and the RIAA make tons of money, but we're gonna make that money anyhow. We're thinking of the artist, because obviously you don't give a damn."

I just saw LL&HLB at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia a couple weeks ago. It was a great show and there were almost 7,000 people there to see him and the tickets were really expensive, at least for orchestra seats. He can still draw some significant crowds. The T-Shirt stand looked to be doing some good business, too.

Saw a "The Nanny" the other night with the Wilson sister that didn't have the stomach stapling and I was surprised that she lived in a rather modest home. Of course, she had much fewer hits than Lovett, and it seems to be the norm for them to make very little off sales.

Loved Lyle live. Recommended.

And, I can see where downloading DOESNT hurt the musician. Not what I would've expected.

Except when you buy direct, like from Bowie or Prince or Rundgren or Hiatt. Check their websites. Money straight into their pockets FTW!

Johnny Cash didn't make all that much money either...

/I just felt this was appropriate considering LL is a country singer and he's broke and...well fark it, I got nuttin'.

Liked him as the baker in Short Cuts.

As for Julia...way...way..way overrated

the band makes money by touring and the merch thats sold during that tour.

Generally, if any band breaks even during tour it's considered to be a huge success. Especially someone like Lovett who has to pay his musicians out of pocket.

I once hoped for a chance with Julia Roberts.

I didn't realize she was waiting for the "Son of Frankenstein".