Interview With Don Henley

"There's too much vapid pablum on the radio, too much airheaded, cliched junk that doesn 't mean anything. There's very little that grownups and thinking people can relate to out there these days."

In commenting on the music industry in general, Henley said.

As everyone knows, the music industry today is going through some serious changes. It's not in very good shape. The business as we have known it, has been forever changed by the advent of the digital age. Copyrighted works are being stolen, right and left, on the Internet and this is killing the industry. The Internet is basically destroying Copyrights altogether and, apparently there isn't much to be done about it. Congress is siding witht the digital companies for the sake of commerce, and intellectual property is the big loser in this game.

I'm just thankful that I'm not just starting out in the business now because the traditional income streams are all drying up. Soon, touring may be the only means of real income for a musician and so those acts who can't deliver a great live performance will be in trouble. The public needs to understand that internet priracy doesn't just affect rich rock stars or the people that they see on televison all the time. It takes the biggest toll on the little guys, the songwriters in Nashville who only write for a living and don't perform. The people who have second jobs just so they can crank out a song or two every month. It also affects the roadies and the truck drivers and the people who work at the CD pressing plants and the retail outlets. The collapse of the record industry will have a ripple effect that is wider and more far-reaching than most people can imagine. They say that in four or five years, the CD will disappear and that we will get our music via some kind of elctronic, digital device. I lament the day that I will not have something I can hold in hands. When I was a kid I was always fascinated by the covers of the vinyl albums and I read every word of the liner notes When all that got shrunk down to CD size is was disappointing, but at least there was something to look at, something to hold and to read. If the CD does disappear, I think that the whole experience of listening to music will be diminished, but maybe other people don't see it that way, I don't know.

In any case, this is another reason we decided to go with Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. We knew that we had millions of good, honest, hard-working fans out thee who would want to go and get this CD-and we were right. We are extremely grateful for all of our fans and we consider ourselves to truly fortunate and blessed. Without them, we wouldn't be here. They are the reason we continue to do what we do. That's the bottom line."

Exploring The Avenues

Have you heard? The music business is dying. Yes, it's true. I read it in Entertainment Weekly. A bunch of labels have laid off a bunch of people, because nobody, apparently, is buying music anymore.

It's a sad state of affairs. These rocket scientists who are illegally downloading music haven't quite grasped yet that before long, there won't be any more music to illegally download. Because artists aren't going to make any new music if they're not making any money from it.

Oh, I'm not blaming it all on the illegal downloading brigade. The corporate dunderheads in charge of the music labels haven't exactly been doing a stellar job in releasing good music - the kind that people would actually pay money for. Take Nashville, for instance.

Say you have one male vocalist with a thin, reedy voice, who happens to catch on somehow with the public - maybe because he wears a black cowboy hat or something. Well, the Nashville scions say, hey! We gotta find us another lanky dude with a black cowboy hat and a thin, reedy voice! Voila! We'll be millionaires!

And then we'll find a bunch of songs about fishin' and people dyin' and pickup trucks and......hey! How about this? Combine all those things into one song? A guy goes fishin' with his buddy, and then his buddy dies, and then the guy who's still alive loads the dead guy onto the back of his pickup truck and as he drives on down to the funeral parlor, he ruminates about all the fun him and his friend had through the years. It'd be a real sad song, and it would sell MILLIONS.

Well, you get the picture.

So, since the music business is dying, what's an independent artist to do?

I've been exploring the option of licensing music for TV and movies.

There's a bunch of websites out there that will accept your music (if it's professionally done) and will stick your music on their site and wait to see if anybody in TV or the movies is interested.

It's a win-win.

Of course, nobody is creating any new TV or movies right now, due to the writer's strike. Just my luck. Bad timing, as usual.

But, be that as it may, I have found a few sites that have some potential. And dang, I'd be thrilled to hear one of our songs on a TV show, or better yet, in a movie. Who wouldn't?

Even if it didn't earn us more than $20.00, it would still be well worth it, just for the thrill alone.

So, if you're making music and don't have anywhere to go with it, do a Google search for music licensing. There's a bunch of sites out there; some better than others. Read their terms of service and make a decision for yourself if their site is the place for you. You never know!

P.S. Of all the sites I've found, one that offers SUPERIOR service, in my estimation, is Audiosparx. Great, great personalized service. I highly recommend it.