Gavin Rossdale Says New Musical Landscape Is “Terrifying” for Upcoming Musicians

Since social media and streaming have entered the chat, every facet of the entertainment and media business has changed. Some for the worse and some for the better. Well, Bush’s lead singer, Gavin Rossdale, believes the music industry is taking a turn for the worse. Particularly in regard to its reliance on streaming and the infrastructure it entails.

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In a recent interview with Q With Tom Power, the ’90s frontman aired all of the grievances he has with the music business. Through those grievances, Gavin Rossdale also divulged his sincere concerns for the artists who are trying to make a living solely off music. In short, he’s not a fan and simply does not understand how the model can sustain one’s livelihood.

Gavin Rossdale Is “At a Loss To Explain”

Rossdale stated in the interview, “I’ve been a musician my whole life, and I’m at a loss to explain to someone how to do it, how to build from the ground up, how to get a career in that.” “It’s just terrifying because how do musicians and young bands get paid? I can’t work it out,” he continued.

Gavin Rossdale’s confusion seemingly resides in the complete metamorphosis of the business. When he and his band, Bush, were at their peak in the ’90s physical album sales, touring, and radio time were the standard lucrative practices in place. Though, now, only one of those practices remains truly relevant.

That being so, Rossdale has little to no inkling as to how these musicians support themselves financially. “Maybe you get one song with loads of streams, but we know that barely pays,” and “You just do the best you can. And you can obviously make money touring, but it takes a while to build up a catalog, so if you wanna come and see you, that’s a crap shoot,” stated Rossdale.

Gavin Rossdale’s comments are not a new observation. Notably, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, and Prince have all said things of a similar nature. More recently, Chappell Roan used her Grammy platform to utter a similar sentiment. She said on stage, “I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists.” Per Roan and Rossdale’s comments, the creative side of the business is demanding beneficial change for the parties that make the industry possible. However, will it come?

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