Devalued: The Muse Won’t Pay Your Bills with Steve Albini
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
- Today we talk with legendary recording engineer Steve Albini. He’s produced thousands of albums (including Nirvana, The Breeders, Pixies, PJ Harvey) and runs his Chicago studio Electrical Audio as a highly accessible destination. He also makes his own music in the band Shellac.
He’s made a living finding the balance between art and money; two entities that don’t have a natural relationship. He talks with Devalued about his beginnings in the punk community through the economics of being in a band. Albini is known for his frank opinions and they are most appreciated in this forum.
More from Steve Albini:
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www.electricalaudio.com/
shellac.bandcamp.com/
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About Devalued Podcast:
The place where we talk about art, money and how creative people are navigating the ever changing landscape to make a living for their work. Publicly asking the questions that every artist is already asking in private.
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![Steve Albini - Q and A [Drexel Music Industry Program]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lbtveqUdTbA/mqdefault.jpg)
"You don't take a shit on your break. You break is your break. You take a shit on the clock."
Gonna miss Steve. Everytime one of these people passes I feel as though a less clinical, less sanitised, and less corporatised world begins to pass away with them.
A less noncey world, perhaps?
Excellent. SA is a model for sane socialism, and one which respects art
Gonna miss you Steve.
What an absolute brilliant man. Great interview. RIP to a sonic master.
The more I listen to Steve's train of thought the more I miss him.
I appreciate his command of language.
Great video. R.I.P. Steve Albini.
I want to hear Little Lord Fauntleroy's acoustic album tho, tbh
Listen to a Mumford & Sons album.
@@paulricketts10 No!!!
thank you for this interview, this was excellent
One of the best interviews with Steve I’ve heard. Thank you!
This is awesome integrity and wisdom, can't believe it only has 124 thumbs up.
Hidden UA-cam Gem
I always enjoy hearing Steve talk about things Ian the music industry.
Really nice insights in this one
Having a job is a job. Life is about stresses and joy, find value in friends in family.
Yes
he is like a jollier henry rollins, lol.
I've always considered him the anti-Henry Rollins. I remember his line about Rollins' weight-training- "I don't see the point of picking something up only to put it straight back down again".
Jolly Henry Rollins😂😂😂
He sounds like Noam Chomsky but not quoting NYT constantly lol
The UK has a good dole system, so i think that really helped a lot of musicians in britain.
no, it fucking dosn't
Not anymore. #okboomer
Used to be ace. Now... Not even slightly. You have to go into the job centre 3 times a week & prove you've applied for 25 jobs that don't exist. The 90s was a golden era for the dole in the UK. But that is 30 years ago....
Used to be that way and it created great art
45:35
There should be a fund for billionaires that are fans of music to pay rock musicians the equal amount theyd get from a commercial
Lots of people make a living from music. You just need to change with the times. Marc Rebelliet makes hundreds of dollars every time he streams from his bedroom.
Doesn't capitalism just mean everyone has the right to to sell their labour and get paid for it, within the free market? I'm confused what he means by not being a capitalist..
That's because it is confusing. At least the way it's discussed. Really, it's just a way of distinguishing what has always normally gone on and the trends that eventually rose out of it from the coming socialist utopia. Sound weird and outdated? Well, it is the mental landscape of over a hundred years ago, so it very much is. Some people had used the word before that as a general "ism" word like adding "ish" to something. They were usually more describing the trends that rose out of it than what you have described above, which, before the socialist movements (and included in most of them, actually) was just life in a world not completely controlled by nobels and royalty. Back to the way it was before the medival period but with freemen in charge this time, supposedly. Money, trade, specialization...civilization.
"Capitalism" without the socialist perspective is just the world the way it is.
Unfortunately the only people intrested in pointing this out are the right wing think tanks the billionaires created to convince people that being a "libertarian" (look up "american libertarian" then just "libertarian" on Wikipedia) means fighting for wealthy families intrests and that the capitalist world is secretly controlled by communists and the minority is actually an unstoppable majority and all that shit no poor person would come up with on their own unless they were being constantly threatened with the imaginary green haired plague that (very) literally only exists on paper and on the college campus and in Canada and Europe. "They" are always taking over until the real "they" easily load them into trains at night somehow. Weird how that turns out in the end if "they" really were such a threat.
Anyway, for a person seeing the world from the socialist perspective any type of trade or ownership could possibly be seen as exploitative capitalist abuse. There are multiple discussions on how that works exactly and always has been. Most are based on ignorance and confused people trying to appear more dedicated, as is human nature. The real deal socialist have more reasonable and nuanced stupid ideas about all this and are much more rational in their bullshit wet dreams. People like Steve would be both less and more hardcore if they studied the debate in the literature and the history of this conversation a bit more thoroughly. He has a general disposition more than a theory which is a goid AND a bad thing in his and people like himself's case.
I'd still rather have a beer with Steve than any right winger, though. Or any communist either.
I think in the context he means he isn't a bread head particularly with regard to recording music. He's not about squeezing as much money as he possibly can out of recording bands partly because those with less money are likely to be the bands he will have 'fun' recording working with. He has a negotiable price scale and it is very very cheap for a big name in an industry that relies on reputation. His studio is well designed and built, and he could easily charge 3 times what he does and he could pay his staff less. He is also very hands on still - whereas he could just use his name to sell studio time for a lot more than he does and probably never set foot in a studio. A capitalist in this context would most likely sit back after 40 years in the game and milk his name whilst also collecting royalties on everything.
The world does not owe you a living for your personal expression.
How about we ask doctors to stop expecting money from treating sick people until we only have hobbyists? Auto mechanics that are actually insurance salesmen and bankers working on priceless designer cars and antiques! Also ironic how when he was a musician he didn’t have to work and survived off selling thousands of records, as well as virtually all of the artists he worked with who didn’t have jobs.
Producers have a big part in the job of what a record sounds like. Also, if producers aren’t paid than how do they show up for work? The deserve royalties. Steve’s logic doesn’t quite hold because the arts is not comparable to a blue collar trade. Big money is few and far between.
Doctors don't get money for every day a patient remains in this life after the surgery or whatever, wtf are you talking about
You've just completely contradicted your opening paragraph with your closing paragraph. The rest of it isn't worthy of comment.
@@Spectrescup someone doesn’t understand sarcasm and irony
@@Gcssdvnkloiutesc yeah, I don't really think trying to take the intellectual high ground will work out to your advantage.
@@Spectrescup You can’t comprehend pretty basic prose yet you’re giving me I R Smart conceit and pomposity. Do you know what an analogy is? Do you know what a paragraph is? Notice there are two separate paragraphs. In the first I was using not just the blue collar trade but white collar, doctors, professions in general as an analog for the value and implications of labor. The next paragraph ends with a response to something albini said about if you’re a plumber you don’t pay them the rest of your life for fixing a pipe. Assuming that is your misunderstanding. I’m trying to put myself in your shoes and misread something I wrote.
Having a job is not awesome, unless you love it, otherwise they suck your soul, hes a bit out of touch here. When was the last time Steve had a shitty boss? You cant forget your job, it eats at you.
He's advising musicians to work and earn money elsewhere not from their music. Damn he doesn't know how a musician lives and creates music and invests a life in musicianship. No he doesn't.
I disagree.
You know how to get a million dollars as a musician? Start with 2 million
Lmao. You have no idea who this man is do you.
@@stevenhenry5267 I don't give much credit to producers, engineers, mixers, studio owners, promoters, media or platforms. Music is none of that, it's the soul of a hard working honest creative artist who has all rights to earn from his/her music. I enjoy some of his work as a musician from the Big Black era, that's it.
@@myguitardidyermom212 He can quit and sell his studio if that's the case. I'm not talking about big easy money. There's a lot of musical geniuses out there who can't make a living, and there's no right to promote the idea that musicians ought to be natural losers, no they are not, music does not have to be a bedroom hobby for everyone.
Hahahaha. He's in a band and has been in multiple bands and knows quite a bit about bands,money,touring, the system, and the history of the music industry. You're hilarious.
"I'm not a capitalist and don't think life needs to be earned..." charges over $1500 a day to record with him in his studio.
he does not take royalties on recordings whatsoever so if an album makes millions of dollars he still only gets a couple days to a week of payment and I’m sure he’s negotiable.
You'll never find a dude with his CV charging less
Forgot to add, he also uses the money to pay his entire staff and obviously all the bills that come with running a facility and buying equipment.
@@Fleabug7329 yes, a reel of 2 inch tape alone costs $150
Yea, when he could charge sooo much more at this point are you kidding… how much do you think people who do what he does at the level he does usually charge ? Lemme tell ya it’s more than 1500 a day. that’s not even considering that he is, in his field, world renowned and famous for what he does. The guy knows what he’s worth and if you ask me, he knows he’s worth more and is purposely underselling (and therefore has every right to make those claims) so that more bands of far more shapes, sizes and budgets can work with him. This coming from someone who doesn’t even necessarily agree with everything he says or love most of what he’s done. Get off the high horse.
I used to admire this guy .Now I find him a pretentious smarty-pants.I think we all need to give him a long time out and his silly boring band. Ugh....
His band is great, not boring at all
@@Brokenface and I dare say he doesn't care what larch or anyone else thinks.
yea, 2020 did it for me....what a tool
Ugh, I hate when people think for themselves. I wish everyone agreed with my opinions.
HATER 😅😅😅😂😂😂
Having a job is definitely not awesome
*But it is viewed as essential for basic necessities, services and goods in a capitalist society...which is what we live in.*