Per: “I’m not interested in the music business anymore”
Written by roxeteer on June 23, 2003 to Per Gessle.
HELSINKI - The international free newspaper Metro published a big Per Gessle interview in its Helsinki edition last week. Per’s album was released in Finland on the same day as in Sweden, so the topic is relevant. Per tells in the interview that the album was made just for fun.
“It’s a personal record and made by my own terms,” he says. “I didn’t want the record company to mess up things. I’m tired of everything being so planned ahead. Everything is so narrow and adjusted in music business, especially internationally.”
“I unsubscribed from the music magazines and stopped reading charts a couple of years ago. There was too much music I didn’t like,” Per says. “Actually, I follow the F1 season more than music business.”
If you look back on your career as an artist, are you surprised how well you’ve done?
“That’s something I haven’t been asked before. I think I am. At the same time, I think I am good at writing songs. That’s my main operations. If I compare Roxette’s success to its competitors, I think Roxette’s place in rock history is definitely well-deserved.”
So, what’s a typical Per Gessle song?
“At its best it’s short. I believe that if people like the song it will be played again. 2.39 - that’s a fantastic length for a pop track.”
You have fought against music piracy. Aren’t CDs too expensive?
“In my opinion it’s wrong if a whole generation is raised to believe that music is free. If you don’t pay the musicians, the music gets poorer. And if you compare the prices to the ones I pay for my son’s computer games, CDs aren’t that expensive.”
Other articles with the same topic
- Happy birthday, Per (January 12, 2011)
- Per tells TDR that he and Marie are "thrilled" with what's to come in 2011 (January 3, 2011)
- Radio Halland’s annual interview with Per Gessle today (December 28, 2010)
- Macca at the Apollo (December 14, 2010)
- Per Gessle one of Sweden's most played songwriters (October 8, 2010)
30 comments
pietROxette said on June 23, 2003 14:46:
“I didn’t want the record company to mess up things.”
Well, they still managed to create a huuuuge delay with the DVD-edition of Mazarin... Acording to one of their employees, they will only ship the album to our local music supplier today, and they were yet unable to fulfill their international orders, as they still haven’t received many of the DVDs...
Well, we can discuss if CDs are expensive or not, but the attitude of the record labels must be changed first. I mean, I have to import almost all releases (I mean, international ones), since EMI here doesn’t release things on time, no limited editions, 18 copies of the All videos DVD for 10 million people and so on. Yea, people should definitely not think music is for free. But come on, I’d love to go to a record shop and buy albums on the release date, for a regular price, rather than paying for international shipping and handling. And EMI actually represents Roxette where I live, so this is not similar to the US, where Roxette doesn’t really have a record deal. It’s one thing that without promotion, people won’t buy CDs. There are all so many people who are surprised when they get to know that Roxette still make music and they have albums after Crash! Boom! Bang!. All these people would be happy to have the albums from Roxette they don’t yet have, but obviously, if they do not see any ads, how should they know that they could go and buy them?
So, to sum it up, I believe record companies should first dramatically change their attitude towards promotion and distribution. Because it’s definitely not mp3 or KaZaA that generates loss for them.
Jud (moderator) said on June 23, 2003 14:59:
well I guess it is expensive or not depending on with what eyes you look at it (or depending on how much money you have in ur account), as everything.
If you earn 900 euro a month and have to pay a rent of 400, add the electricity, gas, phone and food (not even adding clothes, shoes, internet, keeping a car, going out or having a pet home) and try to save for the future, then 15-19 Euro for a CD IS expensive.
If you earn 20 times that amount, well, of course, 15-19 Euro is like a nothing.
Vixzter said on June 23, 2003 16:16:
To quote Per again: “I didn’t want the record company to mess up things.”
So they’ve been messing things up?? LOL I’m glad you finaly noticed ;)
frodi said on June 23, 2003 16:34:
To compare cd’s with computer (I guess he mean console, but anyway...) games is a interesting thing to do. Well, of course it depends how much you have in the wallet/at the account, but both games and cds are too expensive. I think we have heard this story all over more than once. The stuff becomes expensiveier, people download because of that and that makes the prices rise...
But someone said that “The Eminem show” was the most downloaded cd ever, but still it sold more than the most cds at that time. I believe that it’s something similar with Kents album “Vapen & ammunitation”.
But it looks like no one will dare to produce anything (movies, cd, games, software...) because they won’t get paid.
steven said on June 23, 2003 16:42:
Per: “In my opinion it’s wrong if a whole generation is raised to believe that music is free”.
bunny said on June 23, 2003 17:39:
One thing the record company doesn’t understand is, if they lower the cost of a CD, they will end up selling more than they have right now, and it will make up for the loss from some people downloading music. But of course, they want to get the most out of everybody, so maybe the music industry does deserve this downfall
pietROxette said on June 23, 2003 18:35:
@ steven :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))
Well, of course I’ve downloaded Mazarin, since I was pissed off to hear that something I’ve ordered like 2 weeks before its release date is delayed again and again and again. This doesn’t mean that I’m not going to pick up the album when it arrives.
Ferdan said on June 23, 2003 20:15:
“Per: “In my opinion it’s wrong if a whole generation is raised to believe that music is free”.
“
If you’d seen the actual numbers of people downloading MP3 in southamerica, and the people downloading in europe or USA, or easterneurope...
you’d be very surprised.
——–
And the biggest music pirate country is China followed by Russia.
Stormkeeper said on June 23, 2003 21:12:
hey comparing a price of the CD´s to computer games‘s prices is easy way to not face the truth, isn´t it Per...
of course CD´s are not expensive for you, but your fan´s arent millionaires I´m afraid...
PerFanatic said on June 24, 2003 00:27:
OK, there are definately two sides to this issue, but whoever comments on it, I almost never hear them mention any hard facts.
First of all, yes, as a rule, CD’s are generally too expensive. Sure, it depends on many factors, like where you live and how much you make, but they are too expensive even in the US, so I can imagine in other countries where the wages are lower, it’s evem a bigger problem. And, here’s the real kicker, the ARTIST receives VERY LITTLE from each CD sale. It’s some ridiculous amount like 50 cents or something. The rest goes the retailers, wholesalers, and worst of all, the crappy record companies and their executives. I don’t know the exact breakdown, but I do know that these morons need to check themselves, reduce THEIR portion of the pie, and maybe then, CD prices would drop to a more reasonable level.
As to music piracy... sure, our entire generation should NOT expect to get music for free, buy consider this: I but A LOT MORE CD’s than I ever used to and it’s mostly because of file sharing. I can’t even list all of the artists that I have purchased CD’s from that I never would have known if not for Napster, AudioG and the like. However, since they started copy protecting CD;s I buy much less now, so they are shooting themselves in the foot and losing milions because of it! Record companies: wake up!!!
kixpl said on June 24, 2003 04:44:
In a Polish edition of “Metro” in Warsaw (called Metropol) there was also the same interview a week ago.
marre said on June 24, 2003 06:51:
Per You are a snobb
cd’s ARE expensive
now you might not understand that becuse you got loads of money but not all swedes do :(
and no I dont afford to buy computergames only paying the rent and food
Dmitry said on June 24, 2003 07:14:
(a bit out of the topic)
to Anonymous, who wrote up there about Room Service that except for Real Sugar, TCOTH & MATAH all the rest on the album is just average material: I don‘t agree with you - what about Looking For Jane, for example, Make My Head Go Pop, or My World, My Love, My Life - do really think it‘s just some B-side average material?
marre said on June 24, 2003 07:23:
I agree with Anonymous completly.
hey everyone have diffrent taste I guess
Dmitry said on June 24, 2003 10:13:
do i have to log in on this website every time I want to submit a message?
Junkie said on June 24, 2003 18:29:
@Ferdan:
How do you think one can buy a CD for $18 if he gets $35 a month in Russia? Of course I’m, working at a pharmacy, can effort myself a real CD, and I’d already ordered Mazarin from the FC, but other people also like Roxette, even if they are poor and don’t have any money at all.
Of course, in the last few years a lot of music stores had been opened in Russia where you can buy real CDs and people understand that the quality is much more important that the price. And I tell everyone, that if you’re a fan, you should go and buy a real CD - you should do anything for your idol.
On the other side, if you just want to hear to one song, you could either go to the music store or you could have some promo mp3s in low quality...
Russia is a very young contry, it’s just 10 years old, as in 1993 Soviet Union devided into 15 states. We’re developing and I realy hope in 20-30 years it would be much less pirated music than now.
ditroia said on June 25, 2003 03:43:
I Think there’s no definative answer on wherether music piracy of any from is Right, Wrong or Justifiable. The world isn’t black and white.
I have no doubt that file sharing has helped many artists to become more well know or popular including roxette.
I remember hearing about College students in the US downloading HAND and it being a very popular album to download, where if there was no File sharing those people would never have heard of roxette.
If then one of those people buys Look Sharp for example then I think It’s Helped even if the other people never buy and album, in the very least it makes Roxette more popular.
But is it right, is there a better way, who knows. One thing for sure I can never see Paying to download a file becoming as popular as buying real albums, at least not in the short term.
I Do agree that albums are too expensive, and am pissed of that most of the money goes to the Label and not the artist.
ditroia said on June 25, 2003 03:51:
Back again the only good and smart thing t he record companies are doing is adding bonus DVD’s [Mazarin, St. Anger], Bonus Cd’s, Special Editions etc.
Including added value items with Albums while keeping the price the same is a damn good move.
No new Roxette Album should be released without a bonus CD/DVD/Mixes etc...
Dave
Vixzter said on June 25, 2003 20:29:
Mmmmm here in the UK 9 times out of 10 a ltd edition cd will cost more than the bog standard one.
ie: I recently brought Linkin Park’s Meteora the nice foldy out special edition it cost me £16.99 where as the normal cd was sommit like £12.99.
Ok so I didn’t shop around, but I didn’t have time to and why should I have to? if cds came down in price, more would be sold and so would end record companies obsession with the idea that ’the internet is killing the music buisness’ theory.
sundance_kid said on June 23, 2003 14:21:
Great Per!
Do your own things the way you want to!
But Per, cd’s ARE expensive.