Garbage singer Shirley Manson didn’t pull any punches when lamenting the state of the music industry.
Earlier this year, Garbage announced that their fall run of dates would be their final North American headline tour. In a speech during their recent stop in Denver, Shirley Manson further explained the decision — noting how difficult it is for artists to survive in the modern music industry.
“It has become entirely unsustainable for a band like us to come and tour anywhere except the coasts,” the acclaimed frontwoman declared.“And it’s upsetting, but we’ve had a glorious 30-year career, and we really have no complaints. But I bring this up every night because I think it’s imperative that we all start to understand what exactly is going on in the music industry. And it’s difficult to get your head around, right? Because you see all these big pop stars, and they’re making billions and billions and billions of dollars and they’re rich and they’re glamorous and they’re amazing. But the problem is that most of the music industry is not made of these big pop-stars. They’re made of working musicians.”
“This is not a pity party for us,” she insisted, instead expressing her concern for the next generation of acts. “This is an alarm call for all the young generations of musicians who are in our wake, and who we feel duty-bound to speak up for because there’s nobody speaking up for them. There is no governmental body. There’s no fucking real effective union for musicians that fights for young musicians to get paid. The average musician makes $12 a month on Spotify. They’re sleeping in their vans, they’re holding down numerous jobs, and they’re playing their guts out every night. The fact that they are not even able to sell a record and it’s taken from them by rich motherfuckers on streaming platforms who get paid royally by record labels, who get paid royally by Ticketmaster, who get paid royally by merch companies, who get paid royally — the list goes on and on and on. There’s accountants. There’s lawyers. They’re all fucking getting paid, except for the musician.”
“So I bring this up tonight because you are the ones who will lose out on generations of esoteric, risk-taking, creative, adventurous weirdos, rebels, agitators, and provocateurs,” Manson concluded. “You’re gonna get fucking white bread. That’s it. So thank you so much for coming out tonight, for supporting us for 30 years. Our love is strong for you. Keep supporting live music when you can. Buy vinyl when you can.”
Garbage’s final North American tour is scheduled to conclude November 14 in Mexico City. Their last U.S. date is November 5 in Los Angeles.