The Single Debate ... Is it Necessary?

[evasivetear]

counter point

explosions in the sky

making music since 2000, no radio singles/music videos, a pretty good / loyal ollowing, coming out with another album in 2007, just touring and word of mouth to expand their fan base....and they've done a major motion picture soundtrack

this is another rare exception....but is also proof that it can be done

[Frank Nit]

dredg is bigger than explosions in the sky. the boys in eits have day jobs.

no one said it can't be done. it's just not a comfortable lifestyle.

[evasivetear]

Re: re: The Single Debate ... Is it Necessary?

sorry i wasn't clear....i wasn't implying that eits have made it big or can solely live off from their music.

i was more implying that they can continue to be a band and aquire new fans without promoting themselves in the conventional ways, ie singles and music videos...etc...and it was in response to this part of dredgfan's post....

Cause first and foremost a label will not back a band that won't release/write songs that could be singles. Plain and simple, so be it a noble cause, it is entirely impractical in this day and age, unless dredg only wants to tour the coast of california from now, do side projects more often than release a group album, and want to sell their cds in comic book stores.

so in that regard, yes it was said "it can't be done"

[BentTwig]

From what I know (and I've only been looking since the announcement of the tours) Ours doesn't get much if any radio play, and I checked out their site and they've been around for longer than dredg (The sour demo was released in 94 i believe) Im no expert on Ours, but I think im right on this.

Pantera didn't get much radio play, and one of their albums made it to #1 I believe. That says a lot right there.

[zah]

This doesn't really have anything to do with this question, but I didn't feel like searching for the other "next single?" threads. Just thought I'd share that on Metro's website (the Chicago venue where dredg will play in April), there's an "mPod" where people can hear songs from various bands that are playing at Metro. dredg's "Ode to the Sun" is on there:

http://www.metrochicago.com/media/mpod/index.html --- Track 21 (out of 36).

And to make my post a little more relevant, I still say NO, they don't need to rely on singles to broaden their fanbase. I still have never heard dredg on the radio or on TV (aside from when they've done appearances), and I heard about them by word of mouth.

[BuddyGoodness]

Bands don't make as much money from album sales as they do from tour and merch sales. Unless you sell 4 million+ records you are not making a whole lot in album royalties. I personally think they should have done ode as their first single but I could care less if they do another single because I don't listen to the radio unless it is NPR. I would like another video though, an artsy one that I can watch all the time. I also think Sang Real would be a huge single, that has party on the beach music written all over it and would probably make it to the top 10.

[Mattapooh]

re: The Single Debate ... Is it Necessary?

I think dredg gets more fans through downloads than through record sales, which could be a good thing because dredg tends to focus more on the live experience anyway. Plus, with regular touring they SHOULD be able to do okay. I think the problem is that they owe the record company money after recording expenses and advances and everything(which is how the industry works, sadly) and the label probably gives them quite a bit of tour support which they'd need to reimburse through sales.

They're probably losing money through record sales but doing very well from touring(aside from TOC which they almost certainly get paid very little if anything at all), which means they're probably about breaking even at this point.

The worst thing that can happen to a band like this is for them to break up, but hopefully instead they end up going to an indie label where they can keep more of the sales and work with their pre-established fanbase.

One can only hope, I guess. The ideal would be a Cure-ish steady following which would keep them comfortable while still doing their own thing.

[dredgfan001]

re: The Single Debate ... Is it Necessary?

I didn't mean to make it sound like bands could not be heard at all without releasing videos and singles, but as far as EITS, they did the score to a HUGE movie Firday Night Lights, so basically they released a huge music video. And I also know that dredgs loyal following is directly from word of mouth. And as far as merch sales go, bands make very little on that because most of it goes directly back to the companies that produe the shirts, that is why band shirts are sometimes so ridiculously expensive, so if you buy a band shirt for $15 they probably only make around 2-3 dollars off of that between 4 members, a merch guy, and whoever else they have on tour with them. I am sure dredg cannot charge that much to be booked, then you split it between, the four of them, the merch guy, their drum tech, their guitar tech and their sound guy, and you are looking at about $60-$80 dollars a night to each member of the band, which is good pay for the # of hours they actually work at that, but between gas and food on the road they are probably netting about $15-$20 per person per night, now none of this is definite and definitely depends on the venue, the night, amount of merch sold, and other such variables, very few bands are hugely rich. Even bands that are flavors of the week such as Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco aren't making huge amounts of money. Unless your Ben Gibbard and are able to create a song that is used in 2 out of 5 commercials you see on TV now-a-days, then you aren't making a supremely decent living off of your music.

[Mattapooh]

I have no idea here, is dredg touring in a van or a bus?

[StalkIncubus2012]

van

[amitface]

They had a bus for the Coheed tour, am I correct?

[mkdrummer84]

I agree totally, and LOVE Gruvis Malt, but their music is on a whole other level technically, and is not nearly as easy to listen to as dredg. So for Gruvis, maybe that was their best option, and since they've ditched the label, they've continued to put out some amazing albums. As for dredg, their fan base is growing, which is great for them, and their workload has been lessened by having the label do their promotion. So maybe that means they have that much more time to work on music. Personally I'd love to see another El Cielo come out, another album you have to listen to from begining to end. And while the label could take one song out of it and turn it into a single, it wouldn't be as easy as it was with Bug Eyes.

[Gnomad]

I wouldn't doubt the whole "they tried the mainstream and didn't enjoy it" theory. To be honest, every time I see them, they just seem more and more bored or tired of what they're currently doing. Maybe that's just me... but if they went back to working on the word of mouth bit, it wouldn't shock me.