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Old 01-31-2019, 11:28 PM
saniette saniette is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveMacD View Post
And this is the key difference between the two situations. Stevie was working an album that was already out.

If we’re being honest, their solo careers are not equivalent. Stevie has a legitimate second mainstream career. She can play stadiums and large amphitheaters on her own. She’s part of two large machines and is responsible for the livelihoods of significantly more people. If she felt a certain momentum for one project, she has the right and obligation to see it through. She put the band on hold because there was some apparent momentum for IYD, and then she put her solo plans on hold when Fleetwood Mac had the momentum.

Lindsey didn’t have a true solo career. He tried in the early ‘90s, but it didn’t work out. After that, his solo work was more extracurricular, large machine vs. small machine. His solo tours are more artistic endeavors intended to make an artistic statement more than profit. I think Elle has said on a few occasions that One Man Show was his only tour (at least prior to 2013) that was profitable.

Not that one is better than the other, it’s just the reality of the situation.
The sales of IYD weren't that great according to Stevie herself, so where was the "right and obligation" to extend the tour? I guess that was just "apparent" momentum after all. I also don't agree that Lindsey can only ask to do a solo tour in order to promote an album. Where are all these rules coming from? You could just as easily argue that Stevie was less justified in her request, as she'd already completed a solo tour and simply wanted to extend it, and FM had provisionally agreed to tour in 2012.

LB/CM was supposed to be an FM album. Stevie chose not to participate, so on some level Lindsey's tour with Christine in 2017 was an FM year. I say he was right in asking for a solo break, as LB/CM should have been an FM project. There's really no way to spin Stevie's hypocrisy here, except I guess the rules are different for her because, let me guess, $$$$? But they would never say "Let's just close our eyes and take the money." It's really saying it out loud that's the problem, but doing it night after night is just fine.

The key difference between their solo careers is that Stevie is selling a brand and Lindsey is selling music. Good sales figures don't make music sound any better, or the concert more enjoyable.

Since FM wants to cash in on Tom Petty's legacy this tour, I wonder what Tom would have made of this idea that greed and profitability trumps everything else:

“You don’t hear any more of, ‘Hey, we did something creative and we turned a profit, how about that?’ Everywhere we look, we want to make the most money possible. This is a dangerous, corrupt notion. That’s where you see the advent of programming on the radio, and radio research, all these silly things. That has made pop music what it is today. Everything — morals, truth — is all going out the window in favor of profit."

Tom didn't think too highly of charging $150 a ticket, either, and this was back in 2002. This is pretty much the antithesis of FM, and I doubt Stevie or Mick even knows or cares what parking costs:
“My top price is about $65, and I turn a very healthy profit on that; I make millions on the road. I see no reason to bring the price up, even though I have heard many an anxious promoter say, ‘We could charge 150 bucks for this.’ I would like to do this again and maybe come through and not leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. I was at one of our gigs recently, and I was just stunned driving in that it cost $30 dollars to park your car. It’s so wrong to say, ‘OK, we’ve got them on the ticket and we’ve got them on the beer and we’ve got on everything else, let’s get them on the damn parking.’ You got to care about the person you’re dealing with.”

Last edited by saniette; 01-31-2019 at 11:39 PM..
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