Vinnie Vincent has doubled down on one of the controversial launch methods in current rock historical past, defending his choice to promote CDs of his new single for as a lot as $300 — and warning followers that his upcoming album, Guitarmageddon, could by no means see the sunshine of day if gross sales don’t meet his expectations.
The previous Kiss guitarist lately started selling Guitarmageddon with an unconventional rollout, providing bodily CD copies of the lead single “Experience the Serpent” for $200. For U.S. patrons, the value climbs to $225 as soon as delivery is added, whereas worldwide followers face delivery prices of $100, pushing the whole to just about $300 for a single-song CD.
Regardless of backlash from followers, Vincent has proven no indicators of backing down. As an alternative, he has gone on the offensive, evaluating the only to luxurious items. Vincent described “Experience the Serpent” as “caviar or tremendous artwork,” calling it a “practically eight-minute, intense guitar powerdrive.” And yeah positive, possibly it’s that good, and naturally artists deserve compensation – however $300?
In a collection of posts responding to criticism (as captured by the parents at Guitar World), Vincent escalated the state of affairs additional, stating that he’ll solely launch Guitarmageddon if followers buy 1,000 CDs of every single — and that not one of the CDs will ship till all copies are offered.
“Until I get compensated for my work, the album stays unheard,” Vincent wrote. “The reward from a fan base is pointless until I am compensated FIRST.”
Vincent went on to argue that conventional album releases are not financially viable and claimed his pricing technique is a approach to counter bootlegging and devaluation of music within the streaming period. “I’m the producer. I produce excessive finish product. I set the value accordingly. It is that straightforward,” he stated. “I’ve created an elite product for elite style.”
In maybe his boldest assertion but, Vincent in contrast Guitarmageddon to a few of rock’s most revered albums. “I lived via Meet the Beatles, Led Zeppelin II, Are You Skilled, Reality, Wheels of Hearth, Pink Floyd and many others,” he wrote. “As for influence and perfection from the primary track to final, Guitarmageddon is a basic. The primary contender.”
Vincent acknowledged that these albums benefited from a long time of legacy and cultural influence, however insisted his report rivals them in high quality and ambition. Vincent additionally goes off the rails and takes some pretty shitty pictures at folks on meals stamps, saying: “So for the smash and seize EBT card group of self entitled complainers bitching about value… fuck off. The fatigue is now exhaustion. They’re the aspect impact of what the web produced. Gimme gimme gimme.”
Vincent additionally took intention at what he described as entitled followers and oversaturation within the fashionable guitar world, criticizing free entry to music and an abundance of gamers he feels lack originality. “At this level there’s an overload of guitar gamers,” he wrote. “They typically sound the identical, play the identical… Persons are starting to tune out guitar gamers as a result of they are a penny a dozen.”
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