Kiss Talks About Music Piracy

The remaining original Kiss band members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, discussed with USA Today their first new album in a decade.  The album Sonic Boom, released yesterday exclusively at WalMart, is a three-disc set with a CD of re-recorded hits, a live DVD of a Buenos Aires concert, and 11 new songs.  It’s only $12, “the price of a sandwich,” says Simmons.

The pair also talked about the current state of the music biz and piracy.  “Anybody who says, ‘I’m only in it for the music’ will find himself washing cars and wondering where the money went,” said Paul Stanley.  “Gene and I believe in working hard and making no apologies for what we get for the hard work.”

Touring and merchandise are necessary for the band to offset losses from music piracy.  “You grab an album and leave a store, they put you in handcuffs,” said Stanley.  “And yet someone on the Internet can decide whether or not I get paid.  File-sharing, that’s like me stealing your car and telling you I’m sharing your transportation.”

Illicit downloading is one reason the band had resisted recording new material for a decade.  Says a sneering Simmons: “These freckle-faced college kids have destroyed an entire industry by stealing.  I don’t believe in socialism and, the last time I checked, what we do isn’t charity.”

We reap what we sow.  If we continue to demand that our music, movies and software be free, and steal anything that is not free, eventually all that will remain is free crap and corporate-sponsored product.  Is this really what we want?