Music is a big part of many of our lives and some of us just can't live without our Spotify lists or iPod Touch. It's why musicians are huge celebrities and their music is a big part of our joy, sadness, and memories. The music industry has produced countless stars over the years and some artists have inarguable natural talent, while others have to work hard to hone their craft. Regardless, fans still dig the output of a musician if their music manages to communicate something to them. But there are things in the music industry and in the lives of these artists that are kept as secrets. We've made a video that unveils the secrets the music industry tries to hide. Watch to find out!
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00:00Musicians are huge celebrities.
00:03Their music is everywhere, their faces are everywhere, and their lives are seemingly
00:07perfect at all times.
00:08But there's a lot more going on in a musician's life and career.
00:11Here are some secrets musicians would rather you didn't know about them.
00:16Phony artistic cred
00:17Most musicians want you to think they write songs by themselves, or at least played a
00:22very heavy part in creating them.
00:24The sad truth is, many write next to nothing, and their byline exists simply for the artist
00:28to get paid.
00:29Often times, the singer merely contributes one or two words, which technically makes
00:33them a co-writer.
00:34Sometimes, they don't even bother with that much effort.
00:37Songwriter Chantel Kraviazek accused Avril Lavigne of writing little that she's been
00:42credited for.
00:43She later walked those claims back, but it's a little late for that.
00:46Then there's Lauryn Hill, who got sued by the songwriting team that helped her put together
00:501998's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
00:53Her label credited Hill as writing most everything by herself, which the lawsuit claimed simply
00:58was not the case.
00:59They later settled out of court, but smoke suggests fire.
01:03Fake personas
01:05Few things hurt a musician's reputation more than not being perceived as real or genuine.
01:09So many stars craft a persona that makes them seem more real, even though doing so makes
01:14them as fake as can be.
01:15This happens in all genres, from country stars pretending to be down-to-earth regular folk
01:20to metal bands pretending to be dark and evil.
01:23Slayer acts like death-obsessed maniacs, when in truth, their singer is a practicing Catholic.
01:28Fake personas may be most egregious in hip-hop, a genre obsessed with realness.
01:33Take someone like Rick Ross, a former prison guard named William Roberts who reinvented
01:38himself as an ex-cocaine boss.
01:40In truth, he borrowed that origin story from an actual drug dealer named Rick Ross.
01:46The real Ross sued the fake Ross for $10 million, which proved unsuccessful because apparently
01:51impersonation of a drug dealer is not a crime.
01:54Rapper Akon also got caught lying about his past, when the Smoking Gun revealed his backstory
01:59of being the kingpin of a car theft ring and serving years in prison was an outright lie.
02:04It was just another tall tale designed to sell albums and tickets.
02:09Making ends meet
02:10If your goal is to make money from music, here's a reality check.
02:14It's probably not going to happen.
02:16Thanks to downloading and streaming, virtually no musicians make money simply from writing,
02:20recording, and releasing music.
02:22Instead, be prepared to make your fortune through many other routes, some of which aren't
02:27glamorous in the least.
02:28Plenty of musicians make their money by touring, but for many, that simply isn't enough.
02:33That's why you see so many pop stars shilling their own lines of perfume and cologne, clothing
02:37lines, or anything else beyond a simple t-shirt with the artist's picture on it.
02:42They don't really care if you smell good, they just want to pay their bills.
02:46Songwriters vs. streaming
02:47The rise of streaming and the decline of people willing to pay anything for music has affected
02:52musicians greatly, but what they're going through is nothing compared to those who've
02:56been most devastated by the lack of funds.
02:58The songwriters
02:59If your only job is to write songs for other people to sing, you might as well do that
03:03for free at this point.
03:05According to Pacific Standard, songwriters are among the only people in the industry
03:09who've never formed a legitimate union, so the internet age has hit them the hardest.
03:13They can expect to make, if they're lucky, about half a penny per stream of a song they
03:18wrote.
03:19Songwriter Andre Lindahl, who wrote Justin Bieber's smash hit As Long As You Love Me,
03:24made a mere $218 off 34 million YouTube hits in the song's first year of release.
03:31Over on Pandora, despite 38 million streams of the song, he pocketed a paltry $278.
03:38Fake beefs
03:40Most musician feuds are about as genuine as pro-wrestling feuds, cooked up to sell albums
03:45or simply to remind everyone the musicians exist.
03:4850 Cent and Kanye West had a long-running beef, but to hear fellow hip-hopper Reverend
03:52Run tell it, they were acting from the start.
03:55The two often released music around the same time, so according to Run, their squabbling
03:59existed entirely to promote their work.
04:02Remember Beyoncé's sister Solange Knowles confronting Jay-Z in an elevator, perhaps
04:06as revenge for Jay cheating on Bey?
04:08Well, according to the lady's father, Matthew Knowles, that was staged melodrama from the
04:12start.
04:13There was a tour coming up, so the clan staged what the elder Knowles called a Jedi mind
04:18trick, which got everybody in the news, boosted tour exposure, and increased Solange's album
04:23sales by over 200 percent.
04:25Fake feuds can also introduce us to new people.
04:27In the 90s, teen R&B sensations Brandi and Monica were known for their feud.
04:32Years later, Monica admitted to a radio station that the drama was a label-authored storyline,
04:36cooked to launch them into the spotlight.
04:38Apparently, it wasn't enough to pretend feud over a boy in a duet, they had to actually
04:44feud to truly sell the song.
04:47Deeply indebted
04:48Not only is it hard to make a living as a musician, as is, being a rock star often means
04:54being deeply in debt to your label almost literally from the start.
04:57Courtney Love penned an essay for Salon in 2000, outlining how inevitable it is for a
05:02musician to fall into debt.
05:04Basically, the label gives an artist an advance, spending a certain amount to record an album,
05:08then the rest goes to management, lawyers, taxes, and finally themselves.
05:12It's possible to be advanced a million dollars and see under 50 grand of it.
05:16Not to mention, you'll need to pay back that advance, not the reason most artists want
05:20to go on tour.
05:21It's not just Love.
05:22In 2008, EMI sued 30 Seconds to Mars for $30 million, but according to the band, EMI never
05:29paid them any royalties.
05:30Meanwhile, country star Lyle Lovett told Billboard in 2008 he's earned no money from selling
05:364.6 million albums in his career.
05:38If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:43the route to take.
05:46If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:47the route to take.
05:48If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:49the route to take.
05:50If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:51the route to take.
05:52If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:53the route to take.
05:54If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:55the route to take.
05:56If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:57the route to take.
05:58If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
05:59the route to take.
06:00If you want to make money in music, actually creating and playing the music clearly isn't
06:01the route to take.