"There are no rock stars anymore, just musicians."

[Anderton]

Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes said that, and I think he has a real point (check out the Lefsetz letter for the backstory). There are musicians who are famous, but I'm not sure they're stars.

 

Do you think there will ever be rock stars again, or has that train left the station? My sense is the latter.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Fame is less "universal" than it once was. It used to be that everyone had the same three TV channels and the same basic types of radio stations to listen to, so people all knew about the same things. Now with the Internet, every sub-genre has its own followers along with web sites that cater to them and they may or may not be aware of what's going on in other genres - usually not. So yes, there's still famous people, and even stars within those genres, but the day of the huge star that is more universally liked are apparently, at least for the moment, gone.

 

As far as waiting for a record company to "make you a star", I never really felt like that was a good career move. You have to build your own fan base - not expect someone else to make it happen for you.

[MikeRivers]

Rock stars have been replaced by social media stars. You don't need to play guitar or have nice hair to be a social media star.

[Dendy Jarrett]

To Phil's point - It was once easy to saturate the population with a talent. Now, we've diluted the delivery venues to the point that unless you are somewhat exceptional or conversely controversial, you'll hardly become a rock star (or even pop star). Adele or Timberlake would be examples of the exceptional talent (in most millennial's books).

 

And to Mike River's point - there are many people who have HUGE youtube followings and make a really good living being famous "unknowns".

 

D

[RockViolin]

 

As far as waiting for a record company to "make you a star", I never really felt like that was a good career move. You have to build your own fan base - not expect someone else to make it happen for you.

 

I really can't think of a business where waiting for someone to do it for you is a likely prospect. Maybe in Hollywood, if you have the right look and can act a little.

 

For my own part, I was approached after performing for possible management by an WEA A&R exec. He gave me his card (with Bugs Bunny on it) and suggested I give him a call. I met with him. He said some rather nice things-and had some good suggestions. One of which was to go home and form a band, following, etc.

 

Ultimately, I had acted during the summer on the advice of a friend. And though I'd made a splash, I wasn't particularly excited about signing with management and I didn't think there was a clear enough path to quit my orchestra job and move to Minneapolis. I took the A&R guy's advice. My health didn't quite hold up though.