CARMINE APPICE Says Concert Ticket Prices Today Are 'Ridiculous': 'Who's Buying All These Tickets? Rich People?'

In a new interview with Chris Akin of The Classic Metal Show, legendary drummer Carmine Appice once again said that he is not a big fan of the access-over-ownership business model of streaming music. "You know what? I don't belong to any of those streaming services," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I download [music legally instead]. People send me [messages], 'Hey, listen to this on Spotify.' I say, 'I don't do Spotify,' because they rip us off so bad. And I just won't support that."

He continued: "I went to see PAPA ROACH and SHINEDOWN. And I'd never seen SHINEDOWN. I heard about PAPA ROACH. I'd never seen them. And SHINEDOWN was okay, but, man, PAPA ROACH just killed me. They were fricking great. So I went on iTunes and I bought 10 of their songs. I bought 'em. I won't stream it. Now I have it forever. And that's what's missing today."

Appice, who still occasionally performs with "The Rod Show" (also known as "The Rod Experience"),a tribute project that recreates the music and legacy of his time playing with Rod Stewart, went on to say that because streaming music services like Spotify and Apple Music took away the traditional revenue stream of selling music, most rock bands are forced to make their money touring.

"You notice everybody's touring, and look at their ticket prices," Carmine said. "I mean, you go see Rod Stewart — it's a thousand dollars. But you can come see our show for 75 bucks. It's the same thing. But that's it — you look at everybody touring, and the money that people are spending on tickets. $3,000 or something for [a ticket to see] Bruce Springsteen. And I heard that KISS, the last show, [it] was 12, 13 grand for one ticket. That's ridiculous. Who the hell buys tickets for $12,000? And [if] you [wanna] bring your wife, it's $25,000. By the time you're done with everything, it's probably $27,000. If you buy a shirt, two shirts… It's ridiculous. Where do people get that money to do that? Credit cards? … Come on. I mean, that's ridiculous. What do these people do for a living? Average people, what do they make? 70, 80,000 a year? I mean, who's buying all these tickets? Rich people?"

Carmine previously expressed his disdain for streaming music services like Spotify during a July 2024 interview with the Toilet Ov Hell podcast. He said at the time: "Musicians get screwed on Spotify. I will never, ever play a song on Spotify. If I want a song, I'll buy it on iTunes. I did it already a few times. I heard a song — on YouTube, I heard it, and I said, 'I'm gonna buy that.' And I bought it. And I heard another one and I bought it. That's the way to do it, 'cause that keeps the musician alive and making money and working. Otherwise, the only way a musician can make any work or money is to tour and do touring and merchandise. Lucky for me, knock on wood, I started a long time ago. All my big money was made. And I used it and made investments, so I'm sitting okay. But a lot of musicians are starting on Spotify. And they once said, 'Well, Spotify is like radio.' I said, 'No, it isn't. Radio, you get paid for it.'"

About three years ago, Carmine, who worked as Rod Stewart's kit-man in the 1970s and 1980s, co-writing Stewart hits "Young Turks" and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy", spoke to the "Music Biz Weekly Podcast" about his decision to sell his songwriter share of some of his most popular songs. He said: "There's no money in songwriting anymore. There's no money in selling records. I've got all these gold records on the wall; nobody gets those anymore. And that's how you make money.

"The only way to make any money today is if you get a song on Netflix or you get a song in a movie," he explained. "That's the only way to get money. 'Cause the streaming business is ridiculously useless.

"The reason why I sold my songs was because there's no more royalties; they're very little. Because everything went to streaming, and streaming destroyed the music business, as far as I'm concerned. I won't even listen to Spotify or any of those things; I won't listen to 'em 'cause they're ripping the musicians off so bad. When you talk about young musicians, they have no chance — unless they somehow know how to get all these hits on YouTube. I don't know how to do that."

Later in the interview, Carmine reiterated his belief that he wouldn't know how to go about making money if he was starting out as a musician today. "I don't know how these bands come out and they get two million views on YouTube, or they get four hundred thousand people on Facebook and Instagram," he said. "I don't really know that stuff; I don't have a clue how to do that. So they probably know how to do that better than me. But still, when they do that, the only money [that] could be made from that is going out on tour and playing gigs and [selling] merchandise. Even if you don't have a bigger name, you open up for somebody, you do merchandise and you make some money. And you get big, and it's all about touring and merchandise. You get crappy money from Spotify. And the labels, they don't sell CDs anymore. They might sell a little vinyl, but there's no money in it."

Appice is the original drummer of VANILLA FUDGE, with whom he still records and performs today. He has also played with CACTUS and BECK, BOGERT & APPICE, in addition to spending stints in the bands of Ozzy Osbourne and Stewart. Carmine was named the 28th greatest drummer of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.

Appice is widely considered to be one of the most accomplished showmen in rock and is the recipient of numerous awards, including dozens of gold- and platinum-selling records. Carmine has broken new ground in every aspect of his career as a performer, as a teacher, and as a writer, and he continues to inspire drummers and listeners throughout the world with his originality and his unwavering dedication to the art of drumming.

Carmine's autobiography, "Stick It!: My Life Of Sex, Drums, And Rock 'N' Roll", was released in May 2016 by Chicago Review Press.

Under the moniker APPICE, Carmine and his brother Vinny released "Sinister", their first joint studio album, in October 2017 through SPV/Steamhammer.