DON DOKKEN On Paying Hell In The Industry

February 23, 2005

DOKKEN frontman Don Dokken talked candidly with Electricbasement.com's Jeff Kerby about the financial rigors of the music industry, "Do you know what a CD costs to manufacture, shrink-wrap and take out the door?" he asked. "50 cents. People in the industry want to know why fans are downloading songs for free — well, it’s because there is such a greedy profit margin. Why can't it just be like a regular price, like maybe $10.99? That would be a fair amount of money — about a buck a song. When you're making discs for fifty cents and gouging everyone, then that's what's going to happen. It is hell to pay, just like the title of our album. It's judgment day folks and labels are dropping like flies."

He expanded on the plight of bands: "A lot of bands, and you've heard this on 'Behind the Music', they've made millions and then woke up one day like TLC, and they had nothing. It's like, 'Where is all the money?' It would be great if everyone had a lawyer and an accountant in their band so that everyone could watch the cookie jar and make sure that people keep their hands out of it, but if you're going down the highway for ten hours to your next gig, and you have a home or a lot of other properties, someone is going to have to pay the electric bill, the gas bill and the phone bill. You just can't do that type of thing if you happen to be in Spain. At some point you do have to hire someone to take care of your finances. That would be a business manager, and some are honest while others aren't. It's just so tempting though when they see money coming in to take just a little to see if it's missed. If it isn’t, then maybe they do it again. They know that you're on the road for eighteen months, so it’s really tempting."

He did admit to being happy with his current label, Sanctuary Records, who recently issued their sixth release from DOKKEN, "Hell to Pay", "Everybody is making money, and everyone is happy, so why leave? Don’t fix it if it isn't broken," he said.

Read the entire interview at this location.

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