Longtime KISS Manager DOC MCGHEE: The Music Industry 'Failed' To Understand How To Move Into The Future

During a recent appearance on the Joe Pavich Podcast, longtime KISS manager Doc McGhee, who has also handled the careers of BON JOVI and MÖTLEY CRÜE throughout the years, spoke about the decline of the music industry as consumers value access over ownership and experiences over assets. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The revenue streams have pretty much all been eaten up by… We always had this ecosystem in the music industry that was like aa reef. And you knew that you could only eat so many of the fish. So that's all you would do, right? And everybody would eat their little pieces and the ecosystem lived. Well, then corporate world came into us about 25 years ago, and over this 25 years, with hedge funds, with institutional money and everything else, they've killed the fucking reef. So now they've taken all the money from the artists. So the kid that's coming outta high school that could be the new Bob Dylan, he can't make any money. He writes a song and it's a hit, he doesn't get paid anything, 'cause it's only on streaming. So it's a streaming mechanism that's now taken up by the label and by the streaming services."

Doc also touched upon the failure of the music industry to capitalize on the Internet. Citing Napster, an online music-sharing service that launched in 1999, as an example, he said: "That was part of our industry's failure to understand how to move into the future. Where when Napster came in, those five kids came up and… I was in the meeting. They had BON JOVI, and they went like this: 'Watch' — boom. And all of them got it. But they were going to the record labels and saying, 'Listen, we have the digital way to deliver music.' And our industry didn't embrace it and say, 'Okay, now let's teach people to buy digital downloads.' They said, 'The Internet's going away. We'll sue you.' And they went, 'No, it's file sharing.' And boom. Killed us. I mean, just killed the record business… And then, of course, Apple came in and everything else and started to do digital downloads and selling. But it never recovered in the physical sense. And then the only thing that really saved it was the Spotifys and the delivery system of streaming. It came in most of that pay a royalty to us. But it's far from what it used to be. So the only way you could really make money — true money here — is touring. And you have to be successful in order to draw people. So the young kid can't jump it in and tour 'cause of the expense of it is too great and they can't subsidize it with their music, where they used to tour us to support the records and now you do records to support your tours."

In a May 2023 IQ magazine article, Doc McGhee was acknowledged as one of the music industry's most legendary artist managers. His unparalleled reputation is grounded in universal respect within the industry. The article elaborates, "Under his guidance, his artist clients have sold more than half a billion records, thanks to a roster that boasts some of rock's biggest acts, including BON JOVI, MÖTLEY CRÜE, GUNS N' ROSES, SKID ROW, SCORPIONS, HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH, and, of course, KISS. Doc's expertise has also significantly benefited the careers of numerous solo acts."

McGhee appeared in the VH1 reality series "Supergroup" along with Ted Nugent, former SKID ROW frontman Sebastian Bach and Jason Bonham. He was also seen on the AMC reality series "4th And Loud", which chronicled his, Gene Simmons's and Paul Stanley's roles as owners of the Los Angeles Kiss Arena Football League (AFL) team.