Heavy metal legends Iron Maiden aren’t exactly strapped for cash, but their guitarist Adrian Smith knows a thing or two about the challenges of being in a lesser-known band. Smith has teamed up with guitarist Richie Kotzen for a new album, “Black Light/White Noise,” and while promoting the record via AMFM Magazine, Smith shared the struggles most bands face in trying to make it in the current market.
“Well, play all you want,” Smith said. “You can have fun, have a band. Whether you wanna do it with your life, that’s something different. You have to really dedicate yourself. And you could spend what some people would say are the best years of your life, from your late teens all through your twenties, trying to make it and not make it. Depending on how you class ‘making it.'”
Smith said that money is hard to come by for most musicians. “If you class it as earning money, very few people do, unless you’re gonna be in a Top 40 band,” he explained. “And if you just wanna be a jobbing musician, you can learn to read music, you can do sessions. But being in a band, that is a tiny percentage of people in a successful band making money. Even bands now that have got hit records are struggling to make money, because nobody buys bloody records anymore. And the money is light. So it’s very, very difficult.”
He continued: “But I suppose it’s a process, and the process just kind of makes or breaks the ones that stay with it. You almost have to have a sponsor as well, because it costs money to put a band out there. In the old days, a record company would sponsor a band and advance some money until they start making money. It’s difficult. But if you’re gonna do it, then nothing will stop you, I guess.”
Smith’s full interview can be viewed below.
