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Rick Rubin talks about the music industry

Contributed by aubin. Posted by adam on Monday, September 3, 2007 at 7:53 PM (EDT)

While we ride out this Labor Day long weekend, why not spend a few minutes tearing through the New York Times Magazine's in-depth cover story on producer and record mogul Rick Rubin. The piece positions Rubin, who recently appointed as co-chairman of Columbia Records, as a potential savior for the beleaguered industry. A choice quote in the article from David Geffen:

The music business, as a whole, has lost its faith in content, Only 10 years ago, companies wanted to make records, presumably good records, and see if they sold. But panic has set in, and now it's no longer about making music, it's all about how to sell music. And there's no clear answer about how to fix that problem. But I still believe that the top priority at any record company has to be coming up with great music. And for that reason, Sony was very smart to hire Rick.

Rubin has produced records from a huge list of artists including the Beastie Boys, Slayer, Danzig, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, the Mars Volta, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Weezer and of course his groundbreaking American Series with Johnny Cash.

American Recordings (110 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Seriously.

sXenester (September 3, 2007)

wait....

hellfest is cancelled?

3+ Replies

freesandwich (September 3, 2007)

Tom Gable got arrested?

Nerdierthanyou (September 3, 2007)

I heard it was actually Tom Gabel that got arrested, not Tom Gable.

freesandwich (September 3, 2007)

up da spelling punx

rakmike (September 4, 2007)

hilarious

capitalist_pig (September 4, 2007)

So you're saying "Gable" isn't spelled like "table?"

crazyjoedevola (September 3, 2007)

We've landed on the moon!

ChesterfieldKing (September 3, 2007)

I'm seeing the Beastie Boys tomorrow night. It's going to be fucking amazing.

3+ Replies

OverDefined (September 3, 2007)

No it's not, it's going to be old and over-rated.

ChesterfieldKing (September 4, 2007)

Just like your mom?

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

rupson (September 4, 2007)

Heyyyoooooo!

jacknife737 (September 4, 2007)

incorrect

Albert_Belle (September 3, 2007)

Hopefully Ruby can jolt some life back into Metallica. It's really amazing to think that the biggest metal band ever haven't put out a good album in nearly 2 decades.

5+ Replies

AnarchyPants (September 3, 2007)

Amen!

ThoughtRiotAF578 (September 4, 2007)

i didnt know they put out any good albums. just goes to show that you learn something new each day!

Albert_Belle (September 4, 2007)

The more you know.

ThoughtRiotAF578 (September 4, 2007)

i didnt know they put out any good albums. just goes to show that you learn something new each day!

jacknife737 (September 4, 2007)

i actually kind of like their 90s stuff.

PretentiousLikePitchfork (September 3, 2007)

as of late, rick rubin has become one of the most overrated music producers out there, turning out album after album of slickly produced mediocrity. part of the problem within the industry is that people like him are allowed to rest on their laurels and continue to have a hand in producing albums that are flat out boring and tedious. the industry, especially the mainstream, needs new blood..it's time for people like rubin to move on and sail into the sunset.

2+ Replies

punkbytheounce (September 3, 2007)

On Rick Rubin the producer, I totally agree with you, but if he's going to back up that promising quote with his actions, I'd be pleased to see him stick around, albeit not near the mixing board.

AphasiacIIC (September 3, 2007)

exactly

TheMarc (September 3, 2007)

I feel like the music industry is so concerned with what kind of medium they will use or how they can replace the CD that they're forgetting that good music is the solution. And really, that doesn't include anything Rick Rubin is recording anymore.

2+ Replies

onthemightofprinces (September 3, 2007)

I think the main problem lies with the fact that the music is being produced, sometimes written, marketed and directed by people who love nothing more than to go home and whack an Enya CD on.

I read an interesting article earlier this year at http://strangeglue.com/diy-by-any-means-necessary/216/ - since word of mouth is the medium in which we spread the news on great music, can't we just sort the wheat from the chaff ourselves and be done with record labels altogether?

TheMarc (September 3, 2007)

Interesting article. And I agree, labels are definitely less necessary than most bands think. If you believe what you hear about labels wanting to take money out of a band's merch and tour sales pretty soon, you'd almost be a fool to sign with a major label as an up and coming artist.

fatallyours (September 4, 2007)

bomb the music industry!

Dante3000 (rich) (September 3, 2007)

Rick Rubin the man who wanted to change the Black Crows to the Kob Kounty Krows...Yeah, he would know about selling music.
Sorry, but this is like Kelsey Grammer trying to tell me why drunk driving is bad.
-Dante

NoControl (September 3, 2007)

Avenged Sevenfold covering Linoleum, kinda cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRSak5QGf40

14+ Replies

lostandclowned (September 3, 2007)

interesting.

GlassPipeMurder (September 3, 2007)

the worst thing is that it actually sounds pretty good for being a crappy camera shooting a live performance. doesn't hurt that the song is ridiculously easy, but still, surprisingly good.

niveK82 (September 3, 2007)

Coolest thing this band has done since Waken the Fallen.

the_cobra (September 3, 2007)

wow, whats this world coming too? punknews takes away "someones" and people are talking about avenged sevenfold being good.

Nameless (September 3, 2007)

Ahhh!! It's the apocalypse!!

fallingupwards84 (September 3, 2007)

awful

ConsolationPrizefighter (September 3, 2007)

Best part: A7X frontman with douchebag stage name says "YOU GUYS KNOW THIS ONE?!"

...and no one does.

skankbook (September 3, 2007)

The Bad Astronaut version is better.

baseball (September 5, 2007)

that is one of the best covers ever

Wentz_Equals_Death (September 4, 2007)

man i hate that band

swank (September 4, 2007)

Shai Halud version is better

DiscoFucker (September 4, 2007)

Troof.

freaky003 (September 10, 2007)

hell yea!

ThoughtRiotAF578 (September 4, 2007)

avenged sevenfold makes me want to harm babies.

lostandclowned (September 3, 2007)

Piss And Vinegar.

2+ Replies

Nerdierthanyou (September 3, 2007)

Sounds appetizing.

the_cobra (September 3, 2007)

its good on spring mix

CaptainCrunch (September 3, 2007)

That is a fantastic article.

eunomi (September 3, 2007)

So let me get this straight... he wants the company to go green, but he drives a Range Rover? OK. Got it.

I *like* plastic jewel cases. I have at least a handful of digipacks that have broken teeth that I can't do anything about. And I wonder how scratched up my Television CDs are getting every time I pull them out of the sleeve to play them.

And the subscription model is so flawed it's laughable. I barely watch TV. I don't want music to turn out the same way.

welivewedie (September 3, 2007)

I don't understand why someone like Rick Rubin is so freaking glamorized. He is made out to be this guy who doesn't give a shit about the corporate world yet he has millions of dollars so why should he care about making money. Record labels are an interesting topic. If you sign to a label like Fat Wreck you are looked at as being on Fat Mike's label. If you sign to a major label you are a sellout. If you sign to Epitaph you are on a label with a ton of shitty bands. If you sign to Hellcat you are labeled a PUNX band. If you sign to No Idea or a label in a similar situation you are lumped in with a bunch of other bands that have a distinct sound as well as having limitations as getting your record out in stores. If I was in a band and a major label wanted to sign me I would probably accept and put out an album or two and then hopefully have enough money to cr

show rest of comment

3+ Replies

Shindo (adam) (September 3, 2007)

Rubin's glamorized because of the beard. It's hypnotic.

-adam

AnarchyPants (September 4, 2007)

You could get lost in there.

freaky003 (September 10, 2007)

I think you have a skewed sense of Major Labels. No one but the major label makes money (if any) in that situation, especially if you start on a major.

ffwoodycock (September 3, 2007)

the New York Times should've interviewed the guy who produced the Witches With Dicks stuff

3+ Replies

01011010 (September 4, 2007)

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YasserBossin (September 4, 2007)

i think your computer is broken

freaky003 (September 10, 2007)

01001001 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110100 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100001 01100111 01110010 01100101 01100101

eDWeiRD (September 3, 2007)

It's not often that an article is linked to from Punknews AND Slashdot. A sign of the coming apocalypse? I think I'll need whiskey soon.

I have mixed feelings about Rick Rubin. He's done some good work over the years (PE, Beatie Boys, Slayer, The Cult, and Cash) but then he's also become the go to guy for established artists in need of a rescue. The guy does slick well, but then I never cared for slick. I'd be afraid of any "new" band this guy (over) produces.

2+ Replies

Shindo (adam) (September 3, 2007)

As a faithful IT nerd I spend a lot of time on both sites. I'm surprised stories haven't crossed over more often.

-adam

KirbyPuckett (September 3, 2007)

Seconded.

- Kirby

AnonymousCoward (September 3, 2007)

i always thought that punknews was a punkrock slashdot,

major label = microsoft
fat wreck = linux

veganboyjosh (September 4, 2007)

i saw it first on slashdot, and read a bit of the responses. then saw it here, and was interested in the difference in responses.

this thread is freakin me out a little bit, i have to admit...

to say nothing of the fact that it has raised the value i put on punknews...which i think has something to do with why i'm freaked out by it...

eDWeiRD (September 4, 2007)

I concur. Although, I think forcing everyone to get a username has forced a lot of the stupid people to go away.

omgfishcatlol (September 3, 2007)

This sucks. No more fucking anonymous posting. I've been making terrible comment since 2001 on this site.

Fuck you Punknews.

7+ Replies

the_cobra (September 3, 2007)

i have noticed the fun has gone

omgfishcatlol (September 3, 2007)

Yeah. Punknews is turning into a huge gay, middle aged orgy.

fallingupwards84 (September 3, 2007)

its true that its not as fun

dlangl4 (September 3, 2007)

I agree minus the insults. I used to make all of my jokes as someone, but now my incredibly unfunny jokes are there for everyone to tell me I am unfunny.

the_cobra (September 3, 2007)

some jokes just hit harder as a "someone"

dlangl4 (September 3, 2007)

Exactly.

But now I'm just bitching, just like I bitched when Firefly was taken off the air, when Rocky died at the end of Rocky Balboa, and when I found out that the sequel to Titantic had been dropped in place of a prequel.

banana_hammock (September 3, 2007)

Firefly is pretty good. I'm surprised they haven't brought it back, it's pretty big now.

doomcloud (September 4, 2007)

awe punknews made you accountable for your comments, get over it you fucking pussy

AnarchyPants (September 4, 2007)

Gabel does rhyme with table.

IDontHaveAnAccountYet (September 3, 2007)

I think record companies need to let bands upload their songs to their server and then charge a commission for each download that the band gets. Any stupid garage band could be on the label, but it wouldn't mean anyone would download it. The label wouldn't have to do much, they would just be the window into checking out new music. Even though myspace is a dirty corporation, I think they are close to what the new business model will be.

hanny (September 3, 2007)

uh, that quote is from David Geffen, not Rick Rubin. In fact, the quote goes on to end, "And for that reason, Sony was very smart to hire Rick." And I don't think Rick Rubin took up speaking in the third person.

1+ Reply

Shindo (adam) (September 3, 2007)

I blame Aubin for dropping the quote in our submissions queue. Let's all throw vegetables at his house!

Ignore the fact that I didn't double check it, not important.

-adam

defyphysics (September 3, 2007)

Just to make things clear, according to the article the quote was from David Geffen, and not Rick Rubin.

dlangl4 (September 3, 2007)

I don't know why no one has mentioned this, but the quote is from David Geffen not Rick Rubin.

skott_applecore (September 3, 2007)

Rubin is a chump

skamanifesto (September 3, 2007)

but who made that quote?

2+ Replies

NoUse4aScnName00 (September 3, 2007)

David Geffen?

dlangl4 (September 3, 2007)

Fucking idiots, look two posts up, was Rick Rubin.

crazyjoedevola (September 4, 2007)

Sarcasm meter not on?

dlangl4 (September 4, 2007)

I think mine was on too much. I'll be less subtle from now on with jokes that only I laugh at.

dlangl4 (September 4, 2007)

Oh whoops, I meant to say - if you look closely my original comment was a joke also. It was tongue in cheek humor. I never seriously insult people for fun. Douche bag.

NoUse4aScnName00 (September 3, 2007)

Good call Punknews.org on getting rid of the unanimous posting ability.

I've been preaching that for a while.

2+ Replies

banana_hammock (September 3, 2007)

I think you mean anonymous...

dlangl4 (September 3, 2007)

For the 4th time, NO, it was Rick Moranis.

/done with punknews forever.

skankbook (September 3, 2007)

The most recent Neil Diamond album he did ("12 Songs") is incredible. Weezer's "Make Believe" sucks; I tried so hard to like it, but it sucks.

Now I don't know if Rubin has anything to do with either of these, as Neil Diamond is the shit and Weezer's been in a decline the past few years.

Steveman (September 3, 2007)

The slashdot article focuses on the "rootkit" situation that is supposedly talked about, but the actual quote from it is pretty meaningless.

""The CD debuted at No. 4," Rubin told me at Hugo's, still sounding upset. "It was the highest debut of Neil's career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record. The spyware became public knowledge, and people freaked out. There were some lawsuits filed, and the CD was recalled by Columbia. Literally pulled from stores. We came out on a Tuesday, by the following week the CD was not available. Columbia released it again in a month, but we never recovered. Neil was furious, and I vowed never to make another album with Columbia.""

branden (September 4, 2007)

danzigs first album is one of the greatest albums of all time.

1+ Reply

IDontHaveAnAccountYet (September 4, 2007)

I heard he is doing a benefit concert because he was assaulted.

swank (September 4, 2007)

Shai Halud version is better

1+ Reply

swank (September 4, 2007)

oops.

Now that punknews doesn't have annoymous posting, can we maybe have edit/delete capabilities for our own posts?

riversmonkey (September 4, 2007)

Its fair to say that without Rick Rubin there would be no 'Run's House'

1+ Reply

justinius (September 4, 2007)

is that a good or bad thing?

givemeamuseumandillfillit (September 4, 2007)

This thread alone is proof that fallingupwards84 is completly wrong.

2+ Replies

Archangel (September 4, 2007)

backstory?

givemeamuseumandillfillit (September 4, 2007)

"it'll only last a week" about staff disabling anonymous comments.

I just think this thread has a bunch of very very good and thoughtprovoking comments.

fallingupwards84 (September 4, 2007)

i never said it'll only last a week... i said it wont last long

anyway, irrelevant. you're right that there is a lot of thoughtprovoking comments, even if 1/4 of them have been about anonymous posting

kozaihod (September 4, 2007)

Yes, Rubin doesn't care for money, he just loves making great music. That's why he produced the Linkin Park album.

onamountain (September 4, 2007)

Has everyone seen the Paul Potts video he talks about in the end? Seriously, I weep every time I see it and I'm usually a cold-hearted bastard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA

1+ Reply

onamountain (September 4, 2007)

...and no, I don't work for Columbia's new 'word of mouth" division.

SydBarrett420 (September 4, 2007)

Rick also helped bring the trash that is rap to the mainstream culture.

2+ Replies

eDWeiRD (September 4, 2007)

You are obviously still in high school. You don't remember what it was like back then. Douche.

SydBarrett420 (September 8, 2007)

Shut up you idiot, I know exactly what is was like back then as I am old enough to remember "what is was like back then". Rap has always and will always suck.

rubyx (September 4, 2007)

I like all my CDs to be organized in my CD tower. That's why I prefer plastic jewel cases.

doomcloud (September 4, 2007)

i have an extremely long beard, therefor you have to take me seriously

- Rick Rubin

thinkerthought (September 4, 2007)

Thanks for linking to this.

yahay (September 4, 2007)

i am absolutely, compeletely and entirely unimpressed with rick rubin. as far as i'm concerned he's just another dime-a-dozen major label producer. that doesn't make him bad, i just don't know why i need to think he's jesus.

sharonZ_ozborn (September 4, 2007)

this guy is way over fuckin rated. hes only gonna put out more of the shitty music thats out there today

iandisurvive (September 5, 2007)

shitty band covering another shitty band

sizzla (September 5, 2007)

record labels are only good for large scale physical distribution. that kind of distribution will only be necessary as long as people want a physical package. is a physical package really that necessary?

Personally, i'm hoping that the internet and electronic distribution replaces the materialism of the old business model, making the old record labels obsolete.

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