EP 2.11: Steve Gadd on being a musician in today's technology-driven environment [

“I don’t think in terms of sales when I’m doing the music. I just think about doing the music and wanting it to be the best that I can make it.” - Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is one of the most well-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers, and famous for his work with Simon & Garfunkel, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Grover Washington Jr., Chick Corea, Lee Ritenour and Al Di Meola.
We had the great pleasure to talk with Steve about what it means to be a musician in today's technology-driven environment, and Steve shared fantastic insights with us, which we are happy to share with you. And if you have the chance to check out Steve live, we highly recommend you do that. Enjoy this very interesting interview.
Produced by Simon Kurt & Sebastiano Mereu | Videography by Digitale Massarbeit

[@maakeklein4073]

What a great guy he is to take time out of his day and I'm sure busy schedule to talk to these young guys.Shows what kind of person he is.No ego whatsoever.

[@FromHerotoZero]

Totally. Steve was so kind and great to talk to. A true legend! / Sebi

[@robbriner9575]

Excellent interview, including the host/questioner (who asks meaningful questions, one question at a time, he lets the guest answer without interruption, and keeps himself secondary).

[@FromHerotoZero]

Thank you very much for watching and for the kind comment, Rob.

[@gam3garage]

What a nice guy to answer these unthoughtful and/or lost in translation questions.

[@5Antvin]

Steve came up at the right time, had many opportunities and delivered on a whole nother level...It's the 1960 rule..Very few combo musicians born after circa 1960 made any real $ to keep their careers going.Sadly, that ship had already sailed ..Trust fund babies and only those who can live on little to nothing can dream of being a performer today.This is why there are so many internet musicians..There are just not enough live playing opportunities or live venues available to support all of the performers .

[@FromHerotoZero]

Thanks for your input, very good point. In different interviews, some of our guests, such as Scott Ian from Anthrax for instance, mentioned that today there are more places where bands can play. That has been facilitated through a more global economy and ease of travel and communication. However, I understand that young and less popular act often don't have the financial means to tackle an interregional or international tour. That of course fosters the problem of having lots of local musicians competing for the given amount of local playing slots. The question is, How can these smaller acts get financed enough to get on the road?

[@HenryPerez_royal_hp]

i'm 37 years young :) and Steve Gadd has been (aside from Vinnie, Discenso and Dave) my biggest drumming inspiration. I even started switching my grip to traditional grip because of him! He is my drum guru and I am forever indebted to what he has taught me, which is to chill the hell out with all the nonesense and focus on the groove! LOVE him, he is my hero!

[@fake_tourist]

Do you like Danny Carey?

[@tulliogiusi]

Adorabile , DrSteve Your pure spirit

[@urimlee]

Oh my gadd

[@FromHerotoZero]

:-)

[@fkselasi]

really enjoy your music Dr. Steve.....

[@JeffreySaxophoneTallNewton]

Steve is one of the all time greats, but most "working" cats are scuffling now. Lots of drummers have been replaced by drum machines. From what I hear, LA studio work for all musicians is withering. An entire recording can be done on a laptop, and people in that industry are working furiously to replace musicians. Young people are not into musicians - they like D.J.'s instead. It's tough! My instrument, the saxophone, cannot be replaced as easily as a short drum sample, but fake saxophones are featured prominently on pop recordings now. They can't even hire a real saxophonist! And that fake sax sound is becoming the sound the general audience think a saxophone sounds like. Can you imagine Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" ("Us and Them") with a fake sax? As to steaming, there is a new lawsuit against Spotify, which pays zero or minimal royalties. To young people, music is a free commodity. I heard that million views nets all of $1,500 bucks. Exposure? The old joke is: "this gig doesn't pay much, but it's great exposure." But you can die from exposure. As to singles? It killed creativity. Listen to pop music. Everything sounds the same. All they want is a hit. As far as I can see, the only thing the new technology helps in is to let you record and market your own music.

[@FromHerotoZero]

+Jeffrey Newton Thank you very much for watching our interview and for your input, Jeffrey. I'm with you. As a bass player, I prefer a 'real' bass to a synth bass, even though a cool MJ-synth bass can occasionally work wonders. By now it is apparent that the new technology has reshuffled several factors in regard to the business side of things. Certain artists and session musicians (pros and amateurs) seem to have discovered how to use today's technological opportunities to their own advantage. They might get more and better paid gigs by simply communicating with the world through social media and reach more people and places further away. I'm not suggesting that it is an easy task, but social media brought us powerful tools that level the playing field for everyone to play on. Of course, the trend towards not making much or any money from the sales or streaming of music is a tragic phenomenon. John Gallagher from Raven told us in a FHTZ interview that at times he feels as if he's in the business of selling t-shirts, not records. However, t-shirts might bring them more money, which is good for the band. These are definitely very interesting times for artists and music lovers like us. We will definitely dig deeper and interview more musicians in our next season soon. Thanks again for watching. /sebi

[@JeffreySaxophoneTallNewton]

+From Hero To Zero I don't disagree with anything you said. Some observations: 1. I met a guy at the gym who was Barry Manilow''s t-shirt sales guy (and general tour higher-up, for years), and he told me that BM's profit was mainly in merchandise. Of course, I don't have t-shirts with me plastered all over them, but the dude busking in Venice Beach, CA on roller skates wearing a turban now just blades up to tourists holding out a shirt for sale, without even playing his guitar! I've taken to busking for the last several years - without roller skates... 2. An interview with a more "working class" session player might be great, to get their view on being replaced by a robot. 3. Is DIY the new model? Forgo the record company trip altogether, and just network online, selling your own CDs? 4. Streaming: I recently read about a musician suing Spotify. Apparently they either don't pay royalties or pay few of them. Streaming is a big problem, in my view. 5. As to bass, Ron Carter, Jaco..... :) Keep up the good work!

[@drumsNstuff79]

My favorite story was a couple of years ago, hearing session drummer Kenny Aronoff say "Lately I just go in and record a bar here, a fill, the chorus groove, and it all gets gridded and pieced into the song in pro tools. It's a bummer, man, but it's cheaper for them , because i'm there as little as possible." Everything new to me theses days seems so sterile. No swing, no groove, no heart. Top forty is kiddie pop based on an annoying '80's to '90's throwback groove from a sample or machine programmed by the top producer. Who is only the top producer because he can program the "dopest" beats. Like Dr. Luke. From sideman guitarist to top "beat creator." There is no such thing as a full take record live with a band for today's artists. It's all piecemeal for protools, sung line by line, performed bar by bar and them corrected if anything is off by a fraction. ugh.. As fior streaming I like the idea that kids are getting access to it all. But the cynic in me says that they are not really accessing it all. They are just zeroing in the latest pop idols. Music today is overly repetitive. Repeat the banal chorus over and over again like a kid's song.. It's all about the dance-y beat. Nothing new gets me going. My iTunes searches are all back catalog stuff from favorite artists or deep cuts form old artist I want to explore. And they all get paid from my music purchase! With streaming you don't own the music, don't get the album art or liner notes. They could add and remove stuff at will like Netflix does and you just pay a fee to access what they have. I don't like that. I think the kids theses days should own their music even if it's mp3's form iTunes. They at least have something to play again and again for ever. They say that the music you listen to as a teen and young adult is "your" music forever. You always go back to it. I'd hate to have a kid fall in love with his songs in his vital collection and have a streaming service go out of business as a fad and leave the kid with all his music taken away, as he didn't own it, just streamed it.

[@netzah3488]

So agree. Massive Respect.

[@Sugarsail1]

that's because music sucks today....there will be social repercussions when the music is divorced from the soul of the drummer. Prepare your ears, it will be as shocking as the 60's were, maybe even more.

[@kato968]

The drummer of the drummers

[@FromHerotoZero]

+kato968 Yeah, Steve is a fabulous musician and a very nice guy. We really enjoyed talking with him and watching him play.

[@kato968]

+From Hero To Zero - yeah... greetings from Brasil.

[@AlVelasquezDrums]

Steve Gadd never implies there is a misconception about a faltering music industry. Rather, he states it hasn't affected him because he's primarily a sideman. However, he states song writers are making significantly less in royalties due to streaming. I am curious... what musical projects, recordings or tours is this author involved with to have such a strong opinion regarding the "vibrant health" of the current music business? If he doesn't play music, but instead is Only involved with the selling of Streamed Music or Social Media, then his objectivity is compromised.

[@tipofelice]

I don't see how the interviewer's questions have much to do with "Steve Gadd the Great Drummer" . Steve seems uncomfortable with the interview and I can understand why. When he got up out of his chair at the end it looked like he wanted to get out of there so that he could think about drumming or anything else. I don't believe that Steve is overly concerned with technology, he's about the drums and how to make music, that is what is important to Steve. Bravo Steve Gadd, a most marvelous drummer.

[@PabloVestory]

You can make money and a living by doing music, by side effect. But if you try to make music thinking in money and fame, you ar not doing music, you are doing business and self-praise. Is because this that the inmense majority of today mass "music" sucks. Music is an art, whatever that art means

[@PabloVestory]

Of course, there is the fact that Bach, Bird and others did great music to pay the bills and/or feed their families, well, still so...

[@FromHerotoZero]

+PabloVestory Good points, Pablo. I agree in regard to what you said about music being art and that money should not be the incentive but a gratification of work well done. However, today's economic and social environment requires anyone to consider what kind of work- or business-model works for them to pay the bills. I guess that is a big dilemma for many artists (and other people) in general. Still, good to see that there are artists and musicians that seem to find business models that work for them. / Sebi

[@Marreroortiz]

He looks like a Walking Dead character!

[@FromHerotoZero]

+chri mar But from the good guys 😎👍 / Sebi

[@pdodo388]

Shoot me a pic of your self when your his age I'd like to see that side by side

[@bafattvahetere]

He is still delivering. And you sound like an asshole!

[@angelthman1659]

Weak interview. Too much philosophy and not enough about music.