What, if anything, do bands 'owe' their most committed long time fans?

Though 'owe' is almost certainly not quite the right word, I do find it striking how consistently disappointed I am with virtually everything Brian and Roger pour their energy and attention into.   If there were decent nods to the most invested fans in amongst all the other stuff I'm sure the whole of it would be seen in a different and more positive light.    Other bands in similar positions of influence have done better for their fanbases, whether it's in what they do or what they don't do.  Many at least have couched their efforts in the language of serving fans, where *everything* the active members of Queen do seems to either be for lucre or what personally is lighting them up at the moment as artists.  Both of those things are perfectly appropriate of course, but the absence of interest in the people that are consistently disappointed does not seem typical to me.  What little word we have from semi official presence here seems to boil down to 'if you don't like it, don't buy it' which is just so contemptuous of people who have invested a lot over the years.  Roger, and Brian in particular, seem like decent men who are still fans themselves and should be able to understand the relationship fans feel with their favourite bands. Why have things evolved this way?

No one knows

I think Brian and Roger know exactly what they have.

They're never going to re-create what they had, so all they can do is live off the back catalog.  The albums QPR, MIH, and other things are there to generate a tour, where they can really earn the dough.  It's utterly outrageous what bands like Kiss and Van Halen are raking in to do a 25 city tour.

While they may have "enough" money already, one can never really know that until you've lived that way, been used to having certain things.  Once you can't generate the income, it's gone.  That's it... the well is empty.   Plus look at how many other bands have members "retire" but they recruit others to keep going.  Not everyone in a band is ever really ready to hang it up. 

It only matters if a band "owns" the rights to their recordings that album sales matter.  Tours are where it's at.  Queen, I believe, is one of those bands that still owns its own recordings.  Knowing your tours will probably stop selling out and you'll have to play smaller venues is probably why Queen doesn't have "farewell tours" every 1½ years.  This Lambert thing is pretty much going to do it for Brian and Roger.  This is the last one.  After that, the albums sales will slowly fade.

I don't think either either of them have the stage presence to do the one man, tell stories, acoustic guitar show.  Brian was pretty much the goody goody member throughout the glory days... no one wants to hear THOSE stories.  

Do they owe us anything?  No, not really.  Those were some pretty good records back in the day.  I'll buy the new albums if they choose to do something.  Heck, I'd probably buy a Roger Taylor Jazz Fusion album.

I remember watching a documentary about British band Status Quo. Rick Parfit was reflecting on the later stages of their career when they weren't selling too many records. He said they would try anything just to stay in the limelight. Of course Queen still sells by the bucketload but when I see things like Queen + Five that quote always comes to mind.

Technically? They don't owe us shit, but it'd be a sad thing indeed to live in a world where people only give what they fuckin' owe. It speaks of a kind of decency to get off your arse on occasion and be a little giving. Even if it's only once in a while.

(I don't level this comment at Brian or Roger, as such. My interests are elsewhere at the moment and I couldn't give two shits about what happens to 'Queen'.)

Their carreer.

They owe us absolutely nothing. It's still a give and take though. The fans made them big, and they give us music and shows in return. We have nothing to ask from them.

I don't think we're owed anything. Last years exhibition was nice. And I appreciate it any time they perform.

What I think about sometimes is the family price that was paid by Queen. Lost time with family, maybe children indifferent to the fathers they don't know so well or who were not there enough. Marriages that failed. Parents not seen enough. You can never get that back. Also with fame comes the crazies, stalkers, people lurching up to you with demands - you can't just walk down the street anymore. People conversing about your every move and motive 24 hours a day. There's no shutting it off. What kind of peace are they owed as well.

Why would they owe us anything? Sure we bought their cd's, went to their concerts. We get their product, they get our money.


Why is a job as a musician something different to someone who works in a bakery. We buy their bread and go to their shops. They get our money, we get their product.

Being a musician is just a job.
You don't see people demanding their street being restored just because the original paver happens to have some unused original tiles lying around at his home.

They don't owe me anything, I don't owe them anything. If they make good music, I'll praise them. If they cash in on their past glory in the most pathetic and repulsive ways imaginable, as they are doing now, I'll do my best to humiliate them. That's pretty much it.

The band doesn't owe the fans one single thing, but the fans don't owe the band a single thing either.

They are are free to do absolutely whatever they want, but the fans must also be absolutely free to voice out any opinion they want.


Almost everybody understands this concept, but every once in a while there's a stepford who believes only the band has a freedom of opinion while the fans MUST support whatever happens.

what ^^^ said

[QUOTE]

[b]FriedChicken wrote: [/b] Why would they owe us anything? Sure we bought their cd's, went to their concerts. We get their product, they get our money.

Why is a job as a musician something different to someone who works in a bakery. We buy their bread and go to their shops. They get our money, we get their product.[/QUOTE]

A baker has no expectation of exploiting an emotional connection to his product, so the transaction is clear and uncomplicated and nothing about it lingers.  Bands on the other hand actively seek to create connections with their fans - hooks into their emotions and the moments of their lives.  They sell t-shirts and tat as symbols of loyalty and belonging.  QPL right now has some thing posted that encourages people who have seen WWRY 'hundreds of times' to tell them all about it, presumably so they can promote it some more.  They also want to hear about couples who have met because of Queen and other personal stories and events.  There was the initiative last year to submit personal narratives of  individual experiences as Queen fans for a book.  I can't reconcile an outfit that seeks to exploit overengagement with their West End musical and invites people to permanently and publicly fuse the idea of the band  with the most important people and events in their lives with one who is unaware of the ways in which they differ from a baker.

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]
They don't owe me anything, I don't owe them anything. If they make good music, I'll praise them. If they cash in on their past glory in the most pathetic and repulsive ways imaginable, as they are doing now, I'll do my best to humiliate them. That's pretty much it.[/QUOTE]
Well played.