Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin – HuffPost 10.30.13

Mike Ragogna: Steve, what advice do you have for new artists?

Steve Berlin: Don’t. Don’t bother. [laughs] That’s a joke. In many ways, this current landscape is, on some levels, much fairer than the one that existed previously although we were huge beneficiaries of that system. I don’t know if Los Lobos in 2013 would make it forty years just because it’s so much harder. We were able to build a fan base and grow with a little more nurturing because we had a record label. The stuff that went along with being a touring band was a little easier for us to do as opposed to these days when every band is basically an entrepreneurial unit where they’re having to pay for and do all of the stuff that we didn’t really have to deal with. But on the other hand, the fact that these bands today are entrepreneurial units and learning about not just making music but building a business and how that actually works and how the real world actually works, in some respects, that’s very healthy, I think. If the 2013 Los Lobos, whoever they might be, can figure all of that stuff out and do all of that stuff, I think it’s going to be a good deal in the long run for them, but I just think it’s so much harder to get to that. We were able to make a living and feed our families, really, from the very first song. We were able to get a booking agent early on, we were able to tour and make enough money. It was not a lot of money, but it was enough to cover living with a wife and kids. These days, I really don’t think that first rung of that ladder–getting from zero to the place where you’re feeding your family and taking care of all of your stuff–I think that ladder got a lot higher. I think in the long run, getting from zero to that place, I have nothing but the deepest sympathy for the people that are doing it. I’m working with a lot of them myself and I see the struggle involved and it just seems like the stage of starving is a much, much longer stage than in times past. I would say if you want to do this for a living, just be prepared to go without for a very long time and be prepared to learn about a hell of a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with music, per se, but a lot to do with not working for anybody. Basically, you are your own record label, you are your own public liaison, you are your own booking agent, you are your own travel agent, all of the stuff that we had people doing for us for a very long time, and I have to say doing an amazing job doing it, especially in the early days. I don’t especially see bands at the early stages getting any of that. Basically they have to learn to do all of that stuff themselves, which, to get longer-winded here, the internet, which really didn’t exist when we started, makes a lot of stuff relatively easy, but I don’t think when it comes time to pay the rent I’m not sure if it makes it all that much easier.