Paul Stanley – HuffPost 5.21.14

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Paul Stanley: Particularly at this point, I would say if you’re pursuing music because of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, find another occupation. The pot of gold has been made significantly smaller by music conglomerates that now will own a piece of everything you do from merchandise to touring, and the chances of you succeeding are infinitesimally smaller at this point because there’s no nurturing of artists, which was something that happened in the times of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, you were signed to a label that first of all loved what you were doing musically and believed in you enough to wait through a few albums to see what happened. Now you’re lucky to get a single out without getting thrown off the company plank. So if you are not compelled to do it, don’t do it. If you have to ask, “Should I do it?” then the answer is no, because you don’t pursue music because you want to, you pursue music because you have to.