In a new interview with Germany’s Moshpit Passion, bassist Eugene Abdukhanov of Ukrainian modern metallers JINJER spoke about how touring has become increasingly challenging and increasingly expensive to navigate, particularly in light of the fact that many venues require bands to pay them a percentage of their merchandise sales. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): ”It’s hard to find the proper words, and not to swear… I, of course, oppose and I deeply hate the whole idea of basically stealing money from bands, especially when venues have bars and make tons of money on booze. And especially cutting merch money from support bands who very often barely make any money on merch itself, and they don’t have anything else. And at the same time, I understand that there is no way out of the situation. Because of the whole system, how everything is made, everything turned upside down.”
He continued: “Musicians, from being at the very top of the pyramid, like artists, actually everything’s supposed to work for musicians, they turn to be at the very bottom of the pyramid. Because the musicians are working for everybody else. This is how it is done. It turns out that the musicians are working for management, the musicians are working for labels, the musicians are working for booking companies, promoters. And it’s very, very obvious when you see a settlement, financial settlement of a tour. Because you start from there, and you see the money and then you see all the cuts and what you’re left with is incomparable with what was at the beginning.”
Eugene added: “I can complain about this forever. But I see to the core and the core is just the world we live in. This is how everything works and everything is turning. So once open market and free capitalistic society turned into a deeply monopolized market where everything belongs to certain entities which control the majority of the market. I will not say names. This is definitely bad. But I just don’t see a solution.”
JINJER released its fifth studio album, “Duél”, on February 7 via Napalm Records. The LP sees JINJER continuing its long-lasting collaboration with accomplished producer Max Morton, who co-produced, mixed and mastered the album.
Over the past 15 years, JINJER has attained remarkable milestones, touring globally and captivating millions at prestigious festivals like Wacken Open Air and Download. They’ve headlined sold-out shows across Europe and North America, and have thrilled audiences in destinations like Dubai, Philippines, Turkey, Japan and South Africa.
Source: blabbermouth.net
