Vinnie Vincent has defended his decision to sell CDs of his new single for as much as $300 apiece, threatening to shelve his new Guitarmageddon record if fans don’t buy them.
The former Kiss guitarist made headlines recently when he started the promotional phase for his upcoming album, which has been preceded by an, erm, unconventional rollout strategy that involves Vincent selling CDs of the lead single for $200.
For US fans willing to spend $200 on a physical CD that has only one song on it, there’s an additional $25 shipping fee. For international fans, the shipping fee is $100. That means the song, titled Ride the Serpent, could set fans back as much as $300.
However, Vincent has given it the hard sell. He compared the song to “caviar or fine art”, and described Ride the Serpent as “a nearly 8 minute, intense guitar powerdrive”. That’s just under $40 per minute. Bargain.
The decision to sell his single in such a manner has drawn the ire of his fans, but Vincent has hit back, now going one step further in the defence of his strategy. If his fans don’t fork out for his single CDs, he won’t release the album.
He has said he wants to sell 1,000 CDs of each single, and will only ship them when (read: if) they all go.
In Vincent’s opinion, he’s apparently created a classic, one that can rival some of the greatest guitar albums of all time, and so he wants to be fairly compensated.
That, paired with his observations that there’s no money in the modern album release methods – and the fact he supposedly wants to undercut those who will “bootleg” the album – and Vincent stresses his decisions are justified.
“Guitarmageddon is one of the greatest rock albums of all time,” he writes on Facebook in response to a fan questioning his CD pricing strategy. “I lived thru MEET THE BEATLES, ZEPPELIN II, HENDRIX ARE YOU EXPERIENCED, JEFF BECK TRUTH, CREAM WHEELS OF FIRE, PINK FLOYD etc [sic].
“The only difference is these albums are generation tested and have the benefit of fermentation of time. But as for impact and perfection from the first song to last, Guitarmageddon is a classic. The number one contender.”
He continues, “Unless I get compensated for my work, the album stays unheard. The praise from a fan base is pointless unless I'm compensated FIRST… I am the manufacturer. I produce high end product. I set the price accordingly. It's that simple. There's no argument here. There's no discussion. I've created an elite product for elite taste.
“So for the smash and grab EBT card group of self entitled complainers bitching about price... fuck off. The fatigue is now exhaustion. They are the side effect of what the internet produced. Gimme gimme gimme.”
Strong words, but Vincent doesn’t stop there. The former Kiss guitarist also hits out at entitled “deadbeats” for expecting artists to hand over their work, and further justifies Guitarmageddon’s rollout by taking aim at the players currently occupying the scene today.
“Eventually the artist will get sick of being fucked over and handing over all of their hard work to these deadbeats for nothing,” he continues. “At some point unless artists form a coalition to stop this free goods giveaway and pandering to disrespectful rude and stupid people, there will be nothing.
“At this point there's an overload of guitar players, guitar lessons, singer-songwriters, etc... and it's tiresome and dreary. It's the same shit on a daily basis in heavy rotation. People are beginning to tune out guitar players because they're a penny a dozen.
“They generally sound the same, play the same with essentially the same style... the result is producing a tuneout drone effect. At least in my opinion. The magic of VINNIE VINCENT INVASION is escapism. Guitarmageddon is escapism on steroids.”
“So it comes down to this; if the fan support is not there which it does not appear to be, this record will not be released,” Vincent concludes.
“Am I fine with that? Absolutely. 100%. It will be the greatest album of all time, never to be heard, never to be released. If people want my music, and think they're punishing me by not buying it because of the price, it matters not to me. They're the ones who will lose out.”
If you fancy spending $300 on eight minutes' worth of music, visit Vinnie Vincent's website.
