The State of the Music Industry - from the ROOTS!!!

Written by: Toure`
VIBE MAGAZINE (June/July 2009; pg. 78)


?uestlove of the ROOTS (The World Famous Hip-Hop Band) says August is the month to book shows for the upcoming year and last August they didn't book much - trying to reverse course now would be like applying to college in October. Besides, the touring market is cratering. "The recession has taken a toll on a lot of longtime promoters," ?uestlove says. "Ten of our regular promoter guys are out of business. So I kinda see the levee about to break on the middle groups. I doubt that Madonna will suffer. She can bodly charge $300 [a seat]. But that middle class is gone."

And the idea of making good money from an album makes ?uestlove laugh hysterically. "We don't live off records!" he says. "Makin' a record to me is the equivalent of the cats who hand you a flyer at the end of the night. The record's like, We're still here, here's a flyer." All of which means The Roots may have painted themselves into a bit of a corner: if the test shows don't impress and they get dumped by the Fallon show, they could be in a financial bind. "This is probably our biggest challenge since tryin' to force Phrenology on our fanbase."