Bush Frontman Gavin Rossdale 'Couldn't Be More Concerned' For Young Artists

Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale has expressed concern for the next generation of musicians, saying he’s “at a loss” when trying to figure out how aspiring acts make money in the streaming age.

In a new interview with Canada’s Q with Tom Power, the Glycerine singer described the current environment for young artists as “terrifying” when reflecting on the band’s beginnings and how the industry operates now.

“When I began, if you made something good, people might buy it,” Rossdale said. “Now, if you make something good, people might stream it. And I have two sons poised to make music their lives, and I couldn’t be more concerned for them.”

Rossdale added that he’s been a musician for his “whole life” and is “at a loss to explain to someone how to do it, how to build from the ground up, how to get a career in that.”

He continued, “It’s just terrifying because how do musicians, how do young bands get paid? I can’t work it out. I don’t know. Maybe you get one song with loads of streams, and we know that Spotify barely pays, and whatever they pay, the record companies make sure they siphon off most of it before it goes to the artist.”

The singer described the process as “artists getting screwed, record companies making a fortune and getting all the money,” or the “same shitty business.” However, if aspiring musicians love to create and tour, he wondered: what do they do?

“You just do the best you can. And you can obviously make money touring, but it takes a while to build up a catalogue, so if you want [people to] come and see you, that’s a crap shoot.”

He concluded, “I think it’s much harder now, and it was nearly impossible then. I don’t know what the odds are, but they don’t feel good for young musicians, which breaks my heart for them because we always need music; we always need people’s opinions.

“AI can take care of many things, but you talk about people relating to other people. It’s by writing that brutally painful, honest lyric that other people can relate to and get strength from. That exchange will never go away because people will continue to be upset and look for other people that understand.”

You can watch the interview below.

In 1994, Bush released their debut album, Sixteen Stone, which transformed Rossdale and his bandmates into global rock stars. The album spawned the singles Glycerine and Comedown, which are about Rossdale and his previous romantic relationship with Baby Animals’ Suze DeMarchi. The album peaked at #5 in Australia and has been certified double platinum.

Rossdale and Gwen Stefani’s 16-year-old son, Zuma, showed interest in country music last year, performing at Stefani’s husband Blake Shelton’s Ole Red bar in Oklahoma. The teen performed two Zach Bryan songs: Oklahoma Smokeshow and Revival.