Yngwie Malmsteen: A peek into the “business” of one of the world’s greatest guitar players.

Yngwie Malmsteen- A peek into the “business” of one of the world’s greatest guitar players.

Yngwie Malmsteen is considered to be one of the most influential guitarists of the modern era. He is mentioned in the same circles as Jimi Hendrix, Eddy Van Halen and Steve Vai. Today Yngwie speaks with Rodney about his insights into music business with over 35 years of experience. A great episode of Music Business Facts.

Yngwie:

"I'll never forget when I stopped making CDs. The distribution company that we used was a big one, too; they distributed for everybody, [including] big labels. I had my own label, Rising Force Records, and made records, but had them distributed to the chains, to the retailers, but the retailers are gone — there's no physical sales anymore — so I'm not gonna make the CDs and have 'em put into trucks to go nowhere. That was just a choice that I made. And you should have seen… It was, like, they were running around with a… They were, like, on their knees, begging: 'Please, make a CD! Please.' Well, sorry. If there was a market, that's what I would do. But there isn't… In the United States, there is no record chains — there's no Tower Records, no Virgin Megastores, there's no Spec's, there's no Coconuts… Every record store and record chain has folded; they don't exist. They do not exist. And the only two outlets that would still sell CDs were Best Buy and Wal-Mart. They now have stopped selling it. There's nowhere you can go into a store and buy a CD in America. That's how it is."

Great Audio interview http://www.musicbusinessfacts.net/664/50-yngwie-malmsteen/