'We're Not Gonna Take It' Acoustic Version

Dee Snider has just released an acoustic version of "We're Not Gonna Take It" as part of his campaign for musician's rights. The song is being used as the official anthem of The Recording Academy's advocacy efforts.

Snider is demanding fair compensation for musicians and wants congress to look at fixing compensation for musicians in the digital age. Songwriters get below market value for their work and musicians aren't getting royalties off radio play of their tracks. The Fair Play Fair Act would change this. You can read more about the act via musicFIRST.

The acoustic version of "We're Not Gonna Take It" will appear on Dee Snider's upcoming solo album We Are The Ones due in October.

Comments

[Bob]

I'm utterly amazed at this push by musicians, (More likely their labels), to drive a wedge between themselves and the one medium that has provided them free promotion for almost 100 years. In 1979, when WLIR and WBAB on Long Island, and WPDH in Poughkeepsie were playing Twisted Sister's first single, which of the following hypythetical exclamations do you think Dee was more likely to have said?..."Wow! Our record is being played on the radio! this is a big break for us!" or "those MF-ers are playing our single and not paying us royalties!" Well, I won't leave you in suspense. Instead, I'll quote directly from Dee's excellent book, "Shut up and give me the mic."
"The single got some "homegrown" radio airplay, was added to a lot of local jukeboxes, and gave Twisted our much needed, next degree of legitimacy with the fans. The flip side, "Under the Blade," was even added into rotation by upstate radio station WPDH in Poughkeepsie and became a minor hit in their broadcast area. WPDH was the first station in the world to recognize Twisted Sister as a legitimate rock act. Thank you, WPDH! You rock!"

Want further proof?...Dee also says in his book that rock radio in the US broke "We're Not Gonna Take It" long before MTV started playing the video.

So, my point is that Twisted Sister needed radio back then way more than radio needed Twisted Sister. they were happy to get that kind of promotion, and certainly didn't seem concerned about not making money from radio airplay.

Look, I get it, musicians and record labels don't make as much money as they used to from album or single sales, so they're trying to sqeeeeze every drop of money from every place they can, but going after radio as a new revenue source is a real slap in the face to that medium.

The truth is that, in the US, commercial radio doesn't make nearly as much money as it used to either. Once radio became deregulated in 1996, large corporations bought radio stations all over the country. Now, those same corporations are bleeding red ink, and selling off those stations at a tiny fraction of what they were worth 20 years ago.

These musicians and labels should be very careful about what they wish for. If radio stations, many of which are already bearly profitable, will now have the added expense of paying for each song they play, they'll either: go out of business, change to a talk format, or play more music from independent artists who won't ask for money in exchange for promotion.

[JAT]

Amen Bob.