It is always a shame when you hear about a band breaking up. No matter the reason, break-ups are not fun for anybody. The band has had some kind of issue and decided to move on with their lives, and the listeners are no longer able to get new music. The sad thing is, as the music industry transforms into a completely different entity, this is happening more and more. Sure, many artists are thriving off of the new, free stream-based music industry, but many aren’t making ends meet.
Silverline has been playing shows since 1997. Their fans have been a tight-knit group; but with five #1 radio singles, this band has definitely made a splash in the music market. As they said in their post, “Silverline has existed for one purpose since the beginning, to preach the gospel to those who have not heard and to inspire believers to grow in their faith,” and this they have done. Their clear guitar riffs and easy to follow lyrics made for catchy and impactful messages for the listeners. It is impossible for us to forget their lyrics, “We are the voices in the night, we will not be silenced! We won’t back down we’ll stand and fight, we are the voices in the night!” From album to album Silverline has told a story of triumph, impossibility, standing up for your faith, and never backing down.
They talked about the good times and the bad times, the ups and the downs, the arguments and the worship. They have no regrets, but it was inevitably the time to break up. A combination of things led to this end. Family, age, and the changing industry were their main reasons for the break up. All of the members would like to spend more time with their families. “You might not realize it but we have been on the road for 80-100 shows a year for the past 10 years. Not to mention a few months every so often to record albums. That’s a lot of time away from home.” This is probably the top reason for bands breaking up. Most bands start when the musicians are young. As they start a family, it is difficult to continue living the artist lifestyle. Also, as Silverline stated, there comes a time when you’ve grown up, and there are other responsibilities that are more important.
One of the most interesting points Silverline made in their post was the rant on the changes to the music industry.
Another reason is the music industry is changing. Sure the big names still do fine but there is a reason that a lot of mid level bands are dropping out of the race. With digital music being accessible for free by anyone it isn’t like the old days. Sure you’ll read some genius on Facebook talking about how digital music stealing doesn’t hurt anyone but it’s just not true. Shows and touring attendance is massively down across the board. Not just for us but every genre. Even a lot of music festivals are hurting or closing their doors. This isn’t a huge reason for us but it doesn’t help.
It is unusual for a band to explicitly talk poorly about the changes to the industry. You tend to hear it from third party sources. This made it blatantly clear that bands are hurting from the new way that music is getting to people’s ears. To the everyday listener, it seems like this is obvious; however, it is actually more complicated than it seems. The top free music-streaming application today is Spotify. Spotify pays the artists about the same percentage as iTunes does for a single purchase to a song. The issue is, the mid-sized artists aren’t getting enough plays on their songs to make enough money for the industry to stay the same. Ideally, an artist would have their song played more, because it is free to listen to, then they would eventually make more money than just the one-time-buys on iTunes. With this theory in mind, it is possible for artists to make more money than they did before. But, since people aren’t listening to these artists enough, they are actually unable to make enough money to make it worth it.
With that being said, the industry is still changing. Hopefully soon it will work out that the mid-sized artists will be making more money that they ever have so we don’t have to see more bands hurting for money and eventually breaking up.
Despite the break up, it gives us an excuse to reminisce over all the great memories we have associated with Silverline. If you have any great memories associated with the band, one of their concerts, or some of their music, please share them in the comments below.
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