“The record industry is, pretty much, dead”: Al Di Meola speaks out about the lack of opportunities for young musicians

Jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola has bemoaned what he sees as the current state of the music industry. In an interview with Jordi Pinyol (below) he has declared it as “close to dead”.

Whilst talking about the difficulties young musicians face today, Di Meola lamented that: "There are no record companies that will support them and help build a career like we had, because the record industry is, pretty much, I would say, dead, (or) close to dead. 

"It's not the same. We used to have record stores on every corner, everywhere you'd walk into the store, and there's your record. It was a great time."

"So, these young players will never get to experience their records in a store, only online, and it's not the same. And, of course, the record companies are not going to put money into building a career and supporting a tour, so it's a difficult time. I mean, you could discover (new artists) because of the internet, but I don't know how far you can go with that."

We’ve heard such things before, of course. People have been proclaiming that the end of the record industry is nigh ever since the advent of the Internet in the late '90s. But record companies still exist, and indeed record stores still exist.

Di Meola though was clearly in a nostalgic mood on this particular day. “I don’t like what is super-popular today,” he said. “It’s not for me. The best, most unbelievable period of music was the 60s and 70s, for me. I mean, look what came out of London in the 60s! It’s just unbelievable how many great pop and rock groups (there were), and also jazz…”

“Today I don’t know that there’s anything that blows me away. I know there are a lot of great guitar players that I see every minute on my computer or my phone. But not a lot of them or not even any of them have any music. 

"What is impressive is what they’re playing. Where is the song? Are they going to be remembered for their song, or their album? I don’t think so.”

“A lot of these young guitar players are not there yet. At all. Zero.”

I’d say that is the unmistakable sound of a gauntlet being thrown down. Young guitar players – over to you.