Mike Portnoy comments (excerpts)

Jerry [Ewing] talks of his two decades of writing for magazines and the experience of getting behind bands you support, thinking, ‘This is it,’ as they’re on the cusp of success. He then remembers the disappointment of a campaign falling to pieces, following a change in personnel behind the scenes.

“That was the story of Dream Theater’s career for a good 15 years,” laughs Portnoy wryly. “When we signed to Atlantic, it was a seven-album deal. Within those seven albums, I don’t think we had the same imprint once. We signed with Atco, and then it became EastWest, then it was EastWest Elektra, then it was Elektra, then it was Atlantic. Every single one of those albums was different labels, different staff, different A&R. We had the benefits of being on a major label – the distribution and high profile – and yes, we were able to sell a lot of records because of it, but we had no relationship there.”

“All young artists, when they’re at that stage of their career, will sign anything,” adds [Steve] Rothery. “You’ll sign away your life because it’s your dream and you have no concept of royalties. It’s only as the years roll on that you really get to see how totally screwed the record company is.”

“Back then, we needed a record deal,” responds Portnoy. “You couldn’t do anything without a record deal. You couldn’t go into the studio and get it out there without a label. Now, it’s a whole new world.”

-----

Mike Portnoy has been involved with myriad projects since departing Dream Theater in 2010, including the Winery Dogs, Adrenaline Mob and Flying Colors. In terms of labels, is he actively seeking out people to work with who share a similar mindset?

“The last couple of years, I haven’t signed anything on a long-term basis – it’s an album-by-album situation,” he explains. “I’ve worked with different labels for different projects depending on who’s right for the band. The other thing is labels now are serving more of a distributional and promotional purpose. People can record their albums in their home studios – they don’t need the budget of a label to go into a studio.”

-----

“I see a lot of labels are using the same tools that kids in their parents’ homes are using – YouTube, Twitter and Facebook – to promote the band,” points out Portnoy. “It used to be that you’d need Rolling Stone magazine and MTV and it’s not like that now. Labels are using social media and any 13-year-old kid could use that.”

-----

“The artists, for the first time since the 60s, have gotten their music back,” says Portnoy with a celebratory tone. “I think once the labels got a taste for whatever was popular, they started signing up everybody. You hear a lot of stories about artists from back then that signed away everything and they’d sell millions of records and never see a penny. Here we are, 50 years later, and the artist is finally getting their music back. I hate to say it, but people talk about the collapse of the industry and labels are folding and I don’t feel bad for them. I’m on the artists’ side and it’s about time we were able to control the music again.”