In chapter 15 he's talking about how labels in the 90s got in the business of SUPER promoting only a small number of people, making them into mega-artists:
"So when the system started to buckle in the post-Napster era, upper-crust artists were reluctant to pull a Prince and go into business for themselves. ... Musicians loved to complain about their record companies... but few were eager to assume the responsibilities of distributing and marketing their music."
And in chapter 18, re. how Radiohead had a #1 album because of leaking it onto the internets, and where they should go with their future albums/promotion, Radiohead said this:
"it's about effort. Effort and energy. And whether we really can be asked to start a 'revolution' at this particular moment, when actually the first priority is all the other stuff. ... I love picking fights. However, there has to be a natural reason to do it."
The comments remind me of a song by Steve Bell. It's written from the perspective of the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane, trying to stay awake but unable to. I've always enjoyed the song because it's a great representation of the feeling that you have something important you know you should be doing, but you just can't get up the energy to do it.
There's a part of my ready now
But mostly I just want to sleep one more hour
...
All of us thought we were ready
All of us thought we were fit
Not one of us thought it would end
In a slumbering bliss
I can imagine a lot of big artists feeling this way when they saw Prince first walk away from the big labels. You know that if you join him, it would make quite the statement; but ummm... you've got this new album you're working on, and how would you promote it anyway, and all the work involved, and the Big 5 suck but what can we do about it? etc.
