Former FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH bassist Matt Snell says that "it's a lot easier" for bands to reach a wider audience today, even though financial burdens have made it much harder for many of them to survive. Snell, who recently launched a new group called INVIDIA with current and former members of IN THIS MOMENT and SKINLAB, made his comments while speaking with The Metal Gods Meltdown about INVIDIA's upcoming debut album, "As The Sun Sleeps". Asked if he is glad that he got his start in music back when he did rather than in the present day, Snell said (hear audio below): "No, not at all. I think it's a lot easier today. I think it's harder to make money, but you're not supposed to be in this for money. It's art, and if you happen to luck out and be successful, then good on you, pass it along to somebody else." He continued: "The world's more accessible. It's a lot smaller place than it was twenty years ago. So I can get on and I can work online, and I'm talking to you right now through a computer; I couldn't have done that a long time ago. So there's just so many tools available now to somebody to promote and work their band. Not only that, but you can go online and give yourself an education. What are the other bands doing that you're not doing? You're able to find more music to help your creativity. It's an endless sea of knowledge and information, if you look at it the right way. From that standpoint, it's wonderful. There's been some setbacks when you deal with the monetary compensation, because people steal your music. People laugh, 'Oh, it's no big deal.' It's the whole reason that concerts are expensive now, it's the whole reason that bands don't have money now — because people are stealing music. So on that side, it's unfortunate that people take technology and steal it, but we used to dub cassettes back to back and record records when you didn't have any money. And I think that's cool until you're about thirteen or fourteen. Then you need to get a job and earn money and buy records. That's what I did." According to Snell, part of the problem is that fans need to be better educated about the real results of stealing music if they want to see the continuation of album production. "Our record comes out in a week — on March 31 — and we're gonna have to employ some people to sit on there and try to get stuff taken down off of YouTube and everywhere else that's not authorized by us, because the bottom line is, while we want the music shared, we need to be able to put gas in the tour bus and we need to be able to pay salaries and get crew and purchase merchandise to sell," he explained. "That's the business side of things that's always gonna be a little bit of a challenge, but I think it's just important to always spread a message to people of responsibility and respect. And even if you only like a couple of songs, then just buy a couple of songs; you have that luxury today. Anything you do is ultimately helping the band be a band. And the bands that have the freedom and ability to make good music, it's because they're not having to focus so much on the money and the business; they're able to take care of what they're supposed to be doing." INVIDIA vocalist Travis Johnson is the bassist in IN THIS MOMENT while guitarists Brian Jackson and Marcos Medina have worked together in SKINLAB. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH parted ways with Snell in December 2010 but didn't announce his exit until April 2011. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist Zoltan Bathory later told Gun Shy Assassin that Matt was fired, adding that the bassist "wasn't a writing member," ensuring that the band's sound wouldn't be affected. FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's current bassist, Chris Kael, officially joined the band in June 2011. Photo credit: Fred Morledge / PhotoFM.com
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