The reason why I play around with the word legend is because this is my 7th CD and a lot of artists don't even make it that far. Many artists don't even pass three or four.
So there was a way for you to get promoted and survive as an artist without worrying about AM radio hits.
Music changes every three months. There's always new artists coming out. There's always new sounds. There is always a new hit coming out. You gotta stay relevant as much as you can and feed your fans as much as you can.
A lot of people who were writing when I came through originally as a singer-songwriter have disappeared.
'Loveless' was a really big record for me. It was what was keeping me alive when I was still touring with Redd Kross.
It was pretty frightening because as we all know, when large, famous groups breakup, a lot of the members don't survive in solo careers.
I tour a lot and interview a lot. I'm on the Internet and doing stuff. I go out and promote. I've got a bass drum and a sandwich sign and a washboard. You just have to shout louder and louder that you're still alive.
Today they forget you in five years. They give an artist nowadays four or five years and that's it. Some of them don't have that. They get a couple of releases. If you don't sell two million copies, you're gone, you're out of here.
The average rap life is two or three albums. You're lucky to get to your second album in rap!
Nowadays, with the state of the music business, for any artist, whether you're up-and-coming or you've been in it for awhile, you have to explore different revenues and different ways of expressing yourself.
Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn't an artist out there who could survive without hit songs.
We've all had our highs and lows at different times throughout the years, but the fact that we had these loyal fans that just stayed with us all around the world is what's been able to keep us alive.
I know it takes more than one album to stay around.
In order to maintain your longevity, you have to know the business. It's not about just rapping and performing.
Passion is the breath we take, the water we drink to sustain ourselves. Without air and water we perish; without passion an artist will wither and blow away.
Connecting with fans online can be the make or break or some artists, and I think that's a bit dangerous.
I'm not sure how we exist, as an artist, without country radio.
I firmly believe in music being as free as possible. Unlocked. Shared and spread. In order for artists to survive and create, their audiences need to step up and directly support them.
For Dylan, it seems, life is always the next gig. Changing pace and location are essential to his survival as an artist.
Music is my breath, blood and food - without music I would perish; the actor in me would die.
