Record sales don't pay the bills anymore and streaming services, unless you're pretty much the equivalent of your genre's Taylor Swift, will screw you over. The only way to really make money as a working musician anymore is to get your ass out on the road, and that's the reality of even bigger bands like Avenged Sevenfold.
According to guitarist Synyster Gates in an interview with WSOU 89.5 FM, despite the billions of streams and gold albums, touring is what keeps the lights and water on at home.
“[Playing live is] 99.9 percent of it for us. Fortunately, you can't download a shirt or live experience. I'm sure that will happen soon. Until it does, we still have a job and we enjoy those things. We're very lucky to be able to play big, successful shows and we don't take it for granted and we appreciate the fans for that."
"I just think rock music doesn't stream as much as other music, so I think hip-hop and pop is a lot more lucrative for streaming services. I personally don't hate on them for doing smart business. It hasn't affected us. Obviously, we could make more money off of streams than other platforms, but it's our job to write great music that hopefully brings a broader audience to those platforms. I think it will turn around. I really do. I don't think it's a numbers issue — it's a demographic. Fortunately for us, our audience still buys CDs and [downloads songs on] iTunes. They're kind of newcomers to the monthly subscription-based streaming platforms. Once those things turn around and become ubiquitous in all cultures, you'll see those things turn around and it will be more profitable for younger artists. We're happy, we're good, but the up-and-comer metal band definitely has it a lot tougher than we ever did."
Avenged Sevenfold is currently in the process of writing a new album that will not pay the bills, and will also release an EP serving as compilation of their Black Ops contributions over the years. Which will also not pay the bills.
