Reported Failure: Rocks Biggest SelloutsBy The Punk Rock Defender
According to Business Insider eleven of the nineteen most expensive real estate markets in the United States are located in the state of California with the top six spots taken up by different cities in California. The study is based off of average listed prices for homes. Los Altos, California takes the top spot at an average price of 1.7 million dollars. This 1.7 million, of course is not near at all to the most expensive house in Los Altos or in the country. The most expensive house in Los Altos is a 27 million dollar mansion that only the most elite in the music industry could even dream of owning. The most expensive house in the United States goes to Greenwich, Connecticut's 190 million dollar home that looks like something straight out of the latest Great Gatsby remake. In California, the most expensive real estate market outside of the LA and San Francisco area is likely Santa Cruz. in the sea of overprividged corporate giants, worthless inheritees, and manipulative, big breasted gold diggers, in early 2012 formerly significant and legitimate rockstars joined the Santa Cruz real estate business buying a home right on the beach.
In March of 2011 Matt Collins was living with his parents or out of his car, and a year later he had purchased a 3.7 million dollar home on the beach in Santa Cruz, California. Vin Peters was struggling to build a record label out of nothing at a cheap office in Sacramento, California, and a year later he not only bought an 800,000 dollar home in neighboring Capitola, California, but also moved the labels headquarters to Santa Cruz's ocean facing commercial district by summer 2012. Billie Beckett had been renting an apartment in Seattle and then briefly in Berkeley. By Fall of 2012 he was living in a 2.5 million dollar home in a neighborhood near Collins's home. Robert Edwards was living in England at the beginning of 2011 and by the time Beckett moved to Santa Cruz, Edwards also bought a small apartment there.
Thus the band whose biggest hit in money-making 2011 was "Manufactured Radio" about the greed and fakeness of the music industry had, by the songs one year anniversary gone on to become the exemplary rags to riches punk band. Some might say that this is just chance and that the band became successful, had money, and then spent it on nice houses like anyone would. It is estimated, however, that Reported Failure's real estate ventures in 2012 cost roughly 8 million dollars. Meanwhile no financial records show the band donating more than 500,000 thousand dollars to major charities collectively. Between the four members of the band over 8 million dollars has been present on their own houses and personal hobbies but only 500,000 has been given to help those in need.
Reported Failure hasn't just not given to charity, but the way they became so successful in 2011 is also questionable. In Manufactured Radio the prechorus goes "So when you breathe fuck or sleep I hope you know that youre doin it for me/Every note you’ve sang, that was me/And your words, I wrote them for you/So you can be the radio". Reported Failure infact became not only the most successful rock artist on radio (Spawning six #1 songs on airplay in the past year) but also had their actions dictated by an intense desire for money.
Most bands release an album each year, and they earn their money by touring relentlessly and expanding their fanbase so that they can do it all again next year. Not Reported Failure. Just months after the release of the now ironic "Post-grunge Catastrophe" the band released a premature Best Of double disc called "Reported Failure and Friends". It featured one disc of songs from their career thus far plus two lazily written new tracks (Its no wonder you never hear about Reported failure putting on a show by playing hits like "My Shotgun Fairytale" or "Sunburns": because they were awful songs). The other disc was them and other bands playing various Reported Failure songs together and a couple of awful covers. This was a calculated move. What pop-punk band had a single ten times bigger than any single by Reported Failure at the time? Riot! in the Boulevard. Who was on Vin Peters's label and thus would be featured on anything Peters told them to? Riot! in the Boulevard. Who did Reported Failure choose to appear on the lead single from the album? Riot! in the Boulevard. Another big rock act was Lily so she appeared on two tracks. The album thus managed to sell close to two million units and had extremely low recording prices because Reported Failure didnt make anything new for it.
Then came another release that year. They called the "My Name is... EP" a prequel or preview, but unlike movie previews this one would cost you five dollars to see. Instead of just put the songs on their next album "Darkness" Reported Failure released the EP separately. Another calculated, planned move was hiring Jason Smith to produce the EP. Vin Peters is an accomplished producer who does not need guidance or help, but Vin Peters was just the guitarist from Reported Failure. Jason Smith on the other hand was the single biggest rockstar and producer in the world at the time. Whose name could Reported Failure now strap onto an otherwise typical, dare I say boring release? Jason Smiths. The unnecessary EP with the unneeded producer was released and sold almost four million copies. With a relentless marketing campaign sparked by exaggerated scandals and the bands public image as "getting darker and more mysterious" Reported Failure managed to become a multi-million dollar a year business.
This business was smart. The album "Darkness" was supposed to be released in February 2012 but was pushed to July. Why? Because the band realized that when the hype of an impending album dissipated so did singles sales. "Manufactured Radio" was the first single and most successful single from "post-Grunge Catastrophe" and after the first single from the bands fifth album "Crumbling" debuted at number one the band wanted to keep that going so rather than give the fans a timely release the band released two more singles before the album came out and even spread false rumors that they would break up to build hype. The three singles released before the release of "Darkness" debuted at #1. The one single released after the album only ever reached #3.
Thus Reported Failure is not the shining beacon of rock and roll integrity that they are portrayed as. They are in fact exactly what they complained about two years ago in "Manufactured Radio". Every move since the release of that single has been calculated and planned not for the benefit of the fans or the music industry but for the benefit of Reported Failure in the form of income. For the past two years Reported Failure has been acting with only their income in mind. They stopped making modest punk records and started pushing giant concept albums that were easier to advertise. They left their modest indie label and joines the biggest money making machine in music, Studio 60 Records. They left their calm, creative homes and spent upwards of 8 million dollars on beach front houses. They left the life of a legitimate band and became rocks biggest sellouts.
