Michael Sweet 'puzzled' by social media

Stryper frontman Michael Sweet says he is “deeply puzzled” that album sales don’t equate with followers on social media.

The vocalist/guitarist, who recently announced a collaboration with George Lynch, insists people just aren’t buying music – and he can’t understand it.

Sweet tells Totally Driven Radio: “Album sales don’t equate to followers on Facebook and Twitter. If you have a million followers on Facebook and sell 10,000 copies of an album, something’s wrong.

“There are reasons that play into it, obviously, such as people just don’t buy music these days, people download, the economy’s bad, people don’t have the money – it goes on and on. But there’s still something deeply puzzling about that.

“It seems to be that sales keep going down. It doesn’t matter what genre in music – sales are just declining. People just aren’t buying, or, for whatever reason, don’t wanna buy music any more.”

Sweet recently added his name to the list of artists criticising U2’s Songs Of Innocence giveaway stunt, saying it devalues music.

He said: “Why would anyone want to continue buying music when the trend is to receive it for free in their inbox? I think it does devalue the music of all the little fish in this enormous pond.”

Meanwile, Stryper recently released CD/DVD Live At The Whisky via Frontiers Music. The performance was filmed at Whisky A Go Go, California last year in support of their No More Hell To Pay album.

Live At The Whisky tracklist

Legacy 2. Marching Into Battle 3. You Know What To Do 4. Loud And Clear 5. Reach Out 6. Calling On You 7. Free 8. More Than A Man 9. The Rock That Makes Me Roll 10. No More Hell To Pay 11. Jesus Is Just Alright 12. Always There For You 13. All For One 14. The Way 15. To Hell With The Devil 16. Soldiers Under Command

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.