Kid Rock: Still Rich, In Spite of Itunes
June 18, 2008
I’ve never been a huge fan of Kid Rock’s music, but I admire the moral stand he’s taking with ITunes. A BBC article reports that Rock won’t allow his music on ITunes (except his first album, which he doesn’t own the rights to), because he feels the system is still based on the old school record label system.
You know, the one where everyone gets paid but the artist.
Word, Kid Rock.
I’m not saying I think ITunes screws musicians, because I think any way an artist chooses to get exposure for their music is valid. But I will say that the old “owe your soul to the company store” method of making music just doesn’t work for bands that don’t blow up and have a radio single.
Anything that calls attention to the fact that that system is broken is good in my book. Kid, Garth Brooks, and AC/DC are the last major US holdouts to putting their music on Itunes.
Garth’s reservations, according to the BBC article, are less to do with economics and more to do with album aesthetics…it was conceived as a unit and should remain one, not consumers choosing just the catchy hit single.
I still tend to buy more physical CDs than download-able music, unless I have a gift card. Luddite, I know. I just have this vision of me running rampant and spending our mortgage on Itunes recreating my 90’s tape collection.
But even when I buy CD’s, there’s always at least 4 songs that I just don’t listen to…skip them every time. Now, sometimes, I’ll come back around to them and they’ll catch my fancy later.
How bout you guys? Whole albums, or one song at a time?
Quote of the day: (In response to a question about if he downloads music illegally)
“No, I don’t steal things. I’m rich.”- Kid Rock
Love it.
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June 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
June 18th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
A great example of the “one of these things is not like the other” phenomena is the Plain White Ts song, Hey There Delilah. This song is unlike any other on the album, not merely in musical aesthetics, but in the most simplistic form of musical judgment: it doesn’t blow chucks. Truly, the rest of the album is complete typical quasi-emo, indie rock wannabe trash (read: Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne, etc.). Doesn’t Weird Al make a living out of spoofing this contrite, clever music? Yes, yes he does. Anyway, I digress.
The point is, the ownderful thing about i-tunes is the same wonderful thing about the mix tape: it lets the user decide what he/she likes. The only albums that must be taken as a whole are Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Arcade Fire’s Funeral, and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Garth Brooks, who upon his success left his wife (who had supported him all of those years as he struggled to become a star), is not the authority on things which should remain whole for sake of intrinsic gestalt. My closing argument against Brooks’ asinine assertion is thus: explain the success of movie soundtracks -not merely as a well-selling genre- but also their ability to capture and convey the essence of another person’s story (the movie) almost invariably using songs from a variety of bands across both times and genres?
BAM! How ya’ like me know, bitch?
June 18th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Amen to discarding the old school record label system.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I am ROTFL at this slam on Garth. I hadn’t thought about it in quite those terms (the wife and all) but you do make a powerful argument, WPoFD. I would add to your list of albums which must remain whole Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes and Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.
Weird AL is totally playing at the Warner Theatre soon and I really wanna go. And take my 11 year old, who watched the White and Nerdy compulsively for 6 months last year. OMG it is soooooo funny I kind of want to watch it right now.
Susan: Preach it, sister! And I pitched an article to the WaPost Style section today based on your KidzBop dare.:) cross yo fingers, mama.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Interesting conversation, do I comment on the illegal downloading, or listening to the whole CD ?? Hmmmm, well, while it’s true nowadays it’s easy to hit skip. I come from a generation where you risked damaging your LP every time you lifted the needle to skip a song. I was still buying vinyl up to the 80’s and if you wanted the one hit, you just brought a 45. So basically, you learned to at least know every song, some were just not your favorites.(can I add “Dark Side” to the list) When CDs got more mainstream (we had an early player, couldn’t get alot of material for it) I tended to buy alot of “best of”s to replace my LPs. (I was one of BMG’s biggest customers)
Now, I do download bit torrents of my favorite bands as soon as they hit the web, (I am way too impatient to wait for Official releases) but I always subsequently buy the CD for the Artwork and Notes. I never even play them. I feel this is a good compromise, Then again, since I now mostly prefer smaller bands, and they openly say the only thing they get from recordings is exposure, I support them with my wallpaper of merch items, all pinned to my walls, rarely worn. (really, I am running out of space)
One more point, I will download albums I already own if the get damaged or lost. Call it a free upgrade.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
One time I heard Kid Rock being criticized for sticking to the G C D chords and he said “Well you should write a bunch of songs using G, C, and D because I’m a rock star and being a rock star is fun as hell.”