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Kid Rock says take my music... please
Humped that record labels and online wholesalers get to keep most of the money that changes electronic hands when people buy music online, Kid Rock wants you to take his stuff for free:
"Back in the day, we all know the stories of the Otis Reddings and Chuck Berrys and Fats Dominos who never got paid," Kid Rock told the BBC News website.
"So the internet was an opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money."
But they stuck to the "old system", he continued.
"I will be on iTunes eventually because I can't avoid it, but I like to always stick to my guns and prove a point and do something original and because I believe in it."
"So the internet was an opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money."
But they stuck to the "old system", he continued.
"I will be on iTunes eventually because I can't avoid it, but I like to always stick to my guns and prove a point and do something original and because I believe in it."
The trouble is, Rock manages to destroy the nub of his own argument, by announcing he was rich. If the labels are distributors are replicating the system which kept Redding and Berry poor, how would Rock get rich?
The performer - whose real name is Robert Ritchie - said his record company Atlantic had asked him to "stand up for illegal downloading" a few years ago because it told him "people are stealing from us and stealing from you".
"And I go: 'Wait a second, you've been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?'
"I was telling kids - download it illegally, I don't care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live."
"And I go: 'Wait a second, you've been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?'
"I was telling kids - download it illegally, I don't care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live."
The BBC website attempts to bracket Rock with the Beatles and AC-DC in holding out from iTunes, but isn't that over-stating his position in the cultural pecking order a little? To be honest, we're surprised that Kid Rock actually gets to makes records you can buy anywhere, not that they're not available online.
2 comments:
You can safely & smugly deride a trailer trash refugee like "Kid Rock", from yer pedantic perch, but I doubt he, his label, or accountant, is worried about your summation of his career. I suppose if he had some sort of sadsack indie cred, and a mopey moby or morrisey fixation you and all the blogosphere would adore him.
Get over it... It's called Rock n Roll for a reason, and Kid has more f'n fun with it in a week than you will in a lifetime, and you know it.
I could go on & on while bloggers blog ... but who gives a flying f what you think.
I'll simply paraphrase Diamond David Lee Roth who once opined that all the "rock critics" hated Van Halen and loved Elvis Costello because they look like Elvis Costello, ( but secretly want to be Van Halen).
@turn it up
Actually, I think you'll find people preferred early Costello to late period Van Halen, mainly because Van Halen was one half-formed idea that was quickly forgotten.
It's called rock and roll because, erm, of the rhythm - not, as you seem to think, after Kid Rock.
Still, four paragraphs in response to a post you couldn't give a flying fuck about. I shudder to think how long your comments are on posts that actually matter to you.
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