Hey, new poster here, so carve me up as you wish, but one of things that draws me to Wilco is Jeff Tweedy's constant mantra that he just wants people to listen to his music, whether he's talking about free downloads, sharing or, I imagine, selling songs to a car company. Here's an excerpt from Stop Smiling Issue 19. (Totally unrelated to this topic, but proves my point)
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SS: You don't want your music to fall into a niche category?
JT: I don't care. I'd rather have it be in people's hands. That's really not my place to decide how many people will appreciate it or not. I'd rather let people have the chance of hearing it, because I want people to hear our music. That's one of the reasons we went with Nonesuch. Their mentality is similar to an indie label mentality. But it felt like they really had the resources to do it and not be overwhelmed by the scope of it. One hundred thousand records is a lot of records on an independent label. It can impact the system and the cash flow in a way that can be destructive and problematic. I think, in the end, we made the right decision. Our goal is to make records we like and have as many people as possible hear them.
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So if people hear this really cool song during a commercial, hit the Web to find out who sings it, and ultimately become fans, I can't see any reason to be upset about this. Jeff wins - more people hear his music. That's the absolute eptiome of an artist.
The inevitable sell out post
in Just A Fan
Posted
Hey, new poster here, so carve me up as you wish, but one of things that draws me to Wilco is Jeff Tweedy's constant mantra that he just wants people to listen to his music, whether he's talking about free downloads, sharing or, I imagine, selling songs to a car company. Here's an excerpt from Stop Smiling Issue 19. (Totally unrelated to this topic, but proves my point)
-------------------
SS: You don't want your music to fall into a niche category?
JT: I don't care. I'd rather have it be in people's hands. That's really not my place to decide how many people will appreciate it or not. I'd rather let people have the chance of hearing it, because I want people to hear our music. That's one of the reasons we went with Nonesuch. Their mentality is similar to an indie label mentality. But it felt like they really had the resources to do it and not be overwhelmed by the scope of it. One hundred thousand records is a lot of records on an independent label. It can impact the system and the cash flow in a way that can be destructive and problematic. I think, in the end, we made the right decision. Our goal is to make records we like and have as many people as possible hear them.
--------------------
So if people hear this really cool song during a commercial, hit the Web to find out who sings it, and ultimately become fans, I can't see any reason to be upset about this. Jeff wins - more people hear his music. That's the absolute eptiome of an artist.