I pirated their works a while back, so I'm getting a kick out of these comments.

Piracy smacks of Socialism.

I just wanted to be that guy to chime in and proclaim that they have no idea who the people in question are.

But I'm not pretending like those people who say "What's a Snooki?" I honestly don't know who these people are. I know they're a band, but that's about it. I don't really listen to the Radio, I listen to podcasts pretty much exclusively.

I haven't been a fanatical BK fan in the past. I own some albums and give them some casual listens, but they get kinda repetitive for me after a while. But that new single is catchy as fark.

I think Black Keys are trying for the Streisand Effect.

BurnShrike: I pirated their works a while back, so I'm getting a kick out of these comments.

Yeah, a friend gave me El Camino two weeks before it came out. I've paid to go to one of their shows, so I'm sure that alone gave them more money than had I bought all their albums on iTunes.

The Homer Tax: I just wanted to be that guy to chime in and proclaim that they have no idea who the people in question are.

But I'm not pretending like those people who say "What's a Snooki?" I honestly don't know who these people are. I know they're a band, but that's about it. I don't really listen to the Radio, I listen to podcasts pretty much exclusively.

you can stream some of their music, if you're actually interested.

How the hell do you listen to a whole album on Pandora? Listen to it 24/7 for a few days?

I thought Ray threw in the Black Keys for free?

I thought the Black Keys made their money by selling their music for commercials, not by actually selling albums.

scottydoesntknow: I don't have a problem with doing it just for the money if you have the talent to back it up, just don't act like you're counter-culture when you really aren't.

The only explanation I can give as a possible counter is that they aren't talking exclusively about their own revenue streams, but instead the producer/mixer(s)/whomever the hell else was behind the glass playing with knobs and dials in the recording studio, since I believe they're still largely or even entirely compensated through actual album sales, while obviously the artists themselves have merchandising, concerts, etc as additional streams to rake in cash.

Regardless, while I have no beef whatsoever with artists trying to implement their own controls over the distribution of their music, that was a clunky, half-assed reasoning they gave.

I'll wait until I can hear the album in 30 second snippets on TV. Not that there's anything wrong with that... unless it's that shiatty Vampire Weekend song that I heard in several different commercials as nauseum last Xmas.

NutznGum: I thought the Black Keys made their money by selling their music for commercials, not by actually selling albums.

I blame Morpheus and that asian dude.

NutznGum: I thought the Black Keys made their money by selling their music for commercials, not by actually selling albums.

Wait...people who AREN'T in marketing listen to music, too?!

downstairs: "there's a lot of stuff about these services that people don't really know"

Ok, well why don't you explain yourself.

Well, for one, there's a lot of Jews that run these services.

I bet that all the songs are a mere Youtube search away.

I'm listening to the Black Keys on Grooveshark, so I'm getting a kick out of this.

12349876: How the hell do you listen to a whole album on Pandora? Listen to it 24/7 for a few days?

My question too, you don't get to pick the songs on Pandora...and, Pandora pays royalties for the songs it plays...which really makes this sound like money, not fairness to the fans.

They do have a point. You do get paid shiat from streaming services. My band has stuff on Spotify and Rhapsody. We get $0.01 per stream. A song needs to be streamed about 75 times to equal one song sale. I don't really care because I just do it for fun, but I understand how someone trying to make a living off music would not be a fan of a business model that devalues the work that much.

I know, they should make the money from playing live. All bands make more money playing live, even my crappy band, but it still does not mean the recorded music is worthless and should essentially be free. And is it fair that Spotify, etc make money renting a product that they acquire without paying the bands anything? How is this any different from what the record companies have been doing for years? And everyone seems to hate the record companies, but not the streaming services.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

scottydoesntknow: El Freak: scottydoesntknow: So since they're all about the money now can we drop the stupid "indie" label? They're not doing it for the music or the fans, they're doing it for the bottom line.

Yeah, how DARE they not like being screwed over??

Ahhh it's funny how you cut out the second half of my post, where I specifically said "I don't have a problem with doing it just for the money if you have the talent to back it up, just don't act like you're counter-culture when you really aren't."

I am a pretty big Black Keys fan and I don't remember them ever acting like they are counter-culture. When they play live, they basically just show up and play. They seem to do what they want and have toured the hell out of the country to get where they are. Hell, they sold songs for commercials for the last couple of years. That doesn't seem very counter culture to me. They just seem like a band that does what they want and worked their asses off to get to where they are today.

They're lo-fi, not spoti-fi

Now that the bluesy edge is gone, they're just another bland pop band.

Slu: They do have a point. You do get paid shiat from streaming services. My band has stuff on Spotify and Rhapsody. We get $0.01 per stream

Does it cost you anything to stream this music on spotify, etc?

Because if not, it seems like a pretty good deal. You're making $0.01 per stream more than you're making by not streaming the music at all.

Headline: Black Keys won't sign up for streaming sites because it's not fair to the suckers that actually paid for music

Translation: fark you, pay us for the music.

angstycoder: Article with beautiful infographic on musician/label cut from streaming (and other things)

Interesting. I think I'll check out CDBaby thanks to this graphic.

The Homer Tax: Slu: They do have a point. You do get paid shiat from streaming services. My band has stuff on Spotify and Rhapsody. We get $0.01 per stream

Does it cost you anything to stream this music on spotify, etc?

Because if not, it seems like a pretty good deal. You're making $0.01 per stream more than you're making by not streaming the music at all.

Yeah. There are a lot of people out there who are never going to buy your song. But they like it well enough to let it play when it streams and give you your penny. I guess it all depends on how you view fans. If you think streaming is going to stop a lot of people from purchasing, then you don't do it. If you think streaming is going to get a lot of casual listens and earn you a little on the side, then you do it.

Looking forward to the Keys getting big enough where they can self-publish.

KatjaMouse: angstycoder: Article with beautiful infographic on musician/label cut from streaming (and other things)

Interesting. I think I'll check out CDBaby thanks to this graphic.

I looked the other day and the set-up fee is $39 per album. Profit works out to about $0.91/song on average (I think it can vary a bit based on through whom it was bought), and they keep $4 of album price for physical album sent off (your album, which you send them -- seems ridiculous so we're not doing that portion).

HTC, HP, Zales, Nissan, Victoria's Secret, Molson......that's 6 commercials with Black Keys songs off the top of my head and there are more. I know everyone needs to get paid but at what point do you cross the line into whoredom?

/One does not simply walk into whoredom

The Homer Tax: Slu: They do have a point. You do get paid shiat from streaming services. My band has stuff on Spotify and Rhapsody. We get $0.01 per stream

Does it cost you anything to stream this music on spotify, etc?

Because if not, it seems like a pretty good deal. You're making $0.01 per stream more than you're making by not streaming the music at all.

Yeah - you gotta go through a company like Tunecore, who charges 5 bucks or so (don't remember exactly) to get your record onto a "store" (so 5 bucks for iTunes US, 5 bucks for Amazon, 5 bucks for Spotify, etc.) and then you have to pay 20$/year per record to keep them in the stores. But you keep all rights and revenue from the store. I assume that money is Tunecore's money. But there is no way for an independent artist to get on any store without the help of Tunecore or CD Baby, etc. I actually consider it to be a pretty good deal in the grand scheme of things.

angstycoder: KatjaMouse: angstycoder: Article with beautiful infographic on musician/label cut from streaming (and other things)

Interesting. I think I'll check out CDBaby thanks to this graphic.

I looked the other day and the set-up fee is $39 per album. Profit works out to about $0.91/song on average (I think it can vary a bit based on through whom it was bought), and they keep $4 of album price for physical album sent off (your album, which you send them -- seems ridiculous so we're not doing that portion).

Check out Tunecore. That is who we use. I set it up a while ago, but it used to be cheaper than CD Baby. I have been pretty happy with the service.

scottydoesntknow: Slu: scottydoesntknow: El Freak: scottydoesntknow: So since they're all about the money now can we drop the stupid "indie" label? They're not doing it for the music or the fans, they're doing it for the bottom line.

Yeah, how DARE they not like being screwed over??

Ahhh it's funny how you cut out the second half of my post, where I specifically said "I don't have a problem with doing it just for the money if you have the talent to back it up, just don't act like you're counter-culture when you really aren't."

I am a pretty big Black Keys fan and I don't remember them ever acting like they are counter-culture. When they play live, they basically just show up and play. They seem to do what they want and have toured the hell out of the country to get where they are. Hell, they sold songs for commercials for the last couple of years. That doesn't seem very counter culture to me. They just seem like a band that does what they want and worked their asses off to get to where they are today.

My original post was about dropping the "indie" label. They aren't indie, they're mainstream and they know it. It wasn't even a gripe at them (I don't know if they consider themselves indie and I doubt they do) but more at the media just slinging "indie" around because they haven't heard of them before.

Again, not a gripe at the BK (I like their music), more of a gripe at the stupid "indie" terminology.

Fair enough. I also hate the label "indie", or at least hate what the media has done with it.

NutznGum: HTC, HP, Zales, Nissan, Victoria's Secret, Molson......that's 6 commercials with Black Keys songs off the top of my head and there are more. I know everyone needs to get paid but at what point do you cross the line into whoredom?

/One does not simply walk into whoredom

I think the thing that should concern you more than a band's whoredom is the fact that you can name 6 different commercials featuring that band's songs.

The Black Keys are one of the bands I got into solely because of recommendations from Fark.

And I thank you all.

It is also unfair for any product to go "on sale" since people have already paid full price for it.

The Homer Tax: Slu: They do have a point. You do get paid shiat from streaming services. My band has stuff on Spotify and Rhapsody. We get $0.01 per stream

Does it cost you anything to stream this music on spotify, etc?

Because if not, it seems like a pretty good deal. You're making $0.01 per stream more than you're making by not streaming the music at all.

I think the posters point still stands. There is still little difference between online streaming companies and the old record labels. At the end of the day its still office dwellers and bean counters getting rich off of the work of artists. Did the old black blues and R&B artists not actually get ripped off by the record companies in the 40s and 50s because getting .01% of a royalty was better than nothing? I still don't understand why Spotify is cool for doing it, but Capital Records or Deca are slimeballs, other than as music consumers we're more likely to endorse or justify it because we're getting to consume music so cheaply.

xdedd: The Black Keys are one of the bands I got into solely because of recommendations from Fark.

And I thank you all.

I actually had no clue whom they were until Colbert Report the other night. A "So that's who sings that song," moment. Find it interesting they're from Akron, Ohio. Did a year of HS and one of College up there; I've no desire to return.