In a recent interview with The Seattle Times, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, who has never been one to keep his opinions to himself, sounded off on U2 for the controversial free iTunes release of their latest album Songs of Innocence, which he felt “devalued their music completely.”
“[It] sends a huge mixed message to bands…that are just struggling to get by,” Carney said of U2’s decision to release Songs of Innocence for free in every iTunes library across the planet. “I think that they were thinking it’s super generous of them to do something like that.”
Carney is far from the first musician to criticize the release method of Songs of Innocence. In his recent John Peel Lecture, Iggy Pop discussed the album, saying, “The people who don’t want the free U2 download are trying to say, ‘Don’t try to force me,’ and they’ve got a point. Part of the process when you buy something from an artist, it’s kind of an anointing, you are giving that person love.”
While on the subject of devaluing music, Carney also discussed his thoughts about Spotify, and why the Black Keys’ two most recent albums El Camino and Turn Blue aren’t available on the streaming service. “My whole thing about music is: if somebody’s making money then the artist should be getting a fair cut of it,” Carney said. “The owner of Spotify is worth something like 3 billion dollars…he’s richer than Paul McCartney and he’s 30 and he’s never written a song.”
The Black Keys’ most recent album Turn Blue was released back in May, and you’ll have to buy it the old-fashioned way if you want to hear it. Or you could just illegally download it. You can check out the Music Times Junk Mail review of the album by clicking here.
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