Ray Luzier, drummer with Nu-Metal Icons KoRn, isn't happy. Ray Luzier, ladies and gentlemen, isn't happy with music fans pirating KoRn records.
The drummer
claims that modern fans don’t see downloading as stealing, nor seemingly value
music on a monetary level:
The thing is, with the newer generation, the kids don't really understand that it's taking or stealing. They're, like, 'What? I'm at your freakin' show.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah. But our record's ten bucks.
The “I go to
shows” view, while founded on the good intentions of giving
money direct to bands not to record labels, has been debated many a time already. As long ago as 2010, Shay Blay of middle-of-the-road
metalcore band Oh, Sleeper, broke
down live costs to show that there isn't much money in touring because there’s more to a live show than the band. If nothing else buying CDs shows booking agents
that band can pull a crowd and so they get bigger shows, as Misha Mansoor states in this interview from Guitar Messenger (and
also points out that even as recently as 2012 Periphery weren't making all that much money.) It’s like any job. Your CV shows what you've achieved and what you can bring to the table... or in this case how many people you can bring to a show. Buying merch doesn't seem to help
much either. Most Record companies take cuts of Merch sales these days because no one is
buying music any more, Sumerian Records being
one of the few companies who don’t.
There is another,
more personal, side to these complaints. As
Luzier continues:
…we work hard on our records, man. We don't sit in the studio and waste time. It's, like, you pour your heart and soul and your blood and all this stuff into this recording
To Luzier it seems the
willingness to pay for music is a sign of respect for that artists work. I
guess you could liken it to doing a sweet backflip through a ring of fire and
no one caring. You took a lot of time and effort into learning how to do a
sweet backflip and you damn well want the recognition for doing it.
On the flip side to Luzier’s
point there are many artists who will happily give away their music for free and
there are lots of good reasons for wanting to do this. Perhaps they would
rather people come to shows and buy merch, though most bands who do this are
smaller and tend not to need to pay back huge Record Company loans. I say all power
to them, I think it’s a really cool thing to do (If nothing else it gives me a weekly article to put out.)
As far back
as Lars Ulrich’s campaign against
Napster, bands have been struggling with income losses from bits and bytes damaging physical album sales. This is nothing new and the Metallica drummer’s unpopular crusade didn't exactly stem the
tides. Luzier seems to realise this,
saying:
But, whatever. We're not gonna stop it. It's technology. I get it. I'm just saying, to the fans out there, if you really love your art and people you support, go buy the freaking record. How hard is it?
Ultimately
he makes a solid, if defeatist, point. Support the bands you love. I think most
people would agree.
As a side
note I doubt KoRn are being effecting
too badly. I'm sure the bands upcoming tour with Slipknot will pay a few bills and indeed
the Drummer seems to imply as such:
…there's people flocking to [our] shows. We're not going anywhere…
I’m sure such news will infuriate some and sooth others.
[Quotes courtesy of
Blabbermouth.net]
