Fleet Foxes Thank Piracy For Their Success
Written by Ernesto on June 12, 2009Fleet Foxes’ self titled album was considered by Pitchfork and many other music critics to be the best album of 2008. Interestingly, Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold says the band could not have made the album without the inspiration he got from the hundreds of albums he pirated over the years.
After their successful debut album Fleet Foxes’ singer Robin Pecknold immediately made it clear that he dislikes the corporate greed that surrounds the major record labels. “Fleet Foxes will never, ever, under no circumstances, from now until the world chokes on gas fumes, sign to a major label,” Pecknold wrote in a blog post after the rumor spread that they’ve signed up with a major record label.
According to Pecknold the major labels seem to be anti-music. What really helped him and other bands to shape their sound and spark their creativity is file-sharing. “That was how I was exposed to almost all of the music that I love to this day, and still that’s the easiest way to find really obscure stuff,” he told the BBC.
“I’ve discovered so much music through that medium. That will be true of any artist my age, absolutely,” Pecknold added. He explained that he is not the only musician to have benefited from ’stealing’ music, as the major labels like to call it. Having access to an unlimited library of music only makes a musician better.
Fleet Foxes performing in Germany (credit)
Indeed, many BitTorrent trackers dedicated to music are populated by thousands of artists, who share their own work and that of others. Most famously, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor was a proud member of the now defunct OiNK tracker.
Pecknold is no different, and he recalls the finesse of his own music changing for the better after his dad brought home a modem to connect the family to the Internet – a candy store for the modern age musician. And if the fans want to share their latest album he’s totally fine with that.
“I’ve downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records – why would I care if somebody downloads ours? That’s such a petty thing to care about. I mean, how much money does one person need? I think it’s disgusting when people complain about that, personally,” he admitted.
The labels have a different view on the piracy issue of course, claiming that they lose billions of dollars because of it. Most people know by now that this is far from the truth. However, after chasing down music fans in court they are now starting to lose respect among musicians.
While they still might be able to successfully market a kid star here and there, most artists don’t really need a label to distribute music in the digital age. BitTorrent does that just fine, right Robin?
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51 Responses
Nice. I just wish that more artists would share that view.
Interesting… I think I would check out their album. So far I’ve only pirated songs with respect to those musicians who tell me it’s okay.
Communists. Buy some razors.
Good thing, makes me enjoy his music even more.
“…the band could not have made the album without the inspiration he got from the hundreds of albums he pirated over the years.”
Guarantee the sad corporates will try and take them to court now for admitting piracy.
All props to them though, I think they’re the real inspiration showing they don’t need labels or owners, they just make their music and distribute it their way, and getting their album “…to be the best album of 2008″.
Score 1 piracy. Don’t need you greedy corporate monkeys.
Torrents arent useful nowadays, more people are discovering bittorrent, and more leechers are coming and genuine rare downloads shared by one will not be recieved by millions of others.
@7 Then what are the leechers downloading?
What is your reasoning?
Of course you gotta have more respect for a band that comes out and admits to pirating music. And it’s extremely likable that they won’t sign with a major record company. Artists don’t make that much from cd sales once they sign with record companies anyhow, the record companies do. It’s nice that they cut out the middle man and tell the record industry to f*** off. The record companies will all be out of business in a few years anyway if they don’t change the way they do business.
A true artist among “artists”
..this post at torrentfreak just got them another fan! Because of the geniousness in their music, not of solidarity.
Awesome band :D
and their music ain’t that bad either ;)
“I’ve downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records – why would I care if somebody downloads ours?”
Great, but that doesn’t do anything to allow people access to “your” record without risking punishment for copyright infringement (typically artists sign over copyright to the recordings they make so the recordings are not theirs). A more admirable attitude would be to license the work so it can be legally shared, shared above-ground without fear. If you’re looking for a label to license (not sign over) your work to, consider Magnatune.com.
Fleet foxes is the shit. They’re the only group that has the right to call themselves artists.
fantastic
that’s a nice attitude
going to go check out their music now, if they got best album they can’t be all that bad. :P Also, great attitude for them to have. :)
I downloaded their album a few months ago and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. If they ever do a concert in my area I will be their. Can’t wait until they release some new stuff.
Awesome!!! Well Said.
ooooooh yaaaaay a band gave away some free music yay for them…
charities have been giving stuff away for free for years wheres your cheers for then.
@18
Go charities! Woo!
I’ll check out their music after this note, and the comments about their music, and who knows, they may get another fan.
“I mean, how much money does one person need? I think it’s disgusting when people complain about that, personally”
Funny that, I personally think that too.
Downloading now, thanking you Mr Pecknold!
Download here –
http://www.mininova.org/com/1787743
Visit: http://blog.bitcomet.com/9744199/
Will definately check out some of their tunes next time I browse a torrent site.
“Having access to an unlimited library of music only makes a musician better. ”
“why would I care if somebody downloads ours? That’s such a petty thing to care about. ”
Suck on this pro-RIAA fagtards like neostyles and friends.
Booya.
The future of making money as a band is not from selling CD’s or downloads but from live performances and perhaps t-shirts etc.
The next “big corporate” control will be of the live venues and ticket prices.
Bands will have to work for their money now, but earnings from a large concert are still astronomical so they ought not be too concerned.
@3
> Communists. Buy some razors.
Die, fuck’n capitalist.
wow
Fleet foxes were easily the best band of 2008, and now this..
just amazing, I have so much respect for these guys, go out and buy their record now!!
never heard of them before and won’t check them out either, and that’s that.
“ooooooh yaaaaay a band gave away some free music yay for them…
charities have been giving stuff away for free for years wheres your cheers for then.”
Charities haven’t been giving away free stuff… it’s just paid for by different people to the ones who get it :D.
What do you think all those donation boxes are for?
Nice one, keep it up guys. o/
you know what’s funny?
There’s a LOT of artists that admitted to having pirated music .. yet none of them have ever been sued. Clearly the music industry understands that when it’s a fair fight .. they’ll lose.
I checked out this album from my local library. Really high quality if you like the genre.
Being a musician, I agree 100% that the more music you hear, the more talented you will be. I never had much musical training. I don’t need it. I know what sounds right, and it’s easy if you’ve been listening to music for decades. I think Trent Reznor (NIN) was the same way.
that’s is a great way of thinking!
it’s actually ARTISTIC instead of capitalistic, which is the way most’a those damn pop musitians are thinking !
my brother plays in a dm band and their new release is straight download, no cds are being produced and this is the future of music,digital dl. their signed to a tiny obscure label thats paying the studio bill and they go on tour and sell t-shirts and get revenue from gate sales…from what ive heard the death metal genre is the first to realize that cds as a business model is dying and digital music is the way to go.
Hi,
I would like to echo Robin’s by stating that Copyrights and other forms of Protectionism have harmful effects on the social, creative and economic output of societies.
For example, one harmful effect to people/consumers is the divergence of price and the marginal cost of production for any “protected” product, be it music or pharmacutical drugs etc….
For an economist’s analysis, please view the following seminar and debate from Economist Dean Baker at the center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR):
Copyrights, Patents, and other Protectionist Barriers:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4350628825865768738
Copyrights: Do They Have a Future in an Economic Age?:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8649304946052446035&ei=Gk41SoW3GoSv-Ab_tLWwCQ&q=dean+baker+cepr&emb=1
Reading the above comments, it is reassuring to see others are concerned about the harmful societal effects of protectionism. I also think that is important for us that care to begin identifying alternative solutions/programs to rid our societies of copyrights and other feudal structures in the hope of vibrant democratic societies and associated markets.
Casey Wescott
Fleet Foxes
This is the piracy mindset exemplified : Only care about yourself.
There’s was this group in California called Thee Swank Bastards. I live in Ontario Canada. I would of never heard of them if I didn’t stumble on their site on MySpace. Downloaded an albums off the torrent site. Liked the music but found that none of the music shops in the area carried their CDs. So I emailed the band and told them how I heard about them, my problems in buying a CD, and if I could purchase one even though I had downloaded one off the internet. They were ecstatic, they even sent me the second release for free and contacted me to tell me that they were doing shows in Toronto…sold outs from what I was told. Downloading hurting musicians…corporate bullshit I say!
The entire article is a marketing ploy and you’re sucking it up like it’s gospel.
#37: “by stating that Copyrights and other forms of Protectionism have harmful effects on the social, creative and economic output of societies.”
—————-
oh yeah? is that why we have such a wide and varied dispersal of every kind of art you could imagine, today? because copyright has been so restrictive and harmful?
please.
“For example, one harmful effect to people/consumers is the divergence of price and the marginal cost of production for any “protected” product, be it music or pharmacutical drugs etc….”
———————-
the costs of production are not the primary expenditures for most IP. development is. pharmaceuticals especially, cost a fortune to develop. it’s hilarious that you simply bring up production cost as if that should be the only factor in determining price. do you even believe in revenue? in making a profit on your time, money, and talent invested?
if you don’t, if all the patchouli and hipster narcissism has clouded your brain with delusions of Stalinist grandeur why don’t you just move into the mountains and get your “deliverance” on? it wouldn’t be that hard of a transition, your whole band already looks the part…
SQUEEEEEEEEEL!
Awesome, never heard of the band, sampled (bittorrent of course) and just bought the album. WIN-WIN!
Dear “41 Jun 15, 2009 at 10:14 by Anonymous”,
Your comments are rife with confusion, incoherence and ignorance. Furthermore, you apparently did not carefully read what I wrote or viewed Dean Baker’s analysis.
Anonymous stated, “the costs of production are not the primary expenditures for most IP. development is. pharmaceuticals especially, cost a fortune to develop.”
If you studied the links I posted above, you would observe that 2/3 of Pharmaceutical Industry development spending goes to COPYING copyright protected drugs. So the “primary expenditures” that you speak of are actually not developing anything new or creative at all. The 2/3 of the expenditures are the product of copyrights and an uncompetitive market. Patent protection promotes the development of drugs that behave like other drugs, steering research into non-inventive directions. If copyrights didn’t exist, and a free market did, you would see very different research patterns occurring.
Such problems are no different in the music industry. I see plenty of copycats being developed by labels. That is why a lot of the ‘development costs’ in the music industry are advertising and publicity, not artist development.
Anonymous stated, “…it’s hilarious that you simply bring up production cost as if that should be the only factor in determining price…”
Anonymous, you need to learn basic reading comprehension. I stated, “For example, one harmful effect to people/consumers is the divergence of price and the marginal cost of production for any “protected” product, be it music or pharmaceutical drugs etc….”. I did not refer to production costs “as if that should be the only factor in determining price”. I do believe that it should be a factor. In the case of music and prescription drugs, such divergences (which are an order of magnitude) are not the products of a competitive market, but a monopolized market. Furthermore, I do believe in “revenue” and “making a profit on your time, money and talent” but not at the expense of a free market. Again, copyrights are by definition antithetical to a competitive market. I do believe that the enforcement of copyrights and patent protections are demonstrably harmful to societies and their associated markets. Again look at the cost of prescription drugs in America and people’s ability to receive affordable prices. If there was a competitive, free market, citizens could opt to create a public program to research prescription drugs and sell them for prices that citizens can afford. This is not what occurs in my native country. Incidentally, in the US, public tax dollars generally do fund technologies before they are privatized/monetized with out reaping any of the benefits (eg, lasers, computers, medicine etc).
Anonymous stated, “…delusions of Stalinist grandeur…”
I am not quite sure what you mean by “Stalinist grandeur”, but I believe you are accusing me of not wanting free markets. Either way, your statement is again, confused and uninformed. If anyone is deluded by “Stalinist Grandeur”, it is you, Anonymous.
Copyrights and Protectionism IS GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION and thus ANTITHETICAL TO A FREE and COMPETITIVE MARKET. As a copyright advocate, you want the government to intervene into the market and give certain people/entities monopolies and protection FROM competition. I agree with you that the government and associated tax dollars should have a role in stimulating the creative producers of an economy. I hardly think copyrights are the best instrument for such stimulation. Again for some alternatives, please see the links that I provided above.
Anonymous stated, “…oh yeah? is that why we have such a wide and varied dispersal of every kind of art you could imagine, today? because copyright has been so restrictive and harmful?”
First, not all of the art that I can imagine exists today. You must not be very creative to think such a notion, Anonymous. Second, people, not copyrights are responsible for creativity. I think that is pretty obvious. Look at the era of Hip Hop that depended on sampling and see if you are so sure about your presumed relationship between copyrights and creativity. I think you are like a lot of people that think that copyrights are human rights. Copyrights are not human rights.
As an aside “Anonymous”, at least post your name if you are going to engage in debate. I am holding myself responsible for what I say. You should as well.
Response to “Jun 15, 2009 at 08:58 by Mr Flibble”
Mr Flibble stated, “The entire article is a marketing ploy and you’re sucking it up like it’s gospel.”
I do agree that articles like these can inadvertently advertise for bands. To be clear, this is not my desire at all. I don’t think that information about/by musicians should inform who people listen to. If that were the case, I would not listen to Wagner or X Raided, two composers whose music has inspired me for periods of time in my life..
Let me state that NONE of us in the band feel the need to have more fans, sell more records, or make more money. 3 of us in the band have been making music and touring for 10 years before this band, without any notice from more than a handful of people. A decade of being ignored didn’t discourage us from making music and being ignored now wouldn’t hinder our creative output.
Furthermore, I think discussing these topics can be very unappealing to a lot of people potentially interested in our music. Regardless, Mr Flibble, you have a good point that anyone reading this article can or should proceed with caution.
@29
With that attitude they wouldn’t want you as a fan anyway.
I would like to apologize for my attitude in my posts. I think it came off really condescending and have come to regret what I wrote. Please accept my full apology in how I conducted myself. I got worked up and nothing constructive seemed to come out of it. I really apologize for my bad attitude and will be much more careful in checking myself before I post.
Apologies,
Casey
Great music, inspiring attitude. Gives me hope for the future.
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Casey,
Please don’t apologize for your words, they are entirely founded and the majority of the people here realize that you are correct and support you whole-heartedly, continue what you are doing and we are behind you 100%. Don’t be discouraged by the few who are brainwashed by corporate america and please continue what you are doing
I listened to the album before I read this article and loved it, by far the best album I’ve heard this year.
If this is the result of file sharing then how can it be bad?
I think the band have the attitude of real musicians, at the end of the day its the music that counts.
Saw them on “later with jools holland” (u.k. music show), downloaded a couple of tracks to find out more about their music, then happily paid out £40 ($50) to see them live in wolverhampton last night !! Superb !!
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