Kid Rock: Don’t Just Steal Music, Steal Everything
Written by enigmax on June 18, 2008With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Kid Rock has been commenting on file-sharing again but says he doesn’t need to steal himself, because he’s rich – but not rich enough, as it turns out. Kid Rock announced that he’s boycotting iTunes because he says between Apple and the labels, they’re keeping all the money.
In recent comments, Kid Rock – real name Robert Ritchie – has said that his record company had previously asked him to stand against “illegal downloading” because he was told that people were stealing from him. According to a BBC report, his response to the label was: “Wait a second, you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?’
In true rock and roll style, this performer wasn’t going to do as he was told. “I was telling kids – download it illegally, I don’t care,” he said. “I want you to hear my music so I can play live.”
Now, in 2008, Kid Rock is boycotting iTunes because he says that artists are not getting their fair share of the revenue generated by the Apple store. He is annoyed at this ‘old system’ “where iTunes takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don’t give it to the artists”.
Kid Rock crucially talks about how the Internet should’ve been a “great opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money.”
Of course, as the singer notes, it hasn’t turned out that way but concedes that he’ll probably have to put his music on iTunes at some point but notes that he’s doing ok overall without it: “I’ve just sold a million records, I’m not really feeling that blow” he said.
With his tongue firmly in his cheek, Kid Rock also says he doesn’t agree with the one-sided argument against file-sharing: “I think we should level the playing field. I don’t mind people stealing my music, that’s fine. But I think they should steal everything. You know how much money the oil companies have? If you need some gas, just go fill your tank off and drive off, they’re not going to miss it.”
Will this rocker be taking his own advice? Probably not. “No, I don’t steal things. I’m rich” he said.
Previously: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent (wk24)
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76 Responses
Good thoughts but he is very selfcentered.
Rock on
No really, that’s cool as hell. I hope so many more follow him.
I never really liked Kid Rock, but I have to give him credit for standing up against the record companies and itunes. The artists have always been screwed when it comes to getting paid from record sales. They make all their money from live shows, so why should they care about someone sharing their music.
“No really, that’s cool as hell. I hope so many more follow him.”
Everyone should get rich by selling mass produced music to easily influenced kids?
“mass produced music”?
The point of digital copies is that it’s almost the same thing to make 10 or 10 million.
Thanks you for inspiring me, i will steal music now, oh wait, im alerady doing that .. :)
Niggas, I am not in belief of your so called rock and motha fuckin roll. I am a NEGRO. But, If I believeinated in this sunnuva bitch, I was to say, dayum. All dem niggas is stole dat gas, and dis cracka sez he is da bomb for him aint gonna even steal dat shit hissself? WHAT NOW NIGGS?
I’ve been stealing gas for years now, isn’t that what my local government representitive with his head up his @$$’s SUV is for? A few gas cans, a tube, and some breath mints go a long way, and he just thinks his SUV is getting shitty MPG. ^_^
Really though, if this was about any artist EXCEPT Kid Rock I’d be stoked about it. =^/
He is way to rich for his own good, mabe we should steal money from him, he has enough…
lol- at least he’s entertaining about whole piracy issue. And damn I HATE iTunes- they’re freaking worse than pirates since most people will support their favorite artist in some form or other…
Hey. Let’s rob Kid Rock.
He is rich.
kid rocks an idiot
Cool! Never really liked him all that much before, but if he comes out with something and promotes it the way NiN did i think i’ll support him, and i think a lot of you will too.
itunes screws artists with roughly a 30% take, then the labels get their take of the 70cents, which gives the artists what… 15 cents? so if they sold a million copies via itunes they get 150k on the other hand if they left the label and offered their album for 4-5 bucks like NiN.. they would be making sooooo much more money, no matter if they are already rich or not, the tides turning and while the labels are slowly getting washed out we are riding the crest!
Good for you K.R… oh, by the way, I too have a tape of me and Pamela… which address do i send it to?
:p
Cheers!
http://www.ezee.se/ copyright is copyWRONG
OK you might not like Kid Rocks music, i don’t. He’s still made a point and stood against the system and for the pirates, stop complaining just because he’s not your favorite artist.
Just like when you complain about artists that release their music for free on BT sites. Ok so they’re not multi-platinum selling artists but then when one does come forward and support the pirates, what do you do? Complain it’s not the right multi-platinum artist.
We should be thankful for all the support we get from the artists be it public statements or free/donation downloads,After all they make the music. We might not like it but someone else probably does. It’s art and we should support the artists that are supporting us.
Yeah, I really don’t like his music, but I have an utmost respect for him just because of this.
Plus, I like the gas and dash idea…..
it’s not about Kid Rock’s music, he’s just a general tit. with a silly hat.
although this has raised his rep a little now.
The record labels have been ripping off artists since the beginning of time. It’s nice to see and artist stand up and say that I’m not helping you, unlike those morons from Metallica.
Good ideas, just incredibly out of touch. If it were the oil companies themselves affected by you nicking gas, fair enough, but it’s the petrol stations themselves that’ll be loosing the money. Which makes it more like nicking a CD from a shop rather than just downloading some songs.
Rock on dude! I couldnt agree more. EVERYTHING for FREE. LOL
JT
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
This is Metallica backtracking on their original stance about file sharing once they realized they could make more money with uploading their music.
In 2000, the group (Metallica) was behind the lawsuit that killed Napster and became one of the loudest critics of file sharing. The band has had a change of heart, apprently, after seeing the huge wads of cash Radiohead and, err, Cliff Richard, made out of sticking albums online.
Way to stand firm on your beliefs Metallica (industry whores).
Finally someone says it as it is. Apple is sooo money hungry. Everyone falls at their feet and no one wants to call them as the corrupt bumbs they are.
So if I drove away from a petrol station it would put a dent in the station’s pocket instead of the oil company’s? No one should care either way.
Kid Rock is a total douche nozzle.. besides that theres a few ways to look at this..
You could say hes standing up for pirates.. but not really, he is simply claiming he is rich and doesn’t care. What if the tables were turned.. would he still be so laid back about it?
Apple doesnt give music to artists? Big surpise there.. It is cool that he tells them to F off, but at the same time is he just saying that to him because he doesnt need the measly money they offer?
If things were different.. what would he say?
/Now, in 2008, Kid Rock is boycotting iTunes because he says that artists are not getting their fair share of the revenue generated by the Apple store. He is annoyed at this ‘old system’ “where iTunes takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don’t give it to the artists”./
Does he understand that if you pirate the music he doesn’t get any money? Guess he didn’t figure that one out yet.
what a bastard.
kid rock sucks ass anyways.
i wouldn’t even download it for free.
(waste of HD space)
@nuts, i think he DOES understand that if people pirate his music he does not get any money, but i think he does not care because not getting any money from piracy and the fraction he does get from iTunes is almost the same, if on the other hand he was getting even 25c per song… he probably would care.
“You know how much money the oil companies have? If you need some gas, just go fill your tank and drive off, they’re not going to miss it.”
Fact – There are about 170,000 gas stations in the US, but only 5% of them are actually owned by the oil companies.
ExxonMobil, for example, has 12,000 stations here, but they only own 2,200 of them. They announced earlier this week that they would be selling those off. Shell, BP and others are doing the same.
Why? Because they’re not making any money at the retail level, drilling and refining is where they’ve made their profits.
The only part you got right Kid, was that the oil companies won’t feel it, but the guy who gets caught nicking gas will.
@20 – Well said that man! Big fan up until that point, I bought Ride when the vinyl hit the shops back in the day. Lars was trading tapes when he was a kid, for fecks sake! Fecking hippocrites!
I can’t stand Kid Rock, think he’s a prick, but as a minor artist, at least he has the guts to stand up and say what he wants, not like most of these industry whores.
I download, if I like it, straight onto Amazon and ordered/pre-ordered, if I don’t then straight in the bin. I have bought way more CDs in the last 2 years than ever before and due to getting a full flavour of what my very hard earned cash is actually paying for, I actually enjoy going back listening to my originals now, with downloading I get my money’s worth!
Why are you stupid twats judging Kid Rock as a person here? Have you read the article? Do you know what the article is about? Stop your intellectual deficiency for fuck sake! He’s got the balls to stand up for those who can’t afford a 15 € blatant music CD.
WTF does “With his tongue firmly in his cheek” mean?
Kid rock doesn’t even listen to his own music. I agree I wouldnt download the shit was for free.
He meant copying the gas but leaving the original in its place.
Jesus Christ, if half the people who took the time here to bitch about kid rock and his music instead would have done something productive. Like Actually understand that until more artists stand up to big companies like kid rock, NIN, and radio head then we’ll never see a end to this carnage called paying 20 bucks for a piece of plastic that could be marketed much more efficiently or sold online by the artist. Who then actually makes money. Apple is only interested in Apple, Same as all big companies for the most part, so Even if you dont like kid rock, or his music, support his statement.
I’m more inclined to download some Metallica, as I know it pisses them off more.
http://www.painfullback.com/
that’s stupid.
if u fill up and dash, you’re just ripping off gas stations, not oil companies. and gas stations aren’t doing that well right now either
I think one of his main problems are, People are making money from his music…
If he sells it on iTunes then the record company make money… Apple make money… He makes very little, But if he allows piracy to take effect, Then the record company get nothing, Apple get nothing, we get everything (The music), And Kid Rock gets his music hurd…
Dont get me wrong, Some of the things he says/said are hypocritical, But from my view point of what was posted here, His problem is mainly people making money from him, And him getting little back, as to apose the fans getting the music, And both him, And the record company get nothing (IE: Nobody makes money out of his music), And Kid Rock ends up being more known/liked, And then can make his money from Live Concerts, And from the pirates that do actually go out and buy the album
Call me silly? But look at things from other perspectives.
Shane
@27 – you’ve got it right that the guy nicking the gas will feel it, but also the independent owner of the gas station.
Even though gasoline prices have been breaking record after record, this money is not staying at the nozzle, it’s pipelined right back to the gold-plated, diamond-crusted corporate HQ where the oil came from. In fact, the independent gas retailers are operating with tighter and tighter margins, and that tank of gas you steal from them might just be enough to put them out of business.
If you REALLY want to stick it to the rich oil tycoons, sell your car, buy a bike, take public transportation or walk! Also, adapt a hundred-mile diet, support your locally owned retailers, farmers, artists and craftspeople. This is the real revolution people, and it’s happening in every city and country the world over.
No surprise an out of touch, multi-millionaire rock star like Kid Rock would suggest such a heartless action seemingly oblivious to the real world consequences.
Kid rock what kind of bubble gum is that. Poor bastard couldn’t handle hotty Pam Anderson. (looser) By this time next year him and his spazz boyfriend Jesse James will be tying the knot in San Fran
Good for Kid Rock, and so what if he’s rich, he got rich because people liked his music. I even like some of his songs, now that he’s gone back to his rock roots after that stupid stint with country, blah. Country is pop with a south accent and a lot of vehicle fetishes.
You know what, the IQ of these postboards have gone down drastically. There’s just to much stupid on it lately. I think torrentfreak needs to get a moderator to keep the riftraft out.
@24, STFU, you know how much they get for each song sold and each album? Not very much in the first place. Now if he was getting all the money, that would be a different, and he would sing a different tune. Piracy is all relative, if you steal from one person and the other roots for you cause they are being shafted as well, they wouldn’t like it–the minute they aren’t being shafted and people began stealing from them, its the same reaction as the music companies. What the companies should really do to stop piracy is pay their bands more and then they support the music industry crack down on piracy.
kid rock knows a thing or two about stealing.
how many riffs are stolen on his new album? ok, he didn’t steal them, he sampled them. pardon me.
he’s a carbon copy of a carbon copy’s carbon copy.
Using jamendo.com for free music under creative commons licence, been getting it via BT or direct download. Actually pretty good for the most part
Let’s just steal CDs, shred them and put them into gas tanks. That way everybody gets screwed.
Most steady readers of TorrentFreak already knew that iTunes and the labels are ripping of artists. Sometimes to the point of not even paying a single penny to the artist for content distributed on iTunes as told here:
http://torrentfreak.com/pirated-by-itunes-artist-turns-to-bittorrent-080206/
Anyone using iTunes to get their music is an idiot anyway, in my opinion.
Good now can we get somebody where their music is actually Listenable, it would be great.
Kid COCK doesnt STEAL things, Explain why his song ALL SUMMER LONG is a total RIP off of WAREN ZEVON’s wherewolvs ofLONDON that he DIDNT get permission to use.
Once a lawsuit is filed he wont make anything off that record ! TOTAL SCUM !
haha why does everyone hate kid rock? He’s an amazing artist. He’s more talented than almost any of the more successful acts. Can play numerous instruments, rap better than most mainstream rappers, and create some good rock songs.
With that being said, I’m also not the biggest fan of his, but he sure doesn’t suck. I don’t mind him.
this is almost as good of an idea as communism.
is downloading through a paid site[i.e.napster] ripping the artist off,[screw the big players : promoters,labels etc.] our fault for outrageous fees for live gigs,concerts et all, the true soul of rock,n,roll,or just another greed ploy by all of us?i just can’t figure,but i really want to do right.peace
iTunes pays the artist/label between $0.70 and $0.80 when you pay $0.99 for a song.
If the artist only gets $0.05 to $0.10 out of that, it just means that there is a middle man that is getting most of it. That’s not Apple’s fault.
I punched a puppy after I read this. This just in : Kid Rock makes me want to punch puppies!
If Kid Rock wanted you to hit a baby with a hammer and distribute the mp3 of its screams for FREE on the internets, would he still be cool? Ok I guess he would be – to 12 year olds.
Kid Rock fuckin sucks in every way possible
rock on brothers, and steal as much as we can – kid rock supports it XD
I wouldn’t go so far as to say steal everything but I do agree.
better motto:Steal what will not be missed.
If you take something and no one lost anything is it stealing?
no matter he stands for the point or not, the mass ain’t stop downloading music from torrent site.
Kid Rock: Don’t Just Steal Music, Steal Everything
Re: ok
dpk, kill yourself its not about his music. its about how the music industry is changing. some people just don’t care about the labels anymore. grow up piece of shit.
i dont like his music, but i like the way he thinks !
Legalize Piracy !
He referred to music piracy as ’stealing’ – which is fundamentally wrong and means he didn’t understand what he was talking about…
“Does he understand that if you pirate the music he doesn’t get any money? Guess he didn’t figure that one out yet.”
Yeah, he gets that. But with filesharing nobody gets any money. Kids get to hear his music, and he makes his money on live shows, which is how he says he wants it.
I never paid much attention to Kid Rock, but, ya know, I think I kinda like him.
And do this many people really not know what “tongue in cheek” means?
hes a attention whore lmao
Of course, all Kid Rock would have to do is start his own label and follow the paths of Nine Inch Nails or the vast numbers of indie artists out there selling through stores (online and offline) for themselves.
It’s this kind of in-the-box thinking that has screwed the music industry *and* those artists with no concept of what opportunities technology offers them.
Oh my god, post #7 is KILLING me! :D
what a hypocrite. his website has a Copyright and terms & conditions. But what can you expect from a guy who stole his sound from the Alman brothers and Lynard Skynard.
if you post anonymous, you’re a FAG!!!
niniff.com/?YIT
lol i dont like or hate kid rock, but you guys hatting on him just cause he doesnt have your ideal influence is smelly poop. hes just another mofo climbing up the ladder getting rich and living his life, succeeding all of you haters doing his shit.
Simply stupid!
Steal Everything?
Ok how about some of the slutly Hobags you run with Kid Rock?
just what am i stealing…
place a glass in front of you.
NOW make another one exactly like it and take that and walk away.
The original is still there, what theft occured?
NONE knowledge and ideas should be free and if you want to donate to a movie or music then thats the way it should be NOT forced to pay and prison time for mere copies.
DOWN WIT DA MAN
throw eggs at suits today
become an eggorist…..
yeah, how is it stealing when nothing is physically lost?
Lost money? What money was there in the first place? Whose to say the person doing the downloading would have bought it anyway?
“I just sold a million records”
well no shit.
People who want physical copies tend to buy things.
f**ked up … cant believe his opinion actually matters
He needs to read up and take a side, he looked like he was on RIAAs side ….
Yeah, so the guy who owns the gas station feels it. If you wanna make an omelette, you gotta break a few eggs. If enough gas stations shut down, burn down, whatever, then what? Those nozzles shut off, and eventually that funnel of money to the “diamond crusted HQ’s” shuts off.
By selling corporate-owned gas stations, Exxon/BP/etc. are divesting unprofitable portions of their business. Force ‘em back into it by pinching the middle man then burn ‘em out.
So where does kid rock live?
@24
//Now, in 2008, Kid Rock is boycotting iTunes because he says that artists are not getting their fair share of the revenue generated by the Apple store. He is annoyed at this ‘old system’ “where iTunes takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don’t give it to the artists”./
Does he understand that if you pirate the music he doesn’t get any money? Guess he didn’t figure that one out yet./
Omg he does – from live performing as he has said.
What most people seem to forget is that the old napster file sharing system was stealing pure and simple (as is bit torrent and limewire) . Everybody gets on Metallica’s case about that but thats the truth. They should have sued every last one of you fuckers and set an example. You can justify it anyway you want but just because everyone does it doesn’t make it legal. Just listen to your moronic arguements – all designed to justify stealing!! BTW Metallica saying they are going to offer their new songs online doesn’t mean they want you to have it for free – it just means that they are trying to cut out the middle man. As far as people boycotting them to protest their actions – what a fucking joke. Your still a bunch of thieves!!!!!!!!!
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