I didn't even realise it's not out yet...
... but it's a great album, been listening to it all week.
Perhaps I'll actually buy this one when it physically comes out.
Kings of Leon to freetards: Y'all are trash
Ahead of the launch of their fourth album next week, bogo-hillbilly, hipster-sensitive, indie-rock brotherhood Kings of Leon have hit out at freetards for failing to repay them for their toil. Frontman Caleb Followill launched a broadside against internet pirates: "There are a lot of people online that say, 'these guys have a …
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 15:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
I'm sorry
I'm so sorry kings of leon. If I'd known the suffering of waking up after a dream and writing it down and having to play guitar and sing all day before going out to party with like minded people I'd... still not have bought your album. But now I'll make doubly sure.
Paris - cos she looks like she's crying a little. just like me :'(
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 15:28 GMT Anonymous Coward
Hah
I heard KOL being interviewed by Zane Lowe a while back on Radio 1 by and they pretty much admitted the majority of songs on the entire album did not have a particular deep meaning, they just came up with them out of the blue when jamming about before gigs on their tours.
So yeah, I don't buy all that tortured musical genius bollocks.
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 16:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
Well done Leon
never heard of you before - but hey perhaps you might want to think about not using record companies - just an idea - kinda cheap to sell your tunes using the net as the delivery mechanism.
Studio setup is kinda cheap as well.
Give the punters the ability to buy at a reasonable price and they will. Just make sure they can actually buy the damn thing, and don't offer it for nothing put a price on it, an amount you think it is worth.
/Passenger is a good exmaple here, they offer a free MP3, quite a catchy little tune, and after a few plays I think I will get the album, they chose bloody amazon, cannot download the album, so they missed a sale.
Instead they should have offered the download of the album from their site, and used a simple payment gateway system.
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 16:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
Not doing the industry any favours
I actually do know what it's like to be involved in the process of producing music, but personally I think it's an absolute pleasure. Hard work, sure, but very satisfying in itself.
I wish I could get up in the morning and pick up my guitar. That would be awesome. I'd be happy to do it unpaid, if I only had the time.
Unfortunately I'm busy doing something whose value isn't dependant on copyright law.
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:08 GMT Rob
Yeah!
so anyone who downloads an album has no idea what goes into a song, na of course I don't, I played guitar for about 15 years, keyboards for about 10 and drums (only for a month, but still, I own some drums)
but since I downloaded a few albums I effectively volunteered to have all information relating to these activities wiped from my brain,
boo hoo, you get up at 3 in the morning to write ideas down, yeah, THATS YOUR JOB,
If I was making a living from playing the drums, I would be absolutely delighted that i could survive off doing something I love doing, regardless of how much I made, or how many people managed to nick a cheeky copy, I'd be more pissed about the record company who sit back making £££ more than I was when they did f**k all to produce it and I spent months on tour but then again, I'd be the one who signed a contract with them, and I'd be the one going around the world playing to thousands of people rather than sitting in an office full of retards like I am now, I know which I'd choose in a heartbeat
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
@Anonymous Coward
"Don't think that just because you're an "artist" you're the only one that puts any feeling into your work boyo!"
They probably don't and even if they do I don't really care, however you shouldnt' think that just because you work in an office, everyone else gets the hours they work recorded and paid accordingly.
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
gimme a break...
>It's not a day at the office – you're putting your heart and soul into something and for people to not >respect that, that's crazy
as opposed to working with your nose against the grindstone all day while your heart and soul get destroyed by the sheer hatred you have for your work.
You rockstars have it easy - wait until you don't like music or touring and then you'll discover what it's really like!
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:09 GMT TimM
Diddums
KOL: If you want a better reward, bitch to the studios rather than freetards. They're the ones really ripping you off.
The whole piracy rant by studios is crap anyway. They just make up a load of bull about how much money they've lost on the basis of songs they haven't yet sold and cannot prove at all that the freetards would have even bought them in the first place, and then multiply the figure by 100 to spread all over the press about the mythical billions they are losing. Meanwhile CD sales continue to do well, if not improve (once accounting for the current economic decline that is).
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Shame
I use bit-torrent to try before I buy, but this sort of "lets ignore reality" ranting has got that album scratched from the list.
KoL - look at the numbers - pirating increases the volume of sales. Attempts to limit pirating reduces them. It's your own wallet you're hitting with comments like that.
p.s. thanks for putting the Paris Icon back, although I preferred the new Apples. I do like this Pirate though - it reminds me of Max (as in "I'm not a malefactor, I'm a lagomorph")
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:09 GMT Thomas
@"Who?", etc
They're yet another of those Fratellis/Stokes/Velvet Revolver types, their only real unique selling point being that they at least pretend to be related. They've had at least one number one album over here, but can't seem to sell a record in their native America.
There's definitely no point putting any special effort into remembering who they are, they'll be gone again soon enough. The music isn't bad, but it also isn't that interesting.
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 17:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
There's a bit more to it than...
... is being made out above.
I've noticed that plenty of established artists (many of whom have cash galore) are moaning about piracy and the suchlike.
For all the vacuous "rebel" posturing of rockstars, they're a pretty conformist, conservative bunch. This group, like loads of others, see their job as... well.. a job, and the thought of using their website to circumvent the industry they've slogged their way through is pretty unappealing.
Why is this?
Well, firstly, they've got to understand how the business works- which (let's face it) if they could, they'd be doing a regular job, one that requires use of the brain, and stuff.
Secondly, they've got a big company taking care of all that stuff now, and everyone who works at that company keeps telling them how fab and ace and stuff they are. Why would they want to step out on their own?
Thirdly, you can bet that the staff of the record company are constantly telling the silly addled sods who bang instruments together for cash, that nasty pirates are stealing their money, and unless they do "x" then they'll get dropped.
On top of that: fuck man, they're successful- they got a deal! They got a tour bus! They got records in shops! Impresssionable girls know who they are and will do *stuff* with them... you know.. *that* stuff!)
What if the new internets take all this away?
In short, they've got a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
After all, if you were they: wouldn't you?
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 21:24 GMT Shakje
Here's a simple idea...
they still earn far more than I do doing a normal job, so do those losses really stop them living a good life?
Also, "and then we party". Great message, don't pirate music kids, and if you ever think about doing drugs make sure you do some jamming first, it makes it ok. Nice one guys.
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Wednesday 17th September 2008 21:24 GMT Roger Barrett
Nice one
I for one, perhaps the only one here looking at all the comments have the album on preorder and am looking forward to hearing it in full. I've never quite understood the whole lets steal it because they have lots of money and don't need any more and all they do is party, by that reasoning is it okay to go and steal one of Branson's cars or Alan Sugars with someone standing there handing you the keys of course, just to try and even up the similarities a little. Or even one of your beloved Linux, Mac Os, Windows boxes, because well, you've got 2 or 3 really good fast ones and I'm still running a machine thats god forbid 5 years old ( and yes I know some of you have Acorn Electrons plugged into an old Matsushita TV and are still playing Repton and Cybertron before you say anything!)
These guys work (hard or not, I have no idea, but they work for it, any musicians on here who'll let me come and steal all their music or sneak into a gig and not pay the door fee? no, didn't think so) so they work, they produce something and if a billion people buy it and they make a million billion pounds, well good for them, if they release another album a year later are we to expect its going to be free because they now have "enough"money? we're not in some kind of Star Trek Utopian society where every one works for the common good and everything is all so wonderful in the federation, so I for one say well done, nice one, keep up the good work and any chance of a UK tour near York?
Thanks you/rant over
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Thursday 18th September 2008 01:34 GMT Watashi
Kings of same-old same-old
Considering the (lack of) diversity of output produced by the Kings Of Leon, one wonders how often they are awoken at 3am with original ideas. Once a year? Or is that being optimistic?
They've spent at least two albums rewriting the same song over and over again. I put more original thinking into a single week of work than they put into a whole album, yet they complain about lack of income.
Cheeky f*ck*rs.
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Thursday 18th September 2008 11:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
Musics Roots
If they think they have it bad they should have been a musician a few hundred years ago, say about the year 1200. It's only because of technology that they have been able to reach millions of people and make mega bucks.In most of medieval Europe, the minstrels were classed as almost as low as the village idiot. They were either too lazy to do real work or had no talent that could be apprenticed into something useful. They might have to play for a full evening before getting a couple of pennies and some scraps of food, assuming the people thought they were even worth that. Occasionally they might hit the big-time when a local Lord or warrior wanted a song writing to commemorate his mighty deeds and get a couple of gold coins, but mostly they were little more than beggars. Even when music advanced, became more popular and the composers could make money (the likes of Handel, Bach, Beethoven), they only made enough for a comfortable lifestyle not extravagant - although they could partake occasionaly when invited to play for a king or the clergy.
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Thursday 18th September 2008 11:51 GMT jason
All for bashing the Freetards!
So keep up the good but fruitless fight!
But to be honest as for the KOL? Well I gave up on them after their first album. Didnt see what was so great about listening to an album which many of the tracks sounded like they were being sung by Eric Cartman from South Park!
No Thanks!
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Thursday 18th September 2008 11:51 GMT Rob McCleave
A rich tradition.
Freetard. Sounds like retard. I laugh every single time you use that word. Who came up with that for you, Ben Stiller? And freetard is so dangerously close to politically incorrect, it must give you guys a shiver of delight to use it. You certainly use it a lot.
You and The Economist seem to have hired the same team to select terms of disparagement. They always use "boffin" or "nerd" when talking about technology experts, too.
Why not start referring to the legions of bad typists as "spastics" every time they misspell a word?
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Friday 19th September 2008 08:54 GMT Simon Brown
try doing a real job for a bit
At least you get paid repeatedly for the work you did once - most of us get paid just the once and whoever we work for gets the rest. And most of the money you get paid these days will be from live gigs - hey that's your job, you're a musician, at least you're one of the very, very, very few who is lucky enough to make a living from it. The rest of us have to hold down jobs and play in our spare time.
Yeah the industry has changed. Back in the day when home taping was killing music, the record company took most of your money but the public ended up paying for probably 50% of the music. Now we have downloads and the public pay for 5%. Rather than whinge about it, why not do something to encourage people to buy your music? Drop the price of low quality downloads significantly, make high quality downloads available at a premium, sell limited edition box sets in nice presentation boxes for those that want them, make other bits and pieces available for those that want them, encourage people to go to the gigs (where you make far more money anyway) and maybe give those that do a "free" copy of the album - in other words do stuff to draw fans in and keep them, look after them, cherish them. It is through their hard work and loyalty that you make a living, never forget that.
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Friday 19th September 2008 13:00 GMT The Mighty Spang
proper job
assuming theres 4 people in the band (pretty usual and they not worth looking this up) and put out a 9 track album every 2 years thats a whole 1.125 ideas per person per year.
the rest of the time you just have to travel about and repeat it at concerts. Boo Hoo.
The hardest working people in the industry are the (usually) fairly unknown writers penning songs for the parade of pretty marketing units (like paris here). 1.125 ideas a year isn't going to cut it.
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Sunday 21st September 2008 08:55 GMT Anonymous Coward
Freetards to Kings of Leon: Your career was over ten years ago ...
... so how could internet pirates have anything to do with it? You're not selling records because you suck, not because everyone's stealing them. Here's a joke for you:
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Kings of Leon.
Kings of Leon who?
Oh well, that's showbusiness!
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Monday 22nd September 2008 10:34 GMT Anonymous Coward
Freetards to kings of leon
Your all trash.
Well your music is anyway. I know I downloaded it last week and it is the same as the other 3 albums you produced. Rubbish. :)
And besides using the line "I get up at 3 and write something down" doesn't make me want to feel sorry, it makes me think, Geez... people are staying awake till 3 worrying because they can't pay the bills and have no job, so what makes you special. There is no violins playing as we sold it to pay the gas bill.
-> insert any chosen random swear and end it suitably with <- idiot
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Monday 22nd September 2008 11:10 GMT Mike Crawshaw
Not even for free
Funny, I was talking about them with another music-lover this morning. Neither of us would even d/l any of their stuff for free, it's shit.
Hearing a lot from / about shite bands whining about piracy recently, saying it's affecting their sales and stealing the champagne from their swimming pools. Sorry guys, but your sales are affected because you're shit and nobody wants to buy them, no matter what the record company's telling you.
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Wednesday 24th September 2008 14:57 GMT jim
*tuts loudly*
From playing guitar for 2-4 hours a day for years to none a day in recent weeks due to a broken hand i would gladly PAY someone else to be able to play it at any time of the day at the minute.
Retards complaining about freetards. Some of these hard done by "stars" wanna walk a mile in Joe Public's shoes before they start the comparisons.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
