Icky Thumping

Some radio station leaked Icky Thump, the new White Stripes album, and drew the ire of Jack White. He called the radio station and berated the host for leaking his album. The host had this to say:

At 4pm today, Jack White called Q101’s main offices from Spain, where they’re touring, looking specifically for me, to yell at ME for leaking the album and, in part, being “messed up for the entire (music) business.” (Edit - I listened to the call again today, and I apologize for initially misquoting Jack.) I felt like I was going to throw up. Weirdest, most surreal conversation of my life.?? So Sherman and Tingle were on the air when Jack called. They took the call with me in the studio, off the air. Jack asked me to take responsibility for leaking the record, and asked if I was sorry for what I’d done. S&T both jumped into the call—I was clearly flustered—and backed me 100%. We tried to explain where we were coming from - someone gave us a copy of a record that we were really excited to play, and the whole experience was an hour-long lovefest for him and his band - but he wasn’t having it. He hung up, very, very angry, and I thought I was going to cry. Instead, I drank some beers that the Fix had left in the studio. Room temperature Bud Light. Delicious.¹

Should musicians be upset when their albums leak on the internet and on radio stations? Well it depends. First of all there’s the income issue. Publishing rights from record sales represent a very small portion of a musician’s income. The majority of their income comes from touring.

[I]t is clear that concerts provide a larger source of income for performers than record sales or publishing royalties. Only four of the top 35 income-earners made more money from recordings than from live concerts, and much of the record revenue for these artists probably represented an advance on a new album, not on-going royalties from CD sales. For the top 35 artists as a whole, income from touring exceeded income from record sales by a ratio of 7.5 to 1 in 2002. Royalties from publishing music was slightly less than income from recordings.²

However, the record company who promoted them and put out the CD stands to lose cash, and that’s probably why Jack White is upset, as Third Man Records is his label.

But, what is the real goal of a musician when he or she wants to put out a song? I think most musicians would agree that they’re not just making music to sell as a product–-the point is creative expression, not capital gain. Wouldn’t musicians be better served if as many people as possible heard their work? Surely this would be a better way to generate concert revenue and it would keep the fans happy… if your goal isn’t capital gain. Then again if you’re running a record company, this is bad news bears. Then again, I’m still determined to buy the new White Stripes record, even if I do get a pirated copy.

1. DJ Electra, So Does This Make Me A Pimp And A Prostitute Too?, 30 May 2007 ↩
2. Connolly, Marie, Alan B. Krueger. “Rockonomics: The Economics of Popular Music.” National Bureau of Economics Research, April 2005 ↩