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June 23, 2008

huh

He wants to be a cowboy, baby: Kid Rock boycotting iTunes Store

Posted Jun. 23, ’08, 1:31 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Apple » Huh?

kidrock1.jpgWell he’s packin’ up his game and he a headed out of…er, the iTunes Store.

Kid Rock’s apparently throwin’ a hissy over music revenue, saying record labels and now digital music stores are hoarding the bulk of the money from record sales, robbing the musicians and sabotaging La Révolution Digitál entirely.

To fight The Powers That Be, the Rock is turning to ‘cowboy’ (baby) diplomacy—he’s boycotting the iTunes Store, instead suggesting that people download his music for free (viz: illegally) from p2p file-sharing services.

Wired has the story, and describes what triggered Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie’s defiance:

Rock’s tirade was apparently precipitated by a request from his record label, Warner Music Group’s Atlantic Records, that he publicly denounce file sharing. His response: “Wait a second, you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?” Ouch.

It’s a good point for a 37-year-old child who’s still playing dress-up pretending to be a rock star.

But as MacDailyNews wonders—how can he completely turn on the record labels, when for better or worse (much more the latter) they provided a conduit for his success (they’ve done a lot of crap, but I will never forgive them for that).

So Rock suggests his fans download his music illegally—does he practice what he preaches, demonstrating his ideals while setting an example for his followers?

He advises fans to download his music for free from P2P services, although he himself doesn’t have to. “I don’t steal things,” he told the BBC. “I’m rich.” As for everyone else, he says, “Download it illegally, I don’t care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.”

In the words of the great Kid, ‘I can smell a pig a mile away.’

He may live on a farm…but he ain’t no cowboy, if you get my drift.


2 Comments

Donn Author Profile Page said:

I'm so confused... just how does he think he got rich? I think he got rich because Atlantic and and MTV promoted the hell out of the brand they created around him. Yes, they profited mightily, but so did he, and the kicker is it only worked because people paid money for the product.

I don't know, I appreciate an established "artist" standing up against the evils of the record labels, but there's still something distinctly hypocritical about Kid Rock's antics.

June 23, 2008 2:19 PM
Anonymous said:

Kid Who??? This guy has fans??? how can he bite the hand that created him????

June 24, 2008 8:43 AM

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