Tame Impala project leader Kevin Parker dropped a bombshell earlier this year when he revealed that he’s made next to nothing from his band’s overseas record sales. But despite this, Parker says he’s not exactly an anti-piracy crusader.
Speaking recently to Mary Anne Hobbes on her BBC 6 Music show, Parker said he’s not particularly concerned about fans downloading his music illegally and is more interested in having his music connect with people, regardless of how it’s obtained.
When asked whether he thinks music should be free, Parker, who released Tame Impala’s third album, Currents, earlier this year, said he doesn’t believe music should be free, but that he wasn’t concerned about charging money for it and that trying to stop piracy is a fruitless endeavour.
“There are some CDs I saved up for months to buy when I was doing a paper round, I’d literally spend two months saving up to buy a CD,” Parker said when remarking on his early experience of buying music.
“But then later in life my friend would burn me a CD that he’d downloaded illegally and it was just as much of a powerful experience, even though the sound quality was kind of crappy.”
“For me that shows that it’s not really how much you pay for it or even whether or not it’s physical, it can still have an effect on you,” he added. “I’m not sure what that says about artists making money in the future,” he conceded.
“Obviously artists need to make money but I also believe that if you do something good the wealth will find you some way. If music was free I think it changes the experience but it doesn’t necessarily cheapen it. It doesn’t make it any less profound.”
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“I used to download music illegally, everyone has,” Parker admitted. “Nobody is innocent. If someone says ‘I love your album but I downloaded it for free’ then good! I don’t want his 20 bucks.”
Parker also called for fans not to “rag” on bands who sell their music to companies for advertisements as an alternative means of making a buck, something Parker touched on during an insightful Reddit AMA earlier this year.
Tame Impala have been enjoying a massive 2015. In addition to unveiling what we called one of the best releases of the year, the band have been selling out dates on their forthcoming Australian national tour left and right, recently adding three extra dates due to massive demand.
