November 7, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Frank Black does not give a f**k about royalties


The Daily Beast: What do you think about streaming services from a financial aspect?
The Pixies’ Frank Black: I can’t worry about that. It’s like, how many things can I fucking worry about, you know?  I’ve got a lawyer, I’ve got an agent, I’ve got a publisher.  They can worry about that stuff.  I don’t have time to fucking take a stance on everything.
There’s an opportunity for my music to be heard and potentially paid for? Great, do it.  Is it the best that I can be paid? Is it the worst that I can be paid?  I don’t know.  I don’t really have a lot of options.

All you can do is play your cards, and hopefully it all works out.  Right now all I can really focus on is making music and trying to make sure whatever is owed to me from a financial point of view is collected by those agents who are authorized to collect it for me.

Beast: But don’t bands make exponentially less money than they used to?

Black: I can get all involved and take a stance and develop an opinion, but at the end of the day, I’ve got too much to do.
I’ve got five kids. I just want to fucking play music and make art.

I’m not criticizing other people who have highly developed opinions about all this, but I just don’t have time for it.  I don’t have any interest in it.  I just want to play music, and fortunately I’ve got my t-shirt money, I’ve got my concert ticket money, I’ve got my commercial usage money.

It’s no different than when I started out.  Technology changes and formats change, but it’s basically you generate creative content, you try to get it heard, you try to get it paid for, you try to collect what is due to you, and, you know, file for your taxes (laughs).  What else can I do?

 

 

Source: Digital Music News / Daily Beast