and yet the album is available on Grooveshark. hmm.

That's because Grooveshark and what they do is illegal

Wow, their fans will actually have to commit and buy!

This quote should read:

"For a Band That Makes a Living Selling Music To Advertisers, Streaming Isn't Feasible..."

Actually, you don't sell music to the ad production companies, you license it to them for sync.

 L.A. Creative Team

Short-sighted, or realistic?

 joe rudge

This is so true.

 Joel Kerr

true, but streaming live or recorded concerts is.

This is such a stupid argument for them to make. If they don't put it on Spotify just go to Grooveshark or here: http://www.mediafire.com/?q2vuq41i9b1ljj6. You guys are doing fine you just played a show sponsored by SoCo and are headlining at MSG. Sheesh.

Insinuating that a band should take a shitty deal and allow themselves to be exploited by a for-profit tech company because you think they're "doing fine" with other revenue streams...is a laughably stupid argument.

It's not your place to tell anyone that they're successful enough or that they already make enough money. Pull your head out of your ass...comrade 

No, your argument is stupid. Get that Media Fire link and your uninformed opinions outta here!

Black Keys are essentially telling me that their 11 track album is roughly valued at the same rate ($10) as one month of my 15 million legally streamable song library on Spotify. To mediafire we go.

you weren't gonna buy it anyway . . . . thief

You're really calling someone in 2011 a thief for illegally downloading music? Laughable.

yep, i sure am

especially when steal from an indie

Personally, I prefer the term "freeloading pieces of shit".

Which is exactly what pirates are.

But calling it "theft" isn't off the mark either. Even in 2011, piracy is still clearly a form of theft, perhaps remsembling "theft of services" more than anything else. At the very least, the infringer is depriving the owner of the exclusive rights afforded to them by the constitution and echoed in more general verbiage by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  At the very least, the "infringer" is illegally aquiring a property they have no legal or moral right to own without payment. Despite all the childish rationalizations proffered by "free culture" parasites, when it comes to piracy and theft, there are more similarities than differences.

But feel free to call it whatever you want. Hell, call it "eggplant" if that tickles your fancy or maybe something even more moronic?

"Sharing"

Whatever innocuous-sounding term will better help you sleep at night...

It still won't change the FACT that pirates are "freeloading pieces of shit".

Yeah, like you've never downloaded a song without paying. Get off of your high horses.

nail on head!

That video will come off very greedy to young fans. They are managed by QPrime, didn't QPrime learn their lesson with Lars? Who wants to watch their artists talking about money, they should have just laid low.

cosign

I have been curious about The Black Keys for some time.  I look forward to checking them out for free...   somewhere...  *smile*

No Spotify?  No problem!!   There are a lot of free online resources.  Bing is your friend.

Heck, if it comes to it, I'll go copy their CDs from the library.  The catalog shows me about 35 copies, with waiting lists for most of them.  With that sort of demand, the library will be sure to get a copy of the new release "El Camino."

I am sure your library would be more than happy to lend you some books.

Only the new album is not up on these streaming services. Rhapsody has all their albums from 2002 to 2010 available. I believe they call it "windowing."

Fact of the matter is, no one knows sht about the optimal way to sell music (achieve royalties) now.

Strategies like this are gonna be used until the dust settles.

So let me get this straight. 

When you're an "up and coming" band and unsigned, you give your music away just so people will merely give the privelege of entering their earhole. 

Then you "hit the road" and "sell merch" (and most likely barely scrape by or live in debt) until you get signed. 

Then after you sign the "shitty deal" that will help push you into the next (and hopefully profitable)phase of your career, which involves more media/marketing/PR, better paying gigs (maybe) and an advance so you don't starve (maybe). 

After signing said shitty deal, you score a synch, which you get half of by nature of your pub deal (if you have one), which goes to paying the majority of debt owed (outside of your already reoupable costs).

All so people can complain about how they don't want to pay for your your record, because you're making so much already, and "killing it" at shows that you needed State Farm to sponsor because overall touring costs are no longer offset by other revenue streams.  

fact of the matter is the recording industry already tried to stop people from getting a product that they valued as free and failed. now spotify and other streaming services that the labels have a stake in tell us it is ok and for the black keys to try to go back to anything different will only alienate people. 

in other news, the arcade fire are now streaming their entire catalog.... talk about mixed messages

I think the Black Keys should take it wherever they can get it and they have every right to do as they please...same for anyone else out there right now.  

We went through one paradigm shift a decade ago, if we're about to enter another, If they want to cash in as many chips as they can now, that's their decision. 

The fact of the matter is that an artist can, and has the right to ask whatever they wish for their work. In turn you can decide to purchase it or steal it, or "acquire" it.

200,000 people found it ok for them to ask for 10 bucks for their record, is that a good ROI? I dunno, but it's proof that some people out there don't find their actions alienating, or their work a luxury...

Arcade Fire?

Textbook windowing, even the Beatles catalog went to Itunes eventually... 

Breaking news!  El Camino is now on Spotify!  The Black Keys – El Camino

too bad. guess i will have to listen to something less boring than the black keys

mediafire baby !

Can't believe my ears! Did he make this up on his own or was this some label bozo! Here is my response: 

Open letter to The Black Keys

You're such a screeching fanboy prick. Please shut up.

Has nothing to do with being a fan of Spotify. It's all about facts.

Seems like a decision made based on dollars instead of a decision that puts fans first. And to say that allowing people to stream your songs in full online canabalizes album sales is short term thinking. Those are two totally different experiences. From a marketing perspective, this is like saying, "were not going to take advantage of a free (actually it even pays you a little bit) medium to reach millions of fans". Nah, we'd rather not take advantage of that because WE don't make enough money. Frankly, I have never even heard of the Black Keys, and now that I know they don't give a sh$t about fans, I don't care to learn more.

So it's the major labels that really put the fans first, huh?

smh

not even close. it's people like Jimmy Buffett who streams every one of his shows online for no charge. that has really killed his album and ticket sales. the point is take care of fans, and the money follows. put money first and lose.

You can't even begin to compare the tactics of a "legacy" artist like Jimmy Buffett to someone who has been around for a decade like the black keys. 

Let's get really real here. 

Streaming music hits a snag when bands like the Black Keys say they can't afford to participate.

...gently down the stream.

And yet they are avaliable on Spotify here in Sweden? How's that?

Bottom line, they can do what they want.  My opinion is that music is going towards streaming services and artists can either get on board or get run over.  Fighting it is only going to hurt them in the long run.. Ask Lars and Metallica.

And just a side note to the discussion... seats to the Black Keys show this summer (in their home town no less) are $40-$60.  The venue holds 35,000 people (Quicken Loans Arena).  I'd say they're doing ok money wise...  

You have no idea what it costs to organize, promote, and execute a show of that caliber. 

Just to insure it is in the hundreds of thousands. 

These are multi million dollar costs. 

Even Merchandise sales are taxed 15-20% by the venue, and the majority of the workers are union, recieving a prevailing wage. 

It's not that simple. 

"Carney further pointed to a payout structure that unfairly favors  labels, to the detriment of artists.."

Sounds like that's the problem..... better to complain about the comsumer as opposed to your paymaster eh?

According to lot of "study" And "research" people who pirate music also buy more music..    Sell Music

Well, I guess I'll have to download it like I used to.

Makes sense. Plus, their album is so worth buying