GooGoo Dolls Frontman Admits To Using Limewire; Says He Likes Fan-Made Video More Than His Official Video
from the infringer!! dept
Reader samkash points us to a recent interview with The Goo Goo Doll's John Rzeznik by Mike Ragogna. There are two bits in the interview that will be interesting to folks around here. The first is that he admits that he doesn't really like the official video for the band's new single... but mentions that he much prefers a fan-made video found on YouTube:MR: Yeah. Now, "Home" is your new single?Stories like this always amuse me, because, of course, it wasn't that long ago that all we heard was how evil such "infringers" were, in creating their own videos "using music that doesn't belong to them." It's always nice to see musicians realize that fans making videos are fans making videos, rather than threatening them with infringement claims.JR: Yes.
MR: And it comes with a video.
JR: I've got to be honest, man, I don't really like the video. They kind of wanted to do this sort take off on Lost In Translation, and I'm doing a hundred things, and I'm like, "Sure, okay, that's fine. Let's do it." You know, there's another video out on YouTube that the fans made. They sent in little video clips and some woman edited them together, and I think it captures a lot more emotion than the official video did.
MR: Often, fans do know what's best.
JR: They do, they always do.
The second interesting bit is the fact that Rzeznik admits to using Limewire to find a song that he couldn't get on iTunes. This is, of course, why many folks use tools like Limewire, but if you believe some of the people speaking out against file sharing, you would hear that it's "destroying the music business," how no real musicians would ever use file sharing programs, and how the only reason people use stuff is because "they just want stuff for free." Not only does this show, yet again, that there are other reasons why some folks use file sharing programs, but in this case, Rzeznik not only downloaded the song, but it resulted in the Goo Goo Dolls covering the song he downloaded on their latest "deluxe version" of the album.
MR: Something For The Rest Of Us also is released as a deluxe version with a digital download of "Home," a signed lithograph, and three bonus tracks--Flesh For Lulu's "Postcard From Paradise," Pete Townshend's "Rough Boys," and the Kinks' "Catch Me Now I'm Falling"?
JR: Yeah, yeah.
MR: What inspired the covers?
JR: Well, I love that Flesh For Lulu song. It's such a great song, and I was looking through the old CDs and stuff trying to download it online. Actually, I have to confess that I went to Limewire and found a copy of the original song because I couldn't find it on iTunes. So, if I ever run into the guys from Flesh For Lulu, I promise I'll give them a buck (laughs). It's just such a great pop song, and people don't write songs like that very much anymore.
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Filed Under: fans, file sharing, goo goo dolls, john rzeznik, mashups, videos
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Ethics & Vaule
1. The fans always know what's best. It actually touches on crowd theory and mass psychology a bit. Not to be confused with the related mob mentality but you get the idea. The fans ALWAYS know what's right and that's the free market at work. The sooner the labels and remaining artists realize that, the happier we'll all be.
2. Rzeznik admits to file sharing but will give the band Flesh For Lulu a buck which means even he feels the cost for an "unauthorized" download is far less than the ridiculous $750 a song nonsense people are asking for. When the artist says his songs are "worth" (and I use that term incorrectly because they tend to misunderstand price & value) a dollar on Limewire, you know the labels are not representing their interests at all.
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new fan
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Re: new fan
Usually the remembered names have a story like that.
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Limewire?
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It's quiet in here. A little too quite.
Come on, where are all the usual copyright wonks to bemoan how he's "stealing" from the poor artists who can't be expected to work for free? Funny how friends of copyright attack Mike until their fingers are bleeding when he posts about John Mellencamp's misguided notions on taking ideas, but nary a peep out of those same folks on this posting. Hmm. Interesting.
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Re: It's quiet in here. A little too quite.
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