Mac DeMarco Tells Concert Goers To Go Pirate His Music

from the piracy-promo dept

Fri, Apr 28th 2017 2:58pm — Timothy Geigner

We had just been talking about Ed Sheeran suggesting that piracy actually helped his career rather than hurt it, as well as his decision to go to bat against his label for a fan who covered one of his songs, but he's not the only one out there who doesn't see filesharing as the great music Satan the labels would have us believe. Artist Mac DeMarco announced on stage at Coachella that his latest album had leaked online. The instructions he then gave the concert-goers is not the norm amongst artists, to say the least.

However, instead of begging fans to wait for the official release to come out, DeMarco said that he didn’t give a shit and encouraged them to download it from pirate sites.

“We’re going to play a song we’ve only played twice before. It’s a new song, came out a couple of days ago. But you know what? The album leaked yesterday, so I don’t give a shit anymore.”

“Download it. Pirate Bay, Torrents.to, Soulseek, Napster, Limewire, Kazaa. Just get it, just get it,” DeMarco added.

And, yes, much has been made in reports about this that DeMarco specifically instructed fans to go pirate his music on platforms that no longer exist, like Napster and Limewire, but I'm somewhat sure that this part of the line was done tongue in cheek. It's unlikely that a 26-year-old musician who is aware of The Pirate Bay is somehow not aware of older filesharing platforms no longer being in use. Instead, it seems at least as likely to be a subtle nod to how long the music industry has managed to survive from all of the supposedly dire threats at its doors all these years, but that part is purely speculation.

What's not is that DeMarco doesn't see a threat in filesharing. Telling fans at a concert to go get an album from torrent sites before it has even hit the shelves is a pretty clear message: DeMarco isn't worried about piracy. And why should he be? He was performing in front of paying fans despite the certainty that all of his previously released music is likely available online for free as well. Yet here's DeMarco, making money by making music.

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Filed Under: mac demarco, music, piracy

23 Comments

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rw (profile), 28 Apr 2017 @ 1:12pm

Yes, but what about the poor, destitute labels? Who is thinking about the gatekeepers?
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orbitalinsertion (profile), 28 Apr 2017 @ 4:45pm

Re:
Who keeps the gatekeepers?

They certainly think of themselves enough that i think they are rather well covered in this regard.
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discordian_eris (profile), 28 Apr 2017 @ 4:47pm

It makes sense. If your music isn't being pirated, you haven't make it worth pirating. Which means it isn't worth buying.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Apr 2017 @ 7:40pm

Artist re-education coming up
I can see this artist receiving a Special High Intensity Training storm from his label's legal section for causing a direct loss of sales due to his leanings towards the dark side.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Apr 2017 @ 8:41pm

Re:
Solid gold swimming pools don't pay for themselves, you know.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Apr 2017 @ 10:24pm

Re: Re:
Diamond-studded swimming pools, you mean. Those things don't grow on trees!
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My_Name_Here, 28 Apr 2017 @ 10:26pm

I got my advance from the record labels, so yeah, go ahead and pirate... doesn't matter to me!
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 1:42am

Does a magnet link fit inside a tweet?
Slowly but surely, a generation that grew up with filesharing as a widespread norm are coming into their own (and making it big). It's lone newsworthy voices now, but imagine a kind of critical mass where every young musician takes filesharing for granted like this.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 2:23am

Re:
It has more to do with the fundamental truth in the music Industry. Selling recordings make money for the labels, while restricting the number of people who listen to the music. Concert tours make money for the band, and the more people who listen to their music, the more people who want to attend the concerts, and the more money the band make; and it does not matter to the band how they got to listen to the music.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 4:31am

I remember a Thrusday concert at Pukkelpop (some 10-15 years ago?) where they ended with "Buy our album, or download it from the internet; If you don't have money, at least you'll have music.".
Good times.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 5:10am

Too bad it rarely matters what the artists think, the labels are the ones going after file-sharers.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 6:53am

Re:

Too bad it rarely matters what the artists think, the labels are the ones going after file-sharers.

It does matter what the artists think. They can sign up with a label which will harass their fans, or not. Far too many artists willingly associate themselves with assholes. Hell, one band straight-up called them that ("just like the Recording Industry Assholes of America, they promote mass ignorance") and signed up with an RIAA label shortly after. ("But they don't get much money when you buy the album", they said, paraphrased, to the fans who bitched. Those were the RIAA-boycott days; now it seems in-fashion again for consumers to give money to those who would opress them.)
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madasahatter (profile), 29 Apr 2017 @ 8:40am

Re: Re:
Given that professional recordings are relatively cheap to make even if using a recording studio, it not surprising that many musicians detest the labels. About 20 years ago a musician I know told me to make a professional CD would cost a band about 25K including 10K copies or about 2.50 per copy. CDs then were selling for about 15+ per copy with band getting peanuts. The basic economics is still true.

Also, fans of the band will go to concerts and will buy band merchandise.
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Pixelation, 29 Apr 2017 @ 8:50am

Love it
From Wikipedia...

"One cassette version of the Dead Kennedys e.p. In God We Trust Inc. had a blank side, printed with the message "Home taping is killing record industry profits! We left this side blank so you can help."
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 9:52am

I'm shocked, shocked I say, that Techdirt's Alexa rankings have tanked so much, just because they're still posting basically the same dumb articles with the same moronic comments as they did 15 years ago.

How "innovative".
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 11:38am

Re:
How "trollish."
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 12:24pm

Re:
That just show how much the Labels have changed, which is not at all.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 1:15pm

...Techdirt's Alexa rankings have tanked...

Only marketroids and other toxic cyanobacteria would have noticed.

Oh, techdirt's Alexa rankings have dropped? I'll have to go over to theCashRegister.com and see what shillForShillings Orlowsky says, I betg HIS Alexa rankings are rising!
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Apr 2017 @ 4:31pm

Re:
And you've been whining about same said article for the same amount of time. How does that make you feel bro?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2017 @ 1:03am

Re:
So if the Alexa rankings are down, why does that bother you so much?
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My_Name_Here, 1 May 2017 @ 11:55pm

Re:
Another fake. Keep winning the Internet, Masnick!
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2017 @ 5:13am

Re:
So can we dispense with the "pirating hurts the artist" bullshit you like to parade around so much?
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Daniel Walden, 23 Jun 2017 @ 4:22am

Mac DeMarco my fav-e singer! New album 'This Old Dog' is nice, much better than 'Salad Days', My Old Man best track & lyrics he's ever released.
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