You go Jack! See you in Denver!

Another martyr for a bygone era. You don’t like it White, don’t make music.

I appreciate his naturalistic approach to producing his albums, but think he is backwards in thinking that the web is a bad thing for his music.

i mean up and coming artists wont last long if they dont know how to get their stuff marketed on the web properly. that has always been the burden of artists, musicians and writers: how to get people to know about and care about your work. the beatles had to market their stuff with the tech they had, and today it is no different. when jack complains he has to be a wiz to get his stuff out there, he neglects the fact that he is popular enough to sell an album with little nor no web attention. a few years ago, jacky boy, you could not have done that, cuz NO ONE knew who you were.

just be happy you have a modicum of success.

Saucy Jack

He’s a fuckin’ guitar and vocal god

I have a great respect for this man. I hope everybody goes back to analog, but I would be very surprised if a single person (other than Jack White) does.

That pisses me off, living in Atlanta it is rare we get REALLY good acts. You get the eventual Radiohead every 2, 3 yrs and Raconteurs came last year, but I am tired of living in a major metropolitan city and having to travel to see my favorite artists.

Its the BS country music flooding the market down here. I dont want to hear songs that go, “I made looooove to my Bulldog”

Please come to Atlanta Jack/ Dead Weather. We love you here.

didnt buy into jack with the stripes but the raconteurs got my attention. now i dig all his shit and hear what he is saying. ill take it a step further and say that this whole world is fucked up not just the music thing.

I definitely empathize with Jack White’s views. Yes, times change and technology does bring certain benefits, but the nature of the internet does take away from some of the magic and mystery long associated with the rock lifestyle, if you will.

I firmly believe that album leaks, live video streaming, etc. have not replaced the classic experiences of visiting the record store, taking that album (physical album, not mp3) home, listening to it, gazing at the album artwork/liner notes, and letting the imagination run wild. And can you imagine a time when all you knew about Led Zeppelin’s shows was word of mouth…and to truly have your mind blown, you NEEDED to go to the show? The world of music as we know it was not confined to some digital screen.

Plus, by today’s standards…The Dead Weather is already almost a veteran band before they’ve even released an album…and people will complain that they’re yesterday’s news before they make a second. Allow them some time to tour, build an audience, and their identity.

BTW, a note to Smithoma. I used to live in Atlanta. Be thankful for what you do have. When I lived there, I felt like I couldn’t keep up with all the shows that came to the area. It may not compare to places like NY and Chicago, or LA, but what does? There’s a bunch of great music stores (we have maybe 1 or 2), and only occasionally do we get a decent show..most bands avoid Florida like the plague.

Jack calls it like it is. the music industry is fucked, thanks to the internet. long live vinyl!

“There’s a part of me, that just out of spite, says I don’t want to do it because it’s so antithetical to what I do.”

quit your bitching then and don’t do it!

This from the SAME guy who starred in and wrote a Coca Cola commercial? A walking oxy moron

I agree with everything that Jack said. Technology is killing music i’m in my mid thirties and it feels as if the youth of today hold nothing sacred when it comes to music. They will never know the joy of buying and actual album and sitting down and listening to it.Face it we can’t convince them to because they care about nothing but themselves. As long as they get music fast and free they are happy. Which just goes to show you how self centered they are.

Wow…a successful artist complaining about his new project becoming famous through the internet. I know a quick and easy solution Jack….quit the music business. You can play music by yourself in your house and won’t have to share it with anyone or get paid. Of course you will stick with the Coca-Cola commercials and James Bond themes that have helped you become a millionaire.

Thankfully, Radiohead hold a different view than Jack and have put thought into how to share their music while embracing technology.

Another pompous Radiohead fan, the world keeps spinning.

CrystalSpyder4 and natch, I agree with you 100%. I made the very same point on another website, and some ignorant dumbass proceeded to call me an “RIAA troll”, totally missing the point. It’s not just record labels that are suffering, it’s independent record shop owners, artists and even fans themselves that are bearing the brunt of it.The problem is up-and-coming artists who haven’t established themselves like NIN and Radiohead and who haven’t already made some good cash from the old way of selling records will have a much harder time in the music biz. Releasing an album for free isn’t exactly an option when you have rent to pay and a stomach to feed. Not everyone necessarily wants a MySpace or Facebook page to advertise themselves in order to get people interested in their music. Some people want to keep a line between their personal and professional lives. The internet doesn’t provide that. Yes, the internet is a wonderful and crucial tool, and I certainly couldn’t imagine life without it, but there are some downsides we could certainly do without. You can’t replicate interacting with an employee at a record shop, discussing how cool your favorite band is on the internet. You can’t replicate standing outside in line waiting for a much anticipated album to drop at midnight on the internet. And the problem isn’t with the way music is sold, it’s with the people that are selling the music, i.e. the greedy record label execs. They need to realize that by being selfish and not looking out for their artists and consumers who buy their music, they’re only shooting themselves in the foot.

And yes, Jack has to make deals with Coca-Cola and write theme songs for blockbuster films because the bills have to be paid one way or another. Artists actually make very little money from album sales because the label heads are the ones reaping the monetary rewards while the artists works their asses off. Now imagine that you’re in a world where nobody buys albums anymore because they figure they can just buy one song for 99¢. Now try dividing that 99¢ among your various record heads and everyone who has contributed to the making of your album in some form. Since the artists always gets paid last, imagine how much money they’re going home with after everyone has taken their share from the piggy bank. Their real income comes from touring, and even then they have to divide that with their label (again) and the people who make the tour possible, such as the road crew, tour manager, venues that host their shows, travel expenses, etc. You people are always accusing your favorite artists of “selling out”, but you never really know why or act as if you never would do the same given the opportunity. And the last time I checked, selling out means compromising your true self for money. How does doing ads for a soda pop company count as “selling out” if Jack didn’t have to sacrifice anything he considers important in return? Suppose that’s what he wants?

I have paid for music in well over ten years…sorry.

Although the Internet is stopping most people from going to the record store I find myself using the internet to find great indie acts. Next thing you know i’m buying the vinyl. It’s a great marketing tool. I think jack needs to realize alot of people wouldn’t know who he is if it wasn’t for the internet. But than again he probably wouldn’t care if less people knew his music as long as he had devoted fans.

let’s see your result jack…

Jack white has no website. There are no MP3’s of white stripes, raconteurs or dead weather music available. He still uses a typewriter. He churns his own butter. He balances his checkbook with an abacus. I’m getting sick of him.

JW killed it on the drums tonight on Conan! Amazing drummer. Tons of vibe!

he has enough money to not give a shit and have someone else do the myspace page for him. Jack–your great great grandkids never have to work, lighten up.

it’s surprising to see so many people bitching about someone who has stuck to his guns
for so long and kept his
integrity intact.
then again this is the internet.
i think a band has a right to play
their music as they want to. and hold off from releasing it as long as they feel it is necessary.
the internet fucks that up.
i feel bad for you jack. your a
talented guy in a fucked up
business.
i bet it was a lot easier when you
were in a garage in Detroit
pumping that early noise you were
so good at.
ROCK ON red bowling ball ruth!

Jack, seriously, if it bugs you that much, stop making music. Stop selling music. Go play live shows to tiny crowds of people for the rest of your life and take your Luddite ways with you.

Oh wait, you want money…

Then learn to adapt.

I agree 100 percent. We all need to take a step back in many ways. We’ve built up expectations and exceeded limitations with technology. In the end the majority of us will become slaves to ourselves and people are losing their creative minds. Think for yourselves.

It’s rather silly to be sitting here questioning the integrity of an artist simply because he expressed his frustration with some of the trappings of the music industry as it currently stands.

So Jack chooses to write for films and a Coca Cola commercial. Artists have been doing music for films for pretty much the entire history of film & recorded music. Do we need to dreg up the infinite examples of amazing film music?

As far as commercials, remember that Jack wrote the song expressly for the Coke ad. Has anyone heard the jingle? It’s absolutely amazing–a power pop gem that should have been released as a single, in the grand tradition of “I’d Like to Tach the World to Sing”. It also showed the depth of his songwriting can not be restricted to guitar/drum rave-ups.

technology is wrong! viva amish!

It another hypocrite that complains about technology. Grow up! Jack White and embrace download Culture. Porcupine Tree THe Incident sept 22,2009

long live Jack White.

some like butter, some dont

Jack White used a rare 2 inch tape machine on Icky Thump. If he really wanted us to admire his cutting edge low tech, he’d do it like most of us unsigned bands on a store bought portable digital studio in a box. What a tool.

“Smithoma | 6/18/2009, 1:02 pm EST

That pisses me off, living in Atlanta it is rare we get REALLY good acts. You get the eventual Radiohead every 2, 3 yrs and Raconteurs came last year, but I am tired of living in a major metropolitan city and having to travel to see my favorite artists.

Its the BS country music flooding the market down here. I dont want to hear songs that go, “I made looooove to my Bulldog”

Please come to Atlanta Jack/ Dead Weather. We love you here. ”

===================

Pe rhaps more acts would come to Atlanta if your residents didn’t rob them with guns while they are recording their albums.

I just saw them here in London and was severely disappointed. The same recycled riffs – a mixture of Eric Clapton and Led Zepp. Yawn… The trouble with White now is that he’s surrounded by sycophants. If they recorded him farting they’d put it on a CD and try to sell it.

Sorry you don’t like technology, Jack. If that’s the case, why don’t you just stop making records and piss off. Jack White is a cry baby and a tool.

Free Speech, You gotta Love It!

Freedom of speech, you gotta love it!

talk,talk and more talk.the world just keeps on spinning doesn’t it?

Jack White just sounds like an elitist douche bag who wishes he could live in the past. I hate when people aren’t willing to accept things the way they are and learn how to take advantage of everything that’s given to them. Sure, music was cool back in the 60’s but that was the 60’s and “cool” meant something completely different back then. This is 2009, so if you want to be a successful artist today, do something that’s going to be “cool” to me and my friends. You’re not smarter than me, Jack White. So quit trying to act like you are.

White has the problem of wishing he was a musician ages ago. He wishes his career was in the 70’s. Buy the vinyl at the store? Yeah, that will account for about 0.1% of the Stripes and the Dead Weathers sales.

White will use his mobile phone and email to organise a project and get it all together, then rail against any technology afterwards. Lollercoaster.

i love the guy but he does need to get over himself.
pretty sure the internet definately contributed to the White Stripes’ success in a huge way.

Wow. People are bitching at Jack White because he doesn’t like the bullshit world of nanosecond entertainment. No one stops to absorb any kind of art anymore. People are too busy looking for the next thing and don’t see or hear what’s in front of them. Face it, the internet has robbed artists of their creativity and their money. These same people who complain that Jack White is full of himself and should shut up are the same people “twittering” to everyone about every meaningless thing they did that day. I got an idea, sit back and read a book…in silence. Walk thru the park…without your cellphone stuck to your face. Technology is a great thing but unfortunatately, it has turned us into gossipy, self infatuated, computer drones with the attention span of a gnat.

Sounds like some of you have hurt feelings because this musician is critical of the current state of the music industry and chooses to do things his own way. Dry your eyes, it’s called freedom of speech. In the meantime, he’s going to do more before 9AM than you’ll do in a week, or month for some of you.

A man who likes music to sound as it should be for a band. I have a very good turntable/amp setup & Jack White’s studio produced analogue beats digital sound quality hands down. The energy of the Raconteurs was lost on the digital version, but put on the vinyl version & wow. I just wish he could pursuade other artists to visit his studio to get an analogue recording released. Keep it going.

50 years from now, Jack White will be regarded as a genius because of the excellant music he makes.

Lotsa threatened people here. Jack White is only talking about a tangible human truth that is missing from digitally produced albums. There is a reason that most known quantity guitar players won’t play through an amp loaded with 75 year old technology (tubes)–it has a sonic character that is imperfect like the fingers on the fretboard and the squishy sponge controlling them. Lotsa folks want to beat him up for trying to make a point, and neglect the fact that the album is out on CD (digital/modern) and the buggers do have a website. Let’s applaud them for making a record that is expressive, three dimensional, and not designed to separate as many people as possible from their cash. Hopefully they’ll still sell a couple million of them and make another…

Bah.. people call his broken, noisy, and mostly out of tune music, “art”/”soul”/”blues”.

Anyone can go to grandpa’s shed and record himself wanking on a out of tune guitar down to a tape deck. Then he cries about having to digitize it? Remember, They used that gear in the 60’s because they had too!

Anyone remember The Henchmen? He had to leave because his ego along with this tape machine were too big for the van.

You want blues look up Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Music is music. It doesn’t matter how it is produced or how it is distributed, just that it makes you feel something. You can make it on a couple of old tin cans and a pig, or on a MacPro, it doesn’t matter….

Many of us seem to be easily offended by someone who disagrees with our opinions. There are solid points on both sides of the argument, but you have to admit that whether you record digital or analog…..making your record sound “perfect” with pitch correction, time correction, and all of that- is pretty lame. We are human-not robots. Let’s celebrate that fact and stop trying to be machines!!

Many of us seem to be easily offended by someone who disagrees with our opinions. There are solid points on both sides of the argument, but you have to admit that whether you record digital or analog…..making your record sound “perfect” with pitch correction, time correction, and all of that- is pretty lame. We are human-not robots. Let’s celebrate that fact and stop trying to be machines!!

yes, it is true… Dead Weather does NOT have a myspace page that you can become a fan of… however there IS a white stripes page, a raconteurs page AND a third man records page. I love jack white.