Jack White answering TMR Vault Members and fans questions and comments about the new TIDAL offer for vault members:
hey y’all,
first off let me say that everyone at third man is excited to be part of offering tidal hifi to our vault members that we treasure so dearly. tmr has always had the goal of preserving the sanctity of music and helping artists who have no voice get thier music heard. below i’ll try to answer some of the more common questions we’ve been hearing. dont worry, none of this is done in negative reaction, i get where you’re coming from and why you are feeling certain ways, but here’s an artists take on the comments and questions, i hope it helps understand where all the musicians are coming from. it’s a tough time for music, i encourage people to be on the side of supporting musicians, giving to them, not taking from them. god bless
jw
III
Q: With the amount we pay for the vault, tidal should be free, not just discounted
jack white: third man does not own or make decisions for tidal, this deal is incredibly cool and took us a long time to work on the logistics of. third man is artist owned, and tidal is artist owned. it wasn’t something we had to do at all, but we wanted
the vault members to all know they come first and they have a portal to this artist run streaming service through us now.
Q: What a joke. I refuse to support The vault and tidal. if you claim music is so special and sacred then why charge a premium for people to enjoy it?
jack white: how much did you pay for that last movie you saw at the theater? and how much did that movie cost to make? dont devalue musicians man, support them. making records is expensive, believe us, i dont see people saying we should go to the movies for free, or netflix should be free. that state of music is in flux, be on the side of supporting creativity, not taking from it. this gives you that chance.
Q: I can purchase a new record every month with that $20.
jack white: please do! when i was a teeenager i would go to the record store twice a month and buy 4 records each trip, anywhere from between 12 and 18 bucks a piece! and guess what? i still do! and with tidal, for 9.99 you have every record they can possibly get there hands on to stream. in the car, in the gym. places you can’t play vinyl right? think about it: how much did you spend on movies this year?
Q: sorry Jack, but I have 0 interest in making jayz more money.
and
Q: I'm sorry, but I don't understand how Jack could be involved in this awful business model. Totally screws the fans, I thought he was a bit above that. How much money does he need?
jack white: a streaming service owned by artists is the first step, it’s not about the rich getting richer. it takes artists that can get peoples attention to be able to make a scenario possible for those artists that dont have a voice to get in a position where they aren’t struggling, and beleive me third man records is full of artists the mainstream’s never heard of and have no voice or power in the system. have you heard of rachelle garnier? what about the smoke fairies? drakar sauna? pujol? the gories? those are just some of the up and coming artists on third man that try to make a living in music. and if you stream thier songs….they get paid for it. and they get to LIVE and not take second jobs….and make MORE music! i support keeping musicians you love in business. we want a full third man roster page on tidal that you can stream hundreds of records on, and each time that artist gets something. that’s a beautiful thing.
and also…do we tell steven spielberg we dont need to pay him anymore to watch his movies? he’s made enough off of us right? he should show his new films for free right? haha
