__ Chuck D has some choice words for the pimps in the music industry. __
__ Chuck D may be sampling the mellow sounds of Stephen Stills, but politically the firebrand rapper is still louder than a bomb. Public Enemy's frontman pissed off his record label in late '98 by posting tracks from an unreleased album in MP3, a compressed audio format that squeezes entire CD-quality songs into Net-friendly packets. Surprise: Def Jam parent PolyGram demanded the songs be yanked from www.public-enemy.com and sent in the suits. The Recording Industry Association of America then announced that it was finally embracing digital distribution - in the form of an ultrasecure pay-to-play format that will compete against MP3. Too late, says Chuck D, who has promised to "ride the MP3 like a muthafuckin' cowboy." In January he slammed the industry's greed on a new cut called "Swindler's Lust" - released in MP4. __
Wired: Why did you decide to post songs to the Web in MP3? You knew PolyGram, which owned the tracks, would object.
Chuck D: Major record labels are like dinosaurs. They move slow. Our album Bring the Noise 2000 was slated for a March '98 release, but PolyGram slept on it. So we released it in MP3 on our supersite. Why not? Our fans wanted the music. And we believe in the technology. We didn't sell the tracks, so to us it was the same as just making more promotional copies.
Your label thought otherwise.
Yeah, the lawyers came running and told my manager to take it down. They don't like MP3 because it can obliterate the middleman. But the industry won't be able to pimp MP3, so they're going to have to figure out how to co-opt it.
And the Recording Industry Association of America is already on the march. Does its anti-MP3 format, the Secure Digital Music Initiative, stand a chance?
No. The dam has burst, and the chunks are in the water.
Could be - Billy Idol and the Beastie Boys have had similar run-ins over unauthorized Web releases.
It's the chicken coming home to roost, the leveling of the playing field, the little man getting his chance.
And what will the little man do with all his new power?
Soon you'll see a marketplace with 500,000 independent labels - the majors can co-opt all they want, but it's not going to stop the average person from getting into the game. Today a major label makes a CD for as little as 80 cents, then sells it wholesale for $10.50 so retailers can charge $14 - that's highway robbery. They were able to pimp that technology. Well, MP3 is a technology they can't pimp.
Yet the industry says it's a technology that promotes piracy.
Look, this is what I do because the shit has hit the fans. We're already making a big move with MP4, which compresses files more. You can email tracks.
How does all this affect the music being made today?
There's incredible, diverse talent. But the way radio, retail, and record companies govern the music is whack - playola, payola, and censorship turn artists into one-track ponies.
Can the Net change the way big music does business?
Say an independent label has a studio. If this label cuts a record, it has to go out and distribute 10,000 pieces of hard-software in order to get exposure. The Internet eliminates that need, so an independent can test a market without ever pressing a CD. The demo, as we know it, will be eradicated.
What will this mean?
You'll see $3 albums, which artists won't mind if they're getting the money. And the public will ask, "Shit, I can get 25 songs off the Net and make my own CD - or have a RealPlayer in my car - why the hell should I spend $14 at a store?"
The true revenge will come when the major labels start dropping their prices. I can see the public saying, "OK, I could go to the store and pick up the album I want for $5, but I can get it on the Net for fucking $3."
Good for the consumer, but is it good for the musician?
It's great for the musician. Instead of just depending on a song and a video, the Net will bring back live performances. Artists will be able to release a song every two weeks, instead of waiting six, seven months for a label to put it out. A band can become like a broadcaster.
How so?
We have our site. We recently launched the Bring the Noise online radio show. Our Rappstation online radio station, which hopes to be the ESPN of hip hop, is coming. And we just started Slam Jamz, the affiliated superinteractive label.
Affiliated superinteractive label?
It's going to be a label on the Web that people can download music from. We should have a good stable of artists by 2002, and then we'll release singles like crazy. We'll also offer videos that people can burn to disc. That's my vision. There are Web sites, there are supersites, and we're trying to be a superstation.
Why a superstation?
A Web site - whoopdee, my mom's got a Web site. A supersite has a lot of traffic and capability for streaming and commerce. A superstation will be interfaced with television, so you can get real-time feeds. For a consumer, it's about getting what you want fast. Blam. Then who the fuck needs radio or network TV?
What about the Microsoft trial - should they shut down Mr. Bill, or let him play his game?
When someone comes along and dominates an industry, of course you get a whole bunch of losers screaming, hoping somehow they can beat 'em down. Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser. Bill Gates is Michael Jordan.
Still, people complain the new tools are dividing society. Are we seeing the birth of a nation of information have-nots?
Computers will be available to everyone. They're getting cheaper, and in the environment I come from, if you don't got it, you borrow it - "Let me come over and make a CD." There's a community that will network this equipment. When people start talking, "In the black community there aren't any computers ..." Wasn't long ago there weren't cell phones or pagers, and now they run abundant. It's only a matter of time before someone will jack you for your laptop.
Well, the music industry says that's what MP3 is all about - stealing. Does it piss you off to see your music pirated?
To the pirates, I say the more the merrier. Success comes from the fans first - if someone is going to pirate something of mine, I just have to make sure to do nine or ten new things. I mean, you can't download me.
