Tune-Yards: “Without Net Neutrality I Wouldn’t Be A Musician”

Merrill Garbus, known to fans as the drum-looping, ukelele-strumming Tune-Yards, has opened up about her defence of net neutrality, saying that without an open internet, she could never have become a musician. Garbus regularly takes to Twitter to speak up about the issue of net neutrality.

“There’s no way that if the Internet wasn’t the way it was and free that I would be a musician making a living off of music,” Garbus told Salon. “My record label A&R person discovered me on MySpace.” She went on to explain that the internet provided the platform from which she launched her career.

“So I was able to give my first album away, and make way more money than I thought I could ever make because people were discovering the music and downloading the album,” she said. “If the Internet were not accessible to me in that way, as someone who was dumpster diving in Montreal and technically not allowed to make money in Canada, everything that started up there was all free.”

Garbus said it’s her “job” as a musician “who now has a little bit of platform” to defend an open internet and say, “‘I remember when this totally affected my way to get the music out to the world.’ People need to hear that perspective when we talk about what’s going to happen with the Internet.”

Garbus will soon be touching down in Australia to play as part of the mega lineup slated for Splenour In The Grass 2014, as well as a series of sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney. We’re so excited, we even listed her as one of the 20 Bands We’re Looking Forward To Seeing At SITG.

Watch: Tune-Yards – Water Fountain

Gallery: 20 Bands We’re Looking Forward To Seeing At Splendour In The Grass

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