Frontman of 2011 Big Day Out headliners, Tool, has spoken out about his stance towards online piracy. In a recent interview with Carl Sundberg on his Standard Ass Rock Show on 101.5 KFLY, Maynard James Keenan was asked the big questions and gave a longer than expected response, which has sparked more discussion about the topic. When Sundberg was questioned about his opinion on the music industry, and the effect that online piracy sites such as Pirate Bay and Limewire have had on the industry, Maynard responded;
“I think it’s a much bigger conversation. I think part of the problem with most of that is just the foundation of respect or entitlement. I think ‘entitlement’ is probably the better word. I think, just in general, our society has gotten to the point where just you click a button, you get what you want when you want it. So until we get to a point where we realize you don’t necessarily always get what you want when you want it, we’re gonna have a problem. So it stems from there. And then things like file-sharing and the Internet kind of lend themselves to that mindset. So, some day, hopefully, we’ll adjust that perspective . . . And until somebody has actually written a check to record their own record and see everything that goes into it, they don’t really understand that if you just take it… The current state of music, I’m sure there’s a lot of creative stuff going on out there, but there certainly isn’t — of course, I’m being nostalgic — but it doesn’t seem like there’s as much, creatively, going on, ’cause most people can’t afford to do it.”
The full interview is available below, showing that he is not just a rock legend, but also an intellectual.
