news-record.com

BLOGS

Culture Shock

Morrissey to fans: Don't buy my (reissued) albums

"Best of ! Most of !
Satiate the need
Slip them into different sleeves !
Buy both, and feel deceived"

- The Smiths, "Paint a Vulgar Picture"

It seems Morrissey is asking fans not to buy the box set reissues of his back catalogue being produced by EMI/HMV/Parlophone. Not because he thinks they'll be bad, necessarily, but because he hasn't gotten royalties from the company in over a decade.

It looks like some of the reissues might actually be pretty nice - they include singles and B-sides repackaged on 7'' vinyl.

Moz has previously balked at similar re-issues of his old Warners records on 180 gram vinyl for the same reasons and you may recall his telling fans not to buy the DVD of his live shows at the Hollywood Bowl last year because he didn't like the sleeve art (no, really).

I'm a little torn on this.

Obviously, using the man's music and art to create cool new repackaged fetish items for people who probably already own the music without paying him is, as they say, crap. The same record industry that is trying to use the exploitation of artists as a justification to sue and prosecute music downloaders and remix artists is doing the same thing on a much larger scale here.

But at the same time it's sort of a genius stroke by the companies that you almost have to appreciate. Smiths/Morrissey fans can and will simply download for free any new material they may make available - so they have to give them something new, something not downloadable, like a vinyl record, which they'd have to obtain in the physical world. And even I have a couple of Smiths/Morrissey albums I'd love to have on good quality vinyl. I can't imagine how much real hardcore fans/audiophiles must be drooling over some of this stuff.

Still, I probably won't buy any of it. And not because I want my purchase to benefit the artist (is that the driving force behind your buying any of the music you love? If so, you're probably being duped). Simply because I already own most of this music, I see no reason to buy it again and I think I'll save my money for buying new Morrissey records which do happen to benefit him.

Where are you guys on this?

Permalink

Posted by Joe Killian on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 9:32 am

What do you think?

3 comment(s)

Read other visitors' comments.

RSS: Subscribe to this blog

Comments

View Comments

This article has been closed to new comments. Comments are generally closed after 14 days. However, comments may be closed earlier at the discretion of the News & Record.

Inappropriate content? Please report abuse.

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

InterestingName

August 11, 2009 - 10:23 am EDT

A friend of mine tried to get Morrissey to autograph a Smiths album years ago and he refused. Morrissey is a brat in my opinion. But I did just buy an mp3 of his cause, brat or not, he makes good music..

Kitty

August 11, 2009 - 10:40 am EDT

I hear a lot about Morrissey doing bratty things like that, and I can't listen to his music without vaguely remembering that he thinks I'm a murderer because I eat meat. But when we went to see him in Durham, he was so open and friendly with the fans, up until the point when dudes were climbing on stage and tackling him and he started to get annoyed. Maybe he's just like most of us and has his good moments and bad moments. I can't say I blame him for being pissed that an already-filthy-rich company is going to make money off of him without paying him a cent, though.

Joe Killian

August 11, 2009 - 12:47 pm EDT

I do try (though I don't always succeed) to separate the art from the person if I can -- because the quickest way to ruin a lot of great art, music and literature you once loved is to find out the person producing it is a real prick.

Especially in pop music, it would be really hard for me to enjoy some of my favorite artists - David Bowie is by the accounts of many who have worked with him a real diva who makes people feel like garbage - if I had to think about what sort of person they are/their political beliefs, etc. When I listen to Beck, for instance, I just pretend I never learned that he's a Scientologist, or when I listen to Dylan or Lou Reed I try to forget interviews I've read or seen with them where they're extremely rude to the journalist AFTER AGREEING TO AN INTERVIEW TO PROMOTE THEIR WORK.