Musician and artist David Byrne, known most widely as co-founder of the Talking Heads, has just launched an internet radio station that streams the music he digs. I spoke with Mr. Byrne earlier today about the project for NPR's "Day to Day." Part of the interview will be included in a segment airing on the show tomorrow about filesharing and cultural change — but here's more.
XJ: How do you feel about the fact that some of your fans are downloading your music for free?
David Byrne: It's a mixed bag. Sure, I would love to have compensation for that. But the argument of record companies standing up for artists rights is such a load of hooey. Most artists see nothing from record sales — it's not an evil conspiracy, it's just the way the accounting works. That's the way major record labels are set up, from a purely pragmatic point of view. So as far as the artist goes — who cares? I don't see much money from record sales anway, so I don't really care how people are getting it.XJ: You've said that from an artist's perspective, one creative challenge of a cultural shift towards downloading individual songs is that when we're choosing what to download — whether for free, or from fee-based services — we tend to pick tunes we already know we like. Can you explain what you mean?
DB: I notice that the work of mine that tends to be downloaded most is the typical stuff, the hit singles, older Talking Heads material. From a creative point of view, the downside of that is that it becomes a kind of lowest common denominator — you might not have as much of an opportunity to hear the full range of an artist's work as when you're buying an album. There's value in being exposed to things you didn't know you want. When you walk down the street, you have experiences that are unplanned and accidental that may expose you to new ideas, new things… it isn't just a matter of running an errand, or achieving a specific goal. It's about the accidental things that happen to you along the way.XJ: So online radio is one way to invite that sort of pleasant accident?
DB: I think so.XJ: How tough was it to put the radio project together?
DB: I was surprised at how easy it was. There were legal issues to consider, licensing fees to be paid. But there are a couple of companies out there who will do licensing for you, and the fees weren't too prohibitive. Probably a larger fee than an individual would be happy paying. The fee range means it's not like everyone will be happy to put the contents of their ipods online any time soon — legally, anyway.
XJ: How do you find the music you like?
DB: Often, I buy CDs online. I like to listen to a sample, see if it lives up to what I've heard. Usually word of mouth or a review sends me looking. I've also downloaded — I guess you could say illegally downloaded — some songs. Not that I do this all the time. But sure, I'll do that to get an idea of how something sounds, particularly if it's hard to find a decent sample at an online store. I don't use really paid download services, because I figure — why pay for music that I know isn't going to be CD-quality. At some point, the quality on those services will become higher. But I want higher quality right now with whatever I have to pay for. So I tend to buy CDs most of the time.XJ: What will we hear on Radio David Byrne?
DB: Basically, whatever I'm listening to. I'll update it every couple of weeks. People sometimes ask me what I'm listening to, and I'll reel off a list of records. About halfway through the list, their eyes usually glaze over, and it's apparent they've never heard of the artists. So I thought — well, let's make this easy. If people have any curiosity, let's make that stuff available, let people see for themselves what they think.
Link to Radio David Byrne. It's also available via iTunes in the "Eclectic" category.
Link to Xeni's related NPR story for "Day to Day."
Previously: Turning Heads with PowerPoint, David Byrne hearts PowerPoint. (Photo: David Byrne in Los Angeles, shot by XJ in 2004)
