D.I.Y.

Portishead Against The Machine: “There Will Be NO Bonus Tracks, NO Remixes [On Our New Album].”

image from www.clashmusic.com Every once and awhile, an artist gets fed up with the music industry BS and throws up their hands.

Portishead's Geoff Barrow is one of those people.

On his Twitter, Barrow set the expectations that fans should have of their follow-up to 2008's 'Third'.

Clearly, someone in the social media department pissed Barrow off something good, because every point he nails is all-the-good-advice they've been dishing out to artists. Let musicians rejoice at Barrow's objections to the changing times:

  • There will be NO free downloads. There will be NO bonus tracks. There will be NO remixes. There will be NO hidden footage.
     
  • There will be NO additional content. There will be NO corporate partners. There will be NO fashion lines. There will be NO tabloid pictures.

  • There will be NO £25 unit cost. There will be NO street team. There will be NO MySpace. There will be NO celeb producer. There will be NO twitter.

  • There will be NO press/blogger gig. There will be NO acoustic session. There will be NO meet and greet. There will be NO edited version.

  • There will be NO iTunes only. There will be NO press launch. There will be NO Asian version. There will be NO radio friendly.

So what the hell should fans expect from the new album? Barrow boldly states, "Just music and us." It's a big thing to promise. In the world where fans expect increasingly more from artists, Barrow says that great music is all they're getting.

How many times have you wanted to say this – scream this out loud?

Share on:

16 Comments

  1. Geoff Barrow, and any other artist, should do what he feels is right for himself and his art. He doesn’t have to take into account what Portishead fans might want or prefer any more than he has to cater to the vagaries of the market. There are consequences to that, of course, but let’s assume Geoff makes informed decisions. It’s a brilliant method of advance hype, being or acting contrary…

  2. This takes some serious cajones in this day and age. I applaud them for doing what they think is right. I love these guys, and will buy this record. I wonder, though, how I will know when it has dropped? 😉

  3. I gave up trying to appeal to anyone other than myself almost a year ago and i make a bit more money and am ALOT more happy. I have a facebook profile, no website and a bandcamp page. i blog more about the techy shit than about the songs. the music is more of a result of the method.
    I am so much happier as an artist now because I do what i do for me now and my “appreciators” like it that way.

  4. I like remixes, acoustic sessions & meet and greets.
    I might prove him wrong with his first point: “There will be NO free downloads.”

  5. Funny thing is, this is news. It will be circulating across media publications like these across the world. Of course, he doesn’t need to do it, because he’s already got a PR machine in place. It’s kind of silly to take this news serious, really. That is not to say he is not serious. Obviously, some sort of news story in the form of a press release has delivered delivered, so is that not a “press gig?”
    Kudos to Mr. Barrow for putting his foot down, but there’s still a system that he must work within if he plans to make any money for his time and effort.

  6. Actually if you track reaction on Twitter, Portishead fans are feeling just fine– the vast majority are psyched that Barrow said everything he said. I’m guessing that they do in fact feel special– they feel special to be fans of a band that isn’t mesmerized by Music 2.0 zealotry.

  7. What a complete idiot. Portishead are an established band with a fanbase so it’s easy for them to do this He can go do one – i for one am deleting Portishead from my brain. What an arrogant tool

  8. mmmmmm
    i think your right snowboarderf17
    im going to rethink what ive said just because it upset you
    and your right , what was i thinking about!!
    i should do everything that everyone else does in the industry because ive been told too.
    ive been such a arrogant tool
    once again
    sorry

  9. It’s true. It always bothers me when bands don’t act as if having already been signed to a major label who invested tons and tons of money into marketing them in various ways. Of COURSE they can act like they don’t need to do things other artists have to, THEY already have the fans and recognition they need to keep going.
    Download free album at http://www.facebook.com/chancius

Comments are closed.