THE WALLACE BROS. DO NOT WANT YOUR FILTHY MONEY
For Immediate Release—In a move that has shaken the already faltering recording industry to its core, The Wallace Bros. announced today that they have posted their entire catalog online for free download at their website, www.wallacebros.org. Every song in their 80+ piece oeuvre is now available without cost to both their fans and enemies, from rare gems like their previously unreleased “Dark Carousel” to the fifty songs that comprise their epic five-CD unboxed box set, Popular Songs That Will Live Forever: Volume 1: Lullabies; Volume 2: Hip Hop; Volume 3: Gospel; Volume 4: Country and Western; and Volume 5: Rock and Roll. Their dizzy beat-driven summer 2007 smash hit album Turning Night Into Day is also featured among the now “priceless” offerings.
The surprise announcement followed months of seclusion for the band, while Carey, The Wallace Bros. lyricist and singer, reportedly completed a new novel about the 1808 invention of the typewriter, which she admitted in the publishing press is “largely autobiographical.”
“I mean, I was just hoping they might play again this fall,” one of their fans said, wiping away a single gleaming tear outside the Long Island City Mexican restaurant where he has waited patiently for the past eight months, ever since The Wallace Bros. last known appearance there in August 2007. “But this is just like some crazy dream. Like in Oklahoma! where Laurie sniffs the laudanum and all of a sudden Curly can dance and there’s no sky and hookers everywhere.”
According to the band, their decision, like many historic paradigm shifts, seemed at once totally original and perfectly obvious. Because of the small royalty rates bands receive with traditional record contracts, album sales haven’t provided a significant revenue stream for many bands for years. At the same time, the high cost of record production was a major barrier to young artists trying to get their work into the hands of fans. But with the advent of digital formats and internet piracy, production is within the reach of any kid with a laptop and distribution is near-instantaneous. As a result, recordings have begun to operate more like advertising for live shows and merchandise, and less like a truly controllable product. Carey’s take on the industry dilemma is purely practical: “It’s just a lot easier for a bouncer to stop a kid at the door to a bar than it is to keep electrons from moving over wires.”
Mark, the band’s multi-instrumentalist, is more philosophical. “Well, we never really wanted to be rich,” he says. “I mean, have you met any rich people? But we like it when people listen.”
The Stereogum Interview
Stereogum: So, all eighty of your songs, huh? Out there on the web for free?
CW: But there’s more than one kind of free, if you know what I mean.
Stereogum: I’m not sure I do.
MW: Well, there’s stuff you really like, and they’re giving it away, and that’s great! But then there’s stuff you can’t charge money for, because nobody would pay.
Steregum: I mean, if I were in a band that was about to give away all my music for free, I guess that’s the first thing I’d be worried about—the people who already paid for my music. Have you thought at all about backlash there?
CW: Honestly, I think there were only – (pauses to count) – three of them. None of them were what you’d call athletic. And we grew up in kind of a tough neighborhood.
MW: We can take you! Come and get us!
Stereogum: So, you see this from time to time, bands giving out promotional singles and whatnot, or a song or two you can download off their site. But rarely a band’s whole catalog available for free on a permanent basis. What inspired you? Any political motivation? I notice you’ve got a portrait of Castro there on your bookshelf.
CW: That’s not a political statement. More like a crush.
MW: She runs the band like he runs Cuba.
Stereogum: Yeah, but it does seem like kind of a political question. I mean, maybe a Tom Petty can get by on his tour sales and t-shirts, but in reality it’s the little guys who are dependent on their album sales. The ones who need to sell six records a night to make enough gas to get to the next town. This model you’re talking about with the free music—it could drive them completely out of the industry.
CW: Right, but if their songs are free on the internet, their music can go anywhere for no gas money. And when they do show up in a town, there’s a better chance somebody’s heard them, because they didn’t have to plunk down ten bucks buy a CD to find out what the guy sounds like. I actually think the death of the record industry may be the best thing that ever happened to artists.
Stereogum: How so?
CW: It cuts out the man who is only there for the money. That guy wants the biggest act he can get because that means the most money with the least work for him. I mean, you’d rather just count money with Elvis than hustle to get a hundred other small-time bands on their feet, right? But being Elvis is poisonous for Elvis. Being Britney is poisonous for Britney.
MW: But she’s so pretty.
Stereogum: I don’t think there’s any question that celebrity is toxic for artists. But you’re talking about an industry model that might make it impossible for artists to even make a living with their art.
CW: I’m not sure there’s anything wrong with that. Let’s be honest: it doesn’t take three years to write twelve songs, and it doesn’t take a million dollars to record them. I’d rather see an artist stuck working at the post office their whole life, where they still have to deal with real people and the real world, than being eaten alive by soap opera stars in swimming pools full of champagne.
MW: No way! Where?
CW: I think there’s a good chance we’ll hear better songs and more songs from more artists if less of them get Elvis-style famous, if more of them have to stay embedded in real life. I think it’s already happening.
Stereogum: You actually think the machinery of fame is so dangerous that you’d rather see artists struggle than achieve financial security through their work?
CW: I don’t think anyone ever picked up a guitar or sat down at a piano for financial security. They do it because they’ve got a song to play. All I’m saying is that Elvis never asked for the girls and the drugs and the Graceland. All he wanted was for someone to listen.
MW: Not me, man. I’m here for the girls.
The Wallace Bros.: