The Black Keys are the Sad Keys

I have no idea what it is like to write, record, and release a piece of music, so I'm starting from a position of ignorance here. That said, if I was to do so, my first objective would be to have as many people hear that music as possible. So I was disappointed to learn last week that the Black Keys would not be allowing their new record, El Camino, to be streamed on music services such as MOG and Spotify.

I'm an unabashed fan of the Black Keys, El Camino included, but it's hard to understand this decision. About a year ago, I heard the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney on NPR's Fresh Air, justifying the licensing of their music to various commercial interests. For me, it needed no justification. Of course the Black Keys should license their music. All of the results were beneficial--the profits made would help subsidize further albums, and more people would be able to hear their music. That's awesome. I want the Black Keys to make more records, I want Auerbach and Carney to live comfortably, and I want more people to hear their music.

Well, that happened. Brothers was a popular and critical sucess, reaching #3 on the Billboard Chart and being named the second best album of the year by Rolling Stone.[1. All of this from the Wikipedia page.]



So hearing that the Black Keys would not allow El Camino to be streamed was a bit of a shock. The first question of any fan, myself included, was likely "is this about money?'[1. Some artists, including Coldplay, have refused to stream their music, claiming that a listener must play a song between 100 and 150 songs to reach the equivalent of one purchase on iTunes.] Do the Black Keys, who will sell hundreds of thousands of copies of El Camino, embark on a nationwide arena tour, and who sold out Madison Square Garden in 15 minutes, really need more money? So much that they cannot let anyone stream their record? We can never answer that question, and I'm not even sure it's the right one. Maybe we should be asking about the logic behind the decision itself.



The discussion on the issue so far assumes that it is a smart financial decision to refuse to allow your record to be streamed. That may, however, not be the case. Most of my friends who listen to music do it almost exclusively through (legal) streaming services. Some of them buy records that they hear in that service if they really like them. I'm guessing that many of them never hear records that aren't available to stream, such as El Camino. These people will not be buying El Camino, much less hearing it. Further, is the next guy or gal in charge of finding music for their company's Kia Sorrento commercial or Justified preview doing the same thing?[1. Justified and the Black Keys are a great match. This needs to happen.] What if he or she misses a fantastic song like "Run Right Back" because they only buys music that they can stream first, and "Run Right Back" isn't available?

In the end, the real tragedy here is that fewer people will hear El Camino, which, rest assured, is a truly fantastic record. It's worth buying at your local record store or on iTunes, I just wish you could stream it (legally) first.

Dan Auerbach by CC Chapman
Patrick Carney by Kate.Gardiner
Black Keys by Stepan Mazurov