Ian MacKaye: “You can’t stop music”
I just came upon a feature I wrote for Punk Planet in 2004. I was surveying independent labels as Apple was courting them for the iTunes catalog and the RIAA was just starting to sue people for downloading music they didn’t pay for.
Not surprisingly, my conversation with Dischord’s Ian MacKaye was a highlight. There are two stand out quotes. Here’s one:
“Everyone told me if I don’t go to the meeting with Apple I’m never going to get in there. You’ve got to understand something about me, I don’t think about the future and I don’t worry about it. All I think about is what will work today. That’s the way I’ve always been. So if in a year from now you call me and there is no Dischord because we didn’t get on board, that’s the way it goes. If you’re out because you didn’t get on board, then I don’t think I want to join all of those people who got on board. Why would anything be so black and white? What kind of craft is it that they’re on?”
And then, this true gem:
“You can’t stop music. Music is water. It’s in a river and it’s free. Anybody can go to that river and drink. And at some point, somebody came up with the idea of bottling the water. I don’t think it is an evil idea. It makes sense. There are times when I’m driving in my car and I’m thirsty and I want a sip of water. I’m not near the river so I have this bottled water. I appreciate the fact that water and music have been put in a conveyable format. Now the people who are bottling the water are trying to block access to the river. If they go down for it, good riddance — the river is open again and everyone can go!”
