Mumford & Sons may have a new sound, but their fans won’t be hearing it on Tidal. The group does not support the new streaming service, owned by rapper Jay Z, but they also aren’t supporting Taylor Swift’s anti-Spotify stance.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, the group revealed that they were not asked to join the row of super rich artists that support Jay Z’s artist-owned venture. Even if they were, they wouldn’t join because, “We don’t want to be tribal,” as Marcus Mumford said.
“I think smaller bands should get paid more for it, too. Bigger bands have other ways of making money, so I don’t think you can complain,” Mumford continued. “A band of our size shouldn’t be complaining. And when they say it’s artist-owned, it’s owned by those rich, wealthy artists.”
Guitarist Winston Marshall called the artists who joined Jay Z - which included Madonna, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Daft Punk - “new school f**king plutocrats.”
Marshall explained that the group doesn’t want to join the Tidal “streaming revolution,” but they can’t be completely against streaming services, like Swift. He doesn’t even understand Swift’s argument that music needs to be paid for and that streaming devalues music.
“This is how people are going to listen to music now—streaming. So diversify as a band. It doesn’t mean selling your songs to adverts,” Marshall explained to the Daily Beast. “We look at our albums as stand-alone pieces of art, and also as adverts for our live shows.”
Mumford said that he really doesn’t like the “tribalistic aspect” of artists taking sides and supporting specific streaming services. They just want to focus on their music. “We want people to listen to our music in their most comfortable way, and if they’re not up for paying for it, I don’t really care,” he said.
The group has gone with an electronic sound for their third album, Wilder Mind. They just released the album’s second single, “The Wolf.”
image courtesy of INFphoto.com