The Weekday Ramble is a daily dose of sports, music, culture, and more from Rambling On founder Erik Ritland. For more information check us out on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
Friday June 12, 2015
Garth Brooks’ opinion about selling his music online, a vintage ad from Hee Haw
Good old Garth
Garth Brooks is the biggest musical act that doesn’t allow his songs to be sold on iTunes or any other digital retailer. He claims it's because he doesn’t like the single song downloading format: ”Let’s take No Fences. For us, that has ‘Friends in Low Places and ‘(The) Thunder Rolls’ on it. But it also has a song called ‘Wolves’ on it that’s way too not commercial for radio but changes people’s lives when they hear it. Well, I think that’s important too. So the whole thing comes out as a piece, I want as a piece.”
While I agree that the single song format of internet downloading has devalued music, and especially the album format, I’m not sure Brooks is being sincere. It has to be at least in the back of his head that, given the choice, people will buy his hits and not his whole albums. It’ll be a blow to his ego. Plus as long as people have to buy his entire albums, well, they’ll have to buy his entire albums.
By all accounts Garth Brooks is a good guy. I used to dislike him because he brought a contemporary pop and rock sheen to traditional country music. Looking back on his catalog I realize that he was more country than I gave him credit for. Heck, he practically singlehandedly kept Hee Haw on the air through the ‘80s. Plus, as popular cuntry radio today shows, things can be a lot worse than a bit of pop/rock sensibility.
My main man Roy Clark
Speaking of Hee Haw, here’s an ad for the 25th season that mentions ol’ Garth. Those were the days. Roy Clark is one of my heroes.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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