Portugal the Man Leaked 2009-06-25 by Teddy Picker | 40 Comments | The new album from Alaskan indie band Portugal. The Man has been leaked online. While leaking of albums is almost expected these days, John Gourley has written a blog entry explaining the leak and what this means for the band.
From Portugaltheman.net:
I am not going to start into this with my (now yearly) standard of proclaiming my support for downloading. I have done it too many times and it has typically become simply the preface to the message. The message that seems to get lost by the point the reader reaches the end of the sentence “We fully support downloading…”. There is more. If you are interested in the point of this piece then please read on. I know it is scary to read through something that will begin with “This is in no way an attack on you, the downloader” but, that is just how it starts…
This is in no way an attack on you, the downloader, but it is a note that I have taken and I wish to share. I realized something in the past few weeks. It took the festivals Bonnaroo and Hurricane and Southside to come to the point of this writing that begins at the point. I realized something about myself and my friends in this band as we looked through the lists of bands playing these festivals. I know relatively all the names of all the artists on the bill. I literally have or have had ALL of them on my ipod. Every “buzz” or “hype” band and most of them I don’t even remember how I got them but, somehow, I have them. One thing I can’t tell you about them is what album “that one song is on” or even for that matter the title of “that one song”. Honestly I can’t tell you if they even play “that one song”. Well, there were a handful of these artists that I do know, which I will list here: The Beastie Boys, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, The Pixies, and Faith No More… I will also include in here Moby for simple fact that I walked past his stage multiple times and each time I thought to myself “Oh hey, I know this!” I mention these bands (and will mention a few more current) because they are bands whose albums I owned, albums I waited for and albums I WORE OUT. Really, played them to extinction. They are groups that I was a part of. Do you remember the anticipation building as release date neared? Do you remember tearing open the package and putting that album on? Do you remember the fact that that album did not leave the stereo, the car, the walkman, the discman etc… until you had listened through from start to finish (often multiple times). Do you remember showing up at your record store late for the initial rush and finding that your album was sold out!? (maybe only in Alaska) Do you also remember checking in daily on the hope that a truck had been delayed in the days before and somehow your record would arrive randomly throughout the following days, completely bypassing the system of release and shipments? I do. I remember these bands. I remember being a part of something bigger. I remember how these things felt. I did it for bands I didn’t know, bands who I had not heard before but only read an advance review of. And sometimes, sometimes it was completely random, just for the sake of getting new music. As I watched Jason run out into the dark, the cold and the pouring rain towards the Faith No More set happening two stages away I thought about this. What is drawing him out into this mess? The only answer I could find was “The Album”. It was the memories that came along with the album. It was the endless plays it got throughout his high school years. It was the work that went into the purchase of this album. He was a part of this and despite all of us wanting to get out of the rain and start our 4 hour drive we could not deny him this. We all knew how he felt and we all knew that there was no stopping it. Where else would he get a chance to see this with our tour schedule and lack of stability that a home and a job holds. We would not stop him and we would deal with the end of festival traffic and the cold and wet would eventually dry away. There is a reason bands like Blur and Faith No More and Moby are playing to the massive audiences they are and the bands of now are playing to half interested crowds of people who know they are supposed to be here but aren’t quite sure why they are here and they kinda know some of the words to some of the songs and who shortly need to move on to the next show that they hear they are supposed to be into. I watched this and felt a teensy bit sad inside.
I hope this is not a tough read and I apologize if it is but there is a message to all of it… My favorite bands today are album bands. Bands whose records, had I downloaded prior or not, I purchased. The albums that became a part of me through my becoming a part of the album. Bands like Grizzly Bear, Santi(o)gold, Lykke Li, The Knife, Fever Ray, Menomena, The Builders and the Butchers and so on and so on (sorry if I forgot some good ones but I am in the middle of finishing a thought that even this little side note is interrupting these are great bands though. Please buy these albums!)… Here is something to think about. Grizzly Bear just put out a new record with the backing of A Radiohead tour a Feist Tour, a TV On The Radio tour, all the buzz and hype you could throw at one group without it’s implosion resulting, and more TV performances than I have ever seen one band take on (and own! Good work guys!). Number 8 on the charts and 33k sold. Imagine what that could have been had we all lived up to the release date and the saving? If we had all been a part of it. It should have been number 1, or at least top 5. You would have Grizzly Bear, a band who we played with at the birth of our band, a band that has been working towards this goal and taking all the right steps, at the top of every radio playlist. You would be opening up the door to relevant new music. You would be pumping new life into something you believe in. Music. In doing this we would all be a part of it. We would be a part of a movement. The times of the “evil” music Industry are over and the people behind it are all hiding out, losing their hold. You are no longer keeping money from their hands but of the artists behind your favorite songs and albums. The Labels no longer have the power of weighted deals, they bend in our favor now, or better yet (in our place) completely fair. Less people buying records equals less money behind promotion, equals less money behind its release, equals less money behind the tour, equals less opportunities to see your favorite bands. This is coming as a music fan mind you. I am not begging not pleading, simply stating the facts. It is hard for bands like us to do this without help. That is why it is so important to buy music. It doesn’t matter how you get it, from the label, from us on tour, from Amazon, or Itunes. We have put a lot of work into this and want to share it with you. Lets be a part of something again. Example: Our manager just went to the Wilco show last night on a free ticket handed to him by a friend. He and his wife bought seventy dollars in merchandise from their favorite… favorite? God I am so jealous right now…. band. It all comes around. I always need to be fair as I find the end of these points and state this: I download music early. It is a great advance to the purchase. It is an early taste. It is an amazing treat for the fan. BUT. If you like these albums and these bands please buy the record. It means so much more…. AND if we or any other band makes the mistake of making a record that you absolutely hate. Well, don’t buy it. Don’t waste your money…. ANNNNNNNNNND that being said. My favorite albums have been growers. Just have a bit of patience with all of us artists. Its not always the easy listen right away.
This is not meant to be depressing (wow, another killer way to start a paragraph) but there are some things you need to know about this band. This I am sure is not only relatable to ours but to other over your favorite bands as well. This is relevant to anyone who does what they love. This is for your understanding in what that local corner store, local shops, local construction builders… Here is a quick nod from my childhood. We built hotels throughout Alaska for a major tourism company. When we would go into small towns they would try to push young foreign and out of state labor into the building to save money and my dad fought every bit of it to spend local and hire local while he was working. He understood what he went through in starting his business and he understood what community is about. This is a community as is the tupperware group your mom goes to. As is the sandwich shop that we eat at between work. I am only writing this so you can understand the amount of work that goes into living for your love. Those of you with parents who run their own business and those of you who have their own will understand that I speak for you as well. It is something that gets lost and I feel it is time that you know these things. It is not about money but about what we do for what we love. If we all just worked together and pitched in a little bit then we could do something bigger than all this.
I sleep on a hard wood floor in the house of people I did not know before Ryan’s joining of this band. I sleep on this floor with Ryan and Ian, our tour manager. Our tour manager sleeps on this floor with us because he will not let us pay him when we cannot pay ourselves. Jason sleeps in the basement of The Builders and The Butchers for random rent payments while he is home and Zach stays in the guest room at his ex-girlfriends and her new boyfriends place for 75 dollars a month. Our manager has worked endless hours for the past four years with little to no payment. Really, we call him on weekends. He is working right now and was working until late last night, I know… I talked to him. Austin Sellers www.austinmadethis.com is in my opinion one of the best artists in Portland and has done posters from Berbatis to The Doug Fir to Holocene and AMAZING ones at that. He and I have spent countless hours together and apart on this album artwork present and past for little to no pay. Ryan Rothermal www.decoy.tv and Mike Ragen www.mikeragen.com and Robbie Johnston www.robbiejohnston.com worked for two days straight on our music video not to mention days of post work and editing and went out of their own pocket to make a music video that we could all be happy with as artists… OK, this is getting overly “artsy” but it is the only word I gots without sounding like a douche. Nothing worse than a douchey artist.. We play music because we love it and nothing will change that ever. We tour because we love it and not because of money. If I wanted money I would have stayed in Alaska and worked construction rather than starve for this. Rather than fight through three dollar meals and countless nights sleeping in the van. The point we are at now is so far from where we have come and yet still so far from a standard of living. Remember that “homeless” story from “Waiter: You Vultures”. An odd choice of talking points. All of us do it. All of us who believe in it. All of us are still living it.
I had mixed feelings when I hear the album had leaked. On one hand it was exciting to think that people were actually searching so hard in advance (We have never had an album leak more than two weeks in advance of release date). On the other hand I was somewhat frustrated, not in an angry way. Just looking back at our history of touring and shows gradually getting bigger and bigger but still watching sales drop from our low thousands to the lower thousands. It was more frustrating to hear how it leaked seeing as how all the links we had sent out were private and coded. There is a certain level of professionalism that has been lost along with the idea that is the album. To hear about these things happening from the people that should understand music as much as any musician is just heartbreaking. I am happy vinyl is coming back, it needs to. We need to have albums and music. I need to.We love being a part of this. We need to believe in something again. Thank you for everything
Love
John
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Tagged: Portugal. The Man
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hrmm well tl;dr
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Pretty rant-y but, he makes a good point. I don't download anyway so I'm not too concerned.
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tfl;dfr
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A lot of that didn't make sense, but I got the overall point. When the last album leaked he had a much more elegant posting. Still, love these guys and I've purchased every album. It's a shame they have to live so poorly.
And grizzly bear sucks.
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block of text
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For some strange reason, I just reconsidered buying albums. Too bad I dont have any money.
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I both buy, and download. I more frequently buy vinyl because I like the kind of "authenticity" that comes with it. I download like a mothafucka, but pretty much any band I enjoy listening to I'll buy their record/CD.
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I actually read it all lol
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i got about 4 chunks in then gave up. i almost cried guys
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Vinyl is so expensive fuck
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I love vinyl as well. and it's not always tooooo expensive. The most expensive I've bought was Radiohead Ok Computer and Fear Before the Always open Mouth for 25 bucks apiece.
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Most expensive record I bought was an original pressing of Damaged by Black Flag for 50 bucks. Well worth it.
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I bought HORSE The Bands "Pizza" the other day, once in a while its nice to take a trip to the local record store and buy something, whether it be cd or vinyl.
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I get from the writing that he's still cool with dlling, but he's stressing how poor they are and that people ultimately need to buy these albums.
He kinda said the same thing last time.
He did say at one point that if you download it and think it's trash don't buy it.
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I didn't think Censored Colors was too bad, so I'll check this out
The only thing I can't really get into is It's Complicated Being A Wizard
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some good points but it's really long
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Won't buy it because I didn't really like it.
Sorry bro.
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"I bought HORSE The Bands "Pizza" the other day"- If it was vinyl in the pizza box i will hunt you down and steal it.
He made me wish I had more money so i could stop downloading CDs i already know i'll like.
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I both buy, and download. I more frequently buy vinyl because I like the kind of "authenticity" that comes with it. I download like a mothafucka, but pretty much any band I enjoy listening to I'll buy their record/CD.
same here dude. Yeah i got on to diditleak yesterday just a half hour after it leaked. Such a good album. I'm enjoying it just as much as the others.
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the way to support bands is to go to their shows
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^^^ That's the kind of bullshit mentallity that is creating this problem in the first place. There's more to it than that.
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yes, very stupid mentality there. even small indie labels aren't going to keep on putting out records for a band that isn't selling them, even if they bring a lot of people to their shows. And there are so many hands in the pot for live shows, it's not like they can make a living off of that, when you factor in how much it costs for 1) transportation 2) food and 3) lodgings, if they're not sleeping in a van.
these last years are the first time we're approaching where bands are finally able to start taking a decent cut of album sales, as opposed to years ago where they got shit. buying a band's album is the best way you can support them, more than going to a live show ever will do.
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this is a ridiculously fabulous album, btw (and i preordered this shit a few days ago).
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What site did you download from ? I got mine from Vuze but it wont go onto my itunes so ..... ya. Im definitely going to buy it regardless but I would love it early.
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Only been to two of their shows. The first was last year when they toured with RXB and the second was their headline a few
months after that. That first show, they were playing mostly Church Mouth stuff and were pretty aggressive compared to their live
videos and the second time I saw them. But I would say Censored Colors is a more laid back album. This one however, is more
cheery and laid back then any of the previous. They've come a long way since Anatomy of a Ghost.
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Kfilly20, what kind of computer do you use? If you have a PC just use http://mp3val.sourceforge.net/ and it will repair the tags. I
waited all day for one of the torrents to finish, which never did and the other one was the one you're talking about and of course
it worked but wouldn't add to itunes. I use a Mac, so I just used this http://triq.net/mac and it worked perfectly.
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I use a mac, everything usually works fine, I got the new mars volta and it worked fine, so i think it might just be the torrent or something
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I do like what he's saying, but it's rather unrealistic. He's right though, the underground is so thriving right now because of downloading, but it would even bigger if we actually bought 1/2 of the albums we downloaded. It's something to consider, but I'm too content with my musical intake. I do try and buy t-shirts and vinyls from the bands or the labels themselves when I can. Plus, The Flashbulb convinced me not to buy from big stores like Best Buy.
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Well Best Buy doesn't even have a decent selection really lol I always get disappointed
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good album but lacking some energy and "awesome moments". same as censored colors really but a bit better.
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Ah, you couldn't get into "It's Complicated Being A Wizard"?
I love that album.
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No doubt they have a right to disappointment, I pre-ordered the Album on CD, a shirt, and the Majestic Majesty (acoustic Version). I had to download, it has been the most anticipated album of the year for me, and I've been waiting so long! Still, I know where money should go, and this one deserves it.
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Going to shows is a hell of a lot better of a way to put money directly in the hands of bands. I personally never by CD's from the store. They are overpriced. However when i go to shows, i always go with a pocket full of money and buy not only my ticket, but the CD's of all the bands playing whom i enjoy, and merch, and more often than not, i buy a hoodie, directly putting 30-40$ in the pockets of bands. Just recently i went to a show with Protest the Hero, Misery Signals, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, and Fall from Grace. I bought 3 CDs, and 2 hoodies. How is that not supporting them?
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these guys are so boring, tl;dr
the music too.
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better than censored colors? then i'm going for this
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I agree with you KingToTheRiver and I always try to do the same thing. I also try and get merch and stuff directly from their or their label's sites on the internet.
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never bought vinyl but i do buy cd's of bands i like
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if you take out the country's name from the title, it turns gross!
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the only thing downloading does is make me not waste money on shitty albums, if i liek a cd ill go buy it
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Thats why I buy my albums at the bands show, that way close to 100% of the profit goes directly to them. Last time I went and saw them play, I talked to John and he was telling me how he felt bad that I had to pay to get in, despite that they are living broke they would have no problem letting people into their shows without paying. and for that they are great people.
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