Dear Beck,

Morning Phase is terrific. Thanks for making it! I enjoyed pirating it.

I debated doing this. I had heard the same, stern lecture from labels, the law and lack-wit fans who told of taking food off the table of artists who live off shekels they make playing notes for a living.

Then I saw This Is War, a documentary that’s supposed to be about the contract dispute between the Jared Ledo-led Thirty Seconds to Mars and EMI. But it really is a stunning examination of the record industry, which routinely signs artists who sell, literally, million of records and relinquishes, literally, not a cent to its artists.

More important than the latent corruption, however, were the larger x-ray results of a cell structure that’s become the music industry. They show an organism that has apparently grown an ass where its head should be. And vice versa.

Please find the enclosed check for $8. ITunes is charging $7.99, which seems awfully cheap. But if the largest company and the third-largest record label in America says that’s what it takes to turn a profit, who am I to question?

But I’ll send it to you, since you actually created the work. Feel free to divvy as you see fit between fellow musicians, back up singers, recording techs, crew — and of course, producers and labels. You may enjoy doing their math.

And keep the penny.

Sincerely,

Scott Bowles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TepvZCzakkg