(HER) Portugal. The Man's upcoming album, The Satanic Satanist, which is due out July 21, leaked on the Internet Wednesday morning. While albums leak all the time, this was a true sucker-punch for the entire P.TM team as the person responsible for the leak was a national journalist. The leak prompted P.TM's front man, John Baldwin Gourley, to post a very passionate, straight-from-the-heart blog on the band's site. The members of Portugal. The Man fully support downloading and have always been very vocal about it. But, according to Gourley, the support of downloading is just one-half of the equation: download all you want, but still, for the music, for the art, and for the sense of community, it's important to support your favorite artists.
You can read Gourley's "The Leak" blog, but here are some highlights from it: "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."
"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-girlfriend's and her new boyfriend's place for 75 dollars a month."
"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."
"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. Let's be a part of something again."
