Jack White has made headlines this week defending Tidal, the streaming service created by Jay Z of which White is a partial owner. Now, White has shared a supposedly unrelated poem titled “Music Is Sacred.”
White posted an online Q&A regarding Tidal to Third Man Records’ website earlier this week, defending the streaming service and addressing critics’ most common complaints.
Throughout the interview, White reinforced Tidal’s goal to help small artists make a living from their music. But his most interesting points came when defending Tidal against the notion that the service is overpriced or only making rich artists richer.
“How much did you pay for that movie you saw at the theater? And how much did that movie cost to make? Don’t devalue musicians man, support them. Making records is expensive, believe us, I don’t see people saying we should go to movies for free, or Netflix should be free. That state of music is in flux, be on the side supporting creativity, not taking from it,” he said. “Do we tell Steven Spielberg we don’t need to pay him anymore to watch his movies? He’s made enough off of us right? He should show his new films for free right?”
“A streaming service owned by artists is the first step, it’s not about the rich getting richer. It takes artists that can get peoples attention to be able to make a scenario possible for those artists that don’t have a voice to get in a position where they aren’t struggling, and believe me Third Man Records is full of artists the mainstream’s never heard of and have no voice or power in the system. Have you heard of Rachelle Garnier? What about the Smoke Fairies? Drakar Sauna? Pujol? The Gories? Those are just some of the up and coming artists on Third Man that try to make a living in music. And if you stream their songs… they get paid for it. And they get to LIVE and not take second jobs…and make MORE music,” he said.
White also mentioned wanting to get Third Man Records’ entire catalogue on Tidal, along with more obscure releases.
In the Q&A, White stated that Tidal “could make a difference just like [Third Man Records] has made in the vinyl world in that last 6 years. It starts with people who think music is sacred and beautiful.”
Now, White has posted a poem to Third Man titled “Music Is Sacred," which you can read below.
music is sacred
those of you who stand for the sanctity of music
so that its soul can breathe
and be heard
so that it blooms in graveyards
echoes in hotel hallways
awakens neighbors in the night
and fills peoples minds with fire
shout it out loud with whatever microphone you have
or theses stones will shout for you.
jump in front of demons,
and stand over cowards and those who would intend
to rip out your lungs and dampen your desire
tell the living and the dead
what you know in your heart to be true
and what you know your ears
will forever hear
that the melody of the human race
is a song that never ends.
music is sacred.
