The Hopp Stop

Wilco philosophy discussion

A friend and loyal reader of the Hopp Stop e-mailed several of us with an interesting e-mail from Wilco, as well as Guest X's thoughts. I'm calling this person Guest X, since I've appropriated the e-mail chain, in case Guest X didn't want to share its thoughts. See below for my thoughts, then Guest X's, then the original e-mail. Discussion in the comments?

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Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to make this plea. As you say, it's not consistent with what they've said before. Second, does it really influence anyone who is on the fence to get out there and buy the CD? Seems like there are those who are going to buy it and those who aren't, and the most likely outcome would be to piss off a few in the former camp and move them into the latter.

A retort would be that the e-mail is addressing the free rider problem. A few economists, including the Freakomics guys, have considered free riders and social/community pressure. As found in the bagel man discussion in Freakonomics, smaller social settings cause people to act more ethically and cheat less, so perhaps Wilco is hoping that a non-buyer will say, "Hey, I'm cheating the band! I kinda feel like I've been called out in front of my brethren! Time to buy!" Two flaws with that are (1) how effective is this e-mail and the Wilco e-mail list at simulating a small office setting or other situation where moral suasion is more effective and (2) seems like the moral suasion is undermined by their former views (Lessig, etc. per Borders).

Thoughts?

-Hopp

Guest X wrote:

Wilco is streaming their new ablum, which comes out Tuesday, at http://wilcoworld.net/sbs/.

I found this out from the message below which I see as shameless and a little sad. Notice they borrowed the subject line from the satirical essay on the indifference to the suffering of the poor in an effort to encourage people to buy the album, which seems pretty preverse. The Wilco approach of the last few years has always been used (by Lessig et al) to support the notion that giving away music, creates friction to allow people to form an opinion, which led to record sales, and they seem to be abandoning that notion, at least philosophically.

------ Forwarded Message
From: Wilco HQ <hq@wilcoworld.net>
Reply-To: <hq@wilcoworld.net>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 21:13:32 +0000
To: <>
Subject: A Modest Proposal (from Wilco HQ)

W I L C O

Greetings to you all from the east coast branch -- where we've been burning the midnight oil for months getting ready for May 15. And it is finally upon us.

By now, you know that next week is the official release date of Wilco's 7th album (or 9th depending on how you count). Hence the slightly serious tone of this note. Tuesday, to be precise, marks the US release of Sky Blue Sky on Nonesuch Records. If you haven't had a chance to listen to the on-demand stream, by all means click here and take it for a spin. We're pretty sure you'll enjoy the ride.

But once you've done that we hope you'll take a moment to reflect (see, I told you this was serious) on how this dynamic has worked over the years -- the dynamic between us and you. We (and this "we" means the band, first and foremost) expend a lot of time, energy and other resources trying to make this something you are not just a witness to, but a participant in and we genuinely hope you can feel that.

We've been asked many times if we'd consider changing the way we do things, usually by people who are convinced we'd be more successful if we did. And either out of stubbornness or something else, we keep refusing. Instead, we just do what we do and somehow it all works. We continue to make lots of music available free to all in the road case, continue to allow taping/photos at shows, and basically just try to keep the things we do charge for of a quality that make you feel like you got a bargain. You know, mutual respect and all that. We like the way it works... a lot. We really do believe in trying to keep as much of it as free and open as is humanly possible. That seems pretty obvious... but somehow it remains a slight novelty in the modern day music business. So much so that people continually mention it in their stories when they write or speak about the band or the somewhat sad state of the music business.

Anyway, what we're getting at here is that right now we need you to participate in a way that is part of what has made this nice little story work. We're actually asking you to please go out next week and do the right thing for Wilco. That is, vote with your feet and prove the band's faith well-placed and buy the record. It's available from Tuesday at all kinds of retailers everywhere. Ask for it by name. It's also available here, and for those of you who are more digitally inclined, here.

Okay, enough campaign speeches. You get the message. And we trust that you'll act on it as you always have. Other things on this week's extremely busy agenda...

This Saturday (May 12) Wilco are in Minneapolis performing on A Prairie Home Companion. It's on too many stations to list... many NPR affiliates as well as XM, Sirius and online here. Note that there are also some tickets left for the show so if you're in the North Country and wanna check it out click here. It's gonna be fun. On Tuesday (May 15, release day) it's New York City where they'll be musical guests of David Letterman. Check your local listings. After that it's on to the UK, then the continent, and finally back to the States in early June with a US tour to start soon thereafter. Dates and ticket info here. If you live west of the MIssissippi, fear not... the band head that way later in the summer. So be patient, okay? Oh and one last thing, both London Shepherds Bush Empire shows will be streamed live on 20/21 May via Wilcoworld. Info in the Roadcase.

That's all folks. Tune in, turn on, and um, buy stuff.

yours with the usual loving embrace, the Wilco HQ staff.