If you can't lick 'em, join 'em
By Jason Gross
(from yahoo internet life)
Born of humble white-dopes-on-punk beginnings, the Beastie Boys have spent the past 17 years evolving into one of the pop world's strongest forces. The group's debut LP, 1986's Licensed to Ill, sold more than 5 million copies and helped erase the color line in rap. Subsequent albums, including the classic Paul's Boutique, found the trio stretching lyrically and musically. After becoming entrepreneurs -- the Beasties' label, Grand Royal Records, inked a deal with Capitol in 1993 -- the group developed a more mature attitude, not just in its music but in its sense of social responsibility. Since 1996, the Beastie Boys have organized the yearly Tibetan Freedom Concerts to raise awareness of the Chinese-occupied nation's plight. The Beasties' latest release, the multiplatinum Hello Nasty, debuted at No. 1, setting a 1998 record for first-week sales.
The Internet has proved to be both an ideal and a tricky place for the band. Last summer, the Beasties started posting MP3 tracks on their site along with their new single. At the end of the year, Capitol persuaded them to remove the tracks, only to relent when the Beasties' online fans revolted. In March, the group launched an online radio station, Grand Royal Radio. And May brought another online initiative: exclusive remixes, available for free download, that doubled as Kosovar-refugee relief fund-raisers (for each download, both the band and Microsoft donated $1 to various charities).
With ceaseless globe-trotting since July 1998, the Beasties were difficult to pin down. Schedules exploded without any advance notice, sometimes for no reason, sometimes for good reason. MCA, aka Adam Yauch, postponed an interview after he scored an audience with the Dalai Lama. The Beasties finally checked in en route to Italy and agreed to talk about the Net despite screaming roadside fans and a temperamental cell phone. MCA and Mike D (aka Michael Diamond) were obliging. Ad-Rock (aka Adam Horovitz) opted to supervise the group's sound check instead, in part because he's the least computer-literate of the three.
Y-LIFE: Let's start simply. Why is the Internet important to the Beastie Boys?
MIKE D: At first, it was this completely new forum where all of a sudden we could put together what we've done. As it evolved, it became clear to us that it was an amazing means of communicating directly to our fans and to people in general. So instead of us putting our stuff out there and, say, it having to go through a media format, what we're putting out is going directly to the people out there who are interested.
MCA: I wouldn't necessarily say that the Net is important to the band, but I think it's a great format for the discussion of ideas. I think that in many ways, it can take the better aspects of television and magazines and combine them in an open way. I like the anarchy of it. I hope there aren't too many regulations put on the whole thing. I kind of like the way that anybody can communicate with anybody.
Y-LIFE: Why did the band decide to start its own online radio station?
MIKE D: A lot of times, like with the way we make records, technology will come along and we'll end up using that technology to make something new. The Net radio station came about after we were shown the SHOUTcast technology. Suddenly, we were able to have streaming audio on our site, working like a radio station. Right now, we can branch out and have all kinds of music that we're interested in that maybe goes beyond the music that we're making.
MCA: It sounded like a really cool thing, the way that anybody could put stuff out there. The important thing about it is how many people can be involved in broadcasting. A lot of this stuff, like radio stations and record labels, has been so exclusive for so long.
Y-LIFE: Why did you choose to use the MP3 format for your music online?
MIKE D: Again, that was just a technology that came along, and all of a sudden we were able to put up some live songs that we'd been doing on tour. For all we knew, kids probably had their own bootleg versions of it anyway, 'cause we'd been on tour for a while. We thought that if people were going to check it out, at least let it come from our Web site.
Y-LIFE: How do you see the whole controversy that happened with your record company when the group originally put the MP3 files online?
MIKE D: I think it actually got a little blown out of proportion. We had the files up there, and it had been drawing a lot of attention. All of a sudden, Capitol decided, "There's all these kids downloading music, and our biggest-selling artist is doing this? We can't have this happening!" They called us up and said, "Please take them off. We're getting all this pressure from other labels. We shouldn't have artists doing this right now." We told them that if we took them down, there would be a huge outcry. Sure enough, we had piles of e-mails and responses saying, "What's going on here?" It got pretty far, and they couldn't stop it. So the files went back up.
When we switched from vinyl to CD, it changed how people listen to music. The same thing could happen here, but I don't know. You could go from CDs to digital downloading to digital streaming. Is that going to change the way that everything functions? Maybe, maybe not.
MCA: To the best of my understanding, the whole controversy is over how record labels are going to be able to charge money for music. I think that's a fear that's come up before, when cassette tapes first came out. They thought that everyone would tape records, and the record labels wouldn't be able to sell them anymore. I personally don't think it'll be much of a problem.
MIKE D: I definitely think it's going to change things. It's just a matter of how and in what ways. Anyone who says they know exactly how it's going to happen is either a real genius or is lying.
MCA: I guess in some ways, you could say that the Internet changed the way the music business operates. I think record stores are a good thing, though. When we first started out as a hard-core band, we spent a lot of time hanging out at Rat Cage Records, which ended up starting a label. There's something fun about being in a record store, looking at different albums, and sharing ideas with people.
There was a really interesting quote from Chuck D. He was thinking about music differently: People shouldn't be looking at selling 100,000 records; people should be looking at selling 30,000. People have been very spoiled that way. Maybe more people will be playing music and putting music on the Web. There might be more styles and niches, rather than just a few mainstream artists.
Y-LIFE: Have your Web site and the Net in general helped spread the word about the Tibetan Freedom Concerts?
MCA: Yeah, I think it's been a good forum for people who are into that type of communication. It's been good not just for sharing information but also for discussion. That's an important aspect of what's going on with the Tibetan shows.
Y-LIFE: What do you like to check out when you go online?
MIKE D: I'm on tour, so I really don't have much time. I'm strictly an e-mail kind of person. When I do have time beyond the e-mail realm, it's probably for the most part checking out different types of music and getting information about it that I can't read about necessarily in a popular magazine.
Y-LIFE: As musicians and label heads, what kinds of things do you hope will happen with the Internet?
MIKE D: A record label will listen to someone's demo now and say, "I think it's great, but I don't think we can put it out, 'cause it's not going to reach enough people." I think those days are over now. If someone thinks it's creative and it's great, they can put it out there. And if it reaches two people or 200,000 people, it can work on all those different levels.