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Mumford and Sons Diss Jay Z, Tidal Artists as “New School F–king Plutocrats”

Mumford and Sons
Mumford and Sons made it very clear to The Daily Beast that they want nothing to do with Jay Z's "artist-owned" music streaming service Tidal

Mumford & Sons has no desire to get swept up in Jay Z‘s Tidal wave. Asked about the rapper’s subscription music streaming service in a new interview with The Daily Beast, the Brit-based folk rockers openly mocked Tidal’s star-signed “declaration,” replying with what interviewer Marlow Stern described as “a chorus of fart sounds.”

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The band, which was not asked to be one of the platform’s new owners, told The Daily Beast they “wouldn’t have joined it anyway,” and dismissed the concept as “tribal” and “commercial bulls–t.” They also pointed out that the service — which costs between $9.99 and $19.99 — doesn’t necessarily help the lesser-known artists who need it most.

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“I think smaller bands should get paid more for it, too. Bigger bands have other ways of making money, so I don’t think you can complain,” Marcus Mumford explained. “A band of our size shouldn’t be complaining. And when they say it’s artist-owned, it’s owned by those rich, wealthy artists.”

tidal
Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Deadmau5, Kanye West and JAY Z, onstage at the Tidal launch event #TIDALforALL at Skylight at Moynihan Station on March 30, 2015 in New York City

The band’s banjoist Winston Marshall went one step further, calling the artists involved — which include Madonna, Beyonce, Usher, Kanye West, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, and Jason Aldean — “new school f–king plutocrats.”

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“We don’t want to be part of some Tidal ‘streaming revolution’ nor do we want to be Taylor Swift and be anti-it,” he told The Daily Beast, alluding to the “Style” hitmaker’s headline-making decision to remove her music from Spotify.

“Music is changing. It’s f–king changing,” he continued. “This is how people are going to listen to music now — streaming. So diversify as a band.” 

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Mumford added that he didn’t much care how fans were listening to their music — just as long as they were still listening. “We want people to listen to our music in their most comfortable way, and if they’re not up for paying for it, I don’t really care,” he admitted.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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