Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold truly knows the power of the internet when it comes to breaking new music: With the wind of glowing reviews from Pitchfork and countless mp3 bloggers at their back, Fleet Foxes became probably the biggest musical success story from last year and they even made the transition from online buzz band to household name look easy with their appearance on Saturday Night Live earlier this year. It’s very likely that illegal downloading also played a crucial role in his band’s explosion and Pecknold is not about to bite the hand that fed him.
“I think we’re seeing that now with tons of new bands that are amazing, and are doing way better music now than was being made pre-Napster,” Pecknold told BBC News. Not only does he think illegal filesharing has been good for music, Pecknold admits that it was integral to his musical upbringing: “That was how I was exposed to almost all of the music that I love to this day, and still that’s the easiest way to find really obscure stuff,” he added. “I’ve discovered so much music through that medium. That will be true of any artist my age, absolutely.”
And in case he wasn’t being enough of a thorn in the side to the infamous piracy flashlight cop the Web Sheriff, Pecknold drove the point home: “I’ve downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records – why would I care if somebody downloads ours? That’s such a petty thing to care about. I mean, how much money does one person need? I think it’s disgusting when people complain about that, personally.”