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INTERVIEWS
By 13 May 2009 | Categories: interviews

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What do you think of the Radiohead’s (pay as much as you want for our album) method of distribution?

It relies heavily on the morality of their punters, which ultimately is where it all is headed towards. Digital downloads and the free acquisition of music is a reality and can't be fought. The only way is to go with the flow and take it from there. It is easier to take that approach if you've already made gazillions of pounds the world over and will be coining it through the legitimized royalty revenues through radio, television and possibly soundtracks. It ’s easier to be benevolent when you're rich.

How do you feel about people illegally copying your music?

It serves a good purpose in the sense that it allows people access to your music, which otherwise they might not have had access to, and so opens up a new level of distribution and promotion. But yeah, it costs. It costs at least 100 000 rand to make a decent South African album. That ’s a lot of money to recoup, so one needs to sell some copies. On the other hand, I kinda enjoy the way it has rewritten the game plan. Before it became this easy to copy music, the distribution of wealth was rather capitalistically uneven, with the fat cats and big bands rolling in it and the rest struggling for a spot in the sun. Nowadays musicians need to work a whole lot harder, especially touring live, in order to earn their living, so, it has leveled the playing field and that is good. Ultimately, what decent, honest, nice people do is to give something back when they've been given something.

Having said that how much pirated music do you own?

Well, sometimes I see a CD at a friend's house and if I’m interested, I put it on my ipod. If it works for me I try to go out and buy it. But I ’d be hypocritical if I said I always do it, so I could try harder and be more honest myself. Then again, I seldom listen to an album more than three times and very seldom more than five times. I ’m not a huge fan of music... it reminds me of work.

Would you ever consider releasing your music under a Creative Commons license?

It’s the future.

Let’s face it we are all getting older. How much serious partying do you still do since your Boo! days?

Less than I’d like to! It has more to do with scheduling than inclination. Since Boo I’ve been performing an average of 180 gigs in 5 countries per year. You do the math... there's not much room for partying. Also, I have greatly increased my vocal range, application and ability since boo, which has made it a more precious (aaaahh, precious!) resource that needs to be managed more responsibility. There are 5 households permanently dependent on my voice.

Best video game ever?

Donkey Kong.

Does your web presence help with international exposure or not really?

It adds about 10% to the mix.

With Klassieke Chameleon out, who do you rate as your favourite classical composer?

Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

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