I sat down at my laptop earlier this morning, ready to take care of a few emails before sitting down to work on some new songs. Like most people, I always feel like I’m playing catch-up when it comes to emails. There are always too many, and I can never make it through them all. Halfway down the screen, I clicked on one from “Kanye West,” (who I don’t know personally).
A long time ago, I remember filling my email info in on his website, in order to download some tracks he was giving away. So I guessed the email was going to be something promotional about the new album with Jay-Z. Instead, this is what popped up (sorry for the long screen grab, but I wanted you to get the point):
So.
Dear Record Label Dude Who Green Lit This Email,
I guess it’s too late for me to inform you, but this is a mistake people figured out like 10 years ago. You are invited to join us in the modern world, where “spamming your fanbase” is on a level somewhere between “posting topless duckface self pics on Facebook” and “Jeezus, LulzSec just posted my confidential home and credit card information.” You are what’s wrong with the music industry.
Def Jam appears to be the home of the culprit here. At least, their name is at the top of the page. It’s unbelievable: they hit me with the “If you like KANYE WEST, you’re sure to love THESE OTHER GUYS TOO?” and they have the balls to ask if I want to “ensure delivery” or “forward to a friend.” I know who Ace Hood, Frank Ocean, and Young Jeezy are, bonehead. If I wanted to know what was new with them, I would have gone to their websites, not Kanye West’s.
I know, you want to say: “Mike, just click the “unsubscribe.” But the point is, what about the fans who WANT Kanye updates, but are now having to decide whether or not to unsubscribe because Kanye West is spamming them. And when they do, they get disconnected from the artist they chose to follow–and more importantly, they hesitate next time an artist asks for their email address. Which affects the rest of us.
When I put my email address down for anything these days, it’s the equivalent of adding them on Twitter. If my feed suddenly starts getting full of your updates on “I just ate something” and “here’s what’s on TV,” guess what? Unfollow.
So for the record: what happened here will not happen to you when you get something on http://www.linkinpark.com. If you go to our websites to buy, watch, or download something: we treat your information with the utmost respect. We have no intention of frequently emailing you, spamming you, or giving your information away to a third party. Your time is too valuable and your Inbox is too crowded as it is.
mike
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