Maynard James Keenan of Tool has said that the band “made a mistake” in their decision to keep their music off streaming platforms for so long.
The band famously first made their back catalogue available on online platforms in 2019, having only previously allowed fans to access their music via physical formats.
Following their music’s long-awaited digital release, the group’s third record – 2001’s ‘Lateralus’ – immediately topped the albums chart on Apple Music’s iTunes, seeing off competition from Billie Eilish and the soundtracks to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, The Lion King, and The Greatest Showman.
Now, looking back, frontman Keenan has said he regrets not making the move sooner, admitting he had wanted to 20 years prior but waited until his bandmates “caved”.
Speaking on the Allison Hagendorf Show, Keenan said: “I feel like we missed the boat. Like it started with downloads, you know, 24 years ago, and then by the time we actually came out, downloads are done. We missed 20 years of reaching two generations of people to understand what it is that we do, in a format that, you know… I don’t like listening to the mp3 version. I listen to CDs and vinyl.”
He continued: “But that’s the gateway to get them into the vinyl and the CDs. And I feel like we made a mistake not being on those mediums for 20 years. Me every year, saying, ‘We should do this.’”
Though their music was well-received once it was uploaded, Keenan went on to say he feels the band missed an opportunity to reach new generations in the meantime. “Well, fans that knew about it. There’s an entire two generations that didn’t. That’s why [there was] the big surprise when we ended up bumping Taylor Swift off the chart for her second week. They didn’t know who [we were]. I mean ‘Who is this?’ ‘I don’t know who the fuck this is.’
“But, I mean, that’s just, that’s the reality, that people didn’t know who we were because we weren’t around. My son just went finished law school, and his peers have no idea who we are. They weren’t exposed to it. It’s not on your phone.”
At the time, Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor commented on Tool’s decision to join streaming services so late, saying: “There’s a reason that Tool waited as long as they did to put the stuff up on streaming services. Because they knew they weren’t gonna be compensated for something that they worked their asses off for.”
Taylor added: “To me, it smells of two things with Tool. A, it’s perfect timing because they have a new album coming out; and B, they probably worked out a deal with their label to make sure that they got a piece of the money that the label’s automatically going to get because of the money that’s being generated from streaming.”
Earlier this year, Tool’s bassist Justin Chancellor spoke with NME about the pressure from fans to release new music – the band’s last album, ‘Fear Inoculum’, came out in 2019.
He said: “The only pressure comes when we announce that we’re working on something new, because then we have to make our own predictions for when it’ll come out, and obviously you feel like you let people down if you don’t release it in a certain amount of time.
“It’s a nice feeling that people still want new stuff, but also they’ve got to understand that it’s not the easiest thing to do. It’s not a simple thing and it’s not always a natural thing that comes at the time you want it to come. Art is a very strange animal and it has its own schedule.”