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Dave Prowse of Canadian rock duo Japandroids has revealed the band would never want to tie themselves into a corporate deal with their music, after hip-hop megastar Jay-Z gave away a million copies of his new album to mobile phone users.
Prowse, who is in London this week for a number of live shows, spoke of the band's stance against corporate sponsorship for their music, revealing that they have never even licensed their music for advertising.
"How do I put this lightly? I would never in a million years want to have such as strong corporate connection with my music as Jay-Z did with that Samsung thing," he told Gigwise ahead of the band's Wednesday night gig at Dingwalls in Camden, London. "We've been very hesitant to ever associate ourselves with brands, we haven't licensed any of our music for advertising.
"In the musical landscape that exists right now there is a lot of corporate sponsorship at music festivals and such," he added. "Some of that stuff is unavoidable, and if you try to take a stand, what are you going to do? Are you going to boycott every major festival?"
Below: Dave Prowse discusses Jay-Z's mobile phone app
Prowse adds, however, that due to the consumerism in hip-hop, artists such as Jay-Z can get away with big budget tie-in with major brands when it comes to releasing their music.
"For some people to be so blatantly corporate? That's not my bag but at the same time, hip-hop is a strange world because there is so much consumerism and hip-hop goes hand in a way that punk rock just doesn't.
"Jay-Z can get away with that in a way that, say, Fucked Up doesn't. I guess Jay-Z just gets a free pass whatever."
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