Derek Webb’s Black Eye
I really liked Derek Webb. One of my college roomates had She Must and Shall Go Free and I thought it was pretty good, so I saw him at my college when he toured. When he came out with Mocking Bird I heard the first track on a podcast and immediately picked up the album and loved it. I loved Mocking Bird’s hold-no-punches attitude, its an album still in regularly played in our home.
I pre-ordered The Ringing Bell and spent the extra money to get the graphic novel.
I would have considered myself a Derek Webb fan, but with all the viral marketing for Stockholm Syndrome I’ve really been pushed back from even wanting to buy the album.
Maybe it’s a sign that I’m getting past the age that games are fun, or maybe I’m just a grump, but when I downloaded the first viral clip and it consisted of 5 seconds worth of audio, I though “Im not wasting my time on this.” The idea of spending hours trying to find an album was unappealing to me.
I have no doubt there was a real problem with his record label, which postponed the release of his album, but I wanted the album not a goose chase.
Here is what really puzzles me – Derek Webb’s music is challenging and poetic. It is rightly anti-consumeristic and provokes people to think differently on major issues like poverty and Christian Liberty. At the same time, his marketing seems disconnected from that live-differently attitude that his music espouses.
I get that he has to pay the bills, but to make a viral “help-me-fight-the-men” campaign and immediately follow it up with a pre-orders of his album with “Exclusive Stockholm Syndrome T-Shirt” for 29.99 makes me wonder whats going on.
I still like Derek Webb, I want to like Stockholm Syndrome but I don’t know if I am gonna buy it.
The album is pretty much entirely electronica, too. (I liked the one track I heard, for what it’s worth.)
Six versions of the album, though? Having heard the song that was controversial, I can see why the label didn’t want to release it, but the fact that they’re now doing “clean” and “explicit” versions makes me realize that Webb still doesn’t mind edging his toes back into the CCM ghetto.
Good thoughts Jason.