News-Record.com

Great Q&A with The Raconteurs in the latest issue of Interview magazine.

From the piece:

INTERVIEW: It seems like not that long ago, people would be excited that a band they liked was releasing a record, but they would know almost nothing about it until it came out.

JACK WHITE:You’d know nothing about it, not even the name. Now, because everything is given to you in spades on your laptop immediately—YouTube, iTunes, blogs, bands’ websites, and MySpace—you become disinterested very quickly because you’ve already got it all.

...It’s very tough to compete with all that media. You’re almost constantly trying to tell people that there are these beautiful, romantic things that are involved with artistry and the reception of it, and that there are ways you can participate in and share that—ways that are tangible and emotional and don’t just involve a gadget in your hand or something invisible like digital music. These are real things that you can hold onto if you want to. But it’s hard to compete, you know? We’re trying. It’s like, “Hey, if you want our music on your cell phone or on iTunes or whatever, it’s there. But we’re still putting it out on vinyl and on CD so that it’s something tangible that you can hold onto.”