Despite his very public struggles with his former label, Harvest, Morrissey says he thinks artists crowdfunding their albums is a “desperate measure” that’s “insulting” to audiences. The former Smiths frontman told Spain’s El Pais he thinks fan-sourced acts like De La Soul and his upcoming tour buddy Amanda Palmer are asking too much of audiences, who he thinks have “already provided sufficient amounts of money.” As he so charmingly puts it, “What is the next thing you’re going to ask? Brush our teeth?”
All that being said, the singer says he’s had difficulty finding a label to take him on, something that shouldn’t be all that surprising, given how he treated companies like Harvest in the past. The singer’s loath to blame himself, of course, instead telling El Pais that “pop music lives in the era of marketing which just leads to people with very low levels of competition,” saying “it is much easier to get rid of them once six months of fame have evaporated,” whatever that means.
Rather than seeking another record advance—or to buffer the one he may have already gotten—Morrissey says he’ll fund his future records through touring, which he calls both “very good and exciting.” The singer also acknowledges that he’s canceled a few too many dates recently, calling the matter “unpleasant,” but saying the press only covers it because it’s “negative.” As he puts it, “if the concert took place, it would hardly be mentioned.”