In a music industry filled with people who are dismayed and disgusted at the current models of paying artists for streaming music, Cracker’s David Lowery is one of the more articulate, data-driven and outspoken critics of the post-MP3 age.
Lowery has the not-radical idea that songwriters and singers should be paid more than a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a penny when we enjoy their music. He filed a class-action lawsuit against Spotify in 2015 asserting that the streaming giant owed independent artists $150 million for unlicensed streams of their music; in today’s media/political landscape, there may be nothing more punk rock than suing big corporations.
For the record, he’s not opposed to the technology, just the business model. Lowery, who was the frontman of beloved college rock band Camper Van Beethoven, may seem like his jeremiads against the digital age are anachronistic, but the anger and the smarts (he’s a trained mathematician) are part of what make him a voice worth listening to. And those are characteristics that infuse his songs as well. The fact that Lowery reformed Camper Van Beethoven to, among other things, release a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s entire “Tusk” album in 2002 demonstrates both a biting sense of humor, an excellent sense of taste, and an impressive amount of hubris.
Lowery plays with Cracker, whose hits “Low” and “What the World Needs Now” you might remember from the ’90s, on an unplugged outing at Fairfield Theater Company’s Warehouse, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield, Wednesday, June 7, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $28. 203-259-1036 or fairfieldtheatre.org.
