Devin Townsend Spent $170,000 of His Own Money on New Album Empath
With the financial concerns Devin Townsend cited for putting the Devin Townsend Project to an end last year (among other reasons), one might expect he’d look to cut back on expenses this time around. But as anyone who’s been following the year-long creation process of his new album Empath will tell you, that certainly didn’t end up being the case, not with top-flight recording studios in Europe, three different professional drummers, numerous other guest musicians, an orchestra, a children’s choir and more.
But it’s the final tally that’s staggering: $170,000! Holy crap. Mind you, that’s presumably Canadian dollars, so the U.S. equivalent is like, what, $50? (Sorry, couldn’t resist. It’s roughly $127,000 USD, still a gigantic chunk of change for an album in 2019). Devin revealed as much in a Twitter thread yesterday, in which he shared the cost of his album (all of his own money) as a means of encouraging fans to purchase the damn thing despite comments in the past that he doesn’t care if folks pirate his music, which he sheepishly retracted. You can read that thread below.
Advice from Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger presumably came free of charge.
Empath comes out March 29, and can be pre-ordered here. Check out the songs “Genesis” and “Evermore” and read our official review of the album.
Hey all. There’s been some mails to me from people who rely on my work to pay the bills about my thoughts of piracy and downloading (1)
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
I feel it’s useless to fight leaks or streaming, in fact: many musicians who have done so appear petty or ungrateful. I feel resigned to it, and have probably said so in the past…
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
However there’s a bunch of folks who think what I meant by that was ‘I don’t need to sell these things, so go ahead and take it’ and I guess my quotes in the past would imply that.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
Here’s the thing: I spent 170k of my own money on the album and the label have spent a ton on the peripheral part of it. I would never tell people what to do or not to do, I’m happy to just be allowed to do what I do…
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
But please know if it loses a ton, it simply won’t be able to continue. The label has gotten mails saying that I don’t care if it gets taken for free, which I guess I may have said in the past, but please know lots of people have invested lots into this and now I feel foolish.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
Please support physical product if you can, I don’t care that it leaked, but if my prior actions or words justified that, then I have to retract whatever it is I said. I have a big mouth and I just like making tunes basically
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
Love to you all – Dumbass Townsend
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
I think my biggest problem is that I hate money, and I hate monetization of art. Yet the two have to coexist so I often have to do that stuff. I hope this makes an ounce of sense. I don’t give a shit, but I seriously need to give a shit.
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
For those confused: I re-signed my entire back catalog after it came up for renewal last year for 150k, then proceeded to spend 170 on my stupid record because I am a financial genius. :))
— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) March 27, 2019
[via The PRP]
