Erykah Badu Responds to Critics About Her $2 Quarantine Concert: 'Did You Ask iTunes When You Bought Your Music?'
Erykah Badu kicked off her Quarantine Concert Series: Apocalypse One and serenaded her fans alongside a live band all for $1. The show is returning Sunday, Apocalypse Two: The Rooms, and this time it costs $2 and she had something to say to everyone who questioned the fee.
“I’d say to them, ‘Did you ask iTunes when you bought music?’ No, you didn’t. You bought the music, and you enjoyed it, but I’m not just giving you a track. I’m giving you a show with the integrity of my live show… And, I would say, ‘Thank you very much, because.’ There’s also a donate button, so if you have more than a dollar, then we’ll take that too because it feeds a community of artists.”
The singer says she’s living out her dream of performing in her bed. “I’m the laziest artist in the world. My dream was always to perform from my bed and guess what? It came through!” Badu told Page Six.
The “Window Seat” singer also explained to the outlet what inspired her to launch the virtual concert series. “I perform eight months out of the year. It’s my main source of income and there’s a whole universe of people that is supported from the tour. This is the only thing that truly supports the lifestyle,” she said.
Erykah Badu and her band have been taking the recommended safety precautions like wearing masks and washing their hands. “All of our hands are three shades lighter than our arms,” she joked.
The concert can be streamed exclusively on baduworldmarket.com. She assures that this is the first of many “large dream series.”
“The experience has really been that we can, as artists, musicians use our own platforms to make our own money and not owe a middle man. It erases that imaginary line between us and our audience… I just created a new way, a new revenue, not just for myself but for anyone who watches — every artist who watches,” she concluded.