Should we care about musicians’ private lives? Well…no…and…yes.
There are harmless and mundane parts of musicians lives. In the music world, there is Justin Bieber’s ownership of… a monkey. This is really not relevant to who Bieber is as a person or artist. Nor is his latest haircut, for that matter. It should not influence their music- in fact, if you bought from Bieber, maybe you are helping feed the monkey.
Then there are the harmful parts of musicians’ lives. These are nasty habits that you don’t want to support by buying their music. Every musician has something to hide from the public eye. Sometimes, there might be scandals, domestic violence, and in some cases substance abuse issues or at the very worst, murder. You might not want to feed these habits by buying their music.
When looking at musicians lives, the only habits that actually matter in most instances are the nasty ones, which, by extension of buying their music, a listener might feel they are supporting. The line seems to be drawn, for me, on when a musicians’ private life affects others. That being said, it’s up to the listener to decide for themselves whether or not they want to get involved in the private lives of musicians or put on their headphones, kick back and press play.
