As a musician, I don’t want to expend any energy whatsoever preventing people from hearing our music. I think that’s antithetical to the idea of making it. Yes, we streamed it. Basically we set it up so people who felt guilty about stealing our music could donate some money to our favorite charity.
Questions for Jeff Tweedy – Rock of Ages – Interview – NYTimes.com
In May, Wilco’s new album was leaked online a month before the record was released. So the band decided to stream it for free and ask fans to donate to their favorite charity. Brilliant.