Deerhoof Disavow Daytrotter Over Unauthorized LPs, Outline Years of Conflict

On Saturday, Deerhoof shared a statement that outlined a series of conflicts the band has had with Daytrotter—the subscription-based music discovery website that shares artists’ session recordings. The note is titled “being for the benefit of musicians who have recorded, or are considering recording, a session for DAYTROTTER.” Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier notes that while he’s “not legally permitted to say whether any of the following happened to Deerhoof,” he goes on to advise musicians by outlining the band’s history with Daytrotter.

He writes that an LP of Deerhoof’s 2009 session was pressed in 2014 without the band’s permission and claims that they received no payment for the album. He said that after three years without communication, Deerhoof were threatened by the owner of Daytrotter and parent company Wolfgang’s Vault, who allegedly said the company would “take appropriate action” if the band decided to “disparage Daytrotter in any way.” Saunier then claimed the band received similar threats from the company’s lawyer. Deerhoof say they asked to be paid for the LPs and for their session to be removed from the website, but the company allegedly refused.

Daytrotter responded to Deerhoof’s tweet in a statement to Pitchfork.

“Over the last eleven years, Daytrotter has recorded more than 7,000 bands and 32,000 songs in Daytrotter sessions. Daytrotter has had a membership model for 8 and a half years. The price of the monthly membership is used to keep our studio open and cover our costs. Daytrotter has never in its history been profitable. Daytrotter sincerely appreciates all of the artists that it has had the opportunity to work with, and looks forward to continuing to having artists from all over the world coming to Daytrotter’s well known studios to produce great music and share this music with everyone. Deerhoof recorded its session 8 years ago and there was an agreement between Sean Moeller, the founder of Daytrotter, and Deerhoof in regards to releasing their Daytrotter session and vinyl. The current Daytrotter team looks forward to continuing to record and promote bands for years to come.”

When contacted about Daytrotter’s statement, Deerhoof declined to make further comment. Moeller departed Daytrotter last year.

The band recently announced that their next studio album will arrive later this year. Last year, they released their last album, The Magic. Watch Deerhoof perform songs from Offend Maggie on Pitchfork.tv: