Jack White Hates Downloading, Guitar Hero

Jack White says his new Third Man subscription service is intended to counter illegal downloading and provide a "bridge" between the internet and record stores.

The service offers subscribers archived video footage — some of which has never been seen — and live recordings, along with exclusive vinyl releases. He says he may hand deliver certain recordings to lucky members in order to promote buying records as opposed to stealing them.

"[The internet has] taken a lot of the romance out of the experiences of music," White told BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat.

"This is what we're trying to manipulate to the advantage of the fan/listener and the artist as well, to find ways to have beautiful experiences that have a longer lasting impact.

"Sometimes things you have complete easy access to, like a reality show, or an online purchase at the click of a mouse, can become forgetable and invisible.

"A trip to a record store to get the album you've been waiting months for on the other hand, can be cherished for a lifetime.

"We are trying to find those bridges between the tangible worlds and the cyber/digital worlds."

White told Newsbeat that he thinks downloading has "cheapened" music, and went on the record last week saying he thought journalists who accidentally leak music early are "not on the same team as musicians and artists."

"I thought we were all in the same business together, but sadly we're not," he told Clash Music.

"Because it's the Brazilian journalist who leaked The Shins' album five months ahead of time. He doesn't have any respect for The Shins' music and he doesn't care, so he's not on the same team. The radio station that played [The White Stripes'] Icky Thump weeks before it was released and gave it away to everybody - they're not on the same team as us; they don't care."

Last month, White also said he dislikes the Guitar Hero franchise because he thinks it's not how young people should be discovering music.

"It's depressing that [Guitar Hero] is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music," he said at a press conference for the forthcoming It Might Get Loud documentary, which also features former Led Zeppelin guitarist and U2's The Edge.

"If you have to be in a video game to get in front of them, that's a little sad."

White will be in front of kids without being in a video game at these Dead Weather shows:

July 24 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore w/Screaming Females
July 25 Columbus, OH @ The LC Pavilion w/Screaming Females
July 27 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue w/Screaming Females
July 28-29 Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre w/Screaming Females
July 30 Nashville, TN @ War Memorial Auditorium w/Screaming Females
Aug. 17 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Aug. 18 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
Aug. 20 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
Aug. 21-22 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
Aug. 23 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
Aug. 25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theater
Aug. 27 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
Aug. 29 San Diego, CA @ Street Scene
Aug. 30 San Francisco, CA @ Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival)
Oct. 2 Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
Oct. 3 New Orleans, LA @ House Of Blues
Oct. 4 Austin, TX @ Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Music Festival)