Curt Smith believes streaming has changed Tears for Fears audiences
Tears for Fears artist Curt Smith feels that streaming platforms has introduced younger audiences to the music of the Everybody Wants to Rule the World band.
Curt Smith believes that streaming has transformed Tears for Fears' fanbase.
The 64-year-old artist - who is joined in the Mad World band by Roland Orzabal - explained that the popularity of the 1985 hit Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which has proved successful on the social media platform TikTok, has led to a changing age demographic of fans at their gigs.
Curt told Classic Pop magazine: "It's interesting, I guess, the up and down side of streaming - the downside being, of course, they don't pay us anything.
"Or at least hardly anything. If we got a nickel for every play of Everybody Wants to Rule the World on Spotify, we'd be retired by now."
He added: "But the upside of streaming is that more people are able to listen to your music, and it then gets suggested to even more.
"So we find that our audiences are obviously a lot of people our age who grew up with us, but there are also those in their teens and early 20s that are discovering our music now. They make up a large part of our (current) audience."
Tears for Fears' most recent album - 2022's The Tipping Point - was a big hit both critically and commercially and Curt believes the record sits well when performed on stage alongside tracks from their 1980s albums The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair.
He said: "For me, the reason the new tracks fit in incredibly well live is because they're just as good (as other material).
"If they were weaker songs, badly produced, or completely in a different vein - because we've been working with some top producer that put his stamp on it, instead of us putting our stamp on it - it wouldn't fit as well. People wouldn't necessarily want to listen to it. But it flows so well because it's 100 per cent us."
Songs from the Big Chair topped the album charts in the US and Orzabal recalled how the band were busy shooting the music video for Head Over Heels when they learned of their American breakthrough.
He said: "I mean, I had a migraine, Curt was asleep.
"We got the phone call: 'You're No.1 in America.' Right then, it doesn't sink in. But what followed, of course, was quite an incredible experience. It's hard to put into words the feeling you get when you're at the top."
