Billy Bragg believes musicians should direct their ire regarding online streaming at the major record labels which have brokered the deals, rather than sites such as Spotify which are leading the new market.
In a post on Facebook, Bragg outlines his view that musicians need to adapt to the constantly changing way in which fans listen to music, and should look at the terms of their deals which still reflect ‘the analog age’.
“I’ve long felt that artists railing against Spotify is about as helpful to their cause as campaigning against the Sony Walkman would have been in the early ’80s,” he states. “Music fans are increasingly streaming their music and, as artists, we have to adapt ourselves to their behaviour, rather than try to hold the line on a particular mode of listening to music.”
“The problem with the business model for streaming is that most artists still have contracts from the analog age, when record companies did all the heavy lifting of physical production and distribution, so only paid artists 8%-15% royalties on average.”
The post can be read in full here.