Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien doesn’t think pirates are killing the music but claims that the music industry is moving too slowly in the digital era and blames them for their current woes. Website Paid Content quoted the guitarist as saying:
“I have a problem when people in the industry say ‘it’s killing the industry, it’s the thing that’s ripping us apart’. I don’t actually believe it is … [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they’re spending their money buying concert tickets, a t-shirt, whatever.
“It’s an analogue business model in a digital era. The business model has to change. You’ve got to license out more music – have more Spotifys, more websites selling more music. You’ve got to make it slightly cheaper to get music in order to compete with the peer-to-peers.
“That’s been the whole problem in the last 10 years. Why are we here now? Because the recording industry dragged its feet over digital.”