Posted on 11/01/2011 9:44:57 PM PDT by FoxPro
Pete Townshend, the legendary frontman behind British rock group The Who, attacked Apple's online iTunes service for bleeding artists "like a digital vampire".
Townshend, speaking in Manchester in northwest England, called on the online giant to do more to help the artists from whom it was making so much money.
"Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west Internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire... for its enormous commission?" he asked.
Record labels and music publishers had in the past provided a range of services to artists, offering editorial guidance and nurturing them creatively, he said.
He said Apple should hire 20 talent scouts "from the dying record business" to help new acts and provide financial and marketing support to the best of them.
Townshend made his remarks in the inaugural John Peel lecture, an event organised in memory of the legendary BBC disc jockey.
In a career spanning decades, Peel was an early champion of a wide range of performers, including David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Joy Division and The White Stripes.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Quit your whining Pete you do make money from iTunes.Much more I might add than you did with napster....
Didn’t he get busted for downloading child porn? Moral outrage a pedophile strikes me as hypocritical.
Yes, there is. Short answer -- they don't want to, and they don't have to. They're looking after themselves just like you're looking after yourself. If one day they deem it in their financial interest to do so, they will.
No he did not.
He has been a legit activist opposing pedophiles and the whole movement to get rid of age of consent laws.
Said groups attempted a frame up to discredit him, but when the dust cleared he was exhonerated.
That said, I don’t like his music and have never bought any of it.
Rather than whine about this, why doesn’t talk about how the music industry has been breaking anti-trust/competition laws for the past umpteen years? Or maybe he enjoys hearing the same 10 gay oriented disco songs over and over and over and over and over on every other radio station?
I don’t sympathize with anyone trying to continue collecting royalties for work that is way over 20 years old. His work was twice that old.
So, was he downloading kiddie porn or not?
He’s making some valid points. The record companies did provide more services (albeit to a select few). The also took risks in developing young talent — they won big on a few, lost on most. Apple is probably enjoying what amounts to near monopoly profits on their services. That can’t last for too long.
Althoug the major labels historically screwed most of the artists they signed on, they did get them the exposure they needed in order to "make it". Without the labels, they would likely never had made the first album nor ever even heard of.
In the long run, the community will suffer as more and more labels drop off the map.
Whatever I think of Townsend`s music, he has as much right to profit from it while he is alive, plus some. It`s his work, his property, and no one else should just get to have it because they really want it, without paying.
Most people these days are consumers rather than producers of music. It's not just music, it's lots of other things. Digitizing art and literature has made people lazy.
There’s no shortage of decent songwriters. Good producers and performing artists are a little harder to come by, but they are hardly endangered species.
The modern internet has democratized the process. Instead of a few big name labels, there are lots of little independent labels, and with computer aided production they almost all sound great.
Gee wish I could live off my 1980's work!
Pete if you finished that one album left on the contract, think how much more you would have today!
Don’t they take less, though? I am not 100% sure but I thought the money iTunes makes is basically the same rate that it cost the labels to distribute and sell CDs and Records. I mean if Capital Records makes an album and it sold for $10, it cost them at least $3 in shipping and retailer margin.
So if Apple is just taking that cut, they aren’t really in the position to promote one artist over another. The record stores used to invite bands to come in and sign records or play live but other than that, the costs fell on the label.
I could be wrong. But Apple didn’t get rid of the record companies. They made distribution more efficient and perhaps even saved them from bigger losses from stealing/file sharing.
It does seem though it will be harder to promote new talent - because terrestrial radio market is shrinking to satellite radio and podcasts/playlists. So the #1 way to promote new talent - radio airplay - is less effective. Bands and labels need to figure out a better way to promote talent.
That's not what Wikipedia says...
Precisely. I look around at America and I just see spending and consuming. Of course we’re not anti-consumer, it’s just a matter of being sensible. You have to cultivate the future constantly.
In terms of literature, for example, the death of the midlist, and the consolidation of publishers, have had horrible consequences. In decades past a publisher could have a few low-selling books from a writer to build an audience. No more. Now they pay to have brand-name writers just lend their names, while ghostwriters write ‘their’ books.
All of this contributes to the death of innovation and originality.
Going by some of his early songs, I wouldn't be surprised if he was an abused child.
That said, I don’t like his music and have never bought any of it.
I didn't either until I watched some of their live act on Youtube. They were an excellent rock band back in their prime.
A lot of labels kept their bands wired up on drugs and worked them to death. Some got terrible royalty deals, and others had managers steal everything. People also got tired of having to buy a whole album for one good song, or having to repurchase their collection every time a new technology came out. Pete's sounding like a cranky old man.
As a singer, songwriter I say it has never been a better time for a new artist. The music business is pretty much trash these days. Cream always rises.
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