ROBB FLYNN: 'I Don't Want To Be Like THOM YORKE, Thinking SPOTIFY Is A Scary Thing'
July 17, 2013MACHINE HEAD guitarist/vocalist Robb Flynn has commented on RADIOHEAD frontman Thom Yorke's much-publicized decision to pull songs from music streaming service Spotify.
Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich took to Twitter to express their frustration at the Spotify business model for new artists, complaining that up-and-coming musicians "get paid fuck all." "Make no mistake, new artist[s] you discover on Spotify will no[t] get paid," Yorke declared. Godrich added: "Streaming suits [back] catalogue. But [it] cannot work as a way of supporting new artists' work. Spotify and the like either have to address that fact and change the model for new releases or else all new music producers should be bold and vote with their feet. [Streaming services] have no power without new music."
In the latest installment of his online blog, "The General Journals: Diary Of A Frontman... And Other Ramblings - Life Affirming", Flynn wrote: "Thom Yorke from RADIOHEAD went on a big rant about the evils of Spotify the other day. It was so random and out of the blue it was a total WTF? It's funny how Spotify has come to represent the bad thing for (it seems) older people... er uh, people my age *ahem*.
"In fact, I was talking to a buddy out here on [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem [Festival] the other day, and he was telling me about a band's new record I should check out, and I was like, 'Oh, yeah, thanks for the reminder. I'll have to Spotify that,' and he gave me a little shit, like, 'Oh, man, you gotta go and 'buy' that shit,' and I was, like, 'I AM buying it, I got Spotify Premium, they're getting money off my stream and if I love it, I'll most likely buy it on iTunes, but dude, I'm on tour, at an amphitheater in the middle of nowhere, when am I going to buy that shit at a store? That most likely doesn't even carry said record?'
"That's the beauty of Spotify. I can get music in an instant, no waiting, no trips to the store, literally within 30 seconds! For 10 bucks a month!! Shit, I spend 5 times that on fucking coffee which doesn't do jack shit for me!!
"See what getting old does?
"It makes you scared of the future. It makes you scared of what other people may think of you, it makes you scared to adapt, when really, the only thing that will allow us to survive is adapting. When you're young, you just don't care, you're gonna rebel, you're gonna do your own thing, you want to find about the 'newest thing,' you're willing to give things a shot, and if it sucks, you're quick to ditch it, but if it's great, you tell everyone you know.
"Do I ever miss being 22? Hell no! I was a cranked-out, tweaked-out, heavy drinking, gun-toting idiot without a car! I don't need to be young again! I'm better now than I've ever been but most importantly I don't 'feel' old. I don't want to be like Thom Yorke, thinking Spotify is a scary thing. The world changed, and that's a good thing."
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