Radiohead's Thom Yorke Claims Big Companies Have Made Music 'Worthless'
Friday, 01 March 2013
Written by Elliott Batte
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has hit out at big corporations and businesses in a new interview, claiming that they’re causing music to become ‘worthless’, and leaving ‘artists unsure how they get paid’.
Speaking with The Guardian, Yorke told of how he and his bandmates were excited for the internet when it began to blow-up around 2000, but are disappointed at how big companies have taken advantage of it to make millions - and, in turn, stagnate the music industry.
“We were so into the net around the time of Kid A,” Yorke told the paper. “Really thought it might be an amazing way of connecting and communicating. And then very quickly we started having meetings where people started talking about what we did as 'content'.
“They would show us letters from big media companies offering us millions in some mobile phone deal or whatever it was, and they would say all they need is some content. I was like, what is this 'content' which you describe? Just a filling of time and space with stuff, emotion, so you can sell it?”
Yorke continued: “They have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up. But in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want? I still think it will be undermined in some way. It doesn't make sense to me.”
“Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a turf war between rights and technology. That has resulted in fans being branded as pirates and artists unsure how they get paid. It’s built up a level of distrust.”
Though the state of the music industry has got Yorke in a twist, he and his band will still be recording new music soon - they’ve said they’re going to regroup at the end of the summer, and it looks like they’ll be working on a new album. What do you think of Yorke’s comments? Let us know in the box below.
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