David Byrne's soapbox this week is not limited to discussions of the creative class and wealth inequality in New York. Today The Guardian has published a very long op-ed by Byrne on the much fussed-over topic of digital music streaming, and whether or not dominant services like Spotify and Pandora will actually work to benefit smaller acts in the long run. He references discussions started by other artists, including the Black Keys, Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, and Damon Krukowski.
So how does David Byrne feel about the move toward a free online streaming culture? It's not black-and-white, of course, but he ultimately makes the case that services like Spotify threaten to create a "culture of blockbusters" and that "the inevitable result would seem to be that the internet will suck the creative content out of the whole world until nothing is left."
Byrne talks about how these streaming services harm up-and-coming acts. He argues:
And he doesn't think the services help listeners discover new music, either:
He also makes a broader point about how consumption is going to change on the whole if trends continue to move in the direction they're headed:
Read the entire thing here. And read Damon Krukowski's op-ed "Making Cents" here.