Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has explained why he’s in favour of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music.
In an interview for The Inquiry on the BBC World Service he said “I believe streaming is good for music. People sit there and go, “I’m not getting paid very much for streaming”….but streaming is a choice on all fronts. It’s a choice for the fan to be part of….it’s a choice for the artists who are involved in making their music available on streaming services. It’s a choice …by the record companies that represent the artist….15 years ago those choices didn’t exist.”
However, he accepted that streaming would be better for more established artists like Metallica than newer, less famous acts: “streaming probably does benefit artists with higher profiles, yes. A lot of these playlists that are being made available for people in the streaming service, they seem to feature higher profile artists and that just seems to be the way it’s sort of playing out right now.”
He added that it was particularly helpful to artists like Metallica with large back catalogues.
He also said that, if people were engaging less with music these days, it wasn’t only streaming’s fault, but because today’s music is “blander” than it used to be.
“one of the main reasons I connect less with new music in my life now is because there’s less great new music to connect with. I mean a lot of the stuff that’s been played is just regurgitated, this year’s flavour, this thing, but it’s not people on the leading edge like The Beatles or the Miles Davises or the Jimmy Hendrixes taking us all by the hand into these completely unknown, unchartered musical territories.”
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