Nigel Godrich Attacks Google, Spotify in Blog Post

[DudeAsInCool]

Looks like David Byrne isn't the only high-profile name speaking out against digital streaming services today. Radiohead producer/Atoms for Peace member Nigel Godrich has penned a lengthy post on his Tumblr decrying the ways in which services like Spotify rip off artists, in his view.

The post was written in response to a new London School of Economics study titled "A Case for Promoting Inclusive Online Sharing". He criticizes the study as "out of touch with reality, vague and misleading" for promoting the idea that online piracy isn't hurting content creators. 

Godrich takes the opportunity to slam Google ("Free information is the blood in Google's veins. By ignoring copyrights and tacitly turning a blind eye to piracy Google has become one of the richest corporations on the planet") and streaming services like Spotify ("If Spotify reaches its goal of gaining a definitive hold on the new delivery system then another precedent will be set and the idea that recorded music is practically worthless will become normal.")

Earlier this year, Godrich made similar comments about Spotify on Twitter. He and his Atoms for Peace collaborator Thom Yorke both pulled music from Spotify as well.

Godrich criticizes the authors of the LSE study for not acknowledging that free content is most detrimental to smaller, less established artists:

They argue that the music industry is in a stable healthy condition, and point to revenue collected on concert ticket sales and merchandise. They do not point out that these revenues are being generated solely by larger already established artists who can set very high prices for their tickets and t-shirts to make up for their lost other revenue. Smaller artists who are not in the position to charge anything like the Rolling Stones or Madonna are not the ones benefit from these new incomes, and yet these are the very people who’s interest the report is claiming to serve.

He ends the post with a defense of the concept of copyright:

Copyright is a benchmark of our civilisation. It arrived around the same time as education and intellectual enlightenment for the masses. As the technology appeared which enabled mass production of media, the law emerged to protect those who created the magic which it contained. The principle of scaling back copyright protection is a dangerous idea and the opposite of progress.

Read the full post here.

Below, watch Atoms for Peace play "Amok" at New York's Le Poisson Rouge:

[url=http://pitchfork.com/news/52619-nigel-godrich-attacks-google-spotify-in-blog-post/]View the full article[/url]