Foals front-man Yannis Philippakis has become the latest in a growing list of high profile musicians to criticise the business model of music streaming powerhouse Spotify.
Talking to Channel 4 news ahead of tomorrow nights Mercury Prize ceremony – for which Foals’ Holy Fire is nominated – Philippakis slammed Spotify for what he described as the ‘insulting pittance’ it pays artists, and claimed he would much rather fans stole vinyl versions of his music rather than stream it on Spotify.
Yannis said:
I’d rather somebody stole the record on vinyl than bought it or streamed it on Spotify. Because I think you should listen to music on vinyl, and I think basically anything’s better than that (Spotify). It’s like going to a restaurant when the chef and all the waiting staff have worked their asses off, and you leave coppers as a tip, and you don’t even pay the bill. That’s basically what Spotify’s like, I think.
Yannis was speaking to Channel 4 as part of the build-up to the Barclaycard Mercury Prize – which is announced tomorrow evening. See the full list of nominees here.
Watch the full interview with Channel 4 below:
In criticising Spotify Yannis joins the likes of Thom Yorke, Nigel Godrich and Four Tet to publicly rail against not just Spotify but music streaming in general.
What do you think? Is music streaming good or bad for the music industry? Join the discussion in the comments below…
