Between applauding Spotify for standing up against Neil Young and his harsh words directed at The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, Disturbed singer David Draiman has had a lot to say lately – and he’s got even more to share. This time around, he’s leaning harder into his defense of Spotify.
Draiman calls back to the days of Napster and how other BitTorrent and Piracy sites followed in its path, creating a system that damaged the careers of musicians (as well as that of the music industry as a whole). In a series of tweets Draiman shared on February 9th, he says, “It took STREAMING to bring [the music industry] back to life. Streaming made the labels profitable again, made catalog artists regain a royalty stream, and made Piracy obsolete. Streaming made legacy artists catalogs, like @Neilyoung and others tremendously valuable.”
Now to be clear, Draiman does say that the streaming platform could offer much better royalties – but, he also sees the platform as an important means for artists to share their work. So, who does David Draiman say to point blame to when it comes to frustrations in the music industry?
Per one of his tweets, “Artists you want to blame someone? Blame the heads of the labels in the days prior to Napster who refused to adopt new technology in favor of an antiquated retail system that had a higher profit margin.”
He continues, “Blame your lawyers and your management for not negotiating a better royalty percentage in your respective record deals, and blame YOURSELVES for not paying attention to it.”
Draiman concludes his series of tweets with the following message:
“In summary, stop bitching, educate yourselves and read your damn contracts. Streaming saved music. Wether you want to accept it or not…its the TRUTH.”
That’s a lot to take in there, and if you want to see David Draiman’s tweets, you can find them below. It goes without saying that the music industry of today is a whole other beast than it once was. Can you picture a world today, or tomorrow, where there is no Spotify? Where we go back to primarily getting our records/tapes via the record store, rather than just being able to stream them from the comfort of home? There is some gray to the matter of Spotify’s existence, for while it could be paying much better royalties to musicians, it has also opened the door for so many artists to finally share their music with the world.
What are your thoughts on Spotify? Has it done more good or bad for musicians?
Because the heads of the major labels at the time refused to see the future when a young Sean Fanning and Sean Parker, the guys behind a little startup called @napster, approached them with a new way to reach their consumers at unprecedented levels, and they shot them down.
— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) February 9, 2022
It took STREAMING to bring it back to life. Streaming made the labels profitable again, made catalog artists regain a royalty stream, and made Piracy obsolete. Streaming made legacy artists catalogs, like @Neilyoung and others tremendously valuable.
— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) February 9, 2022
…but it doesn’t take away the FACT that without streaming, there would no longer BE A MUSIC INDUSTRY, and these artists who are complaining after they already sold their catalogs for gargantuan sums of money, would be liquidating their assets…
— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) February 9, 2022
Blame your lawyers and your management for not negotiating a better royalty percentage in your respective record deals, and blame YOURSELVES for not paying attention to it.
The majority of the legacy artists out there have newfound riches from streaming…
— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) February 9, 2022
…and music fans have easier and higher quality access to the widest range of music in existence.
In summary, stop bitching, educate yourselves and read your damn contracts.
Streaming saved music. Wether you want to accept it or not…its the TRUTH.
— David Draiman (@davidmdraiman) February 9, 2022
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Words by: Michael Pementel
