Many musicians (in and outside of metal) have made several complaints about that of Spotify and streaming technology – but not that of Ghost frontman Tobias Forge. During a conversation with the show Talkin’ Rock, the topic of streaming services came up; Forge says that such technology has pulled the music industry out of the “dark ages” and has actually been beneficial to artists.
Speaking to his feelings regarding how Spotify and streaming has changed things for the better – when it comes to the music industry – this is what Tobias Forge had to say:
“[…] Spotify – specifically Spotify, and some similar services, definitely drew the music business out of the dark ages; that was about 10,12, 15 years ago, where there was nothing, it was just a big decline. And now, at least it works. At least Spotify gave the investors – for lack of a nicer word – but you know, record labels and music labels, they gave the labels an incentive to invest in bands again. And that is what was going out the door in 2007. They were leaving, they were, like, not doing it anymore because everything they invested in was a loss. So I’m really happy about that.”
This is a topic that people in the music industry (and outside of it) have been going back and forth about for years. If you ask Avenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows and that of Disturbed frontman David Draiman, each will tell you that Spotify and streaming helped the music industry; but if you ask that of Ozzy Osbourne or Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, they are going to have less favorable things to say about the technology.
As we have said before, technology like streaming services have their ups and down; whereas they can provide artists a chance to have their art shared and known, there is also the financial cons associated with streaming. What are your thoughts on this – are you for streaming, not for streaming, or somewhere in the middle?