The Who's Pete Townshend labels Apple a "digital vampire"
The Who’s windmilling guitarist Pete Townshend has marked Apple as a “digital vampire” during his talk at the first annual John Peel lecture in Salford last night (October 31st).
Stating that the internet is “destroying copyright as we know it” and causing new artists to struggle, the “My Generation” star levelled much of the blame at Apple.
“Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can’t provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission,” said Townshend.
“Apple should employ 20 talent scouts from the dying record business to give guidance to new acts and provide financial and marketing support to the best ones.”
Townshend also spoke of the dilemna struggling new artists must face when their music is shared illegally.
“A creative person would prefer their music to be stolen and enjoyed than ignored. This is the dilemma for every creative soul: he or she would prefer to starve and be heard than to eat well and be ignored.”
Townshend is not the only person to attack Apple as the root cause of a flailing music industry. Jon Bon Jovi famously stated that the late Steve Jobs was “killing the music business” through the creation of iTunes and growth of digital music in the wake of the iPod.
