Taylor Swift had some harsh words for Spotify this week, and now Bono has fired back defending the music streaming service. The haters are just gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, am I right, Swift?
Speaking at the Web Summit conference in Dublin Nov. 6, Bono defended Spotify saying, "The real enemy is not between digital downloads or streaming, the real enemy, the real fight is between opacity and transparency. The music business has historically involved itself in quite considerable deceit," as reported by The Guardian. The U2 frontman later went on to say, "It's an experimental period. Let's experiment. Let's see what works."
Bono's comments come during a week of much talk about the role of Spotify and other music streaming services in today's music industry, thanks to Swift's high-profile removal of her entire music catalogue from the streaming service on Nov. 3. Swift called Spotify "a grand experiment" in an interview with Yahoo Music published Nov. 6.
"And I'm not willing to contribute my life's work to an experiment that I don't feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music," she said. "And I just don't agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free."
But really, Bono's defense of Spotify or musical experimentation in general shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. He is part of the band whose new album Songs of Innocence popped up in every iTunes users' purchases during Apple's unveiling of the iPhone 6 on Sept. 9. The guy wants his music to be streamed and by as many people as possible.
Judging from the largely negative response to the Songs of Innocence release, maybe people actually don't want free music. Or maybe they just want free music that they actually like.
You can't deny that it's kind of weird that a legendary rock star would be so fervent with his support for this so-called experimental music service, while Swift, who's obviously younger and newer to the music business, would be so adamantly opposed to it. It really is just the opposite of what you would expect to happen. Bono even said himself how if he was just starting out in the music business today as a teenager, he would be all over this new music technology.
"I'm already paid too much, I'm a spoiled rock star! I'm the wrong spokesperson for this, but i have to tell you if I were starting a band now, aged 17 or 18, I would be very excited," Bono said at the Web Summit conference.
But then again, maybe Swift does have a point. She is the one with a mega-successful No.1 album right now, which sold 1.287 million copies in its first week, becoming the first platinum album of the year. And as for U2's Songs of Innocence, which was given to all 500 million-odd iTunes users for free before going on sale on Oct. 14, it moved roughly 29,000 copies during its first official week of release. Maybe Swift is really wiser beyond her years than we give her credit for.
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