Neil Young recently blasted Google for using artists’ catalogues and not “paying a f—ing cent to the musicians.”
He wrote in his rant on his website: “Today, in the age of Facebook, GOOGLE, and Amazon, it’s hard to tell how a new and growing musical artist could make it in the way we did. The Tech Giants have figured out a way to use all the great music of everyone from all time, without reporting an artist’s number of plays or paying a f—ing cent to the musicians. Aren’t they great companies!!! It makes you wonder where the next generation of artists will come from. How will they survive?”
Ironically, in order to access Young’s site, a visitor must log in to Facebook or Google to do so. The singer/songwriter is angry that Google shows pirate websites in its search results and profits from the ads.
He continues: “‘Don’t be Evil.’ That was GOOGLE’s corporate motto as they directed users to pirate sites to get artist’s creations and not pay!! Amazing tech breakthrough!! Meanwhile, they reap the bucks from ads people read while listening to music made by the artists. GOOGLE just changed their motto to ‘Do the Right Thing,’ but haven’t changed anything else as they continue to rip off the artist community, building their wealth on music’s back and paying nothing to the artists. WOW! Brilliant tech breakthrough! BTW, GOOGLE is YOUTUBE. Guess who’s next?”
Young then plugs his new streaming service Xstream, which will adapt stream qualities to whatever bandwidth is available, according to Digital Music News.
He adds: “I am so happy to be able to share my music and albums like Broken Arrow with you here at NYA, where you can actually hear what we did. Xstream high-resolution music makes me feel like I was there. I hope you can feel it too. The more you enjoy this music, the happier I am to share it with you. NYA is moving into a future that is really different from what we have now. It will not be easy. We are going to break a few rules and give you want you want.”
Xstream will probably cost more than other music services, but artists will likely receive better compensation. It isn’t Young’s first foray into the digital music service business. He raised millions through crowdfunding and private investment for Pono, which launched in 2015. It was discontinued after two years.
