Earlier this week, we learned that Mumford & Sons were not too keen on Jay Z's elite new Tidal streaming service, calling it "commercial bullshit" among other things. Now, Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard has joined the chorus of indie dudes speaking out against the company.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Gibbard explained that he has the facts and he's voting no on the service. His main beef is that it seems to be music's wealthiest artists complaining about the streaming world's payment structures.
"If I had been Jay Z, I would have brought out ten artists that were underground or independent and said, 'These are the people who are struggling to make a living in today's music industry. Whereas this competitor streaming site pays this person 15 cents for X amount of streams, that same amount of streams on my site, on Tidal, will pay that artist this much,'" he said. "I think they totally blew it by bringing out a bunch of millionaires and billionaires and propping them up onstage and then having them all complain about not being paid.
"There was a wonderful opportunity squandered to highlight what this service would mean for artists who are struggling and to make a plea to people's hearts and pocketbooks to pay a little more for this service that was going to pay these artists a more reasonable streaming rate. And they didn't do it. That's why this thing is going to fail miserably."
Death Cab for Cutie released Kintsugi earlier this month. The album is currently available to stream on Tidal.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Gibbard explained that he has the facts and he's voting no on the service. His main beef is that it seems to be music's wealthiest artists complaining about the streaming world's payment structures.
"If I had been Jay Z, I would have brought out ten artists that were underground or independent and said, 'These are the people who are struggling to make a living in today's music industry. Whereas this competitor streaming site pays this person 15 cents for X amount of streams, that same amount of streams on my site, on Tidal, will pay that artist this much,'" he said. "I think they totally blew it by bringing out a bunch of millionaires and billionaires and propping them up onstage and then having them all complain about not being paid.
"There was a wonderful opportunity squandered to highlight what this service would mean for artists who are struggling and to make a plea to people's hearts and pocketbooks to pay a little more for this service that was going to pay these artists a more reasonable streaming rate. And they didn't do it. That's why this thing is going to fail miserably."
Death Cab for Cutie released Kintsugi earlier this month. The album is currently available to stream on Tidal.