David Crosby isn't typically one to mince words, and in a new interview about his place in the recent Spotify exodus — both his solo work and his work with Crosby, Stills and Nash has been pulled from the streamer in protest of Joe Rogan's whole deal — the singer-songwriter took some time to ream out Spotify and give a bummer of a forecast on the future of the music industry.
Speaking to Stereogum, Crosby spent plenty of time (fairly) bagging on Spotify — "I don't like 'em and their quality's lousy and their payscale's lousy and I don't want anything to do with them" — and (less fairly) bagging on the streamer's employees, calling them "scummy" and saying, "I don't believe there are good people working there. If they were good people, they wouldn't work there."
Things get bleaker when Crosby is asked about his work with younger musicians, and what advice he has for aspiring artists in the streaming age:
Don't become a musician. You know how shitty it is for me to say that? You know how much I don't want to say that? Some bright-eyed young kid who has talent. To the Becca Stevens and the Michelle Willises and the Michael Leagues of this world? To my own son James? I don't want to say that to them, and it is the truth. I don't hold out any hope for it at all.
It's a bit surprising that Crosby still seems so full of piss and vinegar and yet can't imagine a future divorced from the soul-suck of our current streaming culture. It's a similarly despondent mindset to Will Butler's, who recently published an opinion piece on the Spotify question, writing:
Solidarity is a tempting response to technological change, but my tired brain just can't see the mechanism for it in this era. I honestly feel like a master sock weaver at the start of the industrial revolution. People will still get their socks, maybe worse than the ones before. And in the end, technology will plow us over.
Gentlemen! Imagine more for the world! To be fair, Crosby also spends much of his interview with Stereogum talking about his own precarious financial situation, explaining his reasoning for selling his publishing to Irving Azoff in 2021:
I'm going to run out of money in a couple of years and then I'll have to sell my house. That's just how that is. I can't do shit about it. I can't play live anymore. I'm 80 years old and I'm very fragile health-wise. I can't change the marketplace. They're making the money and they're not going to change that. They're not going to suddenly develop a sense of moral responsibility. They're scummy people.
Crosby is as sharp and caustic as ever, but the interview still makes for a pretty heavy read. At the very least, Crosby seems somewhat comfortable in his resignation, saying, "I'm making music because music makes things better and it makes people happier. That's good enough for me. If I don't get paid, I don't get paid."
You can read the whole thing here.
Speaking to Stereogum, Crosby spent plenty of time (fairly) bagging on Spotify — "I don't like 'em and their quality's lousy and their payscale's lousy and I don't want anything to do with them" — and (less fairly) bagging on the streamer's employees, calling them "scummy" and saying, "I don't believe there are good people working there. If they were good people, they wouldn't work there."
Things get bleaker when Crosby is asked about his work with younger musicians, and what advice he has for aspiring artists in the streaming age:
Don't become a musician. You know how shitty it is for me to say that? You know how much I don't want to say that? Some bright-eyed young kid who has talent. To the Becca Stevens and the Michelle Willises and the Michael Leagues of this world? To my own son James? I don't want to say that to them, and it is the truth. I don't hold out any hope for it at all.
It's a bit surprising that Crosby still seems so full of piss and vinegar and yet can't imagine a future divorced from the soul-suck of our current streaming culture. It's a similarly despondent mindset to Will Butler's, who recently published an opinion piece on the Spotify question, writing:
Solidarity is a tempting response to technological change, but my tired brain just can't see the mechanism for it in this era. I honestly feel like a master sock weaver at the start of the industrial revolution. People will still get their socks, maybe worse than the ones before. And in the end, technology will plow us over.
Gentlemen! Imagine more for the world! To be fair, Crosby also spends much of his interview with Stereogum talking about his own precarious financial situation, explaining his reasoning for selling his publishing to Irving Azoff in 2021:
I'm going to run out of money in a couple of years and then I'll have to sell my house. That's just how that is. I can't do shit about it. I can't play live anymore. I'm 80 years old and I'm very fragile health-wise. I can't change the marketplace. They're making the money and they're not going to change that. They're not going to suddenly develop a sense of moral responsibility. They're scummy people.
Crosby is as sharp and caustic as ever, but the interview still makes for a pretty heavy read. At the very least, Crosby seems somewhat comfortable in his resignation, saying, "I'm making music because music makes things better and it makes people happier. That's good enough for me. If I don't get paid, I don't get paid."
You can read the whole thing here.
