Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has been overtly critical of digital music streaming in the past, blasting Spotify in 2013 for failing to adequately compensate musicians, and taking jabs at a number of major record labels for partnering with the services. This week, Yorke once again spoke out about the growing practice of streaming music online, this time taking a swipe at tech giant Google and its YouTube video streaming platform. In an interview with an Italian newspaper dubbed Republica, Yorke was asked how he listens to music these days. The outspoken singer answered that he mainly uses Boomkat, a music retailer that specializes in both physical and digital sales of electronica and experimental music. Seemingly unprompted, Yorke then proceeded to offer some damning comments about Google's popular video streaming platform.
"I don't use YouTube, that's for sure," Yorke exclaimed. The frontman then chastised YouTube for complaining about consumers using ad-blocking programs when using the service. "They put ads before everything, making big money and artists don't get paid - or don't get paid enough - and that's fine, apparently. [But] if they don't get profit from [ad-blocking] then no, it's not fair..." Yorke explained. Not wanting to steer from a topic that Yorke obviously feels so strongly about, the interviewer then asked the Radiohead and Atoms for Peace founder how musicians make the majority of their income these days. "I don't know, you tell me," Yorke responded. "I don't have a solution for these problems. I just know [YouTube] makes money [from] the work of so many artists that don't make any profit. They keep saying that this is an era where music is free, where cinema is free. Not true. The makers of these services make money. Google, Youtube; a huge amount of money, trawling like in the ocean, taking everything there is. 'Oh sorry, was that yours? Now it's ours. No, no just kidding - it's still yours'"
Yorke went on in the piece to compare Google and YouTube to the Nazi party that controlled Germany and started World War II. "They've seized control of [art] - it's like what the Nazis did during the Second World War. Actually, it's like what everyone was doing during that war, even the English - stealing the art of other countries," the songwriter offered.
While Yorke's comparison of YouTube policy to Nazi Germany may be harsh, it's likely that he's referring to the Nazis' theft of precious art during the war that means, and not the genocidal murder of millions of people. The outspoken artist also said that when he considers the impact of the digital age on music, it gives him a "massive fu**ing headache." "I pulled out all my vinyls recently," Yorke noted. "With every single vinyl there's some relationship... [That] doesn't exist with USB and digital. [Digital] is having a corrosive effect on music."
