Legendary band Pink Floyd made waves this summer when it publicly blasted online radio service Pandora for conspiring to cheat musicians out of a fair royalty rate. The accusations, set out in a public letter, touched off a debate over whether streaming services are bad for the bad industry.
Now, though, the debate is taking a new direction as Pink Floyd’s drummer (and one of the signatories to the letter) appears to have had a change of heart about streaming music services.
“Streaming .. is beginning to look like it might work for the artist.. Initially, streaming was seen as a form of piracy but it’s beginning to become a commercial possibility,” Nick Mason told an audience on Thursday at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Cafe in London.
As some have noted, Mason’s words may not be such a surprise given that Pink Floyd signed a deal with Spotify in June; in the Journal interview, Mason referred several times to Spotify but not to Pandora. (Pink Floyd’s music label, EMI, signed a deal with Spotify in 2011 but did not include the band’s catalogue).
For more on what Mason had to say click here.
