Roger Daltrey Refuses to Record Since the Internet ‘Stole’ the Music Business
Don't expect to hear a new full-length album from Roger Daltrey or the Who anytime soon.
Daltrey scoffed at the idea of releasing new music during a recent interview with Rolling Stone, admitting that although he and his fellow Who survivor Pete Townshend have "talked about" making another album, he no longer sees the point.
"There's no record industry anymore. Why would I make a record?" Daltrey wondered. "I would have to pay to make a record. There's no royalties, so I can't see that ever happening. There's no record business. How do you get the money to make the records? I don't know. I'm certainly not going to pay money to give my music away free. I can't afford to do that. I've got other things I could waste the money on."
Obviously, Daltrey isn't opposed to giving things away — as evidenced by the fact that he was speaking with Rolling Stone about a benefit concert for his and Townshend's Teen Cancer America organization — but there's a difference between charity and stealing, he says. As far as Daltrey's concerned, the advent of the internet has led to the wholesale theft of the entire music business.
"The way the internet has come about has been the biggest robbery in history, like musicians should work for nothing," he argued. "You get paid for streaming, my ass. There's no control. Musicians are getting robbed every day. And now it's creeping into film and television, everything now. You notice, the internet is a slowly but surely destructive thing in all ways. I don't think it's improved people's lives. It's just made them do more work and feel like they're wanted a bit more, but it's all bollocks."
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