“Nick Mason is the only member of Pink Floyd to have played a part in every one of the band’s often turbulent incarnations. He bluntly stated in a new GQ interview that he thinks that Apple’s iTunes is rather passé,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
It’s been interesting seeing how badly that went down. Let me be completely clear about my position: if Apple had come to me and said, ‘Nick, we want to release your album in exchange for £50m’, I couldn’t have thought of a better idea. [pause] Radiohead did something similar a few years ago [2008’s In Rainbows], and it worked. But this has backfired. It’s made everyone think again about how they want their music delivered, given or sold. Look, U2 are a great band, and Bono’s an extraordinary individual, so this isn’t an anti-U2 tirade.
But it highlights a vital aspect to the whole idea of music in the 21st century. What’s also interesting is that Apple seems to have gotten off scot-free. No-one’s blaming them. Apple has done great things, but it has also contributed to the devaluation process.
That said, iTunes is already beginning to look rather passé, and instead it’s Spotify that looks like the future. What we need is another two or three billion people using it, then it would make more sense for musicians.
Because of the internet music has become devalued. Maybe music was overvalued previously but it’s been devalued to a point where I think it’s a problem now because we miss out on a lot of good music that could be available but isn’t. — Nick Mason
More about MP3 player sound quality (or lack thereof) and a video of Mason discussing Apple, in the full article here.
Nobody knows passé better than a 70-year-old rocker.
Pink Floyd was perhaps my least favorite group even when they were relevant. Nails on a chalkboard pretty much describes it for me. There’s nothing worse than contrived social commentary the aim of which is purely a profit motive. The poetry of Morrison, the blues of Joplin, the artistry of Santana I’ll take over the heavy handed artificiality of a Pink Floyd.
That said, the mess that is iTunes needs a redesign from the ground up.
Zeke – He’s not talking about the interface!
He’s talking about the business model. In this case, the model of selling tracks for a buck, and an album for $10-$15. THAT’S what he’s talking about when he says “it’s passe.”
Thank you for pointing that out. I am not being sarcastic or anything.
Some people just needed that pointing out.
I don’t care what he’s talking about. I wasn’t addressing his comments. I’m talking about the interface. It’s a mess whether he thinks so or not.
In that case I will talk about something totally unrelated to th thread, so what’s the weather like guys, anyone know the price of pork bellies?
Pink floyd wasn’t emulating anyone like those artists. They are unique to them self. Most of their work are rock masterpieces
Nobody said they were copying anyone. I said their stuff was artificial and contrived. The opposite of art.
Pretty ignorant comment, given the high subjective nature of “art”.
don’t bother, he obviously has not listened to “variations on a carlos santana chord theme progression” by frank zappa and noticed that all of santana’s music is also in it’s own way contrived (from the album shut up and play yer’ guitar)
Yes, art is subjective. I’m pretty sure someone would call this art:
I wouldn’t.
Listen to this to the end. Its also not a bunch of sounds. they know exactly what they’re doing. At the end your breath literally taken away. its perfection
No One Direction?
You don’t have to like them but to suggest their masterpieces such as Dark Side, Wish you were Here and the Wall are not art is uttlerly foolish and ignorant. FCOL Gilmour is on of the guitar greats of all time! The guitar solos in Comfortably Numb alone are clinical masterpieces.
Artificial ??..rotfl you really have no clue. Unbelievable how ignorant that sounds
Love the the guitar work on Comfortably Numb. The solo almost brings me to tears.
couldn’t you make the argument that streaming apps have devalued it even more?
they pay pennies to the artists. people listen for free and spend less. if there were no streaming apps, then people would buy on iTunes or walmart
All Pink Floyd needs is two or three billion people listening to them and then Nick Mason might be relevant.
iTunes passe? No, what’s passe is the music industry. The early success of iTunes came from reselling music to people that had previously bought it 9several times) in different formats (LPs, cartridges, cassettes, CDs). After exhausting that market the music industry failed to create music (that people wanted to buy) to replace that exhausted market.
I’m 68, and enjoy a wide variety of music genres – Swing, Big Band, Blues, ’50s Rock, ’60’s Rock, some Country, some Classical, some modern Opera, Classical, but nothing post the late ’80s. Like most of today’s movies, nearly all of today’s TV/music has become a cultural wasteland. Real Housewives/Swamp People/Rap/CGI Action Adventure anyone?
Content for the lowest common denominator will never replace pure talent. Today its choreographed formula production performed by the most outrageous.
iTunes isn’t failing the music industry, the music industry is failing to capitalize on the distribution that iTunes offers it, with genuine, quality product.
There are still gems out there. In previous decades they were more obvious because they were only buried under a pile rather than an avalanche of cleverly-produced slop, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You just have to hunt a little harder.
I have seen the new face of rock and roll And it’s Taylor Swift
If Spotify is so great, why are some artists like Taylor Swift pulling their music off of it because they don’t pay enough in royalties? How is that the future of music for musicians?
Who gives a shit?
Turns out he’s as clueless and obnoxious as Roger Waters. Is Gilmour the only sane one, or does he just keep his mouth shut?
I agree, except replacing David Gilmour with Waters and we’re all set.
I don’t stream my music. I likely never will. I’ve bought more music on iTunes than I ever did on CD or Cassette.
How about offering better music for sale you has been?
Nick Mason is no has-been. Pink Floyd is arguably the most original band of all times.
Period.
Spotify????
You gotta be kidding me!! Yuk.
We don’t need streaming. We need good music on iTunes.
Thats not to say iTunes if perfect. We need better audio quality and better DAC’s in iPods (for those who want it). And I don’t mean charge us for something we have already paid for. We’ve already paid for the music so give us ALL of it, not just the poxy 256Kbit version.
I am so tired of clueless ‘audiophiles’ spouting garbage like this. Apple Lossless is better that anything you can tell the difference of. Streaming audio is often using a low bit rate and poor algorithms giving poor sound. Look into the physiology of hearing and sound and correlate it with the compression techniques Apple uses.
So which track does iTunes sell in the lossless format?
NONE!
Idiot.
Did I say anything about Apple Lossless? No.
I’ll take that. That’s what I want. But, of course, there isn’t any….is there???
Clueless is you….not me.
o.0
You starting an argument with yourself now?
Is there no end to the cluelessness on this board?
Anything in the last 10 years outside a rehash of the Division Bell? I didn’t think so. Has-beens.
Get off my lawn!
Have you listened to The Endless River? Ebb and Flow is delicious.
Yeah, the Beatles and Stones and the Who are has beens too. Have some respect FFS!
Stones are better than Floyd, but I agree they are has verbs too. The Beatles are timeless though. No current act is even in the same category.
Besides Flotd sucked after Waters left anyways.
It used to be that bands would go on tour to promote their new album releases. But that business model has now been reversed by the progress of technology. Bands will release albums to promote their tours. (Been to a big name concert lately? Geez it’s expensive!) The reality is that musicians are going to receive the bulk of their income from live performances.
Are you not aware ? When a band goes on tour they get the all proceeds. When they sell their albums the record company gets most of the money. That’s the reason bands tour, that’s where they make their money.
Clueless, mate! Sure we make a few bob when we tour, but when your up-and-comers tour its all on the record company, the chaps who “lend” you the money to tour. And if you don’t break even mate, you owe, you owe, its off to work you go. Think touring’s cheap? Bollocks! For every Keith Richards, there are a thousand good musicians trying to divvy up less and less. Video killed the radio star, internet killed MTV, now DJs and yootoobers are killing live music. The Day The Music Died? Yesterday, mate, yesterday.
KR
In fact, It could be argued that streaming music was the responsible party for music’s devaluation.
Indeed
I personally liked the .99 per song pricing, streaming makes all music feel disposable and meaningless IMO.
So, Apple is passé because he’s pissed that Apple didn’t offer him a boatload of money?
Spotlify screwed the musician. I like the curated radio format to discover new music. I listen to iTunes Radio. I do have a Spotify account and manage a library. But I realize that its only temporary.
Beats has been finding fresh new stuff for me and throwing it in with the old favorites I’ve told it I like. It;s going a pretty good job so far of finding new music that I like. I’ve gotten very few clinkers. Curation is the key.
Pfft…… What would a drummer know?
various comments:
Streaming is not an option for those people with bandwidth limitations.
Not every music company makes the deal with iTunes , even if the musician wants the music on iTunes.
Popularity on iTunes, YouTube and Spotify, not to mention playlists, will vary. Availability also differs.
Next, payment to musicians. … (varies of course).
The music business is circus, therefore hard to discern all the viewpoints simultaneously.
I would venture to say that iTunes will be around long after this pretentious twit is rotting in the ground.
Yeah, he’s talking shit and not offering a better model as an alternative.
“Fartists” are usually nervously motivated by how much money they are making from any new paradigm and a totally self-serving point of view, with a dash of wishful thinking and no sense of real tech future vision themselves.
Personally I think they should make all their money from performing & touring instead of sitting on their asses watching royalties roll in. Working like the rest of humanity has to.
do something that gives you a leg to stand on, even one, and you can proclaim you are not a pretentious twit,
just one thing
otherwise, you are what you eat
he may be an old man, but back in the day he and PF were badass. Bands today wish they were them
Awesome, and before dark side etc.
We need better music choices for customers to choose what they want. Streaming while mobile is still expensive for many.
For a bunch of anti-establsihment artists, every damn one of them seems to care more about the money than the music. Santana is the worst of the bunch, and this guy talking about devaluation when he’s part of the bestselling album ever that keeps him rolling in the bucks?
No ducking sympathy.
don’t be dissin’ The Carlos.
iTunes needs high resolution. Spotify? How about Tidal? These people that say Hi-Rez makes no difference and supposedly has “scientific research” to validate their claims would have been the same people to claim the earth was flat in Columbus’s day.
He may be right, he may be wrong. But who cares about what some old show biz guy thinks?
there is no substitute for talent.
The truth is kids consume music differently these days. My kids are internet generation and they use YouTube and Spotify to listen to the music . In general money is saved for more tangible things or activities. They have no wish to fill their bedrooms with CDs or other physical media. If its streaming then thats ine. Nor do my kids listen to music radio an some jerk of a DJ playing tunes interspersed with ads. Spotify/ youtube for free still has the ads so ther’s no escape but you can at least listen to what you want rather than someone else’s choice or a heavily plugged record fron a stn.
sorry about all the typo’s – using a tablet without my glasses !
The irony of a rich rock star promoting the Spotify business model. Priceless.
Jap, been seeing that a lot, a lot of people here in Germany using youtube for listening to music. Spotify, I don´t know. It´s different generation now, definitely, what´s worse, their love for crappy videos on Facebook, that is really getting out of hand. I guess we had MTV, that went down the drain, then came the CD, or parallel, then burning everything, then itunes and for me it´s still itunes, none of the streaming or youtube. But, I know a lot of folks, who just don´t want to pay for music or movies or TV, but they´re willing to pay a whole lot for a concert or to go to cinema. I call that weird.
Left the iTunes interface chaos for Vox.
What a reliëf…..
iTunes has become more complex compared to years past, but I wouldn’t call it “chaos”. Because I love my iOS devices so much, I’m sticking with iTunes.
Because of iTunes pirating music is also passé. I guess Nick Mason wasn’t thinking about that. Apple did a great thing when they released the iTunes store. While a lot of consumers are starting to migrate over to paid streaming services, I prefer to download my music from iTunes.
He is initialed to his opinion but this statement couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I think it’s a problem now because we miss out on a lot of good music that could be available but isn’t.”
More small Label and completely independent artists get their music heard and bought because of the internet, artist no longer need a big label to get their music out there. Apple has not devalued music they have devalued big labels and empowered the independent artist.
He’s mixed up Spotify and iTunes. As another thread points out around four million tracks have never been played on Spotify, and Spotify pays absolutely bugger-all to artists who do get played.
Next time I see Nick I’ll have words with him about this, when I ask him to sign my ‘Wish You Were Here’ tour programme.
And before anyone goes ‘yeah yeah yeah’, I’ve been to his house twice, met him once, and he only lives five or so miles from me.
He’s got a fantastic car collection, too. 😊
The old timey music biz made Mr. Mason a whole lot of money, and he has a spectacular car collection to show for it. Like them or not, Pink Floyd were a great band in their prime, which was a long time ago. Just like the music biz’s prime was a long time ago.