Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante stated that the music industry in the streaming era is nearly nonexistent.
During a recent interview with The Irish Times, the drummer said he was tired of it and suggested that selling lemonade on the corner might be more profitable than relying on album and song sales. “I take music very seriously and what I do and what I write is very personal and, for someone to take it is not right. It is like I pay Amazon $12.99 a month and I can just go on Amazon and I can get whatever I want. It is basically stealing. It is stealing from the artist – the people who run music streaming sites like Spotify,” Benante explained.
He also explained why he thinks Spotify is killing the industry and doesn’t subscribe to it. “I don’t subscribe to Spotify. I think it is where music goes to die. We have the music on there because we have to play along with the f*cking game, but I’m tired of playing the game. We get taken advantage of the most out of any industry. As artists, we have no health coverage, we have nothing.”
The music industry has faced strong criticism from some of its top artists. Some argue that the conditions for musicians have worsened. A key issue is that the industry’s traditional model does not fit well with streaming, and this causes artists to be paid far less for their work compared to the era when music was primarily distributed through physical media.
Dee Snider, Carmine Appice, and Fred Coury have criticized Spotify for taking advantage of musicians, describing it as the greatest threat to the music industry. They have all called out the company’s CEO, Daniel Ek, on various occasions. Snider even stated that Ek should be held responsible for his treatment of artists.
