Musician David Byrne has been a prominent critic of streaming music and its business models. Now he’ll have a ringside view of the licensing negotiations around some of those models, having been appointed to SoundExchange’s board of directors. Byrne said he’s taking up the role with artists’ rights at the front of his mind.
“I am honoured to join the SoundExchange board where I can leverage my experience as a performing artist and fight on behalf of all creators for fairness and the long-term value of music,” he said. Pandora is a regular sparring partner for SoundExchange, and Byrne has made his views on that company clear in the past. “The Pandora model, and that of many other internet companies, is, IMO, like Amazon: hang in there for years making no profit, undercut existing businesses who do have to make a profit, and continue to seduce investors with the numbers,” he said in 2014 (Bulletin, 28-Jul-14). “It’s not hard to undercut your competition when you don’t have to make a profit!”
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