Have the major labels given up on selling music, and instead started praying for a Spotify windfall? Absolutely yes, according to BitTorrent CEO Matt Mason, who helped to orchestrate the recent Thom Yorke deal and sees little happening when it comes to real music industry monetization. “This [BitTorrent Bundle] album was born out of these conversations we had on how the internet should work for artists: the vision we both share, which is that at present we don’t have a sustainable business model for artists on the internet,” Mason recently told The Guardian.
“Major labels have really given up on selling music, it seems. Pushing Spotify to an IPO is what most of the senior executives at the major labels are concerned with.”
In other words, that’s not a business model, so until you hatch a real way to make money and get artists paid, stop criticizing this deal. “That might have something to do with the fact that they own a piece of Spotify, and will participate in that IPO,” Mason sharply attacked.
“But it doesn’t bear any relation to an artist trying to make a living from their work on the internet.”
And what about the part where a vast majority of users use BitTorrent to, uh, rip artists off? “Should we blame Apple for selling you a laptop? Why not attack the guy who invented streaming or HTTP? People misunderstand BitTorrent and think it’s something just for piracy,” Mason continued. “If you look at BitTorrent, the stuff you’ll be offered in BitTorrent and uTorrent, our clients…