Xeni Jardin interviews David Byrne (from the Talking Heads) on the debut of his new Internet radio station (also in iTunes radio section under Radio David Byrne).
XJ: How do you feel about the fact that some of your fans are downloading your music for free?
David Byrne: It’s a mixed bag. Sure, I would love to have compensation for that. But the argument of record companies standing up for artists rights is such a load of hooey. Most artists see nothing from record sales — it’s not an evil conspiracy, it’s just the way the accounting works. That’s the way major record labels are set up, from a purely pragmatic point of view. So as far as the artist goes — who cares? I don’t see much money from record sales anway, so I don’t really care how people are getting it.
Anybody who has Gilberto Gil, Miles Davis, and Moby Grape in the same playlist is going to gain my ear!
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