The legendary MC tore into the music trade’s streaming mannequin, evaluating its greed to Scrooge McDuck.
Yasiin Bey—previously often known as Mos Def—unleashed sharp criticism on the fashionable music trade, likening its greed to the cartoon tycoon Scrooge McDuck.
In a no-holds-barred interview with The Guardian, Bey revealed his early disillusionment with the enterprise, saying it drained his enthusiasm for making music way back.
“I used to be so disillusioned,” Bey stated. “You begin out with idealism and fervour, and then you definitely encounter the type of conduct and values George Orwell known as ‘inanities.’ And so they do that s**t to everyone, it’s not even private, it’s systemic.”
He didn’t cease there. Bey blasted streaming providers, calling their enterprise mannequin “gross” and “exploitative” for paying artists fractions of a cent per track.
“That s### is gross, paying folks a part of a penny for his or her music,” he stated, slamming present trade practices. “These motherfuckkers are cold-blooded, man, like Scrooge McDuck, lickin’ his lips as he jumps right into a pool of gold cash… The music trade of now makes the one I began out in appear charitable. It’s utterly exploitative.”
Bey has lengthy been outspoken in regards to the economics of the music enterprise, and his views align with many artists who really feel streaming platforms revenue off their work whereas giving little in return. Whereas file labels and streaming giants defend their revenue-sharing fashions, artists proceed pushing again, demanding fairer compensation.
Regardless of his frustrations, Bey expressed gratitude for the chance to maintain creating. His newest venture, Forensics, is anticipated later this 12 months, and he stays targeted on the larger image.
“I’m simply completely happy to be alive, to have the ability to create artwork and sweetness, to the perfect of my skill,” he stated. “Like, to be a human being is a miracle. We’re on this spaceship, planet Earth, sharing this expertise, and it’s loopy. Like, who wants peyote? We’re already in outer house, child.”