David Stewart may not be a business man, but he sure does know when he isn’t getting paid. The former Eurythmics man was recently appointed the founding member of Nokia’s new Artist Advisory Council (how does one get appointed a ‘founding member’? Surely you are one or you aren’t?), which has been set up to make sure that artists receive a fair slice of the digital pie.
And it seems that Stewart is the right man to defend the interests of his fellow artists judging by his incendiary comments this week claiming he wants to “drop the neutron bomb on the old paradigm of the entertainment industry and the way in which it functions.”
Speaking to Reuters, Stewart branded the current situation, “insane,” noting, “They say ringtones is a $3 billion business; I still haven’t seen one cent on a “Sweet Dreams” download. There’s always been a bit of foggy accounting.” Indeed.
Gathering pace, Stewart went on, “I am going to do it… It’s going to be a completely different world. I can send you clips of what I’m working on and you can pre-order it. There’s a dialogue going on so you actually know who your fans are and where they are.”
We are assuming he means figuratively rather than in a big brother like way but in any case it does sound as though Stewart is keen to turn the whole mobile music industry on its head and to the advantage of the artist. Time will tell if mobiles really will become a chief point of delivery for music but evangelists like Stewart can surely only help things along.
(Via mocoNews)
Isn’t the Neutron Bomb the ne that kills all the people instantly but leaves the infrastructure intact?
Surely that’s the exact opposite of what he wants?
Oh well.
good spot. musicians really love foggy accounting. it’s the foggy fans they’re not so keen about.