Hot Chip 'free downloads hurt small bands'

Hot Chip have said that giving music away for free on the internet is destroying the music business.

The electro outfit spoke out after the likes of Radiohead,Coldplay, The Charlatans and Nine Inch Nails have made their music available for download free of charge.

Singer Alexis Taylor told BBC's Newsbeat that he believes the music industry is "in turmoil" as it stands with music being made more freely available over the internet.

He said: "It's all kind of in turmoil and people are just trying things out. Probably in the next couple of years we'll see a new kind of business emerging.

"It's a strange one but I think at the moment no-one knows what's really going on and the record companies are really searching for a new way to do business."

He also said that while big artists giving away music for free is a good thing, the same cannot be said for smaller acts.

He added: "People can get music for free on the net so to give it away to people and admit that is a sensible thing. Big artists like that can make their money in other ways and they can still have a great career.

"But it only really works if you're a massive act. If we turned around and offered our single for free I don't know how many people would bother."