January 23, 2010 0:48

Radiohead's Ed O'Brien: 'Piracy isn't killing music'

Guitarist speaks out about the current state of the music industry

Photo Gallery: Radiohead
Photo: Pa Photos

Radiohead's Ed O'Brien has hit out at claims that piracy is killing the music industry.

Expressing his thoughts on the situation the guitarist explained that, while pirates might not purchase music, they are still putting money into the industry.

"I have a problem when people in the industry say 'it's killing the industry, it's the thing that's ripping us apart'," O'Brien said in a video message for the Midem music conference. "I don't actually believe it is... [Pirates] might not buy an album, but they're spending their money buying concert tickets, a T-shirt, whatever."

In the video, O'Brien also outlined ways the industry could remedy the problem.

"It's an analogue business model in a digital era," he explained. "The business model has to change. You've got to licence out more music – have more Spotifys, more websites selling more music. You've got to make it slightly cheaper to get music in order to compete with the peer-to-peers."

He added: "I find it staggering that the industry seems to be really dragging its heels on this – this is stuff that you could do in one week. Move quicker!"

Meanwhile, Radiohead have announced that they will play a one-off gig for Oxfam's Haiti earthquake emergency response appeal this weekend (January 24).

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