Cyrus Langhorne
With G.O.O.D. Music leader Kanye West vowing to have his new The Life Of Pablo album only available on TIDAL and artists like Future signing Apple Music deals, Chicago rap veteran Twista gives SOHH his take on the streaming war.
In Twista’s perspective, streaming music is just the latest way of delivering music to people.
“It’s not going to die out, it may change, technology is ever-changing music and I can’t really predict the direction,” Twista told SOHH. “But what I do know is people like making music and there will always be a format or forum to present it, market and sell it! I always try to follow the newest ways and trends if I feel it helps me!” (SOHH)
This week, frequent Twista collaborator Kanye West dished out his loyalty to TIDAL.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699376240709402624
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699376319285465088
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699376376290238464
Recently, fellow Chicago native Rhymefest shared his issues with streaming sites.
“It does kind of bother me that I go to my friends’ $20 million houses, and last year I was trying to figure out how to pay my mortgage. It’s not their fault, totally. When you look at the way artists get paid now, streaming has decimated the income of the writer, so the writer doesn’t really have a career anymore. My ASCAP royalty checks went from a lot to almost nothing.” (The Daily Beast)
Last fall, hip-hop artist Fong Sai U talked to SOHH about the popularity of streaming sites.
“SOHH let’s see, in today’s news Jay Z’s Tidal is giving a concert. Great. I hate streaming services. It’s cool for the convenience for the consumer but give penny’s to the artist. Once upon a time you had to buy a whole album to hear it not sample songs and pick what you want or pay a membership and listen to all the free music you want while the artist starves.” (SOHH)
