Noel Gallagher on Spotify/Tidal: “I’d Rather Have One Great Album Than a Billion Shit Songs”

Noel Gallagher has spoken out against music streaming services such as Spotify and Jay-Z’s Tidal, saying that even though he distributes his music through the platforms, he still isn’t entirely sold on their concept. 

When asked about his thoughts on Spotify, Noel told the Huffington Post: “I’m on it. I’m not going to be the only person stood outside the sweetshop, banging on the window spitting.” When the interviewer brought up Taylor Swift pulling her music from Spotify due to its alleged poor financial treatment of musicians, the singer/songwriter quipped: “How is the world going to survive that? Are we going to send in the UN peacekeepers to wherever she lives and make her change her mind? I feel frightened that Swiftie has done that.”

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Noel also offered his thoughts on Jay-Z’s Tidal platform, which has suffered from a slow launch to say the least, adding: “To get royalties you’ve got to get the people to part with their money which by all accounts isn’t happening for Tidal at the moment. Fair play [to Tidal] for trying to do their own thing but we’re not allowed to live like rock stars anymore, goddammit.

“I’d rather people own the records but if that’s the way of the world, that’s the way of the world. I’d rather have one good album a year than a billion shit songs at my fingertips. It’s pointless.”

Noel was also apparently a little dismayed with seeing his friend Chris Martin of Coldplay pledging his support to Tidal, telling Rolling Stone: “I was speaking to Chris [Martin] the day after, and I said, ‘Are you after a Nobel Peace Prize? Is that what you’re after?’ They were like, ‘We’re going to fuckin’ save the music business.’ And I’m just sitting there, thinking [imitates smoking weed] you might want to write a decent chorus for a fuckin’ start. Never mind fuckin’ royalties and the ‘power of music.’ Write a tune. Fuckin’ start with that.” 

Listen to a portion of the interview, in which he also said that Tidal’s celebrity backers thought they were “the Avengers”, below:

Spotify has made the news recently due to Apple allegedly trying to put an end to its free streaming option, with the tech giant reportedly requesting that record labels tighten their belts and order the service to become a subscription-based platform only. Spotify’s free subscription offer, which sees revenue being driven in by the company through advertisements, currently makes the platform more alluring than its closest competitors, offering a robust demo of the service before users plump down their cash. However, as Apple is set to go ahead with a relaunch of Beats Music, it is looking to create a sizable hole in its rival’s business plan.

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