Music

Neil Young says piracy is the new radio

by Tyler Munro

Believe it or not, but Neil Young’s long been a supporter of new media technologies, and while speaking at the D: Dive into Media conference he pulled no punches, declaring radio dead and calling internet piracy its replacement.

“I look at the internet as the new radio. I look at the radio as gone,” he said. “Piracy is the new radio. That’s how music gets around.”

Young isn’t worried about downloading so much as what people are downloading. He said he’s worried about the quality of files being pirated, noting that while Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music, “when he went home, he listened to vinyl.”

Still, Young sees the value in the internet.

“If you really want to hear it, let’s make it available, let them hear it, let them hear the 95 percent of it,” he added. [via the Verge]