Last night, Iggy Pop hosted the annual John Peel Lecture to discuss "Free Music in a Capitalist Society", and how the music industry's approach to the value of music has changed in the last decade.
One of the main criticisms was how he saw U2 link up with Apple to deliver their new album for free to anyone with an iTunes account earlier this year. The stunt received a huge amount of public backlash, mainly because there was no option to opt out of it.
Iggy summarised this by saying, "The people who don't want the free U2 download are trying to say, don't try to force me. And they've got a point. Part of the process when you buy something from an artist, it’s a kind of anointing, you are giving people love. It’s your choice to give or withhold. You are giving a lot of yourself, besides the money. But in this particular case, without the convention, maybe some people felt like they were robbed of that chance and they have a point."
The lecture continues to explore the ethical minefield that is music piracy, as well as discussing how the industry has begun to branch itself out in order to make up the lost funds from the sheer drop in album sales in the last few years.
The lecture was broadcast on BBC 6Music and can now be streamed via the iPlayer here.
