Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters accuses music industry of ‘stealing every cent anybody ever made’
Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has slammed the current music industry, calling those in power “rogues and thieves”.
The bassist recently spoke to The Times about music in the digital age, arguing that the perceived “takeover by Silicon Valley” has meant that it’s hard for modern musicians to make a living.
“I feel enormously privileged to have been born in 1943 and not 1983, Waters said, continuing, “To have been around when there was a music business and the takeover by Silicon Valley hadn’t happened, and in consequence, you could still make a living writing and recording songs and playing them to people.”
Waters added, “When this gallery of rogues and thieves had not yet injected themselves between the people who aspire to be creative and their potential audience and steal every fucking cent anybody ever made.”
Last November, Pink Floyd secured their first Number One album since 1995 with new record ‘The Endless River’, beating Foo Fighters’ ‘Sonic Highways’ to the top spot.
Waters had previously issued an angry statement about his lack of involvement in the new album. Writing a message to his fans via Facebook, Waters explained that he has nothing to do with the album and that he is no longer a member of the band, Waters signed off the message by telling fans of the group to “get a grip”.
Now, in the interview with The Times, Waters has elaborated on the possibility of a Pink Floyd reunion. He said, “A reunion is out of the question… Life after all gets shorter and shorter the closer you get to the end of it and time becomes more and more precious and in my view should be entirely devoted to doing the things you want to do. One can’t look backwards.”
Meanwhile, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason recently compared Waters’ departure from the band to the death of StalinWaters left the grop in 1985, with Mason likening it to the passing of Joseph Stalin in Russia. “It must have been the same when Stalin died. It took quite a while [to recover], it was a three or four year period,” he said.