Julian Casablancas has opened up about the future of the music industry in a new interview, slamming streaming services and saying technology has made music “stupidly complicated”.
For about two decades now, Julian Casablancas has been known as the iconic frontman of New York City rockers The Strokes.
During his time in the spotlight, we’ve come to learn that in true NYC style, he has some rather strong opinions about topics that are close to him.
Why, back in 2018, Casablancas pondered the success of artists like Ed Sheeran, citing “cultural brainwashing” as the reason for his popularity.
“I have nothing against Ed Sheeran, and maybe he’ll still be putting out records 30 years from now, but I just think that with the internet and how accessible things could be, we shouldn’t have to wait years and years for time to sort things,” he explained.
“But that’s not how it’s turning out. You see all these people wearing Black Flag T-shirts now and that band probably was playing to 12 people back in the day. With my record label I’m trying to find the Black Flags of today and get them heard. But you never know what’s going to take.”
Check out The Strokes’ ‘Hard To Explain’:
Now, the famous frontman has taken part in an interview with Billboard, discussing a number of topics, including how music has changed in the decade since his last solo album.
According to Julian Casablancas, the last ten years have seen the rise of streaming services, something he not only calls “a waste of time”, but also labels as “the new gatekeepers” of musical discovery.
“They’re all just ripping everyone off,” Casablancas explained. “You can have your online existence, but trying to suck on Spotify’s sweet sweetness is just a waste of time for me.”
“I mean I get it. If you want to hear music in a simple way, it’s $10 a month, I get it. You’re not gonna buy songs on iTunes, I understand that. […] It’s so stupid. It’s gone so backwards. The whole process of music is so stupidly complicated right now, for all the technology.”
Despite his distaste for streaming services, Julian Casablancas noted that radio is still an effective way to discover new tunes, claiming that services like Spotify and Apple Music make it hard for people to define a new musical obsession.
“Everyone I know who’s listening to Spotify or Apple Music doesn’t discover anything interesting,” he explained. “When I ask them to pull up a cool song, they don’t even have one.”
“If you have to choose a streaming service, I would say YouTube is the only one, even though that’s kind of not what it is.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, Julian Casablancas also noted that vinyl could end up being the leading format in the music scene, but only after capitalism has destroyed the world.
“It’s not financially the easiest, it’s a pain in the ass, and it’s not necessary, but people like it; the art of it,” he explained. ” The whole process. Those things will always live on.”
“If eventually that cool living standard becomes franchised, that might be a good thing.”
“That might be in 400 years,” he continued. “I have no idea. It might be tomorrow. Might be happening already. Eventually when [capitalism] wrecks enough of the world and society, then there might be the shift. That would be a positive trend direction.”
While it’s unclear if Julian Casablancas will ever make another solo album, The Strokes recently announced their return, treating this year as their “global comeback”.
Check out Julian Casablancas’ ’11th Dimension’:
