Neil Young: Piracy Is The New Radio

Before Napster, musicians used to have their music stolen from a device even more devious than the computer. The dreaded radio. Legendary singer Neil Young says that he isn’t worried about digital piracy because it’s just a new version of the radio.

Speaking at a conference, Young addressed the issue of piracy saying:

“It doesn’t affect me because I look at the internet as the new radio. I look at the radio as gone…. Piracy is the new radio. That’s how music gets around… That’s the radio. If you really want to hear it, let’s make it available, let them hear it, let them hear the 95 percent of it.”

Young, who is developing his own music player to compete with Apple’s iPod, said that musicians should be more concerned with sound quality. Young says that the current MP3 format only contains about five percent of the original data in a recording. This is great for storage reasons but terrible for music quality.

Young’s device aims to change that. Young said:

“The MP3 only has five percent of the data present in the original recording. … The convenience of the digital age has forced people to choose between quality and convenience, but they shouldn’t have to make that choice.”

The Telegraph reports that despite Young’s views on digital music, he’s still a big fan of Steve Jobs and the iPod. Young said that Apple’s device revolutionized the music business, but it isn’t the device of the future. Young said:

“Steve Jobs as a pioneer of digital music, and his legacy is tremendous. But when he went home, he listened to vinyl. And you’ve got to believe that if he’d lived long enough, he would have done what I’m trying to do.”

Do you think MP3 players have poor sound quality?