Nothing new here from Todd, but it's great to see in print the views of a well-known recording artist.

From an interview in the Boston Globe:

Q: Where do you stand on file-sharing, free downloading, and artist's rights?

A: These issues get smashed together because of the [Recording Industry Association of America's] facetious representation they're also on the side of the artists. Labels have never done anything for artists they weren't forced to do. They had to be forced to start paying royalties. What we need is cable TV for music, where you can download all the music you want for $20 a month.

...and a little later in the interview:

Q: Is The music industry as we know it doomed?

A: It's time for the labels to go, in the sense the way they've done business is based on a commodified model, and they've got no experience in a service model - which is what the Internet is. Only someone like J.Lo needs the labels, because she can't go out and build an audience from scratch with the quality of her singing. The future for real musicians is, was, and always will be performing.

That's it, I've gotta go drag my Todd Rundgren records out tonight.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)