Pete Townshend Calls Apple 'Digital Vampires' Over iTunes' Commissions

Who guitarist and windmill expert Pete Townshend has spoken out against the changes Apple and iTunes have wrought on the digital music industry, claiming they "bleed" today's artists like "digital vampires" in BBC 6 Music's inaugural John Peel Lecture. Townshend insisted that Apple should instead be helping new bands.

"Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?"

He went on to say that Apple is "destroying copyright as we know it," and that music consumers who download music illegally "may as well come and steal my son's bike while they're at it ... I wonder what has gone wrong with human morality and social justice."

While Apple has drastically changed the musical landscape, it has not all been for the worse. Because of iTunes, many smaller bands are enjoying exposure they wouldn't have otherwise received. Townshend acknowledged this, admitting, "I've done all right ... A creative person would prefer their music to be stolen and enjoyed than ignored. This is the dilemma for every creative soul -- he or she would prefer to starve and be heard than to eat well and be ignored."

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