AC/DC are anti-iTunes, warning these legal music services will kill the business even while the bands unreleased album, ‘Black Ice’ has been downloaded over 400,000 times – without the artists getting paid.
On iTunes, AC/DC front man Brian Johnson just isn’t a fan, telling Reuters this week: “Maybe I’m just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless ’em, it’s going to kill music if they’re not careful.”
He added: “It’s a…monster, this thing,” he said. “It just worries me. And I’m sure they’re just doing it all in the interest of making as much…cash as possible. Let’s put it this way, it’s certainly not for the…love, let’s get that out of the way, right away,” he said.
However, the hotly-hyped album won’t actually ship until October 20 but that hasn’t stopped it being downloaded over 400,000 times through the Torrent networks.
Music industry critic Bob Lefsetz argued that AC/DC’s move would boost file-sharing traffic in September, when it emerged the band would refuse to sell their music through iTunes in an attempt to shore up the album format.
“The joke is illegal acquisition will dwarf CD sales. Whatever is sold legitimately will be distributed online INSTANTLY! Which is great for the band ultimately. Breeding new fans. But, like the rest of the industry, the band wants to ignore this,” .