Anthrax’s Charlie Benante says Spotify is where music goes “to die”
Charlie Benante, the drummer of thrash pioneers Anthrax, has lambasted Spotify as the place “where music goes to die”, drawing a frank picture of the state of the modern industry in the age of streaming.
Born in The Bronx, New York City, in 1962, Benante has been the drummer of Anthrax since 1983 and played a significant part in their thrash and crossover style becoming widely influential, with the band hailed as one of the ‘Big Four’ of the genre. In his 40 years in the industry, Benante has seen things change markedly; to him, things couldn’t be much worse now.
Speaking to The Irish Times in a new interview, Benante was asked whether the industry had changed for the better or worse during his time, and his diagnosis was bleak, echoing statements from other artists, industry figures, and bodies. He said: “There is no music industry. That’s what has changed. There is nothing any more. There are people listening to music, but they are not listening to music the way music was once listened to.”
Looking at the negative impact streaming has had, he continued: “The industry of music was one of things hit the worst and nobody did anything about it. They just let it happen. There was no protection, no nothing. Subconsciously this may be the reason why we don’t make records every three years or whatever because I don’t want to give it away for free.”
Using paying Amazon $12.99 a month as an example, he said fans can go on the site and get whatever music they want. He likened this to “stealing from the artist” by streamers such as Spotify. He said: “I don’t subscribe to Spotify. I think it is where music goes to die.”
Benante also conceded that his band have their music on Spotify because they have to play the game. All artists are being taken advantage of, which he says is “the most” in any industry: “As artists, we have no health coverage, we have nothing. They fucked us so bad, I don’t know how we come out of it. You’d probably make more money selling lemonade on the corner.”
Significantly, Benante even supported fellow thrash pioneers Metallica suing now-defunct streaming site Napster in 2000, a controversial move that emerged during the nadir of their career and seriously affected their standing amongst music fans. He maintains that the San Francisco quartet were correct in their actions, and they were “protecting their art” and intellectual property from “some asshole” who makes money while artists make the art and give it away for free.
What else has been said about Spotify and streaming?
Benante is not the first to criticise the role of Spotify and streaming in the current malaise faced by musicians. Canadian hero Neil Young has been one of the most prominent critics of Spotify. He even removed his music from the site due to the presence of podcaster Joe Rogan before recently rejoining. “It’s content now, not music,” he told Charlie Rose back in 2014. “It’s consumer content.”
In support of Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist, Nils Lofgren, and Young’s CSNY collaborators, Graham Nash, David Crosby and Steven Stills, all removed their content from the platform.
Despite artists across the board lamenting their livelihoods being hit by streaming and Spotify, after increasing the price of its monthly subscription fee, the company announced record profits for the second quarter of 2024.
On the other hand, in January of this year, the European Union addressed the topic of streaming royalties and demanded that platforms such as Spotify increase their payments to artists.
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