Johnny Marr criticises Spotify, says it's the “opposite of punk rock”

Johnny Marr has written an “alternative Queen’s speech” for NME, using the column inches to take aim at music-streaming service Spotify.

“I think it entirely hampers new bands,” he writes, agreeing with the likes of Thom Yorke, David Byrne and more with his viewpoint. “I can’t think of anything more opposite to punk rock than Spotify. I have no answer to the economic side of the music industry, but I do think we certainly shouldn’t stop valuing what bands do. I don’t like great things being throwaway.”

His piece continues: “Pop culture isn’t just about ‘the music, man’. It’s a way of life, and an aesthetic, and it’s not just about pressing a button and getting something entirely for convenience. Put it this way: we’re soon going to start seeing the difficulties of innovative music trying to swim in that huge tide.”

The former Smiths guitarist also took the time to praise Grimes and Chvrches for standing up against misogyny in music, before taking aim at Haim for their recent photo with British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

“It’s really simple: they made themselves look like idiots,” Marr says. “The Conservatives tried to do the same thing with the Smiths, to re-appropriate us in a false way, to be cool by association.”

Meanwhile, Johnny Marr is reportedly writing his memoirs, following the recent release of former bandmate Morrissey’s best-selling Autobiography.

[via Pitchfork / FACT]