Taylor Swift's decision last month to remove her music from Spotify added fuel to the already-fiery conversation about whether music-streaming services hurt the bottom line of the artists behind the songs. Music legends The Doobie Brothers are still on the fence about it all, they told HuffPost Live on Tuesday.
"The streaming part of it, without getting really controversial here, is, for songwriters, not a great thing," said guitarist and vocalist Tom Johnston.
Johnston said the chief issue is that "it's not at all a pay schedule like it is for terrestrial radio," but he does see the appeal in services like Spotify.
"The other side of it that's good is that people who never heard of you or wouldn't have listened to you, when they make a playlist and it has music of that style or that genre or whatever, [the service] will introduce a band like ours or somebody else, and that person will hear and perhaps like what they hear, and so you're turned on to it," he said.
But the band is optimistic about where things could go if the finances are ironed out.
"If they could just figure out both sides of it, this could be a win-win," Johnston said.
Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!
Related
Before You Go
