Beck: ‘Protective Artists Are Making Music Unhealthy’

Indie pioneer Beck has given us his blunt take on the current music industry, arguing that contemporary artists don't have the “camaraderie” like they used to.

Speaking to The Drum Media  ahead of the release of his highly experimental The Song Reader sheet-music album, the Harvest headliner said gone are the days where musicians used to rub ideas off of each other.

“How many times do you hear about a Beatles session where Stephen Stills and some of the Stones were there, or Hendrix would drop by? There wasn't this competing factor – they were rubbing off on each other and leapfrogging each other into a totally different place, and that's a healthy thing.”

The unlikely superstar said that artists are a lot more “protective” of their work now, meaning there is less room for collaboration.

“Within various scenes people are working with each other and touring together, but I don't see it as being as collaborative as it maybe was in other eras. Neil Young's most known song had James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt on it [Old Man]; the openness to that camaraderie doesn't seem to be there. I don't know what people's attitudes are about opening up, but I do find that some people are pretty protective, and that's the way they work so that's fine, there's no hard and fast rule. I think there is a discrepancy between what they think their music is and what the rest of the world does.”

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