Irish rock band U2 were among the music artists who first stepped into the digital world as the music industry shifted from manual music production to mp3s and other digitized copies, with U2's longtime partnership with Apple.
While the digital realm didn't turn out to be a barrier for the veteran band, which in fact had launched their 2014 'Songs of Innocence' last year via Apple's iTunes, U2 drummer Larry Mullen has pointed out how this has become a huge challenge for the new musicians, reports say.
Adding that while the band could afford to launch an album for free, thousands of music artists are hardly earning in the new era where album sales are declining and stuck with the streaming rules.
"I think the music industry is broken. A lot of younger artists don't get paid. I think that's a real problem." Mullen said.
Besides putting an emphasis to the declining sales in albums, the 54-year old musician-actor also said that what makes it more difficult for artists to earn are the streaming companies' small pay per stream compensation, which the band still hopes to be changed.
"We're kind of out of that scenario, but we would like to see artists get paid," he explained. "Companies like Spotify, the new Apple service and all the others are really going to have to pay artists more."
He went on saying, "And I think it's a matter of time, I think a lot of these companies and the individuals that are involved in them realize that as well. They know that artists are not getting what they should be getting."
Mullen also hopes that as the physical and digital album sales fall every year, the streaming companies should be looking for a way to properly compensate the artists with their music.
"I think there will be a fix for this." He said. "I don't think it's going to be instant. I think it's going to take some time, but I'm really optimistic about it."
He continued, "And again, the most important thing is that people who are going out there, songwriters, that they are able to earn a living from writing songs and releasing songs. The fact that they can't, that just seems crazy to me."
