Image by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

The singer of the English alternative band Radiohead said that YouTube and its parent company, Google, have “seized control” of art like the Nazis did during World War II.

“People continue to say that this is an era where music is free, cinema is free,” Thom Yorke said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Saturday. “It’s not true. The creators of services make money – Google, YouTube. A huge amount of money, by trawling, like in the sea – they take everything there is.

“They’ve seized control of it – it’s like what the Nazis did during the Second World War,” he continued, according to the Guardian. “Actually, it’s like what everyone was doing during the war, even the English – stealing the art of other countries. What difference is there?”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Yorke, 47, is an outspoken critic of music streaming services like Spotify, which he has called the “last desperate fart of a dying corpse” and claims does not fairly compensate new musicians.

“The funny thing is that YouTube has said ‘that’s not fair’ [to use an AdBlocker],” Yorke continued in the interview. “They say it’s not fair – the people who put adverts in front of any piece of content, making a load of money, while artists don’t get paid or are paid laughable amounts – and that seems fine to them. But if [YouTube] don’t get a profit out of it, it’s not fair.”

Radiohead is a Grammy-winning band that formed in England in 1985 and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. “People continue to say that this is an era where music is free, cinema is free,” Thom Yorke said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Saturday. “It’s not true. The creators of services make money – Google, YouTube. A huge amount of money, by trawling, like in the sea – they take everything there is.

“They’ve seized control of it – it’s like what the Nazis did during the Second World War,” he continued, according to the Guardian. “Actually, it’s like what everyone was doing during the war, even the English – stealing the art of other countries. What difference is there?”

Yorke, 47, is an outspoken critic of music streaming services like Spotify, which he has called the “last desperate fart of a dying corpse” and claims does not fairly compensate new musicians.

“The funny thing is that YouTube has said ‘that’s not fair’ [to use an AdBlocker],” Yorke continued in the interview. “They say it’s not fair – the people who put adverts in front of any piece of content, making a load of money, while artists don’t get paid or are paid laughable amounts – and that seems fine to them. But if [YouTube] don’t get a profit out of it, it’s not fair.”

Radiohead is a Grammy-winning band that formed in England in 1985 and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount