At a recent web summit in Dublin, Size Records boss and Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello addressed the growing ire of artists who blame streaming services for loss of album profits. According to a post by the electronics media site CNET, Angello thinks artists are misdirecting their anger: "Downloading and streaming is the evolution of music services," he said. "A lot of people are fighting it, but I think it's the best thing that ever happened."Angello blamed the record companies, pointing out that many of labels have non-disclosure agreements that prevent artists from seeing how the revenue from accrued sales is divided up. He even took a swipe at artists who have been vocally critical of streaming, most notably Taylor Swift, arguing that the country artist "criticize[s] for publicity."A label owner himself, Angello highlighted services like Kobalt, a new music distribution company that aides in maximizing the revenue of artists by aggregating and organizing streaming services into a trackable account.Angello was joined on stage by Radiohead manager Brian Message who supported Angello's argument, stating: "If you're an artist signed to one of the major corporations, then you are absolutely going to have a question mark over 'Where's the money?'" Labels, he claims, "keep the vast bulk of it."
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