Have You Heard About: Bob Dylan, Metallica v. YouTube, Best Coast Condemns Chris Brown Song

Q Prime co-president Peter Mensch, whose clients include Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Muse, didn’t mince words when sharing his thoughts about YouTube.

“YouTube, they’re the devil. We don’t get paid at all,” Mesnch said while being interviewed for a BBC Radio 4 documentary called “The Business of Music, with Matt Everitt.”

He added, “If someone doesn’t do something about YouTube, we’re screwed. It’s over. Someone turn off the lights.”

BBC noted that Mensch’s criticism of YouTube’s business model as “unsustainable” is backed up by the annual report of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Released last week, the report says that the “value gap” between the amount of music fans enjoy on free services like YouTube and Soundcloud versus the revenue produced for the industry “must be resolved if music is to thrive in the long term.”

YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl defended the company by saying that artists can make plenty of revenue via YouTube by cutting out middlemen like collection societies, publishers or labels.     

“It really depends on what is the flow of the money from us to you,” Kynci said, according to the BBC. “The artists who are signed up directly with YouTube are seeing great returns. Not everybody – but if you’re generating a lot of viewership, you’re making a lot of money.”

Kynci pointed to Lindsey Stirling’s deal with YouTube, which earned her $6 million last year.

Check out part one of “The Business of Music, with Matt Everitt” on the BBC iPlayer. The second part of will be broadcast April 25.  

Bob Dylan fans may soon get the chance to take a deeper look at some of the characters and storylines from the singer/songwriter’s celebrated catalog.

Variety reports that “Lionsgate TV is closing in on a deal with Amazon for an hour-long drama series” that’s being called “Time Out Of Mind.” The magazine says that while details are sketchy, “The plan for the series is that two characters or story threads from Dylan songs wind up colliding in some way.”

The show will be written and directed by Josh Wakely, who is working on an animated children’s series inspired by Beatles songs. “Beat Bugs” debuts on Netflix this summer.

As for “Time Out Of Mind,” a premiere date hadn’t been set. Variety says the show “is in the early stage of development.” Wakely has already secured the rights deal for Dylan’s catalog.

Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino warned Twitter followers Sunday that she was “Going on a rant…get ready…” Her target was Chris Brown’s single “Back to Sleep” and its depiction of a sexual interaction between a guy and a girl who is half-asleep.  

“‘Just let me rock, fuck you back to sleep girl, don’t say a word no, girl don’t you talk’ are lyrics to the chorus of a VERY popular song,” she tweeted. “You already know how I feel about Chris Brown – but WHY/HOW are those lyrics ok? Cool, a song that perpetuates rape culture being a hit.”

Cosentino added that it’s not about being biased against Chris Brown. She explained that the song would be “an issue even if somebody else was singing those lyrics. Rape culture is everywhere + it’s a BIG problem.”

She also criticized the music industry for supporting a song like “Back to Sleep” and called out Billboard for giving the tune a positive review.

“This isn’t just about that idiot tho- the fact that’s a song in popular culture that some A&R person was like ‘this is great’ saddens me,” Cosentino tweeted.

Cosentino added her final thoughts on the subject in a message exceeding 140 characters in which she noted the impact of pop culture on our society.

“Lol, I didn’t bring this up for attention. I brought it up because people’s understanding of what constitutes sexual assault is SO completely fucked up in 2016. It doesn’t matter if you know the girl, if she leaves you a key, if she’s your wife/GF, etc – if the woman doesn’t want it + you disregard that, IT’S RAPE. … People learn from music, they learn from popular culture + at this point in time, a lot of negative is being taught via those things. I have a voice + a platform and I will ALWAYS use it and I am not sorry for that.”

“Back to Sleep” peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart. Earlier this month Brown released his third remix of the single featuring Tank, R. Kelly and Anthony Hamilton.