There is a rule of the Internet that states that if an online discussion goes on for long enough, eventually somebody will bring up Hitler, and as soon as you start comparing something to the Nazis, you’ve lost the argument. Godwin’s Law doesn’t extend to print media, which is a good thing for Thom Yorke. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the Radiohead frontman says that YouTube and Google have seized control of art the same way that Nazis did when they plundered Europe’s galleries in World War II. “People continue to say that this is an era where music is free, cinema is free. 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. ‘Oh, sorry, was that yours? Now it’s ours. No, no, we’re joking – it’s still yours’. They’ve seized control of it – it’s like what the Nazis did during the second world war.”
Needless to add, Yorke doesn’t much care for YouTube, preferring to find new music through Boomkat, reports the Guardian. He supports AdBlocker, which prevents commercials popping up on YouTube. “The funny thing is that YouTube has said ‘that’s not fair’ [to AdBlocker]. You know? 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.”
