Japan’s biggest rock star isn’t sold on Tidal, Jay Z’s music streaming service

From L to R: John Roos, Yoshiki, Hiroshi Mikitani

Taking a page out of SXSW, this year’s New Economy Summit (NES) in Tokyo featured a musical performance from rock god and classical composer Yoshiki. The X Japan drummer, pianist, and keyboard player was later joined by previous US ambassador to Japan John Roos to discuss entrepreneurship and how technology has changed the global music industry.

“50-60 years ago, we had vinyl […] and now we have streaming,” Yoshiki said. “But streaming isn’t contributing enough income for artists […] Maybe ISPs should charge a little more and allocate more money to content holders.”

Speaking to members of the press following his performance, Yoshiki told Tech in Asia that he’s been following Tidal – the premium streaming service acquired by hip hop legend Jay Z for US$56 million and backed by a host of A-list musicians – but isn’t convinced about that specific approach to music streaming.

I’m not sure [about artist-owned streaming services]. As I said, ISPs (internet service providers) might be the only solution right this moment because, owned by artists or owned by whoever else, it doesn’t solve the problem. Artists aren’t the only content holders, there’s a lot of people involved in the music creation process.

Asking ISPs to charge customers more in order to pass a portion of their profits on to content owners is a controversial point of view and potentially at odds with Net Neutrality advocates. ISPs would be loathe to charge additional fees for what some might consider a “content tax” that, instead of being passed on to the public coffers, goes straight to recording artists and producers. It could also create a slippery slope if the music industry was to get a piece of the ISP pie – not long after, Hollywood actors and directors would certainly begin demanding ISPs to charge extra for services like Netflix and Hulu.

Regardless of where you stand in the debate over streaming music, you’re probably wondering what song Yoshiki performed today. It was his 1999 classical hit Anniversary, composed for (and performed at) the 10th anniversary of Japanese Emperor Akihito’s enthronement.