Joe Bonamassa Says Hollywood Ignored Streaming’s Damage
Joe Bonamassa has weighed in on entertainment industry fears about AI, arguing that musicians already lived through a years-long collapse in how recorded music is valued, which began with Napster. In a pair of posts this week, the blues-rock guitarist and singer linked today’s arguments about AI-created content to what he describes as the slow economic shock that followed the rise of music streaming.
Bonamassa wrote on X that the arrival of streaming “basically reduced album sales by 60 to 70 percent year after year for nearly 15 years,” and said he noticed Hollywood was “oddly silent” while the music business absorbed the hit. He added that with disruption now reaching film and TV, he feels less inclined to sympathise.
In a follow-up exchange, Bonamassa responded to criticism of the comparison by arguing that format shifts and new technology can erode an industry’s leverage in similar ways, even if the tools are different. He pointed to the per-stream payout model, writing that music’s value became “$.003 cents per stream,” and suggested that concerns in Hollywood are being driven less by “artistic integrity” than by financial realities.
Bonamassa’s comments arrive as actors, writers, and musicians continue debating how AI should be regulated, credited, and compensated, particularly as generative tools improve and spread across media. His posts also underline a long-running frustration among touring artists who say the streaming era permanently rewired how music is monetised.
https://twitter.com/JBONAMASSA/status/2040150718531916271
https://twitter.com/JBONAMASSA/status/2040256524757389812
