Rocker Gene Simmons has slammed free streaming sites for "killing" the music business by taking money away from aspiring musicians.
The Kiss lead singer has been in the spotlight since his band formed in the early '70s and has seen a lot of changes in the music business over the years, including the conception and rise of music streaming services.
Speaking to the Thunder Underground podcast, Simmons made known his disapproval of the platform, which features sites such as Spotify and Tidal.
"Good luck to 'em. I am not a supporter," he said.
"If you wanna earn a living, you can't get the music out there. So you're living in your mother's basement, you have to have a day job and the kids get your music for free… And the people that killed all the new bands are the fans themselves.
"It wasn't corporate America, it wasn't aliens from space," he said, "The people that killed the music they love are the people who love the music."
Simmons' view echoes that of stars like Taylor Swift, who withheld her material from such services.
Swift notably pulled her songs from Spotify in protest of artists not receiving fair payment.
However Simmons did admit the issue doesn't affect him personally as he's already rich, adding he and his group can easily make money through licensing and merchandising.
67 year-old Simmons also doesn't agree with the idea of fans paying however much they like for music, a scheme which Radiohead tested out 10 years ago when they self-released album In Rainbows.
"It doesn’t work. Charge people. Make them pay," he said.
"Make a cross, draw a line in the sand. This is commerce, and that's charity. Once you get your money and all that stuff, then you can decide if you wanna do charity."
