Ry Cooder: “Musicians now have to be corporate entertainment”

Musicians today are forced to be merely “corporate entertainment”, Ry Cooder claims in the new issue of Uncut, dated January 2014 and out now.

The guitarist and singer-songwriter says that the current state of the music business is “a tragedy”, as he discusses his career, the rise of Americana and his new boxset, 1970-1987.

“What made music great was the four-minute pop song and the care that people took to create something that had never existed before,” explains Cooder.

“The loss of that idea is terrible. Nowadays musicians have to be an exhibit for a lifestyle rather than telling people what they feel or think. It’s corporate entertainment.”

The new issue of Uncut, dated January 2014, is out now.

Picture: Susan Titelman