Kid Rock says iTunes is stingy

Kid Rock's fur not courtesy of ITunes
Kid Rock's fur not courtesy of ITunes

Some rockers like to give away their music for free. Not Kid Rock. In fact, he says iTunes won't pay him enough for his albums, and so he's withholding them from the digital music store.

"iTunes takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don't give it to the artists," he told the BBC. The musician, who is one of the remaining artists not signed up to the store, said that iTunes's royalty rates were based on "an old system."

Rock compared his beef with the company to the stories of musicians such as Otis Redding and Chuck Berry who, the singer claims, "never got paid."

By withholding his albums from iTunes, Rock estimated that he was losing 10 to 20 percentof overall sales, but he added that he wasn't "really feeling that blow." His latest album, Rock 'N' Roll Jesus, debuted at number one in America last year, despite not appearing on iTunes.

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.