Nile Rodgers says David Bowie wouldn’t have made it in modern music industry

Chic guitarist says streaming ‘has changed things considerably – and not for the better’

Chic guitarist and songwriter Nile Rodgers has claimed that no modern record label would have allowed David Bowie to blossom into a star due to financial pressures since the advent of streaming.

Rodgers was speaking in front of a House of Commons select committee investigating the streaming economy and artist remuneration, as NME reports.

While Rodgers acknowledged in the session that streaming music is an “amazing” technology, he took issue with “the business that surrounds streaming” which he says “has changed things considerably – and not for the better.”

“I’m 71 years old, I’ve been doing this for 50 years of my life,” Rodgers added. “In 50 years, you would have thought with the advent of all the new technologies, people like me would have a much better life, things would be easier, we’d all profit together, and that’s not the case. There’s something dreadfully wrong with that.”

Explaining how cut-throat the business has become, Rodgers said A&Rs were becoming less willing to spend time developing new acts, and cited his old friend and collaborator David Bowie as an example. Rodgers worked with Bowie on his 1983 album Let’s Dance, and pointed out that the late musician “paid for that album himself” after being “dropped” by label RCA following the release of 1980’s Scary Monsters.

Nile Rodgers and David Bowie (Getty)

“They gave him all that time to try and make a hit, he called me up and we made [Let’s Dance],” said Rodgers. “[The labels] took on this financial responsibility and they would carry the artists they believed in that at some point in time would finally break.

“Those days are truly over.”

Rodgers also revealed that he often referred to Bowie as “the Picasso of Rock and Roll” because “he was an absolute genius” but also because Bowie “hated” the nickname and Rodgers knew it would “piss him off”.

Earlier this year, Rodgers was moved to ask the Swiss Peoples’ Party (SVP) to desist from using a “soundalike” version of “We Are Family”, which he wrote and produced for Sister Sledge in 1979.

The right-wing political party released a campaign video on Monday titled “Das Isch d’SVP” (”That’s the SVP”), which allegedly uses the same melody for its chorus as Rodgers’s Seventies hit.

On X (formerly Twitter), Rodgers said: “I wrote ‘We Are Family’ to be the ultimate song about inclusion and diversity at all levels, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

“I condemn its use by the SVP (Swiss People’s party) or anyone else not keeping with the values of the song and all decent people. The purpose of the song is to bring joy to all with no exclusions!”