Bowie 'would not get time to be a hit in today's music industry'

David Bowie would have been dropped before he ever won global recognition in today's hyper-competitive music industry, according to Chic's Nile Rodgers, who said labels were failing to nurture unique talent and instead focusing on profit.

- Lanre Bakare

The songwriter and musician who co-produced Let's Dance with Bowie - which took him into the pop mainstream in the 1980s-said no modern label would have given Bowie time to produce a hit after his run of albums in the 70s, which had less success outside the UK despite critical acclaim.

"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 was speaking in front of a Commons select committee investigating the streaming economy and artist remuneration after it produced a landmark series of recommendations in 2021 which called for a "reset" across the industry to make streaming fairer for artists and songwriters.