Pete Waterman: Today’s music is disposable

Pete Waterman thinks music is "disposable" these days.
The 70-year-old record producer was behind some of the biggest acts of the 80s and 90s through his company Stocks Aitken Waterman, including the likes of Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, Bananarama, and Sinitta.
And the music maestro has hit out at the current trend in the industry for "narrowing" the market, and has accused streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify of only streaming "what’s popular".
He said: "The problem we have today is that music has become too disposable. Music wasn’t disposable back in the 80s, it was part of your life. The market now has narrowed incredibly. The music services only stream what is popular.
"Back then, you had 40 or 50 records in lots of genres [on the radio] but now, some of those genres are not getting attention. It’s just not possible. I love the accessibility of music now, but you have to research music, you have to look into it. And if you’re only going to look at the chart of that week and that’s your education of music, it’s going to be a poor education.
"It is purely down to someone else’s taste, and I don’t want my music to be somebody else’s taste."
And Pete believes British artists have no chance of standing up to the likes of American pop heavyweights such as Ariana Grande.
He added: "I’ve been in the record industry too long, I can see straight through it. I’m sorry, the British artists are not in the same league as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
"They have got more marketing, everything is so sewn up that it’s like Heinz versus diddly squat corner shop. You ain’t got a bloody chance. You can’t beat those corporate brands. They’re the only ones with the power, they’re the only ones whose television shows are global."
Despite this, the producer does believe pop music is "fantastic" at the moment.
Speaking to the Metro newspaper, he said: "It’s fantastic. I just think pop music at the moment is fantastic. I love playing some of the stuff… I love Rag n Bone Man, Chainsmokers, Martin Garrix, Dua Lipa… I think there’s some great records. Even the Rudimental James Arthur song, Olly Murs, I think that kid’s brilliant."