Edgar Bronfman hopes to detract attention from how poorly his label is doing

Warners' Edgar Bronfman Junior has been doing some thinking aloud about advertising-supported music. He doesn't like it:

Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said: "Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed.

"The 'get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price' strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future."

The funny thing is, while Bronfman was talking, the public was also holding a press conference:
"The 'ratchet up the price point and slather stuff in DRM, and hope that the public won't give up on legal music and go back to illegal stuff' strategy is not the kind of approach to listening to music online that we will be supporting in the future" said the public.

Bronfman has seen the future, and it's just full of people who aren't giving his company loads of money who are desperate to do so:

He said the focus would be on promoting streaming services that require payment, which he said could appeal beyond those who currently pay for downloads in stores such as Apple's iTunes.

"The number of potential subscribers dwarfs the number of people who are actually purchasing music on iTunes," Mr Bronfman said.

Well, yes. That's true. The number of people who fancy something to eat dwarfs the number of people who are currently getting organic veg boxes, but only a dreamer would picture a world in which everyone is waiting for a farmer to drop off a carton of muddy celeriac and two dozen leeks.

Edgar is just letting off steam. Presumably. He knows that if you take away the advert-supported services, you'll increase demand for non-supported services far faster than you'll persuade people to start handing over large sums for a subscription. I don't know for certain that Bronfman delivered his speech shortly after throwing a coin in a well, or once he'd blown out all the candles on a cake, but he's wishing, isn't he?

Spotify are just rolling their eyes and pulling a 'bless him' face:

To be clear WMG is not pulling out of Spotify. Media is taking things out of context. So don't worry-be happy :)

Of course he's not pulling out. Bronfman might be deluded, but he's not dangerously deluded.