Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke says the music world should stop focussing on the past and should champion new music instead.
Yorke recalls being blown away the first time he heard Nirvana's seminal 1991 album Nevermind and realising Kurt Cobain and co were about to change the musical landscape.
With an industry that now seems reluctant to take a chance on newer artists, Yorke hopes something changes so that young musicians and music fans might experience the kind of bewilderment that came when Nirvana broke through in the 1990s.
He says tech billionaires who are buying up music catalogues should spend a fraction of that money backing new artists instead.
After receiving the Academy Fellowship Award at the 71st Ivor Novello Awards this week, Yorke tells BBC 6 Music: "I think it’s really interesting that the same people who have done all that are now speculating these old catalogues as things of value, like Picasso paintings that just sit in a vault, without realising that their entire economic model will expire unless they do a little bit of the old redistribution.
"For really not a lot of money, you can back an artist you really care about and see them through the early days.
"With not a lot of support, you can really let people grow and find their way. The truth of the matter is that you only learn through your mistakes. Nowadays you make one mistake and you’re toast."
Yorke adds that by taking a chance on new artists, the music business would give fans the opportunity to experience the thrill that Nirvana's breakthrough gave so many people.
He adds: "In the real world, people need to feel that an artist comes along every couple of years and goes, ‘Oh shit'.
"Like I remember when I first heard Nevermind and I was like, ‘OK, it’s on’. Every now and again you get that. That’s what I’m talking about."
Watch Yorke's interview with BBC 6 Music below.
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