Creativity Quote by Peter Gabriel

Gabriel’s cynicism lands like a weary drumbeat from someone who’s watched the music business reinvent its excuses every decade. He isn’t railing against copyright; he’s mourning the way it keeps getting used as a blunt instrument instead of a workable social contract. “Healthy” is doing a lot of work here: copyright, in his framing, is less a moral entitlement than a practical nutrient for creators - something that keeps the ecosystem from collapsing into pure extraction. But the sigh comes in the next breath: “some of it has gone on forever.” That’s the tell. He’s pointing at the industry’s chronic condition, not a one-off scandal.

The intent reads as measured, almost tactical: stake out a moderate position so it can’t be dismissed as artist tantrum, then smuggle in the sharper critique. The subtext is that the system’s failures are structural and durable: rights get discussed loudly when corporations need them enforced, quietly when artists need them paid. Coming from Gabriel - an artist associated with experimentation, fairer artist treatment, and early engagement with new distribution models - the quote feels steeped in the post-Napster, streaming-era hangover, when “addressed properly” became a permanent promise.

What makes it work is the contrast between modest language and sweeping indictment. He’s not grandstanding; he’s diagnosing a loop: new technology, old contracts, delayed accountability. The cynicism isn’t defeatist so much as historically informed - a reminder that creators are always told reform is coming right after the next format war.