You can tell it is contract renegotiation time for music streamers, because the chorus of major label execs expressing opinions on the evils of free music is growing. Now Sony Music’s CEO has spoken out with surprising candor.

“Basically, I equate ‘free’ with the decline of the music business,” Sony Music CEO Doug Morris told Hits Daily Double. “Why should anyone pay for anything if they can get it for free? In certain instances, it’s worth a discussion. But in general, free is death.

Free has been way overdone, and the biggest culprit is YouTube, with their links to free sites. This has to be curbed if we’re going to have a successful business.

If there’s a subscription model that gives people what they want, it’ll work. I believe Jimmy Iovine will do well with Apple Beats; he knows how to market things brilliantly….They’ve got 850 million credit cards and $160 billion in the bank – that’s a good start.

Daniel Ek from Spotify deserves a tremendous amount of credit for pushing the rock up the hill. Everybody’s trying to find the magic key to open that box. But no one’s done it yet.” [Hypebot]