Veteran rocker David Byrne has lashed out at the owners of music streaming websites, accusing them of paying a "pittance" to artists whose tracks they sell.

The former Talking Heads frontman insists services such as Spotify are stifling new talent by not passing on enough from their profits to help emerging acts survive.

In a blog post, published in U.K. newspaper The Guardian, he writes, "I could conceivably survive, as I don't rely on the pittance that comes my way from music streaming, as could (Thom) Yorke and some of the others. But up-and-coming artists don't have that advantage - some haven't got to the point where they can make a living on live performances and licensing, so what do they think of these services?...

"What's at stake is not so much the survival of artists like me, but that of emerging artists and those who have only a few records under their belts... Without new artists coming up, our future as a musical culture looks grim."