At a lecture held at the Lowry theatre in honour of BBC DJ John Peel, who died in 2004, Townshend complained that support for new musical talent was being eroded by iTunes.
He questioned whether the type of music Peel championed could survive in the internet age and asked why Apple was not providing the services traditionally offered by record labels, such employing talent scouts and nurturing new musical artists.
"Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the Wild West internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire, like a digital Northern Rock, for its enormous commission?" he said.
