WASHINGTON, D.C.— T Bone Burnett fully understands what the Internet can do in terms of putting artists in touch with their fans. But he’s not buying into a distribution tool that “degrades” music.

In a keynote Monday at the 10th annual Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit, Burnett came off as an affable curmudgeon who sees current music-industry troubles as just a phase rather than a long-term decline (in the interests of full disclosure, the keynote was billed as Burnett “in conversation” with me, but I was there primarily to ask questions while Burnett did the majority of the opinion-spouting).