Apple Buys EMI

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And the Beatles join the iTunes Store just in time for Saturday's iPad launch.

The deal... Just like with Apple's purchase of Lala, no hard numbers have been released. But both Citi and Terra Firma are happy. Citi gets its money back, and Guy Hands gets to save face, Terra Firma's covenant breaches become irrelevant, there's no need to raise and inject new capital and by selling to Jobs, et al, Hands gets to spin the concept that this was his plan all along.

Yes, the catalog license was just a ruse. Because, after all, everyone knows that Mr. Hands is smarter than Doug Morris and Mel Lewinter. Lucian Grainge? He's a glorified A&R guy with a bean counter mentality. Hands played the Universal boys like a fiddle. Do you really think he'd place the Fab Four's music in the hands of such charlatans? When he can put it in its rightful place, in the bosom of Steve Jobs, and see it live forever?


What we do know is Apple's got more of a future than major labels. Which is why the Cupertino company is smart enough to immediately close down new music development at EMI. It's about the catalog baby, unless you can stunt. Which is why Damian Kulash and OK Go are coming back. Yes, that was part of the deal, Jobs insisted. Upon launch of the 3G iPad, there will be a new OK Go video, to bump sales thirty days after the Wi-Fi launch. And, one year from now, when the 3-D iPad launches, the OK Go Rube Goldberg video will be free in 3-D for all purchasers. Along with a gratis copy of "Up" in 3-D.

A 3-D iPad?

3-D TV makes no sense. Sitting on the couch with those doofus glasses. But every 3-D iPad will come with WHITE glasses! Can you imagine the rage? Haven't heard from Kanye recently? That's because he's part of the 3-D iPad launch! He's going to promote the white glasses! Dr. Dre and Beats headphones? Come on. Monster compared to Apple? Iovine's no match for Jobs. Whatever happened to that Jimmy sponsored high quality sound for computers...go the way of SACD and DVD-A?

Anyway, despite turning EMI into a catalog company, there will be a road open into the new Apple-owned EMI (for the record, the EMI name will be dropped...no, it won't be called Apple Records, because of the Beatle conflict, the record company will just be another division of Apple Inc.) Apple has brokered a deal with SonicBids, wherein wannabes can submit music to be used in iPad promotions. One wonders how this works, because of the low quantity of music ultimately required and the vast number of submissions, but that hasn't stopped SonicBids in the past, so...

In other words, Apple will be in the new music business, but only for songs they can use to cross-promote Apple products. Furthermore, if you make a deal with Apple, you cannot tie in with any other company. Steve loves his walled garden. So, if you're contemplating a deal with Procter & Gamble, don't waste your time with SonicBids.

So what does this mean for music?

The story since the purchase of Lala has been cloud-based listening. But now that Apple owns not only the Beatles, but the Beach Boys and the Band (what Steve refers to as the "Three B's"), the company plans to drive down the price of music at the iTunes Store. Yes, within thirty days, every EMI track will be a dime. The major labels wanted higher prices?? Let them wrestle with LOWER prices! Yes, music will be a loss leader, all to sell iPads, iPods and iPhones. Everybody knows the money's in hardware. Furthermore, with streaming imminent, why not blow out MP3s? It took Universal ten years after Napster to drop the price of the CD to ten bucks? Apple can see that ownership is near extinction, they want to blow out product while they can.

As for the Beatles... They will only be available in Apple Lossless format. Yoko Ono insisted. It's a way of separating John from the legacy of Phil Spector, who famously wore that button "Back To Mono". By only making high quality files available, fidelity will be luscious, you won't get the compressed Wall of Sound and Phil can rot in jail, where Ono believes he belongs.

But, you say those lossless files take forever to download, they're bandwidth hogs!

Not Apple's problem. You pay for your Wi-Fi. And good luck downloading via AT&T on 3G, which is why Jobs will reveal the Verizon iPhone and iPads before the 3G model actually launches.

Controlling the music game, owning EMI and retail, forcing the other three major companies to play on his terms or die, Mr. Jobs is now moving into the touring sphere, where the majority of today's music money resides.

A deal has been brokered with Live Nation. With every concert ticket, you get a free download of the show within twenty four hours, IN VIDEO! Well, not every concert, just those acts controlled by Front Line. Yup, starts with the Eagles. Then Van Halen, who will be back on the road, although Valerie Bertinelli will not be singing backup, Perez Hilton's information is incorrect. Irving's plowing ahead with those acts who've collapsed all their rights and can make these deals. Yes, that was Terry McBride's concept, and his old charges the Barenaked Ladies, having a deal with EMI, will immediately make their concerts available on iPads too.

With so much power residing in Azoff and Rapino's empire, acts under contract to labels will clamor for their companies to grant iPad concert rights too. Soon, well, in two or three years, you know how slow the majors work, every concert ticket will come with a video. Expect audio first. You know how the majors like to dip their toes. Then again, Jobs has hired Hilary Rosen to whip the labels into shape, telling them this is the second coming, to get on board NOW, not to screw up like they did ten years ago.

Then, there's the true breakthrough. iPads at the show.

Yes, your iPad is your ticket. The screen will display a giant bar code. And this will thwart scalpers...like they're going to buy a boatload of iPads? Then again, just like acts scalp their own tickets, there's rumor of a back door deal between Azoff and Apple to do just this, sell discounted iPads to brokers, Azoff getting his money directly from Apple...

And once you've got your iPad at the gig, let the games begin!

Sure, you can tweet, and update your Facebook page. But, for an extra fee, you can get backstage video, every fan's true desire. For even more money, you get a personal greeting from the band member of your choice, to keep forever (or as long as your iPad works...) There's been talk of a further opportunity, one involving intimate involvement with performers after the show, but so far this has only been legally cleared in Nevada. Then again, Las Vegas is a burgeoning concert location.

Will iPads dominate at festivals?

Interesting question. Do you want Coachella Crud on your iPad? Or Stagecoach Schmutz? There's talk of a new device, much smaller, called the iWrist, but with such a small screen, it may be unworkable.

As for now, Steve Jobs illustrates his mercurial nature once again, doing the unexpected, swooping in and seizing an opportunity available to all, but making it work as a result of synergy. Yes, Microsoft kicked the tires. And Elevation Partners too. But Microsoft has got no hardware, no way to maximize the value. It made no sense for Ballmer to overpay. Sure, he could put Beatle pictures and music on Bing, but that's hard to truly monetize.

Palm's got the device, but no money and no traction. Bono and Paul McGuinness met with Guy Hands, but refused to put any of their own money into the deal. Guy told them U2 might be the biggest band in the world, but he couldn't sell the company on faith. As for trusting Roger McNamee...that just elicited a laugh.

As for Google... That was the reason for the Jobs/Schmidt summit last weekend (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=60029&tsp=1) One, it distracted the press from sniffing out the EMI deal. Two, it signaled a division of spoils, wherein Apple gets music and Google gets search. Like two Mafia bosses, they divided up the landscape. Then again, Google was worried about worldwide exploitation of the Beatles, the band is still seen as subversive in China.

So the major label era is finally finished.

Steve said there's no way he's paying "Hits". Indie promotion is truly history.

Rob Stringer is cock-blocked. Yes, he wanted to sell to Apple first, but his brother nixed the deal. Sir Howard still believes he can resurrect the moribund Sony brand. Ain't that a laugh. Although there is supposedly a PlayPad in development.

Lyor Cohen... That's why he's selling his townhouse. He knew, he's out. As for Edgar Bronfman, Jr....it's like that old Paul Simon song, "Something So Right"...

"When something goes wrong
I'm the first to admit it
I'm the first to admit it
But the last one to know..."

So it's Steve's world. We just live in it. All you Apple haters can either get on the bus or be left behind. Tech rules. And techies are smarter than music business people. Even hedge funders are smarter than music business people. Come on, can't you give Guy Hands credit, he played this beautifully!

(Note: Clive Calder was outbid for EMI by Apple, he saw no reason to pay so much, he had no synergy, but expect him to buy both Warner and Sony in the aftermath, which he will run on the cheap, with Billy Ocean as head of A&R.)

WORD OF MOUTH

Image via CrunchBase

First and foremost comes a good product.

Requiring no admission fee, no college degree, no qualifications whatsoever, the music business is peopled by hucksters, who employ myriad scams to get you to pay attention to their wares.

But it doesn't work.

Used to. Back when there was limited distribution, when bribing a deejay to play your song got you a leg up. But who buys music because it's got a high iTunes chart position? Sam Adams worked the system in order to get meetings with major labels. But then what? If they sign him, they might market and promote him, but that doesn't mean his music will sell. Because only good music sells.

Sucks, I know. Makes it much more difficult for you. You can't get any traction outside your family and friends. The system's rigged against you. Bullshit. If you were actually good, you'd blow up. We've got people surfing the Web 24/7 looking for good stuff, dying to tell their peeps about it.

In Wednesday's "Wall Street Journal" there's a story about Porter Airlines. I wouldn't have bothered to read it except for the fact that in Toronto, my ear was bent constantly about the carrier.

People waxed rhapsodic. The terminal was downtown-adjacent! The planes had leather seats! The flight attendants were all decked out like the sixties! There was a brand new terminal! And you only had to check in minutes before!

If Porter does any advertising, I'm clueless. But having heard the rap so much, I started spreading the word too. When Seymour Stein told me he was having trouble flying back to New York I asked him, had he tried Porter?

Porter is triumphing with a good product. And it's being sold by its users. Kind of like Google.

I remember the turning point. A phone call with a non-tech savvy friend about a decade ago. She was telling me about some Web-activity and referenced "Googling" something.

This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I'd been ignoring the search engine, I was a fan of HotBot, but now I had to try Google out, now that the hoi polloi were employing it. Hell, the hoi polloi could barely surf the Web. If Google gave them answers...

I switched to Google overnight.

But it gets better. Not only did I become a user, but a fan. I was thrilled when Apple installed the Google search window in the Safari toolbar. Yeah! It was like my favorite team scoring a touchdown. This is what people don't realize about Steve Jobs' company. We not only buy the products, we're believers. We're interested in everything Apple does. Kick the tires on new products? Shit, sometimes we buy them without even experiencing them first. Ergo, iPad pre-orders.

But it only works if you've got a killer product.

It starts with a track. And from that track, you can build a career. Just like the iPod got people to buy iPhones and Macs. Give someone a taste of an exquisite product, and they're on board.

And it's not about speed. Hell, the twenty first century is littered with products that were hits overnight and disappeared almost instantly. You've got to let the audience discover you. You've got to let people believe it's their choice. Shit, Apple is one cold computer company. But their stores are warm, the customer service is great. And this pays dividends.

Let's focus on service. Because the initial product is not the end of the relationship. Point is, you want a relationship. Dell's lame overseas customer service ended up decimating the company. Apple's made in America customer service gets people testifying. See the difference?

The music business has been about batting people over the head to sell them a product once. You bought it. It sucks? That's your problem. Furthermore, we rip you off at every turn. Just try getting a good concert ticket...what's up with that? Hell, the experience buying an airline ticket is better!

So focus on the music. There's nothing wrong with updating your Facebook page, tweeting away. But those elements are never going to make you. It's your music that's your calling card. And if your music is good enough, it will be embraced by fans and the word will be spread. No one sits at home waiting for their favorite song to come on the radio anymore... Shit, if you like something you can e-mail a friend the MP3, point to a YouTube page, there are many entry points for exposure.

You don't stand out because of the penumbra. Shit, even J. Lo lost her Sony gig. It's no longer how good you look, who you know, who you hang with... It's about the tunes.

Don't point out the exceptions. Those acts tend to be here today and gone tomorrow. Furthermore, this is a twenty first century change. When so much is available, when marketing is abhorred and tuned out, the only people we listen to are our friends. We trust them.

Marketing is the final step these days. It's about positioning. It's about imaging. Like those iPod billboards. They don't tell you much, they just remind you how hip the product is.

So don't bother attending marketing seminars. Don't listen to the major label tell you how it used to be. Just practice, practice, practice. Make something insanely great. And post it online. Hell, give it away for free. Because if it's really good, people will ultimately clamor around you to give you their money...for concert tickets, t-shits and signed CDs, even if they only listen to MP3s. Because believers need badges of honor. They want to evidence what's close to their hearts. It's the key to logos on clothing. Shit, no one wants to sport a JCPenney or Wal-Mart logo just like no one wants to help you sell your lame music. But Louis Vuitton?

And, in case you didn't know... That LV luggage lasts FOREVER!

The Apple Paradigm

Image by armintalic via Flickr

Insanely great products a handful of times a year.

Imagine if Apple introduced a product no one wanted. Something lame. And held a press conference every other week to trumpet its features.

Then you'd have the music business.

What's the lifespan of excitement on a laptop?

Certainly not a year. Maybe nine months at most. Which is why Apple updates them before they get long in the tooth. To drive excitement. To drive desire.

Want a new iPod?

You know there's going to be a new lineup in September.

Just like you know there's going to be a new iPhone in June.

Just like you know once every twenty four months or so, Steve Jobs is going to blow our minds with a whole new category.

In between these announcements? A dearth of information.

Well, not exactly, the minions online are constantly debating what's in the future, the same way we used to get excited about the coming albums of our favorite artists.

Instead, we now see these releases trumpeted in advance in magazines and newspapers. Singles are leaked. And when they stiff, new tracks are proffered. Then, an album comes out, with more music than anybody wants to listen to. And we're supposed to play this same damn album for two or three years until there's a new one, while the act goes on the road and cleans up. Huh?

First thing Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple a decade ago was trim the product line, to make it comprehensible.

Time for you to do the same thing. Only release great stuff. Until you're in such demand that people want the other stuff. And don't hype the other stuff the same way you do the great stuff. Maybe you sneak out the "album tracks" unannounced on your Website, for fans only. And, I hate to scare you, but album tracks are for fans only anymore anyway.

And either make yourself totally available or cloak yourself in secrecy. The latter works, especially if you're a happening/in demand act. No one foresaw the "In Rainbows" promotion. That was its genius, not the name your own price feature. How suddenly, there was a Website, and not that much more. The band didn't give interviews, the public went crazy and built the story.

Steve Jobs is bigger than any rock star. Not because he's better one on one, but because he seems to hover above us. Delivering what we don't even know we want, but makes us so happy. Like the Beatles with "Sgt. Pepper".

We laugh at Lady GaGa because she substitutes outfits for charisma. It's the gooey center we're interested in, not the wrapping. The twenty first century is not about flash, but substance. If you want to last.

GIRL CAN'T HELP IT

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There are so many things wrong with Sirius XM I don't know where to begin. But it all starts with the programming.

Distribution is king. But arrangements have already been made with all the car manufacturers. Sure, it's important to get on new platforms, but if Sirius XM is banking on its iPhone app for profitability, it might as well go bankrupt now.

XM used to be a cult. Millions strong, people frothed at the mouth when they discussed it. Did you hear this? That? Now, we hear too much of what we already know, which we've already heard. What kind of crazy screwed up service is it where there are a hundred plus stations and everybody complains they're hearing the same damn songs over and over again?

I tried to battle perception, to fight the tide, because despite its failings, Sirius XM is still my listening of choice in the car. I don't talk on the cell, I just want to bask in the music. But how many times can I hear Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy"? And the promos... They're just as bogus as what's on terrestrial radio, as if we need to be sold on the service, as if they're programming for theoretical aliens who've never heard music before. The stations are riddled with every radio cliche known to man. Exactly the crap that Lee Abrams excercised on XM. It's so jive.

Still, some of the XM stations are still brilliant. Like Deep Tracks. And the Loft. But Outlaw Country is a shadow of XM's X Country. And the regular country station is riddled with repeats. Worst is the Bridge. Even housewives like to have sex. Listen to the station, all the rough ends have been shorn off. I like soft rock, but when I hear the promos, I wince. I want surprises. Delivered by normal people, who believe in music, not research, who don't follow the trades, but spend time checking out music themselves.

And then I stumble upon something like "Girl Can't Help It".

They've neutered the decades channels. The same damn songs again and again. Nothing unknown, and ultimately, nothing unexpected. But then you hear something you don't know, or barely know, and you have that magic radio moment, when you feel like you want to point your car towards Reno, some destination unknown ten or twelve hours away, just so you can be alone in the car, listening to the radio.

Where do we want to begin with Journey?

Do we want to state it was a completely different band before Steve Perry joined? Or say that we hated the people who loved them? Or that so much of the music was meaningless?

Or do we just want to say that Steve Perry had an incredible voice?

One of my favorite Journey songs is a Steve Perry solo work, "Oh Sherrie". And I'll admit to even coming to like "Wheel In The Sky", "Any Way You Want It" and "Lights" in their heyday. But I threw out the "Escape" cassette someone gave me. I was afraid someone would see it in my glove box.

And then came the "Sopranos" finale.

Not much was happening. Everybody was having dinner. Maybe Tony was about to be clipped. All we know is there was tension. And playing over this creepy moment was a powerful, sunny song by a band we'd never align with the best TV series of the twenty first century. Then again, Tony did not have eclectic tastes. He was positively mainstream. He remembered his eighties heyday, getting high, driving along to the tunes. So, maybe "Don't Stop Believin'" was a perfect fit.

What we do know is overnight Journey became legitimized. Enough time had gone by for the haters to admit their guilty pleasure. We could all admit this was a damn powerful song. We didn't want to stop believing, in the power of great art like the "Sopranos", of powerful rock and roll like "Don't Stop Believin'".

So I'm about a mile from my house, pushing my satellite radio buttons. And I hear a somewhat familiar hook. I know I've heard it before, but I can't really place it. I look down at the radio readout to see it's Journey's "Girl Can't Help It". Huh?

The song keeps building. It's missing some of the perfection Clive Davis insists upon. But when the tension is released, it's exactly like coming. That's what a great record is, a sexual moment.

"Ooh, there's a fire in his eyes for you"

Who knows why you broke up. But you can't seem to get it back together. You'd talk about her more, but your friends are gonna avoid you if you do, and you need them to get through. Still, you lie awake at night, thinking only of her.

"And when he calls her
She tells him that she still cares"

That's the problem. You know it's going to hurt. But you can't help but try and connect. And the problem is the feeling is about as good as ever. But the conversation doesn't end up with you getting back together, but still apart, your guts ripped open once again.

"Girl can't help it, she needs more"

The curse of modern society. No one wants to settle, no one wants to get less than he deserves.

"Hasn't found what he's lookin' for"

He felt that when they broke up he would crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. But he didn't realize how much they truly shared, how hard it is to get that far with anybody.

"Ooh, nothing stands between love and you"

Except everything.

There are millions of members of the opposite sex. You're surrounded. But you feel positively alone, you're lonely. What to do?

Turn on the radio. Listen for that song that describes your plight.

And oftentimes, when the track's a hit, when you first love it, the words don't apply at all. And then, in your moment of despair, you rediscover it.

These are the moments I'm looking for. The unexpected. "Girl Can't Help It" is not a Sirius XM staple, I heard it at eleven p.m. on the west coast. There's no problem hearing "Don't Stop Believin'", but that won't get you through the night. You need something just for you. And radio, when done right, is just like that. A hot medium, where you get the impression you're the only listener extant, and the deejay is spinning the records just for you.

If Sirius XM is going to recover from its tailspin, it's going to be as a result of its programming. At this point, even Dell and HP make slick computers. But Apple triumphs because of the software. Not only the clean OS, but the built-in apps. Just open your ears, you can't avoid the cacophony of lemmings testifying. Satellite radio's throng was never quite as large, but it was just as rabid. But now it's like the Sculley era, the late eighties and early nineties in Macville, when only the true believers held on. Until Steve returned.

I'd say to bring back Lee Abrams.

Because to Lee, it wasn't about picking records, it was about a love for radio. The experience of tuning in and finding your one and only friend.


You can hear "Girl Can't Help It" by Googling it and clicking the LaLa button to play it.

Or you can go to YouTube to hear the same studio version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6mxYRwA0FI

Or, you can dial up this "live" take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoD-ex6LMwA

Yes, that's the dogg himself, Randy Jackson, playing the bass. Check the hair!

And yes, that's still Neal Schon on guitar, who started off with Carlos. As in Santana.

And fronting the band is the guy in tails, with the 80's 'do, Steve Perry.

But what you want to check out most is the crowd.

We used to have no problem pulling tens of thousands to the gig. When you didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to get in and the songs literally drove the culture.

"They're still standing in the rain
He can't help it, and she's just that way"

We're still waiting. We remember the power of music. We're waiting for it to come back. To be about the music as opposed to profits.

They're just that way. Like the bankers. Worrying how to make their nut, which has got many more zeros than that of the listeners.

Used to be the music was enough. To not only satiate the audience, but rain coin on the players and their handlers.

It's still enough.

We don't have a theft problem, we've got a music problem. What's the modern song that's going to end the "Sopranos"?

"Ooh, there's a fire in his eyes for you For you she cries Ooh do you know she still cries for you"

The businessmen don't talk about the music. And the players are either concerned how to break into the chart, get paid, or are so busy doing solely what they want that no one else can relate.

Still, right now, I don't give a shit.

Because when you listen to a song as great as "Girl Can't Help It", no matter how flawed it might be, its magic lifts you up from your seat, causes you twirl around the room like Stevie Nicks, makes you feel like it's JUST GREAT TO BE ALIVE!

Nickel & Dimin'

Image via Wikipedia

Ten cents to own the right to a permanent stream at 32kbps within cell range on your iPhone?

Why don't you charge me a nickel to see one hazy picture of a porn star clothed?

You've got to get over this per track nonsense. The money is in the bundle. Otherwise, HBO would let you buy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" by the episode instead of forcing you to subscribe to 24/7 service.

Just because in past history people bought by the track, do we have to use this paradigm in the future? Shit, ask a kid about long distance telephone charges. My dad would freak, DON'T CALL LONG DISTANCE! But on today's cell phones, long distance is FREE! And speaking of cell phones, they don't charge you by the call, they sell you buckets of minutes. And for the heavy consumer, there are all you can eat plans. But in the music business, we're doing backflips about the ability to rent one shitty track at a time?

You want people to make one big decision. To subscribe to music! To get everything!

That's the Spotify plan, the MOG plan, the Rhapsody and Napster plan.

And credit Spotify and Rhapsody for knowing it's about portability. Check landline profitability recently? People are disconnecting, you don't need a wired phone. You want to be free and easy on the cell. Just like you want your music everywhere. That's now the challenge.

And no hard drive yet available can hold the history of recorded music. Ditto on flash memory. So, it's about being able to hear what you want when you want.

The iTunes Store is a stopgap measure, a bridge between old and new, a way to legitimize the chaos. But if you think people are going to be buying by track in the future, you purchase one egg at a time, you record every TV show to VHS tape, hoarding episodes clueless that there's something called Hulu.

Music should be like water. You turn it on, you expect it to be there. Everybody has access, you don't hoard it, and you pay very little for it. Sure, you can buy bottled water, but that's like going to the concert. You can't go to see everybody you listen to, not if you're an avid music fan, but you still want to check things out, listen to new favorites.

We've got a switch to an attention economy.

Sure, rights holders should be paid.

But individual acts should be worried less about being paid than whether they're being listened to!

Spotify Premium allows you to permanently store in excess of 3,000 tracks on your iPhone. So if you're out of range, or you're bounced by AT&T's shitty service, you can still listen.

Haven't we come up with enough concepts that please rights holders that the public doesn't find interesting? Look to Sony, they SPECIALIZE IN THIS!

Empowerring Your Audience

Image by aulia.m via Flickr

Go to a gig and you'll see a plethora of attendees filming the event. Not only taking photos, but literally recording the gig.

Old acts want to employ a no-camera policy. They want to ban the users. Newbies tolerate it. Why not EMBRACE the audience's activity?

Why doesn't every band have a page for audience uploads? Pics AND clips? Allowing the fans themselves to vote on which ones are the best, which ones are worth viewing?

Of course, you host on YouTube and you embed on the artist's page. If Google can sway L.A. to host its e-mail in the cloud, why can't bands utilize the company's free services to their advantage? Flickr is a great resource too!

The point is we've got it all wrong. We're trying to tell the fans what to do, when they should be telling US what to do!

Did you read the story on Twitter in yesterday's "New York Times"? All its good ideas come from outside. Like search, hash tags and referencing people by using the @ symbol. The company decried some of these innovations, they didn't even want messages to be called "tweets". Then they realized they had it wrong, that they should be embracing third party innovation, not stifling it!

People want to share music. Rather than trying to stop this, copyright owners should make it easier. You want to e-mail someone the track? Let the band's site do it for you! And if the person you send the music to clicks a button on the e-mail, saying he actually likes the new cut, you get points, allowing you better seats at the gig or some other swag.

What, do we think we're going to prevent people from swapping music? If you believe this, you must not have any USB keys, which even come in credit card-sized promotional form these days. It's not about stopping trading, but INCREASING trading!

Eventful has got it right. An act should go where its fans want them to.

Fans want more access, not less. Where is fan access to music business executives? Ashton Kutcher and every musician known to man can tweet, but Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine can't? No wonder the business gets such a bad rap. If it's all about relationships, how about doing a spot of work, helping the cause? Believe me, hiding behind Mitch Bainwol will pay no dividends.

Speaking of Twitter, people like to tweet about tracks. Why not create a service easier than Blip, that allows people to hear what others tweet about? I should be able to tweet about a track, and if you want to check it out, all you've got to do is click the link. And I get the URL for the track from one central, easy to use database. Plug the name into a Google-type search engine and you IMMEDIATELY get a bit.ly shortened url for someone to hear the entire thing. This is better than radio promotion. You're getting people truly interested in the music checking it out right away. They're pulling it, you're not pushing it. And pull is where all the money is. It's just like Google AdWords. The people who click WANT TO BUY!

The fans want to hook up at the gig. Can't you make this easier? A special meeting station, with free wi-fi for iPhones. Believe me, you can get a sponsor to cough up the free wi-fi.

We've got it all wrong. We've been FIGHTING the customer instead of EMBRACING HIM! So worried about losing money, being unable to sustain the nineties model, we're closing the door to the future. The more you can get people excited about music, the more you can increase their access, the more money you ultimately make.

Sure, Twitter itself may not yet be profitable, but the tweets are evanescent. Music is not. Get someone hooked on an act, and they'll go see them live, buy merch, buy the music, whether it be the track outright or listening on a paid streaming service.

For over a decade, the technology's been more interesting than the music. Because music has been putting up barriers, refusing to play in the new world. This makes no sense. Instead of telling people how to use the music, let them tell US!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html