My real fascination is with Shatner. No one has ever accused him of being a terrific actor. Yet, next to Archie Bunker, James T. Kirk is probably the greatest character in television history. Shatner may have starred in more TV series than any other actor in history. Let’s see there was Star Trek, the animated version of Star Trek. Rescue 911, TJ Hooker, The Practice, Boston Legal, “Shit My Father Said” and Shatner’s Raw Nerve, currently on a cable network. He has written a series of books called Tek War that have been made into TV movies. That doesn’t mention the countless series appearances, such as his legendary spots on the Twilight Zone and dozens of movies. In the late 50′s he was viewed as the next dashing leading man. While he never really gained Paul Newman-type status, he has had a career that has spanned over 50 years. His career has been nothing short of phenomenal.

I had a chance to meet Shatner once. Back around 1975 he was doing a speaking tour. He played at my college and stopped by my television station for an interview. When he walked into the studio I realized that he was much smaller than I envisioned Captain Kirk. He was very trim and seemed to have something resembling a squirrel’s next on the top of his head. He basically proceeded to act like an asshole. This made me love him even more. Where did this guy, who hadn’t been on TV for nearly ten years get off acting like an asshole? After all HE said yes to an interview on a TV station that could only be seen in the cafeteria. Not exactly riding a hot streak.

That is the beauty of Shatner. He has no shame. He has made some of the worst records in the history of the recording industry. He had an album that was released back in the 70′s and was unintentionally hysterical. Here is a clip of “Rocket Man”…boy is he serious.

Somehow Ben Folds agreed to produce his album called “Has Been”. Last year he made “Seeking Major Tom”. I am sure Major Tom regrets ever being found. However, the lineup for this album contains rock legends such as Peter Frampton, Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Howe, John Wetton, Ian Pace, Lyle Lovett, Sheryl Crow and many others. Obviously they are Trekkies. I am sorry but I need to share this link of “Bohemian Rhapsody” with you. It is hysterical.

His commercial and artistic failures in the recording studio are practically legendary. Yet he continues. I have to hand it to him. He just does not give a shit. By all accounts he has a huge ego. I have heard that despite that, he is fun to be around because he has a great sense of humor. That trait was not obvious in last night’s performance. Shatner admits that George Takei (Sulu) does not like him. James Doohan (Scotty) went to his grave professing his dislike of Shatner and from all appearances, although being forever linked to Leonard Nimoy, their relationship seems to be tepid at best. I get the sense that Bill is just a pain in the ass. Still, somehow I love him.

I love his attitude. He can laugh at himself and the world he has created. He is self-effacing to the nth degree. His appearance on SNL where he tells his fans “to get a life” is amazing and pretty much tells us all we need to know about Shatner.

Shatner is a parody of himself. He has been roasted by Comedy Central and there are many comedians that do very credible impersonations of him. He laughs all the way to the bank. The best example of how Shatner has cashed in on his legacy is the Priceline.com commercials. There are lots of young people who mostly know him from those spots.

Last night’s show was horrible. It was comprised of anecdotes and film clips from his career. It started with appearances in his high school play, through McGill University, through a Shakespearean Company, to Star Trek and beyond. Instead of anticipated laughter in spots, he heard crickets. The best part of the show came when he told the audience to stay where they were and he would be back in 5 minutes. Usually there is not an intermission during a one man show. There was no scheduled intermission last night. The announcer in the theater stated that there were technical difficulties and that Mr. Shatner would return to the stage momentarily. In a few minutes Shatner returned stating that “technical difficulties can include a number of things. When you get older you will understand.” Did Shatner, who just turned 80, go the the Men’s Room in the middle of his own show? I have to admit I have never seen that. He came out and uneventfully completed the last 15 minutes of the show.

At the end of his performance he got a standing ovation from the crowd. Not for his performance last night, but for his entire career. He truly is one in a million. Canada’s greatest export since Gordie Howe. He is someone that has not gotten the true appreciation that he deserves. He could have been type cast as Captain Kirk. Practically none of the actors in the Star Trek series ever did anything else of note. There is just something about his carefree attitude and personality that makes you want to root for him. Is he a great actor or comedian? No. Is he an older, yet distinguished leading man? No. But there is something about him that keeps you coming back. Whatever it is, it is uniquely Shatner and we should be thankful that he is still around. You don’t need to go to the show, but you do need to understand what an icon Shatner is…if only in his own mind. It’s still nice to know he is there.

Last week I had an opportunity to see Jack’s Mannequin.  Jack’s Mannequin is essentially one guy, Andrew McMahon.  Prior to Jack’s Mannequin, Andrew fronted Something Corporate.  A credible, but pop-based rock band that has a very big “cult” following.  The truth is Andrew is one of the best songwriters we have today.  For sake of comparison, think Billy Joel, circa 1980.  Early in his career Billy got played at rock radio as well as Top 40 and Adult Contemporary.    He would release  rock songs that would be huge hits on rock radio.  But on each album he would have one or two “schlocky” songs that would cross over to become pop hits.  Songs like “Just the Way You Are” and “My Life” got some airplay on rock radio, but the staples of those formats were “Captain Jack”, “The Stranger”, “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”and “Only the Good Die Young”.  “It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Me” was Billy’s first #1 single.  That song was played on both album oriented radio as well as pop radio.  Prior to this, Billy was much more popular in New York and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic States.  Thanks mostly to radio stations like WLIR, WNEW, Philadelphia’s WMMR and WBAB in Billy’s home on Long Island. 

All this multi-format and especially Top 40 success enabled Billy to become a huge touring act.  He can still play arenas and stadiums throughout the country, nearly forty years since his first album for Columbia.  He also hasn’t recorded a pop album in nearly 20 years.  This is amazing and a tribute to strength of Billy as an artist. 

Andrew McMahon has managed to maintain his artistic  and indie credibility with his work in Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin  Due largely to the fact that despite a robust and excellent catalog of music, he has had nothing resembling a hit. Andrew’s music has never been especially successful at radio.  Not because the music isn’t good enough, but because it is much easier to reach the masses if you are an urban/pop artist.  This is mostly due to the fact that most major pop stations are in large markets.  Markets inhabited by a very diverse population.  The more diverse the population, the less likely you are to hear, for lack of a better term, white pop music.  The radio stations have to play to the broadest possible audience, so they need to find music that will appeal to an African American and Hispanic audience, as well as the whites. The Top 40 radio station audience is also predominantly females between the ages of 12-24 that can reach to 34, but not much older.   This obviously benefits the really teen acts like Bruno Mars,  outstanding female artists like Rihanna and others.  But leaves little room for a pop act that has found a home with college aged kids.  This was the audience that broke Billy Joel…30 years ago.

This audience really doesn’t listen to the radio.  There is just nothing for them to listen to on their local radio stations.  Mostly these fans have to find their music on line and through their friends.  In Jack’s Mannequin’s case, support from Twilight author Stephanie Meyer, who “directed” an early video for the band and lots of TV placements, has allowed the band to tour to sold out clubs in most markets.  Andrew’s fans know every word to every song he plays.  If there are more outlets for music like this, Jack’s Mannequin would be an arena act. 

Rock radio barely exists any longer.  Youtube is the new MTV.  But in order to see the new videos by your favorite artists, you have to know they are on Youtube.  “Swim” is the most viewed Jack’s Mannequin video, with just over 1 million views.  This is a fraction of what acts that get played on Top 40 radio typically see on their videos. 

So the question remains, are the radio consultants and program directors playing what they think people want to hear?  Or, do people come to like whatever these outlets play a lot?  I think it is the latter.  I believe  MTV proved my point, when just about anything that got played in heavy rotation on MTV, went onto sell tonnage.  If music is good, frequent rotation will breed the trends, as opposed to the other way around.

The same goes for artists that are essentially rock artists.  Ben Kweller is a very talented indie artist.  He plays clubs across the country and probably sells less than 100,000 albums.  He is a contemporary Jackson Browne.  In the 70′s and 80′s Browne and artists like Springsteen, Bob Seger and others had the benefit of airplay on rock and sometimes Top 40 radio.  Rock radio is nowhere near as impactful as it once was.  There are barely any major markets with current intensive rock or modern rock stations in their markets.  So, relatively no one will hear the new Bruce Springsteen single “We Take Care of Our Own” and even fewer people will hear new smaller artists like Ben Kweller, Brent Dennen and Amos Lee.  These are artists whose careers are being restricted by the demographics of the market place.  It is not all about radio.  However, it is still the #1 place people go to hear new music.  So as a result there are many, very talented young artists who toil in relative obscurity, who deserve so much more.  There is nothing glamorous about being a “rock star” these days.  Unless you like living on a bus or in a van.  Superstars stay in the Four Seasons and fly in private jets.  Everyone else sleeps on a bus, van or if they are lucky  a Super 8.

It just doesn’t seem fair that these very talented young people will have to work ten times harder than their predecessors and that the chance of them reaching superstar status are very slim.  I  hope something will occur to give this music and these artists the attention they deserve. 

The music business is always trying to find the next big thing. At present there is no real hope in sight. The market has become so diffuse and unfocused it is difficult to believe that even if the next “game changing” artist came along, they would be identified as such. The Grammy voters do not have a great track record for recognizing greatness in its early stages. One of the more historic screw-ups occurred in February of 1979, when Taste of Honey won Best New Artist on their strength of their chart-topping single “Boogie,Oogie Oogie. Unfortunately the Grammy voters failed to pick Elvis Costello over Taste of Honey that year. TOH was essentially history two years later, while Elvis is still going very strong. In 1980, Christopher Cross won 5 Grammys, even topping Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, a litle album called “The Wall” and Barbra Streisand for Best Album that year. Cross’s best recorded moment came with the theme from “Arthur”, which was written by the legendary team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David (probably not related to Larry). In 1966 “Winchester Cathedral” beat out “Eleanor Rigby”, “Good Vibrations”, “Last Train to Clarksville”, “Cherish” and “Monday, Monday” for best record. Who can forget Jethro Tull’s 1988 win in the Best Metal Performance category over Metallica. Huh? My favorite story is about Men At Work. I was at Columbia when we broke the band. They won Best New Artist in 1983 ahead of The Stray Cats, Jennifer Holliday and Asia. When lead singer Colin Hay gave his speech, he said “We are The Men, we will see you again”. He was wrong.

Winning a Grammy was so important that at one point a major label actually recorded an album using staff members as the artists. By appearing on the album and having the album released, each employee received a Grammy ballot next year. I just can’t imagine anyone going to those extremes to win an award this year. Last year’s broadcast was highlighted by Mumford & Sons, who probably benefited most in sales from the show. Their performance of “The Cave” moved the single from #108 on Itunes to #8. Still the actual sales numbers paled in comparison to past years, where winning albums or great performances could double the sales of an album overnight.

The Grammys is usually a pretty bad TV show. There have been some great moments in the past, but also some terrible ones. I remember seeing the Jonas Brothers (could their be whiter guys on the planet?) onstage with Stevie Wonder. One of the Joni got pretty much in Stevie’s face while they were singing “Superstition”. All I can remember thinking was that I was glad that Stevie couldn’t see this.

The problem is, where are the real superstars. This year’s show is loaded with contemporary names as well as iconic artists. But are there real superstars amongst the younger acts, or merely the best of what is around. Springsteen and the E Street Band, McCartney, Diana Krall, The Beach Boys, Bonnie Raitt and Tony Bennett have their places in history secured. Adele, maybe the only representative of the younger folks, that will likely be around in ten years. She will share the stage with Kelly Clarkson, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Foster the People, Maroon 5, Chris Brown and Rhianna among others. The biggest story here is whether or not this represents some sort of reconciliation between Brown and Rhianna. It is not that these artists are not great. But can they get through to the masses and gain the level of success that their predecessors have realized? They have the internet, and lots of media outlets. But there are so many things assaulting the senses of the public, that it is difficult to be anything but a niche artist. There was a time when if you had a #1 song, everyone knew it. Now, there are so many #1 songs, in so many genres that it takes a gigantic hit to span all the various demos. There is no video channel to hammer home the song 40 times a day. Radio stations don’t have the impact they once did. What will it take for Coldplay, Kelly Clarkson and Bruno Mars to make into the next decade? Even if they are the real deal, will we really be able to see enough of them or will we be busy doing other things? The public’s attention is so divided these days it makes it tougher, not easier to become a real icon. More often than ever before, they are here today and gone this afternoon.

So, in this media infested world that we live in, are the Grammys as important as they once were. No way. Is music as important as it once was? It is more important to more people than it ever has been. But, thanks to technology each person can live in their own world. If you like Mumford and Sons and bands like that, you can literally hear nothing but similar music and never hear the pop stuff. If you are a Top 40 person, you may never hear the biggest rock bands of the day, because they don’t cross over to pop radio. So, everyone lives in their own little world. The pie is bigger than ever, but there slices are minute.

In 1996 a law was passed that among other things eased restrictions of radio station ownership in markets. Previously there was a limit as to how many stations a broadcast company could own in a particular market. In 1996 those laws were relaxed. This action set in motion a number of events that has brought the radio industry to its knees. Major broadcast companies bought up their competition in markets across the country. Immediately the public’s ability to hear differing opinions on many things got cut in half. As radio stations were taken over, thousands of radio station employees lost their jobs. From a musical standpoint, the idea of having competing radio stations of a particular format all but disappeared. A big broadcast company would come in, buy up their competition and immediately change the format of one of the conflicting stations. This hurt artists because their records automatically got less airplay in many markets. Ticket sales dropped, album sales dropped and the hope of discovering new acts got more remote because the radio stations were allowed to be more conservative, because they had no competition.

It didn’t benefit the broadcasters all that much as it turns out. The changes in the media landscape drove advertising rates down and despite cutting thousands of heads, large radio corporations are finding it hard to survive. They are looking to other outlets for revenue sources. Also, since many radio stations now had no competition within their own format, their necessity to be “great” and consistently interesting was reduced. Broadcasters would refute this claim, but since the halcyon days of WNEW, WBCN, KSAN, KMET, and other iconic radio stations of old, are there many stations left that you would refer to as great. The real answer is they don’t have to be. They just have to be able to pay the bills. Why take chances, when playing it safe will assure that the PD and GM will keep their jobs for another year. It is human nature.

I had a chance to ask President Clinton once, why he supported that legislature. Now keep in mind, Clinton is an incredibly intelligent guy. I haven’t always agreed with his politics and certainly his conduct in office, but he is the smartest person I ever met. His response to my questions was that “we thought it would spur competition”. That is a load of bullshit. What he thought it would do would put money in his war chest and those of other Democrats running for office. Major broadcasters were eager to get this legislation passed. I am sure they did what they felt necessary to insure that this would happen. This is the way our political system works. The Supreme Court’s decision on political contributions a couple of years back will only make thing more corrupt. Super Pac ads will have a tremendous impact on the election of 2012. They are not really governed by anybody. You no longer hear “I approve of this message” at the end of many political advertisements. That is because, no one needs to approve what these ads say. It is open season on the politician and damn the truth.

We are in the midst of another Presidential Election cycle. You will see many artists doing benefits for the candidate of their choice. Since most artists seem to be a bit left of center (in more ways than one) Obama and the Democrats will reap most of the benefits.

But artists have been under fire for the last ten or twelve years. Where were their “friends” the politicians when they needed them most. When piracy was literally stealing money from their pockets. The politicians looked the other way. Nothing was done to stem the tide. I am not talking about Itunes, but about the many torrent sites that still exist. It has become easy to find a copy of your favorite artist’s new album on one of these sites, available for free download. I understand that this has become part of the marketing plan for many artists. The labels don’t appreciate it much, but since most of an act’s revenue comes from live performances as opposed to CD and digital sales, they don’t have a big problem in letting their fans get to hear their album early. It helps ticket sales. In the old days of the record industry this was done, but it was done in a controlled environment. It was called “lubing” the market. Getting some product, usually urban product into the market by giving it to the retailers for free. They would be eager to sell it, because it was pure profit and the music penetrated the market place quicker. But in the digital age it is out of anyone’s control. All the efforts to try to restrict these torrent sites seem to come from the labels. They handled it poorly. But the government never lifted a finger to stop the copyright infringements endured by the artist. Why was the government allowed to look the other way? Was the music business just to inconsequential to go to battle for?

This years election should prove very interesting. Many Democrats, are not at all happy with the work the current administration has done. Yes we can blame Congress to an extent, but The President made a lot of promises that he has not come remotely close to fulfilling. There are many artists that are not at all happy about the current state of the country. Bruce Springsteen is due to release his most “political” album to date. I doubt it will be complimentary to the administration. Yet musician after musician will continue to do benefit concerts for various candidates. Their honest hope is that their “guy” will get the country back on the right track. I don’t have a problem with benefit concerts. What I have a problem with is that the candidates take and take and take and don’t give anything back. They love to hang with rockstars, because it makes them feel like one. Famous people like the company of other famous people. But all they care about is getting in power. Putting their mark on history and finding ways to set themselves up for life financially. I wish that music was not being used to feed their greed.

I worked at Columbia until 2002.  At that time the label had raised the list price of top line acts to $18.98.  It was insane, but the logic as explained to me is that books cost over $20 and people only use them once.  People use CDs over and over again. 

We have essentially killed the era of the album.  Thanks to the ability to download a single track on iTunes there is relatively no one that downloads entire albums any more.  Look, this has been coming for a long time.  Even the format that used to be called “AOR” (album oriented radio) had stopped playing albums.  It had become a format that played one rock single from an album after another.  So, the concept of making a great album seemed outdated.  Anything but one great rock single was superfluous.  After the first single, everything was gravy. 

But to me the real nail in the coffin to the album format occurred about 12 years ago.  I am not well versed on the original agreement with iTunes. If someone knows more about this subject, please let me know.    But, whoever it was that allowed iTunes the ability to let users download individual tracks made an enormous mistake.  Greed was the motivating factor.  Some folks must have believed it would revive the practically non-existent singles medium at the time.  Instead they killed the album.  For people who are fans of “Hunt for Red October” it was the equivalent of when the Russian submarine commander fired a torpedo that was active at too close a range,  only to have it come back at him and blow up his own sub. 

A few acts have seen the light.  I have to give it to Kid Rock.  When his hit song “All Summer Long” was released it was unavailable on iTunes.  The only way I was able to get it was to actually go out and buy the CD of the album.  It may have been the last CD I bought at a retail outlet.  There also was only one good song on it.  Kid Rock sold millions of albums, because this was a great song.  The song is now available on iTunes, but because it was unavailable in its normal lifespan he sold albums, not singles.  Justin Bieber, and other “Tween” acts don’t sell anywhere the number of albums they would sell, if their singles were unavailable for download.  It has cost Bieber millions. 

When iTunes came along the industry should have had the vision to realize what a threat it was to the business.  I don’t claim to be a genius, but I remember after seeing it for the first time telling Jim Guerinot and another friend Peter Baron, that we’re done.  I turned out to be more of a visionary than I ever imagined.

The proper strategy (easy to say in hindsight) would have been to set the price of digital album downloads  at $3.99 or $4.99.  Then, reduce the price of CDS to $10.99 (which is what they were selling for at places like Tower).  The digital era would have evolved even quicker and by now the digital market would probably be something like 80% of the market or more, not where it currently sits. 

If the market became nearly all digital and the album had retained its integrity, we would not be in the shape we are in now.  People would not be buying CD singles for $2.99 or more when they could download an entire album for $3.99.  There will always be piracy, but if the music was cheap enough the impact would have been less significant.  How many people would have preferred to buy a digital download of an album for $3.99 as opposed to “stealing it” for free?   Some would have preferred to steal it, but more would have  be willing to pay to keep their conscience clean and to avoid the viruses that often came with tracks downloaded from services like Kazaa and Napster. 

I come across many young artists interested in self-releasing their first album.  I tell them not to waste the money.   It can easily  cost between $2500 and  $5,000  a track to get a well-known rock producer to work on your album.  How many new artists have ten great songs.  The answer is zero!!  If they are really good, maybe they have two or three.  Only one artist I have worked with over the last few years, Megan McCormick, had enough quality material to make an album.  A label agreed and she got signed.  But most often there is one track that is good or even great and then a lot of other stuff that is just okay.

If I ruled the music world, I would stop making big money deals for any acts.   Major labels are unnecessarily paying extraordinary amounts of money to produce albums.  Producers have two costs.  One for labels and one for people self-releasing.  Labels should pay producers less, lower the price of albums and stop making CDs.  That may be the only way to get control of their music again. 

If there is ever a chance to re-do the deal with iTunes someone with enough courage needs to rollback the deal.  iTunes is likely going to head into a death spiral when streaming becomes the way of the world.  Once more people are mobile with services like Spotify there won’t be a reason to download anything from iTunes.  So, ultimately it will die, if it does not evolve into a streaming service.  Why not just hasten its demise?

I don’t buy into the current thinking that the record industry has hit bottom and is rebounding. Based on this year’s numbers the industry rebounded slightly.   I think there were just a couple of artists who made extraordinary albums, such as Adele, that helped the numbers.  In general, the CD is dying and so is the heart of the label business. I also believe that in just the same way that the government “spins” the unemployment numbers the music industry has “spun” the numbers on this year’s sales.

If the industry as a whole is not ready to bury the CD, it needs to reduce prices drastically.  They need to sell music very cheaply.  This Christmas I actually saw the prices of major acts on iTunes actually going up.  This makes absolutely no sense to me. 

If there is any chance of surviving, the major labels have to get costs under control.  Ridiculously exorbitant salaries are still being paid to execs whose labels lose hundreds of millions of dollar each year.  How can you justify that?  Outside of one or two guys, is there any head of a label that could or should not be replaced. You can easily hire someone at a fraction of the salary, to do the same job or perhaps even better. 

One of the reasons why some of the “old school” label heads could justify their salaries was because they could actually relate to the artists on their label.  Ask artists on Columbia when they last had a pleasant night out with Steve Barnett. The personal and creative aspect of a label heads job was at one time essential to the success of the label.   Don Ienner knew how to get the most out of the acts on Columbia.  There are a number of acts who were forced to go back in the studio to make better a better album.  Train is a perfect example.  “Drops of Jupter” a Grammy-winning song, was not on the band’s second album when it was delivered.  The band complained and even threatened to leave the label, but eventually they went back in the studio and wrote the song that literally saved their career. There are similar stories involving Mo, Clive and others.  Outside of one or two label heads that have great relationships with their artists and can motivate them to make better music, there is no one capable of doing this anymore.  So, as a result, people have jobs as label heads because they are good at cutting costs, not making music. 

So, if you eliminate the excesses in production costs, senior executive salaries and expenses you might have a fighting chance to reduce the price of music.  Some label heads still fly on private planes.  If your company is losing $100 million dollar a year, is there a really a reason that the Chairman  of the label get anywhere fast and in luxury.  He can still lose that much money and fly commercial.  I don’t know how many execs still have car services taking them to and from work.  Would the experience of taking the subway to work again be too much for a Chairman to endure?  Cut expenses not jobs.  The marketing and promotion jobs are still critical to the success of projects.  But you need to give the staff money to work with. 

To this point labels are trying to make a profit by maintaining the price of music, maintaining the lifestyles of senior management and cutting heads when they have to. They are banking that they can stem the tide long enough to get back to the point where they make a profit.   It is totally the wrong approach. 

Back when the industry was very profitable, senior executive salaries were a fraction of what they are now.  Labels were a haven for creativity and the people who worked there were not in it for the money.  Somehow that changed in the 90′s.  It was fine at the time, because we were making record profits.  But now it is time to rollback the clock to the 70′s financially and creatively.  Hire creative people, not people who are in it for the money.  Hire people who love the music and the artists, not the lifestyle.  Find artists who are stars, not executives who believe they are the stars. 

Now you need to understand “Mickey”. He is a huge baby. Not that he is not tough, but he is essentially a 95 pound lapdog. He has several rituals that he observes daily. One of them is that he barks and spins around when he sees the food bowls being put down on the floor as he is being fed. Not seeing that the first morning was a sign that something was going on. Another one of his daily routines is that he spends about 15 minutes on the end of our bed just before we all fall asleep. When he is ready to go to sleep, he moves over to the floor on my side of the bed. Where he remains for the night. Every morning around 6 he climbs on the bed and squeezes in between my wife and I. He just lays there and essentially wants to cuddle with us. He does this almost every single day. So to say “Mickey” is like a member of the family, really doesn’t do the relationship justice. His personality is bigger than life and not having him in our bedroom that first night felt weird.

About 11:00 the phone rang. Our vet called. He decided to stop back to check on “Mickey”, because he just wasn’t crazy about the way he looked when he left. He felt something was going on and that needed to go to Oradell Animal Hospital. Oradell Animal Hospital, is a larger hospital nearby, with round the clock care available. Mary Beth and I raced to get our clothes on and hurried to MIckey’s side.

When we got to our Vet’s office, “Mickey” was lying on the ground, very listless. He had an intravenous drip in his leg, but his color was almost white. Something clearly was not right. Our Vet and his girlfriend were definitely going above and beyond the call of duty to be there. Probably not the best date she ever had.

At OAH (Oradell Animal Hospital)we got a very young doctor. Oddly enough, almost all the doctors and technicians in the hospital were young women. I am not sure why men don’t want to go into the field. If you are a young guy and love animals and want to meet women, I highly recommend going to Veterinary college. Anyway, our doctor was a young woman, who quickly identified by an X-ray that Mickey had fluid around his heart. There are a couple of causes of this, but unfortunately one is HSA. Usually seen in very old dogs and “Mickey” is not even 6. Hopefully, there was another reason…less serious.

After a couple of hours we left, hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. We got a call early the next morning from the Cardiologist at the hospital with the horrible diagnosis. Literally, he could pass away any moment. But our plan was to get him stable and get him back home. With a little luck, we can have him for a couple of months. But it could be a couple of days.

Those of you who don’t have dogs may not be able to relate. But a great dog is like a great best friend. Mickey is just such a dog. I grew up with dogs. My parents bred English Setters, Poodles and Bichon Frises. All good breeds and we had some good dogs. But, there is nothing like a Golden Retriever. Mickey, is also an extraordinary Golden. The technicians at the hospital and “Mickey’s” cardiologist fell in love with “Mick”. The doctor made a point of telling me his staff was paying way more attention to “Mickey” than they were to the other dogs in the ward. One of the technicians told us that “Mickey had a lot of girlfriends in the back”. He is that kind of dog. You are immediately drawn to him. Despite his size, his face and smile say, “come over here and play with me”. I realized when he was in the hospital for a couple of days, what a huge presence he is. He has a huge personality. He enters a room like Kramer. Things just light up when he arrives. It was just too quiet was he was gone. It will be very, very difficult, when he is gone for good.

Hearing this news was like being punched in the gut. My whole family is heartbroken. We have him back and we are enjoying having him for as long as we do. Yesterday morning he climbed up into bed with my wife and I. Remember he is 95 pounds, but as always he found a very gentle way to squeeze his way in between us. He seemed to linger a little longer than usual. He seems to strut around the backyard with just a little bit more resolute. He seems to be taking everything in, for just one last time..I realized when he was in the hospital for a couple of days, what a huge presence he is. He has a huge personality. He enters a room like Kramer. Things just light up when he arrives. It was just too quiet was he was gone. It will be very, very difficult, when he is gone for good.

As I said Goldens are special dogs. Unfortunately, they have been closely bred and the breed has issues with Cancer. Our breeder in particular seems to have a reputation for having their dogs die young. We had another dog from Gold Rush (our breeder) and he died of essentially the same disease. He was not old, almost 8…but who would have thought we could have such bad luck twice. Gold Rush dogs have phenomenal personalities and they are also very beautiful. I felt it was worth the chance. But as much as I love their dogs, I can never buy another dog from them. It is just too heartbreaking.

Again, if you are not a dog lover, it is probably impossible to relate to this. But, I work from home and I probably see my dogs more than I see anyone else. They are constant companions. They can’t talk (which is a good thing), but you definitely know what they are thinking. They make good days better and bad days tolerable. Unfortunately, dogs in general and these dogs in particular, live just long enough to break your heart. We love having him home for us, as long as we can. My wife is planning an Irish Wake for him, so all his human friends can come visit one more time. On Facebook, my profile picture is of Mickey and I. Mickey is the handsome one.

But these are the ones we care about. They are amazing artists and they enrich our lives with their skill. For 40 out of the last 50 years there has been a relatively clear cut path to success in the music business. Provided you are an extraordinary talent. You make a demo tape. Find a manager with vision and connections and a lawyer that can assist your manager in making a deal. There would be a series of showcases and if you caught the interest of the record label you would have a major label deal. The money was significant. A decent deal involved a signing advance of a few hundred thousand dollars. There would be a good deal of money in the budget for the album. If you ran over a little, no big deal. If you were lucky enough to be a priority on a major label there would be a publishing advance well into six figures. If there were four players in the band, there would probably be enough money to live on for several years. If you were a solo act…a little longer.

If you were a “priority” for a major label, it would not be unusual for the label to spend several hundred thousand dollars or more to promote and market the album. This involved underwriting your tours, imaging your act and making sure they did their best to get it played on the radio and on MTV. If you had talent and sometimes if you didn’t, it was enough to launch your career. Many of the current acts touring, no longer have record deals, but they are surviving on the momentum they gained when they were on a major label. When they had behind them pulling the right strings and spending money on their behalf.

With the exception of Pop or Urban acts, it is totally different. This part of the music business has not changed nearly as much as music that, for lack of a better term is called “Rock”. Major labels sign hardly any “Rock” acts, unless they have been successful in other territories. There are always exceptions. The Avett Brothers is one such exception. These guys made several independent records before any major labels paid attention. Columbia signed them, hooked them up with the legendary Rick Rubin and they had an extremely successful record. This is an anomaly and these guys are great and have paid their dues.

For the most part, if you are a “Rock” act you are looking at a deal on an independent label, or self-releasing your record. I frequently hear it said that the digital age makes it easier for artists. They can get their music directly to their fans without any gatekeepers. This is a romantic notion. You can put out a record, but if people don’t know it is out, it won’t matter.

It has been suggested by many that the music business is in a death spiral. It has been there before. In the late 70′s and early 80′s record sales were slowing down. Radio stations, which were the driving force of the industry at that time limited their playlists. There was less new music on the air. It was getting more difficult to get exposure as a new artist. I guess it could be said there was a shortage of great talent. There was no new musical trend. The punk rock era was winding down and nothing had come along to take its place yet. Then along came MTV. MTV coupled with the birth of the CD, changed everything. Everyone was dumping their vinyl and buying CDs of their favorite albums, because they were supposed to sound better. Catalog sales were a huge part of every labels profits. Especially for labels such as Columbia, Atlantic and Warner, who had deep catalogs. These profits covered-up a lot of mistakes.

Kids were watching MTV constantly. Even bands without faces like AHA became huge stars for a while, because they made one great video. Imaging suddenly became more important than anything. You couldn’t just be a great singer, you had to be good looking too. Sales for new artists were going through the roof. Why? Because there were no old video clips. All MTV played was new music. The public was fed a steady diet of new music and they ate it up.

At the same time, the largest radio consultant, Lee Abrams instructed his programmers to play 80% current music. That was a bold contrast the the 40% or 50% that they were previously playing. This fed the machine and new artist were popping like zits on the back of a steroid user. It was a great time to be a new artist. But MTV ran into problems. People were using MTV like a radio station and switching off when something they didn’t like was on the air. It was made easier with the increased penetration of cable TV and the fact that a remote control came with every cable box. People could change the channels without even getting up. The era of the soundbite was invented. It is not often discussed, but the arrival of a remote control in households changed our culture. MTV realized that they needed to change their programming from video clips to long-form shows in order to survive. Despite the fact that they revolutionized our culture, MTV had crumby ratings. It was time to talk about changing MTV. I was there at the time and was involved in MTV evolving from a “Music Channel” into a “Lifestyle Channel”. It took a minute, but it worked. Ratings improved and more importantly so did revenue. The biggest tool in marketing and breaking records disappeared.

Only superstars seem to get played on MTV now. Youtube is the main place where people see new videos. The catch is you need to get people to go to go to Youtube to find your video. It is hard to do. Chevelle’s “Face to the Floor” is the #1 track on Active Rock radio. Can you sing the song? Can you 20 year old son? Probably not. Because in 2 months only 353,000 have viewed the video. Despite the fact that it is a good song it has not penetrated the market as much as it would have 15 years ago. As a rule fans of rock music don’t spend a lot of time on Youtube. Justin Bieber fans do. But that is because they can’t drive and texting and surfing the net is a full-time job for them. This is the crowd that gave us Roberta Black. Not because she was so talented. Somehow her video achieved critical mass. Most of the kids that commented were making fun of the video. They loved to hate her and couldn’t figure out why the video was being viewed by so many people. I have to agree with them.

It is incredibly hard to get noticed if you are a rock-based act. Unless you have something truly unique, like Atomic Tom’s video shot on the subway using their IPhones, don’t expect too much. Videos aren’t the answer for you. You need to write amazing songs. Not good songs. AMAZING SONGS. The bar has been raised. Your music has to be terrific just to get traction.

If you haven’t carefully honed your performance skills, you have a major problem. Singing in front of your mirror using your hairbrush for a microphone doesn’t get it done. You need to play before live people as often as you can. Unless your are a great live act, it will be hard to get any traction at all.
You need to market yourself through the internet vigorously. You need to do it, because everyone else is. Even the folks without talent.

Talk to your audience. Let them know who you are. Too many acts write, something like “we’re in Phoenix tonight, come out and see us”. Really, unless you are a hardcore fan, who gives a hoot. Use Twitter to let people find out WHO YOU ARE. Not just what you are doing; but what you are thinking. Make sure you have a distinct image and know who you are.

Once you have great songs and a great live act and have worked your fingers to the bone and spent hundreds of hours on the internet you have to make sure you know your audience. You need to find out what they are doing. What sites do they visit? What other artists do they like? How do they spend their time? Are they gamers? Are they on Spotify, Pandora or another streaming service. Most importantly, how do they want to be talked to? You have to go to them. Don’t expect them to find you. It is hard work.

I have just noted some of the fundamentals. Most of all, it takes money. Make sure you find the right people to work with you. If you are a young act without a significant following, it will be very difficult to find someone who knows what they are doing to work with you. In the past, a manager could work for six months and start making money if they chose the right act. Now it takes years, regardless of how talented the act is. I don’t know any established managers who will work for free for two or three years. Find the money and find the right people to work with you. It will save you time and heartache. Hiring your friend, who seems to know what he is doing, hardly ever works. Find and hire a pro. It will pay off in the end.

Most of all, live in reality. Make sure you are really as good as you think you are. Don’t kid yourself. Don’t trust your friends who tell you that you are a rock star. Find people who know what they are doing to give you an objective opinion. Being honest with yourself. It can save your years of frustration and heartache and tons of money and relationships.

The main problem is that the bar has been raised so high that many of the best talent gets frustrated. Be prepared for what lies ahead. Don’t just say “I can take whatever is dished out”. Make sure you know what that means. Many years ago, when he was just 17, a friend of mine wrote a song for his debut album called “Only the Strong Survive Rock ‘n’ Roll”. It seemed like a cliche at the time. But it is more true now than ever before. Today, that guy is the front man for Lynyrd Skynyrd. He survived, so can you.

On Friday, Dave Marsh, who is arguably the #1 rock critic and historian in the world invited me to sit in with him and my good friend and partner in crime, Paul Rappaport on Dave’s show on the E-Street Band channel on Sirius/XM. Dave has written books about Bruce and has been his friend for several decades. I’ve known Dave for close to 30 years and Rap for even more. Basically we all sat around and told stories about our experiences working with Bruce and promoting his music while I was at Columbia. Rap worked with Bruce at the very beginning. When I came along he was already a star, but about to become a superstar. It is stuff I never speak about…certainly not in public. The main reason I don’t is that people, especially people outside of the music industry wouldn’t believe it. You really can’t work “so Bruce came to my going away party, into conversations. So, it was fun to talk about some of our experiences.

After the show we had what amounted to a nearly four hour lunch. We spoke about music and politics. Dave, who is somewhere left of Hillary Clinton usually has a much more liberal slant on things than I do. I am not a conservative by any means. I guess I would describe myself as independent and moderate. What I discovered is that Dave and I were pretty much directly in step with our opinions of what is going on in the world right now. I voted for Obama and I am hugely disappointed. Dave voted for Barack also, and to say he is disappointed is an understatement. That is probably another blog on its own.

On Saturday, I was inducted into the Hall of Fame for my college radio station, WRHU. My college has had a cast of luminaries that worked there while in college. Mike Harrison, Dan Ingram, John DeBella, Lisa Glassberg, local long-time DJ, Ralph Tortora and many more. It was good to see some old friends again to to speak to the new members of the WRHU staff. It has changed a great deal from when I attended. I got a chance to listen to the station while they were announcing a Hofstra basketball game as well as an Islander game (which the station broadcasts). I realized how much better these guys were than I was when I was on the air.

On Sunday, myself and many of my Columbia comrades said goodbye to a great music man. This is a term that is too often used, but truly describes Don DeVito. Don passed a couple of weeks ago after a long bout with prostate cancer. His family rented out the Music Hall of Williamsburg and 250 friends and family members showed up to celebrate Don’s life. Billy Joel performed Miami 2017 (one of Don’s favorite Billy Joel songs), Rosanne Cash and her husband John Leventhal performed “Seventh Avenue”. Aerosmith was in Osaka a couple of nights ago and filmed a tribute to Don. Don’s son and some of his friends performed as well. They were great. Dozens of people spoke.

Don worked at Columbia Records for his entire career, which spread over 40 plus years. Impossible in today’s world. He was practically a member of the Byrds. He was closer to Dylan than anyone at the label. In fact he convinced Bob to return to Columbia after his momentary indiscretion with David Geffen’s label. The fist album he did upon his return was “Blood On the Tracks”. Don also was very close to Billy Joel, Aerosmith and many others. One of the speakers said Don was probably the only person he knew in the record business, that never had a bad word said about him. Very true.

Once again Paul Rappaport was there and broke up several times when he spoke. He got most emotional when he spoke of his “Family on the 12th Floor”. Columbia’s offices were on the 12th floor of Black Rock for many years before moving to the Sony building. It definitely felt like a family. Sure, we didn’t necessarily love each other all the time, but we felt we were in a fight together. To expose the world to something only we knew about. To take a family secret and let the world in on it. Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Alice In Chains and many other acts were these secrets. It felt good to know we were right. That was what was the most fun.

What struck me during the speeches was the difference between the music business today and the not so distant past. DeVito loved the music above anything else. We all did. None of the people that worked in the music business when I was in my 20′s 30′s and 40′s got into the business to make a lot of money. We got into it because we loved the music and the artists. We loved that the artists were eccentric. So were we. I have long noticed that the average person who lives in my town and other friends are very different than me. They had other pressing worries. They are grown-ups. My concerns were centered around the fact that I wanted to make sure that whatever project on which I was working on would be as successful as possible. Will I launch a career or bury it? Will a young kid have his dreams dashed. Will I be able to keep acts like Bruce, Pink Floyd, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp and Alice and Chains among others…on a roll. Will I do something to fuck it up? I don’t ever remember thinking about money. It was a commitment to the music and to the artists that drove me.

I don’t sense that is the case anymore in the music business. Sometime during the 90′s a new crop of executives came on the scene. Today they would be called Hipsters. They had to like the “right” music, dress in the “right clothes”, like the “right movies” and eat lots of sushi. It was all about the scene and their place in it. They claimed to love the artists. But what they really loved was jumping on the right bandwagon. They worked hard at politicking. They knew when to jump on the bandwagon and they knew even better when to jump off. Everything was about the preservation of their career and how much money they could earn.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved the money as much as anyone. But I saw it more as a perk than the reason why I worked at Columbia Records. I really cared about the music and the artists first. Most of the people I worked with felt this way. It is also probably why I never achieved my goal of being a record label president. I never liked playing politics. I was never really good at it. I was more concerned about doing my job than anything else. I figured if I did my job well, I would eventually achieve my goals. It doesn’t work like that. You have to kiss the right asses and make sure you get the people who threatened you out of the way. It was more important to get your rivals “voted off the island” than it was to be right.

The “men in charge” that have followed have a different goal than I. They first have to worry about surviving. The economics are such that they cannot be wrong. One major failure and they will be on the street. It must be more cutthroat now than it was back then. The stakes are much higher. If you lose a job now, you probably won’t find another.

The music has suffered as a result. The public is being deprived of real artists. You don’t see labels signing artists like Bruce, Dylan or Jeff Buckley anymore. By necessity they need to sign artists that will be successful quickly. There is just not enough money to go around. Bruce’s first records sold less than 100,000 each in their first year. Billy Joel almost got dropped after his second album on Columbia. Aerosmith almost got dropped before their first record was released. DeVito saved them. When Jeff Buckley was signed, his potential was realized, but we all knew it would take a minute. A minute we never were able to experience. But these acts were signed for the long term. There was a belief in the artists both as people and as a commodities. But there was an understanding that they would have to be nurtured. That understanding no longer exists. There is just no time.

Labels need quick results. So as a result we get Lady GaGa, Justin Bieber and the rest of the current crop of stars. We get POP STARS!!! “Not that there is anything wrong with that”. The problem is the soul has been taken out of the business. It is about money and ego and little else. It is no one’s fault. It is just the world we live in. There is nothing we will be able to do to change it. Unfortunately, most of our best talent will go unnoticed by the masses. They just will never get to hear them. It is truly our loss, because there are lots of talented young artists making very good music, that no one will hear.

I have gone the long way around in reaching the conclusion that the generation of music people that proceeded myself are leaving us every day. These were special people who came along at a unique time in history. Don DeVito was one of the most special of these people. Their timing and their talent allowed music in this country particularly to reach startling heights in artistry. Heights that I fear we will never again achieve.

So this weekend was a real look back for me. I don’t feel that I am just an elder statesman lamenting over his lost youth. There has been a cataclysmic shift in the core of the music business. I hope I am wrong. I hope in someway we can regain the innocence that allowed us to succeed. That allowed us to take chances without worrying about making mistakes. I am not sure it is possible. But I am holding out hope.

I can’t believe it, but I found myself agreeing with with both Rick Santorum (long shot republican candidate for POTUS) and Sarah Palin (sexy but whacky former governor of Alaska). Santorum says that Penn State should not be allowed to participate in a bowl game. Palin says, that is not fair to the players, who obviously did nothing wrong.

They are actually both right. Penn State needs to be sanctioned for the actions of their coaching staff and college leaders. Should the NCAA grant them a bowl bid, Penn State should be forced to make zero profit from the event. Instead, every penny of revenue should go directly to a charity that deals with child abuse. Also, the children who have been identified in the Sandusky scandal should receive large, direct payments from the University. The school will bear all the expenses of travel and preparation for the game. By doing this, some good may come out of this tragedy. It was odd with 107,000 people in attendance at the game on Saturday that only around $20,000 in cash was raised on behalf of the children involved. What the hell is wrong with the people who went to this game? Confirming to me that Happy Valley is code for “strange place”.

Paterno’s life is over. He is 84 and I seriously doubt he can physically hold up under the pressure. He will be stripped of every award that was coming his way. The NCAA has already removed his name from their trophy. He will be the target of multiple civil suits. For a man who is obviously proud of his reputation, this will be too much to bear. Apparently, he switched the ownership of his home to his wife several months ago. Probably just a coincidence, but a lucky one for the Paterno family.

Last night it was reported that there is a law in Pennsylvania that Penn State has the right to withhold proprietary information and maintain a level of secrecy. Very convenient indeed. That may prevent the public from learning what really happened at Penn State and just how deep this “Conspiracy of Silence” ran. This may be the only thing that may save the institution. Because if the truth came out, I doubt that anyone would like what we learned.

Everyone’s to blame. The coaching staff, the Board of Directors of the charity, the Board of Directors of Penn State and those in charge at this previously iconic institution. It is unfortunate. But once again it proves that we as individuals and parents must be more skeptical than ever. We have to ask ourselves, why is that guy really a scout leader or coach? Especially if he doesn’t have a kid in the group. What really goes on when my daughter sleeps over her best friend’s house? We must all be careful and not take anything for granted when it comes to our kids and their interaction with adults.

We as a generation have really screwed-up. Our kids will be the first generation that is not likely to have a higher standard of living than their parents. We are likely to leave the world with crippling debt once we are gone. We have pretty much done nothing to help the environment. Finally, we have taught them that they cannot trust anybody. Quite a legacy we are leaving.

Penn State is a terrible situation. What other scandals are out there that we don’t know about? I hope this will begin a complete overhaul of the way college sports are handled in this country. There is nothing amateur about college sports. It is huge business and people are lining their pockets with the money they receive from these non-profit organizations. How can colleges keep getting funds from our government when they make tens of millions of dollars through their sports programs? How can the leaders of these supposedly not-for-profit schools earn ridiculously high salaries and live like kings? People are camping out in lower New York to protest greed on Wall Street. Is what is going on at places like Penn State any different? Isn’t it the greed of Penn State that led to this mess.
Many college sports programs lose money. They are designed to serve their students and to boost enrollment. But once it turns into a big business then corruption and other illegalities take place. The NCAA has been asleep at the wheel for decades. I hope this serves as a wake-up call to them and to our government that has looked the other way for the last 30 years.

The truth is, it is OVER! There used to be guys who used to cruise around town in their little trucks selling blocks of ice so people could keep their food cool. They disappeared, because someone invented the refrigerator. The CD needs to disappear! The only thing that is keeping it alive is the major labels fighting for what is left of their market share. Somebody invented something better.

This may sound like a radical idea and one that no major label will employ. After all, it will take a lot of guts. CDS still represent a majority of the sold music in the country. But who is buying them? Young kids who will give them to their friends to “rip” into their computers. The other part of the market is the occasional music purchaser and older demo user who does not have an IPod. If you are an avid music fan you probably haven’t bought a CD in eons. If you are an independent artist, you can’t even get your CDS into retail outlets. Nearly every independent artist sells 90% of their music either digitally or at their concerts. This is what keeps bands on the road. This could be exchanged for selling people download cards instead of a full CD at the show.

But the sooner the CD is gone, the sooner everyone will have to convert to digital. That will be the time when the labels and artists can truly get control of their music again. When the CD is eliminated there will no production costs for labels to pay. At that time, we could actually find a price for music that people would actually pay. I don’t think at this time any full CD is worth more than $3.99. 99% of albums have a few good songs on them. The rest are there by the artist’s choice and legal obligations to publishers and labels. Any songwriter will love most songs they write. But the public has proven that they are not interested. We live in a track-driven world. Most people download music one track at a time. If there is a great, favorite classic album that you just discovered you don’t have, you may download the whole album. But when was the last time you listened to a new album all the way through multiple times. The answer is probably ZERO!

DRM (Digital Rights Management) is technology that prevented people from passing along songs that they downloaded from Itunes to their friends at no cost. Within the last couple of years, labels eliminated DRMs and it made it possible for tracks to pass freely among fans. This may be a good way to develop new fans, but from the label perspective, it seemed to me that the labels were giving up. They totally lost control of their music.

If full full albums of music were cheap enough, people might actually download a whole album for $3.99 rather than pay $1.29 for each track. This may be one way to begin to bring the audience back to appreciating full albums once again. Right now, unless you have a label paying for it, there is no sense in recording an entire CD. The recording costs are at least double those of an EP. That is money out of the act’s pocket, eventually. From an artist’s perspective, at least financially, there is no reason to record an entire album. Only one or two tracks on each CD is what generates enthusiasm for the band. From the label’s viewpoint it cost just as much to promote and market an EP as an LP (full CD). The problem is you can only sell EPs for about half the price. So, you literally have to sell twice as many to earn the same money. Most albums that are released lose money. It has always been that way. So, selling EPs doesn’t make sense for labels. Especially when so many people just steal the music.

There is no way you are going to put the “Pirate” sites out of business. There are just too many of them. The only way to combat them is to make music more affordable and provide extra things to the buyers that they can’t get from these sites. Access to advance ticket purchases, personal contact with the acts, discount on merch and the like. You have to make people understand that there is not much benefit to stealing the music. Sure, they will pay a little for it, but they will get a lot in return. You will not be able to dissuade everyone from visiting the “free” sites, but hopefully enough so that you can re-establish a sales base.

You can’t do these things as easily when you don’t have control of your music. Many years ago, Steven Van Zandt of ( E-Street Band, Sopranos) fame, told me that the CD was the worst thing that happened to the music business. At the time I thought he was crazy. At the time it had breathed new life into the music industry. People were re-stocking their libraries, as their vinyl got worn out. But Steven was 100% right. Everyone is essentially walking around with a Master. It’s a free-for-all.

Eventually the CD will become extinct, or at least rare. It is in the best long-term interest of the industry to euthanize it now. The problem is it will take time for the whole world to convert to digital music use. So it is not happening. The result is a slow, ugly, methodical death for major record labels and the people who work there. Every job at a major label is a temp job.

I quit my job at Columbia 10 years ago, because I saw this coming. I remember standing at my going away party wondering if I was overreacting. Was the future really as dismal as I thought it was? Was I making a huge mistake? It was actually worse than I imagined at the time.

There is a lot of great music being made right now. The major label part of the music business is shrinking everyday. To counteract this, the price of full digital albums is actually increasing in many cases. Is this the way to fight piracy? I don’t believe it is. In my opinion, give the customer what they want and more, at a good price. People are inherently honest. Right now there is no stigma attached to ripping-off music. My solution is the reduce prices drastically and have the RIAA and NARAS launch TV campaigns to discourage piracy.

This is a better option than waiting for the business to hit the bottom and work with what is left. A few years ago, a friend of mine wrote on his Facebook page, “will the last one out of the record business turn the light off”. The problem is the bulb will be burned out long before that.