Bob Lefsetz's weekly rant

What do they say in straight business? Give me someone who's failed??

Prince could have slowed his release schedule down to a level Mo Ostin would have been happy with and now we'd see him as an overexposed superstar playing to ever-dwindling audiences. That's what we've got now, career MANAGEMENT!

Hell, let me ask YOU? Do YOU like to be managed? Human beings chafe at restrictions. They want to be FREE! Hell, look at the history of revolution.

Or watch MTV's Sunday Stew. Wherein overgrown adolescents do things GUARANTEED to make elders insist their children turn off the TV, making them want to watch the programs even MORE!

Make no mistake, Mitch Bainwol and his peeps are doing their best to EVISCERATE INNOVATION from the musical landscape. They want to draw the board and know where all the pieces are. Only one problem, the public isn't complicit in their game. And neither are the acts.

The main goal of a musical act is to have as many people as possible hear their music.

Oh screw Britney. Screw the whole hip-hop give me the cash ethic. True artists would GIVE their music away!

Wait a second, that's what's HAPPENING!

As the record companies are using an iron fist to try and stamp out piracy the ARTISTS have shown that the labels truly only have one finger in the dike. Yes, all hail Prince. For he's shown what a fool all the record companies employees are. He's now shown it's not about SALES, but spreading the WORD!!

Prince knew something were screwed up. THE MAN wasn't interested in music. Could you find a more artist-friendly record company majordomo than Mo Ostin? And even HE couldn't see reality. Because he always looked at things through his business glasses. As an accountant, focused on the bottom line.

Oh, to the BUSINESS, Prince looked like a joke. Changing his name. Painting "Slave" on his cheek. Selling his music through a club on the Internet.

Yup, that was a bad idea. Because that was about RESTRICTION! Whereas as a result of new distribution models art is FREE-FLOWING!

But then Prince hit upon a MASTERSTROKE! He'd GIVE the music away!

But, as we all know, NOTHING is truly free.

Which is why the cost was built into the ticket fee. Then again, every concert has a different value. It's not like CDs, all the same price. Hell, if you want to go see the Eagles it'll cost you FIVE TIMES what it cost to see Pennywise. But that doesn't bother Eagles fans. They pony up the bucks. And the bucks are so prodigious do you think they care if for an extra charge they get the music TOO??

Then again, it doesn't only work on that end of the spectrum.

You see even if you want to go see Pennywise there are bullshit fees included in the price of the ticket. Service fees. Surcharges. There's room to charge for a giveaway CD.

But forget Pennywise, let's talk about a NEW AND DEVELOPING ACT!

There you have it. "New and developing." Few know about it. How do you get MORE people to know about it? BY GIVING AWAY THE CDS!!

This is NOT the samplers given away by bogus street teams outside some other performer's gig. No, these CDs are part of the ENTERPRISE! Distributed in the name of BUILDING THE ACT!

The label isn't interested in building the act, they're interested in SELLING CDS! If they could release blank CDs and people would buy them, that would serve them just fine.

And we learned in today's L.A. "Times" that Columbia IS selling the CDs given away at Prince shows. The exact cost isn't important, it's the BUSINESS MODEL that one must pay attention to.

Suddenly, the tail is wagging the dog. Suddenly, it's no longer about controlled radio playlists and hoped-for video exposure, it's about seeding the public and HOPING they burn CDs and trade files.

Yes, however much the major labels are trying to keep the status quo, they're FAILING! Innovation is taking hold.

Those "Musicology" CDs given away. They're counting towards the SOUNDSCAN NUMBER!

Uh-oh. This is doing ABOVE BOARD what the major labels have always done UNDER THE TABLE! Why have multiple scannings of CDs at retail stores when you can just GIVE THEM AWAY! Hell, charge the act a PENNY to distribute them at gigs.

You know what this means don't you? In the very near future SoundScan is going to become IRRELEVANT! If the music is essentially free what DIFFERENCE does it make who sits atop the sales chart? The chart no longer REPRESENTS anything. Suddenly it becomes about how many BODIES one can get in the theatre. Suddenly it's the seventies all over again. It's about TOURING! If you're a phony act, nobody wants to see you, you're IRRELEVANT!

If the labels were SMART, they'd fight these giveaways tooth and nail.

Well, not exactly smart, but CONSISTENT! Giving away CDs at shows is no different from authorizing P2P. It TEARS CONTROL of distribution from the LABELS! It's no longer one CD for fifteen bucks, it's...well, some people will throw the CD away, others will rip and trade. The piece of plastic becomes almost IRRELEVANT! Suddenly, the value of music is how many people POSSESS AND LISTEN TO IT, not what's in some bogus SALES chart.

The acts are gaining control. They've always made more money on the touring side. Now THE MUSIC is on their side. The major labels might not have signed their death warrant, but they've lost LEVERAGE! And REVENUE!

Unless, of course, they want to become partners with the act. Then again, no act of any stature will do this, since the LABEL makes the lion's share from CD sales, they see no incentive in giving away a piece of THEIR share!

Amateurs might see the Viacom Prince roadblock as the breakthrough.

But that would be completely missing the point. This is the Tommy Mottola formula. Create a hoopla, bat people over the head. There's no backlash against Prince because he's been perceived to have been lost in the wilderness for so long. But, as soon as some more people employ these marketing miracles the audience will say NO MAS!

Furthermore, what are these marketing trainwrecks other than ADS FOR THE SHOW! They USED to be ads for the CD, but why BUY the CD if you can get it for free at the show??

And the CDs at the show. They come with minimal packaging. And we've learned that once the customer becomes inured to less, no label gives more. It doesn't pay to exceed people's expectations. Suddenly a CD has very little value.

And you can't copy protect the giveaway CDs, because the public has a reaction to this. ESPECIALLY when they're perceived to be FREE! Free means easy and open, not difficult and closed.

Everything the pundits have been saying for half a decade is now coming TRUE! The major labels are going to be marginalized. Ironically, at their own hand. Greedy to run their records up the SoundScan charts soon EVERYBODY will be giving the CDs away, and then what will a CD be worth?

Oh, the music will be worth something. Hell, you can HUM your favorite songs. And the act will be burnished by the giveaways.

But what's in it for the labels?

A measly charge per head. Hell, to produce the CD costs so little. And they WANT the act to give them away.

Play this out in your head. The revolution has BEGUN!!

Great post....but there is one little thing you are overlooking. How is the songwriter supposed to get paid if it is someone other than the artist? All great artists are not songwriters. In Nashville right now I would estimate that 70-85% of the BIG country artists do not write their own stuff. The reason is not because they are not talented, they just have to come up with something more clever than the next artist. So they look to independent songwriters. So where is the songwriter left if CD sales become obsolete? How does he get paid? A good question.....