Do you know there’s a war in Iraq?  And that seemingly every day insurgent suicide bombers kill civilians?  Might seem obvious to you, but I’m not sure the average American is in touch with this fact.  You see, his news outlets just don’t TELL HIM!

My Safari homepage is the Yahoo News.  That’s where I’m confronted with the latest bombing statistics, at the top of the page, every time I load my browser.  But, the death toll never makes it to my AOL homepage.  There’s stuff on golf, on Father’s Day, on some celebrity, but WAR??  God, you can get KILLED in war!

And death and destruction don’t make it to the Google News homepage either.  You see, unlike Yahoo, there’s nobody home at the Google News.  It’s compiled by computer.  And, it appears that not enough of the news outlets Google canvasses think the war in Iraq is an important enough story.

Now, you record companies fiddling with the CD should take note.  You’re living in a terrestrial world, and that’s why you’re fucked, you don’t UNDERSTAND the power of the homepage.  But that’s not why I’m beating you up here.  I’m beating you up because you live by the mantra of giving people what they want.

I’m not sure when things flipped.  When art became about money instead of expression.  When instant sales were seen to triumph over long term sales.  Some say it was "Jaws".  Others say it was Michael Milken and the other 80s investment bankers.  But, the question arises, is this perspective, is this ideal, is it TRUE?

The record companies’ business has been declining for half a decade.  Is this about piracy, or is this about a failed business model?  Could it be that if the labels focused on signing and promoting artists of value, who were in it for the long haul, their business would INCREASE??

Talk to the man on the street.  You’ll hear it again and again.  Radio sucks.  Radio used to be the MOST adventurous medium, that’s why it continued to prosper after the advent of television.  But now listenership is down and revenues are too, never mind VALUATIONS!  Could it be that a new model must be employed?  That instead of playing fewer records, they should play MORE?  That’s what the Jack format is about.  However, Jack leaves aside one of the selling elements of radio, personality.  But much worse, Jack only plays greatest hits…where are the NEW greatest hits coming from?  Believe me, underground FM radio didn’t get gangbuster ratings when it began in 1967.  It was only when word spread that the format was cool, and it established a LIBRARY of great artists that the medium flourished.  Unless radio invests in itself, it’s going to die.  Unless the labels invest in themselves, THEY’RE going to die.