The modern music business was built by Mo Ostin, and don’t EVER forget it!

Not that it was only Mo.  It was completely different from today.  There was a whole team of dedicated staffers.  Who didn’t have to worry about job security.  Who were handsomely paid, even if they didn’t wear the title "President".  Mo empowered them.  Made them feel like members of the family.  Therefore they didn’t grumble, but delivered dedication that can’t be BOUGHT!  And isn’t it interesting to note that Mo did his JOB, which was running a record company, NOT self-promotion.  The business started to die when Doug Morris hired Ron Shapiro to get him in every publication known to man and was buried when Tommy Mottola was noticed by Christopher in "The Sopranos".  If you don’t know who the star is, then you shouldn’t be empowered to oversee the operation.  Clive Davis suffers from this same disease.  It’s been legitimized today.  To the detriment of the major scene.  Execs used to feel LUCKY to be in the music business, now they seem to believe it’s their RIGHT!

Mo didn’t follow trends.  Mo looked for unique acts.  And let them do their thing.  It was about CAREERS!

It didn’t used to be that easy to make a star.  You just didn’t make a zillion dollar video and beg the guys at MTV to play it.  You didn’t hire people with relationships at "People" and "Us" to show pictures of your charges.  Rather, you focused on the music.  Could someone WRITE?  Could someone PLAY?  Now the labels get people to write FOR you.  Even if you CAN write they won’t let you.  They make you COLLABORATE with someone with a proven track record.  So your record can sound JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE’S!  Jimi Hendrix didn’t have a string of covers before "Are You Experienced".  AND, that album sounded NOTHING LIKE what had come before.  Interesting isn’t it.  Hendrix is still a strong seller, but the Spice Girls can’t move a unit.

Artistry.  It’s something innate, something that comes from within.  It must be NURTURED, not KILLED!  That’s what today’s record companies do.  So fearful of their quarterly numbers, so fearful they won’t get their bonuses, record execs tell acts when to deliver and what to deliver.  THEY want to manage the act.  It’s not a partnership but a DICTATORSHIP!  And what suffers is the MUSIC!

Labels have to believe in an act.  And give it commitment.  Hoping that it will flower.  Because the first time in the studio you have stage fright.  Takes you a while to learn the ropes.  Takes you a while to develop your craft.  Takes you a while to GET IT!

To make it today:

1. No Television

Overexposure kills acts.  MTV can shoot you to the moon, but you’ll fall back down just as fast.  And what is it about anyway, stardom or artistry?  And, are you really instantly ready?  The SYSTEM is ready for a new act, but the act itself needs to develop.

2. Careers

There should be a FIVE album plan.  If for no other reason than to garner FANS, BELIEVERS!  Who will support the act and spread the word.  There are no fans of today’s overhyped performers.  It’s like a wreck on the freeway.  You slow down and look, but then mash the accelerator and keep going, wanting to get the hell OUT OF THERE!

3. Music

Of course, this is number one, but this is less of a revelation.  If you’re not following your own muse, WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IT??  Really.  If you’re not trying to test the limits, touch people’s souls, then you’re not an artist, and WE DON’T CARE!  We CARED about the aforementioned Jimi Hendrix.  And Neil Young.  And James Taylor.  And Joni Mitchell.  We STILL do.  Seemingly everybody on WB back in the late sixties and early seventies can still work.  Because they have a BODY OF WORK that’s not laughable, but still stands tall, and people who want to experience it.  THIS is the model.  Not hype on "Entertainment Tonight".

4. Price

The labels were greedy.  The CD was overpriced.  When AOL was shipping CDs to every living soul in America MULTIPLE TIMES A MONTH, labels kept raising the prices of their wares.  Stating their long in the tooth technology was cutting edge when it was a fading relic.  Then they spoke of MARKETING COSTS!  I’ll say that that $500,000 video has NOTHING to do with the music.  Nor does the stylist.  It’s just that everybody got hooked on the cash.  And now that it’s evaporated, like crybabies, they’re blaming the audience they ripped off again and again.  The future is CHEAPER music.  Higher prices at the iTunes Music Store…  That’s just so they can make their MONEY, it’s got nothing to do with the MUSIC!  LOWER THE PRICE!  Get EVERYBODY HOOKED ON MUSIC!  Make music the hottest entertainment medium once again, not a national JOKE!