The devil is in the details.  If you doubt me, you’ve never been screwed out of royalties by a major label.  OOPS, major labels don’t PAY royalties.

Which is why indies are flourishing.  They’re absent the bullshit of the old system.

So why do the indies want to fuck with terrestrial radio?  Try to turn back the hands of time and level the playing field when the grass is dying there and growing elsewhere?

The big decision this week wasn’t about the FCC mandating that terrestrial radio stations play independent music, but the new Net radio royalties.  Oops, the indie labels are getting paid there, so maybe that’s why they’ve been silent so far.

Funny about the indie labels.  They really want to be just like the majors.  They’re envious.  Instead of thinking about their ADVANTAGES, they’re constantly crying for a level playing field.  Like IMPALA.  What a fucked up group that is.  By merging all their properties the majors are going to CREATE OPPORTUNITIES for the indies.  But instead of seeing this, IMPALA is trying to hold back the hands of time, keep themselves imprisoned.

The majors’ stranglehold was distribution.  That’s now been broken.  But don’t tell IMPALA.  Then again, are the IMPALA guys positively OLD SCHOOL?  Not realizing that to profit in the future you’ve got to be more of a manager, participating in all revenue streams?

Indie music on terrestrial radio.  Isn’t that the opposite of the desire?  Isn’t that like Top Forty music on free format FM?  Why not let the majors ghettoize the terrestrial stations, which are losing listeners, and dominate THE NEW SPHERES!  Talk to satellite, they have trouble being served by majors, supposedly there aren’t enough listeners, not enough money.  This is a natural niche for indies.  But no, they want to fuck with the majors.

Let me ask you.  If a major lends a band funds and only agrees to sign them if they sell a million units is the act a major or an indie?  If a label is wholly independent, but all its profit goes to the major, is it a major or an indie?  I could go on and on all day, but if a major wants to start a band it’s EASY for them to categorize the act as indie, to gain advantages.

Kind of like Ozzfest.  HOW exactly is this free?  What happens when demand for tickets outstrips supply?  There are some pretty devilish details that Sharon Osbourne is not revealing.  Or could it be that Sharon is being a humanitarian, trying to help new bands she has no financial interest in, trying to give something back?  BULLSHIT!

You don’t win by trying to change the rules of the old game, you create a NEW GAME!

When the NFL wouldn’t create new franchises, fat cats built the AFL.  That may have been almost fifty years ago, but the point remains the same.  If the deck is stacked against you, don’t whine, don’t try to rejigger the system, build your own, with ITS rules.  The oldsters won’t be paying attention, and when they finally come to the party you’ll make a deal on YOUR terms.

It’s a golden age of music.  With everybody able to produce and distribute.  But these mini-fat cats, who’ve been in the game for eons, are using the changed reality as an excuse to get back at dying dinosaurs.  They should be ignored, their efforts should be laughed at.  Like you want to deal with the old tastemakers, who are sold out whores no matter WHOSE music they play, when you can go directly to the fan on the Net?  You want to argue about consolidation when you can’t get paid for acquisition of your product ANYWAY?  CD sales are down in both the MAJOR and INDIE spheres.  But rather than worry about this, independents are trying to get on stilted, dying, terrestrial radio.  Create something FANS want to spread, don’t worry about trying to impress fortysomething programmers who may no longer take cash for airplay, but will be beholden to those who DO offer something.  Like the big indies won’t fuck with the little indies?  Like we’ve got a new equitable world?

Suddenly, when nothing is stopping innovation, independent labels want to redraw the rules on the old map.  Utterly amazing.