And Letterman’s too.  Didn’t they get the memo, that today you want to be the MANAGER?

If running a record label were so damn good, would Jimmy Iovine be selling Beats headphones and trying to save sound with HP?

Are these celebs truly that out of touch?

America’s not that unsophisticated.  Hell, just look at the sales chart.  Stone Temple Pilots are predicted to move 60,000 copies of their new album next week, if they’re lucky, they may hit 70,000!  Isn’t that like raving you’re the king of the minor leagues?  That you’re the best BMX rider in a world focused on the NFL and Major League Baseball?

You just can’t make it as a label anymore.

And maybe if you’ve got a ton of money, you can shove your protege in front of the cameras.  But who’s going to buy?

Sure, there’s a pinnacle, a GaGaville where people click through for digital singles.  But beneath that, it’s a vast wasteland.  And GaGa is driving at 110 miles an hour constantly, how long can it last, what’s she gonna do next?

You’ve got to participate in all 360 degrees of revenue.

Unless the public is so stupid as to think that’s now a desirable record deal, where you give up everything and get almost nothing.

Which is why real acts are doing it for themselves, with a very savvy manager.  They’re starting small and they’re nurturing their fan base.  If the old mold were so damn good, Christina Aguilera would be selling tickets despite her stiff singles, but she’s not.

That’s the movie business, where it’s what have you done for me lately?  They’re constantly reinventing the wheel.  But in the music business, you build upon what came before. And it’s hard to build on hit singles, they’ve got no collective meaning.  They’re each independent silos, revenue generators that have almost nothing to do with each other.

To make it today, you’ve got to have something to say, you’ve got to stand for something.

And making it isn’t getting your mug on TMZ or PerezHilton, publicity is easy, making it is developing a fan base, which will follow your every move.

The whole label concept is antiquated.  Because it’s focusing on a general bottom line, the label doesn’t care who hits, as long as someone hits.  But today it’s about nurturing one act, for a very long time, until it finally breaks through and generates revenue, forever.

And you’ve got to continue to manage the bond.  Tickets can’t be outrageously priced, people have to be treated right.

That’s where the power lies.  With the public.

Power used to lie in the hands of the gatekeepers.  Remember when Abby Konowitch was the most powerful person in the music business because he chose the videos at MTV?  Who has that job today?  Does that job still exist?

Kids don’t watch Letterman.  If active buyers were tuned in to his show, an appearance would drive sales.  But that hasn’t been the case for eons.

As for Ms. DeGeneres…  She runs a daytime talk show, a Mickey Mouse Club for an older demo.  That’s IT!  And I’m not saying that’s not powerful, the ability to reach these women, but so far Oprah’s the only daytime talker who can truly influence the public.  And the acts she’s built that have lasted are Drs. Phil and Oz.  Isn’t it funny that she’s built a stable of TV personalities, but not musicians?  Because music is hard.  You start with a blank sheet of paper.  Once you get up and running, you can still run out of gas, you can’t be mindless, you’ve got to keep thinking, keep creating.

There are many more TV talking heads than successful musicians.  And that shows just how hard it truly is to make it in the music world.

Pretty faces are a dime a dozen.  Writers can fabricate lines.  But the ability to reach down deep into your heart and create something so gripping, so ethereal, as great as Gnarls Barkley’s "Crazy", the most irresistible single of the last five years…takes a talent we can’t even define.  Do we expect Ellen DeGeneres and David Letterman to recognize it?  OF COURSE NOT!