Corporate rock opened the door for disco and then a deejay in Chicago blew up dance records and the whole business imploded and was saved by MTV.

Anything MTV aired sold. Didn’t matter if it was ancient like Rod Stewart or brand new like Culture Club. But then Duran Duran happened and it became clear if you produced high quality clips and peopled them with good-looking humans success could be gargantuan. Suddenly, looks became paramount, video production values were more important than music and baby boomers are still not through complaining about it.

But then the wheel turned again.

You can’t fight progress. Your only hope is to grab hold of change and get ahead of it. In other words, once Napster happened, it was time to jettison the CD and jump into the niches. But unlike with MTV, there was not a concentration but a decentralization and the record labels were not prepared for this. The labels still believe we live in one big homogeneous society. Which is why their business sucks. Because we don’t.

The most important person at the record label in the late twentieth century was the radio promotion person, that was why he or she was paid so well, in some cases, as much as a million dollars a year. You see without radio, you had nothing.

One would think the video executive would be as handsomely compensated. But video was so important it was controlled by the President/CEO. Walter Yetnikoff might not have called a radio station, but he didn’t think twice about using his personal juice at MTV, video play was just that important.

Video built stars and radio kept them going with saturation airplay until MTV ladled a whole ‘nother crop of newbies upon the outlets.

But most people on the street had no idea who Charlie Minor was. Just like they have no idea who the left tackle is. They’re following the star, the ball, the hit. But the reason bands had success in the days of yore was radio play. And labels bid up the value of their promotion people.

Who is the most valuable person on the team today?

It’s certainly not the record company President. He can write you a check and put his team on the case but he’s hemorrhaged players and believes the best way to deal with the Internet is to eliminate it.

As for the records the labels put out, the people they pay the most are the producers. Because of their track records, because they help write the songs, because without them, you probably won’t have a hit.

But outside the label world…

Right now the most important person is the agent.

You need an agent, who can book you, so you can be seen.

Maybe in the future it might be a Web operator, someone akin to Mark Zuckerberg, who creates the gateway. But right now, the rubber meets the road at the gig, and chances are you can’t get a reasonable one unless you’ve got an agent.

Yup, stop e-mailing everybody your tracks. Start playing live, anywhere, build a buzz, and then try to get an agent to sign you. Who will slowly build your act if you’re any good.

Want to know if you suck?

If you don’t have an agent. Either your music’s terrible or you’re clueless as to how the game is played.

Now the funny thing is you can’t get an agent unless you have success live and you can’t have success live if you don’t have an agent.

This is like the old conundrum of not being able to get the job unless you’ve got experience. This is where you must become innovative. This is where you’ve got to be creative.

The music business has completely changed. Ask anybody, recording revenue has decreased. All the money’s in live. Why not start there?

But you say you need money. You need a deep pocket.

Isn’t it interesting that agents only take a percentage.

This is the new world. One that’s debt free. Take the money and someone owns you both creatively and financially. Build it by yourself and you can write your own ticket.

But it’s slower on the road.

But it’s slower overall.

If it’s fast, it doesn’t last. The road is littered with one hit wonders. Everyone can know who you are and you can be broke.

Or few can know who you are and you can be rich, like the deejays spinning records to tens of thousands.

If you’re complaining that deejays don’t play instruments you probably missed MTV and Napster too. The deejays provide an experience. Little different from the one you had at Woodstock.

Gloss is done, depth is in.