They’re gonna wipe out college!

Well, everything but the elite universities. Courses are gonna be online, you’re going to be able to learn from the best professors on the planet. So, unless you’re a star, you’re HISTORY!

How did this happen?

Let’s see… College has been a rip-off for eons. Overpriced, with lame courses all in the pursuit of a degree that no one examines or really challenges. But now employers are gonna ask, did you take Calculus from Professor X? Psychology from Professor R?

Everything I learned in college happened outside the classroom. Throw a couple of thousand talented kids in the middle of nowhere and it’s the Lord of the Flies. I barely escaped from Middlebury intact. But college was cheaper then. Before all the universities had to build new plants, pay heftier salaries and beef up the administration. Kind of like all those record companies built CD plants and changed the price of an album from under $10 to nearly $20. Worked for a while, then it all CRASHED!

Don’t you get it? The Internet is creating an elite. And if you’re a member of the tribe, riches rain down upon you. If you’re not, good luck!

Are you really gonna take a music business course from a never been in the middle of nowhere when Jimmy Iovine or Dr. Luke can teach you everything online for a fraction of the price?

OF COURSE NOT!

You’re no longer limited to the professors at your college, the world is your oyster, pick from the best!

Used to be you could thrive as a regional act. Your audience was starved for talent. But mediocre has no audience in the arts today. With great a click away. And we can debate all day what’s great, whether it be the top-selling Top Forty acts or Alabama Shakes… But have you noticed, there’s only one Alabama Shakes? Used to be every market had an act like this. We knew who they were. But now only the best gets traction.

There’s only one winner.

There’s one iTunes Store.

One Amazon.

There will be one subscription music service.

Why?

Because that’s the one where everybody will be, where all your friends are. Everybody will decide and that will be it. Second place will be like “Glengarry Glen Ross,” you’ll lose your job and go bankrupt.

Yup, college courses are moving online. The whole education sphere is being disrupted, just like music. Anybody trying to fight the tide is gonna be plowed under. Adjust, or get out of the game.