1. The major labels will only get stronger. We live in an a money economy and the only ones willing to invest in artists are the labels. Furthermore, they’ve got the relationships at radio, which are key to developing acts. The players want cash, the major labels have it, no one else will get involved […]

Music is a popularity contest. That’s right, you can’t bitch about your Spotify payments if no one wants to listen to your music. This is where we’ve arrived, the data-centric world. The old days of Tommy Noonan manipulating the “Billboard” chart are done. Now all we’ve got is raw statistics, which will leave most people […]

FALSE MODESTY “I’m such an idiot.” “I’m so stupid.” “I’m so ugly.” When I hear guys say these things, and it is usually guys, my eyes roll. This self-righteous blather does one of two things, it either takes the person out of the equation, eliminates risk, so you won’t judge them, or it demonstrates their […]

It used to be a leak trashed an album’s commercial chances. Could just the opposite be true now? Madonna’s a has-been. Like Paul McCartney and Tom Petty. Someone everybody knows who has trouble selling new music. But unlike McCartney and Petty, Madge is a trendster, she didn’t just replicate an old sound on her new […]