To Slow Piracy, Internet Providers Ready Penalties Beware of the copyright bullies. Mickey Mouse was about to go into the public domain. So what did Michael Eisner, head of Disney, do? Pay his lobbyists to get an extension of copyright. Yup, it was just that simple. That’s how America works. Is it good for the […]

DYNAMIC PRICING "You paid how much for that ticket!?" I don’t think local newspapers survive. Not unless they forgo national and international coverage and become hyper-local. With the "New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" only a click away, why should I read the truncated post of an economically troubled news outlet? The "Los Angeles […]

Nielsen SoundScan 2011 midyear report: Music sales up for a change Trumpeting this as good news is like saying we’re winning in Afghanistan if the body count is less than it was the previous week. We lost that war. And the major labels lost the Internet war. Let’s see, once upon a time the most […]

MTV rescued the music business. The novelty of seeing acts on television, especially risk-taking performers from the U.K., energized audiences, impacted the discussion and generated monstrous sales. But just before the advent of the television station music was in the doldrums, killed by AOR/corporate rock and disco, which flamed out as soon as it peaked. […]