In  retrospect, hiring Rick Rubin to run Big Red was a massive mistake.

Yup, Rick’s running it.  From a distance.  He doesn’t go to the office, he doesn’t communicate, he dropped a ton of acts, there’s a wild cabal running the label and the worker bees have no clue what’s going on.

How did this happen?

A fuck-up this bad hasn’t been "masterminded" since David Puttnam was handed the reins at Columbia Pictures.  You don’t take an offbeat producer and put him in charge of the whole enchilada.  You don’t make Steve Saleen head of General Motors.  You give the enfant terrible a production deal, his own playground.  Or you hand him a moribund company and tell him to turn it around.  You don’t put him in charge of your MAIN DIVISION!

Rick Rubin at Columbia just insures that BMG will own this partnership.  What a screw-up.

I mean he’s gonna start from essentially zero and build a company that can compete with Clive’s?  Shit, he won’t even be able to compete with JIVE!

They didn’t give Bob Krasnow Warner Brothers.  They gave him Elektra Asylum, that had lost a ton of money, that was in jeopardy as a standalone entity.  The fact that he moved the label to the east coast and fired most of the acts didn’t matter.  The company was a tear-down.  The name and a couple of acts was all it had.  Credit the powers-that-be for recognizing this, they assessed reality and gave a personality a chance, an opportunity to build a unique company, in his own vision.

If Rick Rubin is so pissed off about Sony’s building, acts and financial structure, why didn’t Rob Stringer give him HIS OWN company, in a building of his choice, with new deals?  Would that be so hard to do?  What advantage was gained by putting him in charge of Columbia?  In what world is an absentee king a good ruler of a failing empire?  Hiring Rick Rubin is like letting the King of Greece run the U.K. because he’s done a good job in his own country.  But what about the peculiarities of the U.K?  What about the fact that people speak a different language?  The U.K. isn’t Cyprus, it’s a complicated behemoth.  Rick Rubin is running Columbia like it’s Chrysalis.  And last I checked, Chrysais NEVER ruled the music business.  Sold a ton of Tull, then Blondie, Pat Benatar and Huey Lewis, but it wasn’t a FULL SERVICE COMPANY!  Columbia is a FULL SERVICE COMPANY!

Columbia Records has pop acts.  And Tony Bennett.  It’s got to sell teen pop and hip shit and flavor of the moment ALL AT THE SAME TIME!  You don’t want someone in the studio, you want someone on the phone, surfing the Web, watching television, in touch with the ZEITGEIST.  So he can swoop down and execute miracles.  Columbia is the Yankees.  Playing 162 games a year, competing for the pennant.  Not the Segway polo team that gets a lot of press.

Sure, the music business needs to be reinvented.  But we don’t need revolution, but EVOLUTION!  Columbia needs someone to shepherd it from the past to the present to the future.  So far, Mr. Rubin doesn’t look like that guy.  Sure, files are going to overtake CDs, but not TODAY!  So, a company has to sell CDs while PREPARING for the day files take over.  You can’t be too early, and you can’t be too late.  Those in charge have been too late.  Now Rick Rubin is frustrated that the business isn’t functioning as it should in 2013.  Rick, you’ve got to BRING IT THERE!

Def Jam stood for something.  Asylum did so before it.  And I’m sure you can mention a bunch of albums you could buy by the label.  But those companies were SMALL, with very little product.  Columbia’s sole image was as a monolith.  It stood for nothing sound-wise.  Nothing wrong with that, it was in a different BUSINESS than Def Jam or Asylum.

Making Rick Rubin head of Columbia is like trying to solve Chrysler’s problems by turning it into BMW.  Sure, BMW makes great cars, but it sells NICHE PRODUCTS!  Chrysler is competing with Toyota, it’s got to offer a broad range of vehicles.  BMW is a completely different business model.  Sell high quality at premium prices to the elite.  If you want to hire Rick Rubin to do this, fine.  Have him sign the new R.E.M., the new U2, the new Johnny Cash and purvey them with an innovative business model.  Maybe a subscription to THEIR club.  You pay a lot and you get not only finished product and demos, but a t-shirt and a ticket to the monster gig in the Nevada desert.  But you can’t sell Kelly Clarkson that way.  And you can’t sell Kanye that way.  And those are what’s selling today.

Columbia needs mainstream product, TODAY!  Sure, it also needs hip, innovative product.  It needs it ALL!

Rick Rubin isn’t on the way to delivering it all, he’s on the road to destroying a major company, turning it into a shadow of itself, at most a marginally successful miniature.  And I say marginally successful because ever since Rick’s been divorced from Russell Simmons, he’s not made big money as Def American and then American Recordings.  Great record producer, great finder and signer and developer of raw talent? NO!

So now the label’s been dismantled.  They’re starting over close to ground zero.  You’d be better off with Donnie Ienner.  WHOOPS, they fired Donnie.  He lost out in a power struggle.

If  you think Rick Rubin can beat the Germans/Clive at their own game, you’re just not a student of history.

If Rob Stringer wasn’t Howard’s brother, he’d be looking for a new job soon.  This idea was good dinner table fodder, but giving Rick Rubin Columbia was pure folly.

Are you doing it to get rich, or because you have an innate desire to express yourself?

Hello, let me introduce you to 2007, wherein the powers-that-be tell us the music business has been wrecked by piracy but those with their ear to the ground know it’s much more complicated. The biggest problem facing artists isn’t piracy, but apathy. How do you get people to pay attention in a fast-paced world with so many entertainment options?

And, if you get SOME to pay attention, how easy will it be to get MORE people to pay attention?

Used to be there were amateurs and pros. Hobbyists and careerists. If you were a pro, your goal was to get a major label to sign you. You didn’t worry so much about how your music sounded as to whether the filter, the label, would invest in you. It was THEIR job to figure out how to get people interested. And, with few acts with the ability to get into the marketplace, they could give your project tender loving care, nurture it, develop it, if not to ubiquity, then at least journeyman status.

But then records started flying out of stores. And the major label’s job changed. It wasn’t about being a filter anymore, but a conduit from the customer’s bank account to theirs. What could they put in the value proposition that would get people to open their wallets and throw off enough cash to build cable systems? If you didn’t make mainstream music, suddenly, they didn’t want you.

But independent labels couldn’t get paid. The indie world was a complete backwater. Until about fifteen years ago, when the major label disaffected started growing indies. And by time indies truly got traction, the Net had taken hold, with P2P, and EVERYTHING was available ALL THE TIME!

With this newfound opportunity for exposition, amateurs flooded the gates. They wanted their chance. You no longer had to be a pro. You could make a record on your computer and sell it on CDBaby. Display your wares on MySpace. Suddenly, the pros were hard to find. And what was a pro anyway? Someone good? Someone unique? Someone who could move a lot of product?

MTV punted. It got out of the music game.

Radio admitted that it was in it for the commercials, that what came between them was filler, that if dead air generated the most listeners, they’d program that. They shirked their responsibility to the public, and asked whether they EVER had a responsibility to the public.

So where does that leave YOU?

Chances are, you don’t make music that the major label wants to pay for. Or, even if you do, you’re wary of the company’s input. And, it’s not so easy for the label to run the gauntlet anymore. There are fewer outlets of exposure, and they’re ever tighter. Sure, there are NEW ways to expose music, BUT IS ANYBODY PAYING ATTENTION?

Satellite radio play… How many subscribers and how many listeners? Each one might be happy as a clam, with this programmed choice, but if you want to make a living playing music getting a lot of spins on satellite won’t buy you a Bentley, probably not even a Kia.

Get to number one on MySpace and you can’t make a living, not playing music, just ask Tila Tequila. And she only got to number one because of SEX!

And if you’re selling your album on CDBaby your fans will buy it, but how many fans do you actually have? And, unfortunately, P2P isn’t benefiting you, because you don’t have enough fans to populate your product on the network. P2P isn’t hurting you at all, it could only HELP you, if only you could get someone to pay attention.

You’d argue for lower TicketMaster fees if only you could play a building WITH a TicketMaster contract. Instead, you’re lucky if you don’t have to guarantee the CLUB attendance by a certain number of YOUR fans. You’re doing it yourself, and you’re LOSING money, and you’re frustrated.

Don’t complain, give up.

That’s one of the dirty little secrets of this business. Talent is only fifty percent. Desire and perseverance make up the rest of your success. But NONE of the foregoing are a guarantee.

So, you’re up shit ocean with a paddle so small you’re overwhelmed.

Welcome to the club. You’d better be doing it for a love of the music, because chances are that’s ALL you’ll have, your music and your enjoyment in playing it.

Maybe you’ll gain some traction, you’ll become a pro. But the odds are against you. You need that desire and perseverance and LUCK! And it’s harder to get lucky every day. Even if the radio station DID play your record, what would it MEAN, is anybody LISTENING?

We’ll get some clarity in the future. The gulf between amateur and pro will reemerge. But chances are, only a thin sliver of pros will be like the stars of yore. There will be Kanye, and then the guy who can fill theatres.

That’s the game you’re getting into.

So don’t lay out a plan for world domination. If you’re lucky, you can dominate your DOMICILE! Maybe if a friend goes to college in another state you can make headway there. But there are too many people and too few slots and no pot at the end of a rainbow.

Cry all you want, but this is fact. You’d better be doing it for the love of the music. And this is the key that may grant you success. Those old paradigms, how you look, how you’re marketed…the majors only have a few slots per year, and most of THEM don’t make it. The old game is dead. The new game is daunting.

Ever since Rick Rubin spoke of "subscription" in the "New York Times" the industry’s been buzzing about this topic. But what exactly are they buzzing about?

We need to define terms. Is subscription RENTAL or GETTING A STEADY CHECK FROM EVERY CUSTOMER EVERY MONTH?

If we’re talking rental, I’m laughing. Napster, Yahoo and Rhapsody have proven this is a niche market. No amount of advertising is going to convince the public otherwise. They don’t want ALL the music, they just want what they desire, FOREVER! It may not actually be forever, their hard drive might crash, the format might be superseded, but they want to own it and be able to do whatever they want with it (which is why DRM impedes sale, because you CAN’T do whatever you want with it, not that people want to do much, but they want to FEEL that they can do anything with it, kind of like the kitchen floor of that apartment Meg Ryan rented with her old boyfriend in "When Harry Met Sally", it was great for making love, but they never made love ON IT!)

Used to be we lived in an album world. Our whole business is predicated on this model. Hype one track and then get somebody to purchase a big ticket item. It’s as if Exxon was in cahoots with Toyota. And Exxon had ads that made driving look SO COOL that you had to purchase a car to partake. Gas might only be a few bucks a gallon, but cars are TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!

Or maybe we should change the analogy… To razors and razor blades. The razor ain’t worth much without the blade. But, after you use the blades, YOU THROW THEM AWAY!

We’re not talking CDs here, we’re talking FILES! Do you still have your Microsoft Word documents from a decade ago? You don’t even have the FLOPPIES! They’re HISTORY! The documents were important, but technology moved on. Files are not physical product. You own them, but they’re not FOREVER! The key is how can we get many of these files in the hands of many people, giving them ownership, which is inherently evanescent? And how can we CHARGE for this?

This system already exists. All that lacks is the monetization. This is the P2P world. Instead of suing customers, the RIAA should be licensing them. An insurance policy AGAINST being sued. Sure, not everybody would pay, but many would. Revenue would be coming in instead of going out. It wouldn’t be much per customer, but it would be a lot in the AGGREGATE! There’s your album model… Instead of getting one person to buy many albums at ten bucks a throw, get the people who AREN’T buying music to pay ten bucks a month. And add it all up at the end of the day and you’ve got a huge pile.

Is this a perfect system? Is rental better for the labels? No and maybe yes. But it just doesn’t comport with reality.

If you think subscription rental is the future, then you probably think the surge in Iraq was successful. It will probably be the norm SOMEDAY, but that’s far from TODAY!

I had to turn on my computer for this.

Fuck heroin. That’s nothing compared to an Internet addiction. I can’t get off this fucking machine. Right through this 23" HD screen is a whole world, updated faster than word of mouth. Everything from explosions to sex, it’s right here on the Internet.

I tell myself that I’m gonna fight it. And then I walk in the door and even though all my e-mail has been forwarded to my BlackBerry I can’t fight the pull, I have to wake my Mac up, I have to see what’s GOING ON!

And this is hell if you ever want to fall asleep.

I don’t sleep so well to begin with. And falling asleep? Almost impossible. If I waited until I was tired I’d be up twenty two hours a day, eventually working my way around the clock a la Frank Zappa. So, this week I’ve been experimenting with shutting down. It’s one thing to hit the keys and wake my computer up. But to FIRE IT UP! That’s a whole ‘nother level. I’ve got enough willpower to resist. At least I thought I did. But I’ve just broken down. Because I heard the MOST AMAZING SONG ON THE RADIO!

Sure, we hate the commercials. But we lament more the loss of the deejays. Those who were music fans, picking the tunes, as opposed to liner note readers or multi-job wannabe Dick Clarks like Ryan Seacrest. Someone who was just as into music as we were. Who guided us and reminded us we were on the same team.

There’s a new deejay on XM’s Deep Tracks. And like all the great deejays of the past, he pulls the graveyard shift. When only the diehards, those who dearly need the hit, are paying attention. When I hear the same country songs over and over again and feel my head will explode and it’s around midnight I dial in Deep Tracks to hear what Greg Gillispie is playing.

Earlier this evening he spun Genesis’ "Supper’s Ready". Cool, but a Gabriel era fave. But, as I’m sitting in front of my XM boom box, tapping out responses on my BlackBerry, a song comes out of the speakers that I’ve NEVER heard on the radio. That maybe has never been spun on the radio EVER! The very last song from the Kinks’ "Preservation Act 2", "You Can’t Stop The Music".

This is where my Ray Davies fascination began. Oh, I knew all the sixties hits. Had a greatest hits album. Even bought "Arthur" and "Lola". Even went to my friend Andy’s dorm room to listen to "Celluloid Heroes". But what made me believe that Ray was truly one of the greats was "Preservation Act 2".

I read about it in "Creem". And maybe "Zoo World". The reviews said it was special. Better than "Act 1". Which, of course, I eventually bought, but had passed on at this point.

I drove to Westport and bought that double-pack and came home and dropped the needle on an EXTRAVAGANZA! A whole PLAY! With characters and a story and some absolutely incredible songs, like "Money Talks".

I quote it constantly…

Show me a man who says he can live without bread
And I’ll show you a man who’s a liar and in debt

Oh, it goes on from there. All about mazuma. The money culture we live in. With a great GROOVE!

And there’s "Shepherds Of The Nation" and "He’s Evil".

Wait a minute. I’VE MADE A MISTAKE! "You Can’t Stop The Music" isn’t from "Preservation Act 2" AT ALL! That ends with the equally great "Salvation Road". "You Can’t Stop The Music" is from the FOLLOW-UP! "Soap Opera"!

But fuck, you probably don’t know any of these tracks. None of them were hits. The Kinks were in teenage wasteland, otherwise known as RCA Records. Only when they switched to Arista did Clive Davis bring them back from the brink, turn them into an arena act. Which was almost impossible to believe. But then they moved on, and were forgotten all over again. (I could explain how Clive and Arista were different back then. But that’s a different letter.)

I haven’t missed a Kinks album since. Probably the best after "Preservation Act 2" is "Misfits", with "A Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy" (NO, not the Bad Company track!) The story of my life.

But tonight we’re talking about the best track, the final track from a truly mediocre album. Ray Davies was deep in his Broadwayesque phase. It was the album after this that he started to regain his footing, "Schoolboys In Disgrace".

Let me go back to "A Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy":

There’s a guy in my block, he lives for rock_
He plays records day and night_
And when he feels down he puts some rock ‘n’ roll on_
And it makes him feel alright_
And when he feels the world is closing in_
He turns his stereo way up high_

If this isn’t you, you can stop reading right now. Quit your job in the industry. You might as well be deaf. I’m only interested in believers. You know how Volkswagen says DRIVERS WANTED! I only want LISTENERS!

Are you a listener? Does the right track change your mood? Can you be happy just listening to a record, needing no video game, no penetration, no other diversion? Did you ever sacrifice dinner to buy a record? Did you ever line up to buy a concert ticket? Did you ever try to convince your MOTHER of the greatness of an act? Then you’re on my team.

Let’s all raise a glass_
To the rock stars of the past
Those that made it
Those that faded
Those that never even made the grade
Those that we thought would never last

Rachel Sweet. I bought her album, it was on Stiff. Did you?

How about Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas? Or Peter & Gordon?

Did you really think Elton was for the ages when you heard "Your Song"? Did you think U2 would still be playing the Garden? Even you. Admit it, YOU picked up the guitar. Or maybe you played the drums, driving your parents crazy. You just needed to be closer.

Singers come and go
And stars fade away
_They vanish in the haze_
And they’re never seen again
But the music just keeps playing on

I’ve got thousands of vinyl records in my house. Parting with them would be like giving away a child. I need them. They’re the history of my life. You may not know them, but I’m familiar with each and every one. I hand-picked them. Played them over and over until I loved them. I went to college, but I learned more listening to records.

I’ve been half a million places
I’ve seen half a million people who stare
I’ve been a star and down and out
I’ve been put on, sat on, punched and spat on
_They’ve called me a faggot, a spiv and a fake
They can knock me down and tread on my face
They can’t stop the music playing on

It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll. And it’s almost impossible to stay at the top. How do you cope when the crowd no longer cares, has forgotten your triumphs, what do you do when the radio station says NEXT!

You don’t give up. Not if you’ve really got it. And talent is only fifty percent. The rest is made up of pure determination, pure desire. These are our rock stars. This is Ray Davies. And we love him for it.

The music keeps playing on. Despite Lyor Cohen’s shenanigans. Despite "Hits"’ vendetta against him, angry that he won’t cough up some dough. Despite high CD prices, RIAA lawsuits and TicketMaster fees. People need to make it, we need to hear it. They usually get it wrong, but when they get it right, IT CHANGES OUR WHOLE LIFE!

I was thinking about getting up early, about winding down, but ONE TRACK ON THE RADIO CHANGED MY LIFE!