They’re fighting in the movie business.\u00c2\u00a0 Bob Iger, impending head of Disney,
committed a faux pas.\u00c2\u00a0 He stated the truth.\u00c2\u00a0 That people want to see the movie
at home.\u00c2\u00a0 On the same day it debuts in theatres.<\/p>\n
The theatre owners FREAKED OUT!<\/p>\n
But who should the movie companies be loyal to?\u00c2\u00a0 The exhibitors or the public?<\/p>\n
We already know what side the music industry is on.\u00c2\u00a0 They side with the
retailers.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to do ANYTHING that might hurt the retailers.\u00c2\u00a0 As if
they were the end customer, as if every sale to them was final, as if they
couldn’t ship unsold product back.<\/p>\n
Prognosticators have been talking about home theatre for over a decade.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s
now here.\u00c2\u00a0 Watching the flick on a plasma set with surround sound is BETTER
than going to the multiplex.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to drive, you don’t have to endure
ads, you don’t have to mingle with the PUBLIC, with their pesky cell phone
conversations DURING the movie, you can pop your own corn at a fraction of the
price, why WOULD you want to go out?<\/p>\n
We have the equivalent of the plasma set in the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s called
the iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels hate it.\u00c2\u00a0 They want everybody to buy CDs.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re
INCENTIVIZING them to buy CDs, you get more cluck for your buck at the brick and
mortar retail outlet than you do at the iTunes Music Store, no copy protection,
better sound and artwork.\u00c2\u00a0 Why WOULD YOU want the file when you can have a
DISC?<\/p>\n
iPods hold collections much larger than almost every consumer ever acquired
at a retail outlet.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d think the labels would see a new business model was
needed to satiate owners of the device.\u00c2\u00a0 But no, in their minds an iPod should
only hold a few albums, that were each paid for with a twenty dollar bill.\u00c2\u00a0
Got to keep the old business model intact.<\/p>\n
But that’s what Bob Iger is questioning. The old business model.\u00c2\u00a0 He
LITERALLY said he didn’t want to make the mistakes of the music industry,
not giving consumers what they want.<\/p>\n
The consumer does not want tethered subscriptions.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t even want any
device OTHER than the iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only because the iPod is cool, but it WORKS!\u00c2\u00a0
Because of the ingenious software involved.\u00c2\u00a0 But rather than see this as an
advantage, the labels just carp there’s no interoperability amongst stores.\u00c2\u00a0
It’s like arguing that Honda parts won’t fit Yugos, NOBODY WANTS A YUGO!<\/p>\n
And the reason they’re freaking in the movie business, why Iger is proffering
new ideas, is because business is off.<\/p>\n
Oh, they’ve been through the parade of horribles.\u00c2\u00a0 People are STEALING the
product.\u00c2\u00a0 There are entertainment alternatives.\u00c2\u00a0 There are too many ads in
theatres.\u00c2\u00a0 But now, as the close of the summer season looms, there seems to be a
consensus.\u00c2\u00a0 The movies suck.<\/p>\n
Funny how the movie men can admit the truth, but the music moguls can’t.<\/p>\n
But, true thinkers can’t understand why this fact, this lack of quality, is
causing a ten percent decline in theatre attendance THIS YEAR, after all, THE
MOVIES WERE JUST AS BAD LAST YEAR!\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, they’ve been bad for TEN YEARS!\u00c2\u00a0
Such a long time that people have fallen out of the moviegoing habit.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve
been overhyped and ripped off one too many times.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve ABANDONED the
industry.\u00c2\u00a0 FATIGUE has set in.<\/p>\n
Fascinating concept if you think about it.<\/p>\n
This was bandied about in the music business half a decade ago, when sales
first started to tank.\u00c2\u00a0 Napster traders said CDs were too expensive, they only
contained one good track.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, five years later, CDs have not come down
significantly in price.\u00c2\u00a0 But, it’s worse.\u00c2\u00a0 They still suck.\u00c2\u00a0 They suck MORE!<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s got nothing to do with downloading.\u00c2\u00a0 None of the ills the RIAA
bandies about.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe it’s the raw fact that the music has sucked for a very long
time and people just don’t care anymore.<\/p>\n
And now here’s where indie store owners from across America click return and
rave at me, telling me all the GREAT product they’re selling.<\/p>\n
Now, let’s be clear.\u00c2\u00a0 The movie business is only off TEN PERCENT!\u00c2\u00a0 That means
MANY people are still going to the theatre.\u00c2\u00a0 But, what’s gonna happen in the
future?\u00c2\u00a0 MANY people are still buying CDs.\u00c2\u00a0 But significantly fewer every
year.\u00c2\u00a0 The trend is going in the wrong direction DRAMATICALLY!\u00c2\u00a0 What about the
people who’ve stopped buying, shouldn’t we worry about where THEY’RE AT?<\/p>\n
Music’s no longer cool.<\/p>\n
Oh, don’t bark back.\u00c2\u00a0 I used to live to comb the record store bins.\u00c2\u00a0 Now I
don’t go, I comb the Net.\u00c2\u00a0 Why go to a store, which has such tiny inventory,
none of the rarities I desire, most of which you can’t buy at ANY price.<\/p>\n
Still, I don’t spend hours hunting down the new stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of what I’m
looking for is OLD!<\/p>\n
And, now we’ve got the naysayers saying it’s my age.\u00c2\u00a0 You get old and you
want to stay home, you’re not interested in new music.\u00c2\u00a0 But talk to teens.\u00c2\u00a0 They
REVERE the classic rock acts.\u00c2\u00a0 THEY think today’s music is bullshit.\u00c2\u00a0 OH, it’s
not black and white.\u00c2\u00a0 OF COURSE people are buying 50 Cent and Destiny’s Child
and Hilary Duff.\u00c2\u00a0 But question five teenagers, you’ll be stunned when you
hear them foam at the mouth about Zeppelin, Hendrix and the Who.\u00c2\u00a0 They know
what’s good.<\/p>\n
There hasn’t been a good album, one that changed your life, since "Jagged
Little Pill".<\/p>\n
Oh, I’ve heard good music since.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’m now more interested in technology
than music.\u00c2\u00a0 Tech is cutting edge and cool.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, have you USED Google Earth?\u00c2\u00a0
It’s better than anything the Strokes or Keane or the Killers or…ANYBODY
has put out this year.\u00c2\u00a0 Google Earth is what music USED to be.\u00c2\u00a0 How did they
COME UP with this?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s so cool!<\/p>\n
So, first we need better music.\u00c2\u00a0 Then we’ve got to convince people it’s out
there.<\/p>\n
You’d think instead of paying for play on terrestrial radio labels would be
supporting satellite radio and net radio, with their wide variety of options,
with their unlimited playlists.\u00c2\u00a0 God, sign up for satellite and get five CDs
free.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t this how "Rolling Stone" built its business?<\/p>\n
There are more records than ever.\u00c2\u00a0 More shows.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s infrastructure, but a
great faction of the public has tuned out.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not that different from
Atari.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, everybody decided that gaming console sucked.\u00c2\u00a0 They used it up.\u00c2\u00a0
It died.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost overnight.<\/p>\n
But video games didn’t die.\u00c2\u00a0 You just needed someone to reinvent them.\u00c2\u00a0 Which
Nintendo did.\u00c2\u00a0 Bringing a dead industry back to the point where it now
eclipses both movies AND music.<\/p>\n
At the height of Napster sales were at their peak.\u00c2\u00a0 Because there was an
EXCITEMENT!\u00c2\u00a0 EVERYBODY wanted music on their computers.\u00c2\u00a0 But the industry killed
Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 Music wasn’t being acquired the way they thought it should.\u00c2\u00a0 And
sales have declined ever since.<\/p>\n
It’s not about selling CDs at Starbucks.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels killed vinyl, they could
kill the CD overnight, bring everybody into the MP3 era.\u00c2\u00a0 The iPod era.\u00c2\u00a0
That’s what Bob Iger is talking about.\u00c2\u00a0 Forgetting tradition and entering the
PRESENT!<\/p>\n
This business is completely full of shit.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows music sucks.\u00c2\u00a0
That’s the PERCEPTION!\u00c2\u00a0 And perception is reality.\u00c2\u00a0 Until perception changes, this
business is fucked.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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