{"id":1701,"date":"2009-02-14T10:17:50","date_gmt":"2009-02-14T18:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=1701"},"modified":"2009-02-14T10:18:22","modified_gmt":"2009-02-14T18:18:22","slug":"rusty-gregory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/14\/rusty-gregory\/","title":{"rendered":"Rusty Gregory"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m sitting here listening to outtakes from Steely Dan’s "Royal Scam" reading hundreds of e-mails.<\/p>\n

I’d like to thank the community for turning me on to a brilliant track, the Ricky Skaggs\/Ashley Monroe version of the Raconteurs’ "Old Enough".\u00c2\u00a0 You can hear it here: <\/p>\n

\n
The Raconteurs – Old Enough<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

and if you’re truly interested in the backstory, you can check it out here: <\/p>\n

\n
The Raconteurs and Ashley Monroe Break Down \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Old Enough\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I could rant on about Web 2.0, network effects, but this is the advantage of the Net, you can get consensus, you can get turned on to things almost instantly.<\/p>\n

Speaking of consensus…\u00c2\u00a0 Yesterday I was hipped by two readers to discount pricing at Mammoth Mountain.\u00c2\u00a0 There was a town meeting in Mammoth Lakes, wherein the CEO of the ski resort, Rusty Gregory laid out the issues facing the area <\/p>\n

\n
Gregory and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153New Paradigm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But what is even more fascinating is Mr. Gregory’s participation on the Mammoth boards.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s as if Jimmy Iovine started posting comments on Perez Hilton or the Velvet Rope.<\/p>\n

It’s fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 No PR person vetted Mr. Gregory’s comments.\u00c2\u00a0 So when someone is stupid, he calls them out on their stupidity.\u00c2\u00a0 He takes no guff.\u00c2\u00a0 And in addition to clarifying, explaining the truth behind the rumors and laying out future business practices, he interacts nicely with those who are civil to him.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s positively revolutionary.<\/p>\n

At first the record labels hid behind Hilary Rosen.\u00c2\u00a0 The same way the acts now hide behind Ticketmaster.\u00c2\u00a0 Let them take the guff, we’re innocent.\u00c2\u00a0 But now the labels are a shadow of their former selves.\u00c2\u00a0 Having fought "piracy" for a decade, they’ve become marginalized, with touring revenues now the key to fattening your wallet.\u00c2\u00a0 Doug Morris waded into cyberspace, granting an interview to "Wired", but after appearing a buffoon, stating Universal didn’t know where to look to for Internet advice, Doug has gone back into his hole, counting his millions.<\/p>\n

What about Warner’s YouTube policy?\u00c2\u00a0 Wherein acts signed to the label can’t even link to their own videos?\u00c2\u00a0 Who was responsible for this decision?\u00c2\u00a0 Can this faceless bastard come out of hiding and explain himself online?\u00c2\u00a0 Just maybe, he’ll sway the public, the same way Rusty Gregory has made fans.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t convince everybody, ten percent of the audience will never pay, will never be reasonable, but most people are open to being educated.<\/p>\n

Give Irving Azoff props, at least he responded to Bruce Springsteen’s concerns.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas in the past, there might be a statement from some unknown press agent days later.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you believe Irving?\u00c2\u00a0 You can make up your own mind.\u00c2\u00a0 But at least he stepped up to the plate.<\/p>\n

Steve Jobs went online and explained why variable pricing was sheer greed and DRM had to go.\u00c2\u00a0 There are legendary stories of people e-mailing him and getting a response.\u00c2\u00a0 But how would you reach Rob Stringer?\u00c2\u00a0 Never mind Lyor Cohen.\u00c2\u00a0 These people are living their private lives inside walled gardens.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you think it’s working for them, you’re delusional.<\/p>\n

The labels have done their best to alienate their customers for a decade.\u00c2\u00a0 And they show no effort to contradict this behavior.<\/p>\n

What people want is access.\u00c2\u00a0 They want an explanation.\u00c2\u00a0 They want honesty.\u00c2\u00a0 They want truth.\u00c2\u00a0 What is preventing the RIAA from creating an open forum, wherein questions are answered by the heads of the labels themselves, unfiltered? Hell, Rick Rubin just has to drop in somewhere and the word will be Twittered instantly, and the public will show up.<\/p>\n

But the public doesn’t have a problem with Rick Rubin.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s just an inside story, people willing Sony Music to fail.\u00c2\u00a0 But they do have a problem with each and every record label in general.\u00c2\u00a0 And the publishing companies.\u00c2\u00a0 And the corporate PR people advising these institutions tell them to choose their words wisely, if they speak at all.<\/p>\n

Like I said, this obviously isn’t working.\u00c2\u00a0 The public hates the labels and their business is declining.\u00c2\u00a0 Time to come out of the bunker.\u00c2\u00a0 Time to speak your truth.<\/p>\n

Then again, is the truth that you’re overpaid and riding the CD wave to the end and then headed for retirement?\u00c2\u00a0 No wonder you don’t want to venture into the agora.\u00c2\u00a0 But the business will survive you.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone’s got to come out of the woodwork and explain what’s going on.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone with a name, that we recognize.<\/p>\n

Sure, the Web is vicious.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s where public discourse takes place.\u00c2\u00a0 Not in the "New York Times" or the "Wall Street Journal", but on FaceBook and message boards.<\/p>\n

I’m calling you out.\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s going on record first?\u00c2\u00a0 Really, it should be you Jimmy.\u00c2\u00a0 You say you’re the artist’s friend, you say you’re open to new ideas.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you come out of hiding and explain yourself?\u00c2\u00a0 Answer questions, tell us what the fuck is going on?<\/p>\n

\n
Mammoth thread: Gregory to Speak and Take Questions at Town Council Meeting<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rusty Gregory’s handle is "Rusty".\u00c2\u00a0 You can start reading his comments\/responses towards the bottom of the first page, his first post being on Thursday Feb. 12, 2009 at 8:57 PM.\u00c2\u00a0 He joined earlier that day, at 9:57 am, under his real name. Those with balls don’t need to hide, they’ve got the truth on their side.<\/p>\n

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I’m sitting here listening to outtakes from Steely Dan’s "Royal Scam" reading hundreds of e-mails. I’d like to thank the community for turning me on to a brilliant track, the Ricky Skaggs\/Ashley Monroe version of the Raconteurs’ "Old Enough".\u00c2\u00a0 You can hear it here: The Raconteurs – Old Enough and if you’re truly interested in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-rr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1703,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1701\/revisions\/1703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}