I guess they don’t have Internet down in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
Or maybe Garth Brooks is still on dialup, or is too busy taking his kids to school to know what’s really going on.<\/p>\n
Apple destroyed the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple must be stopped.<\/p>\n
Isn’t that like fighting in Afghanistan when Al-Qaeda is in Pakistan?<\/p>\n
Oops!<\/p>\n
But this is the same government Mr. Brooks wants to protect and save the music business.<\/p>\n
That damn Apple, allowing people to BUY single tracks!\u00c2\u00a0 Things were much better prior to the iTunes Store, when listeners just STOLE THEM!\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, why don’t we wipe out not only iTunes, but Amazon, let’s forgo licensing any Internet distribution, that’ll solve the problem!<\/p>\n
As for half a day of silence…\u00c2\u00a0 Only an old fart residing in the nineties would believe that radio still has that kind of power, that everybody’s still listening.\u00c2\u00a0 Under the first sale doctrine, we own our music, and we’re listening on our iPods without worrying about what the broadcasters are purveying in between the twenty two minutes of commercials per hour.<\/p>\n
Well, we’ve got to ban the iPod too!<\/p>\n
But didn’t the RIAA already try that?\u00c2\u00a0 Suing to stop its predecessor, the Diamond Rio?\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t win that one…<\/p>\n
I sympathize with where Mr. Brooks is coming from.\u00c2\u00a0 Creators should be compensated.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, how much?\u00c2\u00a0 Just because you’re a musician, are you entitled to be rich, to fly on a private jet?<\/p>\n
Tell that to every other industry that’s been mauled by the Internet…<\/p>\n
No more online travel booking!\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t use Orbitz, you must go to a travel agent!<\/p>\n
And while you’re at it, no more Internet news.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to buy the aged news in the newspaper every morning.\u00c2\u00a0 Or worse, listen to the inane talking heads on TV.\u00c2\u00a0 Less information is better!<\/p>\n
Funny how those who used to have power don’t like the Internet flashlight, that sends a beam into the nooks and crannies of the power elite’s business.<\/p>\n
While we’re at it, why don’t we bring back Tommy Mottola!\u00c2\u00a0 And J. Lo!\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t watch videos online, you’ve got to sit endlessly in front of the television, waiting for them to come up on MTV!\u00c2\u00a0 And if you like a niche act, not a superstar like Mr. Brooks, if you like Steve Earle more than Brad Paisley, you never get to see him at all!\u00c2\u00a0 Tough noogies!<\/p>\n
Vegas is the right place for you Garth.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s where all the has-beens go.<\/p>\n
I don’t mind a conflicting opinion.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s ignorance I abhor.<\/p>\n
You’ve got to start with the facts.\u00c2\u00a0 People can steal music at will.\u00c2\u00a0 How do you create a better mousetrap, that allows everyone to partake whilst paying?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the Spotify model, that’s the MOG model, that’s the future we’re working towards.<\/p>\n
But you’d rather jet us back to the past.<\/p>\n
It’s like Michael J. Fox sitting at home watching reruns of "Family Ties", doomed to endure the terrible effects of Parkinson’s disease.\u00c2\u00a0 Mr. Fox didn’t ask to get sick.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the Internet was not founded to allow people to steal music.\u00c2\u00a0 But rather than accept his fate and stay in the past, Mr. Fox has established a foundation, he’s fighting Parkinson’s, he wants to go back to the FUTURE!\u00c2\u00a0 Where he’s no longer twenty, but he’s older and disease free.<\/p>\n
You get to a better place not by quelling rebellions, by denying technology, but by starting in the present and working towards the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that the model you employed Garth?\u00c2\u00a0 Seeing KISS and recasting their success in country music?<\/p>\n
I’ve seen you perform.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re phenomenal.<\/p>\n
But like the progenitors, your inspiration, the men in make-up, you’re a has-been.\u00c2\u00a0 And few want your new music.\u00c2\u00a0 The way you earn our trust is making it less about you, and more about us.\u00c2\u00a0 Hey, isn’t that what the Net’s about?\u00c2\u00a0 Stop talking horseshit about retirement and truly get in the game.\u00c2\u00a0 Create some great new material.\u00c2\u00a0 Start tweeting, employ Facebook to get the message out.\u00c2\u00a0 See what it’s really like out there before you start running your mouth, commenting when you’re clueless.<\/p>\n
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