{"id":304,"date":"2006-01-27T10:22:05","date_gmt":"2006-01-27T17:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/01\/27\/the-beginning-of-the-end\/"},"modified":"2006-01-27T18:21:17","modified_gmt":"2006-01-28T01:21:17","slug":"the-beginning-of-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2006\/01\/27\/the-beginning-of-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning Of The End"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nettwerk Music Group Takes on the RIAA<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Terry McBride is not stupid.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, he’s one of the smartest and shrewdest operators in the business.\u00c2\u00a0 You can argue with his methods, stating he burns his artists out in the process of breaking them.\u00c2\u00a0 But really, don’t you have to give props to someone who turned the Barenaked Ladies, the world’s least sexy and least charismatic rock group, into an arena act?<\/p>\n

If Terry McBride and his Nettwerk operation were located south of the border, the "New York Times" would have done a story on them, Terry would be a national hero, not quite as impressive and lionized as Steve Jobs, but respected and viewed as a role model by the younger generation.<\/p>\n

Nettwerk manages such international superstars as Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne and Dido.\u00c2\u00a0 Along with middle tier acts like the aforementioned Barenaked Ladies, Sum 41 and Jars of Clay.\u00c2\u00a0 And DEVELOPING acts like Brand New.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t this JUST the kind of guy who should be lining up behind Mitch Bainwol and the RIAA?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean Terry McBride is IN BED with the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t Nettwerk function as the A&R for Sony BMG in Canada now??<\/p>\n

But Terry McBride is drawing the line.\u00c2\u00a0 Because Terry McBride knows it’s about fans, and careers, and what the RIAA is doing is eviscerating both.<\/p>\n

We’ve been waiting for this war between the managers and the labels FOREVER!\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve been waiting for a backlash against Metallica versus Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 And now we have it.<\/p>\n

Metallica wasn’t wholly wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 The original Napster put forth the notion that what it was doing was legal.\u00c2\u00a0 Hogwash.\u00c2\u00a0 Anyone with a Bar Card knew better (and isn’t it funny that Napster was run by lawyers…)\u00c2\u00a0 We needed a lawsuit to establish that the copyrightholders had rights, that you needed a LICENSE to utilize their material.\u00c2\u00a0 But those of us who actually used Napster, who were ecstatic over the advantages of such a service, advantages which ultimately resulted in the worldwide phenomenon of the iPod, were under the illusion that once the major labels got their rights reinforced, established, laid down, they’d go forth AND license.<\/p>\n

Turned out nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

The major label cartel, which never used Napster, which bans P2P software on all its computers, putting its head in the sand like an ostrich, not wanting to see the future, is hurting Terry McBride’s business.\u00c2\u00a0 And he doesn’t LIKE IT!<\/p>\n

He tried to be a good soldier.\u00c2\u00a0 But his responsibility is to his acts, not his corporate brethren, and what he sees is his acts’ fans being PENALIZED for their fandom.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, it’s HARD ENOUGH to break an act, you don’t want the people paying attention SCARED AWAY!<\/p>\n

But that’s what the major labels are doing.\u00c2\u00a0 Sales show it.\u00c2\u00a0 And the iTunes Music Store is more of a ruse than a replacement business.<\/p>\n

Terry McBride turns out to be a real rock and roller.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a namby-pamby who’s changing his lyrics for Wal-Mart and doing whatever his label says to pump up sales of his record.\u00c2\u00a0 In rock and roll, it’s what you STAND FOR that’s important.\u00c2\u00a0 (Very different from hip-hop.\u00c2\u00a0 Where the FRUITS of the labor are the most important thing…the bitches and ho’s, the ice and the iron.)<\/p>\n

Terry’s been trying new things.\u00c2\u00a0 Not that they get much press in the States, but he’s innovative in a way that the major labels are not.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s TRYING!\u00c2\u00a0 And the labels are getting in his way.<\/p>\n

So Terry drew a line in the sand.<\/p>\n

That fiasco in the French legislature?\u00c2\u00a0 Where penalties for traders turned into a proposed law for licensing trading?\u00c2\u00a0 That was just the beginning.<\/p>\n

This is a good story.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like the Mob going to the mattresses.\u00c2\u00a0 People LOVE IT when families fight.<\/p>\n

The family is now in a fight.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s now a crack in the RIAA facade.\u00c2\u00a0 The one that says the only way out is to sue traders, and that they’re doing this SUCCESSFULLY, i.e., they’re reducing P2P trades.<\/p>\n

This was an issue waiting to flare up.\u00c2\u00a0 While the RIAA maneuvered behind the scenes, the public consciousness moved on.\u00c2\u00a0 Which the RIAA thought was good for them.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course, this is untrue.\u00c2\u00a0 Since, in the heyday of Napster, when EVERYBODY was talking about music and trading same, CD sales were at their ABSOLUTE HIGHEST!\u00c2\u00a0 But, despite it not being a topic of everyday conversation, people were still trading, more than ever.\u00c2\u00a0 It was an underground movement.\u00c2\u00a0 Waiting for an ignition point.<\/p>\n

Houston, we’ve got ignition.<\/p>\n

Terry McBride, a true music business insider, one with JUICE, has now raised the question…\u00c2\u00a0 Is the RIAA’s strategy RIGHT?<\/p>\n

But it’s more than that.<\/p>\n

Is the RIAA’s strategy JUST?\u00c2\u00a0 Is it GOOD for music?\u00c2\u00a0 Good for ACTS?\u00c2\u00a0 Good for FANS?<\/p>\n

Terry McBride thinks not.<\/p>\n

And he’s not alone.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got the public on his side.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of the wimpy managers and acts…\u00c2\u00a0 When will they see that the major labels ARE NOT ON THEIR SIDE!\u00c2\u00a0 That they’re in the business of careers, and the more people who possess their music, by acquiring it cheaply via licensed P2P, the better it is FOR THEM?<\/p>\n

It appears a hundred year war.<\/p>\n

But it’s worth fighting.\u00c2\u00a0 For make no mistake, mass distribution of music via the Net, so EVERYBODY is a music consumer, has music on his hard drive, is not only good for music, it’s good for the MUSIC BUSINESS!<\/p>\n

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Nettwerk Music Group Takes on the RIAA Terry McBride is not stupid.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, he’s one of the smartest and shrewdest operators in the business.\u00c2\u00a0 You can argue with his methods, stating he burns his artists out in the process of breaking them.\u00c2\u00a0 But really, don’t you have to give props to someone who turned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-4U","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}