Don't Forget! - Aptil 9, 2009

It is first and foremost the TALENT business. The threshold to entry is so low it could be described as a ditch. Anybody with a Mac and a mic can call himself a recording artist. In the early sixties the postmodern record business married FM radio and long playing albums. The Beatles were the Superstars. It was their talent that created the infrastructure of the RECORD business that is crashing and burning today. This is a GOOD thing. The MUSIC industry can no longer fool the fan into buying 10 songs it doesn't want in order to get one song he/she does want. The weapon of choice in executing that phenomenon was Terrestrial radio, which in the day of the ubiquitous iPod, no longer matters. There is not enough talent producing great music to hold up the old system. One day soon an act will appear with such talent, sex appeal and charisma that the youth will embrace it and not steal the music. If everybody with an iPod downloaded their song that day the artist would make millions instantly. All that is required to bring this inevitability to fruition is that the fans love the artist only as much as you and I loved The Beatles. As Paul Simon said, "Every generation puts a hero up the pop charts." It would defy history to think that this will not happen. I spent my life fighting record companies on behalf of artists. I'm glad their reign is over and the power and wealth will accrue to the talented. Pax. Hartmann