Denton Taylor wrote:
>>but it's too bad the whole music business is this corporate.
Ken Norton replied:
>Unfortunately, it has to be this corporate.
>The expectations are so much greater than they used to be. Schlock
>won't fly just because somebody has a "message." (Spice Girls and
>Hansen are abberations). [...] Merchandising in the music industry
>was not pushed or even understood until the early '80's.
The real problem is that music stopped being an art form, baseball
and football stopped being sports, etc. In the early 80's, all
these popular draws were taken over by corporations, and are now
run by a bunch of mindless, soulless, number-crunching MBA's.
IMHO, the public didn't really ask for any of this. It was spoon-
fed by the corporate wunderkinds and primed through tons of bombastic
TV ads to expect generic, meaningless, and imminently forgettable
entertainment, often delivered in a glitzy, sparkling packaging.
Now, everything has become an "industry" whose main objective is to
squeeze maximum profits out of minimum investment, usually -- by
means of exclusive rights, insanely massive PR (scandals are GOOD
for business!), ludicrously expensive mega-events, and as much as
legally possible -- squelching any competition.
In this corporate juggernaut, the "talent" (i.e. artists, writers,
ball players, and other creative people) while making a lot of
money for themselves, must give up any power or control, and thus
their ability to make decisions or influence events is almost nil.
Recently, Garth Brooks -- not my favorite artist, but apparently
a very decent fellow, was almost crucified by the popular music
establishment for issuing a limited addition of his greatest
hits, and selling the CD's for an affordable $7.95.
Jeez, what a fool! He was willingly giving away a share of his
fortune to his loyal fans -- the very people who made him a star,
instead of further enriching the corporate honchos and the
shareholders, and this is simply not done anymore. IOW, Garth
Brooks simply wasn't greedy enough. What a sin!
Similarly, I believe that the Stones would have had no objections
if their fans took a few pictures. But, everyone else around
them who makes a living leeching off of the Stones' considerable
creative juices, would very strenuously object. And so, every
conceivable effort is made to eliminate any competition and
hence a potential loss of revenue, and the hell with the free
market.
And here is the obligatory OLY content: suppose I was able to
corner the market on the OM T-20 TTL Connectors. Then, I'd
have everyone here come and buy them exclusively from me.
Hence, I'd be able to charge for each connector a confiscatory
price of $38, while at the same tiem promoting this as an
irresistibly attractive, once in a lifetime sale. Boy, why
didn't I think of this four days ago? ;-) ;-)
Cheers,
/Gary Schloss.
Studio City, CA
schloss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|