en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/9/c5f277361d9f9004d95b492c6075a99d.html Mon, 09 Feb 2004 00:06:49 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/9/c5f277361d9f9004d95b492c6075a99d.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/12/b24c793fec8662b812b4cda46138be95.html Thu, 12 Feb 2004 22:52:12 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/2/12/b24c793fec8662b812b4cda46138be95.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/5/1/7cb7c8032d18f28e71abc78478d4e520.html Sat, 01 May 2004 09:07:13 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/5/1/7cb7c8032d18f28e71abc78478d4e520.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/5/10/b8aaf975f8692c02f33b9fc17fe77cb8.html Mon, 10 May 2004 00:59:30 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/5/10/b8aaf975f8692c02f33b9fc17fe77cb8.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2004/5/24/de5b5f27dc5812c30d2586df40904620.html Mon, 24 May 2004 23:48:24 -0600 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http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/9/17/7fe207b0464803a2cab613b9ebf44435.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/11/25/d7fd32bbb4a0f7f26b2e9c3cce83d1ad.html Fri, 25 Nov 2005 01:23:57 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/11/25/d7fd32bbb4a0f7f26b2e9c3cce83d1ad.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/12/26/9521b84197ef1398f166c5160bb98c00.html Mon, 26 Dec 2005 16:36:13 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2005/12/26/9521b84197ef1398f166c5160bb98c00.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/2/6/ae0c9f6dc72a1f321e67417d3af1a7df.html Mon, 06 Feb 2006 06:10:34 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/2/6/ae0c9f6dc72a1f321e67417d3af1a7df.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/4/3/5affd686c6eeebc110134b9aeeb7ae4b.html Mon, 03 Apr 2006 08:08:16 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/4/3/5affd686c6eeebc110134b9aeeb7ae4b.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/4/9/edddc6841e6d69a11afecac0054caba7.html Sun, 09 Apr 2006 10:38:11 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/4/9/edddc6841e6d69a11afecac0054caba7.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/7/7/adb5ee14dd6b4ea210e5fd281b66ddb5.html Fri, 07 Jul 2006 09:09:38 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/7/7/adb5ee14dd6b4ea210e5fd281b66ddb5.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/7/25/2230e415d8c25f0ad11cc56db1aa2238.html Tue, 25 Jul 2006 09:39:30 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2006/7/25/2230e415d8c25f0ad11cc56db1aa2238.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/10/7e4d9516a11b0128b453841701d53699.html
That rant complete, I have to say that Yahoo's execs mentioned something that put a smile on my face. TechCrunch used the best quote when they stated how one Yahoo exec told the music industry "inconvenience doesn't scale."

That is what DRM truly is: inconvenience for the consumer.

Sadly, DRM isn't about the quality of music, the artists' real rights to full earnings, the true protection of intellectual property, nor the rights of the consumer. It's only about lawyers, executives and the middleman as well as a few leeches in between (that I missed in that statement). DRM helps no one, at least not the ones that truly deserve help. DRM is a fraud scheme to force consumers to pay extra to lower their inconvenience level. So what the music and movie industry have done is made people's lives more miserable with their insecurity.

It's a shame to see society take several steps back towards the age of monarchs and fiefdoms because that's exactly what this version of corporate America has done for social engineering. Or rather they have reversed years of democratic improvement as well as technological improvement just to secure a few more pennies in their burgeoning pockets.

Those extra pennies could've contributed to an investment in solar power for their production factories, technologies to aid deaf people improve their capabilities potentially to hear music, etc. It's truly pathetic to see the industry move in this direction.

Of course, the executives, lawyers, middlemen and other leeches don't care at all. As long as they can purchase another BMW or house in Malibu, that's all that matters to them.

Well, this year we saw SCO collapse and I'm certain that many of the executives are going to get nailed after the lawsuit payments start trickling in. While the music and movie industries' lawsuits may immediately impact the lives of the innocent being threatened, the truth is that I think their demise will be slow and a million times more painful and humiliating than SCO's.

I'll be thoroughly entertained seeing an obese, homeless Paris Hilton dining from a trash can outside of Del Taco alongside her one time executive friends who would see a horrid reverse in fortunes once social media really take over. Enjoy your French cuisine, Mercedes and other luxury, overpriced lifestyles while you can.]]> Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:06:32 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/10/7e4d9516a11b0128b453841701d53699.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/6/6efa893adaac14cdbc09b4075563e438.html
However, what needs to happen for legitimized sales for these firms to succeed in the digital/online age and to retain any remaining respect people might have for them is that they must re-price all media and remove any international barriers for distribution. Truthfully, anything digital that does some stupid geotagging trick needs to halt (minus security due to obvious reasons from the US). If AllOfMp3.com taught us anything it's that you can sell digital music cheap and people will be willing to purchase massive quantities. So the problem has never been people's lack of desire to pay for media, it's been the price.

Here's my suggestion to the music and movie studios for pricing:

Any recent top 40 hit: $0.30
Any music song older than 2-3 years: $0.06
Independent songs: $0.02

Any recent movie: $1
Any movie older than 2-3 years: $0.50
Independent movies: $0.20

Since all of this is digital, the cost of manufacturing should be nearly non-existent. The most cost will be storage and bandwidth. But if these infrastructure companies did the right thing and focused on 10gb/sec lines, we can further bring down the cost of bandwidth while storage continues to grow.

The industries may think that they're losing out in terms of the kind of money they want to make. Well, first, most people in the industry, especially directors, producers and actors make far too much money that is hard to justify these days. This does imply a huge loss of jobs for people in charge of manufacturing the DVDs, CDs, etc. But truthfully this ought to be more environment friendly. Think about the materials and energy saved. This is immensely better for the atmosphere. Most of the selling point would end being marketing material (advertisement, commercials, images). Next because the cost of downloading a song or movie would be so cheap, more people would be likely to make a purchase as opposed to the risk of being sued. Add the removal of enforced geotagging and international boundaries, you increase your market share in the globalized/internet environment.

I'm certain the Britney Spears, Metallicas, etc. will go crying about not having enough money to feed their kids. If these people go bankrupt because they lived in excess, then who cares? I refuse to buy the argument from a guy like the person from STP who said something like, "Well, we'll stop producing music!" Well, if you feel that you can't make a living in terms of having a huge mansion in the Hollywood hills, tough shit. Real artists who have a true passion for their craft will replace you (thankfully) and create things that aren't generated from the boring board room. A true artist in the end will not care about the monetary compensation to create their art. If they have any passion for their craft, they will do it for the love of it and be rewarded by their supporters.

If Hollywood thinks that they are obligated to get back XXX amount of cash for spending a ridiculous sum on stars, producers and directors' salaries as well as for distracting and wasteful special effects, then they're full of shit. I don't need a lot of special effects to enjoy a good movie. I've seen great movies produced for under $10000 that I'm willing to purchase as opposed to the hundreds of millions of wasted dollars on CGI.

If these so-called artists feel that their cocaine supply is running too low, then tough shit. I can't feel sympathy for these people who ended up wasting their money on excess and yet find fault with the public, who support them spiritually for their artistic abilities, but not their excessive lifestyles. It's a shame that such people squandered the hard earned money of the public on their degenerative, decadent lifestyles and yet cry that they aren't going to get paid more because they fucked themselves up so badly, created a horrible public image of themselves and continue to cry because their past achievements are far better than what they can now create in their sad form.

And for independent artists who think their margins are too low, think about this. Yes, you probably won't be able to live like the glory years of bands like Motley Crue, Ratt, Britney Spears, etc. Then again, do you want to fuck your lives up so badly by losing your privacy, losing your dignity, losing your sense of identity and being controlled by this media machine just because you want this distorted image of materialistic reality? Do you want to take a shotgun and blow your face off like Kurt Cobain because now you've earned money to take an infinite mount of heroine? Do you want to be like Michael Jackson, a freak of nature who got famous at a young age, but now faces looming bankruptcy, notoriety from his pedophile inhibitions and will be forever scarred with the numerous plastic surgeries? Do you want to be scoffed at like Lars Ulrich of Metallica, known as someone who turned on the public, the people that supported him and his band for their rebellious music, only to show his true image once success was presented to him and demonstrating that all he is at the heart is just a snobby little asshole? Do you want to be like Paris Hilton, who, if it weren't for her parents, would be working at a nightclub for $10 tips? These are the people that the government is protecting, the industry is shoving down our throats as "artists" and are ruining the way America is being run by saying that gee, that $10+ million I need for my next private jet isn't enough and I demand more in the digital downloads, thus raping the average joe going through a subprime housing recession is going to face. If you want to join that crew, go ahead. But you won't get any self-respect in the end.

Going back to pricing. The thing is that digital formats mean the supply is now endless as long as the barriers of control are lifted and made affordable. I believe that most people want to make their own collections of music legitimized and something that they are proud of truly owning. Taking the risk of lowering the price would be a huge step in the right direction for these large industries. The first group that takes it will be decades ahead of the rest and will be praised as leaders of the media revolution for having the sense and humanity as well as recognizing the true value of the digital world.


]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:19:01 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/6/6efa893adaac14cdbc09b4075563e438.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/6/feb6b6b7a9ee7862feaa79da5f2d036c.html
While the documentary was old, the principles still hold true. The commentator mentioned how there was no "Primadonna" types on the lot, the same way Hollywood has produced these overrated stars. Instead, the focus was on how to sell a movie and how the movie plot and story were the things in the end that would carry a movie, moreso than the actors. I truly wish Hollywood and the music industry would follow Shaw's example. It is a bit egalitarian, but the beauty of it is that you'd avoid these massive ego trips from stars demanding overly huge salaries and royalties, the strikes in Hollywood, the problems of unions, etc. People would quite possibly focus more on creating good scripts to motivate people into buying a ticket to the theater or the concert, rather than having cynical people like myself typing behind a keyboard about how pathetic recent music and movies have been.

What a different landscape Hollywood and the music industry would be if such lessons were learned! No more bitchy Paris Hiltons, no more crap movies like Stealth, no more shitty songs from overly advertised whores like Britney, a lot less strikes in Hollywood, no more ego trips from shitty TV shows only broadcasting the wealth of an undeserving select few, no more reality shows about some reject 80's/90's star. Perhaps a very good story that talks about what's going on in the world instead of the more recent insider jokes that proliferate TV and film (since that's all Hollywood writers know about). Or music that varies in beat, rhythm and structure compared to the one hit wonders that only have three to four chords, two main verses with generic, mindless lyrics and major chords that are varied enough not to let the artist get sued.]]> Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:32:57 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/6/feb6b6b7a9ee7862feaa79da5f2d036c.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/3/15/6fe5d0f4867da94a01151a9fd11eb7bf.html Have's and Have-Not's. This issue has been around forever and has been a leading subject of political discourse. Two well known philosophers, John Locke and Carl Marx had differing but yet similar intents in describing the notion of capital, property, one's rights.

On the one hand, John Locke essentially felt that when one creates something, they therefore own it (link to Wikipedia's entry) This is the basis of intellectual property in that ownership is an effect of one's work. I think part of his writings were due to the environment of him living in a period where kings essentially owned their peasants. So if a peasant grew a fruit, the king, as owner of the land, had all the rights to it. In response, Locke came up with a way of repudiating monarchy through his theory on intellectual property (or just ownership).

While Marx's philosophy is socialist and his views on ownership differ, I think the intent for his writings is not too dissimilar. One key point in Marx's writing was the notion of how capital and production works. Essentially, the means of production are what enables people to have control. (link to Wikipedia's entry) The book Dune paraphrases this idea with saying, "He who controls the spice, controls the universe." The similarity in intent goes to the fact that people want and need control and want to do away with the middle man to live a prosperous life.

This is the biggest point of contention in society now with regards to media labels and file sharers. The media people, in Marx's words, are the ones who keep control over the means of production. They are NOT the people who are the laborers creating the objects as John Locke would state, but they end up being owners because they have the power to back themselves up. They are the middlemen who have fields of corn, rice, and other pieces of food that we think we need. They stand in between the artists and the consumer, reaping the rewards, controlling what can be released and how much they can get in return.

Obviously, the biggest threat to these big media companies are the threat of removing them as a middle man through these new manners of distribution (which is something that Locke nor Marx had failed to address in their writings). The media industry essentially at this point are parasites, living off like the monarchs of old, enslaving labor and threatening neighbors for picking up fruits that fell to the ground. These industries, along with other middle men distributors like retailers, are not the creators and in truth do not own, in Locke's view and from a spiritual point of view, the true intellectual property of the artists. The media companies only own the legal rights because of the contracts that artists, desperate for money, end up signing.

Naturally, TV and movies get more complex because the means of production are far more complex compared with recording music. You have more people involved in the labor, giving them a certain amount of rights as entitled to the writers, actors/actresses, directors and whatnot. Then you get the investment money for production and this is where probably the studios hold the most power and are able to legally bind people.

At any rate, as I've said continuously, the world is constantly reverting towards medieval monarchism or oligarchies. The people on top want as few people to join them to retain control and maintain the slave mentality so that they can enjoy their materialistic lives. Sometimes I consider that the only recourse is the same philosophy that you'd see at the end of the movie The Godfather, by replacing the old to create a new wave of thought.]]> Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:27:34 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/3/15/6fe5d0f4867da94a01151a9fd11eb7bf.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/3/15/015af273718e6e542d28855bae2c4912.html
Digital goods are worthless.

There I said. With the internet, digital goods cannot be commoditized because the supply of digital goods are, in theory, infinite. Back when I worked in Ticketmaster, I learned that people were not able to price tickets properly, therefore secondary markets were created in the form of auctions of exchanges. You had scalpers essentially acting as middlemen for other middlemen. But the key concept in why tickets and events have value but the music itself no longer has value is because tickets and events are finite in number. Rolling Stones are some of the biggest sellers because they are legends and you don't know when one of them is going to pass away from an overdose.

Software now is worthless because companies like Google or trends like Open Source Software have made supply infinite. You can't compete with the cost of zero. It's like trying to force people to pay for air (now that's a scary thought for colonies on Mars or the moon!)

Traditional companies like media companies must realize that to commodify goods like video, tv, or music they must start examining the approach of the tech industry. Companies like Oracle, WebLogic, etc. sell to large players with deep pocket books not because they have great features, but because they offer support contracts that large companies can afford. However, if you look at the trends going on with the software industry, those situations are more of the exception than the norm these days. People are more and more moving towards ad based models or service/support based models in software to make a profit. JBoss, for instance, makes great money because their service/support contracts are expensive. IBM has moved much of their business from the hardware based aspects to a support role.

If these situations hold true, then how should the big media companies attempt to handle piracy?

• Ad based models. It's worked with radio and TV, it'll work online. Just don't geotag so that everyone can equally view TV.
• Movies need to focus on theaters as being a social event, not as the chief form of making a profit from blockbusters. In America, at least, people are moving towards home theaters, so working with electronics manufacturers, online video stores, and ISPs to deliver high quality rental movies to home's large plasmas and whatnot should be the goal.
• Musicians should focus on events as being their chief form of revenue generation. The good thing about this is that it'll kill off wannabe musicians who are produced (i.e. Milli Vanilis, etc.) and focus on people who have true talent, thus being worthy of receiving money from playing at venues.
• The cost of digital media must go down MASSIVELY. I've written about this before and have shown a better pricing model than the one existing.

The big thing is that big media companies should stop making enemies. Why do you want to insult the intelligence of your consumers? Why do you want to treat them like mindless slaves? Why do you want to treat them like a foreign invader? Consumers are your obvious best friends and you need to do MORE for them. It's a large part of the reason why the airline industry is dying in America. You need to service the consumer. People expect good service for what they pay. If you examine closely to what I'm saying about software, the two key components of the success in recent models for the software industry are support and service focus. Remember AOL's debacle with their customer sales rep trying to retain a customer using a script? Do you know why I refuse to fly any American based airlines anymore and go mainly with asian airlines?

The key is the service people!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that the media industries are controlled primarily by a certain group. I won't say which to offend them, but they know whom they are. The thing is that you can't keep ripping people off and expect to have loyalty. This is not a war, but if you want to make it a war, the consumers will fight back slowly and surely.]]> Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:18:21 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/3/15/015af273718e6e542d28855bae2c4912.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/4/20/7f7d5eacf72d0e48024ac50416f27a90.html Puddle of Mudd's Blurry.

The part in particular that describes how I feel goes:

Can you take it all away
Can you take it all away
When ya shoved it in my face
This pain you gave to me

I feel that this is what God is doing to me. Can you take it all away, God? Can you strip me of everything that I care for and then shove it in my face mockingly? Do you want to strip me of everything until I have nothing and then take everything that you've raped from me invert it against me?

My soul has been crying for a while now. So I sit at home now repeating to listen to this song as a catharsis for my past year.]]> Sun, 20 Apr 2008 01:18:22 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/4/20/7f7d5eacf72d0e48024ac50416f27a90.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/4/20/089256ce5b73e9ace34f2fecb4b6203a.html
But again this is my belief that eventually everyone will own their own blog and part of our lives will be dictated in cyberspace. Note that what I'm saying is not necessarily a negative thing, it's just part of our social evolution.]]> Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:04:02 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/4/20/089256ce5b73e9ace34f2fecb4b6203a.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/19/a92458e12730377d565539b1f2eb9fbf.html
Although I tend to dislike people who copy, I will give credit to Gamma Ray. Someone said it best when they mentioned how "Land of the Free II was the best Iron Maiden/Priest album in years!" In many ways, this is true. Gamma Ray had upgraded the sounds and style both bands have done over the years and added some fierce licks to the solos and harmonies. Also, the lyrics are extremely (excuse the pun) powerful, focusing on less mythical issues and attempting to re-do what some of the more socially aware bands like Anthrax and Queensryche started in the 80's.

Some additional touches that I really like from Gamma Ray are the powerful use of synthesizers. The 80's might have panned synths until the later parts, but many power metal bands have managed to incorporate synthesizers and super charge their music with classical overtures that befit epic movies.

Considering the band had put out this album in 2007, I have to really tip my hat in their direction, despite the obvious points where they "paid tribute" to their (and my) favorite bands.]]> Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:33:14 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/19/a92458e12730377d565539b1f2eb9fbf.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/24/beb6b90a94d317d05f1fc3f17644cacb.html
I knew about these guys about 10 years ago back when I was into joshi puroresu. A friend in New York showed me a few of their songs (along with Gamma Ray), but at that time, I wasn't really into power metal. Lately though, I've really been getting into the whole power metal genre, mostly because its the perfect music to compliment my cardiovascular exercises. Nothing like a heavy, hard, fast beat to get you jamming!

Stratovarius though isn't just a simple fast playing band. I find their music ethereal, contemplative, well orchestrated. I hate saying this, but the guitar playing, for instance, is like Yngwie Malmsteen if he could compose well focused songs rather than just blazing solos. Add some Maiden and Priest influence with Queensryche-like vocals and you got an amazing mix.

I think some of their mid-career stuff is truly excellent. It feels darker, more atmospheric. They don't just play in one key or rhythm, but really delve into the whole power metal genre. Take for instance, "Twilight Tonight." The song uses some interesting chords to create a dark feeling at the beginning; then add in the synthesizers with the strings generating an orchestra and you can really get into the tune. But the tune slows down and builds to a climax at the end. In some ways, a tune like that reminds me of something that you could place in an epic action movie.

Originally, I wasn't too fond of their stuff earlier. But at work I have a great opportunity to really let the music sink in. So I'm discovering tunes here and there that are amazing and really grow on me. Stratovarius sadly is a band I wish I had discovered earlier, considering that they had a major falling out and disbanded. Definitely, one of those bands I would've loved seeing in concert.]]> Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:24:24 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/24/beb6b90a94d317d05f1fc3f17644cacb.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/7/3/0f2c4d265e6c6efdd07a1121e3f2bac6.html

• No longer go to any movies in theaters
• Stop watching TV permanently
• Never to purchase another album again
• Never to click on an ad related to media promotions
• Inform my friends, family and acquaintances to do similar actions whenever possible
• Support only independent artists, movies and labels.

Fortunately, I've been doing almost 100% of these actions. But I will urge people to do the same in order to put dents in Big Media's profits whenever possible.]]> Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:09:11 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/7/3/0f2c4d265e6c6efdd07a1121e3f2bac6.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/7/3/08e61e65af13f8bda35db0720e23c734.html
First, I think that Google/YouTube should create a new sector for employment within their company. For artists, they ought to hire them full time for the rate of a good junior to senior level engineer. Say between $40k - $120k/year. Many artists complain that the biggest problem in file sharing is how artists get swindled by the recording industries and "need to put food on the table for their kids." Well, in the case of people like Scott Wieland, or Lars Ulrich, their kids must be pretty obese by now with all the millions their parents make. And in many of these artists' cases, most of the money goes to luxury goods and bad drug habits. So if someone pay them a reasonable rate like a full time employee, then they'll benefit without becoming mentally fucked up like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Tom Cruise (I blame the money not Scientology for this one). I mean, if really all these people want is food, shelter, water and transportation, that salary range is quite good in fact! Besides, do we want another MTV creating yet more generations of skanks, drug induced losers and poor role models for our kids?

The thing with the recording companies traditionally been the whole issue of mass producing and marketing their artists. These days anyone can honestly mass produce their own stuff. Just go to iTunes, or some other online distributor. So the real big issue is marketing. The videos, branding, interviews, etc. We already cut cost down tremendously in this schema by eliminating the need to physically produce goods (which has been said to be one of the largest cost).

Well, videos are great but I think they mostly send the wrong message regardless. When you see hip hop videos, they tell you to be a slut, stupid or dress in a certain way (hence being a conformists). Rock videos glorify sex, drugs and rock n roll. Pop music simply induces stupidity and besides those so-called artists are just puppets propped up in front of a mic so that some puppetmaster in the background can vicariously use them for their own incapabilities.

So that leaves branding and promotion. Well, branding is bullshit most of the time because marketing is telling us to buy something that is really worse than it is. Or they're telling us that without something, we suck. So I think branding can be eliminated from the equation.

That leaves promotion to improve distribution sales for the artists as well as the management aspects for venues. Unfortunately, venues are typically run by a different mafia (i.e. Ticketmaster or the Yak in .jp). So we have to avoid that. But most management are just leeches in all of this anyway. And if an artists does not want to perform, they either are 1) closet artists that really should be sharing their music with friends; or 2) fakes because they don't care about their fans.

As a result, the real thing in the end is the promotion aspect that would be in the hands of Google/YouTube.

So here's where everything comes together for Google/YouTube. The problem with music is that it's all trend based. As I mentioned, labels don't really support their artists. It's like a guy who is 60 years old, been a veteran at software engineering but only knows COBOL. Now and then, these veterans have their comebacks (Y2K bug, Rolling Stones), but most companies and labels prefer keeping them in their pastures or moving them to a different role (management, producers, etc.).

The truth is that the labels should never stop supporting their artists. So if we end the whole notion of the "in-artists" and create the "intern," "junior," "mid-career," "senior," and "lead" type of artists just as we have created for engineers and similar positions, then the game changes entirely. And if we promote these artists in a similar way, say veterans with their larger catalogs can be in the forefront to represent certain categories of music or headlining shows while younger people are proving themselves in learning the business, we might create a new, less vicious model of handling the music business.

But alas! I still have yet to reveal the model of making money for Google/YouTube. I mentioned before about how music (and other digital goods) is priced at an inequitable level because of the way supply and demand works in the electronic/online world. So if Google sets up a "credit" account where users can employ different methods for compensating artists, then that's where Google can earn their money.

Here's some possibilities:

• Charge as you go. .02 cents/song for a full download. Video requires .10 cents/viewing or .20 cents/download.
• Users must click on ads.
• Users get credits for spreading the music/video to other friends
• Users receive viewing credits for actions performed (creating Google Application spreadsheets, signing up with orkut, sending out an email from GMail)
• Users receive credits for performing some exchange service for the artists (e.g. building a fan page, signing up with a fan site, etc.)

The thing is that none of this has to be directly monetary. We're seeing online games do creative campaigning for giving users credits who don't have money. Eventually, these actions convert into something between businesses (partnerships, revenue sharing, traffic sharing, etc.)

I think one problem that needs to be resolved is that artists have to become multi-millionaires with these excessive lifestyles. I don't think it's fair that a guy like Tom Cruise can earn $25 mil + 20% gross at the box office for doing so little. Or watching some jerk like Vince Neil tell everyone that living like a rebel is great then become a fat slob with numerous personal problems with drugs, alcohol, etc. Sure there's an artistic glory to it, but is this for everyone? Why is it that some fake artists with no talent like Jennifer Lopez make tons of cash for shaking her phat ass, but hard working artists like Fernando Miyata get little recognition (until recently)?

I think giving these artists fair compensation with stable jobs (not treating like session players) is a great thing. I don't like the idea of a middle man still, but the recording industry is just too ruthless and handles their people worse than cannibalism. At least this model seems fair at the surface, except for the ruling elite. But those people already made their money and maybe it's time to send a message to them as well.

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