I'm Boarding, NARAS is Pimping

The snow is good. But it looks like NARAS is pimping. So, I had to half pipe up.

That's right. Neil Portnow, Grammy man himself, insists the show shall go on, so he's plunging ahead with this year's show, writer's strike or not.

I ask the Grammy Musicians: does this help creativity and art or your bottom line?

Mr. Grammy Man, those clever words you're using don't hide the fact that you're feeding yourself and stabbing the WGA in the back.

Beyonce and Dave Grohl, shame on you too. Crossing a picket line is bad juju!

Guy Slices Paul's McCartney's Pink Slip

This snowboarding thing has got me. I'm spending all my time getting goofy. I wonder if Guy Hands at EMI is getting goofy, or if he's got the right line down the music business' slippery slope?

Mr. Hands is a financier with no music business history. His fortune came from investing in pubs and waste management. The current music industry is littered with the corpses of good business men who didn't get the record business. Since the mass manufacture of the 45 rpm records, successful record companies bribed disc jockeys and cheated recording artists. Guy, exactly how are you going to correct that?

Mr. Hands, did you hear Paul McCartney called your company boring? Damn, that's the pot calling the kettle black. Your company made Sir Paul a zillionaire and now's he's dissing you. Is he a spoiled artist or a realist?

Sony/BMG's Baby Steps Retarded At Best

Sorry, I've been so quiet, I've been on vacation, then I got snowed in.

I see there's been no shortage of stupidities while I was snowboarding. I can't fault Thomas Hesse, the Sony/BMG music man, for trying get with it. I just wonder who's giving him advice. The big music company is finally seeing the smarts of DRM-free music, but with their new plan, a buyer has to get a gift card at a store. Why not sell these online? As retarded as this plan is, for the kings of encryption this is a step forward, albeit a baby step.

Sony/BMG your catalogue is still available on DRM-free CDs, in spite of your company's obnoxious efforts to encrypt the world. Why not sell all your music in the MP3 format?

I got a secret for you, here's how Sony/BMG could get on top of the music business again:
Stop concentrating on the reselling your old music and start bring the public some new music!