A good rant

I guess they don't have Internet down in Oklahoma.

Or maybe Garth Brooks is still on dialup, or is too busy taking his kids to school to know what's really going on.

Apple destroyed the music business. Apple must be stopped.

Isn't that like fighting in Afghanistan when Al-Qaeda is in Pakistan?

Oops!

But this is the same government Mr. Brooks wants to protect and save the music business.

That damn Apple, allowing people to BUY single tracks! Things were much better prior to the iTunes Store, when listeners just STOLE THEM! Hell, why don't we wipe out not only iTunes, but Amazon, let's forgo licensing any Internet distribution, that'll solve the problem!

As for half a day of silence... Only an old fart residing in the nineties would believe that radio still has that kind of power, that everybody's still listening. Under the first sale doctrine, we own our music, and we're listening on our iPods without worrying about what the broadcasters are purveying in between the twenty two minutes of commercials per hour.

Well, we've got to ban the iPod too!

But didn't the RIAA already try that? Suing to stop its predecessor, the Diamond Rio? They didn't win that one...

I sympathize with where Mr. Brooks is coming from. Creators should be compensated. Then again, how much? Just because you're a musician, are you entitled to be rich, to fly on a private jet?

Tell that to every other industry that's been mauled by the Internet...

No more online travel booking! You can't use Orbitz, you must go to a travel agent!

And while you're at it, no more Internet news. You've got to buy the aged news in the newspaper every morning. Or worse, listen to the inane talking heads on TV. Less information is better!

Funny how those who used to have power don't like the Internet flashlight, that sends a beam into the nooks and crannies of the power elite's business.

While we're at it, why don't we bring back Tommy Mottola! And J. Lo! You can't watch videos online, you've got to sit endlessly in front of the television, waiting for them to come up on MTV! And if you like a niche act, not a superstar like Mr. Brooks, if you like Steve Earle more than Brad Paisley, you never get to see him at all! Tough noogies!

Vegas is the right place for you Garth. It's where all the has-beens go.

I don't mind a conflicting opinion. It's ignorance I abhor.

You've got to start with the facts. People can steal music at will. How do you create a better mousetrap, that allows everyone to partake whilst paying? That's the Spotify model, that's the MOG model, that's the future we're working towards.

But you'd rather jet us back to the past.

It's like Michael J. Fox sitting at home watching reruns of "Family Ties", doomed to endure the terrible effects of Parkinson's disease. Mr. Fox didn't ask to get sick. Just like the Internet was not founded to allow people to steal music. But rather than accept his fate and stay in the past, Mr. Fox has established a foundation, he's fighting Parkinson's, he wants to go back to the FUTURE! Where he's no longer twenty, but he's older and disease free.

You get to a better place not by quelling rebellions, by denying technology, but by starting in the present and working towards the future. Isn't that the model you employed Garth? Seeing KISS and recasting their success in country music?

I've seen you perform. You're phenomenal.

But like the progenitors, your inspiration, the men in make-up, you're a has-been. And few want your new music. The way you earn our trust is making it less about you, and more about us. Hey, isn't that what the Net's about? Stop talking horseshit about retirement and truly get in the game. Create some great new material. Start tweeting, employ Facebook to get the message out. See what it's really like out there before you start running your mouth, commenting when you're clueless.

http://www.cmt.com/news/nashville-skyline/1624496/nashville-skyline-garth-brooks-goes-back-to-work.jhtml


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/