Truth is, this isn’t just cluelessness, it’s corporate malfeasance. If I owned stock in companies with this kind of attitude which lead to a destruction of the industry and stock price, I’d be looking to sue them for all they’re still worth.
Universal Music CEO Doug Morris Speaks, Recording Industry in Even Deeper Shit Than We Thought
In the December issue of Wired, Seth Mnookin sits down with Universal Music Group CEO/supervillain Doug Morris for a pretty excellent profile (which is, tragically, not yet online). In it, Mnookin paints the 68-year old Morris as a crotchety executive who’s upset that he can’t focus more on simple product and artist development because he’s too busy worrying about iPods, MP3s, and his company’s digital strategy (which was never really supposed to be part of his job description when he took the gig in 1995).
When Morris is asked why the music business didn’t work harder, in the early days of file-sharing, to build its own (legal) online presence, there’s this exchange:
“There’s no one in the record industry that’s a technologist,” Morris explains. “That’s a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn’t. They just didn’t know what to do. It’s like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?”
Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn’t an option. “We didn’t know who to hire,” he says, becoming more agitated. “I wouldn’t be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me.”
Even though we shouldn’t be, we’re actually a little shocked. We’d always assumed the labels had met with a team of technology experts in the late nineties and ignored their advice, but it turns out they never even got that far — they didn’t even try!
and people like this are still running things?
…and getting paid big bucks to do it?
awesome.
I don’t know if record industry CEOs know a company called McKinsey… or any strategy consultancy firms… They could have done the job for them! If they don’t know any professionals they can hire recognized consultacy firms (Gartner, IBM, Accenture, etc…) but probably they are too busy making the next Britney Spears.
It never crossed his mind to retire. Frak’n fossil.
This is a lame excuse. Really lame. Back then, Napster (the real Napster, not the today’s parody) was alive. Why didn’t they go to them and said “Hey, we’re the music industry and want to invest some serious money on your idea, so we and you can make tons of money selling legal music”.
If they knew back then who to sue, they could surely as well know who to hire.
So really, the suing of music fans by the RIAA’s lawyers is just the vultures feeding on the music industry’s rotting corpse. How poetic.
#4 They didn’t see Napster that way. They saw Napster as some guy selling bootleg CD’s on the Corner and when they couldn’t shut it down and had to fight in court unlike just having they guy on the corner arrested. They just saw a bigger problem then the bootleg CDs. Since they had no idea about Technology would be going this way.
Haven’t bought a plastic CD in years !!!
iPods & MP3 players are good for the environment, so long live http://www.MP3Sparks.com.
In Other News, last weekend, Céline Dion tickets went on sale an the Montreal Bell Centre, four nights. All four nights sold out in 25 minutes.
Ticket prices :
75$ Top (blue)
100$ Middle (white)
150$ Lowest (red)
Then Gold, Silver, Bronze on the floor around the stage, 2000$, 1500$, 1000$.
There were NO TV ads, Radio ads, or any publicity of any kind.
The music execs really are clueless, when artists make more money on tour, than they ever will with CD music sales.
When The Police came to town, similar numbers except w/o the gold/silver/bronze thing.
Just three guys singing, nothing fancy.
Their show was so simple, and sounded great.
What a nice way to buy a castle for your SO, Sting!
#7, are those prices before or after all the vultures bought up the tickets in pre-sales and scalp them?
Do yourself a favor people, go to your local watering hole and see some local talent. Much better music for cheaper prices, and your helping your fellow man and ion a grander scale your local economy (granted small terms, but every bit helps nowadays.)
Besides “hiring a vet” — the recording industry could John Dvorak.
I actually don’t remember a specific column by John but LOTS of people were discussing this issue around fifteen years ago and there was a lot of good free advice which was totally ignored.
The solutions I suggested back around 2000, might work for today.
For starters — lower the price of CDs!
Drop the price to about $5 and I would guess that the industry would recoup the loss in increased volume.
Secondly, go to a subscription model
Subscriptions are a model that people understand — unlike DRM which violates our sense of ownership. I think a lot of people would switch to an “all you can hear” model if it’s about the same price as what they pay now for buy-out music.
Lastly, switch from “music” to “entertainment”
Value-added is the profit-margin for the service industry and it could be the same for the recording industry: interactive album art; edgy multi-media; customizable mixes; streaming live concerts; exclusive on-line fan events with the artists; etc. etc.
Talk about micro management. When was the last time you heard of the CEO of a multi million dollar corporation complaining that he was confused and didn’t know how to hire a …let’s be honest here…a couple of middle level employees at best?
Yes, I think I agree with whoever mentioned a suit by stockholders. I’m sure that he never mentioned in any annual reports that he couldn’t do what he was hired to do because he was caught up in hiring a couple of techs.
Maybe someone should have taken him downstairs and given him a tour of his HR dept. , or at the very least, maybe he should have put some time into rebuilding aforesaid dept., since he clearly didn’t trust them to do what they were being paid to do…(nor was he)…which is find the right people for the job.
As a play for sympathy..this is about as lame as it gets. What audience does he think he’s playing to with this kind of plea? Only other top level managers could be nodding their heads in agreement with this…(see GWB for example). The newest Admin. Asst. in his company would see this as a crock. (As his industry as a whole does…this was on the major internal business newsletters…mostly without comment, within a couple of hours). They couldn’t believe it either…^_^
By the way Doug…I’m looking for a job in a position you are competent to judge. I’d like to run a large corporate group where my only responsibility is to hire people who do a job I am clueless about…know of any soon to be openings?
# 7 Mark Derail said, >> long live http://www.MP3Sparks.com.
I checked out your link. That’s one of those Russian sites.
Besides the poor ethics of MP3 pirating, I have a question: do you feel comfortable giving your credit card number to Russian pirates?
I don’t.
I’m sticking with eMusic but am looking to switch. Suggestions anyone? I spend about $15 a month on recorded music.
(BTW: I’m still a huge eMusic fan but I like to mix things up, personally. Also, my wife likes the mainstream artists who generally aren’t on eMusic.)
Music is just like sex, Some people pay for it, Most get it for free!
#11 Greg, Mp3Sparks.com, FKA AllOfMp3.com, is not a pirate site.
By your “loose” definition, any Pay For Download Mp3 website is illegal, no matter how much per song.
Yes, eMusic.com is good, but they have nowhere near the selection Mp3Sparks.com have.
If Mp3Sparks.com was illegal, the RIAA would have banned their IP’s entry into the US.
The RIAA tried, also suing, and lost, because Mp3Sparks.com is just as legal as listening to music on Satellite Radio or FM radio.
Minus the commercials.
I’ve dealt with them for over 2 years now, 100% positive feedback.
Also, you ALWAYS get an extra credit card, with a tiny limit, for ALL Internet transactions by credit card. Just in case.
Going back the genus of the point here.
The record labels were obviously caught in a paradigm shift and were unprepared for it. This is not the first and surely won’t be the last industry caught.
The record companies had their business model and, since it had worked to that point, stuck with it. The same thing happened to harness makers 100 years ago and Swiss watch makers 35 years ago. Because the companies and their products didn’t fit the changing times, they were replaced by new companies that built new products.
I’m sticking with eMusic but am looking to switch. Suggestions anyone? I spend about $15 a month on recorded music.
Rhapsody + Tunebite
(Rhapsody without Tunebite is usable, but not a great deal.)
Yes #15, Try Frostwire or e-mule 0.48 :p
Shit for brains.
Stodgy, OLD, Crippled, UN-seeing..
Go back in your HOLE and hide.
THIS from a person who hasnt seen a TV in years…
What WORKS, WORKS, so dont fix it.
He didnt build his own home, he bought it on a cliff, and didnt understand that SOMEONE had built a house on a cliff. I wonder what he would do, if he NEEDED a plumber?? NOT call??
GOD, i wish I was this rich.
I wonder what he would do, If his Liver/kidney/head blew off??
ASK a DOCTOR?? Call 911?? SOMEHITN before he bleeds to death…
SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE THIS GUY DRUGS…
I think these people understand the online model better than they let on. Look at what radiohead is doing; proving they don’t need a label! It’s just a matter of time before the labels are gone and the artists profit off their work without layers of six and seven figure parasites bleeding them.
Fusion – I agree with your point, but not with one of your examples. Take my word for it, all the same Swiss watchmakers that were around 50, 100, 150 years ago and more are doing quite nicely. In fact their numbers are increasing rather than dwindling. They just no longer bother trying to sell inexpensive watches, which were never their bread-and-butter anyway.
I guess none of the higher-ups in the record biz ever thought to ask the guys running the equipment in the recording studio about “technology”. Nah. What would THEY know about anything? They’re just the hired help.
It’s the end of the world as THEY know it,
and I feel fIiiiiiinnne!!!!
#1
yes, and thats good news for most of the morons out there – you still have a chance to be hired and get fat paychecks somewhere 😉