A friend of mine passed this along to me. It is a commentary from well known music contrarian Bob Lefsetz. Being someone who just got back from SXSW , I found it not only interesting but very telling as to the future and state of the music business.

Read on and give some thoughts on Bob's comments!

Can an unsigned band get noticed? And, do we even bother to use that
term anymore, "unsigned". Do you want to get signed?

I mean what are the chances that the cognoscenti are going to care about
your band when R.E.M. and even Van Morrison are shilling for attention.
Oh, it makes you feel good, to rent a U-Haul, sleep four to a room and
perform a set no one cares about. The same way it makes you feel good
to send a CD to me! It's amazing what people will do to make themselves
feel good, make them believe they're making progress.

The new music business isn't at SXSW. Why should it be?

Think about it. If Yahoo and Google sprung up out of nowhere, what
makes you think the powers-that-be in the music industry are going to
rule in the future?

So you're gonna make a deal with a major, a 360 deal, because that's all
they want. You're gonna put...

Read More