Death to the Music Industry

So says Simon Napier-Bell who was the onetime manager of the Yardbirds and started in the music business in the mid-sixties. In "The Life and Crimes of the Music Biz", a funny and insightful article in the Observer Music Monthly, Simon doesn't exactly lament the changes that the internet has brought to the music business.

    But outside of the industry, who cares? Pop music has never sounded better or more vibrant, never been more easily available to the listener. The only people who are suffering are the people who brought it on themselves. The major record companies.

The article includes this hilarious story where Simon is having a meeting with "a very dull man indeed" and Bob Dylan calls on line one:

    To begin with, it wasn't too interesting but then Dick yelled, 'I've told you, Bob - no fucking religion! If you can't agree to that, the deal's off ...'

    Bob was arguing the point but Dick was having none of it. 'Look, I'm telling you. There'll be no fucking religion - not Christian, not Jewish, not Muslim. Nothing. For God's sake, man - you were born Jewish, which makes your religion money, doesn't it? So stick with it, for Christ's sake. I'm giving you 20 million bucks - it's like baptising you, like sending you to heaven. So what are you fucking moaning about? You want 20 million bucks from us? Well, you gotta do what we tell you. And what we're telling you is ... No Torah! No Bible! No Koran! No Jesus! No God! No Allah! No fucking religion. It's going in the contract.'

The entire article is well worth reading. Find it here.