Music Industry Run by Morons.

Word of mouth advertising is the lifeblood of most businesses. No out of pocket expenses. No need to conduct studies to determine how to target the right demographic. No expensive glossy ad campaigns. Simply one satisfied customer, excited enough about a product to spread the word to everyone they know.

I recently discovered a social networking site called Blip.fm. Blip.fm is a hybrid of interactive sites such as Twitter,& Facebook. It allows brief comments and greetings, mixed with music. The music streamed is selected by the members, who are essentially programming a radio station. As you play a song, (or blip) as they are called, you add a brief intro comment to personalize. As you play more music, you gain listeners who add you as a favorite, while you add others. This is an international community of music lovers numbering in the tens of thousands. Most DJ's are music fanatics eager to spread the word about their latest find.

For the music industry Blip.Fm has the potential to be the greatest word of mouth tool ever. An international market, of music fanatics, connected to each other, and eager to share with new found international friends, their latest music discoveries. Sharing here, does not mean actual ownership of the copyright material, simply the ability to play a song for others. As if it were a worldwide party with thousands of your closest friends. Now with it's typical propensity to shoot itself in the foot, the music industry greed is threatening the growth and success of Blip.fm.

While the exact reason for recent changes has not been shared with the community, it does not take too much imagination to figure what is happening. Recently Blip added the catalog Imeem, a legal music streaming site to their library. The problem is that because of copyright issues, Imeem only plays 30 second clips of the music, for those outside North America. Obviously international users may soon lose interest, lessening the value of the Blip.fm experience for all users.

A small business needs good word of mouth to survive, and a large business needs it to thrive. We have all witnessed movies with huge advertising, open to a great opening week box office, only to crash and burn because of bad word of mouth. Everyone knows that the music industry has struggled for years and continues to do so today. The RIAA has not been able to adapt to the technological changes, and has continually proceeded on a path aimed at collecting every single penny, rather than focusing on the bigger dollars out there for the taking. The attempt to ruin the business concept at Blip.Fm is just another example of this simple mindedness. Instead of cherishing the ability to expose tens of thousands of the most dedicated and diverse music fans in the world to their product, they try to limit product availability. In the name of protecting copyright, they limit exposure and awareness of their product.

I think it is safe to say that the average Blip.Fm user owns at least ten times the music of the average consumer. We are the people to whom the "less commercial" artists in the labels catalog are targeted at. People who are not satisfied with what we hear on commercial radio, or even the broader, but still limited selection on satellite radio. The record labels do not have the advertising dollars to reach this market. So what is the best way to expose these artists at little to no expense? Obviously, word of mouth. So why try to destroy an amazing international word of mouth "free advertising" network? Let the music play, the word will spread, and artists that you have invested time and money in, may begin to get a bigger return on that investment. Probably too much to ask of the morons who run the music industry.

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to encourage you to stand strong in living up to your campaign pledge to provide a government program to compete with private insurers so that all may have access to quality health care. My family provides a vivid example of why this is necessary, sadly however, my example is repeated all across this country. I know that many are worse off than we are, and that is the truly frightening part.

I turned fifty last year, my wife is a couple years younger, and is a diabetic. We have a daughter, Emily who just turned eighteen. At fourteen our daughter was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Three surgical procedures, and two years of chemotherapy later, she is doing fine. Fortunately, my wife worked for a large corporation, and we enjoyed what today passes for good coverage. There were still large out of pocket costs, high prescription copays, and other fees. We did manage, however, to get through the peak of the crisis in relatively decent shape financially. Every time we heard about families who were bankrupted by a health crisis, we felt blessed that we survived.

Last August, I lost my job. Three weeks later my wife lost her job with the corporate benefits. She did receive a severance package, and the benefits were covered for another couple months. Again we thought we were lucky, as she found employment just as the severance ran out. We were able to fill some prescriptions to last the 90 days before the new benefits kicked in. I prayed everyday that none of us slipped on the ice, or came down with the flu for those 90 days with no health care. We had delayed Emily's next scheduled MRI, until the new plan kicked in. Now just as she qualifies for the benefits, she is losing this job, and the mediocre and expensive health care this two bit company offered.

Of course the Republicans say to go out and buy health care on the private market. I ask what company will cover a family that includes a cancer survivor who requires two to three MRI per year, plus two parents around fifty years of age. Even if we could find coverage, I don't think it is going to be affordable.

Now we sit here, both unemployed, trying to figure out how we are going to pay COBRA coverage, our house payment, and for good measure find money for college tuition in the fall.
Mr. President, please remember families like ours when the battle over health care gets heated. I would love a single payer system, but realize that is too far to reach at this time. Do not compromise away the necessary changes to our health care system. Your plan during the campaign was a good one. Stick to it. Do not let the insurance lobby or the Republicans water it down.

I am encouraged that you realize our economy can't improve until we fix health care. If we are going to compete in this global economy, we must be able to wean the burden of health care off our corporations. Providing a government alternative for health care will improve our corporate competitiveness.

Losing your job provides enough stress in this economic downturn. Please make sure we get a health care plan, so being unemployed does not also cost you or your loved ones their health.