MOG

As the iPod population grows, CD sales tank. Once you've got the file machine, you don't want the disk. Disks sound better than low-res MP3s, but it seems most people don't care. Don't forget, low quality cassettes eclipsed sales of vinyl records, which still sound better than the vaunted CD. Sound quality is not an issue, and won't be until people start acquiring high quality sound systems. But the iPod delivers portability. How many people sit in a static place and listen to music anymore? And, good luck selling computer speakers that cost more than the computer delivering the music.

Does Mars Volta need a major label? No. I'd advise them to pull a Radiohead, and as soon as their deal is up, decamp for ATO or another indie, and take the lion's share of their less than platinum sales. But that's while CDs still matter. Once the CD is history, which is going to take a few more years (and it will never completely disappear, collectors will keep it alive), just license direct to the digital distributor.

The question is, what does the major label provide you?

And it's the major labels and the publishing companies they control that are holding back the monetization of digital revenues. They say to the contrary, but do you think all those iPods are filled with legitimate music? Who else is going to refuse to monetize acquisition because it's not done in the style they approve?

So each band is an individual entity. Maximizing revenue in all streams. Right now, recorded music is not a great profit center, but you need music to drive the enterprise. At some point in the future, music will not be free. And when that time arrives, we're gonna have a lot of theatre acts. Only flavors of the moment will be able to sell out arenas, never mind stadia. Sure, the dinosaurs will do arena business, but that's about nostalgia, and when the bands expire, history.

There's a lot of money to be made in the music business. But it's no longer Vegas, no longer about gambling, but hard work. Creating consistently good material and spreading the word from fan to fan, treating the fan as a partner as opposed to an afterthought. The nineties are gone.