The problem with the music labels is not that music is an industry in decline, but that they have a too-narrow view of what business they're in.

"Soon a lot of these companies won't define themselves as record companies," says Steve Greenberg, the former head of Columbia Records who now runs the independent record company S-Curve. "They'll define themselves as artist development companies. If you're involved in an entire career with an artist, then everyone's interests can be aligned."

Everything in the music industry is up! (except those plastic discs)

Nearly three decades ago, he pioneered 24-hour news. Now he’s trying to save the world—and make money doing it. In this week’s Seven Questions, entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner talks about the United Nations, the death of newspapers, and why climate change offers “the greatest business opportunity that has ever come along.”

Ted Turner on the Future of the Planet

If the networks turn their backs on iTunes altogether, Apple could also retaliate by moving to a service-based approach. The company has already released a networked set-top device called the AppleTV that allows users to stream photos, music, and video content from computers to a television set. Thus far, response to the AppleTV has been lukewarm, but Apple could change this with a single, simple move: Introduce DVR capabilities.

By letting people record any television content they please and load it into iTunes and their iPods with one-click ease, Apple could avoid having to cut deals with anyone. The company could even sweeten the pot by leveraging its online services and allowing users to save any recorded show to their .Mac accounts, making their favorite television broadcasts accessible from anywhere. Would Apple take such aggressive action against the networks? That's hard to predict, both because Steve Jobs sits on the board of the Walt Disney Co. and because such an approach could damage Apple's ongoing relationship with each network's affiliated music labels. But from an audience perspective, this would be a fantastic outcome, and one that would go a long way toward restoring Apple's flagging reputation as a champion of consumer interests. Networks take note: Whether they sell your content or give it away, Apple's not going away.

Apple vs. Everyone

Anecdotal evidence suggests the Google effect could be on the wane.

This could also be filed under Local Information ...

The Google effect

THE LABORATORY FOR FINANCIAL ENGINEERING is a partnership between academia and industry, designed to support and promote quantitative research in financial engineering and computational finance.

MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering

I mentioned this last week, but I figure that if the Economist writes about it, it's worth another mention.

The lessons are clear. A woman is sexier when she is most fertile. And if she wishes to earn a good living as a dancer, she should stay off the Pill.

This leads to two recent threads about music: Radiohead's new album, and Britney's recent performance.

Hidden charms

Usually, when an IT project fails, management is the last to know. But eventually, like a fish left too long in the refrigerator, the failure becomes all too obvious. When the situation reaches that point, your only option is the IT equivalent of pulling everything out of the refrigerator and scrubbing it out with baking soda.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Conventional wisdom to the contrary, project management is getting better. More projects are succeeding, fewer projects are failing outright, and projects are returning more of the IT dollar invested.

Still, only about one-third of all projects are complete successes. Often, the difference between success and failure is spotting the critical early warning signs that a project is in trouble. Here's a quick look at some of the earliest symptoms that all is not right with your "fish"—and what you can do about it before you have to break out the baking soda.

A few pointers from the archive:

Out of the Dusty Labs

Failure is an essential part of the process. "The way you say this is: 'Please fail very quickly -- so that you can try again'," says Mr Schmidt.

As Silicon Valley Reboots, the Geeks Take Charge

The marketing plan, business model and sometimes the company itself die, but good technology tends to live on. Think of it as the biz/tech equivalent of the "selfish gene." ... "No one gets too torn up about [failure] in the valley."

How to Spot a Failing Project

These seem the best of times for America's elite cities. Wall Street's 2006 megabonuses created thousands of instant millionaires ... The bluest of the blue cities can also celebrate their rise to the top of the congressional pole.

Yet these triumphs obscure the longer-term developments that continue to reshape metropolitan America. Economic and demographic trends suggest that the future of American urbanism lies not in the elite cities but in younger, more affordable and less self-regarding places.

The Myth of 'Superstar Cities'

This is about cities, not countries.

Why to Move to a Startup Hub

Yesterday was a crazy day.

In the morning I found myself car-less and skateboarding to Santa Monica High School in a suitcoat and wool Vans with my computer in a leather satchel over my shoulder (a byproduct of sharing my car with my seventeen year-old daughter — or more accurately her sharing the car with me). In the afternoon I sat on a panel at Digital Media Forum West with the Usual Suspects (TM), and for dinner I had the pleasure of hearing David Pakman’s “drum story” (which was amazing, btw) and sushi at Ike on Hollyweird Blvd.

But in the middle I gave a brief, twenty minute presentation to some friends in the music industry about why it’s time we pay closer attention to consumer needs when it comes to digital music. I thought I’d share my presentation in case others were interested.

Enjoy,
ian

Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses and Content vs. Context, a Presentation for Some Music Industry Friends