Lefsetz Letter Urges Record Labels & Radio To Invest In New Business Model Or Die

Excerpted from a recent Lefsetz Letter: "Now, you record companies fiddling with the CD should take note. You’re living in a terrestrial world, and that’s why you’re fucked…But that’s not why I’m beating you up here. I’m beating you up because you live by the mantra of giving people what they want.

"I’m not sure when things flipped. When art became about money instead of expression. When instant sales were seen to triumph over long term sales…"

"The record companies’ business has been declining for half a decade. Is this about piracy, or is this about a failed business model? Could it be that if the labels focused on signing and promoting artists of value, who were in it for the long haul, their business would INCREASE??"

"Talk to the man on the street. You’ll hear it again and again. Radio sucks."

"Radio used to be the MOST adventurous medium, that’s why it continued to prosper after the advent of television. But now listenership is down and revenues are too…Could it be that a new model must be employed? That instead of playing fewer records, they should play MORE? That’s what the Jack format is about. However, Jack leaves aside one of the selling elements of radio, personality. But…where are the NEW greatest hits coming from?…Unless radio invests in itself, it’s going to die. Unless the labels invest in themselves, THEY’RE going to die.

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