Bob Lefsetz On Linkin Park Vs. WMG

Music industry columnist Bob Lefsetz on the Linkin Park vs. WMG fight (see more below):

"Was Linkin Park altruistically sticking up for all the fucked over musicians tied to Warner Music, or was it merely a ploy to get more MONEY?

It appears the latter is true. That Linkin Park was trying to change their deal, and wasn’t getting the numbers they wanted.

But it doesn’t make a difference. We live in a land of perception. And, the perception is bad for Warner Music. Deservedly so. Finally, the bad press has caught up with them. Sure, Linkin Park is using management’s raping and pillaging of the company to its own advantage, but if everybody hadn’t been slogging Warner Music for the past month or so, Linkin Park wouldn’t have used their behavior as a justification. So that’s the way the world works. You behave badly and you get caught by unforeseen consequences.

But irrelevant of Linkin Park’s motivation for their press release, one thing is clear, the management of Warner Music isn’t in a building phase, it’s not planning for the future, it isn’t IN the music business. Rather, the management is only in the MONEY business."

– From The Lefsetz Letter