Monkey Man

There's a good interview with Michael Nesmith here, discussing the future of music and the music business. Excerpt:

WN: Now that indie musicians and filmmakers are selling direct to their fans -- sometimes hundreds of thousands of units -- what role can the corporate media play?

Nesmith: I don't hold much hope for Warner Music Group or Sony being a player in the future…. The problem with those kind of companies is that they don't have any good way to add value anymore.

For years, they'd support the artist in their nascent stages and get the goods to market. Those are old-time, Methuselean economics…. There are whole new businesses that will wander in and boot these guys out.

WN: So we can write the obituaries?

Nesmith: Those obituaries were written two decades ago. What you are seeing here is an inertial burn (laughs).