Rocking the boat? Or sinking it?

19 June 2008

Kudos to EMI deciding to set sail into uncharted waters of digital music business. The only potential problem is that the captain and first mate don’t seem to like boats.

The captain, CEO Guy Hands, is a financier whose only relation to rock & roll seems to be denying expense accounts for the traditional sex & drugs. There is no evidence that has any regard for music or musicians. On the bright side, he does seem to realize the future is digital and there are smarter ways to make a business than suing your customers.

He hired Douglas Merrill, Google’s VP of Engineering, to become EMI’s president. Though he has no experience in the music business, at least Douglas quotes lyrics in his blog and seems to know how to buy a ring tone.

The next hire was Second Life’s Cory Ondrejka as VP of Digital Strategy. Cory is a very intelligent and creative person and I hope that his musical horizons will expand beyond Rush and that he starts clicking the ‘Buy this mp3’ button a little more often. Otherwise it’s going to be a rough ride.

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