End Of The Long Hot Summer

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville

Maybe the anemic Country CD sales pick up with the dawn of Fall ... Country stars are in the arenas, amphitheaters, on TV, on the Internet, working very hard. Been a tough Summer at the checkout counter. NOW, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton are called on to save it all. We shall see. There is plenty of good music in the marketplace, but is good music enough to overcome the curse of the STREAM? Hear now, buy never.

A little lots but ... The stream should not have been able to fly. It was a quick payday with no thought to its implications. See the Streisand sales this week. I bet they are non-streamers. Someone let the cows out of the barn and I am not sure they can be brought back.

So here we are ... new corporate names and a new music business. One based on singles or albums? Looks like singles. But who really knows. What really has worked the last year or two?

The day of the LIVE album. What is the group-think on that? Do today's listeners like these? What happened to the idea of live recordings at concerts and concert attendees getting them?

And has everyone thought out this paperless ticket thing? What a really bad idea! Does anyone care what the consumer thinks about this? Has anyone on MusicRow ever done a few of these? Okay, I have ... and no problems, BUT ... and a big "but." It doesn't work for all concerts.

I could not buy tickets for my family members. I was going to be out of town. So unless I gave them by credit card, which I was not going to do, I was going to have to be there. So no go. That stunk. If you have to leave town ... get sick, unable to attend ... you are fried. Can't GIVE them away.

The idea of computers buying tickets in mass should be illegal. Consumers can get behind this idea. Maybe the legislators on the take can't, but that is the way you go on this. Not trying to make it harder for the public. If I want to buy a ticket and make a buck, you should be able to do that to as an individual.

Is the music business that out of sync with the consumer? It seems that way. Giving away your treasure doesn't seem smart. Making it harder to go to a show doesn't seem smart either.

Look at the music business just in the last 30 years. Massive change. Computerization. From vinyl to digital. Look at staging and overhead for an act. Look at the cost of buying a performer for a State Fair from 1984 to 2014. Talk about inflation! It's like going from looking at birds to the moon landing in monumental aviation changes.

So what's the answer? Swimming upstream is not the answer.

Homework assignment ... look up "George Hamilton IV." A very interesting Country singer who passed away this week. He was a good man with a very long career. Read his accomplishments. Much can be learned from the first Country singer to play Russia and record in Eastern Europe. He was the International Ambassador of Country music. Who has that job in more recent times? Big world out there and you would think someone beside just Taylor Swift can get a foothold. A few have played a few European countries, but it is expensive to try new things. With the Internet, is that really still true?

Has nothing to do with Country music really but maybe it does. Ever seen anything get a stink on it like the NFL has recently? It should scare anyone with a business. They have legitimately mishandled things. Anyone around here live in a glass house? This liquor fascination ... "everyone get drunk" craze could make a few bad turns and boom boom ... just saying. I'm sure the NFL didn't think anything like they are in could happen, either.