Spring Cleaning.....

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

One of my Belmont Students is in a band ... they sell CDs at their gigs. The sales price now seems to be a simple $5. Can't get more ... the price is right.

Justin Bieber at Target on opening day for his recent #1CD ... price was $6.99. Sold a quarter-million.

Taylor Swift 25 million downloads at what? 99cents?

These prices are like 1970 prices with 2010 bills and expenses.

How do the labels stay in business with these marketplace realities?

Radio: See the Cumulus story this week? Was that a billion-dollar shopping spree for stations they are about to go on? Who and what are they buying?

The economy wants to get better ... you can feel it. The ground floor in real estate and assets has been reached (you hope). Stock prices have recovered ... 401Ks, too.

Gas prices going to $3 a gallon are going to shoot some of that recovery in the butt. Things right now are so complicated. Politics are so partisan.

How does music fit into all this? The music that is coming out from the major Country labels is and has always been hit and miss.

The major labels never see trends. They are best at throwing 100 things against the wall and hoping 10 things stick.

Trying to figure out which way to go in our economic or professional lives is almost impossible. No one has the magic formula

Things you do know: You know the Internet is and is going to be like indoor plumbing. Resistance is futile. I did buy a iPAD and love it.

Radio must evolve and I think it is...

TV: I think 3D is a crazy idea....it's like smell-o-vision ... hard to believe people are going to rush out and adopt this in any major way. Wearing glasses is not going to be a multi-hour home event for TV ... BUT some big money think it's THE thing ... who knows?

I just know I watch "American Idol" like the rest of America and that is an old-fashioned show. Good radio is old-fashioned and it still works ... if people want a jukebox they buy an iPod. Rock programmers know NOTHING about programming for a Country audience. Or know anything else, I think.

Nothing happens without great songs and unique performers/announcers. See Miranda Lambert's current smash and "Need You Know" by Lady A.

Glenn Beck may be hated but he is also loved. He made $32 million last year. Unique is why ... crazy, but unique.

Justin Bieber is cute and single. Why Country music bosses can never understand that key element -- SEX APPEAL -- is beyond me.

The opposite often applies on the female side. Showing legs and sex appeal worked for Shania Twain. Seen it NOT work in many more. Shania had great songs and was more than just sexy.

Hollywood continues to remake the same 12 movies, for the most part. Why? Because they work. We all can learn a bit from that boring lesson.

Radio needs to do what it did in its heyday. Be something that is foreground, not background.

If you want someone to pay to see you or pay to buy your music, you have to create a must-have. You can't live without it. Apple does that well. Music Row's new artists need to stop being so cool and sing about something. They also need to buy some clothes other than at Goodwill. They don't look like stars nor do they dress like stars. Rappers get it. At least look George Strait western cool. Slackers are so '90s.

I'm not sure how they did it, but someone needs to study the efforts regarding Lady A, and Zac Brown. Those two acts are on FIRE. They are a bit old fashioned and still cool. (See Mamas and Papas and Charlie Daniels band)

Actually the ACM show should be great this year. The top acts in the business are pretty diverse. Now all they have to do is figure out why people are not BUYING the music like they should be. That is a riddle.

No one has all the answers, but some people do have some of the answers if those in charge would stop being scared and listen to the people who work for them. Some are pretty smart! Stop devaluing experience. Stop being scared of technology, OLD PEOPLE.

Billy Preston has a fun song that's so true: Will it go round in circles?

(Yes, it will)