Nine Inch Nails' Reznor on the New Business of Music

Given Harvard MBA's are the "masters of the apocalypse" with the dubious honor of having the most graduates in leadership roles in the failed institutions that have brought the world on the edge of a depression - I'm not sure how the well communicated insights of an apparently savvy, albeit non-traditional business "type" individual are disturbing???

I guess if I was a greedy music industry blood-sucking suit that made tons of money off of the hard work and personal sacrifice of the artist, I might find this disturbing since I have (finally) been rendered obsolete.

The music industry is similar to many others…Having worked inside well known Fortune 500 companies in the telecommunications and secondary mortgage finance industries - I have seen from the inside how "leadership", externally esteemed by Wall Street was internally truly and functionally incompetent as they ran the business into the ground. Many of today's business leaders are imprisoned by their own ineffectiveness due to a lack of understanding of technology, coupled with the fear of change so great they psychotically cling to the business tenets that made them successful 20-30 years ago.

The pervasive corporate management culture is plagued by arrogance (I have an MBA or I am a VP so I don't have to listen to the little people), technological ignorance and a complete lack of creativity. Instead of thinking strategically, executives prefer pandering to the unrealistic expectations of Wall Street when they really should have just grown a pair and forced realistic earnings targets while developing a strategic approach to changing marketplace.

However, they didn't anticipate change and THEY FAILED. Now it’s time for the innovative game changers to come in and disrupt the marketplace. Coming soon to a Congress near you…the record label suits looking for a bailout.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article5821706.ece

Kate of NC 8:54PM April 14, 2009