I’ve watched more TV this past Christmas than I have in a long time. All thanks to BBC 4. Already a long time BBC Radio 4 junkie, it now seems that the TV version has me hooked as well. Well, maybe just for those nights when there’s nothing good on the internet. I’ve just finished watching a good documentary on California and the way folk/rock music based itself in LA in the mid 1960s. Something Jackson Brown said in the programme sticks in my mind. Talking about David Geffen and Asylum records, he referred to him as “the Medici of rock” (or words to that effect) It set me thinking about record labels and the way we all take heart today in their decline and the rise of sites like “myspace” where musicians can make direct contact with the public. I’ve always gone along with the conventional wisdom that this is good. But I wonder if artists need the power of the Medici behind them? And if so, who are the Medici of the web? Is Goggle it? Microsoft? Apple? None of them , not even Apple, seem to fit the bill. Is it time for a multi millionaire to set up a site and pick and choose who to promote on it? Do we need managers again, or editors? Do we need a virtual Asylum?
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