Wednesday, January 07, 2004

HOW COMPLETELY DEPRESSING -- AND COMPLETELY WRONG. Via Kevin Drum, I came across this utterly depressing article by Norman Lebrecht: You may wish to jot this in your diaries and upbraid me with it in twelve months' time but I am about to make the rock-solid prediction that the year 2004 will be the last for the classical record industry. The unravelling has run faster than prestissimo. Major labels which, a decade ago, pumped out 120 new releases a year are now reduced to a trickle of two dozen. Epochal concerts are no longer recorded... [The Light of Reason] The quality of the product is what makes something sell over the long run. A new technology might boost sales for a while, but it can't sustain them. The only thing that will sustain sales is artists of unusual quality, who bring something new and exciting to a work. And most of the recordings today don't do that, especially when compared to past recordings. Mr. Silbur's theory seems to parallel the widely held (outside the RIAA, that is) theory that sales of popular music are declining because the stuff the labels are releasing is mostly not very good. 6:36:34 PM    comment () Sheeple Feedback. Karen, These people who tell us to cheer up are really ridiculous. They are the exact same people who whip themselves into a frenzy every four years predicting DOOM if the guys in the other party win the White House.... [LewRockwell.com Blog] The nation-state is finished, and all the flag-waving and fear-mongering in the world won't save it. The government is becoming more violent and more totalitarian because it's authority is slipping away. As Hannah Arendt knew, governments only use force when they lack authority. This is why the women and children of Waco were burnt to a crisp by federal "law enforcement" officers. The feds are now so paranoid, and their authority so tenuous, that they fear religious nuts in the middle of nowhere. Not a good sign for them. But a reason to be optimistic. A similar point was made at considerably more lengthThe Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age. 5:57:37 PM    comment () U.S. to Release 506 Prisoners in Iraq [AP World News] Most of those who will be released are suspected low-level "associates" of insurgents who have not been directly involved in attacks, coalition officials said on condition of anonymity. Or in other words, hostages. Still, at least they're being released. 11:05:02 AM    comment ()

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