Bill Watt’s Blog

The final episode of the Apprentice was pretty freaking dull. I can’t tell if the Backstreet Boys thing was real, it was kinda funny, but if it was real then wow.

I disagree with most of the folks I’ve talked to about this. I loved the Vets team and how they played the game. I’m also a big fan of CT even though all the things people say about him are hard to deny.

I do wish the Vets had done a better job on the Eric situation. Either keeping him up during the challenge or weeding him out earlier would have helped them change the outcome.
I hate any ending where people talk about karma and fate helping the good people win in the end. It is like people on football teams that talk about God being on their side. There is always someone on the other team who thinks God is going to help them win too. Just seems a little silly to talk that kind of smack.

I would love to see all the unedited footage (ok, not all of it but you know what I mean). With the power of the Internet maybe this could be the next generation of deleted scenes. They can publish all the footage on the Internet and let us dig through it if we’re interested. I’d guess the main reason not to do that is that they do edit like crazy and some of the story lines would break down but it would still be pretty cool.

Oh well… now I’m left to wait for the next season of Real World to start.

Wow… I’m learning all kinds of things in my old age. Check out this article about NIN frontman Trent Reznor and their recent online music offering.

It is fascinating that the music industry is still fighting the move forward even with all the benefits it brings (less physical waste, real time tracking and cross sale opportunities, …). Actually, I guess the one group that loses immediately is the music industry or at least the parts that measure their value in CD sales. Still, time to get on board and get creative. I always go back to the Lawrence Garfield (Danny DeVito) speech from the movie Other People’s Money:

[In response to Jorgy’s speech] Amen. And amen. And amen. You have to forgive me. I’m not familiar with the local custom. Where I come from, you always say “Amen” after you hear a prayer. Because that’s what you just heard - a prayer. Where I come from, that particular prayer is called “The Prayer for the Dead.” You just heard The Prayer for the Dead, my fellow stockholders, and you didn’t say, “Amen.” This company is dead. I didn’t kill it. Don’t blame me. It was dead when I got here. It’s too late for prayers. For even if the prayers were answered, and a miracle occurred, and the yen did this, and the dollar did that, and the infrastructure did the other thing, we would still be dead. You know why? Fiber optics. New technologies. Obsolescence. We’re dead alright. We’re just not broke. And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure. You know, at one time there must’ve been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I’ll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company? You invested in a business and this business is dead. Let’s have the intelligence, let’s have the decency to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future. “Ah, but we can’t,” goes the prayer. “We can’t because we have responsibility, a responsibility to our employees, to our community. What will happen to them?” I got two words for that: Who cares? Care about them? Why? They didn’t care about you. They sucked you dry. You have no responsibility to them. For the last ten years this company bled your money. Did this community ever say, “We know times are tough. We’ll lower taxes, reduce water and sewer.” Check it out: You’re paying twice what you did ten years ago. And our devoted employees, who have taken no increases for the past three years, are still making twice what they made ten years ago; and our stock - one-sixth what it was ten years ago. Who cares? I’ll tell you. Me. I’m not your best friend. I’m your only friend. I don’t make anything? I’m making you money. And lest we forget, that’s the only reason any of you became stockholders in the first place. You want to make money! You don’t care if they manufacture wire and cable, fried chicken, or grow tangerines! You want to make money! I’m the only friend you’ve got. I’m making you money. Take the money. Invest it somewhere else. Maybe, maybe you’ll get lucky and it’ll be used productively. And if it is, you’ll create new jobs and provide a service for the economy and, God forbid, even make a few bucks for yourselves. And if anybody asks, tell ‘em ya gave at the plant. And by the way, it pleases me that I am called “Larry the Liquidator.” You know why, fellow stockholders? Because at my funeral, you’ll leave with a smile on your face and a few bucks in your pocket. Now that’s a funeral worth having!

I got the quote from IMDB as well.

It is specifically this line that I love:

And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure. You know, at one time there must’ve been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I’ll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw.

Earth to the music industry… love your buggy whips!

Look at this line from the article:

While Radiohead has declined to offer actual numbers from its “pay if you want” experiment, frontman Thom Yorke has stated that “in terms of digital income, we’ve made more money out of this record than out of all the other Radiohead albums put together, forever.”

That’s awesome news for musicians. I want to support them and feel their work should be honored. I do not want to be porked while doing it though. And I love that choice is coming to the market.

Next up… movie studios! Time to look at the music industry and jump ahead 10 years.

Well- it is my 3rd week at Current and today I got my business cards and noticed that they removed the job description. I guess they’re going to let me stay.

With all the background stories about the Idol singers being professional singers (record contracts, grammy experience, and bands to their credit) I don’t understand why only Carly Smithson is consistently awesome. Even the other contestants I like are all over the place and she just blows it out week after week. Is there even a question at this point?

So, I understand that physical marketing is still a good way of moving product. I see the gift cards in supermarkets that allow you to download songs from iTunes and to give virtual gift cards to eBay. Still… why all the wasted material? With the standard iTunes card you basically get one sheet of paper but I saw this yesterday an entire box with marketing literature all wrapped around a download coupon for iTunes.

Sure, you got a few songs and a video download but it seems like a ton of throw away for a digital good.

The subtitle of this blog makes me wish I could include Lisa Stansfield’s “All around the world” as the soundtrack to the post.

Good luck to Heidema’s friend. I’m sure your experience will be very different than how Heidema will remember it happening.

I love articles like this ars technica article about Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails testing out different strategies for engaging fans online.

I think the thing that just crystallized for me is that it is obvious why Trent wants to engage his fans. He has fans. The record industry has no such fans and therefore feels free to punish the people who pay their salaries. At NECX each of our paychecks came in an envelope stamped, “brought to you by our customers” and my favorite bit of retail training I ever got was at Software ETC and went something like, “The customer may not always be right but they’re always the customer.”

Seems like the people who sell us music need to remember (or learn for the first time) both of those points or they will quickly find themselves without the pesky burden of customers.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m hoping for good eBay news that pushes up the stock by the end of the month when my options expire… and yet it looks like other people are looking much harder for a sliver of hope. Take this article on Seeking Alpha. I know the part about Oprah being an influencer is true and yet 4 lines like this is enough to make me laugh:

Oprah appeals to many viewers in the United States. Although Skype is well known in Europe and Asia, it is virtually unknown in the United States. Oprah wouldn’t team up with Skype if she felt it was a fly by night outfit. Thus, I believe this is ground breaking news.

I looked just now and saw that eBay closed last night at $25.85 which is less than it was 4.5 years ago when we started there. (After splits the initial grant was at $26.31.) Sigh.

Nephews- if they still have options when you hit the work circuit make sure you mentally count it as free money. Don’t let them tell you about long term compensation!