Attached at the hip...
There are 3 major media items that arethisclose and they are, in no particular order because they are, attached at the hip, separated-at-birth, stuck like glue, like 3 birds of a feather, like 3 straws in a Coke, well - you get the idea: a) The decline of CD sales, b) The proposed merger of Sirius and XM and c) The proposed increase of royalty rates for music distributed on the Internet. A review of the status of each follows...
CD Sales
Are down 20% from one year ago. This form of music still accounts for 85% of the music sold but it's dropping like a stone. Tower Records went out of business and 800 music stores (including Tower's 89 locations) went belly-up in 2006 alone. It's not like consumers don't like music anymore since Apple sold about 100 million iPods but it's so easy to download music from the internet for free, in many cases (it's been reported that 1 billion songs a month are traded on illegal file-sharing networks). This will sum up where record sales are: The "Daughtry" album went to #1 with sales of 65,000 units, ditto the "Dreamgirls" soundtrack (which sold 60,000). That's about 10% of sales that used to qualify you for a #1 album as recently as a few years ago...
Sirius-XM Merger
The big bone of contention in whether or not this is approved is pricing. Mel Karmazin testified just this week that the merged company will hold the line on pricing and not increase their fees. Opponents say 'we don't believe you'. Then there are the issues of 1) Does this merger constitute a monopoly? and 2) The two companies were explicitly forbidden from merging when granted licenses a decade ago. The general consensus indicates that the proposed merger will be granted with several conditions applied to protect consumers...
Internet Royalty Rate Increases
There are those that believe that Internet radio could eclipse such technologies as HD and satellite radio. The Internet mavens knowing this have impeccable timing as they announced that they are raising the rates to download music. This might be the most contentious of all 3 media item issues...
All 3 of these media-related items will be hashed, re-hashed and hashed some more, until you're sick of hearing about them. You better get used to it because there are billions of dollars at stake and a whole lot more. We could be seeing an era just as momentous as when sheet music disappeared only to be replaced by recorded music. Stay tuned...
There are 2 video links today, contained in the "#1 on this date" and "Happy Birthday...happy birthday" timelines...
Timeline Memories...
"Happy Trails": 1958] Movie producer and 3rd husband of Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd dies in a plane crash (aboard 'Lucky Liz'). The couple had been married for one year. Mike Todd was 51...1978] Karl Wallenda, 73-year old patriarch of The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between 2 hotels in San Juan (PR)...
The best commish of them all retires: 1989] Pete Rozelle, 63, steps down as NFL commissioner after 39 years. Paul Tagliabue succeeds Rozelle, stepping down in the summer of '06. The current commish is Roger Goodell...
No OTB for you: 1630] The 1st legislation to prohibit gambling is enacted in Boston (of course)...
Lord Stanley's Cup overrunneth: 1894] Hockey's 1st Stanley Cup championship game is played with Montreal beating Ottawa 3-1 in Montreal...
Spring Training Tragedy: 1993] Cleveland Indian pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews are killed in a boating accident in Florida. Another pitcher, Bob Ojeda is literally scalped but will survive...
Tara's Place: 1997] Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest female world figure skating champion at 14 years, 10 months...
Two cents plain: 1733] Joseph Priestly invents seltzer. With a name like Priestly???
Do we get stamps with that?: 1765] The Stamp Act is passed. It's the 1st direct British tax on American colonists (the good news is that it's repealed in March of 1766)...
Make it YMHA: 1874] The Young Men Hebrew Association is organized in New York City (Free seltzer for everyone joining)...
Tell it to the Mormons: 1882] Congress outlaws polygamy...
Laser-like: 1960] A.L. Schawlow & C.H. Townes obtain a patent for the laser (the 1st such laser patent)...
#1 on this date: 1970] "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel...1980] "Another Brick in the Wall" - Pink Floyd (the only #1 single from their LP "The Wall"). Here's a video clip of the single. If there's a more creative video ever shot, I haven't seen it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0g-x9_NxY ...
TGIACB: 1977] John Denver's TV special, "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" is aired on ABC-TV...
The Skipper gets a pass: 1990] Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazlewood is found innocent of 3 major charges but is convicted of a minor charge in the Alaska oil spill...
Guilty as Charged: 1991] Exeter (NH) high school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of manipulating her student-lover into killing her husband is convicted of murder-conspiracy. This was a Smart who was not very. She continues to serve her life sentence...1995] Colin Ferguson is sentenced to life for the LIRR massacre that killed 6 people in 1993. Ferguson is now making license plates at Attica prison...1999] Acting as his own lawyer, 'Dr. Death', Dr. Jack Kevorkian goes on trial for murder. He tells the jury he was carrying out the wishes of his patient in an assisted death shown on "60 Minutes". Kevorkian served 7 years but was paroled last December due to a terminal illness...
Princess Di Auction: 2002] A collection of letters and cards sent by Princess Diana of Wales fetches $33,000. They were written and sent to a former housekeeper at Diana's teenage home...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]...
Commentary...
"Happy Trails" to Calvert DeForest a.k.a. Larry "Bud" Melman, a one-time regular on "The David Letterman Show". Larry Bud made us laugh just by being himself. He was the first face seen greeting viewers when Letterman debuted on Feb. 1, 1982 on NBC-TV. I met Larry Bud at a WMMS anniversary party in Cleveland many years ago and he seemed like a nice man who surprised me by his size and demeanor which was very short and quiet in that order. Larry Bud suffered from a long illness and passed away yesterday at a hospital on Long Island at 84...We also say "Happy Trails" to legendary record executive Hy Weiss, one of the pioneering independent record owners (Old Town and subsidiaries which produced Robert & Johnny, the Fiestas, Billy Bland, the Capris, Larry Finnegan, the Earls, Arthur Prysock, the Solitaires, the Harptones and many more artists). Born in Romania, he and brothers Sam and George grew up in the Bronx and all were influential in the record business. I remember selling imports to his brothers while at CBS International and back when it was legal to do so. Hy was 84. His son Barry Weiss of the Zomba Label Group says the family requests in lieu of flowers, sending a contribution to: The T.J. Martel Foundation in memory of Hy Weiss...Happy Trails to both Hy and Larry Bud...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Reese Witherspoon (31), Stephanie Mills (50), Bob Costas (55), Wolf Blitzer (59), George Benson (64) Here's a video clip of George singing "On Broadway" live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voNjeUUcdSo , William Shatner (76), Marcel Marceau (who will celebrate his birthday very quietly) (84) and Karl Malden (95)...
Timeline Countdown: The Sweet 16 starts tonight, 9 days until Opening Day and 10 days until the NCAA championship game...
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