Flutterby™! : How to save the music business?!?

In the latest issue of Rolling Stone, U2 Manager Paul McGuinness, attempts to make the world feel bad because of his "great artists" not being compensated for their efforts. (Note: the link is to GQ Magazine's UK site where the article is free, Rolling Stone has it stuck behind a pay wall - great example of the internet routing around such things).

McGuiness' thesis has several significant faults:

1. Music, as an art form, is dependent on the "music business" for it's survival
2. "Great" artists deserve great compensation
3. There is no conspiracy by the telecoms to undermine the "music business" (yeah, WTF?)

The fundamental flaw is that art and business can co-exist. Sure, the music business has allowed a few voices (artists?) to enjoy world-wide exposure. But business is business, which means the measure of "greatness" is inherently the return on investment.

Music existed before there was a "music business". Music will continue to exist long after the "music business" as we know it today is long gone. And for 99.99% of musicians, their compensation will be largely unchanged. Will this prevent great music from being made? I don't even think I need to address than question. Great art is made for art's sake.

As for the telecom conspiracy? McGuinness is seriously mistaking correlation for causation. Yes, the telecom (and internet) companies' income and profits are rising proportional to the music business' losses. But that's because telecom/internet is a new, growing industry that happens to be disruptive to the basic model underpinning the music business (distribution of information on physical media). It's not like General Motors buying the street car systems and tearing up the tracks. Google isn't funding BitTorrent and the Pirate's bay.

McGuinness needs to realize that he has a distorted view of reality. Like Bono, he's got his rose colored glasses on too much of the time. Yes, U2 makes some pretty good pop music. Some of it may approach what one could call "good art". I'd even go so far as to say that U2 and Bono have done a really good job creating a kind of "pop performance art" of the stylized do-gooder rock star that will likely be remembered for decades. But I surely don't feel sorry for him now that the stage upon which this performance has been played is being torn down.