From the (Bob) Lefsetz Newsletter (I've done a little editing): "It all comes down to the MUSIC! You're either a player or a supporter--there's a clear divide. That's the difference between music and the movie business. Even a five year old can tell you what's wrong with filmed entertainment: The acting was bad, or the sets were phony. But ask a 50 year old about a record and he'll shrug his shoulders and say he liked it or he didn't. That's about as far as it goes."
Once in awhile, just when I think we should just support the artists and forget about "the industry," I'm in a record/CD shop and having a great time chatting with the people who work there. It's still much more fun to actually look at items and not be sitting on your butt browsing through that impersonal online store, gazing at a computer screen.
Where it's all heading may not exactly be the most hopeful thing, because the economy is still in the dumpster and may never again be as we once knew it. But I've got hope and enthusiasm--got it from a lot of inspirational people, in and out of the music scene--and I'm not shutting it off.
You can subscribe to the Lefsetz Newsletter by going to this website:
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1. The newsletter is way over my head in terms of what goes on in the industry: agents, promotion, image building, technology, record sales, etc. But it's passionate about the music we love and keeps that other stuff in check, and that's the kind of club I want to be in.