you know, i didn’t even used to care about the music industry. i could vibe on its culturally–relevant aspects, but the industry of the music industry was never all that interesting to me. it was always just this thing…over there. somewhere else. the concert industry, which i have been involved with for a while, is a whole different beast all unto itself, focused on selling a physical experience of music rather than a digital recording of it–and things like this used to be very clear-cut. or, perhaps much like the distinction between culture and marketing, used to seem very clear-cut.

and while there’s nothing like going over to the other side and working with musicians to make you discover you’re suddenly all kinds of interested in what’s going on in the music biz, perhaps this too is just a symptom of its current condition: because the gates of the music industry have been busted open, and its implications become so much more far-reaching, the music industry has, in fact, ended up being relevant to more people than ever before.

so who knows? perhaps it’s ended up being relevant to you too, and if it has, i recommend the following two articles, which came out this week, within a day of one another, incidentally:

1. MTV’s The Year The Music Industry Broke
in which MTV rejoices in the destruction of the music industry with the incongruous glee of a rotisserie store rejoicing over mad cow disease.

2. WIRED’s David Byrne’s Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists — and Megastars
in which we explore opportunities for innovation, and perhaps ponder the nuances of personality-types which would rejoice in destruction vs. creation.