
The Music Business
How artists, labels, managers, publishers, promoters, and money actually behave.
This is the main personal section: what I think now, what I remember, what I got right, what I got wrong, and what everyone else has conveniently forgotten. It is written, dictated, supplied, or approved by me—not a generic “voice of” approximation.
Expect music-business war stories, political arguments, historical corrections, useful provocations, and the occasional sentence that makes an old enemy sit up much straighter.


How artists, labels, managers, publishers, promoters, and money actually behave.

The strategy, risks, personalities, touring, and decisions behind a global breakthrough.

When having no respectable option became a competitive advantage.

Crossing markets, languages, and cultural assumptions without flattening the music.

Records were only the beginning; attention itself became a business.

Independent commentary from someone who distrusts slogans, tribes, and simple answers.

OSS, SOE, the early CIA, espionage culture, propaganda, and family stories from inside the mythology.

Success, failure, reinvention, and the education hidden inside an expensive mistake.

Watching TV so much as many are doing these days - not just Trump - I realize that what I saw yesterday several times is the real issue of the…

Funniest thing I heard last week was an avid Trump supporter who said he was making 4 times as much money under Trump than in the previous regime…

Politicians in favor of Universal Health Care have stated that if your taxes go up to pay for the health care are less than the cost one is paying…

Some might say Donald Trump does NOT see the big picture - I Disagree. However, the problem is that the big picture he sees is 'How does it fit into…

I was just listening to Samuel Rodriguez on the Amanpour & Co. TV program and once again the word "socialism" was used by a person who has no idea…

People wonder with all the negative news about Donald Trump, books from people who know him - whatever - HOW could he still have unshakable…

With the debate today between Joe Biden and Donald Trump one thing is for sure. Trump has a BIG advantage. When one candidate believes his statements…

The reality of much voting in a Democracy is voting for the lesser of two evils. Most people like parts of a candidate's platform but not all of it…

How the Government has dealt with the virus should have thrown a monkey wrench into the capitalism vs socialism discussion. A pure capitalistic…

When I look at the political landscape today I can't help but be depressed. Both Right and Left are confused and the commentators have lost control…

Bernie Madoff showed that even smart people can believe stupid things, Donald Trump is the Madoff of politics today.

The unfortunate truth about the supposed peace between the Gulf states and Israel is that both will change their minds when they get what they want…

There is something I don't understand Mr President. On one hand you say we were doing so well economically - best in history etc yet on the other you…

China would like to back a candidate that is bad for the US but good for China but sees neither in Biden or Trump. Instead they see Trump as bad for…
Admirers, skeptics, former allies, competitors, critics, and lifelong enemies are all welcome. An audience that agrees with everything is either not listening or trying to get a deal.
Read the stories, check the facts, challenge the conclusions, and argue intelligently. History becomes much tidier after the people who made it have stopped talking. I have not.