I forgot to mention in my last post that one thing that got me thinking about Billboard was Larry LeBlanc’s recent interview with Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard. It’s kind of neat because Werde talks about how the music industry is getting better these days, and many of the steps he mentions are things that Korea did years ago.

I love to see aggressive smart thinking. One thing that has happened over the past year—now that this industry has a slightly lighter step in a good way—is that people are experimenting more. People are acting again. There was such a pervasive sense of fear (before). Fear that “I’m going to lose my job.” Fear that “I’m going to make a decision that is going to set the wrong precedent.” Fear that “someone is going to judge me in the press.” There was a sense of fear that was paralyzing in the industry.

Whether it’s because “we can’t live in fear forever” or because things are getting a bit better on the margins, I see decisions that are being made that are not as fear driven as I once did which is so good for the business. It is such a relief to see that.

It should have been clear to the whole music industry years ago that its onerous business model was not going to survive the Internet age. But, as the saying going, never underestimate someone’s ability not to understand something when their paycheck requires them not to understand.