Music & Senape

Clearasil Music- The good news for all the teenage aspiring musicians is that the man who marketed Clearasil is now in charge of your music career—no more “breaking out” for you in every sense of the word. Handjob has now installed Elio Leoni-Sceti as the chief of EMI Music. Other than being an Italian (this is molto buon) let’s review his prior history:

Leoni-Sceti was exec vp of Reckitt Benckiser, maker of skin care product Clearasil, French's mustard, Nurofen pain reliever amongst other products. Leoni-Sceti, a Rome native, was a brand manager at Procter & Gamble before moving to Reckitt Benckiser, rising to head of this company's European division in 2005.

This is the nightmare that has been haunting me since the early 90’s when the word MBA and “product” (even prior to the word c-o-n-t-e-n-t) was becoming so prevalent in the music companies, my nightmare has now fully materialized. Just what EMI needs is a signore that understands marketing physical product (product was once called music) when such product in the music space is on the way out and declining at a rate of 18-20% annually. The MBA’s finally have cannibalized a creative business in whole. I really am looking forward to music being distributed in squeezable form. The EMI announcement has made me give up any hope for a business I was so proud to participate in. I only hope someone will come up with the innovative solutions for the music industry to return to some form of health (gaming & Idol are at least innovative). I can stomach downsizing, if it was ever accompanied with strategy and introduction of innovation in the way these companies conduct future business. Music companies have in large managed to; push out most creative types worth their salt, continued to punish their customers and now feel they need to own an artist’s entire business. One can only hope and support the continued health and growth of the indie music companies. As a former label exec with over $2+ million in royalties on account with one of my former employers, I may have to encourage anyone to freely download 2,000,000 songs and put them on my tab. On a side note, I am really excited to be starting my new job as the CEO of Countrywide Financial. I think you will all agree my credentials for this position are impeccable.

Apple Byte- Apple continues to pick up market share in their personal computer unit. It’s reported that Apple now has a 14% market share last month and the retail stores hold a 19% share of all pc’s sold at retail. Apple continues to pick up about 1% more in market share each year. All of us early Mac adapters are rejoicing this news, short of all the lines these new customers create at the Genius bar with their Ipods!