Greg Kot - Music Industry interview podcast

This is largely a repost from Gizmodo, of all places, but Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune rock critic and co-host of Sound Opinions recently wrote a book about the downfall of the music industry as we know it, thanks to illegal file sharing. He has no love for the old model, but also doesn't think that iTunes and its ilk is the answer. His views largely mirror the sentiment in my rant to Larry Ribstein, but Greg is a lot more effectual and a lot less effusive than my missive.

From Gizmodo: "In his interview on the fantastic podcast The Sound of Young America, Kot states that the music industry was actually one of the primary causes of piracy. The explosion of boy bands and bubblegum pop in the late 1990s was due to the labels' insistence on pouring a huge amount of money into just a few dumbed-down, impersonal, lowest-common-denominator acts, which meant in turn that commercial radio was almost completely garbage. There was little room for genuine weirdo geniuses like, say, Prince or David Bowie, and devoid of good music, the market was bound to react—hence Napster."

Download the podcast here.