David Geffen's $5 fee for a subscription service is much more realistic than rubin's wild guess of $19.

Maybe he can find one or two great new acts, but I don't think he can change the culture at columbia, let alone at Sony BMG. As long as there are two owners, this company won't work.

"Word of mouth": UMG and even WMG are doing this at least since 2003.

"Word of mouth"... I was doing it from the 60's when NOBODY else was - and at my trial the prosecution sneered "well if it was that clever an idea, why isn't everybody doing it?".

I can't help but feel a "word of mouth department" is window dressing.

It's like being spontaneous... when it's appropriate.

Ive been inundated with emails and calls since yesterday when the Times ran this. I like the idea of Rick cleaning house, and moving Madison Ave.... but as long as there are suits trying to save their jobs this isn't going to work. The model is dead, as Rick says we all know this. He also says at the end that there is nothing like a major label push. So do the math. What kind of hybrid is he talking about?

They should give him total autonomy at Columbia to sink or swim. You CANNOT have two chefs in the kitchen!

Personally, I don't think subscription is going to work.

As far as hired "Word of mouth Dept" ....Its been going on for years and anyone in this business knows it. Hired spammers posing as teens on every and any relevant message board, posting false positive fake blog. Its in the budget in fact!

Also an important article in Billboard last week on the soundscan era and sustainable success etc. I'll post the link.

There is more opportunity now than ever before.

Who's it going to be?

JK, could you please describe a typical "word of mouth"-campaign of the 60s? Who did you target?

Compared with today, when there are 100s or even 1000s of micro-media (blogs etc.), it must have been easy to get the attention of the (no more than 10?) important DJs/Programm Directors/TV-bookers (Vicki Wickham), who controlled access to the british Radio & TV-channels ... and who all met partying at the Ad Lib. (That's my - romantic - conception of the music industry in the Swinging Sixties)

Interesting how you define the "word of mouth" idea GG.
When I read the article I immediately thought of many of a discussion had with various people, some who I have met some that I haven`t , on public boards such as this.

I wonder how much the unknowing were part of a forum?

Quite simply DJones, my "word of mouth" was TALKING to people.

In queues, shops, banks, airports and, yes, discos and clubs and on the street.

I would ask them what music they liked and if they expressed interest I would send them promotion copies of singles and ask for their opinions. If they really liked them they spread the word automatically. There's nothing "cooler" than telling friends "I've got this great single which will be a smash in 6 months time".

Yes I promoted in all the accepted ways too, TV, radio, press etc. But so did everyone else.

What everyone else was NOT doing was making contacts of all ages, races, genders - and developing them.

Yes, many became personal friends. Yes, a few even became lovers. But the point was spreading the word - and I learned language and slang from them too (Johnny Reggae). Communicating with the public who were often delighted to know a minor celebrity and overjoyed to get pre release music.

And frequently in return I gave advice and friendship and career tips - one of my great prides is managing to steer many kids away from drug use and helping loads of teens through troubled times with parents, college, school etc.

As I've said, the prosecution chose (wrongly) to paint this as some kind of perversion and asked, if word of mouth was such an effective way of promotion, why everybody didn't do it. My answer was they would have to ask them; it worked brilliantly for me.

Why? Essentially I think because I've always been genuinely interested in other people. So, whilst they were helping me by spreading the word, I was also helping them and also learning a lot about the general public - a section of the world ignored by most music people after they get success.

And the brilliant extra bonus was... finding out very early whether something I believed in really WAS a potential hit. If one of my projects got no positive feedback at all, it was probably a flop. But if one got just a handful raving about it, there were probably millions more out there if I could just reach them.

Prime example - NOBODY liked Who Let The Dogs Out? except my (then) 6 year old nephew, who adored it. That was enough to tell me it was a hit.

Imagine if you'd had the Interweb back then JK!

Rather than the false "pretend teen" on a forum the control-freak majors are wasting their time with, the sincere interaction as you had but available online.

Why don't the majors understand that?

Oh I think they do Zoo, but their personal employment and job security(?) comes first.

I'll tell you JK.......Your word of mouth, as described is the real thing! It's and the crux and foundation of a succesful act that can last, and has been for decades. The kids know what is good. Do you ralize how many kids are discovering classic rock and loving it?

As far as the sickening false blog paid for by major labels....well word is that Amazon.com recieved several hundred false positive teen reviews on Ashlee Simpson's first album within 12 hours of its release.

Of course.... she doesn't exist without reality televison, or heavy false spin, like many many others, and that means a diminishing return from day one.

..and yet the majors are the first to jump on the back of any DIY act trying to achieve a similar campaign.