now that anna wintour gets the web

is it a coincidence that, according to gawker –or was it the observer, that vogue editor anna wintour has supposedly proclaimed that she now ‘gets the web’ about the same time that perez hilton has launched cocoperez.com? one would hope not.

but what would ‘getting the web’ entail for a magazine editor or publishing company ? AOL/Time Warner (remember them) got the web back in the 90s, but that still didn’t stop them from launching PathFinder as an umbrealla portal for all it’s titles. thank goodness now time.com exists, right?

well as mckinsey actively bleeds si newhouse dry of his money while simultaneously saving him money, one might be excused for wondering out loud how a publishing company that purchased wired (but initially forgot to buy the accompanying website –a bit like eBay buying skype but not the underlying technology) 10 years ago could ever really grasp the complexities of the internet.

why the music industry sucks and google too

in 2000 when the music industry sued napster and thought it had its day in court, it was already clear that the RIAA and the labels were merely rearranging chairs on the titanic. but the majors spent the next 8 years screaming about music thieves and hauling kids and single mothers to court and/or threatening them with lawsuits. in normal industries, this would never have happened (see the film industry) since you know, public relations and public perception is everything. and now the music industry is perceived as a bunch of cops. hence, people like george michael and domino records hiring a company to snuff out mp3 posts of their music online. and isn’t it telling that this company is called ‘web sheriff.’ and now apparently google is in on the whole thing. randomly deleting blog posts on blogger.com that have mp3s (see link to l.a. weekly article below).

is it any wonder that record sales are down. and one is hardpressed to find a teen who is remotely cool who dreams of working in the music industry?

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