I know many of you subscribe to this blog and have it delivered to your email every morning.

But for those of you who go to the Inside Music Media website every day perhaps you've noticed that I started placing a Facebook icon in the right hand column to replace the customary "about me" option. (The Blogger service by Google is less than perfect and the site works best in Safari or Firefox, but I realize most use Explorer).

Now, I'm going to confess right up front that I've done so because of the strong feeling that I get from the next generation that social&hellip

It finally happened.

And it took a bunch of kids to do it.

Someone stood up to the RIAA.

And once they did, someone else stood up to the music industry's bully puppet that has been terrorizing young people, families, college students and even the dead with threats of lawsuits for stealing music.

Only about a month ago my friend, Steve Meyer, the publisher of Disc & DAT reported to his subscribers that "RIAA defendant, Deborah Foster, who won her case against the association for wrongful cause, and was rewarded with her attorney fees from the organization".

Meyer warned at the time that " With this&hellip

Move over radio. The Internet is now taking aim squarely at television.

There's an interesting new global IBM study that shows the time consumers spend using the Internet is roughly about the time they spend watching TV. (You can download the report for free).

The study reports: "66 percent reported viewing from 1 to 4 hours of TV per day, vs. 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage. Consumers are increasingly turning to online destinations like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, games, or mobile entertainment vs.&hellip

There's been a lot of debate since President Bush announced one more surge of troops to try and secure the law and order in Iraq.

Without getting into the political issues, the surge reminds me of what radio executives are now doing whether knowingly or not.

You get the feeling that many of the seasoned radio executives who have been in the business and at the top of their companies for a long time are desperately seeking one last push to try and make radio a growth industry again.

Somehow they think that if they come up with one more format they will discover a way to get youth back listening to their radios&hellip

I've decided to return to USC for yet another year to teach several courses including television than media people would think even though they finally got away from the burden of doing papers and taking exams. It's true many students had summer jobs but even with more leisure time, television is not the addiction it was for Gen X or Baby Boomers.

What they did do is go online and search for the videos they wanted to see. They even slipped DVDs into their computers to watch programming on inferior screens just because a computer is a great place for them to direct their TV viewing.

This summer they didn't read&hellip

Little Stevie Van Zandt is one of my favorite characters in The Sopranos.

He plays -- Silvio Dante, the consigliere -- advisor to crime boss Tony Soprano.

Stevie also plays guitar for the other boss in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

I was reading his comments the other day on the sorry state of the music industry. Stevie Van Zandt could be the wise advisor to the record labels -- if only they would listen.

Here's the wisdom of the consigliere as it relates to the music industry we love. My comments, although not as wise, are in italics.

1. "Our stalwart record companies had completely given up on&hellip

Clear Channel finally set a date for the shareholder vote that would allow it to go private and make a fortune for the Mays principals and their Wall Street cronies.

The date they chose was at the very end of the legal limit -- imagine that, Clear Channel pushing the legal limit -- the end of September.

Clear Channel has to win the vote.

There is no Supreme Court available to steal this election. And in the state of Texas, when a shareholder fails to return their proxy, it's counted as a "no".

Meanwhile the buyout price is $39.20, but Clear Channel's stock has been bouncing between the low $30's to the high $30&hellip

You've seen me write with some regularity about the revolutionary new iPhone from Apple's creative mad man Steve Jobs.

My readers -- you -- are divided as far as I can tell.

One group has gone ga-ga over iPhone and all its coolness while the other says it's a toy -- not even a significant work tool.

And I've concluded that you are both correct.

The iPhone lovers and early adopters know that this device which does just about everything a young person holds near and dear is the future.

The Blackberry (and other smart phone proponents) rightfully argue that iPhone is no Blackberry -- and I've known a&hellip

So I returned to Scottsdale from LA the other night when I received the first of what would be 21 -- count 'em, 21 -- emails from a radio industry consultant taking me to task for advocating the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM).

The emails got nastier as the night went on, but the sender is no dummy.

He's brilliant.

Rude, but brilliant.

Unfortunately he suffers from the same disease that is taking radio down right now -- the "I'm right, you're wrong if you don't agree with me" attitude. Certainly his concerns and the concerns of others should be passionately pursued.

And Arbitron should be held&hellip

Could it possibly be that Disney did something right when everyone else thought they were doing everything wrong?

Radio Disney, the kids radio format, may now find a reportable audience when Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) is set to become the new standard in audience ratings. The meter measures all media within its path and kids don't have to fill out diaries. Their listening can now count.

Formerly, Radio Disney was the joke of consolidation.

A bunch of AM stations with horrible signals patched together to offer the Disney kids programming to the tween-agers. This in spite of the fact that the quality of the&hellip

I can't help being haunted by this deep-seated conviction of mine (as unrealistic as you might think it is) that the big four record labels would be in a much better position today if they could make hit records.

I know, I know -- they have many other problems.

Steve Jobs and the iPod.

Legal and illegal downloading of music.

The growing unpopularity of their main staple -- the CD.

The decline of their hitmaking partner -- radio.

I know, already.

But, I still get the feeling that if these labels knew how to make a hit -- to find the next music genre -- they'd be in a better position to survive&hellip

Universal and Warner within the past few weeks announced that they were making investments in companies that handled artist management or web networking.

The big four labels are not going to turn it around any time soon being a record company. CD sales continue to nose dive.

Warner is spending $110 million to buy more of Front Line Management, an artist management company that represents Jimmy Buffet, Christina Aguilera and others.

Universal bought a position in Loud.com, a hip-hop social networking site that offers cash prizes and recording contracts.

This scares me.

I know you could say, Jerry, you're&hellip

I guess AT&T will think twice in the future if it -- or anyone working for the cell phone giant -- tries to censor a rock performance.

They got burned when AT&T admitted to Lollapalooza concert officials that portions of the show were cut from the webcast.

During the performance of "Daughter" these lyrics were sung by Pearl Jam to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", but they never made it onto the webcast:

"George Bush, leave this world alone." (the second time it was sung).

"George Bush find yourself another home".

Listen for yourself.If it makes you feel any better, AT&T apologized&hellip

By Jack Hannold, Guest Contributor

(Note: I am always grateful for the thoughtful comments and emails I get on my various posts. This one I thought was extremely noteworthy so I am presenting it to you today -- Jerry).

My friend, Joe Benson, whom I am proud to say I had the good sense to employ when I was programming in Philadelphia, sent me an email over the weekend.

In it he said,

It

Starbucks seems happy with the sale of the Paul McCartney CD "Memory Almost Full" and is apparently getting ready to expand its record label -- Hear Music.

Anyone ought to be excited about selling CDs

Elton John says dump the Internet and return to the good old fashioned face-to-face way of living.

Elton John is a great performer, but he

You

Sam Moore, of the duo Sam & Dave, thinks Cox Radio President Bob Neil is a racist.

Last week Neil told a Congressional committee getting ready to butt into the artists

Remember that old WINS, New York all-news motto "You Give Us 20 Minutes and We

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The move is underway to allow our great public servants