Bill Gates : a filter a la Lefsetz?

Lefsetz has some salient points about an overcrowded marketplace, the dearth of legit, genuine, believable new artists, and the need for a filter to help find and present great music (that’s where the money is in his future business model)… he’s opinionated, sure, but I’ll take his passion any day over some mass-produced, media-hyped, proposed corporate panacea.

But may god help all of us if Bill Gates becomes the arbiter of cool for a music industry nearing the end of its life.

Check the full article at the New York Times here.

Maybe if the social networking portion of the Microsoft model comes to fruition we could see some organically generated filters for different musical tastes and scenes. Friends sharing their discoveries with each other. Of course, I give it about a month before there are ‘profiles’ with corporate backing pushing their own artists surreptitiously…. think : Pitchfork does LonelyGirl15, paid for by Sony Universal BMG.

And, no, I’m not making the case that Steve Jobs and Apple’s ubiquitous iTunes even are a filter. A subscription model doesn’t help weed out the crap at all… it seems like it would muddy the waters still further, with large companies and powerful corporate music giants muscling their way into sweetheart back room deals that put more of the subscription fees in their pockets as opposed to the artists who are actually being played by fans.

My favorite quote from the new CEO of cool (c’mon…. Zune, everybody!!) :

People are going to listen to a lot more music because it’s going to be easy to find neat new exciting music, its going to be easy to have your music with you, in the car, when you’re running…

I’m sorry… did he just say “neat new exciting music”? Please forgive my earlier skepticism… the man is clearly dialed in to what the ‘youths’ want. Like, it’s gonna be totally awesome, hey? [dh]