Archive for January, 2010
This is Why I Hate the News
The UK’s Charlie Brooker does a news report about the format of news reports, and you realize that what he’s saying SOUNDS like something you’ve heard a thousand times (on the news) while he actually manages to say nothing at all. It’s hysterical. It also reminds me of how easy it is for whole industries [...]
Frank Eliason Coming Up on Live 2.0 and What About Web 3.0?
I was honored to get a chance to speak with Frank Eliason (of Comcast Cares and @comcast fame). Our conversation will be in next month’s long-awaited Customer Service Edition of Live 2.0. Today, Frank is talking about Seth Godin’s new book Linchpin and about whether Social Media in itself is a fundamental shift in customer [...]
Why Philadelphia Orchestra May Need to File Bankruptcy
We talked about the struggles of the Cleveland Orchestra just a couple days ago, and now the news is that the Philadelphia Orchestra (also considered one of the five best in the country) may file for bankruptcy. Why, you ask? Here are some explanations given: The recession has reduced ticket sales But even before that, [...]
Live Nation Ticketmaster Merger Approved
Done deal. And as we discussed, there’s some quid pro quo for both Comcast and AEG. Specifically, AEG gets to license the Ticketmaster software. After five years, AEG can either buy it or dump it for somebody else. In other words, AEG gets to run TM software but pretty much own it. TM makes some [...]
Murder-Suicide Avoided in Cleveland
If you follow the orchestra news closely (as I KNOW you all do), you’ve been tracking the labor dispute of the Cleveland Orchestra. Cleveland may have many problems, including having its economy based on Lebron James, but it also has an extremely fine orchestra, rated one of the best in America. As you might expect, [...]
Live Nation May Sell Buildings to AEG
The LN-TM merger must now be in its ‘bargaining’ stage because the giveaways are starting. According to the NYT, Live Nation may be offering to sell some buildings to AEG as a condition of merger approval from the DOJ. A few weeks back, there was a story that Comcast may be ‘given’ the ticketing contracts [...]
Why Yelp Needs $50 Million
There’s a story on techcrunch today that Yelp is raising $50 million, on top of the $30 million or so that they’ve already raised. Part of it, apparently, is to give current employees some liquidity from their long-held stock. Fair enough. They’ve done a great job building a product that people really like. But assume [...]
Pepsi Doesn’t Think the Bowl’s So Super
Pepsi has spent enough money over the years on Super Bowl ads to buy its own pro football team. According to this article, about $20 million a year is what they had been paying to have a prominent place on the biggest broadcast of the year. But that’s all coming to an end. Instead, they’re [...]
“Exploiting” Opera is the First Step to Making People Care
In the UK, there’s a show called “Popstar to Opera Star.” True to its name, it’s a reality show about well-known pop stars trying their hand at opera and being eliminated one at a time, “Dancing with the Stars” style. Here in America, DWTS has not only been a popular show, but it’s also gotten [...]
Inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr.
“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” Amen to that, Rev. Share and Enjoy:
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