Daily Post
MONDAY MAY 12, 2008
From: Terri Sherringham, Newcastle, UK
Hi Simon - good to see you back in full grump-mode (yesterday's email). It seemed a long time since you'd given someone such a full-bodied insult. Most enjoyable! May there be many more!
Insults are not something I plan, they just pop out, especially when the email I receive is idiotic. In general, though, I try to avoid them - they can so easily come back to haunt you. The danger time is after midnight. A bit sozzled I start answering emails (not for the website, but for business matters), and sometimes in the morning I'm totally shocked by what I've said. I've tried to get over the habit of going to the computer when I come back from dinner, but it's so enjoyable. A last glass of calvados and a handful of itchy fingers and almost anything can be said to anyone. Letters were never like that, nor phone calls. The email insult is an art (or a pitfall) all of its own.
SUNDAY MAY 11, 2008
From: Saarski, London, UK
Hello, I write quirky melodic pop music with lyrics that will make you smile... I'd love you to give it a listen and see what you think.
Trite, dull, boring, unamusing, time-wasting, masturbatory, clichéd, self-indulgent, self-centred, vacant and vacuous. You must be a most entertaining person to know!
SATURDAY MAY 10, 2008
From: Jack Shelbourne, Liverpool, UK
Hi Simon. I'm an old rocker - gave up playing in a band much too late in life and finally got a proper job in my early forties. Now fifteen years later I've got enough to retire if I do it cheaply. I've been looking at Thailand and you seem to know about the place. I'm worried by its politics, so please tell me - if I invest all I have in making a new life there, could everything be wrecked by a change in government? Could there be another coup?
Far be it for me to tell you about Thai politics, you can read all manner of experts on the subject, though there's one thing they never seem to point out - the difference between how the country is run by elected governments and non-elected ones is negligible. After each coup, plenty of longtime politicians find their way into the ensuing government. And similarly, after each election half the members of the resulting cabinet turn out to be people who were previously in the military. It's simply two different methods of changing the team at the top but the policy usually remains the same - let things carry on as usual and cream a bit off the top. Now back to your question....
In 75 years since the end of absolute monarchy and the beginning of democracy, there have been 13 coups and 33 years of non-elected governments. On the law of averages, if you decide to retire here and live for another 20 years you should have 12 years of democracy, 8 years of dictatorship and the fun of three more coups. None of which will make the slightest difference to your life whatsoever.
FRIDAY MAY 9, 2008
From: Sir Harry Cowell, London, UK
Hi Simon: At Musexpo last week
in LA it was quite obvious that the record companies think they have the future worked out... yes the answer they all have
is 360!!!!!
That's the best they can come up with... something that
existed 30 years ago...hardly new.
Wankers every single one of them.
Have a great weekend thinking of their total demise.
Hi Sir Harry - you're right, you're right, you're right!
These '360-degree' contracts were in place with all sorts of small record companies 30 years ago but the courts kept finding against them. As surely they will do again, because...
Once records don't exist, in exchange for their '360 degree' lien on artists' earnings from all sources, the 'record companies' will have to agree that their job is to build an artist's career in every way possible. The courts will deem this to be 'artist management'. And in the EU, Australasia and many states in the USA, 'management' contracts are held by the courts to be 'personal services' contracts. Which means, if the relationship between the two sides irrevocably breaks down, and if one party to the agreement is an individual who is thus unable to continue with his career, the contract can be terminated.
So a couple of test cases somewhere along the line should put an end to the whole thing.
On top of this, we all know the majors come from a corporate culture that cheats artists out of money at every opportunity. Until now this has just meant record royalties, but with these new contracts they'll soon be cheating artists on money from every other source too. And that won't stand up too well in court either.
THURSDAY MAY 8, 2008
From: Bibi Espedes, New York, NY, USA
Hi Simon:
Hahaha, who would have thunk it!!! Warner's are to cease paying dividends to their shareholders (see here). Instead of cutting divyys, they should cut all pork from management...
Just think - if they've stopped paying dividends to the shareholders (which include a good few of the top executives), think how much they're lopping off royalties due to artists. It's so utterly inevitable that record companies will disappear yet none of them are doing anything constructive to give themsleves a future in a different shape. They just go on blindly, almost as if it's not happening. It reminds me of years ago when the investigators were closing in on Richard Nixon over his involvement in Watergate. Suddenly the investigators discovered there had been tapes recorded of every conversation Nixon had ever had in the Oval Office. It was amazing, instead of instantly destroying the lot Nixon admitted they existed, then after a while handed them over, guaranteeing his eventual downfall. It was like the news last week when Sony handed over its entire catalogue to Nokia for free downloads. Like an animal frozen in the glare of headlights from an approaching truck - like Nixon handing over those tapes - co-operating fully in their own demise.
WEDNESDAY MAY 7, 2008
From: Ed Delisle, West Hollywood, California, USA
hey simon... i only just worked it out... those pictures of unknown people at the top of the daily post page... they're all politicicans who are atheist or agnostic... and the previous page of daily post were all politicians who are gay... does that make me thick or what..?
It was just an idea - a way to make the top of the page more interesting. First I did that row of photos of gay politicians. When I researched it there were plenty to choose from - Britain had both cabinet ministers and MPs - Holland, France, Germany and Scandinavia the same - even the USA managed to have one openly gay member of the House of Representatives. But when it came to the newest set of photos, the ones of atheist or agnostic politicians, it was really tough. I could only find 22 listed worldwide. And from those I took away the ones who'd made communism an alternative to religion (Castro and all the former Eastern European leaders). It seems that having to admit they don't believe in God is the thing politicians are most scared of. Yet for me (and I'm sure hundreds of thousands of other people) it would be the one single statement that would get my vote - look at Turkey last year when a million voters took to the street to protest the intrusion of Islam into their happy God-less lives. (Anyway - yes, it makes you as thick as a black hole. All you had to do to was click on the photos and read.)
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