1800 tEQUILA Showcases up-and-coming artists on bottles in limited edition series

12 Limited Edition Bottle Designs Include Shepard Fairey’s Studio Number One Artwork

New York, NY – Proximo Spirits, Inc. and 1800 Tequila are thrilled to announce today the release of the second annual collection of limited-edition Essential Artists bottles. Introducing 12 new bottles designed by up-and-coming artists from New York to Hawaii, the 1800 Tequila Essential Artists series celebrates a dynamic range of original artwork on a unique and unexpected medium – bottles of 100% Agave Silver Tequila! Showcasing eleven designs gathered from over 15,000 online submissions, selected by 1800 Tequila, and one special edition “celebrity artist” bottle, this new line is a vibrant example of the undiscovered, yet soon-to-be-recognized talent residing across the country.

The first installation of the series proved to be a compelling initiative, attracting attention from a wide-range of both world-renowned and unknown artists. This year, in addition to the eclectic variety of 11 user-generated designs, 1800 Tequila is excited to feature a special-edition bottle by Studio Number One, a group of rising star designers whose work is now being recognized as ‘essential’ in the art world.

Founded in 2003 by artist Shepard Fairey (who gained global notoriety this year for his Obama “Hope” design), Studio Number One has built a reputation as one of today’s most influential creative agencies in the country. Describing themselves as a “firm where art and design bridge the gap between culture and enterprise,” Studio Number One reflects the mission of the 1800 Tequila Essential Artists series.

“It’s a pleasure to be involved with something that puts art in more people’s hands, and to work with a brand like 1800 Tequila that supports and promotes artists,” said Amanda Fairey, Chief Operating Officer for Studio Number One.

“We wanted to create something that’s as much fun to enjoy on the shelf as it is off the shelf. It’s a design that captures the wild side of tequila, but tames it with a dose of humor and a sense of adventure,” added Florencio Zavala, Associate Creative Director for Studio Number One.

In addition to Studio Number One, eleven artists nationwide contributed work to create the series of 12 bottles. These artists include StevOramA (Honolulu, HI), the $10,000 Grand Prize Winner whose design has been given a starring role in the series, as well as Ian McGillivray (Brooklyn, NY), Nickelyn Reames (Manteca, CA), danyol (San Francisco, CA), Leyland “Lee” DeVito (Detroit, MI), Danielle Salinas (Bloomfield, NJ), Chad Shore (Atlanta, GA), Mark Sweeney (San Francisco, CA), Branden Tintiangco (San Diego, CA), Chuck Trunks (Los Angeles, CA), and Michelle Villasenor (Atlanta, GA).

“We’re excited to offer another round of Essential Artists bottles, as we received an overwhelmingly positive response to the first campaign,” said Elwyn Gladstone, VP of Marketing for Proximo. “Emerging artists can struggle for years before seeing their work recognized on a national scale, but the creative genius behind the submissions and the incredible demand from consumers has allowed us to expand this program and feature 11 more artists, on our way to showcasing 1,800 inspired submissions.”

Only a limited number of bottles have been produced, making for an attractive collector’s item and lively addition to any bar. To find the bottles, which retail for $24.99 each, consumers can enter their zip codes into the “Liquor Locator” on 1800Tequila.com to find the series in their area. In hopes of encouraging other artists to make their dreams a reality, 1800 Tequila plans to re-launch the contest at the end of this year, inviting artists to submit their own bottle designs for a chance at inclusion in the next series.

johndescending –

(noun) Someone who repeats the phrase “my friends” ad nauseum during debates in an attempt to buddy up to the American people.

What is the Political Addictionary?

The Political Addictionary, an invention of SpectrumDNA Studios, is a linguistic barometer for the country’s political climate. The institutional dictionaries of the English language haven’t yet caught up with the antics of our politicians, or the craziness of the political process. This inventive wiki-like engine allows users to invent and catalogue new words to help keep the lexicon relevant, irreverent and contemporary.

COMEDY CENTRAL has launched the Political Addictionary on its Indecision 2008 site http://www.indecision2008.com. It features the user-generated political “Word of the Day”, as well as weekly “There Oughta Be a Word” challenges from the bloggers at COMEDY CENTRAL. Users can also create their own “There Oughta Be A Word” challenge by providing a definition and daring the community to come up with a word. Politicos, wonks, linguists and the casual political junky can either join in on the conversation, or just browse the clever content for pure entertainment. There are widgets, RSS feeds and games in the works, as the site is constantly growing and changing with new user created words every day.

From a business standpoint, it’s a great model; definitely something that you don’t see in the era of “me-too”s.

One word: fantastic!

The rum flavor is just delicious. I mixed it into a couple of the recipes that I’d like to share as well:

Mojito Martini
2 oz. Matusalem PLATINO Rum
2 tsp. sugar
Fresh lime juice from ½ lime
Mint sprigs
Crushed ice
Soda water
Garnish with lime & mint sprigs
Mix lime juice & sugar in a shaker; stir until sugar is dissolved; add mint leaves crushing them on the side
of the glass; fill with ice; pour Matusalem PLATINO Rum; shake well; serve in a chilled martini glass;
top with soda water and garnish with lime & a sprig of mint.

Havana
2 oz. Matusalem PLATINO Rum
2 oz. pineapple juice
1 tsp. lemon juice
Ice cubes
Garnish with a lemon twist
Pour Matusalem PLATINO Rum into a tall glass filled with ice cubes; add pineapple and lemon juice; stir
or shake well; garnish with a lemon twist.

Using Matusalem Rum made the drinks go down smooth!

America’s Number One Spirits Competition Evaluates the Most Entries Ever

Absinthe Makes Its Debut and Cachaca Takes Best White Spirit

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21 /PRNewswire/ — The most influential spirits industry professionals in the United States gathered at San Francisco’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel March 15th and 16th to swirl, sniff, sip, spit and rank the world’s best spirits at the 8th annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the only competition of its kind in the United States.

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition Executive Director, Anthony Dias Blue of Patterson’s the Tasting Panel Magazine, along with Director of Judging, F. Paul Pacult, Writer/Journalist of The Spirit Journal, have established an unparalleled reputation for the competition and its principles since its inception eight years ago. This year 847 spirits were submitted and evaluated, up from 715 in 2007, and six out of the seven continents (only Antarctica was missing) were represented, making this a globally influential spirits competition.

“The San Francisco World Spirits Competition receives entries from the best spirits companies worldwide every year, and we have to match that caliber with top-quality judges showing consistent and objective evaluation,” Blue noted. “These factors create a highly successful environment to host one of the world’s largest spirits competitions.”

This year, 25 judges tasted through spirits of 439 different brand classifications, presenting a large number of medals. Among the most prestigious awards, “Distiller of the Year” went to Buffalo Trace Distillery USA and “Importer of the Year” went to Moet Hennessy USA, New York, NY. “Best in Show-White,” was claimed by Weber Haus, Silver Cachaca, Brazil, and Highland Park, 12-year-old Single Malt Scotch, Orkney Islands, Scotland, was named “Best in Show-Whisk(e)y.” Loujan, 1979 Armagnac, Bas Armagnac, France, received “Best in Show-Brandy,” and Domaine de Canton, Ginger Liqueur, France, was named “Best in Show-Liqueur.”

Absinthe, just approved for import and sale in the United States in late 2007, was a new category in the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition this year. Ten Absinthes were submitted from all over the world for this judging, three won gold medals and Vieux Pontarlier Absinthe won a double gold medal, making it the “Top Absinthe.”

In addition to the premium awards, the best ranking spirit in each category was awarded a “Top” title. In the White Spirits category winners include: Snow Queen Vodka as “Top Vodka,” “Top Gin” went to Plymouth Gin, and Matusalem Rum took “Best Rum.” “Top Tequila” went to AsomBroso Silver Tequila and El Tesoro took “Top Reposado Tequila.” Siete Leguas was “Top Anejo Tequila” and “Top Extra-Aged Anejo Tequila” went to Don Julio.

Winners in the whisk(e)y category include: Jameson, Rare Vintage Irish Whiskey as “Top Irish Whiskey,” and Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey as “Top North American Whisk(e)y.” Chivas Regal, 25 Year Old Scotch was “Top Blended Scotch,” and Pappy Van Winkle, Kentucky Straight Bourbon took “Top Bourbon.”

In the brandy and liqueur categories, Hennessy Cognac Paradis Extra won “Top Cognac,” and Cointreau Orange Liqueur received “Top Fruit Liqueur.”

Spirits received Bronze, Silver, Gold or a Double Gold Medal. Double Gold occurs when all judges on a panel agree that the spirit is Gold, which immediately upgrades the selection to Double Gold status.

In all, 25 judges tasted 847 spirits from 63 countries, and awarded 103 Double Gold Medals-159 Gold Medals, 308 Silver Medals and 179 Bronze Medals.

“Entries have been increasing every year,” said Director of Judging F. Paul Pacult. There were 18% more entries in 2008 than in 2007. “As a result we added an entire panel of judges and made some creative changes in the way our panels of judges see and evaluate spirits in the same category. For instance, we broke down the unflavored vodka category even further by tasting them together according to their unique base ingredients whether it be wheat, rye, grape, neutral grain, potato, sugar cane or fruit.”

Additional results can be found on the San Francisco World Spirits Competition website, http://www.sfspiritscomp.com. Pictures of the competition are available online at: http://www.marthabruce.com/sfsc08.

2008 Judges included: Anthony Dias Blue — Blue Lifestyle, Editor-in-Chief Patterson’s The Tasting Panel Magazine, Los Angeles; F. Paul Pacult — Writer, Journalist, Educator, The Spirit Journal, Beverage Alcohol Resource, New York; Brian Baker — Managing Partner, Coltivar Marketing, Sonoma; Stephen Beal — Master of Scotch, Consultant & Educator, San Francisco; Jacques Bezuidenhout — Chief Mixologist, Tres Agaves, San Francisco; Mark Bowery — Wine & Spirits Consultant, Mark Bowery Consulting, California; Katie Ballou Calhoun — President, Calhoun & Company Communications, San Francisco; Jerry Cooper — Retailer / Wine & Spirits Buyer, Swirl on Castro, San Francisco; Janet Dyer — President, Wine Excel, San Francisco; Ziggy Eschliman — The Wine Gal, Wine Country Radio, California; Michael Feil — General Manager, Wine & Spirits Buyer, Westchester County Club, New York; Doug Frost, MS & MW — Wine & Spirits Writer, Kansas City Star, Kansas City; Richard Carleton Hacker — Spirits Journalist, Robb Report, Los Angeles; Mendel Kohn — Wine & Spirits Buyer, Vinos and Gourmet, California; Ann Littlefield — Direct Wine Marketing Specialist, New Vine Logistics, Napa; Sean Ludford — Journalist, Beverage Experts, Chicago; Jordan Mackay — Wine & Spirits Editor, 7×7 Magazine, San Francisco; David Mahoney — Editor, Drinks Magazine, Minneapolis; Meridith May — Publisher / Executive Editor, The Tasting Panel Magazine, California; Tim McDonald — President, Wine Spoken Here, California; Robert Plotkin — Author, Trade Writer, Beverage Consultant, BarMedia, Arizona; Jack Robertiello — Wine & Spirits Writer, Journalist & Consultant, New York; Audrey Saunders — Co-Owner & Mixologist, Le Pegu Club, New York; Kevin M. Vogt, MS — Wine & Spirits Director, Emeril’s Restaurants, Las Vegas and David Wondrich — Spirits Writer, Esquire Magazine, New York.

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Need to brush up on Benny?

Check out his show page at Atom.com

Eric Szulczewski joined me in October 2001 after Chris Hyatte’s first death and 411 ushered in the era of daily news reports seen on both 411 and Inside Pulse to this day. Eric, Flea and Grut did 2 days each, and Eric has been the most reliable and consistent writer in the entire IWC in the 2000s.

Due to external circumstances, Eric has never actually sat on the Hot Seat, and finally on this fateful Friday in May 2007, the time has come. Will his acerbic wit be enough to vex the Hot Seat or will the judges make Eric look like a YAM? Let’s check it out…

1) We always start with geometry – If the lengths of two axes of an ellipsoid are the same, what is the general term for the figure?

Eric S: You do remember that I taught high school geometry for a year and a half, right? Actually, you probably do. You never give solid geometry questions to anyone else. If two axes are the same, it’s an oblate spheroid. A good example of one is the planet Earth.

Hot Seat Judges: Correct, but judging by the general % of those who get geometry questions correct, the questions are generally not too hard. 1 out of 1

2) The Hot Seat always likes to challenge its guests by combining various interests into one brain-tangling conundrum – Book these prominent 2008 presidential candidates in a fictional wrestling storyline culminating in one being president aka champion: 1) Hillary Clinton 2) Barack Obama 3) John Edwards 4) Dennis Kucinich 5) John McCain 6) Mitt Romney 7) Rudy Guiliani Ron Paul

Eric S: With eight competitors, the obvious model to take is King of the Ring. So, set up an eight-man tournament (we’ll accept Hitlary as a man in this case; think Chyna) with a little extracurricular stuff on the side.

In the first round, Hitlary takes out Kucinich in a complete squash. McCain has an easy victory over Paul, getting the three-count with the POW Pounce. In a hard-fought contest, Romney wins in a big surprise over Rudy, using a briefcase full of cash on Rudy’s head before applying the Abortion Flip-Flop to him for the submission. The most interesting first-round match, though, is Obama versus Edwards. Both are accompanied to the ring by their wives, of course. Severe controversy erupts when Elizabeth Edwards attempts to gain audience sympathy by bringing up her cancer, and Michelle Obama gives her an I’m A Lawyer So I Have No Sympathy For You Bitch-Slap. This distracts Edwards and allows Obama to get the roll-up, and gives him a little reflected heel heat to boot. It makes him even more interesting to the audience.

The week between the first and second rounds, Hitlary and Obama are forced to tag-team against McCain and Romney. The two Republicans seem to be on the same page as both attempt to solidify their credentials to the Religious Reichers. Hitlary and Obama, though, are bickering like crazy. They just can’t seem to get it together. Romney eventually gets the pinfall on Hitlary with a Mormons Really Are Christians Frog Splash.

That leads to the next round. Does Romney really have the sheer guts to go after McCain? He tries, but McCain is able to distract him by going for the cheap shot right to his balls by stating that he’s the only real Christian left in the tournament. The Republican audience actually gives him a face pop for this. Not all of Romney’s money and business credentials can help him, poor guy. McCain goes on to the finals, and Republicans are excited to have a war hero who has broad appeal.

The Democratic semi-finals are tense, to say the least. Hitlary and Obama are going at it tooth and nail. Bad blood is evident. It’s constant, extended action, running through two commercial breaks. Obama is just about ready to put Hitlary into the I Supported The War Less Than You Did Cloverleaf when “Hail To The Chief” begins playing on the loudspeaker, and out comes Bill to ringside. He immediately grabs Michelle’s ass and says that he’d like to try some Brown Sugar for a change. Obama’s enraged and goes after the former prexy. Unfortunately, the ref’s counting, and as he reaches ten, Hitlary gets her hand raised. It’ll be her and McCain for the whole schmeer.

The finals is a match whose anticipation is off the scale. McCain draws a great deal of heel heat from the audience for attacking a woman, even though she’s in the same ring with him. That throws him off his game a bit. It’s obvious that Bill’s given his wife some advice on how to beat someone with war hero credentials. Hitlary’s fast moves keep McCain off balance for a good portion of the match. However, as time goes by, McCain’s strength begins to tell. He starts using moves that directly attack her, like the Commie Health Care Plan. Hitlary is visibly weakening as McCain’s attacks begin to take their toll. But just as McCain’s about to finish her off with the still-effective Liberal Accusation, Obama appears on the ramp. He heads down to the ring and grabs a steel chair. McCain, steeped in bloodlust and flashbacks to the Hanoi Hilton, gestures to him to give Hitlary the knockout blow. Obama winds up, and nails McCain right across the head, opening him up to .8 Muta. He then grabs Hitlary and gently puts her arm over the supine McCain. The ref counts…one…two…three. Hitlary is your new president, with help from Obama, of all people. Obama raises her arm and gives her a smile, which she returns. It’s obvious they planned this from the start. All the bad blood was a fake-out to put the Republicans in a false sense of security. The Chicago Connection is born, and the country goes into an eight-year Golden Age.

Hot Seat Judges: Thorough and comprehensive, an excellent answer 2 out of 2

3) With both RVD and Sabu having worked their last WWE match for the foreseeable future, is the spirit of ECW finally dead, or can the remaining originals (Sandman, Dreamer, Guido, Balls, Stevie) somehow carry the torch. Discuss in 50 words or less.

Eric S: Yeah, as if I can do something in fifty words or less. I’ve been writing for you for almost six years now, Jonathan. You should know better. My fifty words start…now:

The torch was fully extinguished when Vince won the title. Sabu’s release was just the coda. Dreamer is fully WWE, Stevie ditto. Sandman’s a nostalgia act, and the rest are ignored. The only argument right now is how to dress up the corpse, nothing else.

Hmmm, forty-five words…

Hot Seat Judges: Fit the word limit certainly, but something was missing, and the answer came off as cliche. Can’t give you the duke on this one 2 out of 3

4) Boomerang has become a favorite destination for cartoon fans, yet the network doesn’t air commercials or even promotions for DVDs or products related to the cartoons they air. How do they make money?

Eric S: They really don’t need to do tie-ins per se. Remember, Boomerang is owned by Time-Warner, who outright owns the largest cartoon library on Earth. All of Boomerang is essentially Time-Warner-owned properties (the Hanna-Barbera library, the MGM library bought from Ted Turner, and, of course, the Warner Brothers library) that were paid for a long time ago. They’re front-loaded with characters that sold themselves to the public decades ago. DVD releases of those classic characters sell themselves. They don’t need to be marketed or promoted. The rest of their properties on Cartoon Network are harder sells, and do need that kind of marketing.

Boomerang is marketed as the perfect channel for parents of youngsters who want to live vicariously through their kids, introducing them to cartoons they watched when they were young, and to discerning cartoon fans, who love having those libraries on one convenient channel (remember the situation with the Warners library before 2000). Boomerang’s selling point is nostalgia, unlike, say, Nick, whose selling point is kid-friendliness.

To get back to the point of making money, again, they don’t need to on the surface, through obvious ways. Time-Warner regards Boomerang as a loss-leader providing reasonably cheap exposure to those characters and cartoons for DVD sales, promoted or not; they’re making money off of those characters one way or another. The money they do make is from their owned-and-operated cable systems, which tend to carry Boomerang on a premium tier. Besides, we were both around for the last five years of WCW, Jon. We know that Time-Warner will tolerate something that loses a little money now and then.

Hot Seat Judges: Shockingly, we were indeed looking for the answer that Boomerang can’t possibly make money and acts as a loss leader for various cartoons and Time Warner properties. Kudos. 3 out of 4

5) And finally, is the IWC actually dead?

Eric S: The IWC isn’t dead. It’s become far more exclusive. Steph’s six-plus years of crap booking have caused a loss of the casual audience, which has translated into a loss of our casual audience. The IWC has contracted to core wrestling fans. This has had multiple effects.

First of all, the crap wrestling sites have pretty much disappeared. This has improved the overall quality of the writing about wrestling. The days of the Whiteboard Retards are over. Sites that have stuck with it have refined their staffs to only the most dedicated, who usually are the better-quality writers.

Second, the IWC tends to be more on top of developing trends than before. ECW’s so-called “Internet popularity” was done in an era of less omnipresence, and was pretty much electronic word of mouth. We picked up on and proselytized TNA and ROH much earlier in their lifespans than we would have had WWE been at a creative peak. I think we played key roles in the current popularity of A. J. Styles and Samoa Joe, among others. And now we’re playing a key role in getting out the word about ROH.

Third, the “hard news” sites and dirt sheets have been exposed for their biases to everyone, not just to those of us paying attention. That’s opened up the field of commentary. We’ve learned how to divest the news from the bias and provide our own interpretation. Note that I’m talking in general terms here, not specifically about me. The fact that I’m older than most wrestling writers has benefited me in this regard from the start. The younger writers, though, have picked up on it, and are going to town. You’re seeing a lot of great op-ed these days, a great deal more so than in 2000, when I started writing for websites. Back then, “news” was pretty much Samuda McNuggets and nothing else.

Fourth, and this is very important, there is now a distinct separation between reader and writer due to the fact that you have to be dedicated to wrestling these days to write about it. The writers these days are a great deal less afraid to go against the IWC Groupmind and present dissenting opinions. Because the quality of writing’s gone up, the opinions are generally well-presented and well-reasoned, and that has an influence over the readership. It shows them that there’s an alternative to simply accepting what’s given to us on screen. Unpopular opinions become popular, accepted ones at a much faster rate these days. Look at the difference between how many people agree with me about Flex and how many people agree with me about Cena.

The IWC has become leaner, meaner, louder, and more fearless. We’re not dying. We’re genetically engineering ourselves to become the Best Of Breed.

Hot Seat Judges: Can’t argue with this analysis, and can’t argue with Eric being one of the Kings of the IWC. 4 out of 5

Even with a chip on their shoulders, the Judges couldn’t do much to shoot holes in Eric’s answers, and he has come away with a 2007 high 4 out of 5 and stands atop the Hot Seat leaderboard. Check out Eric all week in Pulse Wrestling as well as appearances in Moodspins and elsewhere around the Pulse.

Next week we have Mike Eagle if we can track him down, or else a MYSTERY GUEST. Be here in 7.

2007 Hot Seat Results
Friday May 18 – Eric S – 4 out of 5
Friday May 11 – Steve Murray – 2 out of 5
Friday May 4 – Danny Cox – 2 out of 5
Friday March 2 – Kevin Wong – 0 out of 5
Friday February 23 – Scott “Kubryk” Sawitz – 3 out of 5
Friday February 16 – Gordi Whitelaw – 3 out of 5
Friday February 2 – Shawn M Smith – 1 out of 5

Have you ever wanted to write for Inside Pulse? Well now is your chance! Join up with one of the largest independent pop culture sites on the web, for any of the 14 zones

Please specify which zone you’d like to write for, and what you could see yourself doing there. We need reviewers, news commentators, podcasters and short column writers everywhere. Contact us at pulsehiring@gmail.com if you have any specific questions.

To apply, send a sample of your writing, with the topic and style you’d use on the site (not something pre-existing unless it is typical of what you’d write here) to pulsehiring@gmail.com . We always get a lot of submissions, and will let you know either way, so don’t worry if we don’t get back to you immediately!

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Widro

That’s probably the exact reaction the RIAA was looking for when they embarked on their latest plan to counteract “illegal downloading” and continue the crusade for copyright protection.

The suit will probably not have the long lasting effect that the RIAA is hoping for – recent statistics show that the suits have had no impact on the volume of files traded over popular P2P networks. Critics of the RIAA say that the PR impact of the suits will adversely affect the RIAA and the music industry. But can it get any worse for the industry? What do they have to lose?

The RIAA might not exactly know how to deal with downloading, but they are actually doing some things right to curtail the trading of music. Have you tried to download a new CD by a mainstream artist lately? It will usually be a nice mix of bogus MP3s, MP3s with artificially added sounds to ruin the song, or messages from the band. Or maybe live recordings. Or maybe MP3s recorded from streaming Real Audio.

This isn’t the same as the Napster days when everything was super easy to find and the quality was better. This is late 2003 where the networks are littered with phonies, and only the truly dedicated can get any kind of value from their time on a P2P network. Just ask my mom – she loved Napster and now relies on me for downloads. Or ask anyone with a job – why not spend the $10 to buy a CD instead of hours online trying to hunt and peck for the last MP3 on a CD without pops.

I will admit that I use Kazaa Lite and I download a fair amount of music. It’s usually stuff that was recommended to me by friends or Web sites, or bands I heard the name of but couldn’t associate a face with. For the most part, at least lately, I’ve been buying any CDs I end up wanting. Except for a very brief time where I was enamored with downloading, I’ve always bought CDs – to have good versions of songs I download, to add to my large CD collection, to have the CD play perfectly on all my CD players old and new, etc.

But according to the RIAA, I’m a criminal because I download copyrighted material. Again, where does the RIAA plan on drawing the line?

I’d say in the past year, I’ve bought about 10 concert t-shirts and been to about 25 rock shows of varying size and cost. I’ve bought about 30 CDs. But I’ve also downloaded 100s of tracks of bands I heard on the radio, thought about buying a full CD, or even a mainstream band I only like one song from (cough Evanescence cough). If the RIAA sued me, wouldn’t they be shooting themselves in the foot? Aren’t I the type of music fan they need – a merchandise buying, concert attending 20-something with an interest in spending money on music?

Apparently not.

I haven’t been sued yet, and am not really worried about it. The chances are so slim, I’d rather worry about the million other worrisome, trivial details of my life. But as the RIAA keeps attacking the wrong problem, they will continue sinking millions or billions of dollars into an endeavor that is not improving sales.

I’m not a proponent of downloading that ignores the fact that some downloading cuts into album sales. For every guy like me who uses Kazaa to sample and expand my musical tastes, there are 100 college kids who have tons of MP3s and no purchased CDs. But where is the margin in attacking these people? The college kids, even if they had to buy CDs, wouldn’t have tons of money to spend on tons of CDs – they would simply listen to the radio or just fewer bands. College kids, high school kids, and other age groups that have enough time and energy to traverse today’s file sharing networks aren’t likely to have been the biggest spenders on music anyway.

What if the music industry instead used the millions or billions they are spending on anti-downloading campaigns to improve their core business? The nature of a capitalistic, semi-free market economy is that there will always be new technology ready to supplant old technology, and the onus is on industry stalwarts to adapt or fade away. Just ask Kodak about the film industry these days. Kodak is trying to adapt – adding CDs of digital images to print film developing, trying to bridge the gap between film and digital cameras. Shockingly Kodak is not suing AOL users for utlizinging the “My Pictures” feature in emails.

What if the music industry found a way to once again make the CD purchase worth $10, even if the actual songs are no longer worth anything? There was once a time that the artwork, physical product and booklet were valued by consumers and collectors. Shouldn’t it be possible to once again establish value for a product that is also available free?

Think it’s impossible? They try explaining bottled water. It’s all about creative marketing, fresh new thinking in a corrupt dinosaur of an industry.

Think about this – M&Ms are a cheap, easy to find candy. A few years ago, the marketing staff at M&M Mars came up with the idea to make a few dozen colors of M&Ms, charge a substantial premium for the product in specialty candy stores, and market the product as special. The candy is exactly the same as the cheap version available in stores everywhere – the only difference is the choice of color.

The music industry needs to find a THEIR choice of color, and convince the public that what they are selling provides a premium over the alternative (free). Imagine if the creative people in the record industry had billions to find that alternative. Imagine if the money being spent on lawsuits and anti-downloading propaganda was being used to reestablish and reinforce the core business of the music industry by using new technology to create new revenue streams.

They probably feel they are doing just that – the lawsuits will surely be a fabulous new revenue stream.

I guess that will work – until they’ve sued enough to make sure there were no music fans left.

- Widro

Widro is a columnist and head webmaster for 411mania.