How old processes blind good people

Jay Rosen is widely known in journalism circles as a sage and opinionated voice for digital-first approaches to news coverage. As I've written previously, Rosen has a blind spot to the business realities of making news pay for itself but he's sharp in many other ways. 

And on a recent appearance on the PBS "Mediatwits" podcast, I thought Rosen raised a very important point about how newspaper production environments blind smart people to the realities of the real world. 

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Two record labels thrive by thinking small

With pervasive digital downloading dramatically reshaping the music industry, we seem to hear a regular drumbeat that the music industry as we know it is coming to an end. 

There's a lot of truth in that, but it's still possible to run thriving record labels these days. The key, at least in two prime examples, is to think small and focus on the craft, not the spotlight.

BusinessWeek recently published a nice profile of Numero Group, a small Chicago label that specializes in reissuing richly packaged collections of long-forgotten music, be it from small regional labels or long-forgotten talents (Capsoul Records and Syl Johnson to name a few). Numero's pressings run in batches of 5,000 CDs and 3,000 LPs, and research and production costs per project average $50,000, which wouldn't cover a single-song fee for many of today's hit producers. Numero may focus on the small, but its revenue topped $11 million last year, a decent living for its 11 employees who seem thrilled they actually get paid for their work. 

And NPR Music's "The Record" blog just posted a multimedia profile of XL Recordings, a small London label whose unassuming offices are home to some of the best-selling releases in recent years (Adele and Vampire Weekend among them). XL is a major player in terms of sales, yet operates out of a small office (which Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig describes as having a "communal" feeling). 

I noticed several common themes each label: Both focuses on the craft, limiting releases to a half-dozen a year because any more would inhibit creativity and focus. And both live small, operating out of small, older buildings and in stark contrast to what BusinessWeek calls "traditional industry trappings as big glass doors and in-your-face logos."

I've bought records from both Numero and XL in the past, and after reading about their approaches to music and business, will keep their work at the top of my wish lists. 

Review: 'A Voice in the Box: My Life in Radio'

It took me forever to finish "A Voice in the Box: My Life in Radio" and for good reason. 

Bob Edwards' autiobiography is a self-indulgent blast at a few key enemies, mixed with sporadic insight into the growth of public radio and audio storytelling. 

Edwards is the host of Sirius-XM's "The Bob Edwards Show" who grew to some level of fame as the host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." His firing from NPR and frequent run-ins with management there dominate this autobiography, and those themes make for frustrating reading.

As a manager myself, I know few supervisors fire or discipline employees out of the blue, let alone fire a person without explanation. Yet, Edwards would lead you to believe that his conflicts with "suits" came as complete blindsides or as retribution for doing moral and honorable work as a crusading journalist. 

I'm not saying that didn't happen in Edwards' case, but his presentation is so one-sided you're left wondering what pieces of the story remain untold. Autobiographies are by their nature one-sided, but a reader might expect more from a first-person story from a journalist trained in delivering all relevant sides of a story. 

"A Voice in the Box" is interesting in spots, particularly in describing the growth of NPR and how the network differs from its competition. But early chapters seem rushed and a lecturey tone and venom toward his critics n the last half of the book get tiresome. For a personality who plays up a folksy demeanor, he carries a weighty ego and holier-than-thou attitude toward what makes for good journalism and good friendships. 

Thankfully I didn't have to pay for "A Voice in the Box." As an XM subscriber, I had access to a free e-book version, and since I downloaded it onto my iPod Touch, read it only when stuck in lines or otherwise looking to fill time. This is just one reason it took me eight months to finish.The second is this isn't a very good book.