Originally written 8/7/7
I only lasted one day on the new job, because that’s how long it was supposed to last. One day.
Long story short, we have a friend who is going to be the location manager for the show Cold Case when it shoots in town in a few weeks. You know that show? The one with the blonde who had her hair up for the first 2 seasons, then let it down, thereby guaranteeing at least 2 more seasons? Yea, that one. The series takes place in Philly, even though it’s shot in LA. So they’re coming to town in a few weeks to actually shoot at a few Philly landmarks. And she was nice enough to give us (me and Tara) a gig handing out letters to the area that go over parking, street closures and shoot times. All we have to do is go to 2 different locations, and hand the letters out to homes and businesses that might be affected. So today was the day to do that. And of course it’s the hottest frigging day of the summer in the city. We don’t get hazard pay, though. No, we tough it out in almost 100 degrees and high humidity. Goddamn TV, almost as unglamorous as music…
Sounds easy, right? Well except for the skin melting temperature, it is damn easy. I thought for sure we’d get some rolled eyes as they saw two people come in with a handful of paper, like we’re solicitors. Honestly, though, that didn’t happen. We hit all kinds of businesses; library, college, hotels, offices, etc. No problems at all. Fuck, man, this is cake. Ha, F you WEA. I have to say this was The Job I was looking for. Working less-albeit in 110 degree weather-and paid quite handsomely.
We ran into a couple of Cold Case fans, who asked us if they can be in the show. In fact, that was probably the most common question we got, “can I be in the show?” In some cases, I just blatantly lied. I told them I was in the show, and we were looking for some one who looked exactly like them.
About half way through our gig, I realized I was making a fundamental flaw in my spiel. You have to hit ‘em quick and say something so they just don’t think you’re some solicitor. So mine went some thing like “Hey, this is just a shooting notice that they’ll be shooting TV in this area on such and such a date. If you have any questions, all the contact info is on this sheet.” We came up to a mental health hospital. We did rock, paper, scissors to see who would go in, for fear of being committed right on the spot. I lost as always, so I went in. There are 2 guards behind the desk, and right behind them is another guard at a desk behind glass. Certainly, they must mean business. I go up to the 2 guards and say, ‘Hey, this is a shooting schedule. They’ll be…” and one looks up at me and says “Shooting schedule?” I realize now saying ‘shooting schedule’ to a guard at a loony bin is not the smartest thing to say. I quickly recover. Just something good to know in case I do this in the future.
We come across a Dunkin Donuts that I go into. It’s clear that everyone behind the counter isn’t American. They probably don’t even speak English as a 5th language, let alone a 2nd language. I pick one, and give her my spiel. It’s like talking to a brick wall. A foreign brick wall. There is no recognition in her eyes that she understands what the hell I am saying. I have to guess that the only language they speak there is Dunkin Donuts. I am sure if I ordered a breakfast sandwich and some yuppie-like coffee, they would understand.
Along the way, I do get a sense of how lucky I am. There’s the occasional homeless. I see guys doing construction and roadwork. It’s like 120 degrees, and here are these guys, doing really important work; work that will probably be around long after they’re gone. They’re real guys. A namby-pamby like me wouldn’t last 1 day in that job.
So we wrap up our 3 hour work day, and head back out of the city (cripes, that sounds like Ivory Castle Disease). We’re driving along, when all of a sudden, we get tapped from behind. Yes, Jersey driver, no, not a woman. It wasn’t serious or painful, but definitely a jolt we weren’t expecting. We look back to see who hit us, and the car jets out to the right lane and speeds away. We’re not very far back, so it’s easy to get his plate. Now, the car decided to fall back to us at a light. He rolls down his window and asks us if there’s a problem because he saw us writing down his plate. “Yes, you hit us.” I did?” I didn’t think fast enough to say, “Wait, you didn’t see yourself hitting the car, but you saw me writing down your plate?” But that’s what I would have said, damn it. No damage, no harm, pay the karma forward.
I suppose it’s ironic that on a day I get a gig is the same day that Warner announces their 3rd quarter numbers. AP has it like this:
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Warner Music Group Corp., one of the world's largest recording companies, said Tuesday its fiscal third-quarter loss widened as more people bought digital music, rather than CDs.The loss for the quarter ended in June was $17 million, or 12 cents per share, versus a prior-year loss of $14 million, or 10 cents per share. Excluding nonrecurring items related to a corporate restructuring and settlement, the loss in the 2007 quarter was $29 million, or 20 cents per share.
Hmm, certainly not good news. I don’t want to sound like I’m gloating here, because I really do think they have some sharp minds there, and some talented people. They do have some very talented artists, and some that will just sell a ton of records, which doesn’t hurt these days. The key number that is missing from above is just how much money they coughed up when they axed 400 peons that bloody May day. If I understand the above correctly, the loss of 29 mill does not factor in the packages everyone got. So if those numbers are factored in, the loss is wider, right?
Another key passage from the same AP article:
Warner Music Group said digital revenue increased to $119 million, or 15 percent of total revenue, in the quarter, up 29 percent from $92 million in the prior-year quarter and up 7 percent sequentially from $111 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2007.Recorded music revenue fell 4 percent, while music publishing revenue rose 5 percent.
OK, so the Golden Goose that is digital increased to 119 mill, but still only accounted for 15%? So, 85% still comes from physical CDs? Sure, a big number of that 85 is Target, Walmart, Circuit City and Best Buy. But what about FYE? Borders? Indies? Hey, I’m not saying digital is not the coming age, but laying off 400 who deal with stores, in favor of 15% of sales seems a bit screwy to me. Digital does have its clear advantages, for sure. You only send iTunes the master once, and you’re done with it. No returns, no shipping, far less overhead than with physical. And I get that a staff of few can do a lot in digital because of the above. Maybe it’s me, but 400 seems a bit hasty. Especially when big time country artists (Hill, McGraw, etc) sell the majority of their copies at Walmarts, Targets, etc. Who’s gonna go to check there? (And this will be discussed in the People Management Industry Rant). Another number to pay attention here to is physical falling another 4%. Clearly, the decline continues. Also, EMI just released their quarterly numbers, and they’re just as bad off.
And one more near-Rant. With the cutting of 400 at the peon level, the Ivory Castle is now dangerously top heavy. They’ve almost gutted their field base. If you need to make swift efficient cuts, all the fat is now at the top. Surely, EB is getting monster heat from the share holders on another loss. Again, I’m no whiz here, so please call me out on this if I am wrong. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to go after some of the Big Names responsible for getting us in this mess in the first place (AKA those who collect big checks to do apparently very little, when if they had some true skill, could be making WMG vibrant again) in May instead of the field? Sure, all those Big Names have huge golden parachutes-I can’t wait to see how outrageous they are when they are revealed-but at least you would have started purging them off the books now, instead of the easy way out of cutting low salary music lovers. Maybe if they did that, they stock wouldn’t have bottomed out today at its all time low of 9.89. The 52 week high-and I’m willing to bet it was pretty much 51 weeks ago-was 27.24. OOOOPPSS. To be fair, the stock has gone up in after market to 10.24, so maybe they’re not totally retarded.
OK, so what was I talking about? Right. I worked today.
No comments:
Post a Comment