YouTube/Warner Deal

Despite Bronfman's hard line approach during the Napster days, the guy, like Murdoch and Redstone, knows where we are headed and figures if you want to make a buck you've got to go with the flow and listen to the kids. So, like Murdoch who went for MySpace and now Snocap, and Redstone who sees the future in games, Bronfman, who has been heading Warner in an increasingly indie direction, sees the writing on the wall.

As Bob Lefsetz has correctly pointed out, the big problem the labels had with P2P was never as much about piracy as it was about control over the best acts, who they feared would not need the old line distribution channels. As Bob so tactfully put it, "99% of music is crap". Given that, the name of the game is about securing the rights to rape the few, the talented... the lucrative.

So, now you know what these deals are all about. Whether it will work remains to be seen. None of these start-ups have turned a profit and once they sell out, the kids, many of them real smart, may move on to purer pastures. Good luck guys.