Wall Street Journal’s new magazine (WSJ) published an interesting article on Michael Rapino and Live Nation this past weekend, talking about his background and the current “360″ strategy Live Nation is pursuing. You can read the whole article here.

I respect Rapino and I think he’s a very smart guy. In many ways he’s had the guts to take on much of the traditional music business establishment and turn it on its head. But for me, the strategy of offering long-in-the-tooth artists like Madonna and Jay Z and U2 a bunch of money for their recording, touring and merchandising rights is downright flawed (you can read more about my take on 360 deals in a separate post).

Check out this statement: ” The breakdown of the Madonna–Live Nation deal shows how broad the scope will be. The company is paying Madonna $17.5 million for the right to distribute each of three future albums and $50 million to promote concert tours for 10 years.”

You got that right. 10 years. I had a crush on Madonna when I was 11 and she was 25 — back in ‘83. She is now 50. I mean, is there anyone out there who really thinks that Madonna should be on tour for another 10 years? Or, will anyone care what a Madonna record sounds like three albums from now?

I dig Madonna. I think she’s one of the most intelligent artists and business people of our lifetime. And I also think that she’s severely underestimated as a popular songwriter who’s been able to stay pretty much on top of her game for a quarter of a century.

My problem however, is that these much ballyhooed 360 deals make no sense as Live Nation is structuring them. They look to the past, not to the future. The future of the music business is about a middle class of artists who dominate niches, not the masses. And Madonna, U2, Nickelback and Jay Z are not them.

Panos

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