The shot heard 'round the world

Since Monday, October 8th 2007 the record industry has lost : Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Jamiroquai, and now the "Queen of Pop" Madonna.

The Music Revolution is officially started.  The recording industry had more than enough time to get their act together and give bands what they wanted, their unwillingness to change with the times is what has brought us to where we are.  Much like other revolutions, a people can only be pushed so far before their comfort with their current circumstances overcomes their natural human aversion to radical change.

But we should take a moment to recognize what will be recognized as where this started by history, Radiohead.  Much will be made about Radiohead's announcement last week that they were ditching the record labels to go independent, and correlations to the historic battle of Lexington and Concord are inevitable (at least in the U.S.).  The comparison is fair, as long as you realize that even in the American Revolution many patriots fought the British well before Lexington and Concord.  Likewise, many brave bands of lesser name have broken away, or just never started, with the recording industry.  The key of the phrase "The shot heard 'round the world" is not shot, it's heard.

The dominos are falling, and I predict you can expect the next steps to be more bands (obviously) followed by top Recording Industry executives beginning to parachute out to promotion firms like Live Media (who Madonna is using) and others.