Napster Nips Madison Avenue

Instead of quitting while they were ahead with a handful of classic commercials, Madison Avenue cannibalized the formula ad nauseum. Now every hemorrhoid treatment has its own rock 'n' roll track! The economic rationale for this actually can be traced back to Napster. In the past couple of years , CD sales plummeted by more than 100 million units. 785 million CDs were sold in 2000, compared to just 681 million last year. Because more people are downloading and sharing music online, desperate pop stars and music labels are licensing their hits to Madison Avenue to offset losses from piracy!

Since advertising has become yet another tentacle of the media, this should come as no surprise: five holding companies control 76 percent of the world advertising market. Is it a coincidence that five media conglomerates control 80 percent of the world's entertainment, and five tech companies control 85 percent of world's technology? Or is some kind of pattern emerging here? I'll leave the conspiracy theories to others.