Is Universal's Doug Morris the stupidest recording exec ever?
Earlier this month Edgar Bronfman, the mogul behind Warner Music Group, copped to starting the current file-sharing war between the recording industry and consumers, blaming the business's "glacial" adoption of digital sales. If the recording industry ever needed a poster boy for its digital naiveté, it could sign up Universal Music Group's Doug Morris. Seth Mnookin spent an afternoon with Morris on behalf of Wired magazine. Along with equating the music industry to a Shmoo, Morris blamed college students for stealing music while admitting he's ignorant of technology.
There's no one in the record company that's a technologist. That's a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn't. They just didn't know what to do. It's like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?
"Personally, I would hire a vet," Mnookin retorts in the piece. Was this supposed to be a trick question? Morris seemed to think so. Stick with the Shmoo metaphor, Dougie. You were onto something there.