CMJ Cover Story

Post-9/11, in the midst of Napster and LimeWire eating away at label profits, with Pitchfork and other digital outlets matching their business model of exposing new bands, CMJ was in bad shape. As one of their major advertisers, I was invited to appear on the cover of the magazine as the editors began openly courting the industry. I seized the opportunity.  

The interview is very FMQB. I praise all the bosses as big college radio supporters even though dozens of artists, labels, and releases had been dropped or cancelled in the Polygram/MCA merger prior to my cover appearance in 2002. There are obligatory Nirvana references and by then I had delivered Willie Nelson and Keith Richards to some college radio people too, so my ego was pretty healthy at that point. I compare myself to Eisenhower on D-day…not so good.