While enjoying a beer in the shadow of the Museum of Fine Arts while Tim Street was in town, he pointed to the cash register and said (I’m paraphrasing) “That’s the problem with “New Media”. There’s none of those.”
I see this problem becoming more common. Seth Godin has written at length about today’s worker being an artist. While I believe this to be true there’s the problem that many artists fail (and/or have no interest) in setting up a cash register. This weekend the lovely Carin took me to see the almost equally lovely Diana Krall at Tanglewood. It was a great show and we were impressed with the opening act, a singer named Denzal Sinclaire. The best way I can describe it is that if R. Kelly were to produce an album for Nat King Cole, it would probably sound a lot like him. I was digging deep and I don’t think I’ve ever heard another man with a better voice in concert, and may never since there’s no way to hear Luther Vandross.
As he wrapped up I immediately took down his name so I could buy some music after the show. There was nothing at the merch tent, which wasn’t much of a surprise, but what killed me is that there’s really nothing online either. DenzalSinclaire.com is just a place holder, Amazon has a single track and then you can import CDs, it actually looks easier to get the CDs on eBay. iTunes has a few single tracks and that’s it.
This is the kind of stuff that hits me hard. I spend the majority of my hours trying to connect buyers and sellers. To be standing around waving cash and saying “I want to give you this money” is a missed opportunity for both sides. It is entirely possible that Mr. Sinclaire has all the money he needs and is not concerned, but in the event that’s not the case, I would refer him to Matthew Ebel, I’m sure he could set up something nice that would work for everyone. Please, don’t make me buy used CDs from eBay, don’t let the middle man take the money I’d rather put in your register.