Universal Music CEO is Like Your Cranky, Out-of-Touch Grandpa Who Happens to Run a Huge Record Label

If you picture music industry CEOs as cranky old white men who are completely out of touch with technology and mad at the world for changing around them, you're pretty damn spot-on. Wired has an upcoming profile on Universal Music CEO Doug Morris, and the guy seems as fit to run a newly tech-based company as a dog is fit to pilot a submarine. He basically sees technology as his enemy, wishing his days away for a simpler time where he could control every aspect of a record's distribution. Oh, and he compares the music industry to a character in "Li'l Abner," a comic strip that stopped running in 1977. 1977! I can't wait to read the entire profile, but there is one choice quote available now:
"There's no one in the record industry that's a technologist," Morris explains. "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. But to Morris, even that wasn't an option. "We didn't know who to hire," he says, becoming more agitated. "I wouldn't be able to recognize a good technology person -- anyone with a good bullshit story would have gotten past me."

If dudes like this guy are running all the record companies, it's no wonder they're in a tailspin. So long, music industry. You had a good run. [NY Mag via Boing Boing]

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