About Daysha Taylor

Scratching my head over the topic of my next, and sadly last, post for all the Bizmology lovers out there — yes, I heart you too! — I am compelled to identify that special story of the week that will stir the imagination of the reader and suck some sarcasm through the Cat5 cables for the comments section. Google is in talks with Random House to digitize its book collection? Interesting, but we all know that book searches are inevitable. The subprime mortgage collapse is killing companies like Nomura Holdings? Ugh. It’s too early in the morning for the word subprime. As interesting as Universal Music’s beef with iTunes is, I can’t help but to get a chuckle over these small oddities:

• It’s only been about 3 months since Coke and Pepsi publicized their ability to work together to foil a plot involving the sale of trade secrets. I guess employees didn’t jump on board the peace train. While stocking the shelves at a Western Pennsylvania Wal-Mart, bickering between Coke and Pepsi deliverymen escalated into an outright brawl in the parking lot. Pepsi gave Coke three pops to the face, resulting in a broken nose and a black eye for Coke. If it were up to me, I would have Coke CEO Neville Isdell challenge Pepsi CEO Eric Foss to a rematch. Getting ESPN on board for the broadcasting rights would be an added bonus. Who can I call to get this started?
• Residents of Limestone County, Alabama are giving Synagro Technologies some stink over the company’s New York poo poo, choo choo activities. The Texas company manages a plant that converts human waste from the Big Apple into fertilizer for Alabama farm land. Alabama folks “can’t stomach the stench.” As crappy as this is (pun intended), this story has made me realize just how happy I am with my career path.
• A Japanese bureaucrat was reprimanded for getting a little too Wiki with it. According to the agriculture ministry, the gentleman contributed more than 260 edits to the Wikipedia entry for the popular Japanese show Gundam, a cartoon about toy robots. The ministry has since issued a new order prohibiting employees from doing Wiki while they work. Ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura stated, “The agricultural ministry is not in charge of Gundam.” I still can’t figure out why he needed to clarify that point.

Microsoft is contemplating an investment in the popular social networking site Facebook (ranked #2 behind MySpace). The news, according to the Wall Street Journal,  stirs up a possible bidding battle as Google throws its hat into the “also interested” ring. As interesting as the fuss may be, it’s still not known if Facebook would even welcome the notion.

Facebook’s 23-year-old co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg rejected a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo! in 2006, and now that the company is valued at more than $10 billion, it seems a smart move. Still, I’m not buying the $10 billion valuation. What’s the big deal about Facebook, anyway?

Once available only to college students, Facebook gained popularity against MySpace after letting non-collegiate consumers into its network. Mashable does a great job comparing the two companies’ products, but I still think that it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. While Facebook wins out with a clean layout, organized media sharing platform, and community group building, MySpace trumps Facebook in the areas of self-promotion and new music exposure. Unfortunately, those are the areas that fuel the viral offering of the MySpace product.

As a music enthusiast and avid participant in art events in my city, one visit to my MySpace account — ha ha, I’m set to “private” — yields all the events listings and announcements in my area. By linking with all the musicians, artists, and people that share my interests, I only receive alerts to the genres and art subjects that are important to me.

MySpace’s blog product feeds me editorial content for everything from my friend’s new baby adventures to updates from the programmer of my favorite music editing software. Since Facebook only lets me connect to individual people, I am not likely going to drop my MySpace account any time soon.

The rapid networking of MySpace users is mostly due to the availability of 3rd-party friend-adding and auto-commenting software. While it is these types of tools that allow spammers into the network, it is these same tools that also cause the wide-spread promotion of “good” content throughout the community. Rather than killing off the friend-adders, MySpace may find a great product add-on by hard-coding the tool into its interface and offering it to bands and media outlets for a fee. At least then, content continues to move across boundaries without spammers in the mix.

It’s not that people just want to connect, or that people want content. Social networking allows users to connect through content. I suspect that it will be the site that harnesses this concept that will win out in the end.

More than 50 foreign companies, including British Airways, BASF, Ducati, ICI, Fiat, and Royal Ahold, have packed up their tickers and made their grand exits from the New York and Nasdaq stock exchanges this year. Bayer is among about 30 others that plan to leave. According to an article in USA TODAY, issues that are driving the trend include financial pressures created by Sarbanes-Oxley, relaxed delisting procedures, and the increased ability for US traders to purchase stock from foreign exchanges.

Iraqi leaders revoked the contract of US private security company Blackwater USA following the shooting deaths of eight Iraqi civilians by Blackwater guards. Despite an order by the Coalition Provisional Authority that gave companies immunity from Iraqi prosecution, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has promised justice against the private security mercenaries. According to the 2007 CRS Report for Congress [pdf], the company employs about 1,000 private forces in the region.

Flying under the radar during the first half of the Iraq war, Blackwater USA became a household name after four employees were killed with their defiled remains publicly displayed from a bridge outside Falluja in 2004. The media attention from the tragedy gave Americans the glimpse of a hostile Iraqi population while also bringing the US government’s pay-as-you-go soldiers into the spotlight.

Blackwater is no stranger to controversy. Founded in 1997 by former US Navy Seal, George H.W. Bush intern, and billionaire heir Erik Prince, Blackwater’s concerns are decidedly tougher than your average place of business. In December 2006, an intoxicated employee shot and killed Iraqi VP Adil Abdul-Mahdi’s bodyguard. Five months later, a staff member killed an Iraqi driver in Baghdad. And videos like this on YouTube don’t help to put a gleam on the conservative Christian-backed company’s tarnished halo.

The Iraqi government has announced plans to review the contracts held by private security forces in the country. In addition to Blackwater USA, the following companies have contributed to the more than 160,000 private employees in Iraq:

• Aegis Assessment
• CACI International
• DynCorp International
• Elite Security
• Erinys International
• Garda World Security
• MVM
• KBR
• Security Consultants Group
• Spartan Consulting
• L-3 Titan Group
• Triple Canopy
• Vance International

Large record labels have always been known for nickel-and-diming artists out of their share of album sales. (Yep, recoup’s a pain!) It’s only fitting that big labels would begin to tarnish once artists found ways to cheaply manufacture their CDs through companies like Disc Makers and secure independent distribution through companies like The Orchard, CD Baby, and Amazon. Indie acts aside, even more prominent artists like Radiohead and Moby have found liberation in going label-less.

As album manufacturing and distribution services become easier to obtain than blunts at a Snoop Dog event, live shows and merchandising booths become the ultimate key to an artist’s survival. So, bands may not need their labels anymore, but artist management and merchandise services are still a must. And after proving unable to extort money from iTunes and having trouble meeting CD sales targets, it’s only fitting to see companies like Warner Music and Universal Music buy their way into a piece of the live music action.

Warner Music Group has dropped $110 million for a stake in artist management firm Front Line Management. The company has also teamed up with Violator Management to form a joint venture called Brand Asset Group. According to the PR, “The Group is designed to increase revenue by more aggressively managing artist brands from all genres and capitalize on the value of those brands through corporate sponsorships, strategic and integrated marketing campaigns and comprehensive brand extensions.”

Universal Music Group has agreed to fork over nearly $90 million for UK-based artist management and merchandise firm The Sanctuary Group (home to James Blunt and Elton John). The company has also bought into Loud.com, a social-networking site aimed at the urban music enthusiast.

These are actually smart moves by Warner and Universal. I’ll never complain about a company diversifying its holdings — especially when it is working in a tumultuous industry. As long as their focus remains on the balance sheets, they may find the revenues needed to make up for the CD sales slump.