Madonna and Prince

I was surprised to read Willman’s rather naive views on Madonna’s and Prince’s careers. As someone who has worked in the recording industry for the last 15 years, I feel that an answer to this rather misguided commentary is warranted.

Both of these artists are seasoned veterans who are adept at running very complex entertainment business empires, and note the use of the word business . To try to judge the impact of a single release on their long-term careers misses the mark when you are trying to equate some sort of artistic motive to something that is, in comparative terms to most people’s working lives, a “career move.”

Please note that the music business and music making for professionals like these two is no longer the tortured, twisted baring of the soul as implied by Willman’s article. It is now an industry of planning to release a mass-appeal product in time for maximum sales and marketing impact with product and movie tie-ins and intense promotion.

As in any industry, not all the products will succeed--ultimately the consumer chooses. And you can be sure that both Madonna and Prince will be working diligently to create a more widely acceptable product. Gold and platinum records are rewarded for sales performance only, and their deals reflect that reality.

I admire Madonna’s savvy (and to a lesser extent Prince’s) in the way she markets and sells herself. She is a businesswoman with a bank account to prove her sound judgment of the public’s changing taste. In a profession where everyone talks about long-term careers, the reality is the one-hit wonder. Just ask Taco, Vanilla Ice, Wilson Phillips or anyone else who lived in that brief spotlight.

Let’s hope that in the future you can guide Willman to cover this industry with more of the same objectiveness you would use if it were Exxon or Microsoft you were talking about.

We are talking about professionals here.

AL LUTZ

West Hollywood