Giving the music biz its fifth once-over

When Donald S. Passman sat down to write the fifth update of his 1991 book “All You Need to Know About the Music Business,” he found an anachronism that had to be removed just three years after the previous edition: cassettes.

Now he wonders whether three years from now, when he updates the book again, tapes will be joined in the museum by their successor: CDs.

With downloads finally taking a formal foothold in the business, and iPods and other devices becoming more common as ways of storing and listening to music, Passman believes that the CD may be a goner soon too.

“We’re looking at a world where people want to buy one, two or three songs and not a whole album,” says Passman, one of the music world’s most prominent attorneys, with clients including Janet Jackson, R.E.M. and Pink. “Apple’s iTunes is certainly playing to that.”

Of course, that’s all moot if the beleaguered music business itself doesn’t survive, and that’s what Passman has devoted the bulk of the changes to in the new edition, due in October from Simon & Schuster’s Free Press imprint.

Passman addresses in detail several of the biggest challenges facing anyone in, or wanting to be in, music for a living, among them:

* Digital copying: “Three years ago, piracy hadn’t really exploded,” says Passman, who includes unauthorized downloading in the term “piracy” as well as the increased international market for bootleg reproductions of CDs.

“I have an analogy in the book I cribbed from a story in the [newspaper], about how the French did away with copyright law in 1789 after the revolution. What happened was nobody could make a living by creating or had any incentive to create anything. Three years later, they had to put copyright law back.”

* Corporate consolidation: “We’re going through a period where the labels are living on a quarter-by-quarter system. As a consequence, I think this is a great time for smaller labels. People are trying to be clever.”

* Lowered expectations: “When in an industry that’s in a downturn, expectations shrink. Profits are down, and if you can’t sell as many records, artists will make less.”

But the good news -- both for music and, potentially, for sales of his own book -- is that Passman sees more artists educating themselves about the business.

“Most of them aren’t interested in business, which is why they’re artists and not business people,” he says. “But in general there’s a big difference between the sophistication of artists from when I started more than 25 years ago. And people realize that no one takes as good care of your business as you do.”

Pete and Roger are alright

It’s been a somber year for Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, starting last summer with the death of their Who co-founder, John Entwistle, and continuing with Townshend being charged with, then cleared of, downloading child pornography. That doesn’t mean the surviving members will quietly overlook the 40th anniversary of the year the band first moved beyond performing R&B; covers and started playing Townshend compositions. This is, after all, the band that once held the Guinness record for the loudest act in the world.

There’s talk now of a tour, as well as a show in October celebrating what would have been Entwistle’s 59th birthday. At the center of the planning is the first DVD release of “The Kids Are Alright,” the 1979 documentary often ranked among the best rock films ever, alongside the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” and the Band’s “The Last Waltz.”

The film will be available Sept. 30 in two packages: a double-disc special edition featuring a bonus disc titled “Won’t Get Filmed Again,” and a single-disc with the film and alternate commentary tracks. The bonus disc will include interviews with Daltrey and director Jeff Stein, who initiated the project in 1970, when he was a 17-year-old Who fanatic who approached Townshend backstage at a concert with the idea. It also includes full footage, totaling 100 minutes, from six cameras used to film the 1978 performances of “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” that were centerpieces of the film.

Entwistle’s death preceding the DVD release is a bit of deja vu: The film’s original release came on the heels of Keith Moon’s 1978 death from an accidental overdose of prescription medication.

Stein says that although he had screened the film for Moon just two days before he died, he resisted temptation to change the film in any way to make it a Moon memorial. And he says he has no problem with Townshend and Daltrey continuing to perform as the Who.

“It’s their band,” he says. “People still want to see them. People still need to see them, and people get off when they see them.”

Small faces

* Japanese duo Puffy AmiYumi has paid homage to the John Lennon-Yoko Ono 1969 “bed-in for peace” for the cover of the pair’s new album, “Nice,” restaging the famed photo of them in a hotel bed, bedecked in white. But out of respect for Ono, they didn’t want to use the shot until asking her permission, which was granted -- but not in time for the Japanese release of the album. The photo, though, will adorn the U.S. version, due Aug. 12.

* Top DJs and electronica figures were recruited for “Astor Piazzolla Remixed,” an album reworking recordings by the Argentine tango modernist who died 11 years ago. Among those on the project, due in October from Milan Records, are Little Louie Vega, England’s 4Hero, Sweden’s Koop Vuelve, Japan’s Fantasista and Paris-based Alex Kid.

* Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore will host the Sundance Channel’s annual “Sonic Cinema” series, a monthlong festival showcasing music-related works by independent filmmakers and video artists. The series will air in October and will follow the channel’s coming “Keeping Time: New Music From America’s Roots,” a series of music documentaries directed by Gillian Grisman, who won acclaim for 2000’s “Grateful Dawg,” which looked at the longtime collaboration and friendship between her father, mandolinist David Grisman, and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.