More executives should have blogs. And they should be as honest as the blog of echo's Mark Montgomery. At his blog, hello marko, Montgomery gave a brief recap of CES and the Billboard Digital Conference.

My big takeaway from the day is that we've been TALKING about the "new model" about two years too long, and that there are very few people (especially those who stand to benefit most from it) doing it!

I agree. Progress has come at a snail's pace. If the majors' business affairs and business development folks move any slower they're going to unnecessarily prolong their companies' pain. Management companies and smaller labels have been wise enough to go with their gut -- and thus they're way ahead of the big labels. The majors don't budge without the blessing of lengthy, expensive studies...and it's showing. The industry needs to treat its evolution like its own Manhattan Project, a.k.a. give deadlines to certain goals (try building those goals and deadlines into performance reviews and compensation) and accord everything far more urgency.

The bright spot of the day was not Doug Merrill, the google wunderkind turned EMI music guy (like i had hoped), but rather Soulja Boy Tell'Em, who absolutely killed it. For the life of me, I have no idea why he signed to a major-- he and his manager are DRIVING the boat! ... Essentailly, they harnessed the power of social media and built a business from scratch. Whether you dig the music or not, this guy and his manager GET IT!

Others feel the same way. Sounds like this was the highlight of the conference.

Another little tidbit from a friend inside the machine: Anderson is suggesting the CD might have two more years in walmart (which is currently selling 15% of music overall behind iTunes - for the country space it's more like 60%). I'd guess if the declines continue it might not even be two years...

Country executives should be too scared to sleep at night. The CD is declining, yes, but losing Wal-Mart would be a disastrous blow. Time to start thinking differently about how to sell physical formats so reluctant retailers will stay in the game.