The Times reported a couple weeks ago that Perez Hilton, aka Mario Lavandeira, aka the creator of perezhilton.com, one of the worst Web sites there is, is getting his own label imprint with Warner Bros. Records. Ugh.
For those unfamiliar with Mr. Lavandeira's Web site, take a moment to peruse. OK, you're done? Yeah, it only takes a moment to get the gist: He posts endlessly and saracastically -- sometimes lovingly -- about people who are only famous because they're famous, and he has a knack for doing this well enough that he too is now famous only because he's famous. What does that mean? He, along with everyone else in this celebrity niche, has no real talents/skills, just an intellect for exploiting the worst sub-markets in 21st-century, Internet-driven media: people vapidly looking to kill time without any meaningful curiosity about the world.
It's quite possible Mr. Lavandeira's imprint will find some musicians who will sell a few million records, but why isn't Warner Music, or its brethren, working to introduce quality music to the world? (And if perezhilton.com is any indication, the acts Mr. Lavandeira sign will not be "quality.") That these bands linked here haven't sold hundreds of thousands of more records than they have is a shame.
For the Times' much better counterpoint, in yesterday's Arts & Leisure section, about the new Brooklyn bands getting (relatively) popular, click here.
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