This story is part 7542 in an ongoing series examining the evolution of bioengineered behavioral control…

Media ratings provider Nielsen has made what’s being described as a “strategic investment” in NeuroFocus. NeuroFocus is a Berkeley, California company that applies neuroscientific techniques to the study of effective messaging. It all makes perfect sense when you think about it.

As NeuroFocus says:

“The measurement method is established EEG technology, which is simple, non-invasive, non-influential, and comfortable to consumers.”

There’s never been a better time to be a consumer.

Mark Cuban writes about music. I agree with some of his ideas. Hundreds of thousands of artists have already adapted their creative process to the realities of digital distribution.

Cuban is a good blogger. His blog has brought together an intelligent community of commenters and some of those folks know a lot about the state of the music industry.

Guy Hands has been working hard to reengineer EMI. Terra Firma bought EMI in August of ’07. Since then they’ve suffered a number of public disappointments, not the least of which being Radiohead’s departure from EMI for their latest release “In Rainbows”.

This week marks a new low for the Terra Firma team. First there was the announcement of a restructuring process that will cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs. Next, Barney Wragg resigned from the head of EMI’s digital division. Then another public break – the Rolling Stones will release their upcoming “Shine a Light” with Universal Music.

Cutting unproductive units may generally be a smart move. Hands has decided to reduce risk by focusing on publishing rights acquisition and management.

I wonder how they’ll maintain the market insight needed to preserve margins. Artist development may not be a self-supporting unit, but it may have been EMI’s best means to stay in touch with the market. Will EMI invest in key relationships to preserve their competitiveness moving forward?

UPDATE: Jim Fusili at WSJ makes a pivotal error by assuming that EMI’s stated commitment to A&R will benefit “music lovers”. Fusili asserts that EMI’s “silo mentality” leads to the unnecessary segmentation of consumers.

This would be true if EMI were in the business of directly interacting with consumers. They’re not. The music industry relies heavily on distribution partners and most importantly, retailers. Glenn at Coolfer also points out some benefits of “silos”.

Retailers use segmentation and classification to help customers find what they’re looking for. Distributors, ad agencies, publicists, booking agents, old media outlets, and new ones alike use segmentation to deliver an attractive product. Segmentation is useful and desireable in a world where so many different dialects are spoken.

Many hip hop fans love classical music, and vice versa, yet they don’t want to have to dig through the Lil Mama to find their Liszt.

Label execs generally won’t pretend to have the same talents of a successful local record shop manager. Similarly, financiers shouldn’t pretend to have the same talents of an A&R rep.

[tags]Guy Hands, Terra Firma, EMI[/tags]

Stephen Shankland shares an interesting Cal Tech – Stanford B. School study:

… researchers found that with the higher priced wines, more blood and oxygen is sent to a part of the brain called the medial orbitofrontal cortex, whose activity reflects pleasure.

I recommend you click through to read Stephen’s summary. It’s a nice data rich confirmation of common pricing strategy practices.

In related news, my rates have just gone up!

[tags]CNET, underexposed, Hilke Plassmann, John O’Doherty, Baba Shiv, Antonio Rangel[/tags]

Of course easy is a relative concept and subject to personal interpretation. I’ve got my easy and you’ve got yours.

Sharing quotes is pretty easy [for me]. Here’s personal finance guru Ira U. Cobleigh from his 1956 work titled “How to Gain Security and Financial Independence” (Hawthorn, NY):

“You don’t need to make one hundred thousand dollars a year to wind up on Easy Street. You do need, however, three things:

(1) the resolution and ability to save money;

(2) a practical plan for its profitable use; and,

(3) determination to carry through your plan.”

That’s the first full paragraph of Mr. Cobleigh’s preface. Plain and concise.

[tags]Ira U. Cobleigh, Easy Street[/tags]

Here’s an interesting thought:

“Our faith is that throughout the world, beside the impulse toward coercion and death that is darkening history, there is a growing impulse toward persuasion and life, a vast emancipatory movement called culture that is made up both of free creation and of free work.”

“Our daily task, our long vocation is to add to that culture by our labors and not to subtract, even temporarily, anything from it. But our proudest duty is to defend personally to the very end, against the impulse toward coercion and death, the freedom of that culture – in other words, the freedom of work and of creation.”

French writer Albert Camus in 1957.

Overheard last Saturday night at the corner of 24th and South Van Ness:

Guy: “You know, your whole attitude is lame because it’s totally pro American empire and capitalistic.”

Girl: “What are you talking about? Who’s the one that turned her lights out tonight? You didn’t even care.”

Guy: “Oh, right, because turning off my lights for an hour is going to accomplish anything. You’re missing the point. It’s like Buy Nothing Day. Who cares if you buy nothing one day and go back to buying way too much stuff every other day. I mean, who cares if you turn your lights out for an hour?”

Girl (stubs out her cigarette): “Well, I care, I guess. Whatever… Do you want to get another round or should we go for a spin?”

Guy: “Yeah!”

Guy and Girl cross the street, jump into a new long bed pickup, and burn rubber through the intersection.

I don’t have an opinion man, I just write what I see. SFist has more on the aftermath of the SF lights out experience.

Minnesota single mother Jammie Thomas is found liable for $220,000. That’s $9,250 each for 24 songs.

Interesting comments at Wired (via Coolfer).

RIAA fought to protect the interests of artists such as Janet Jackson, Richard Marx, Journey, No Doubt, and Green Day.

Unfortunately, the backlash from this public relations disaster will cost the artists much more than the guilty party. Sales will suffer in the wake of this latest major label fiasco, and ironically, it would very likely cost Green Day less if they were to pay the $9,250 per Green Day song found on Ms. Thomas’ computer.

If Green Day was to step up and pay the fine they’d be sending the right message to their fans. That would result in increased visibility and increased sales. More importantly, it’s something their fans would respect and appreciate. The message is that they’re aware of what their label and the RIAA are doing on their behalf.

The message isn’t that copyright infringement is ok. Copyright infringement does cause harm to artists.

The tactics of the RIAA are causing much greater harm to the artists and their hard won reputations.

Green Day should send a message that the current system isn’t working. The RIAA’s methods of dealing with copyright infringement through litigation have been a remarkable waste of resources and brand value. These cases are a failure for everyone involved.

Did you know there’s a movement to boycott artists associated with the RIAA?

Times Select was a failed experiment (via Kottke). At least they gave it an honest effort.

I mean that sarcastically AND sincerely.

How long until the Financial Times follows? Two weeks wouldn’t shock me…

Either would be better than the standard captcha. All require the user to respond to randomly generated visual data. The most important difference is that popping 5 consecutive bubbles or moles (or who cares) would be a subtle way to say “hey, sorry for the inconvenience, we don’t mean to assume that you’re a spambot, in fact we’re not gonna force you to parse gibberish characters, we sorta like you, we kinda want you to continue investing your attention here, so play this mildly entertaining game, it’s good for everyone…”

There are thousands of old school video games that provide a model for some kind of simple random generated action. Why not pick one that matches your brand? Obviously it’s got to be lightweight enough for dialup users… Pong would work.