EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks"
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
i
Our
VIEW
Where’s
our music?
Corporate merger will
hurt bands, fans
When corporations start to lose money
and downsizing hits the fan, the 40-hour
work-week folks tend to be the first ones
to get the pink slips.
The record industry is losing money,
and as a result, downsizing has begun in
the big-bucks and tight-pants set. A
recently announced $10.4 billion merger
between Polygram and Universal Music
has sent waves through the industry, and a
whole bunch of 40-hour-work-week folks
certainly will face the chopping block
soon.
But on a more visible plane, several
artists who are the equivalent of working- ■
class will be without record labels.
The effects of this new type of down
sizing have yet to be seen, but most indus
try soothsayers believe it won’t be good.
According to the latest issue of
“Rolling Stone,” about three-fourths of
the labels’ artist rosters for 1998 will be
dropped.
That s a lot of out-of-work bands, and
a lot of shelved new releases.
It won’t be a massacre by any means.
Many of the artists will most likely
head for the slightly less green pastures of
independent labels, and others will opt to
release their albums on their own.
Many of these artists will receive pay
cuts, and some less-resilient bands may
choose to dissolve rather than soldier on.
The real casualties of this recording
industry jumble will come further down
the line - in the stores. More specifically
for the music fans who don’t have the
good fortune of living in a major-market
metropolitan area.
You may think it’s hard to find the lat
est release by your favorite non-Top-40
band now. Just imagine the horrific quest
you will be forced to undertake in a few
short months when that band is on the ros
ter of a company with two or three
employees and strictly mail-order distrib
ution.
If you live in Norfolk and you don’t
particularly care for Celine Dion, you
may be out of luck.
If you live anywhere in Nebraska out
side of Omaha and have less-than-con
ventional music tastes, you may be out of
luck.
When your only option for new music
is the local Wal-Mart, your choices are
already limited. In the coming months,
those choices will dwindle significantly.
So the record industry’s latest attempt
to increase profits and drop the dead
weight artists - the ones who don’t move
millions of units - has hurt the artists, the
employees and the countless fans who
keep the industry afloat.
It’s not too surprising, but it still hurts.
We’ll know how much it hurts soon
enough.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They
do not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A coiumn is solely the opinion of its author.
The Board of Regents serves as publisher
of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Tne
UNL Publications Board, established by
the regents, supervises the production
of the paper. According to policy set by
the regents, responsibility for the editorial
content of toe newspaper lies solely in
the hands of its student employees.
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to tee editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee their publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains tee right to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted material becomes property of
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not be published. Those who submit
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affiliation, if any.
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34
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Lupo’s
VIEW
DN
LETTERS
Celebrate King’s message
I can understand Professor
Harbison’s frustration with what he
refers to as “diversity.” There are exam
ples of failed attempts to establish
equality everywhere. However, I feel it
necessary to defend King day celebra
tions.
We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.
Day because of what he did to help bring
freedom and equality. Since these ideals
are still far from being achieved, it is
crucial to have some reminder of how
important it is to keep striving. We need
a reminder and an inspiration. Martin
Luther King Jr. provides that inspira
tion. He is celebrated as a civil rights
leader and martyr, not as a writer or
scholar. Focusing on his failings as a
writer only diminishes the more impor
tant message that society can be
improved, even if die effort begins with
just one person.
Society can’t afford to lose the role
model and inspiration King can be to so
many people. Leave the study of King’s
papers to the appropriate scholars, and
leave the celebration of his life and
dream to a society that is still in need of
much improvement
Efthimia Papastavros
graduate student
geosciences
Don’t make war
I was reading over tiie meetings sec
tion of the classified advertisements
on the last page of the Jan. 19th edi
tion when something disturbing .
caught my eye. An ad read: |
“College Republicans: Declaring ^: ^
war on the Campus Left. Come' $
enlist in the Right side.” I had to Y
reread this in shock. Declare p
war?! If there is something all S
Americans can learn from the / t
mess in Washington, it’s that no \ I
one wins when sides are at war \ 1
with each other Throwing insults \yf
and threats around does no good. | Jk
I will admit I am a registered
Democrat, but I also see the :]<A 1
importance in working together, \ fl
compromising and learning jlpj
from everyone and everything. M Jfl
The same day I read this, IfUfl
Republican Congressman Steve
Largent of Oklahoma reminded \* rf
the country after the State of the xl
Union that the word Congress 1
comes from two Latin words: walk ; -M
together. I don’t mean this as an |||
attack on those who wrote this, but \m'
I do hope we as college students j?
can lead a trend away from partisan
politics and toward politics that
reflect and focus on ideals and improve
ments, not anger and scandal. We are the
generation that will control the 21st cen
tury; let’s make it a good one filled with
hope and change!
Amanda McGill
freshman
broadcasting
A rejoice
What a whoosh of fresh air to read
J.J. Harder’s words in “Moral Decline.”
Hallelujah, a young man with his head
screwed on straight and his mind clear
as cascade. Now if everyone would just
read this column, and put on their think
ing caps for five minutes! We might get
a movement going I hope he starts one.
J.J., God bless you and much success to
you.
Lisa Bennett
Seward
And a condemnation
So, J.J. Harder loves the 1950s
(“Moral decline,” DN 1/20/99), an fta
of segregation
and open dis
(
against women and ethnic, racial and
religious minorities. We have a long way
to go to achieve genuine diversity in our
university, our state and our country, but
when comparing the 1990s with the
1950s, I find it easy to determine which
decade can be called morally corrupt
Andrea Shahan
University of Nebraska Press
Capital commentary
Thanks to die DN for a well-written
editorial in the (1/13) edition regarding
Nebraska’s illogical use of capital pun
ishment. However, I find Josh
Connelly’s letter (1/14) to the editor .
quite outdated.
Killing a suspected criminal on the
scene of a crime immediately following
the event is hazardous to everything
America stands for. With that logic, we
should resurrect Hitler, set up camps
and just kill each other. A society of that
nature has obviously lost all means of
civility and control
This is the United States, where
everyone is guaranteed freedom and
opportunities. Replacing appeals with
Connelly’s system would rewind
America to an age of
Neanderthals.
Interestingly, Connelly also
brings God’s judgment into the
death penalty issue. Being raised
Catholic, I cannot see Jesus flip
ping the switch that would send
vnltc nf pWirii'ifv intri onntW
V human being, an act that would
, totally recant what his life and
teachings were actually about
Jesus himself was a victim
! of capital punishment, and if
'' ^ < they would have had electric
chairs during his time, we
~ would see chairs on the top of
k * v every church instead of cross
I &sl
K When we live in an age
where 50 percent of murder vic
|| S1 tims are minorities, but 82 per
I! cent of the people we execute
| / have murdered whites (Death
: h Penalty Information Center,
Washington, D.C., 19%), that’s
a problem. We live in an age
where people are judged on the
amount of money they make. Try
to find a death row inmate who
makes the salary of Donald Trump
or O.J. Simpson.
Mr. Connelly, you have no right
to judge who should live and who
should die in our society.
JeffBangert
sophomore
management information
./ systems
