VCinJerusalem

Yes We Can: Over 10 million views...and counting

Just saw a report on New York Times video interviewing will.i.am on the Yes We Can music video...stated authoritatively, as only the NYTimes can, that there have been over 10 million views so far. Wow.

Just think what the Obama campaign would have had to pay for that kind of exposure (was also featured on NBC and other news outlets). Now keep in mind that what is absolutely gorgeous about all this is the reality that were was no coordination. Inspired by Obama, will.i.am and friends just created, and uploaded. And started to change.

It's still not a done deal for Obama, and while my prayers are with him, we already have learned that "Yes We Can." We can, through modern technology, get the word out, with few barriers in our way. Not since Paine printing pamphlets of Common Sense has technology been used in such a dramatic way to spread the word.

Update on Radiohead: The [Good] People Keep Paying

Just going to post entire article from Silicon Alley Insider  which has great update to Radiohead experiment (see my previous posting   on this subject). Bottom line: the "people" continue to pay for something offered at suggested price only. Radiohead claims this model will not work for everyone, which is true, but still important milestone in evolving business models of music industry.

Radiohead Selling Real Copies Of "In Rainbows" For Real Money

Peter Kafka | January  9, 2008 11:40 AM

Radiohead has the number one spot on the Billboard charts today after selling 122,000 copies of "In Rainbows" in the U.S. Billboard notes that this is a lot less than the band's 2003 album "Hail To The Thief," which sold 300,000 copies in its first week.

Of course, the trade mag allows, the comparison is "somewhat unfair," because of Radiohead's well-publicized Web distribution stunt. What a marvelous understatement: It is astonishing that Radiohead has sold more a few thousand copies of the new album, since it gave the gave the thing away last year. We'd expect a handful of Radiohead "completists" to buy the disc, and a few more audiophiles to pony up as well -- the MP3s the band sold/gave away last fall were at a relatively low quality bitrate.

But more than 100,000 is impressive, and also lucrative for the band: Since it owns the album outright, it should pocket $5 or more for each disc sold. Under Radiohead's old deal with EMI, it would have received an advance for the album but would have been unlikely to see any royalties for individual discs sold.

But important to stress that the "give it away on the Web/sell it in stores" model won't be catching on anytime soon. Radiohead's manager has already indicated that it was a one time thing for the band, and lead singer Thom Yorke recently acknowledged to Wired that it'd be hard to see any other act pulling it off:

The only reason we could even get away with this, the only reason anyone even gives a shit, is the fact that we've gone through the whole mill of the business in the first place. It's not supposed to be a model for anything else. It was simply a response to a situation. We're out of contract. We have our own studio. We have this new server. What the hell else would we do? This was the obvious thing. But it only works for us because of where we are.

Now this is a Great Take on Start-Ups in Late 2007

Not sure what this group's "business model" is, but you MUST check out this video (crank up the volume):

Take Me Higher, Reb Shlomo

Today was the Yahrtzeit (commemoration) of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, known to his students (I count myself among them) as Reb Shlomo, or simply Shlomo. Nu, what can I say that hasn't been said by so many, all over the world, about the significance of Reb Shlomo, and his legacy. Of course he was controversial, what entrepreneur isn't? But gevalt,if we could only have him back in the world for just a few more stories, a few more songs, just a little more wisdom. We mamash need it.

So sit back...and click on link below, wonderful photo montage set to beautiful music of "Lord, Take Me Higher."

May Shlomo's memory bring you a moment of peace and take us a little higher.

Harry, We Miss You

While Harry Chapin died on July 16, 1981, tonight marked the annual memorial/tribute concert at Long Island's Eisenhower Park, at the Harry Chapin Lakeside Stage. It was on his way to perform at that venue that Harry died (in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway), and my personal connection to that night is that my parents were there, waiting for Harry to show (I was left home, was 11 at the time and remember my parents arriving home in shock).

Harry Chapin sang to us about life, in all its glory, the ups and the downs. I often think of him, and his music. A lot like another teacher of mine, Rav Shlomo Carlebach , Harry was almost too good of a person, setting a standard that very few of us could (or should) match. As his wife said: "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Most of us are lucky if we give a little charity from time to time. Harry was driven to save the world.

It is said by many that his work led to the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977.

It is so painful to think how much Harry would have accomplished had he lived longer.  I am also deeply humbled knowing that Harry Chapin died when he was 39 years old. I am now 38.

May we be blessed to have a fraction of the energy and impact Harry had during his way too short life. He was a Shooting Star (see below). We miss him.

Shooting Star Lyrics

Artist: Harry Chapin (Buy Harry Chapin CDs)

He was crazy of course
From the first she must have known it
But still she went on with him
And she never once had shown it
And she took him off the street
And she dried his tears of grieving
She listened to his visions
She believed in his believe-ins

Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
And she was the moon shining back his light a little
He was a shooting star
She was softer and more slowly
He could not make things possible
But, she could make them holy

He was dancing to some music
No one else had ever heard
He'd speak in unknown languages
She would translate every word
And then when the world was laughing
At his castles in the sky
She'd hold him in her body
Till he once again could fly

Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
And she was the moon shining back his light a little
He was a shooting star
She was softer and more slowly
He could not make things possible
But, she could make them holy

Well, she gave him a daughter
And she gave him a son
She was a mother, and a wife,
And a lover when the day was done
He was too far gone for giving love
What he offered in its stead
Was the knowledge she was the only thing
That was not in his head

He took off East one morning
Towards the rising sun's red glow
She knew he was going nowhere
But of course she let him go
And as she stood and watched him dwindle
Much too empty to be sad
He reappeared beside her saying,
"You're all I've ever had"

Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
And she was the moon shining back his light a little
He was a shooting star
She was softer and more slowly
He could not make things possible
But, she could make them holy
Holy

Jerusalem in my Heart and Soul

Yeah, yeah, I know, I have been slipping again at the blog thing--but I have wonderful excuses.

First of all, between five children, 4 portfolio companies (yup, we've been busy at Jerusalem Capital!), who has time for blogging, especially when I am on "vacation" (anyway in the parenting or start-up world knows there is no real vacation...). But so much is actually going on in my life and my world.

We have been in Aspen the past few weeks, far physically from our home in Jerusalem but not emotionally. Every day we are asked, so where are you from, and when we answer Jerusalem, always the eyes widen, the interest level goes up.

Sitting in the Music Tent yesterday, listening to a showcase from the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, I thought how global our lives are...in the span of two hours we heard music from Dvorak, Bach, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Weber, Strauss, and Copeland, composers from so many different countries, being played by the Aspen Symphony Orchestra, made up of top musicians from dozens of countries.

Reminded me how small the world is, and how music can bring it all together.

Which brings me to Jerusalem ROCKS!, a huge project I have been blessed to be a partner in the creation of, together with my good friends and soul mates Jeff Pulver  and Carmi Wurtman. To join the buzz appropriately, according to Jeff, need to be part of the Facebook group, which you can join by going here. Of course you need to be a Facebook user, but I assume if you are alive and reading this you already are...(the new neurosis...not having enough "friends" on Facebook...).

I will be writing more about Jerusalem ROCKS! in the weeks to come, but simply put, it is using music to remind us all that Jerusalem is alive and well as a symbol of peace, pluralism and diversity in this crazy world we live in.

It all culminates September 9, 2007, for the first of what we hope to be an annual event, designed to keep Jerusalem of today in all of our hearts and souls, no matter if we are in Aspen, New York, Paris, London, or Chicago (no reason for those places, just what came to mind!).

I've been busy, but...

I have been quite busy the past few days attending Aspen Institute events concerning the 10th Anniversary of the Henry Crown Fellowship (of which I am honored to be a member) that I have not had time to write at all.

But today I received a link to a wonderful video on YouTube...not sure if it a spoof ad or real, but regardless speaks to so many of the issues we have been discussing in Aspen the past few days, regarding intersection of modernity, religion, spirituality, technology, etc etc,and I felt I had to share...

Thanks go out to Brad Feld for posting this to his blog (where I first saw it):