Right, but I think the analogy was not comparing that kind of band to a startup. Following the analogy that's more like open source contributors. They do it bec

Right, but I think the analogy was not comparing that kind of band to a startup. Following the analogy that's more like open source contributors. They do it because they enjoy the craft and want to make something they will enjoy and feel proud of, they know/hope that there will be fans when they do what they feel they should. VC funded startups are exactly like a band that says "what should I sound like? What should our next song be? How do we get more listeners really fast?". They need a hit record to even have a chance of making a return on the investment that's been put in, so they better be making a top 40 song (or a mobile social media sharing app/site). I think I was wrong about your view of music being naive, i think we were just comparing different types of bands and startups here. Match up manufactured record label band and VC funded startup and they match quite well. I have some family and aquaintances who've worked as record execs and you better believe they look at it as a customer oriented problem solving. None of them like the music they push all that much, if they like music at all, they just know how to find/make music that sells.