I used to work with BET as an intern from 1988 to 1992 circulating from all the departments from news, video soul, sports, news and eventually working with Teen Summit with Lisa Johnson for 3 years straight. I know for music videos to be shown on the network back then, it was not expensive. In fact, BET used to allow videos to be shown for free but I do not known what happened after I left in 1992 [This was shared with me by Jeff Lee who was part of the original BET Executive Management Group]. The money that BET made back then was from info commercials. The person who wanted to sell their product through info commercials would buy time slots. This was how BET was making its money in the beginning. Original programming was too expensive and that is why BET did the few shows they did at their own studios in Washington, DC. Now, that BET is owned by Viacom I have no idea of the structure of how things are being run so it would be interesting to know how the music artists are making out financially. I remember from interacting with so many artists back in the day that anyone just wanted to get the publicity and sell their records but I always remembered everyone saying it is the live shows that truly put $ in their pockets.

For me in exploring my own musical tastes, I have found http://www.last.fm to be a God send. For the past year I have learned so much musical history about the artists I adore and I have explored music from around the world. However, I know some artists have been concerned about the free music that is being offered now on the website. Time will tell what will happen but I thoroughly enjoy all the features of the website.

Since I am a huge supporter of independent music, I have been making an effort to see more musicians live. In fact, I am enjoying music more having the Live experience.

With the web, anything is possible so I commend those independent musicians who have a loyal fan base and interact with their fans. I know this is how I have befriended so many wonderful people.