In this edition of the MADCAST, Allen and Mike discuss tagging and consumer-to-consumer taste sharing and their importance to the next stage of growth in media industries.

It's the end of the week and we decided we just had to do another 'cast. Highlights of todays 'cast -- Yahoo's RSS-enabled e-mail and Michael Robertson's latest shot across the music industry's bow.

Here's a short clip of a new billboard of Marvin Gaye in Times Square. As I seek inspiration to get through a busy day, I'll think of Marvin Gaye and his great music (solo and in duets). My favorite Marvin Gaye song-- "Ain't That Peculiar."

Chicago had its cows. Toronto had its moose. New York had its taxis.San Francisco had its hearts. And...Phoenix has its guitars.

It's GuitarMania, and it's a fund-raiser for Big Brothers & Big Sisters in "the valley." We toured the largest central collection of them in Phoenix, that being in front of America West Arena and by Chase Field (formerly Bank One Ballpark). The fiberglass guitars are all very cool and are some even are made to honor celebrities such as Stevie Nicks, Alice Cooper and Wayne Gretzky . All are done in themes that range from the straighforward to the abstract. The video speaks for itself.

As more companies take to the Web to launch new musical talent (including the bands themselves), there will be an even greater need for the tools of searching, sharing and discovery.

Clear Channel Communications on Tuesday is expected to launch an online service offering hundreds of songs and music videos from new and unsigned artists as part of a larger foray onto the Web.

The largest U.S. radio conglomerate, which owns about 1,200 radio stations across the country, also has a deal with GarageBand.com, a site for new musicians, to boost access to new artists material.

At launch, the service, called NEW!, will feature nearly 100 emerging artists from music labels including Atlantic, Capitol, Columbia Warner Bros, and Def Jam, along with unsigned acts every 90 days.

About 16 featured artists will have a home video, five songs and a link to the artists' web site featured on any number of Clear Channel's local radio station web sites.

Fifty GarageBand.com artists will also have five songs, a photo and artists information on Clear Channel's sites.

Wherein Allen and Mike chat the Motorola ROKR with iTunes, mobile music and the Nano.

Sorry for the delay, folks.

In this installment, Allen and Mike expound upon the future of sports TV programming with the ESPN-COMCAST hook-up for hockey games as a discussion point. We follow that up with some chatter on Yahoo Music's (mostly) permanent low-low pricing for music subscriptions; and finally we go after the Oakland A's. We use the adjective "short-sighted" a lot in that last entry.

I don't think this family act is part of the official "Music Under New York" series, but they set the Times Square subway station ablaze with some amazing drumming. Sort of a low-rent version of "Stomp."

After the guitar smashing, the crowd swelled in front of the Hard Rock Café. Some folks said that Bruce Springsteen was leaving the building, but it was Little Steven (aka Steve Van Zandt) standing in front doing some obligatory interviews. Like millions of others, I know Van Zandt as Silvio Dante from The Sopranos.

Well, it was just dumb luck. We were walking up Broadway when the crowd outside Viacom headquarters--home of MTV--was beginning to erupt. TRL (Total Request Live) was being filmed in the studio that faces Broadway, and the guest was 50 Cent. 50 Cent is in town after his concert last night at Madison Square Garden.

Everything you wanted to know about the competitive landscape in the world of subscription and download stores currently populating the Web.

Do you think all these free email providers are offering large multi-gigabyte mailboxes for you to get every piece of junk mail in the cyberworld? Heck, no. It’s so you can use your mailbox as the receiving station for movies, music and TV content. So, by year’s end, you can wake up in the morning to find in your MSN, AOL Yahoo! or gMail accounts the latest episode of “24” or an old favorite from “Cheers” or maybe even my videoblog in your mailbox. This is not to mention the new pre-release song from “The Wallflowers.” At that point, the mailbox becomes your dashboard and you leave the program there, stream it to your TV or stereo system or move it to your phone or protable media player (or maybe even your iPod?).

We’re headed her…it’s just an issue of timing.

Mike and I drivel on about Arianna Huffington's blog, The Huffington Post, which is proof that you shouldn't quit your day job no matter what sycophants tell you.

Also of note, BMI starts a Podcast (see previous post). Mike explains how it could be a sign of things to come.

More evidence that our endless prattling on and spilling of digital ink about consumers-as-content-creators is on the mark.  Admittedly, this story details a slight variation on the theme, but still . . .

Why shouldn't an "underpaid radio producer/DJ" get some love by creating a cool mash-up? His station owners should be beside themselves with joy at the the major branding campaign he's done -- alone.

Why should record labels go after this guy? (We don't think they should but they might, being record labels and all.) Heck, it might even lead to greater sales of Oasis albums. (Not that I'll ever change my mind about Oasis.)

Talk about anytime minutes, last night at the spectacular U2 concert at Glendale Arena, cellphones were out in force. As part of the show, Bono asked those in attendance to text message to contribute to his cause, One.org.

What’s interesting is that the tickets clearly stated that there were no cameras and/or recroding devices allowed. Clearly, however, the majority of cellphones last night were cameraphones. People were snapping away every few seconds. A few folks near us were emailing the photos as soon as they were shot. And despite the fact they everyone was searched, there were a ton of digital cameras at the Glendale Arena. Bono even reached down, took one from a fan and clicked a picture of himself before handing it back to the bedazzled devotee.

Fast forward to the point in time when these phone are equipped with better video capabilities. I mean, whoa! Less than 24 hours after the show, can you imagine the number of bootleg videos of the show pouring through the Web. I mean, there will be enough torrents to cause a torrential downpour.

This is serious stuff. Since security guards are not allowed to physically pat your down—this not a flight to Tel Aviv—I could have snuck my trusty Sanyo Xacti MPEg-4 camera into the show and no one would have been the wiser. Attached to this post could have been an amazing clip of Bono singing “One” or “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It does not seem right to do that, unlike baseball games where I shoot clips of Hall of Fame players, people parachuting into the stadium and Sausage Races.

There are some serious issues on the way for the recoding industry, although most of them are already here. The Web will become bootleg concert city—it’s inevitable. That is, unless the music industry embraces rather than scorns new technology.