If you�ve ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in one of those big time meetings where folks come up with ways to sell campaigns like T.I. vs T.I.P., this may be as close as you get� Business Nation, a CNBC TV news show that comes on about once a month, takes cameras into the conference room of T.I.�s label home, Atlantic Records.

I admit, I half-way rolled my eyes through the whole T.I. vs T.I.P. marketing campaign, mostly due to �T.I.P� overkill. A little too much theater to witness Mr. Harris smiling like T.I. one moment and then scowling as T.I.P. the next. But looking back, I now recognize the genius in the strategy. As he (the label/management) did with T.I.�s proclamations of Southern King on �King,� T.I. was able to control the conversation surrounding this project. And in marketing, that�s difficult to pull off.

Otherwise probing journalists didn�t get a chance to frame dude as a hothead rapper, or peg him as an overly confident MC. The label created such a curious�if not ludicrous�storyline, it was almost too inviting not to explore further. Even when T.I. acted out at the Kevin Liles Luncheon, attacking Luda�s mild-mannered manager Shaka Zulu, it all played into T.I.P.�s realm, keeping T.I. clean as a whistle while blurring reality and theater that much more.

It�s no �War On Terror� or �Operation Iraqi Freedom,� I must add, but as far as rap campaigns go, �T.I. vs. T.I.P." wins The Hip-Hop Karl Rove Award for the year.

Still, after selling 460,000 records in one week, T.I., T.I.P or Clifford Harris can�t save Atlantic Records, Warner Music Group, or Chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr. from the steady downward spiral that the record biz has taken. Can you really compete with free music? Bronfman seems to think so in this clip.

�It�s hard to imagine that things have gotten so bad that we may one day see Beyonce Knowles on Koch, as her attorney Ken Hurtz says, below. (Kelly Rowland, on the other hand�)

Layoffs, firings, restructurings are but band aids across the chest of a cardiac arrest patient. Bronfman, who traded the long dollars his father made from Seagrams liquor for the dwindling music money, bought Warner Music for 2.3 billion in 2003. In this report, Bronfman is straightforward and thoughtful in his answers. He seemed sincere about acknowledging the problems he and the industry faces. However...

...What's all this talk of racing to the bottom as being a good thing? As Bill O Reilly would say, �The spin stops here, sir.�

It's true that record companies are moving closer to the bottom every day. But when those huge record companies reach the bottom, it may have already fallen out. No one who has to answer to angry old-monied stock holders wants to see any parts of the bottom.

Wait. Rewind, er, scroll up. Did I just quote Bill O Reilly? On second thought, Mr. Bronfman, spin it any way you like. After all, a little spin worked plenty well for T.I. and T.I.P.

ps. (See you Syd, Latrice, G, and the rest of the Atlanticians)