The chair­man of the board of a major record com­pany has a prod­uct meet­ing with his head Artists and Reper­toire man.

“Here it is,” says the A&R guy. “Our lat­est single.”

“Who’s it by.”

“Who knows? Who cares?”

“My board likes to keep up on these things. But no mat­ter; carry on.”

“I for­get her name, any­way. She’s got a pop­u­lar show on YTV and shows up reg­u­larly on YouTube and so she already has an audience.”

“That’s what the board likes to hear. Built in sales. No career devel­op­ment required. Lit­tle pro­mo­tion either. Cost min­i­mal. Yep, the board will like it. Who wrote the song?”

“A trio of anony­mous Swedes. You know, the kind that writes for Britney.”

“Names?”

“Who knows? Who cares?”

“Pro­ducer?”

“Some guy whose name I for­get. He might have had some­thing to do with Amer­i­can Idol.”

“So, who knows? Who cares?”

“Right. He plays all the instru­ments on the track at his own studio.”

“That should also keep the cost down. Can she sing?”

“Who knows? Who cares? Just put her through the auto tuner.”

Does it have a gui­tar solo?”

“No. Why?”

“Radio pro­gram­mers might think a gui­tar means rock. Sax?”

“No sax. Why?”

“Passe. Syn­the­sizer?”

“No synth. So, no gim­micky hook.”

“Too bad.”

“There is a rap­per in the mid­dle, though.”

“OK! Rap is the new gui­tar solo! What’s the rap about?”

“Noth­ing about Iraq. Noth­ing much about any­thing, really.”

“Does he swear?”

“Once, I think. I don’t remember.”

“OK! Could help sell the record. What’s the song about?”

“Noth­ing about Iraq. Noth­ing much about any­thing, really. Who knows?

“Who cares? As long as it has a chant. Chants never fail. Handclaps?”

Yes and yes.”

“Well then, we might have a hit. Does whomever it is have a career?”

“I guess as long as she has a TV show.”

“And if we don’t have a hit?”

“Don’t worry. There’s some­one right behind her  I’m work­ing with who might.”

“What’s her name?”

“Who knows? Who cares?”