We can agree that the 900-number business is a shady industry across the board, right? If we agree on that – that there are no good 900-numbers – we can pick apart the nuance and determine that some 900-number ideas are better than others, some offerings more worthy of a phone call than others, some promises more alluring than others – even if those promises aren’t necessarily kept when you call. If there’s a worse idea for a 1-900 number than “Rock Talk”, I haven’t seen it. And I’ve seen Storyphone.
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.timidfutures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Rock-Talk.png?fit=500%2C375)
Rock Talk’s actually three numbers, with varying degrees of specificity and awfulness. The choices are like a bad fairy tale where there is no correct option. The first one gives you (probably slowly read) updates on Belinda Carlisle’s tour? Are the details of her tour particularly dynamic?
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.timidfutures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Belinda.png?fit=500%2C375)
The second gives you a very specific offering: Aerosmith’s best stories from the making of “Permanent Vacation”. Sorry, “Toys in the Attic” fans!
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.timidfutures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Steven.png?fit=500%2C375)
The third’s almost genius in its vagueness: fast breaking reports from the Rock Talk newswire. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess the reports do not break as fast as they could.
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.timidfutures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Rock-Talk-4.png?fit=500%2C375)
Why? Why pick just those two artists? Why three different phone numbers? How much money could this possibly have made?
-ds