INCUBATE THIS

In the "things we need to do today" department, Charles Crystle, founder and Chairman of Chili!Soft, Inc., plans to spend a major chunk of the $15 million he’s personally pocketed from the sale of his company to Cobalt Networks Inc. to fund a paradigm shift, as they like to say in his corner of the universe. Crystle announced that he will start an incubator with the sole purpose of coming up with a new business model for the music biz, which is changing shape at warp speed as revolutionary new entities such as Napster (see today’s story) have emerged.

"Napster is the symptom, not the cause of the music industry's problems in today's networked world," said Crystle, whose company developed a Linux-based software app that causes Web pages to be interactive. "The music industry needs to borrow a page from the software industry: Give away the razors and sell the blades. There's a way to give fans access to lots of free music that drives traffic to CD sales, concerts and licensed apparel—and allows the artist to built a sustainable career."

Crystle’s motives are somewhat subjective: Before starting Chili!Soft six years ago in Lancaster, PA, he was a struggling songwriter/artist. The music biz blew him off, and now he wants to give something back.

The Netrepreneur is using another chunk of the 15 mill to start a foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life in Central America…but we don’t care about stuff like that.