Being successful means being willing to look like a weirdo from time to time. I'm not seeing the smarmy reporter types achieving too much beyond saying nasty things about someone who's actually trying.
We've known for over a decade now since Napster that artists would need / could get other revenue from online to make up for declining music sales.
It's cool that Tom is actually trying to participate in the changes rather than just bitch about the state of the industry as 999/1000 of them do.
Which, to some people, would indicate that this might not be an appropriate time to pitch.
Sometimes, pitching has negative value. Looking like a dorky salesman on video is anti-marketing for a rock and roll related project, and cannot be good for the project. It makes it look like just another "big business cashing in on little guys" swindle, with the older bands now being on the side of big business.
There is a right time to be a salesman. This wasn't it.