You're just not willing to work that hard.
So I sauntered up to the Pop Tart Gallery after parking my car on a side street convinced when I returned it would be minus the radio. You see this is not what we call a good neighborhood. 6th Street east of Vermont. Hell, I think if you drive a new car down the boulevard it spontaneously explodes.
And I'd never heard of the Pop Tart Gallery. I had to look it up on Google Maps. And when I got there, it was empty. With art on the walls.
Amanda paid each of these artists $500 to paint an album cover. There must have been a hundred of them.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I'm the only one looking at the art, which I'm enjoying, for both the nudity and the artistic chances, never mind the exquisite piece by Shepard Fairey, and I'm enjoying the air-conditioning, but then I hear a spontaneous cheer. Then another. Whereupon I find an exit from the building, which was not easy, and go up a concrete passageway to the performance area where this rotund woman and a boy with makeup covering his lips and his face were singing.
Another unsigned act.
Who cares?
I did. You see it was the sensibility. Most popular artists are playing for an audience that does not exist. One that is rich and bland and has life on a string. But the reality is we're a jumble of emotions and challenges, and this act, Die Roten Punkte, from Down Under, singing with German accents, seemed straight from...Straight, or Bizarre, Frank Zappa's labels back in the sixties. Die Roten Punkte was so creative, and so engaging, that even I found myself singing along, thrusting my hand in the air with the devil horns, as instructed. I was included.
We all want to be included.
Despite all the lip-service to their fans, the tribe most artists want to belong to is the rich and famous, those with good dinner reservations and private planes. And on the way there, they'll accede to letting their manager and label, all their worker bees, inside. But they really don't care about the fans.
But Amanda Palmer does. And her fans care about her.
They paid $300 to be here. Yup, on Kickstarter. And for that money, they got this gig, the one the night before at the Roxy and some merch. They got to belong. It was worth every penny. Because memories are made of this.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught Amanda in the audience. I figured everybody else hadn't seen her. But they had. They treat her as normal, because she knows every one of them and treats them the same. And after introducing me to Ben Folds, she took me backstage. And introduced me to her band in a steaming, unventilated room.
Her assistant? The one in Amanda's away messages? She was dressed up in an outfit akin to a dominatrix. In a few minutes, she was going to belly dance. And she did.
After that, the bass player performed rock instrumentals, akin to Zeppelin acoustic, with a string section he'd just met that night. You see Amanda does it on the fly, she makes it up as she goes. She didn't know this gallery or its proprietor, she found them on the Net. But she insisted this guy get up and explain what he was doing here, in the middle of L.A.'s vast wasteland.
And Amanda's network of friends included a magician... Who did card tricks while we were amazed. You see that's Amanda's tradition, she started out as a street performer. Learning two things. That she could survive, but only if she entertained everybody. That's what the Idols don't have, stage chops, Amanda does.
And when she finally came out and closed the show with her set, we experienced a performance. With the chopping of vegetables, the slapping of a knife, lying down on a sheet on the concrete that functioned as a bed...and then stripping off all her clothes and letting the participants paint her, naked...yup, tits and pubic hair, the whole thing. But it wasn't erotic. Because when you constantly expose yourself, it's art. It's not TMZ, it's mind-bending.
And then it was over. There were book signings. Conversations. She was still greeting her fans by time I left, after 11.
So what have we learned here?
That the only thing holding you back is you. Amanda does not know the word "no". And every effort is an investment in her career. Money is secondary. She wanted to raise a million bucks on Kickstarter, did, and now it's almost all accounted for, profit is next to nothing. Tell that to the managers of today. What did Billy Preston sing, "Nothing from nothing"? It's all about cash, hopefully upfront. And the audience feels this. So they come for the train-wreck, the hit, then they abandon the act.
L.A. was not the only city Amanda did this in. I think she told me she was doing eight of these performances, literally all over the world. If she sleeps, it's not for long. I felt lazy just being in her presence. But that's what it takes to make it today. Hard work. Are you prepared?
And hard work is not e-mailing journalists who don't care, it's not badgering people to watch your YouTube clip and like you on Facebook, it's doing something so good people are drawn to you.
And most are not drawn to Amanda.
But that could change.
First and foremost, she's got enough of a tribe to make it work. But she's in her thirties, she's been doing it since her twenties.
Second, she's just one hit away from going nuclear. Remember the old game, when instead of making it for radio, radio found you? That's what happened in the classic rock era. AM radio picked up the weird and bizarre and made it mainstream. Amanda could break through.
But even if she never does, she's got a career.
And the audience didn't look like clubgoers. They were not the ultra-thin fashionistas. Some were lumpy. Some wore costumes. They were letting their freak flags fly. That's what nerd culture truly is. Not babes on TV saying they're nerds while dating billionaires.
Not everyone can do it for themselves.
But if that's your path, and it's gonna be if you don't make Top Forty-ready music, then your role model is Amanda Palmer. She's the queen.
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Friday 20 July 2012
Rhinofy-Abra Moore
"Talking Chances"
The problem with singer-songwriters is they've got to compete with Joni Mitchell. I can only play one record at one time, if they don't measure up to those of the Canadian icon, I won't continue to spin them. You see music is not graded on a curve. Good is not good enough. We just want great.
And this is great.
"I'm taking chances"
It's harder to do as you get older. You think about the desired outcome, but you don't want to take the risk. But what's that old cliche, "no risk, no reward?"
"I wear my heart on my sleeve"
As Joni always did. But this is different. Joni always came from a place of confidence. Abra Moore is singing from an opposite space.
"I want to slide, slide under the big sky
Who's gonna take care of me"
That's what we all want. To be taken care of. To feel safe. Some get through on bluster. Others were never taken care of themselves and expect nothing. But the rest of us... We're looking for a relationship where we're known and accepted, one that won't unexpectedly end. Used to be marriage was a guarantee. Now even that's untrue. You can be lying in bed confident that things are going swimmingly and your spouse can already be checked out. Hell, it happened to me!
"I'm not sure if I really want to"
The self-help books tell you to put one foot in front of the other without thinking. There's no heart, no emotion. But last time I checked, we were human beings. With past hurts and foibles, who are fearful of losing what we've already got, being pushed even further back on the board game of life.
"I'm not sure what it all means"
What I always say is I've got more questions than answers. And if you don't agree with this, chances are we'll have a hard time connecting. I'm constantly reevaluating my life, both interior and exterior. I'm on a search for meaning. And when it's either absent or waning, I sink.
"I just want somebody to talk to
Talk to me"
Eureka! That's it! I've been hurt so much, it's hard for me to open up. Oh, I'll ask you a zillion questions, and I'm truly interested, but you'll know we've connected if I suddenly expound exuberantly, if my brain is popping and I'm digressing and I can't shut up. I think no one is listening. Hell, they rarely ask. As Joni sang, I come for conversation.
"I'm taking chances
And I'm talking carelessly
And I'm walking backwards into the future
This world is getting too deep"
It usually happens unconsciously. Suddenly I'm off and running. Telling you too much. I'm in too deep. But that's when I'm walking forwards into the future. But I hate to admit it, I'm usually walking backwards. The future keeps coming when my only desire is to stop time, to lick my wounds, to plot out a reasonable course. Then obligations pile up, opportunities evaporate, I age and have regrets. Hell, if I could only get rid of my fears, if I could only eat up life.
"I'm not sure if I really want to
I'm not sure what this all means
I just want somebody to hold on
Hold me"
Holding on, holding me, those are two different things. Don't give up. I'm committed, are you? But when it comes to physical interaction...I've got problems in that area. You see I come from a no touch family. Hugs were verboten. I'm working on it...
"I keep fallin', I keep fallin' and I keep fallin'
And I keep tumbling under the deep, deep
All I can do now is give up the whole thing"
Whew! That's me! My anxiety, my fear of rejection, my innate reluctance to take chances has me pulling away just as I'm getting involved. I'm worried about sacrificing myself, losing myself, not being able to get back to where I started, meanwhile, I'm in foreign territory, everything is both meaningful and meaningless.
"I'm not sure if I really want to
And I'm not sure what this all means, anymore
I'm taking chances
I'm taking chances
I'm taking chances
I'm taking chances"
Oh, once I commit I definitely want to. I might be insecure, but both feet are in. But then I think I'm standing on quicksand and I start reevaluating. But taking chances is so EXHILARATING!
And all of the foregoing would be irrelevant if the music wasn't just as good as the words, hell, better! This is what happens when you throw out convention and do it your way. Stop worrying about hits and getting it right. "Taking Chances" is acoustic, yet anything but wimpy. It hearkens back to my favorite Wendy Waldman tracks from the seventies. The intensity penetrates instantly and bonds you. And the electric accents don't dominate, but add meaning. And when she starts singing about falling...the track amps up, as if she's going over a waterfall. And then it's calm again.
On my fantasy radio show, "Taking Chances" is Top Ten.
"Pull Away"
"Here comes that love again and it just won't stop
So we try to be together
Spend all of a lifetime
Trying to find the love we've got
Can we try to stay together
As we pull away
As we pull away
As we pull away
As we pull away"
I think it's easier if you marry your first love, or get hitched in an arranged marriage. Because that first breakup of an extended live-in relationship is so brutal. She knows every nook and cranny of your personality, your pluses and minuses. For the first time in your life, someone knows you better than your family. But it just can't last. You've got to give up what you've got to find something better, an improved fit.
And it's so sad. But one partner, and it's always one who wants to move on, anybody who tells you breakups are mutual is either lying or ignorant, is driven by an inner force to find his or her own way. And some are weak, they wait for someone else to come along so they'll never be alone. Because after you've been together, the loneliness kills.
"And who will we call at the end of the day
When I check the machine will it be your name"
At least there are machines. Before this, you stayed home... Hoping, praying they'd call. Even though you knew you couldn't.
And after that, you'd stare at the machine as if you could will a phone call. But the phone never rang. There were no messages. Until you'd finally given up. And then they called and you felt the old connection, they talked about their pain, but they still didn't want to get back together. Or maybe they did. And you tried. But it never worked out.
"How can I be true
How can I be true and still have you"
You've got to be true to yourself. Some people throw this under the bus, thrilled to have someone else, to be joined at the hip to. But usually that blind devotion causes the other person to run. They feel smothered. And if they accede to it, you're a slave, you've got no territory to operate in. That's the challenge of life. To be together without losing yourself.
"What will we do when the morning comes
And we say goodbye, will we let go slow"
You can't. And you can't be friends either. You need a clean break, otherwise it's just too painful, you're together and then you're not. And this goes on, with one person hoping for reconnection, and then one day their significant other breaks the news...they've found someone else.
"And how will it be in the future"
I just don't know. The older I get, the less I know. And I certainly can't predict the future. And as you get older, it's less about finding someone else than terminal illness, accident, running out of cash. Real life intrudes on love, and it's so depressing. And you never find your soulmate, human beings weren't built for that. You try to find the best fit and stick with it.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
Previous Rhinofy playlists: http://www.rhinofy.com/lefsetz
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The problem with singer-songwriters is they've got to compete with Joni Mitchell. I can only play one record at one time, if they don't measure up to those of the Canadian icon, I won't continue to spin them. You see music is not graded on a curve. Good is not good enough. We just want great.
And this is great.
"I'm taking chances"
It's harder to do as you get older. You think about the desired outcome, but you don't want to take the risk. But what's that old cliche, "no risk, no reward?"
"I wear my heart on my sleeve"
As Joni always did. But this is different. Joni always came from a place of confidence. Abra Moore is singing from an opposite space.
"I want to slide, slide under the big sky
Who's gonna take care of me"
That's what we all want. To be taken care of. To feel safe. Some get through on bluster. Others were never taken care of themselves and expect nothing. But the rest of us... We're looking for a relationship where we're known and accepted, one that won't unexpectedly end. Used to be marriage was a guarantee. Now even that's untrue. You can be lying in bed confident that things are going swimmingly and your spouse can already be checked out. Hell, it happened to me!
"I'm not sure if I really want to"
The self-help books tell you to put one foot in front of the other without thinking. There's no heart, no emotion. But last time I checked, we were human beings. With past hurts and foibles, who are fearful of losing what we've already got, being pushed even further back on the board game of life.
"I'm not sure what it all means"
What I always say is I've got more questions than answers. And if you don't agree with this, chances are we'll have a hard time connecting. I'm constantly reevaluating my life, both interior and exterior. I'm on a search for meaning. And when it's either absent or waning, I sink.
"I just want somebody to talk to
Talk to me"
Eureka! That's it! I've been hurt so much, it's hard for me to open up. Oh, I'll ask you a zillion questions, and I'm truly interested, but you'll know we've connected if I suddenly expound exuberantly, if my brain is popping and I'm digressing and I can't shut up. I think no one is listening. Hell, they rarely ask. As Joni sang, I come for conversation.
"I'm taking chances
And I'm talking carelessly
And I'm walking backwards into the future
This world is getting too deep"
It usually happens unconsciously. Suddenly I'm off and running. Telling you too much. I'm in too deep. But that's when I'm walking forwards into the future. But I hate to admit it, I'm usually walking backwards. The future keeps coming when my only desire is to stop time, to lick my wounds, to plot out a reasonable course. Then obligations pile up, opportunities evaporate, I age and have regrets. Hell, if I could only get rid of my fears, if I could only eat up life.
"I'm not sure if I really want to
I'm not sure what this all means
I just want somebody to hold on
Hold me"
Holding on, holding me, those are two different things. Don't give up. I'm committed, are you? But when it comes to physical interaction...I've got problems in that area. You see I come from a no touch family. Hugs were verboten. I'm working on it...
"I keep fallin', I keep fallin' and I keep fallin'
And I keep tumbling under the deep, deep
All I can do now is give up the whole thing"
Whew! That's me! My anxiety, my fear of rejection, my innate reluctance to take chances has me pulling away just as I'm getting involved. I'm worried about sacrificing myself, losing myself, not being able to get back to where I started, meanwhile, I'm in foreign territory, everything is both meaningful and meaningless.
"I'm not sure if I really want to
And I'm not sure what this all means, anymore
I'm taking chances
I'm taking chances
I'm taking chances
I'm taking chances"
Oh, once I commit I definitely want to. I might be insecure, but both feet are in. But then I think I'm standing on quicksand and I start reevaluating. But taking chances is so EXHILARATING!
And all of the foregoing would be irrelevant if the music wasn't just as good as the words, hell, better! This is what happens when you throw out convention and do it your way. Stop worrying about hits and getting it right. "Taking Chances" is acoustic, yet anything but wimpy. It hearkens back to my favorite Wendy Waldman tracks from the seventies. The intensity penetrates instantly and bonds you. And the electric accents don't dominate, but add meaning. And when she starts singing about falling...the track amps up, as if she's going over a waterfall. And then it's calm again.
On my fantasy radio show, "Taking Chances" is Top Ten.
"Pull Away"
"Here comes that love again and it just won't stop
So we try to be together
Spend all of a lifetime
Trying to find the love we've got
Can we try to stay together
As we pull away
As we pull away
As we pull away
As we pull away"
I think it's easier if you marry your first love, or get hitched in an arranged marriage. Because that first breakup of an extended live-in relationship is so brutal. She knows every nook and cranny of your personality, your pluses and minuses. For the first time in your life, someone knows you better than your family. But it just can't last. You've got to give up what you've got to find something better, an improved fit.
And it's so sad. But one partner, and it's always one who wants to move on, anybody who tells you breakups are mutual is either lying or ignorant, is driven by an inner force to find his or her own way. And some are weak, they wait for someone else to come along so they'll never be alone. Because after you've been together, the loneliness kills.
"And who will we call at the end of the day
When I check the machine will it be your name"
At least there are machines. Before this, you stayed home... Hoping, praying they'd call. Even though you knew you couldn't.
And after that, you'd stare at the machine as if you could will a phone call. But the phone never rang. There were no messages. Until you'd finally given up. And then they called and you felt the old connection, they talked about their pain, but they still didn't want to get back together. Or maybe they did. And you tried. But it never worked out.
"How can I be true
How can I be true and still have you"
You've got to be true to yourself. Some people throw this under the bus, thrilled to have someone else, to be joined at the hip to. But usually that blind devotion causes the other person to run. They feel smothered. And if they accede to it, you're a slave, you've got no territory to operate in. That's the challenge of life. To be together without losing yourself.
"What will we do when the morning comes
And we say goodbye, will we let go slow"
You can't. And you can't be friends either. You need a clean break, otherwise it's just too painful, you're together and then you're not. And this goes on, with one person hoping for reconnection, and then one day their significant other breaks the news...they've found someone else.
"And how will it be in the future"
I just don't know. The older I get, the less I know. And I certainly can't predict the future. And as you get older, it's less about finding someone else than terminal illness, accident, running out of cash. Real life intrudes on love, and it's so depressing. And you never find your soulmate, human beings weren't built for that. You try to find the best fit and stick with it.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
Previous Rhinofy playlists: http://www.rhinofy.com/lefsetz
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Thursday 19 July 2012
Tom Davis
A wasted life?
Today people want to see cash. In the sixties and seventies, we wanted to see God. And one way to do this was through drugs.
Now I'm not going to lionize illegal substances. Hell, I was never much of a partaker. But although drugs can be utilized to soothe one's pain, back in the heyday of the counterculture, they were about expanding your horizons, gaining insight, and that's what Tom Davis did...he conceived of the Coneheads while high on LSD, on Easter Island.
And he was there at the creation of Mr. Mainway.
Don't know who that is you say? You never saw the famous "Bag-O'" series?
Once upon a time, Danny Aykroyd and John Belushi were the two biggest stars in the land. All the press has been given to Chevy Chase, but Danny and John were the heart of the show. They were team players who winked at the audience, in the case of Aykroyd, without even breaking character. They were the ones who were testing limits. They were our heroes.
John Belushi doing Joe Cocker was bigger than the man himself. And when John and Danny formed the Blues Brothers, they got the best hands in the land to back them up. Back then there was no short term memory. No Internet. People had already forgotten how great Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn and their compatriots were. Now we only yearn for the chance to see those Stax guys together again, an impossibility.
To tell you the truth, I didn't always like Franken & Davis when they were on the air. But unlike the all time "Jeopardy" champion, I never forgot them.
I watched the first SNL on a whim. Because it was Saturday night and I was home alone and had nothing better to do.
And then I talked about it the complete following week, to anybody I came in contact with. It was like a band. It was like today, but in this case the word I was spreading was about something fantastic, not driven by PR and Facebook likes, but sheer unadulterated quality.
A lot has been written how Norman Lear reinvented television.
And his shows are iconic. But not as important as SNL. Because that's when we took over television. Yes, this was when the old men knew better, when we couldn't be trusted with the controls, when sponsors were wary and they didn't play rock music at sporting events. But with one baby inroad, the whole paradigm shifted. SNL might have aired at 11:30 PM, but soon its influence was felt throughout the day, on every outlet.
And Tom Davis was there at the beginning. He was about charting the cultural zeitgeist, testing the limits, making himself laugh so everybody else would too. He and Al Franken were about the content, not the money. Hell, they shared one $350 a week salary. Today, everybody wants to pay no dues and be paid upfront. Quality is not as important as one's station on the economic totem pole. Today every conversation is trumped by money. You can't say an artist sucks if he sells out. Can't say anybody with money is an idiot. But back then we were playing by different rules. Back then, who you were was much more important than what you owned, how you looked. Call it the anti-Paris Hilton/Kim Kardashian era. One started in the sixties that continued to run through the seventies, until MTV co-opted the youth culture and we all lived together under one unthinking monolithic roof until today.
I want to tell you something. You can never be as rich as the bankers, as the hedge funders. But ideas cost nothing. One good idea, delineated clearly and executed exquisitely, has more power than any amount of money.
We knew that then.
We need to learn that again.
"Tom Davis Dies at 59; ‘SNL’ Writer and Comedy Partner to a Future Senator": http://nyti.ms/OcWpqO
"Tom Davis, ‘SNL’ writer and comedy partner of Al Franken, dies at 59": http://wapo.st/MMA2pV
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Today people want to see cash. In the sixties and seventies, we wanted to see God. And one way to do this was through drugs.
Now I'm not going to lionize illegal substances. Hell, I was never much of a partaker. But although drugs can be utilized to soothe one's pain, back in the heyday of the counterculture, they were about expanding your horizons, gaining insight, and that's what Tom Davis did...he conceived of the Coneheads while high on LSD, on Easter Island.
And he was there at the creation of Mr. Mainway.
Don't know who that is you say? You never saw the famous "Bag-O'" series?
Once upon a time, Danny Aykroyd and John Belushi were the two biggest stars in the land. All the press has been given to Chevy Chase, but Danny and John were the heart of the show. They were team players who winked at the audience, in the case of Aykroyd, without even breaking character. They were the ones who were testing limits. They were our heroes.
John Belushi doing Joe Cocker was bigger than the man himself. And when John and Danny formed the Blues Brothers, they got the best hands in the land to back them up. Back then there was no short term memory. No Internet. People had already forgotten how great Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn and their compatriots were. Now we only yearn for the chance to see those Stax guys together again, an impossibility.
To tell you the truth, I didn't always like Franken & Davis when they were on the air. But unlike the all time "Jeopardy" champion, I never forgot them.
I watched the first SNL on a whim. Because it was Saturday night and I was home alone and had nothing better to do.
And then I talked about it the complete following week, to anybody I came in contact with. It was like a band. It was like today, but in this case the word I was spreading was about something fantastic, not driven by PR and Facebook likes, but sheer unadulterated quality.
A lot has been written how Norman Lear reinvented television.
And his shows are iconic. But not as important as SNL. Because that's when we took over television. Yes, this was when the old men knew better, when we couldn't be trusted with the controls, when sponsors were wary and they didn't play rock music at sporting events. But with one baby inroad, the whole paradigm shifted. SNL might have aired at 11:30 PM, but soon its influence was felt throughout the day, on every outlet.
And Tom Davis was there at the beginning. He was about charting the cultural zeitgeist, testing the limits, making himself laugh so everybody else would too. He and Al Franken were about the content, not the money. Hell, they shared one $350 a week salary. Today, everybody wants to pay no dues and be paid upfront. Quality is not as important as one's station on the economic totem pole. Today every conversation is trumped by money. You can't say an artist sucks if he sells out. Can't say anybody with money is an idiot. But back then we were playing by different rules. Back then, who you were was much more important than what you owned, how you looked. Call it the anti-Paris Hilton/Kim Kardashian era. One started in the sixties that continued to run through the seventies, until MTV co-opted the youth culture and we all lived together under one unthinking monolithic roof until today.
I want to tell you something. You can never be as rich as the bankers, as the hedge funders. But ideas cost nothing. One good idea, delineated clearly and executed exquisitely, has more power than any amount of money.
We knew that then.
We need to learn that again.
"Tom Davis Dies at 59; ‘SNL’ Writer and Comedy Partner to a Future Senator": http://nyti.ms/OcWpqO
"Tom Davis, ‘SNL’ writer and comedy partner of Al Franken, dies at 59": http://wapo.st/MMA2pV
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Old Outsells New
"Old Records Are Outselling New Ones for the First Time": http://bit.ly/NpjVjD
That's why Lucian Grainge wants EMI. If you think he's going to operate what's left of the legendary label, after stripping off parts to satisfy the EU, you've got no sense of music history. Mergers are about contraction. Remember PolyGram? With its Polydor, A&M and Island labels? See them as standalone entities in Universal today?
And what about BMG/Sony? All I see now are two labels, where there used to be a plethora. This merger is not about new music, it's about old music. It's about catalog. It's about leverage. And believe me, there's a lot more leverage in the Beatles and the Beach Boys than there is in spending a ton of cash on evanescent new acts most of which won't succeed anyway.
In other words, Lucian Grainge is lying. And the EU and the press are too stupid to know it. Hell, Capitol under Grainge will ultimately be like A&M or Geffen under Jimmy Iovine at Interscope, an imprint, with historical value at best.
As for putting music out today... The album is fading. Not because I said so, but because the consumer said so. The consumer wants to cherry-pick. He only wants what he wants and he wants it now. He doesn't want to watch everything on AMC, only "Breaking Bad". This is so different from the way it always was that most people can't wrap their heads around it. Kids don't have a short attention span, anybody who says that is completely ignorant. They've got an incredible shit detector. They're only interested in what is great. They only want the hit, because they know the rest is shite and they don't have the time to waste, they're dedicated to video games and texting and apps and the old days of being shy of stimulation and playing a mediocre album until you memorized it are done.
Yes, there's more good music today than ever before. Emphasis on "good". Used to be the labels acted as a filter. If they signed it, you paid attention, it had the imprimatur of quality. Now the majors have lost said imprimatur and are competing with the rest of the stuff in the marketplace and the consumer is only interested in what bubbles to the surface. As for those of you reading this newsletter and going to see Frank Ocean and Azealia Banks, you don't count. It's the mainstream that counts.
And Lucian Grainge knows this. As do his competitors. Which is why they don't spend years developing that which is left field, that which is not radio-friendly. They call it music "business", and first and foremost they know this.
And when it comes to any business, distribution is king. The same idiots who say kids have short attention spans spew the fallacious construct that content is king. Nothing could be further from the truth. If something is great, and you can't buy it, it's irrelevant.
The majors controlled the music business via distribution. Even if you could get your indie record in the store, a very difficult thing to do, you couldn't get paid. You had to be aligned with a major to get paid. Lucian Grainge is smart. He wants to bring distribution back under the control of the majors. That's why you can't find out what you make at Spotify. Spotify is controlled by its major label investors. And if the Universal/EMI merger goes down, Universal will have even more power. To extract concessions on its terms.
It's like a bad Mafia movie. Spotify is all digits. But you can't figure out what you get paid. And nobody at Spotify can talk. For if they do, they might not get killed, but the majors are going to make them pay, teach them a lesson.
The promise of digital was transparency. Something the major labels abhor. They're doing their best to obscure it again, even though Google provides analytics for free and Apple cuts straight 70/30 deals.
No, but not in the music business.
Be very afraid.
They're not making more radio stations, which is why the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was so heinous. It concentrated control in the hands of the very few. Sure, the Internet may eventually supersede terrestrial radio, but if that ever happens, it's going to take decades!
The copyrights that control the music business, and they're not the new ones, but the old, are not going to expire until most of us are dead. The digital distribution infrastructure put into place today is going to hamstring development in the sphere for decades hence.
Don't you get it?
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That's why Lucian Grainge wants EMI. If you think he's going to operate what's left of the legendary label, after stripping off parts to satisfy the EU, you've got no sense of music history. Mergers are about contraction. Remember PolyGram? With its Polydor, A&M and Island labels? See them as standalone entities in Universal today?
And what about BMG/Sony? All I see now are two labels, where there used to be a plethora. This merger is not about new music, it's about old music. It's about catalog. It's about leverage. And believe me, there's a lot more leverage in the Beatles and the Beach Boys than there is in spending a ton of cash on evanescent new acts most of which won't succeed anyway.
In other words, Lucian Grainge is lying. And the EU and the press are too stupid to know it. Hell, Capitol under Grainge will ultimately be like A&M or Geffen under Jimmy Iovine at Interscope, an imprint, with historical value at best.
As for putting music out today... The album is fading. Not because I said so, but because the consumer said so. The consumer wants to cherry-pick. He only wants what he wants and he wants it now. He doesn't want to watch everything on AMC, only "Breaking Bad". This is so different from the way it always was that most people can't wrap their heads around it. Kids don't have a short attention span, anybody who says that is completely ignorant. They've got an incredible shit detector. They're only interested in what is great. They only want the hit, because they know the rest is shite and they don't have the time to waste, they're dedicated to video games and texting and apps and the old days of being shy of stimulation and playing a mediocre album until you memorized it are done.
Yes, there's more good music today than ever before. Emphasis on "good". Used to be the labels acted as a filter. If they signed it, you paid attention, it had the imprimatur of quality. Now the majors have lost said imprimatur and are competing with the rest of the stuff in the marketplace and the consumer is only interested in what bubbles to the surface. As for those of you reading this newsletter and going to see Frank Ocean and Azealia Banks, you don't count. It's the mainstream that counts.
And Lucian Grainge knows this. As do his competitors. Which is why they don't spend years developing that which is left field, that which is not radio-friendly. They call it music "business", and first and foremost they know this.
And when it comes to any business, distribution is king. The same idiots who say kids have short attention spans spew the fallacious construct that content is king. Nothing could be further from the truth. If something is great, and you can't buy it, it's irrelevant.
The majors controlled the music business via distribution. Even if you could get your indie record in the store, a very difficult thing to do, you couldn't get paid. You had to be aligned with a major to get paid. Lucian Grainge is smart. He wants to bring distribution back under the control of the majors. That's why you can't find out what you make at Spotify. Spotify is controlled by its major label investors. And if the Universal/EMI merger goes down, Universal will have even more power. To extract concessions on its terms.
It's like a bad Mafia movie. Spotify is all digits. But you can't figure out what you get paid. And nobody at Spotify can talk. For if they do, they might not get killed, but the majors are going to make them pay, teach them a lesson.
The promise of digital was transparency. Something the major labels abhor. They're doing their best to obscure it again, even though Google provides analytics for free and Apple cuts straight 70/30 deals.
No, but not in the music business.
Be very afraid.
They're not making more radio stations, which is why the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was so heinous. It concentrated control in the hands of the very few. Sure, the Internet may eventually supersede terrestrial radio, but if that ever happens, it's going to take decades!
The copyrights that control the music business, and they're not the new ones, but the old, are not going to expire until most of us are dead. The digital distribution infrastructure put into place today is going to hamstring development in the sphere for decades hence.
Don't you get it?
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Tuesday 17 July 2012
The Newsroom
This show is gonna change TV news.
What do we know about "The Newsroom"? It's behind a paywall playing to a limited audience and the critics hate it. But that's irrelevant. By taking a stand, and doing it well, an individual, in this case Aaron Sorkin, can change the course of history.
This is what music used to do.
Yes, while musical acts are figuring out which ass to kiss, what Fortune 500 corporation to sell out to, HBO is leading the charge. Music is a second class citizen. Movies are a complete joke.
This is the power of excellence. It can change the debate.
Everybody in TV news knows you've got to be partisan. You've got to be histrionic. You've got to do soft news stories that make people sigh. Informing the public? Truth? They're way down the list. It's not like these anchors and commentators don't know what they're doing, they're far from ignorant, but they've just shrugged their shoulders and said they've got no choice, that's the system. And when Sorkin calls them out, they feel crummy inside. The same way you do when your teacher confronts you about cheating on the test or your mother accuses you of lying. You halfheartedly defend yourself and when the truth comes out, as it always does, you promise to change your ways, you don't want to feel this bad again. After watching "Newsroom", and if you think anchors don't, you probably believe the Mafia didn't watch "The Godfather" or "The Sopranos", these newspeople feel dirty, they find it hard to do their same inane shows.
Oh, this third episode was far from brilliant. In the middle it devolved into cardboard TV set-up. Who slept with who. Tabloid journalism. Real housewives. But it turned out it was just a ruse. For the big set-up. The media conglomerate itself was setting Jeff Daniels up. They wanted the upper hand.
Ain't that the way it always is.
That's why Matt Taibbi gained traction. He spoke the truth the public could not understand. You believe if you just go to work every day, things will work out, that your superiors are playing fair. You don't understand the game. And everything's got a game.
You want to know the music business game? The people in power want their bonus. And nothing will stand in the way of it. You might not want to deliver your album when they need it, but then your record starts falling down the chart and you have trouble getting paid. That's the game powerful people play.
As for dating insecurities, Sorkin got that right too. Daniels may be the powerful anchor, but he's clueless when it comes to women. And speaking of clueless, Olivia Munn may look like a model, but on this show she's an economics expert who admits she knows nothing about dating.
Wow, how real is that. The rock star, who if he can get laid every night, does not even know how to speak to women.
And then there's Sam Waterston imploring Jeff Daniels to date on his level. Hell, it's always easier to date down, then you're not challenged, then you don't feel anxious, then you're in control.
But nobody's in control. Everybody's just faking it. And it's art's job to reveal the truth, the man behind the curtain. But today all we've got is pussies who do what they are told, adhere to the rules just like the TV newspeople. Hell, they listen to the suits. Don't you get it, the suits' interests are not your own, they don't want truth, justice and the American way, they just want money...in their pocket.
Music could speak this truth too. That's what Bob Dylan did.
But that tradition is dead. Instead we've got a tabloid press questioning who the next "Idol" judge will be. As if judging these wannabes isn't equivalent to scouting for major leaguers at the Little League game.
One song can make a difference. One TV show can make a difference. The power of the individual is limitless.
But you must pick up the reins and testify. You must be beholden to no one but yourself. You must deliver your message so perfectly-pitched, so expertly crafted, that it's undeniable.
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What do we know about "The Newsroom"? It's behind a paywall playing to a limited audience and the critics hate it. But that's irrelevant. By taking a stand, and doing it well, an individual, in this case Aaron Sorkin, can change the course of history.
This is what music used to do.
Yes, while musical acts are figuring out which ass to kiss, what Fortune 500 corporation to sell out to, HBO is leading the charge. Music is a second class citizen. Movies are a complete joke.
This is the power of excellence. It can change the debate.
Everybody in TV news knows you've got to be partisan. You've got to be histrionic. You've got to do soft news stories that make people sigh. Informing the public? Truth? They're way down the list. It's not like these anchors and commentators don't know what they're doing, they're far from ignorant, but they've just shrugged their shoulders and said they've got no choice, that's the system. And when Sorkin calls them out, they feel crummy inside. The same way you do when your teacher confronts you about cheating on the test or your mother accuses you of lying. You halfheartedly defend yourself and when the truth comes out, as it always does, you promise to change your ways, you don't want to feel this bad again. After watching "Newsroom", and if you think anchors don't, you probably believe the Mafia didn't watch "The Godfather" or "The Sopranos", these newspeople feel dirty, they find it hard to do their same inane shows.
Oh, this third episode was far from brilliant. In the middle it devolved into cardboard TV set-up. Who slept with who. Tabloid journalism. Real housewives. But it turned out it was just a ruse. For the big set-up. The media conglomerate itself was setting Jeff Daniels up. They wanted the upper hand.
Ain't that the way it always is.
That's why Matt Taibbi gained traction. He spoke the truth the public could not understand. You believe if you just go to work every day, things will work out, that your superiors are playing fair. You don't understand the game. And everything's got a game.
You want to know the music business game? The people in power want their bonus. And nothing will stand in the way of it. You might not want to deliver your album when they need it, but then your record starts falling down the chart and you have trouble getting paid. That's the game powerful people play.
As for dating insecurities, Sorkin got that right too. Daniels may be the powerful anchor, but he's clueless when it comes to women. And speaking of clueless, Olivia Munn may look like a model, but on this show she's an economics expert who admits she knows nothing about dating.
Wow, how real is that. The rock star, who if he can get laid every night, does not even know how to speak to women.
And then there's Sam Waterston imploring Jeff Daniels to date on his level. Hell, it's always easier to date down, then you're not challenged, then you don't feel anxious, then you're in control.
But nobody's in control. Everybody's just faking it. And it's art's job to reveal the truth, the man behind the curtain. But today all we've got is pussies who do what they are told, adhere to the rules just like the TV newspeople. Hell, they listen to the suits. Don't you get it, the suits' interests are not your own, they don't want truth, justice and the American way, they just want money...in their pocket.
Music could speak this truth too. That's what Bob Dylan did.
But that tradition is dead. Instead we've got a tabloid press questioning who the next "Idol" judge will be. As if judging these wannabes isn't equivalent to scouting for major leaguers at the Little League game.
One song can make a difference. One TV show can make a difference. The power of the individual is limitless.
But you must pick up the reins and testify. You must be beholden to no one but yourself. You must deliver your message so perfectly-pitched, so expertly crafted, that it's undeniable.
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Holy Ship
My inbox is going berserk with this:
http://www.holyship.com/
At the risk of overloading you with a third e-mail, and I know after two sign-offs increase dramatically, I must say I know Gary Richards, I know about this cruise...
And for those paying attention, and I know by the volume of e-mail I'm getting on this subject many are, Gary just made a deal with Live Nation. I told him to. Not necessarily Live Nation, I won't get that specific, but I told him he could not remain independent and could not tie up with a neophyte. Because of the money and the talent.
So you're loyal to Gary/Hard Events. That's just great. But right now, "Coachella" has got a greater reach. That's the power of brand names. That was my point.
And for those saying that talent is king... I agree. Except, as stated previously, recent events have proven that going it alone, with your own money, is a tough row to hoe. It's kind of like starting a car company. Other than Tesla, which got a rave review in the "Wall Street Journal" (http://on.wsj.com/PDsUnc), the highway is littered with the carcasses of failed automobile companies. The startup and infrastructure costs hobble you. What everybody does on a mass scale everyday, like pollution controls, you have to engineer from scratch, or pay dearly to license. Justin Bieber may drive a Fisker, but the cars have been poorly reviewed and analysts don't expect the company to survive.
In other words, the odds are stacked against you. If you want to become a concert promoter, book that which Live Nation and AEG want no part of. Otherwise, their money and might will come in and trounce you.
Now that Gary Richards is aligned with Live Nation he not only has the company's deep pockets at his disposal, but also its relationships, with both artists and agents. There's no loyalty in this business anymore. Which is why indies get trounced. Your only hope is to pay top dollar and utilize your leverage to convince someone to play with you. That's how Randy Phillips got Britney Spears to sign with AEG half a decade back. He told her managers he would get promotion in Regal Theaters, which are under the same corporate umbrella.
Yet it is heartening that without a big promotional campaign, without paying PR people to spread the word, the people who truly care, the members of the electronic music community, are aware of the Holy Ship!! cruise.
Grow or die.
Expect the usual suspects, Live Nation and AEG, to expand. Now the turf war has been expanded to the sea. I'm not saying every niche cruise is at risk, then again, so many of the acts on those boats Live Nation and AEG want no part of.
Cruises offer a couple of things that are hard to get elsewhere. Like-minded community and intimacy. People will pay dearly for these. Life is about experiences more than money. Then again, you oftentimes buy experiences with your money. And these boats don't leave every week. You want to be on them.
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http://www.holyship.com/
At the risk of overloading you with a third e-mail, and I know after two sign-offs increase dramatically, I must say I know Gary Richards, I know about this cruise...
And for those paying attention, and I know by the volume of e-mail I'm getting on this subject many are, Gary just made a deal with Live Nation. I told him to. Not necessarily Live Nation, I won't get that specific, but I told him he could not remain independent and could not tie up with a neophyte. Because of the money and the talent.
So you're loyal to Gary/Hard Events. That's just great. But right now, "Coachella" has got a greater reach. That's the power of brand names. That was my point.
And for those saying that talent is king... I agree. Except, as stated previously, recent events have proven that going it alone, with your own money, is a tough row to hoe. It's kind of like starting a car company. Other than Tesla, which got a rave review in the "Wall Street Journal" (http://on.wsj.com/PDsUnc), the highway is littered with the carcasses of failed automobile companies. The startup and infrastructure costs hobble you. What everybody does on a mass scale everyday, like pollution controls, you have to engineer from scratch, or pay dearly to license. Justin Bieber may drive a Fisker, but the cars have been poorly reviewed and analysts don't expect the company to survive.
In other words, the odds are stacked against you. If you want to become a concert promoter, book that which Live Nation and AEG want no part of. Otherwise, their money and might will come in and trounce you.
Now that Gary Richards is aligned with Live Nation he not only has the company's deep pockets at his disposal, but also its relationships, with both artists and agents. There's no loyalty in this business anymore. Which is why indies get trounced. Your only hope is to pay top dollar and utilize your leverage to convince someone to play with you. That's how Randy Phillips got Britney Spears to sign with AEG half a decade back. He told her managers he would get promotion in Regal Theaters, which are under the same corporate umbrella.
Yet it is heartening that without a big promotional campaign, without paying PR people to spread the word, the people who truly care, the members of the electronic music community, are aware of the Holy Ship!! cruise.
Grow or die.
Expect the usual suspects, Live Nation and AEG, to expand. Now the turf war has been expanded to the sea. I'm not saying every niche cruise is at risk, then again, so many of the acts on those boats Live Nation and AEG want no part of.
Cruises offer a couple of things that are hard to get elsewhere. Like-minded community and intimacy. People will pay dearly for these. Life is about experiences more than money. Then again, you oftentimes buy experiences with your money. And these boats don't leave every week. You want to be on them.
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Coachella At Sea
http://nyti.ms/NTLQuD
Personally, I believe they're missing a giant opportunity, they should have made it the Sahara Tent At Sea. The time to capitalize on electronic music is now, no one knows the future, this is what kids want to do. Go to sea, get high and dance. Then again, imagine the legal problems! Hell, if someone died at sea on a Coachella boat, that'd quash the venture forever. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are O.D.'s on the vessel anyway. Put that many people together and anything can and will happen.
But the big point here is Coachella is now a brand name. Which Paul Tollett does his best to polish and maintain. He doesn't whore it out, it's got respect, it's got an audience. And anybody trying to compete...has a problem.
There are four big festivals. Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits. Bonnaroo couldn't expand to Vegas and C3, the company behind ACL, is also behind Lollapalooza and other ventures, not that the punter would know this, but the point is if you're entering into the festival business today, good luck. Hell, look at the UK, where oversaturation has come to roost and put a huge dent in the market.
Dave Matthews couldn't succeed on his own last summer and Metallica had a highly reviewed festival that didn't break 30,000 per day. And we can debate locations and lineups all day long but never forget that Coachella lost money for years. If you're launching a festival and planning to be profitable instantly, you're dreaming. The weather alone could kill you.
But it turns out like just as no act is as big as a label, certainly prior to the Napster era, now no act is bigger than the promoter, no act is bigger than Coachella. In other words, AEG may pay, but AEG rules.
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Personally, I believe they're missing a giant opportunity, they should have made it the Sahara Tent At Sea. The time to capitalize on electronic music is now, no one knows the future, this is what kids want to do. Go to sea, get high and dance. Then again, imagine the legal problems! Hell, if someone died at sea on a Coachella boat, that'd quash the venture forever. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are O.D.'s on the vessel anyway. Put that many people together and anything can and will happen.
But the big point here is Coachella is now a brand name. Which Paul Tollett does his best to polish and maintain. He doesn't whore it out, it's got respect, it's got an audience. And anybody trying to compete...has a problem.
There are four big festivals. Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits. Bonnaroo couldn't expand to Vegas and C3, the company behind ACL, is also behind Lollapalooza and other ventures, not that the punter would know this, but the point is if you're entering into the festival business today, good luck. Hell, look at the UK, where oversaturation has come to roost and put a huge dent in the market.
Dave Matthews couldn't succeed on his own last summer and Metallica had a highly reviewed festival that didn't break 30,000 per day. And we can debate locations and lineups all day long but never forget that Coachella lost money for years. If you're launching a festival and planning to be profitable instantly, you're dreaming. The weather alone could kill you.
But it turns out like just as no act is as big as a label, certainly prior to the Napster era, now no act is bigger than the promoter, no act is bigger than Coachella. In other words, AEG may pay, but AEG rules.
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Me In Singapore
http://www.allthatmatters.asia/content/videos/
I'm not big on self-promotion, and if I told you I watched myself, I'd be lying, but I've been receiving a lot of positive feedback on this, so I'm linking to it.
Was waiting for Bob Ezrin's interview to be up on the site, and if you scroll down, he's there too. If you were ever interested in any of his productions, from Alice Cooper to Lou Reed to "The Wall", I highly recommend you spend the time. Ezrin's an intellectual in a musician's body, and that's a rare find, it's the main driver of his success.
And, of course, there's the Troy Carter interview I also wrote about.
So I'm bracing myself for the hate e-mail, that's what happens when you play online, but I do remember having a blast with Ralph Simon and now it's time for those not in attendance to partake.
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I'm not big on self-promotion, and if I told you I watched myself, I'd be lying, but I've been receiving a lot of positive feedback on this, so I'm linking to it.
Was waiting for Bob Ezrin's interview to be up on the site, and if you scroll down, he's there too. If you were ever interested in any of his productions, from Alice Cooper to Lou Reed to "The Wall", I highly recommend you spend the time. Ezrin's an intellectual in a musician's body, and that's a rare find, it's the main driver of his success.
And, of course, there's the Troy Carter interview I also wrote about.
So I'm bracing myself for the hate e-mail, that's what happens when you play online, but I do remember having a blast with Ralph Simon and now it's time for those not in attendance to partake.
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Monday 16 July 2012
Vi Hart
"If you address yourself to an audience, you accept at the outset the basic premises that unite the audience. You put on the audience, repeating cliches familiar to it. But artists don't address themselves to audiences, they create audiences. The artist talks to himself out loud. If what he has to say is significant, others hear and are affected."
http://bit.ly/MBnNNM
That's the essence of classic rock, the essence of old school hip-hop. HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH THIS SHIT?
The best, most legendary artists of the classic rock era were unique. You might have been able to trace the connection to what came before, but what you were listening to sounded like nothing else. Kind of like comparing "Love Me Do" with the White Album. Yes, it was the same act, but the Beatles went on a journey of self-discovery, they refused to repeat themselves. The point wasn't to give people what they wanted, but to test personal limits and hope the audience followed you.
To a great degree music is artistically bankrupt.
Let's start with radio. We used to LOVE the radio, we were addicted to it. The deejays picked the tracks, respected us, and commercials were kept to a minimum. We couldn't wait to tune in. That's the first thing you did when you got home, never mind in the car. Can you imagine tuning in today's stations at home? You'd have to be a glutton for punishment, there are so many better alternatives. The radio was a club, the tribal drum, something we were all addicted to, discussed and followed. Modern radio let us down. Blame the Telecommunications Act of 1996, blame the owners, blame the "talent". Sure, there are still some good outlets, but they've been tainted by the stink of their brethren.
Then there's the labels... They only want what sells, instantly. Go to them with something left field, that is not radio-ready, and they'll laugh. They're out. They want what's easy. Once upon a time labels were run by owners who loved the music, who loved money less, now the reverse is true. Cut the salaries of the label honchos by ninety percent and see how many stay on.
Now nobody bitches as hard as artists. But if you cut their salaries, however meager, they'd continue to play. You see music is a religion.
But those are the old people. The young 'uns have been brought up in a bankrupt musical culture and just want to replicate what they see on TV, hear on the radio. I mean do we really need another Britney Spears, never mind Christina or Mariah? But that's all they know. And their parents want them to be financially comfortable and they don't stop telling their progeny how great they are so we've got a bunch of untalented me-toos fighting for attention from a public that pretty much shrugs its shoulders.
You see what the public wants is artists.
Not only the Beatles, but David Bowie and Roxy Music and Jethro Tull.
But everyone's afraid to be an artist. They're afraid to walk into the wilderness.
Until yesterday, I had no idea who Vi Hart was. But watching this video I got hooked. First and foremost by the voice. It wasn't auto-tuned, it didn't sound like someone famous, in the media, but someone real. Never underestimate the power of real. That's what we truly relate to, connect with, cannot get enough of.
And Vi is asking the classic YouTube questions... How can I play the game, rig the system, so more people can know me and I can become more famous.
If your goal is to become famous, please give up. We've already got enough of those. We're not interested.
And if your goal is to create a YouTube video that will get so many hits you can give up your day job as a result of the payments, give up too. Because the public hates lowest common denominator bottom fishers. Ever notice that the most successful viral videos are a party of one? It was a stroke of luck which cannot be repeated. The odds of having multi digit millions multiple times out is essentially zero. But you can create something of value and reach enough people to gain sustainability. You've got to shoot lower. You've got to know today everybody is a niche. And you're out to grow yours.
Vi quotes a decades-old book, Edmund Snow Carpenter's "They Became What They Beheld". It was written long before the Internet era, but it applies 100%. As does all truth. Whether it be the Greek philosophers or the aforementioned Beatles.
And like so many great things, Vi's video doesn't grab you instantly, it doesn't hook you right away, like all those books about creating hit songs tell you to do. But it's inviting enough that you stay with it, to reap its rewards.
And the video was so good, I decided to do some research.
This math whiz was so successful, she got a job with Khan Academy. Which was even featured on "60 Minutes". Khan is changing the world. Justin Bieber is not.
So are you an artist or a performer?
We've got enough of the latter.
We don't have enough of the former.
You've got to enjoy the work. You've got to be happy if you never become rich and famous. You've got to toil long enough that all the pieces fall into place, that your work sells itself.
That's how it once was in music.
That's how it's going to have to be again.
"Bending and Stretching Classroom Lessons to Make Math Inspire": http://nyti.ms/dHTuVX
Notice that the above article was published on January 17, 2011, eighteen months ago. You think publicity reaches everybody instantly, it does not. But stories live on online, so if someone suddenly becomes interested, they can find out about you.
"Khan Academy: The future of education?": http://cbsn.ws/z9K3a8
Do you think Salman Khan started his academy with the goal to get on "60 Minutes"? It's backwards in music, the end result is put first. If you're great opportunities will find you, not the other way around.
P.S. I found out about Vi Hart virally. That's how we find all the great stuff today, from links, from friends. And the sense of discovery is inspiring and ultimately overwhelming. I had to do more research, I had to find out what she looked like, I had to tweet about it. The old farts say we lost something with the death of vinyl album art. But we gained so much with the Internet. Now there's a plethora of information online for those who truly care. And the hunt for nuggets is akin to panning for gold. We do it alone. Not told to by anybody else, but personally inspired. It's so rewarding. And we hold dear that which we discover. And we tell everybody we know about our adventures, what we find. Not everything, just that which we know will resonate, which will not only inspire our friends but burnish our image as a connector.
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http://bit.ly/MBnNNM
That's the essence of classic rock, the essence of old school hip-hop. HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH THIS SHIT?
The best, most legendary artists of the classic rock era were unique. You might have been able to trace the connection to what came before, but what you were listening to sounded like nothing else. Kind of like comparing "Love Me Do" with the White Album. Yes, it was the same act, but the Beatles went on a journey of self-discovery, they refused to repeat themselves. The point wasn't to give people what they wanted, but to test personal limits and hope the audience followed you.
To a great degree music is artistically bankrupt.
Let's start with radio. We used to LOVE the radio, we were addicted to it. The deejays picked the tracks, respected us, and commercials were kept to a minimum. We couldn't wait to tune in. That's the first thing you did when you got home, never mind in the car. Can you imagine tuning in today's stations at home? You'd have to be a glutton for punishment, there are so many better alternatives. The radio was a club, the tribal drum, something we were all addicted to, discussed and followed. Modern radio let us down. Blame the Telecommunications Act of 1996, blame the owners, blame the "talent". Sure, there are still some good outlets, but they've been tainted by the stink of their brethren.
Then there's the labels... They only want what sells, instantly. Go to them with something left field, that is not radio-ready, and they'll laugh. They're out. They want what's easy. Once upon a time labels were run by owners who loved the music, who loved money less, now the reverse is true. Cut the salaries of the label honchos by ninety percent and see how many stay on.
Now nobody bitches as hard as artists. But if you cut their salaries, however meager, they'd continue to play. You see music is a religion.
But those are the old people. The young 'uns have been brought up in a bankrupt musical culture and just want to replicate what they see on TV, hear on the radio. I mean do we really need another Britney Spears, never mind Christina or Mariah? But that's all they know. And their parents want them to be financially comfortable and they don't stop telling their progeny how great they are so we've got a bunch of untalented me-toos fighting for attention from a public that pretty much shrugs its shoulders.
You see what the public wants is artists.
Not only the Beatles, but David Bowie and Roxy Music and Jethro Tull.
But everyone's afraid to be an artist. They're afraid to walk into the wilderness.
Until yesterday, I had no idea who Vi Hart was. But watching this video I got hooked. First and foremost by the voice. It wasn't auto-tuned, it didn't sound like someone famous, in the media, but someone real. Never underestimate the power of real. That's what we truly relate to, connect with, cannot get enough of.
And Vi is asking the classic YouTube questions... How can I play the game, rig the system, so more people can know me and I can become more famous.
If your goal is to become famous, please give up. We've already got enough of those. We're not interested.
And if your goal is to create a YouTube video that will get so many hits you can give up your day job as a result of the payments, give up too. Because the public hates lowest common denominator bottom fishers. Ever notice that the most successful viral videos are a party of one? It was a stroke of luck which cannot be repeated. The odds of having multi digit millions multiple times out is essentially zero. But you can create something of value and reach enough people to gain sustainability. You've got to shoot lower. You've got to know today everybody is a niche. And you're out to grow yours.
Vi quotes a decades-old book, Edmund Snow Carpenter's "They Became What They Beheld". It was written long before the Internet era, but it applies 100%. As does all truth. Whether it be the Greek philosophers or the aforementioned Beatles.
And like so many great things, Vi's video doesn't grab you instantly, it doesn't hook you right away, like all those books about creating hit songs tell you to do. But it's inviting enough that you stay with it, to reap its rewards.
And the video was so good, I decided to do some research.
This math whiz was so successful, she got a job with Khan Academy. Which was even featured on "60 Minutes". Khan is changing the world. Justin Bieber is not.
So are you an artist or a performer?
We've got enough of the latter.
We don't have enough of the former.
You've got to enjoy the work. You've got to be happy if you never become rich and famous. You've got to toil long enough that all the pieces fall into place, that your work sells itself.
That's how it once was in music.
That's how it's going to have to be again.
"Bending and Stretching Classroom Lessons to Make Math Inspire": http://nyti.ms/dHTuVX
Notice that the above article was published on January 17, 2011, eighteen months ago. You think publicity reaches everybody instantly, it does not. But stories live on online, so if someone suddenly becomes interested, they can find out about you.
"Khan Academy: The future of education?": http://cbsn.ws/z9K3a8
Do you think Salman Khan started his academy with the goal to get on "60 Minutes"? It's backwards in music, the end result is put first. If you're great opportunities will find you, not the other way around.
P.S. I found out about Vi Hart virally. That's how we find all the great stuff today, from links, from friends. And the sense of discovery is inspiring and ultimately overwhelming. I had to do more research, I had to find out what she looked like, I had to tweet about it. The old farts say we lost something with the death of vinyl album art. But we gained so much with the Internet. Now there's a plethora of information online for those who truly care. And the hunt for nuggets is akin to panning for gold. We do it alone. Not told to by anybody else, but personally inspired. It's so rewarding. And we hold dear that which we discover. And we tell everybody we know about our adventures, what we find. Not everything, just that which we know will resonate, which will not only inspire our friends but burnish our image as a connector.
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Marissa Mayer At Yahoo
If you're waiting for a woman to take over Universal Music or Live Nation...
First and foremost, Marissa Mayer is an engineer. A far cry from the contestants on "Idol" who can't write songs, the wannabes with no experience who believe they should be at the top of the pop chart. Hell, in music it's now less about individuality than submitting to the starmaking machinery. Rape me, remake me, I'll do anything to be famous.
Meanwhile, fame is overrated. And whatever power today's musical artists have they tend to leave at home. Yes, Gaga stood up to Target, nobody in Nashville will stand up to anybody, for fear of being excommunicated by the cabal.
I'm not sure Yahoo is savable. Then again, they tend not to hand the keys to a woman on the first go-round. Then again, women are better consensus-builders. Better a woman than a man who's more interested in his pay package than the destiny of the company.
Yahoo is like a British Invasion band whose hits dried up and whose market share was usurped by more profitable upstarts. If only the company could go on a nostalgia tour, reaping bucks from people who remember the nineties, who'd buy merch and then go home self-satisfied. But there's no nostalgia in tech. Hell, you don't want to use the old Nokia that's stuffed in your drawer.
It's interesting that so many acts are women. But other than Monica Lynch, who worked at an indie, and Julie Greenwald, they've never gotten a top gig at a label. You see in music, women are second class citizens, it's a boys club.
But it's not like I can point to a woman who's been overlooked. Who's ready. Then again, Dolan did give the Madison Square Garden job to Melissa Ormond. Isn't it funny that the most hated man in New York is on the cutting edge of women's rights? Hell, he gave his wife a ton of power too.
But all upward mobility at the labels has stopped. It's all about turf protection now. In this game of musical chairs, if you didn't have power before, you're certainly not gonna get any now.
One can only hope that women will get a toehold in the new world. Built utilizing digital tools that too often the old men just don't understand.
But that will require not only street smarts and political efforts, but training.
Marissa Mayer did the hard work. She paid her dues at Google.
No one wants to pay their dues in music.
Which is why if they break through at all, they don't last. There are no underpinnings.
The longer it takes you to make it, the longer your victory lap.
Digital is a meritocracy. And if you've got no merit, you're never going to make it and maintain it.
As for those acts who complain they've got talent, paid their dues, all I can say is to wait, it takes longer than ever to get consensus, for everybody to agree you deserve attention. As for the old school top down marketing, sure, it might work in the short term, but the public is sophisticated, they know it's not real.
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First and foremost, Marissa Mayer is an engineer. A far cry from the contestants on "Idol" who can't write songs, the wannabes with no experience who believe they should be at the top of the pop chart. Hell, in music it's now less about individuality than submitting to the starmaking machinery. Rape me, remake me, I'll do anything to be famous.
Meanwhile, fame is overrated. And whatever power today's musical artists have they tend to leave at home. Yes, Gaga stood up to Target, nobody in Nashville will stand up to anybody, for fear of being excommunicated by the cabal.
I'm not sure Yahoo is savable. Then again, they tend not to hand the keys to a woman on the first go-round. Then again, women are better consensus-builders. Better a woman than a man who's more interested in his pay package than the destiny of the company.
Yahoo is like a British Invasion band whose hits dried up and whose market share was usurped by more profitable upstarts. If only the company could go on a nostalgia tour, reaping bucks from people who remember the nineties, who'd buy merch and then go home self-satisfied. But there's no nostalgia in tech. Hell, you don't want to use the old Nokia that's stuffed in your drawer.
It's interesting that so many acts are women. But other than Monica Lynch, who worked at an indie, and Julie Greenwald, they've never gotten a top gig at a label. You see in music, women are second class citizens, it's a boys club.
But it's not like I can point to a woman who's been overlooked. Who's ready. Then again, Dolan did give the Madison Square Garden job to Melissa Ormond. Isn't it funny that the most hated man in New York is on the cutting edge of women's rights? Hell, he gave his wife a ton of power too.
But all upward mobility at the labels has stopped. It's all about turf protection now. In this game of musical chairs, if you didn't have power before, you're certainly not gonna get any now.
One can only hope that women will get a toehold in the new world. Built utilizing digital tools that too often the old men just don't understand.
But that will require not only street smarts and political efforts, but training.
Marissa Mayer did the hard work. She paid her dues at Google.
No one wants to pay their dues in music.
Which is why if they break through at all, they don't last. There are no underpinnings.
The longer it takes you to make it, the longer your victory lap.
Digital is a meritocracy. And if you've got no merit, you're never going to make it and maintain it.
As for those acts who complain they've got talent, paid their dues, all I can say is to wait, it takes longer than ever to get consensus, for everybody to agree you deserve attention. As for the old school top down marketing, sure, it might work in the short term, but the public is sophisticated, they know it's not real.
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Sunday 15 July 2012
Chris Frantz Responds
From: Chris Frantz
Subject: Re-Lying
Greetings from France, Bob. I remember Larry Butler well. We visited many a radio station and record store together promoting Talking Heads. He's a good guy and I look forward to reading his book. Let me just say one thing about Tom Verlaine, though. I don't think Tom ever recommended any band to play CBGBs and certainly not Talking Heads. I was the one who approached Hilly on our band's behalf. As far as I know, Tom Verlaine has never done a single favor for anyone...not even himself.
Cheers,
Chris Frantz
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Subject: Re-Lying
Greetings from France, Bob. I remember Larry Butler well. We visited many a radio station and record store together promoting Talking Heads. He's a good guy and I look forward to reading his book. Let me just say one thing about Tom Verlaine, though. I don't think Tom ever recommended any band to play CBGBs and certainly not Talking Heads. I was the one who approached Hilly on our band's behalf. As far as I know, Tom Verlaine has never done a single favor for anyone...not even himself.
Cheers,
Chris Frantz
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Lying
"Lopez dumped from "Idol" after seeking raise to $17 million": http://yhoo.it/Nn40Fp
I'm reading Larry Butler's book. "Larry Butler, who's that?" Mr. Butler was an artist development guy at Warner Brothers forever, when it was still the WB we knew and loved. And before that he was a musician, he opened for the Stones! Well, I'm getting ahead of myself.
You see that's a story Larry tells in his book. It's full of nuggets. The basic concepts are not new, but it's a fun read, to find out Hilly Kristal was an unwitting beneficiary of Tom Verlaine's inability to find anywhere to feature Television. Yup, Verlaine asked Hilly to play at CBGB, a relatively dead bar, on a dead night, Monday, and Television played to the usual suspects, a dozen friends of the band. But amongst that group was a reporter for the "Village Voice". Who concocted the story that Liza Minnelli had been seen there, back when she actually was a scenester, and the venue filled up the following week. And eventually Hilly asked Tom if he knew of any other acts that could play. Tom said Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith...and the rest is history.
Yup, musicians have been lying forever. Hell, they're still lying! They tell me they've sold 100,000 independent albums. If you claim that number I figure you might have hit 1,000. And if you claim 10,000, I figure somewhere between 150 and 250. Yup, you trump it up and we don't believe it.
But it used to be the only outlets that printed this crap was "Rolling Stone" and the rest of the rock press, sycophants who wanted to hang with the band. But when you intersect with big time media, i.e. television, i.e. "American Idol"/Fox, you can't pull those low rent games anymore. And what's worse, there's a whole Internet spreading the word.
J. Lo asked for too much. And Tyler wasn't even made an offer. They're operating by old rules. They think if they keep repeating a story, it'll be true. But we live in a different culture today. You own your faults, your defeats, honesty is the only policy today, because the truth comes out online, especially if you're a star, if you're noteworthy.
Imagine if Tyler said THEY DON'T WANT ME ANYMORE! Rallied his troops in defiance of Fox. As for J. Lo, she completely flummoxes me, she's without musical talent and whatever fumes her musical career is running on were fanned by the damn show. Hell, she should have paid them to be on it.
I love the new world. Because the Net is a giant correction factor. Everything's up for grabs. Everybody can play. Sure, the demolition of the old edifice has its price, the plethora of wannabes who aren't good enough who clog up the pipe and make the scene damn near incomprehensible, but that's not gonna last forever. Meanwhile, the new game is coming. And, unfortunately, the wannabes are gonna be left out, expect them to cry.
As for Larry Butler's book... It's a whopping $2.99 at Amazon. Hell, if you're a member of Prime, you can read it for nothing. It only comes as a Kindle edition. You see Larry may be old, but his thinking is new. He was squeezed out of the old system and realizes that rather than pining about going back, to nowheresville, where he's unwanted, he's better off going into the wilderness and trying to find his way.
And I don't expect "The Twelve Lessons Of Rock 'N' Roll" (For Your Career And Your Life)" to burn up the chart, to turn Larry into a famous author, but he's making an effort, he's trying, only when you dive into new water can you find your next destination.
Butler's book: http://amzn.to/LT2cpk
P.S. It takes about an hour to read, it's a glorified magazine article, but if you lived through the era, you'll love the stories.
P.P.S. Larry can write. Most people can't. Just because you've got a story, that doesn't mean you've got a book, not that anybody can read.
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I'm reading Larry Butler's book. "Larry Butler, who's that?" Mr. Butler was an artist development guy at Warner Brothers forever, when it was still the WB we knew and loved. And before that he was a musician, he opened for the Stones! Well, I'm getting ahead of myself.
You see that's a story Larry tells in his book. It's full of nuggets. The basic concepts are not new, but it's a fun read, to find out Hilly Kristal was an unwitting beneficiary of Tom Verlaine's inability to find anywhere to feature Television. Yup, Verlaine asked Hilly to play at CBGB, a relatively dead bar, on a dead night, Monday, and Television played to the usual suspects, a dozen friends of the band. But amongst that group was a reporter for the "Village Voice". Who concocted the story that Liza Minnelli had been seen there, back when she actually was a scenester, and the venue filled up the following week. And eventually Hilly asked Tom if he knew of any other acts that could play. Tom said Blondie, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith...and the rest is history.
Yup, musicians have been lying forever. Hell, they're still lying! They tell me they've sold 100,000 independent albums. If you claim that number I figure you might have hit 1,000. And if you claim 10,000, I figure somewhere between 150 and 250. Yup, you trump it up and we don't believe it.
But it used to be the only outlets that printed this crap was "Rolling Stone" and the rest of the rock press, sycophants who wanted to hang with the band. But when you intersect with big time media, i.e. television, i.e. "American Idol"/Fox, you can't pull those low rent games anymore. And what's worse, there's a whole Internet spreading the word.
J. Lo asked for too much. And Tyler wasn't even made an offer. They're operating by old rules. They think if they keep repeating a story, it'll be true. But we live in a different culture today. You own your faults, your defeats, honesty is the only policy today, because the truth comes out online, especially if you're a star, if you're noteworthy.
Imagine if Tyler said THEY DON'T WANT ME ANYMORE! Rallied his troops in defiance of Fox. As for J. Lo, she completely flummoxes me, she's without musical talent and whatever fumes her musical career is running on were fanned by the damn show. Hell, she should have paid them to be on it.
I love the new world. Because the Net is a giant correction factor. Everything's up for grabs. Everybody can play. Sure, the demolition of the old edifice has its price, the plethora of wannabes who aren't good enough who clog up the pipe and make the scene damn near incomprehensible, but that's not gonna last forever. Meanwhile, the new game is coming. And, unfortunately, the wannabes are gonna be left out, expect them to cry.
As for Larry Butler's book... It's a whopping $2.99 at Amazon. Hell, if you're a member of Prime, you can read it for nothing. It only comes as a Kindle edition. You see Larry may be old, but his thinking is new. He was squeezed out of the old system and realizes that rather than pining about going back, to nowheresville, where he's unwanted, he's better off going into the wilderness and trying to find his way.
And I don't expect "The Twelve Lessons Of Rock 'N' Roll" (For Your Career And Your Life)" to burn up the chart, to turn Larry into a famous author, but he's making an effort, he's trying, only when you dive into new water can you find your next destination.
Butler's book: http://amzn.to/LT2cpk
P.S. It takes about an hour to read, it's a glorified magazine article, but if you lived through the era, you'll love the stories.
P.P.S. Larry can write. Most people can't. Just because you've got a story, that doesn't mean you've got a book, not that anybody can read.
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