JIM McMAHON
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/11834/index.htm
HE can't remember his Super Bowl victory, not me. I mean come on, I'm gonna forget Refrigerator Perry?!
Once upon a time, mainstream media reached everybody, not only the seven o'clock news, but "Time," "Newsweek" and "Sports Illustrated." Now SI puts Jim McMahon on its cover, with a lengthy article about his football-induced dementia, and almost no one gets the memo.
As for reading the story, you can't, unless you're a subscriber. Put your stuff behind a paywall and you might make some shekels, but you're killing virality. And you need virality to grow.
Speaking of virality, I read the McMahon article at the doctor's office. And it stuck with me for days thereafter. I couldn't help but write about it, I've been talking about it ever since.
As for McMahon's inability to remember his Super Bowl victory, I read that previously. The point being today it's about the cumulative effect. One promotional/publicity point has no impact. You've got to stay in the game, pardon the pun. As for front-loaded publicity, where you blow your wad all at once... That's even easier to ignore and put down, because people can see the manipulation. The public knows if it keeps on hearing about you, then you might be real. you've got a chance. Kind of like "Gone Girl." I ignored the initial hype, but when I kept hearing about it I was intrigued. But I didn't buy it until I read the word "literary" attached to it. Well, then I downloaded the sample chapter, got hooked and bought it. Even Amazon knows it's about giving a taste, selling art like drugs.
P.S. The McMahon story has now been posted online for free. Read it: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1205982/index.htm
JOHN MELLENCAMP
In case you don't know, he credits himself as "Little Bastard" on his LPs. And he wrote a piece on the HuffPo the other day:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mellencamp/online-piracy-search-engines_b_2018332.html
There's something about the guy that's incredibly off-putting. As if you touched him he'd writhe in pain. He's prickly.
Now I liked a lot of his music. I give him credit for not repeating himself, taking chances artistically. But if you're going to comment on tech, you have to be better informed. Otherwise, you're just made fun of or ignored.
As for the article, it's almost too long to read.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
I hate his fans more than the man.
But I do deplore his groveling in front of them.
But the Boss gets an undue amount of press. I hate to sound like a Republican bitching about the left wing liberal media, but it's the same thing. Most people don't care about Bruce Springsteen. Hell, Meat Loaf endorsing Romney got more ink than the Boss appearing with Clinton. Then again, not many rockers endorse Republicans.
LADY GAGA
She's selling religion. The music is only an entrance point. People need something to believe in, and she's it. Bieber is just hormonal mania, puppy love. But in a world full of bullying and blind alleys, Gaga is someone you can attach yourself to, hold up as a beacon. This is the way all rock stars used to be. Before Jon Bon Jovi started shilling for Avon:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/52896-avon-jon-bon-jovi-face-of-his-hers-unplugged-fragrances
JOHN LENNON
"I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I Ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality"
My friend Larry Solters was the PR guy for Ticketmaster during the Pearl Jam debacle. Solters told the brass you can't win by attacking the acts.
And you can't. Because they're the repository of all the hopes and dreams of their fans.
Face it, life is rough. It doesn't work out the way you want it to. You're too broke, too unhealthy and without the love you desire.
But these acts... They're singing from their heart. You listen to their music and you forget your problems. You go to the show and you feel life is worth living.
So criticize the acts at your peril.
The point I'm making is acts have a responsibility. To quote the old bard, to live outside the law you've got to be honest. First and foremost, you've got to want to live outside the law, that's why you become an artist, because you just can't play the game, you just can't handle the b.s., you think it's a joke. But once you go down the road less traveled, you've got to stay on it. You can't suddenly want to work 9 to 5, have a guaranteed income and a pension. You've got a responsibility to your fans.
But most acts don't have fans. These issues never come into play.
Then there are giants, like John Lennon. He won the lottery, he lived the dream. But what he's saying in "God" is it doesn't work, it's not what it's cracked up to be, everybody is equal, follow your own dreams, have faith in yourself.
But people are sheep. Rather than expand their minds, they'd rather just follow someone else, blindly.
Better to follow Lennon and Dylan than charlatans, but just think of the power of those with huge fan bases. Just think what they can achieve.
Then think how hollow the exercise usually is. That life is so sad that people refuse to think for themselves, to confront their demons.
If you're not questioning authority, if you're not thinking outside of the box, you're not an innovator, but a follower. The more you grow your gangs and stand on your soapbox the more the true revolutionaries ignore you. Did Steve Jobs compromise? Neil Young rarely has. And isn't it interesting that Neil Young still has an audience when so many of his contemporaries do not.
Artists are true to themselves.
But fame is a game. Oftentimes manipulated by men you can't see. Making you believe in flesh and blood that oftentimes has no more insight than you do.
Question your heroes. Push them to greatness. Know that your belief must be earned.
And if you're starting down the path of stardom know that wealth and fame do not solve a human being's problems. You can be just as lonely and at loose ends as a rock star as you can as a homeless person. Therefore, the work must keep you warm, must keep you happy. Just doing it must be enough.
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Saturday 27 October 2012
Friday 26 October 2012
Where Are They Now?
Kara DioGuardi
TV can give you exposure but it doesn't breed fans. A couple of years later, it's like she wasn't even on. If you're not leveraging your TV exposure for another facet of your career, if you're on TV as an end unto itself, you're close to the end. Just wait for cancellation or the termination of your contract. An analogue is Charlie Sheen. He's only good as a TV star, he can't go back on the road, his cable show gets him paid but he's fallen off the radar screen, he's never on TMZ or Radar. Charlie made the mistake of not knowing who he was. And not knowing that everybody's got a boss. Hell, that's the goal of being a rock star, to have no boss, which is why when you whore yourself out to corporations, you're in trouble. A rock star's only boss is his audience. And when done right, your audience follows you, just ask Neil Young.
Tommy Mottola
Without other people's money, he's a footnote.
Jimmy Ray
This was back before the twenty first century, before we realized that video and radio exposure could be truly here today and gone tomorrow. No one was invested in Jimmy Ray. He was like a cheeseburger, inhaled and then pooped. And not a good one at that.
Paula Abdul
Being famous for being famous doesn't pay that well. Certainly once you're past your peak. Just ask Paris Hilton. (As for Kim Kardashian...just because she got her ass through the door, don't think it hasn't shut closed, that this paradigm isn't dead.) Abdul's always looking for someone else to make her a deal. Today's rock stars are their own corporations. If you're looking for someone else to give you a check, you're barely different from Paula Abdul. As for the starmakers who created her public persona... Jordan Harris hasn't been heard from in eons, and even Jeff Ayeroff has faded into the woodwork.
Macaulay Culkin
His only press is emaciated pictures and rumors that he's dying. If you think you want to be a child actor, just look at him, he was the biggest.
Lyor Cohen
One day everybody hangs on every word, the next day no one is even listening. Is there a place for Lyor Cohen in today's music business? Probably not, because there's not enough money in it. If he wants to become a manager to prove a point, he could possibly do this. But finding a hit act to manage, one that pays your bills, is harder than getting a job running a major label.
Bob Pittman
A survivor. The exception to the rule. The man who takes undeserved credit and burnishes his reputation such that those with no clue give him another opportunity. Then again, what's the expiration date on Clear Channel, with that debt load?
Mel Karmazin
Done. He who pays wins. And cash is king. Malone rescued Sirius XM and Karmazin was too stupid to know that they were adversaries, not friends, that they didn't share the same agenda, that Malone was in control. Malone is in control of Live Nation, not Irving or Rapino. What Malone says goes. Because money talks. Artists have ultimate power, but money goes a long way, as long as one doesn't equate it with visibility. The press is fascinated by the rich, and the wealthy dumb play along. If you're winning with your cash, stay out of the news. In other words, Ron Burkle is a paper tiger, he's never gonna be a force in the music business.
Bon Jovi
Selling nostalgia. He's too afraid to be edgy, so he's on the scrapheap.
Bruce Springsteen
Only the fans care. Because he gave up his mystery. Once upon a time Bruce was the repository of all our darkness, our pain and frustration. If he's still that guy, he won't show it. Now he's the ringmaster, the court jester, it's all about sheen and no substance. And if you're arguing with me I feel sorry for you, it means your head is so buried in your own crap that you can't dispassionately see the landscape. Keep your day job, because you'll never be a bigwig. Winners know when to leave their passion at the door. That's businessmen, artists are all about passion. No passion, no artistry.
Tom Wolfe
Spends nearly a decade writing a book that is essentially dead on arrival. Reviews might not mean anything in music, barely more in film, but in literature, they're everything, because it takes so long to read a damn book! Wolfe missed the memo. Who he once was is king once again. He should be writing a constant stream of essays, being in front of your audience is everything today.
Warner Brothers Records
Home to the artist through every generation until the last one, now remade in the Atlantic image it's the home of evanescent hits. Only it hasn't got any. It's too late to resuscitate it and it can't be merged with Atlantic, not yet anyway, it's in a death spiral.
EMI
What a joke. If you don't think it's just a matter of time before it's folded into another Universal label, you're still getting a paycheck from MCA, or Polygram.
Jerry Seinfeld
Stay in the public eye long enough and the truth is revealed. Larry David was the talent. Jerry's losing cred every day. If you think his talking in cars videos were worth watching, you're probably still playing video games on your Nintendo Entertainment System.
Diamond Rio
In tech, there is a first mover advantage. But to win, you've got to double down, constantly invest, continue to lead, or you die. Like Pandora.
Nokia
Do you know anybody with a Nokia phone? Those who've still got 'em aren't admitting it.
The People Saying The Web Is Bad
Probably hanging with those who hated Alexander Graham Bell's invention. The Web is here to stay. And only ignorant bastards like John Mellencamp are too stupid to realize it's not 2003 anymore, and that if you're fighting piracy, if you're looking to Google for cash, you've never used Spotify, you don't realize music is free on Windows 8 and you didn't read Google's numbers and don't know mobile is a huge threat to the company. If you're not living in tomorrow, you've got no chance today.
Rolling Stones
On a victory lap where people truly hope someone dies on stage. It's akin to Nascar, people watch to see the crashes. Then again, there's a healthy dose of nostalgia for an era so long ago that even the Stones can't replicate those tunes, never mind the energy. If the press were smart, they'd ignore the story. But the press is dumb.
Jim McMahon
Can't remember his Super Bowl victory. If you don't think football is gonna go extinct, rather soon, you still think people know who the heavyweight champion is and you've got no idea what percentage of kids play soccer.
Sarah Palin
The laugh is on us. She and her family got rich. The more you bitched how ignorant she was, the fatter her wallet became. Now even Fox doesn't want her, but she doesn't care! She's lived the American Dream!
MySpace
The new can go extinct. Hell, just watch Zynga!
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TV can give you exposure but it doesn't breed fans. A couple of years later, it's like she wasn't even on. If you're not leveraging your TV exposure for another facet of your career, if you're on TV as an end unto itself, you're close to the end. Just wait for cancellation or the termination of your contract. An analogue is Charlie Sheen. He's only good as a TV star, he can't go back on the road, his cable show gets him paid but he's fallen off the radar screen, he's never on TMZ or Radar. Charlie made the mistake of not knowing who he was. And not knowing that everybody's got a boss. Hell, that's the goal of being a rock star, to have no boss, which is why when you whore yourself out to corporations, you're in trouble. A rock star's only boss is his audience. And when done right, your audience follows you, just ask Neil Young.
Tommy Mottola
Without other people's money, he's a footnote.
Jimmy Ray
This was back before the twenty first century, before we realized that video and radio exposure could be truly here today and gone tomorrow. No one was invested in Jimmy Ray. He was like a cheeseburger, inhaled and then pooped. And not a good one at that.
Paula Abdul
Being famous for being famous doesn't pay that well. Certainly once you're past your peak. Just ask Paris Hilton. (As for Kim Kardashian...just because she got her ass through the door, don't think it hasn't shut closed, that this paradigm isn't dead.) Abdul's always looking for someone else to make her a deal. Today's rock stars are their own corporations. If you're looking for someone else to give you a check, you're barely different from Paula Abdul. As for the starmakers who created her public persona... Jordan Harris hasn't been heard from in eons, and even Jeff Ayeroff has faded into the woodwork.
Macaulay Culkin
His only press is emaciated pictures and rumors that he's dying. If you think you want to be a child actor, just look at him, he was the biggest.
Lyor Cohen
One day everybody hangs on every word, the next day no one is even listening. Is there a place for Lyor Cohen in today's music business? Probably not, because there's not enough money in it. If he wants to become a manager to prove a point, he could possibly do this. But finding a hit act to manage, one that pays your bills, is harder than getting a job running a major label.
Bob Pittman
A survivor. The exception to the rule. The man who takes undeserved credit and burnishes his reputation such that those with no clue give him another opportunity. Then again, what's the expiration date on Clear Channel, with that debt load?
Mel Karmazin
Done. He who pays wins. And cash is king. Malone rescued Sirius XM and Karmazin was too stupid to know that they were adversaries, not friends, that they didn't share the same agenda, that Malone was in control. Malone is in control of Live Nation, not Irving or Rapino. What Malone says goes. Because money talks. Artists have ultimate power, but money goes a long way, as long as one doesn't equate it with visibility. The press is fascinated by the rich, and the wealthy dumb play along. If you're winning with your cash, stay out of the news. In other words, Ron Burkle is a paper tiger, he's never gonna be a force in the music business.
Bon Jovi
Selling nostalgia. He's too afraid to be edgy, so he's on the scrapheap.
Bruce Springsteen
Only the fans care. Because he gave up his mystery. Once upon a time Bruce was the repository of all our darkness, our pain and frustration. If he's still that guy, he won't show it. Now he's the ringmaster, the court jester, it's all about sheen and no substance. And if you're arguing with me I feel sorry for you, it means your head is so buried in your own crap that you can't dispassionately see the landscape. Keep your day job, because you'll never be a bigwig. Winners know when to leave their passion at the door. That's businessmen, artists are all about passion. No passion, no artistry.
Tom Wolfe
Spends nearly a decade writing a book that is essentially dead on arrival. Reviews might not mean anything in music, barely more in film, but in literature, they're everything, because it takes so long to read a damn book! Wolfe missed the memo. Who he once was is king once again. He should be writing a constant stream of essays, being in front of your audience is everything today.
Warner Brothers Records
Home to the artist through every generation until the last one, now remade in the Atlantic image it's the home of evanescent hits. Only it hasn't got any. It's too late to resuscitate it and it can't be merged with Atlantic, not yet anyway, it's in a death spiral.
EMI
What a joke. If you don't think it's just a matter of time before it's folded into another Universal label, you're still getting a paycheck from MCA, or Polygram.
Jerry Seinfeld
Stay in the public eye long enough and the truth is revealed. Larry David was the talent. Jerry's losing cred every day. If you think his talking in cars videos were worth watching, you're probably still playing video games on your Nintendo Entertainment System.
Diamond Rio
In tech, there is a first mover advantage. But to win, you've got to double down, constantly invest, continue to lead, or you die. Like Pandora.
Nokia
Do you know anybody with a Nokia phone? Those who've still got 'em aren't admitting it.
The People Saying The Web Is Bad
Probably hanging with those who hated Alexander Graham Bell's invention. The Web is here to stay. And only ignorant bastards like John Mellencamp are too stupid to realize it's not 2003 anymore, and that if you're fighting piracy, if you're looking to Google for cash, you've never used Spotify, you don't realize music is free on Windows 8 and you didn't read Google's numbers and don't know mobile is a huge threat to the company. If you're not living in tomorrow, you've got no chance today.
Rolling Stones
On a victory lap where people truly hope someone dies on stage. It's akin to Nascar, people watch to see the crashes. Then again, there's a healthy dose of nostalgia for an era so long ago that even the Stones can't replicate those tunes, never mind the energy. If the press were smart, they'd ignore the story. But the press is dumb.
Jim McMahon
Can't remember his Super Bowl victory. If you don't think football is gonna go extinct, rather soon, you still think people know who the heavyweight champion is and you've got no idea what percentage of kids play soccer.
Sarah Palin
The laugh is on us. She and her family got rich. The more you bitched how ignorant she was, the fatter her wallet became. Now even Fox doesn't want her, but she doesn't care! She's lived the American Dream!
MySpace
The new can go extinct. Hell, just watch Zynga!
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Wednesday 24 October 2012
Sales-Week Ending 10/21/12
1. Jason Aldean "Night Train"
Sales this week: 409,303
Debut
Country is about careers. The artists may not write their own songs, but they've got personalities and are positively three dimensional. Unlike in pop, it's about the act, not the track. Which is why these country albums debut so high. Granted, they only continue to sell with radio hits, but the big stars rarely falter, their handlers make sure the songs are great.
Unlike the "world domination" pop stars, country acts are satisfied speaking to their core, they need no one more. Which begs the question whether country will forget about Taylor Swift after she has gone pop. This is what happened with Shania Twain. Country needs to own you, it doesn't want to share you. Then again, Taylor Swift has become the voice of her generation. Deservedly so, based on her honest, confessional songs of the past. As for this new album, can you believe how quickly "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" burned out? Top Forty radio, unlike its country cousin, is not loyal. If callout isn't spectacular, if they sense a shift in the winds, they drop you. In other words, play in the Top Forty world at your peril.
2. Mumford & Sons "Babel"
Sales this week: 73,583
Weeks on: 4
Percentage change: -23
Cume: 938,380
Justin Bieber's album "Believe" has been on the charts for 18 weeks and has sold 945,560 copies (14,043 this week, it's number 24 on the chart.) In other words, there are more Mumford fans than Beliebers. Think about that for a minute. Despite all the hoopla, all the press, all the reams of publicity, Bieber is being outsold by a group with no hunks, almost no identifiable players, making music most people still have not heard. The future is with Mumford, not Bieber. Publicity does not pay. Airplay, sales and touring do. And the goal is to be able to do it as long as possible. Which is usually based on not only hits, but credibility. Mumford is hiding in plain sight. The teen phenoms and the oldsters get all the publicity, but it's Mumford who's winning.
4. Scotty McCreery "Christmas With Scotty"
Sales this week: 40,786
Debut
How cynical can you get. Usually Christmas albums are a victory lap after a significant career, a rip-off of fans too dedicated to say no. You might say this proves "Idol" still has power, I'll say it's more about country than "Idol" but I'll also say Scotty McCreery still doesn't have a career. Hell, a goose could fart Christmas carols and have a successful holiday album. This is meaningless.
Then again, the powers that be will do their best to help Scotty sustain. The infrastructure has much more power in country.
5. Jamey Johnson "Livin' For A Song"
Sales this week: 32,028
Debut
Impressive number, but expect this to fall off the chart instantly.
I'm not sure why Jamey took this left turn now, covering someone else's songs... Jamey is one step away from breaking through. He's the new Steve Earle, the new Ryan Adams...then again, country didn't know what to do with those "outlaws."
Really, Jamey's rock and roll.
But rock and roll is now spandex and shoegazers, but if only the audience could hear Jamey, they'd embrace him.
6. Pink "Truth About Love"
Sales this week: 31,073
Weeks on: 5
Percentage change: -15
Cume: 493,716
Singer or circus performer, you decide.
At least Madonna knew not to repeat herself. To quote the latest issue of "The New York Review Of Books":
"One thinks of Picasso's belief that the most dangerous trap facing the artist is the temptation to repeat himself; even plagiarism, he claimed, was preferable to repetition."
Innovate or die. In music as well as tech.
10. Metalocalypse: Dethklok "Dethalbum III"
Sales this week: 19,513
Debut
And who says TV no longer sells albums, ha!
Then again, cartoon characters are much more honest and three dimensional than most humans these days. In other words, there's more truth on "The Simpsons" than there is on a sitcom.
12. Donald Fagen "Sunken Condos"
Sales this week: 18,007
Debut
I bet you didn't even know this came out.
Oh what a difference a decade makes.
We were waiting for new Steely Dan music and now most people have no idea Fagen is making new music.
Just because you were someone once, it doesn't mean you're anybody today, other than a has-been who can play your own hits.
None of the ancients can sell a record. Because they just aren't hungry enough. They just want to bitch that the old days are through.
Forget albums you oldsters. Just cut one track so good it will go viral amongst your constituency.
But you won't do this. You keep talking about the "album," the statement, the cover, the vinyl, the way it used to be. You're still waiting for a deejay to embrace you when your audience listens to talk radio if they listen at all.
Just go on the road and play your hits and forget it.
Or social network and work two hundred days a year and open for Dave Matthews and try to gain a new audience.
But this is anathema to you.
14. Kiss "Monster"
Sales this week: 16,989
Weeks on: 2
Percentage change: -70
Cume: 73,384
Why?
If Gene Simmons were so damn smart, if he truly wanted to be relevant, he'd hook up with Dr. Luke or Max Martin. Hell, Kiss cut a disco track, they could get away with selling out. Gene's not making any money here, and it's not helping him sell tickets, what he needs is a hit, to draw attention to the band, to go on another victory lap. But Gene is too smart to listen, he knows everything.
17. Muse "2nd Law"
Sales this week: 16,653
Weeks on: 3
Percentage change: -46
Cume: 150,008
Bad buzz. The audience thinks they've changed.
26. Ellie Goulding "Halcyon"
Sales this week: 13,853
Weeks on: 2
Percentage change: -59
Cume: 48,016
The new Lana Del Rey. With more cred but less catchy material. Interscope specializes in this, trying to break seemingly credible artists through media manipulation. Laura Marling will be around longer and mean more. I mean when I read about you more than I hear your music, that's a problem.
32. Green Day "Uno!"
Sales this week: 12,988
Weeks on: 4
Percentage change: -16
Cume: 196,908
Speaking of a tsunami of press. How many times did we hear there were gonna be three albums? Turns out most people don't even care about one!
If Green Day were smart, and they're not, they'd realize they're now old, despite playing punk-influenced music. And when you're old, you're no longer flavor of the moment, kids don't care. So if you want to be relevant, you create an event. An event for an old act is a Broadway play. Yup, Green Day and the rest of the ancient should focus on legitimate theatre. Creating a work of art that stands alone that debuts on the Great White Way or Vegas or Branson. Let the people come to you. A play doesn't go stale, it's not forgotten, people still talk about it because you have to go to it, you plan ahead, therefore your new project lasts and lasts instead of falling off.
If the Eagles wanted to be relevant? They'd write a musical. Hell, about the Hotel California or politics or who knows what.
And the rest of the classic rockers should follow this paradigm too. This way, with a play, when you give it your best shot it doesn't die overnight. And if it does fail on Broadway, when you tour it at least people will expect new music.
This is perfect for Bon Jovi. Six months on Broadway doing the play and then the road for years. That way people will be interested in the new music, the fans will show up and overpay, it will be a great victory. But like all the rest of the classic rock acts, Bon Jovi is chasing dollars today at the expense of both relevance and its career tomorrow.
Then again, at least Bon Jovi has a career.
34. Ben Gibbard "Former Lives"
Sales this week: 12,192
Debut
Who?
Phil Collins may have broken out from Genesis but he made a great album.
Stay with the group. Metallica has this one right.
It's hard enough to have traction today, you don't want to dilute your essence.
Then again, speaking of former lives, if he could only get Zooey to feature his songs in her TV show...
37. Van Morrison "Born To Sing: No Plan B"
Sales this week: 11,654
Percentage change: -31
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 57,983
If Van the Man would come down off his high horse, interact with his audience, be accessible, never mind know who his fans are, he could sell a whole hell of a lot more than this.
He's burned his fans so many times it's ridiculous. Bad albums, overpriced shows where he played obscure material...
But people still have faith in him, they still think he can deliver.
I'll let you decide if he did here. But by detaching himself from his audience he's working with one hand behind his back.
46. No Doubt "Push & Shove"
Sales this week: 8,629
Percentage change: -25
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 160,733
If you come back, you've got to be better than great.
Word on the street is this album just isn't that good. Kind of like the Stones track, a monetary exercise to sell other 50th Anniversary crap. If it's not "Jumpin' Jack Flash," never mind "Start Me Up," why do we need it? We clicked to hear it on YouTube, and to the degree that track whose name we've already forgotten went viral was to tell all our friends how much we were disappointed.
47. Mika "Origin Of Love"
Sales this week: 8,518
Debut
A disaster.
If he had any fans, he didn't know how to reach them.
You're building a community. And press and even a hit track or two will barely help you do this. Dave Matthews lets everybody know he's got a new album and he has a high debut, despite most people thinking he makes crummy music and he gets little airplay... But Dave knows it's about the fans. (Meanwhile, DMB has sold 413,356 albums in 6 weeks, "Away From The World" is number 36 on the chart...a far cry from the old days, but pretty damn good today.)
51. Trey Anastasio "Traveler"
Sales this week: 7,741
Debut
Shouldn't he just be giving this away?
His audience trades live MP3s and he's saving it up for a studio album release?
Trey should do a live gig with Gary Clark, Jr. and give it away, put it up on Spotify for people to stumble upon.
Trey should make even more music.
Only the truly faithful care. Let them separate the wheat from the chaff, let us know what the rest of us should spend time with.
______________________________________
It only gets worse from here. Oldsters selling compilation albums and youngsters selling close to nothing.
Why is everybody still clinging to a dying model?
Unless you're creating an event, like a Broadway play, you've got to get in the flow and be constantly creating, constantly releasing. While you're home polishing the turd, your audience has forgotten you, they can't even find you, they don't even know you've got a new album out.
Set your sights really damn low. Forget about press, forget about radio. Just focus on building and satiating your audience.
The only metric that counts is your bank account. Can you give up your day job? Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have health insurance? Once you've got those, focus on music. Keep making it and playing it. Keep yourself interested as opposed to selling the same damn thing, burning out your fans in the hope of finding someone new to love you. Your fans are the direct route to more listeners! Give them ammunition. Give them intriguing material. Give them a great show. Hits are irrelevant if you deliver live.
The entire music business is up for grabs. But because Lucian Grainge and Universal and Live Nation and AEG get so much ink you think it's the same as it ever was, but it's not even close to that!
If you're in it for the money, give up, there's just not enough of it. Become a banker, go into tech. If you're not in it for the tunes, now's not the time to play music, because oftentimes that's all you've got, the music itself. You've got to love to play, even if nobody is listening.
Music costs almost nothing to make and nothing to distribute. And if you think otherwise you're trying to create radio masterpieces that will never hit the airwaves anyway. Don't strive for perfection, strive for magic. Hell, if Springsteen cut one track in his bedroom tonight, an acoustic paean to his wife or a comment on the election, we'd light up the Interwebs spreading the word about his honesty, catching lightning in a bottle, tomorrow. Instead, every couple of years the Boss puts out another album like "Magic" that gets a ton of ink that almost no one listens to that fades away almost instantly upon release. This is death, not life.
You're a troubadour. A gunslinger. If you don't have a personality, you're never gonna make it. Hell, we care more about Taylor Swift's romances than the songs herself. She's running around naked emotionally and you're busy running around naked physically. The latter is a train-wreck that might garner some eyeballs but it's the former we're truly interested in.
Don't think fame, think life. Think emotion. Think soul.
If some of the most successful artists of all time can barely dent this chart, what makes you believe you can?
But those artists are playing the old game. One complete album of dreck every couple of years when even ten year olds are overbooked and challenged for time.
It's a land of opportunity out there. Instead of complaining you can't win, reinvent the wheel, do it your way, truly be creative. Take chances. If they don't work, pick yourself up and do something new the following week! Wear your failures as a badge of honor. Keep striving for excellence.
Don't be like everybody else.
The greats never were.
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Sales this week: 409,303
Debut
Country is about careers. The artists may not write their own songs, but they've got personalities and are positively three dimensional. Unlike in pop, it's about the act, not the track. Which is why these country albums debut so high. Granted, they only continue to sell with radio hits, but the big stars rarely falter, their handlers make sure the songs are great.
Unlike the "world domination" pop stars, country acts are satisfied speaking to their core, they need no one more. Which begs the question whether country will forget about Taylor Swift after she has gone pop. This is what happened with Shania Twain. Country needs to own you, it doesn't want to share you. Then again, Taylor Swift has become the voice of her generation. Deservedly so, based on her honest, confessional songs of the past. As for this new album, can you believe how quickly "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" burned out? Top Forty radio, unlike its country cousin, is not loyal. If callout isn't spectacular, if they sense a shift in the winds, they drop you. In other words, play in the Top Forty world at your peril.
2. Mumford & Sons "Babel"
Sales this week: 73,583
Weeks on: 4
Percentage change: -23
Cume: 938,380
Justin Bieber's album "Believe" has been on the charts for 18 weeks and has sold 945,560 copies (14,043 this week, it's number 24 on the chart.) In other words, there are more Mumford fans than Beliebers. Think about that for a minute. Despite all the hoopla, all the press, all the reams of publicity, Bieber is being outsold by a group with no hunks, almost no identifiable players, making music most people still have not heard. The future is with Mumford, not Bieber. Publicity does not pay. Airplay, sales and touring do. And the goal is to be able to do it as long as possible. Which is usually based on not only hits, but credibility. Mumford is hiding in plain sight. The teen phenoms and the oldsters get all the publicity, but it's Mumford who's winning.
4. Scotty McCreery "Christmas With Scotty"
Sales this week: 40,786
Debut
How cynical can you get. Usually Christmas albums are a victory lap after a significant career, a rip-off of fans too dedicated to say no. You might say this proves "Idol" still has power, I'll say it's more about country than "Idol" but I'll also say Scotty McCreery still doesn't have a career. Hell, a goose could fart Christmas carols and have a successful holiday album. This is meaningless.
Then again, the powers that be will do their best to help Scotty sustain. The infrastructure has much more power in country.
5. Jamey Johnson "Livin' For A Song"
Sales this week: 32,028
Debut
Impressive number, but expect this to fall off the chart instantly.
I'm not sure why Jamey took this left turn now, covering someone else's songs... Jamey is one step away from breaking through. He's the new Steve Earle, the new Ryan Adams...then again, country didn't know what to do with those "outlaws."
Really, Jamey's rock and roll.
But rock and roll is now spandex and shoegazers, but if only the audience could hear Jamey, they'd embrace him.
6. Pink "Truth About Love"
Sales this week: 31,073
Weeks on: 5
Percentage change: -15
Cume: 493,716
Singer or circus performer, you decide.
At least Madonna knew not to repeat herself. To quote the latest issue of "The New York Review Of Books":
"One thinks of Picasso's belief that the most dangerous trap facing the artist is the temptation to repeat himself; even plagiarism, he claimed, was preferable to repetition."
Innovate or die. In music as well as tech.
10. Metalocalypse: Dethklok "Dethalbum III"
Sales this week: 19,513
Debut
And who says TV no longer sells albums, ha!
Then again, cartoon characters are much more honest and three dimensional than most humans these days. In other words, there's more truth on "The Simpsons" than there is on a sitcom.
12. Donald Fagen "Sunken Condos"
Sales this week: 18,007
Debut
I bet you didn't even know this came out.
Oh what a difference a decade makes.
We were waiting for new Steely Dan music and now most people have no idea Fagen is making new music.
Just because you were someone once, it doesn't mean you're anybody today, other than a has-been who can play your own hits.
None of the ancients can sell a record. Because they just aren't hungry enough. They just want to bitch that the old days are through.
Forget albums you oldsters. Just cut one track so good it will go viral amongst your constituency.
But you won't do this. You keep talking about the "album," the statement, the cover, the vinyl, the way it used to be. You're still waiting for a deejay to embrace you when your audience listens to talk radio if they listen at all.
Just go on the road and play your hits and forget it.
Or social network and work two hundred days a year and open for Dave Matthews and try to gain a new audience.
But this is anathema to you.
14. Kiss "Monster"
Sales this week: 16,989
Weeks on: 2
Percentage change: -70
Cume: 73,384
Why?
If Gene Simmons were so damn smart, if he truly wanted to be relevant, he'd hook up with Dr. Luke or Max Martin. Hell, Kiss cut a disco track, they could get away with selling out. Gene's not making any money here, and it's not helping him sell tickets, what he needs is a hit, to draw attention to the band, to go on another victory lap. But Gene is too smart to listen, he knows everything.
17. Muse "2nd Law"
Sales this week: 16,653
Weeks on: 3
Percentage change: -46
Cume: 150,008
Bad buzz. The audience thinks they've changed.
26. Ellie Goulding "Halcyon"
Sales this week: 13,853
Weeks on: 2
Percentage change: -59
Cume: 48,016
The new Lana Del Rey. With more cred but less catchy material. Interscope specializes in this, trying to break seemingly credible artists through media manipulation. Laura Marling will be around longer and mean more. I mean when I read about you more than I hear your music, that's a problem.
32. Green Day "Uno!"
Sales this week: 12,988
Weeks on: 4
Percentage change: -16
Cume: 196,908
Speaking of a tsunami of press. How many times did we hear there were gonna be three albums? Turns out most people don't even care about one!
If Green Day were smart, and they're not, they'd realize they're now old, despite playing punk-influenced music. And when you're old, you're no longer flavor of the moment, kids don't care. So if you want to be relevant, you create an event. An event for an old act is a Broadway play. Yup, Green Day and the rest of the ancient should focus on legitimate theatre. Creating a work of art that stands alone that debuts on the Great White Way or Vegas or Branson. Let the people come to you. A play doesn't go stale, it's not forgotten, people still talk about it because you have to go to it, you plan ahead, therefore your new project lasts and lasts instead of falling off.
If the Eagles wanted to be relevant? They'd write a musical. Hell, about the Hotel California or politics or who knows what.
And the rest of the classic rockers should follow this paradigm too. This way, with a play, when you give it your best shot it doesn't die overnight. And if it does fail on Broadway, when you tour it at least people will expect new music.
This is perfect for Bon Jovi. Six months on Broadway doing the play and then the road for years. That way people will be interested in the new music, the fans will show up and overpay, it will be a great victory. But like all the rest of the classic rock acts, Bon Jovi is chasing dollars today at the expense of both relevance and its career tomorrow.
Then again, at least Bon Jovi has a career.
34. Ben Gibbard "Former Lives"
Sales this week: 12,192
Debut
Who?
Phil Collins may have broken out from Genesis but he made a great album.
Stay with the group. Metallica has this one right.
It's hard enough to have traction today, you don't want to dilute your essence.
Then again, speaking of former lives, if he could only get Zooey to feature his songs in her TV show...
37. Van Morrison "Born To Sing: No Plan B"
Sales this week: 11,654
Percentage change: -31
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 57,983
If Van the Man would come down off his high horse, interact with his audience, be accessible, never mind know who his fans are, he could sell a whole hell of a lot more than this.
He's burned his fans so many times it's ridiculous. Bad albums, overpriced shows where he played obscure material...
But people still have faith in him, they still think he can deliver.
I'll let you decide if he did here. But by detaching himself from his audience he's working with one hand behind his back.
46. No Doubt "Push & Shove"
Sales this week: 8,629
Percentage change: -25
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 160,733
If you come back, you've got to be better than great.
Word on the street is this album just isn't that good. Kind of like the Stones track, a monetary exercise to sell other 50th Anniversary crap. If it's not "Jumpin' Jack Flash," never mind "Start Me Up," why do we need it? We clicked to hear it on YouTube, and to the degree that track whose name we've already forgotten went viral was to tell all our friends how much we were disappointed.
47. Mika "Origin Of Love"
Sales this week: 8,518
Debut
A disaster.
If he had any fans, he didn't know how to reach them.
You're building a community. And press and even a hit track or two will barely help you do this. Dave Matthews lets everybody know he's got a new album and he has a high debut, despite most people thinking he makes crummy music and he gets little airplay... But Dave knows it's about the fans. (Meanwhile, DMB has sold 413,356 albums in 6 weeks, "Away From The World" is number 36 on the chart...a far cry from the old days, but pretty damn good today.)
51. Trey Anastasio "Traveler"
Sales this week: 7,741
Debut
Shouldn't he just be giving this away?
His audience trades live MP3s and he's saving it up for a studio album release?
Trey should do a live gig with Gary Clark, Jr. and give it away, put it up on Spotify for people to stumble upon.
Trey should make even more music.
Only the truly faithful care. Let them separate the wheat from the chaff, let us know what the rest of us should spend time with.
______________________________________
It only gets worse from here. Oldsters selling compilation albums and youngsters selling close to nothing.
Why is everybody still clinging to a dying model?
Unless you're creating an event, like a Broadway play, you've got to get in the flow and be constantly creating, constantly releasing. While you're home polishing the turd, your audience has forgotten you, they can't even find you, they don't even know you've got a new album out.
Set your sights really damn low. Forget about press, forget about radio. Just focus on building and satiating your audience.
The only metric that counts is your bank account. Can you give up your day job? Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have health insurance? Once you've got those, focus on music. Keep making it and playing it. Keep yourself interested as opposed to selling the same damn thing, burning out your fans in the hope of finding someone new to love you. Your fans are the direct route to more listeners! Give them ammunition. Give them intriguing material. Give them a great show. Hits are irrelevant if you deliver live.
The entire music business is up for grabs. But because Lucian Grainge and Universal and Live Nation and AEG get so much ink you think it's the same as it ever was, but it's not even close to that!
If you're in it for the money, give up, there's just not enough of it. Become a banker, go into tech. If you're not in it for the tunes, now's not the time to play music, because oftentimes that's all you've got, the music itself. You've got to love to play, even if nobody is listening.
Music costs almost nothing to make and nothing to distribute. And if you think otherwise you're trying to create radio masterpieces that will never hit the airwaves anyway. Don't strive for perfection, strive for magic. Hell, if Springsteen cut one track in his bedroom tonight, an acoustic paean to his wife or a comment on the election, we'd light up the Interwebs spreading the word about his honesty, catching lightning in a bottle, tomorrow. Instead, every couple of years the Boss puts out another album like "Magic" that gets a ton of ink that almost no one listens to that fades away almost instantly upon release. This is death, not life.
You're a troubadour. A gunslinger. If you don't have a personality, you're never gonna make it. Hell, we care more about Taylor Swift's romances than the songs herself. She's running around naked emotionally and you're busy running around naked physically. The latter is a train-wreck that might garner some eyeballs but it's the former we're truly interested in.
Don't think fame, think life. Think emotion. Think soul.
If some of the most successful artists of all time can barely dent this chart, what makes you believe you can?
But those artists are playing the old game. One complete album of dreck every couple of years when even ten year olds are overbooked and challenged for time.
It's a land of opportunity out there. Instead of complaining you can't win, reinvent the wheel, do it your way, truly be creative. Take chances. If they don't work, pick yourself up and do something new the following week! Wear your failures as a badge of honor. Keep striving for excellence.
Don't be like everybody else.
The greats never were.
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Tuesday 23 October 2012
Your Catalog
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
I just finished reading David Pogue's review of the Surface, Microsoft's iPad competitor. The hardware is jaw-dropping, the software is baffling and the whole thing is a no-go because there are no apps.
Apple just pushed the envelope with its latest iPads this morning. But even if they did not a whit, introduced nothing, Apple would still be on top for years, until the next paradigm shift, because of the ecosystem, because of the apps.
You think you want a hit.
And you do.
That's what the iMac, iPhone and iPad were.
But none of them would have sustained without the software.
our career is based on software. Everything is secondary to your songs. And you've got to have a lot of them. Because once you've got catalog, you've got fans. With a hit, you've just got grazers, you're gonna be trumped by he who has the next hit. You're gonna be plowed under by he who has a catalog.
Look at it this way. Imagine if apps were marketed first by Google, if Apple were caught flat-footed and there were hundreds of thousands of apps for Android before Apple started.
The iPhone and iPad would not be what they are today.
There is a first mover advantage. But staying ahead requires constant innovation, more soul, more hits.
But not everything has to be a hit. I rarely use iMovie. I never use GarageBand. But people swear by these apps. In other words, certain songs may only appeal to a tiny fraction of your audience, but it's these "album cuts" that keep your audience attached.
So, instead of constantly searching for that hit, first and foremost focus on getting better. Focus on development. Not of your career, but your music. Try to find out who you are, and then keep on expanding your horizons.
Otherwise you're Debbie Gibson. Or Tiffany. I heard "I Think We're Alone Now" on the radio this afternoon. A gigantic hit, then what?
Everybody's depressed when they don't get instant traction.
Traction goes to he who sticks around longest. Who never relaxes. Who keeps on keepin' on.
Then you can get lucky.
Music history is littered with stories of tracks that were going to be left off albums, deep cuts that became hits to the surprise of everybody involved. Stop employing short cuts on the way to a hit, keep experimenting.
When you work with Dr. Luke or Max Martin it embellishes their career, not yours. People don't think you were responsible. Furthermore, what you've created sounds like what they've done before, it's never so unique that it's not disposable.
Everybody wants instant.
But the most instant act of the summer is already a has-been. Carly Rae Jepsen. She's done.
And Psy probably peaked last week.
Do you want to be one of these people? Going back to your day job within a year, with only this one hit tarring your image forever more?
Or do you want to last.
All great acts took a while to make it. Whether it be the Allman Brothers or Elton John or Dave Matthews.
In the 1990's, MTV dictated and you could be successful overnight. But the Internet blew that model up and that which is successful through manipulation now reaches far fewer people and lasts for even a shorter time.
The rewards do go to the person who took the road less traveled.
But you've got to travel, you've got to walk, you've got to create, you've got to keep on going even if most people are ignoring you.
"Sleek Tablet, but Clumsy Software": http://nyti.ms/XRAV8v
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I just finished reading David Pogue's review of the Surface, Microsoft's iPad competitor. The hardware is jaw-dropping, the software is baffling and the whole thing is a no-go because there are no apps.
Apple just pushed the envelope with its latest iPads this morning. But even if they did not a whit, introduced nothing, Apple would still be on top for years, until the next paradigm shift, because of the ecosystem, because of the apps.
You think you want a hit.
And you do.
That's what the iMac, iPhone and iPad were.
But none of them would have sustained without the software.
our career is based on software. Everything is secondary to your songs. And you've got to have a lot of them. Because once you've got catalog, you've got fans. With a hit, you've just got grazers, you're gonna be trumped by he who has the next hit. You're gonna be plowed under by he who has a catalog.
Look at it this way. Imagine if apps were marketed first by Google, if Apple were caught flat-footed and there were hundreds of thousands of apps for Android before Apple started.
The iPhone and iPad would not be what they are today.
There is a first mover advantage. But staying ahead requires constant innovation, more soul, more hits.
But not everything has to be a hit. I rarely use iMovie. I never use GarageBand. But people swear by these apps. In other words, certain songs may only appeal to a tiny fraction of your audience, but it's these "album cuts" that keep your audience attached.
So, instead of constantly searching for that hit, first and foremost focus on getting better. Focus on development. Not of your career, but your music. Try to find out who you are, and then keep on expanding your horizons.
Otherwise you're Debbie Gibson. Or Tiffany. I heard "I Think We're Alone Now" on the radio this afternoon. A gigantic hit, then what?
Everybody's depressed when they don't get instant traction.
Traction goes to he who sticks around longest. Who never relaxes. Who keeps on keepin' on.
Then you can get lucky.
Music history is littered with stories of tracks that were going to be left off albums, deep cuts that became hits to the surprise of everybody involved. Stop employing short cuts on the way to a hit, keep experimenting.
When you work with Dr. Luke or Max Martin it embellishes their career, not yours. People don't think you were responsible. Furthermore, what you've created sounds like what they've done before, it's never so unique that it's not disposable.
Everybody wants instant.
But the most instant act of the summer is already a has-been. Carly Rae Jepsen. She's done.
And Psy probably peaked last week.
Do you want to be one of these people? Going back to your day job within a year, with only this one hit tarring your image forever more?
Or do you want to last.
All great acts took a while to make it. Whether it be the Allman Brothers or Elton John or Dave Matthews.
In the 1990's, MTV dictated and you could be successful overnight. But the Internet blew that model up and that which is successful through manipulation now reaches far fewer people and lasts for even a shorter time.
The rewards do go to the person who took the road less traveled.
But you've got to travel, you've got to walk, you've got to create, you've got to keep on going even if most people are ignoring you.
"Sleek Tablet, but Clumsy Software": http://nyti.ms/XRAV8v
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Monday 22 October 2012
Rules
1. No one is waiting for your album.
2. Social networking is not about driving momentary sales but creating a relationship. That's your new role. To be available and in touch with your audience each and every day. To be a land mine that someone can step on if they suddenly hear about you. Think how you discover something and immediately research it. Google is the most powerful force in music, not radio. You want to be number one in the search results and you want a plethora of information so that when someone decides to check you out they can find out your bio, personality and listen to your music. You should be thrilled that someone cares about you. Your door should be open. Making it hard to enter your front door is akin to having a retail establishment with a locked entrance. Yes, clubs utilize velvet ropes, but they have a tiny audience inside. Then again, if you believe you're only entitled to a tiny audience, have a huge cover charge and sell overpriced drinks. Which is kind of like when Bon Jovi and the Eagles go on tour. Those are dead acts. You've got to be alive. If you're not growing, you're over.
3. Keep making music.
4. Keep improving your music.
5. You can no longer have too much music. It's like saying there are too many books in the library. Your goal is to get so good that when someone checks you out, they find a lot to experience and marinate in. Don't worry about separating the wheat from the chaff, your audience will do this.
6. Playing live is no longer about faithful repetition of the hits. You're better off being like Phish than a Top Forty act playing to hard drive. Since all the money's in live, you've got to get people to come more than once. Which requires cheap tickets. Mumford & Sons has this right. Audience members feel better when they can't get into a show with cheap ducats. It's when they can't get a ticket to a show with overpriced tickets that they get angry at the act. And if your fans are angry at you, you're on the road to oblivion.
7. Don't worry if people hate you. Have an identity. The hooks of your personality are like one side of Velcro, the loops are the audience. You don't need every loop to catch on a hook to create a strong, healthy bond, just enough.
8. Don't worry about the genre of music you're playing, just whether it's good.
9. If there's no viral action on your music, you're just not good enough. Don't get mad at the audience, get mad at yourself. Either give up or get better.
10. It might be tempting to break all these rules and play the old game. Where the amount of music is minimal and it's all about marketing. But if you pursue that avenue it's like selling typewriters, like being Facebook, king of the web with an inadequate mobile strategy, like being Microsoft, making your coin on legacy objects which are fading in the rearview mirror. The turning point is now. As for mystery, the web killed that. We're all in it together. It's not about keeping people away, but letting them in. Be thrilled that anybody cares.
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2. Social networking is not about driving momentary sales but creating a relationship. That's your new role. To be available and in touch with your audience each and every day. To be a land mine that someone can step on if they suddenly hear about you. Think how you discover something and immediately research it. Google is the most powerful force in music, not radio. You want to be number one in the search results and you want a plethora of information so that when someone decides to check you out they can find out your bio, personality and listen to your music. You should be thrilled that someone cares about you. Your door should be open. Making it hard to enter your front door is akin to having a retail establishment with a locked entrance. Yes, clubs utilize velvet ropes, but they have a tiny audience inside. Then again, if you believe you're only entitled to a tiny audience, have a huge cover charge and sell overpriced drinks. Which is kind of like when Bon Jovi and the Eagles go on tour. Those are dead acts. You've got to be alive. If you're not growing, you're over.
3. Keep making music.
4. Keep improving your music.
5. You can no longer have too much music. It's like saying there are too many books in the library. Your goal is to get so good that when someone checks you out, they find a lot to experience and marinate in. Don't worry about separating the wheat from the chaff, your audience will do this.
6. Playing live is no longer about faithful repetition of the hits. You're better off being like Phish than a Top Forty act playing to hard drive. Since all the money's in live, you've got to get people to come more than once. Which requires cheap tickets. Mumford & Sons has this right. Audience members feel better when they can't get into a show with cheap ducats. It's when they can't get a ticket to a show with overpriced tickets that they get angry at the act. And if your fans are angry at you, you're on the road to oblivion.
7. Don't worry if people hate you. Have an identity. The hooks of your personality are like one side of Velcro, the loops are the audience. You don't need every loop to catch on a hook to create a strong, healthy bond, just enough.
8. Don't worry about the genre of music you're playing, just whether it's good.
9. If there's no viral action on your music, you're just not good enough. Don't get mad at the audience, get mad at yourself. Either give up or get better.
10. It might be tempting to break all these rules and play the old game. Where the amount of music is minimal and it's all about marketing. But if you pursue that avenue it's like selling typewriters, like being Facebook, king of the web with an inadequate mobile strategy, like being Microsoft, making your coin on legacy objects which are fading in the rearview mirror. The turning point is now. As for mystery, the web killed that. We're all in it together. It's not about keeping people away, but letting them in. Be thrilled that anybody cares.
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Sunday 21 October 2012
Soho House
"The geeks all want to be rock stars and the rock stars all want to be geeks."
And they all meet at the Soho House.
If you want to pose, if you want to be seen, save your money, your membership is worthless.
But if you're a thirtysomething and networking is your thing, this is the place!
He said he'd come to me. And as I was picking out restaurants I realized that the Sunday brunch crowd could make it difficult to get a reservation, to walk right in without a wait, so I asked him, "Are you still a member of Soho House?"
Soho House... I first went in New York. Where nobody was playing pool and the emphasis was on the food. Then they opened in West Hollywood and the mad dash for membership had my eyes rolling into the back of my head. House in the hills? Check. Sleek sports car? Check. Membership to Soho House? Check. Walk in and you see so many wannabes you think Soho House should pay you to come in!
But this person I was meeting doesn't live in L.A. Soho House is his office away from home.
And it turned out all of his brethren were in attendance.
First was the private jet broker.
We tend to think of the private jet as a perk. But to my friend, it's business. First and foremost, it addresses the number one problem of the entrepreneur...time. They're not making any more of it. If you can shave an hour here and an hour there, it more than pays the freight. Furthermore, it's a great gift to hand out on a whim. That's where you can get a ton of business done. Up in the air in a tiny tube for a few hours. Offer someone a free flight and not only does their perception of you change, you've got their complete attention.
Then there was the possible to hire. A demure woman who barely said a word.
But when I quizzed her, she'd gone to Cambridge, spoke Arabic and had lived and taught in Kenya.
Just like Justin Bieber, right?
Yes, that's what you've got in music. Ignorant wannabes. Who try to make it on bluster and pluck. And when you've got nothing to back it up, you're nothing more than Snooki. A momentary item, a passing phase, a trivia question. Whereas those truly shaping the world are smart. And nimble. And wealthy.
But they work hard for the money.
Zuckerberg's name came up. How he might go home for dinner, but then he'll come back and code. Not only on Friday night, but Sunday too. You see it's a calling. As soon as you put money first, you're time-stamped, you're heading straight towards your expiration.
That's what these techies do. Work. Almost around the clock. The dream they're chasing isn't accumulation of toys, ultimately repossessed after they're exhibited on "Cribs," but a lasting impression on the culture, they truly want to change the world. Once upon a time musicians wanted to do this. When the best and brightest played music and everybody wasn't bitching that there was no money left and how can we get what the bankers have got? Yes, greedy acts ripping off their constituents. Class warfare. Whereas tech, successful tech, is more about being equitable. Sure, money is in the equation, although often you pay with your data as opposed to cash.
But you pay for Hipstamatic.
Lucas Buick was having lunch with Nic Adler in the booth behind us. After Nic departed, Lucas sat down with us.
What Lucas, what none of today's techies did, was boast.
That's the musical way. Lead with your mouth, your story, leave the essence for last. Because usually there is no essence. Anybody telling you how great they are probably isn't. If you're not comfortable with where you're at, who you are, you're gonna have a rough go of it. We're looking for people who are comfortable in their skin, who are willing to live by their wits.
That's what struck me about so many of these young entrepreneurs, and they certainly were young, the willingness to pivot, to abandon ship, to do anything but what depression-era parents would want them to.
In my era, you went to college. Careers were important. You invested your time in the company. But the company oftentimes disappeared, your investment was for naught. Today's successful kids don't worry about building a resume so much as building their own company, a product, something that embodies their hopes and dreams.
So Lucas Buick takes one art course in high school and decides to go to art school. He can't get into a good one, because he's got no portfolio. He ends up at a college in Duluth, which he quits, because he's already taught himself Photoshop. Thereafter he attends another school for a while, works as a designer and then starts an agency with a buddy where they promptly have success but get stiffed by companies as big as "Tribune" and as small as the tech companies that went bust before anybody ever heard of them.
So then they decided to go into business for themselves. Lucas and his partner created Hipstamatic.
And I had to drag all this out of Lucas. Unlike in entertainment, he wasn't looking down his nose at me, wondering if I was worth the conversation. Then again, he was all of thirty.
And Lucas is eager to solve the riddle of mobile advertising. And rather than reveal his thoughts, I'll let you wait and experience them, but the point is he's thinking ahead whereas in music everybody wants to get on a realty TV show even though their track record of making stars is abysmal and one hasn't been built since the beginning of the paradigm.
Are you looking towards tomorrow or today?
Are you trying to get on Top Forty radio or thinking about a career, where you'll be when the old game craters?
Intelligence.
That's what these techies have in spades.
Have a meal with those in the music sphere and your eyes will roll back into your aforementioned head. They don't stop selling, pushing themselves upon you, when the whole world has gone to pull. Can you create something I need, that I want, that I'm going to search to find?
Sit with the techies and they can hold two opposing thoughts in their brains at one time. They can reason. They can plot.
Whereas in music it's still about who you know and braggadocio.
Not that who you know isn't important in tech. It's just that the relationship is only the beginning, not the end.
http://hipstamatic.com
http://www.sohohousewh.com
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And they all meet at the Soho House.
If you want to pose, if you want to be seen, save your money, your membership is worthless.
But if you're a thirtysomething and networking is your thing, this is the place!
He said he'd come to me. And as I was picking out restaurants I realized that the Sunday brunch crowd could make it difficult to get a reservation, to walk right in without a wait, so I asked him, "Are you still a member of Soho House?"
Soho House... I first went in New York. Where nobody was playing pool and the emphasis was on the food. Then they opened in West Hollywood and the mad dash for membership had my eyes rolling into the back of my head. House in the hills? Check. Sleek sports car? Check. Membership to Soho House? Check. Walk in and you see so many wannabes you think Soho House should pay you to come in!
But this person I was meeting doesn't live in L.A. Soho House is his office away from home.
And it turned out all of his brethren were in attendance.
First was the private jet broker.
We tend to think of the private jet as a perk. But to my friend, it's business. First and foremost, it addresses the number one problem of the entrepreneur...time. They're not making any more of it. If you can shave an hour here and an hour there, it more than pays the freight. Furthermore, it's a great gift to hand out on a whim. That's where you can get a ton of business done. Up in the air in a tiny tube for a few hours. Offer someone a free flight and not only does their perception of you change, you've got their complete attention.
Then there was the possible to hire. A demure woman who barely said a word.
But when I quizzed her, she'd gone to Cambridge, spoke Arabic and had lived and taught in Kenya.
Just like Justin Bieber, right?
Yes, that's what you've got in music. Ignorant wannabes. Who try to make it on bluster and pluck. And when you've got nothing to back it up, you're nothing more than Snooki. A momentary item, a passing phase, a trivia question. Whereas those truly shaping the world are smart. And nimble. And wealthy.
But they work hard for the money.
Zuckerberg's name came up. How he might go home for dinner, but then he'll come back and code. Not only on Friday night, but Sunday too. You see it's a calling. As soon as you put money first, you're time-stamped, you're heading straight towards your expiration.
That's what these techies do. Work. Almost around the clock. The dream they're chasing isn't accumulation of toys, ultimately repossessed after they're exhibited on "Cribs," but a lasting impression on the culture, they truly want to change the world. Once upon a time musicians wanted to do this. When the best and brightest played music and everybody wasn't bitching that there was no money left and how can we get what the bankers have got? Yes, greedy acts ripping off their constituents. Class warfare. Whereas tech, successful tech, is more about being equitable. Sure, money is in the equation, although often you pay with your data as opposed to cash.
But you pay for Hipstamatic.
Lucas Buick was having lunch with Nic Adler in the booth behind us. After Nic departed, Lucas sat down with us.
What Lucas, what none of today's techies did, was boast.
That's the musical way. Lead with your mouth, your story, leave the essence for last. Because usually there is no essence. Anybody telling you how great they are probably isn't. If you're not comfortable with where you're at, who you are, you're gonna have a rough go of it. We're looking for people who are comfortable in their skin, who are willing to live by their wits.
That's what struck me about so many of these young entrepreneurs, and they certainly were young, the willingness to pivot, to abandon ship, to do anything but what depression-era parents would want them to.
In my era, you went to college. Careers were important. You invested your time in the company. But the company oftentimes disappeared, your investment was for naught. Today's successful kids don't worry about building a resume so much as building their own company, a product, something that embodies their hopes and dreams.
So Lucas Buick takes one art course in high school and decides to go to art school. He can't get into a good one, because he's got no portfolio. He ends up at a college in Duluth, which he quits, because he's already taught himself Photoshop. Thereafter he attends another school for a while, works as a designer and then starts an agency with a buddy where they promptly have success but get stiffed by companies as big as "Tribune" and as small as the tech companies that went bust before anybody ever heard of them.
So then they decided to go into business for themselves. Lucas and his partner created Hipstamatic.
And I had to drag all this out of Lucas. Unlike in entertainment, he wasn't looking down his nose at me, wondering if I was worth the conversation. Then again, he was all of thirty.
And Lucas is eager to solve the riddle of mobile advertising. And rather than reveal his thoughts, I'll let you wait and experience them, but the point is he's thinking ahead whereas in music everybody wants to get on a realty TV show even though their track record of making stars is abysmal and one hasn't been built since the beginning of the paradigm.
Are you looking towards tomorrow or today?
Are you trying to get on Top Forty radio or thinking about a career, where you'll be when the old game craters?
Intelligence.
That's what these techies have in spades.
Have a meal with those in the music sphere and your eyes will roll back into your aforementioned head. They don't stop selling, pushing themselves upon you, when the whole world has gone to pull. Can you create something I need, that I want, that I'm going to search to find?
Sit with the techies and they can hold two opposing thoughts in their brains at one time. They can reason. They can plot.
Whereas in music it's still about who you know and braggadocio.
Not that who you know isn't important in tech. It's just that the relationship is only the beginning, not the end.
http://hipstamatic.com
http://www.sohohousewh.com
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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