Live Nation's Reality Series

Who'd want to watch it?

Oh I know, it's all paid for by Ford. And whenever a brand gets involved, everybody in the music business bends over and takes it in the rear for the little cash flowing their way.

That's how far we've come. Tour riders were about rock and roll excess, the lifestyle, the truth, and now they're just another ancient ritual employed to sell product that no one wants.

Come on, does anybody really care about what these bands have to say or do? The Lumineers are a one hit wonder, I'm waiting for them to prove themselves otherwise. Fitz & The Tantrums are coming off a completely stiff album, where they changed direction and lost their audience. Edward Sharpe is one of those bands so bland, you'd think their rider contained a request for milk and cookies. Fall Out Boy is making a bit of a comeback, but their fans are already out of college, starting careers, making babies, not interested in the mindless shenanigans of the reality TV underclass willing to do anything for exposure. As for Kid Cudi... it wasn't rap acts that demanded extravagant stuff backstage anyway.

What a tired paradigm.

And Van Halen had a reason for asking for the removal of brown M&M's, to see if the promoter actually read the rider. What is the reason for this show to exist?

As for rock star riders, read Michael Walker's book, "What You Want Is In The Limo," to discover the creation of these demands. Music is so bankrupt, it just keeps recycling ideas. The Beatles and Pink Floyd stretched the boundaries, but the above acts don't even know where the edge of the envelope is, never mind pushing it.

Come on you nitwits over at Live Nation, at least create a show we're interested in watching!

How about the Great Groupie Challenge, wherein young women vie to service the real stars? Even more interesting, how about young men going after women, we've never seen that one before!

As for Ford...isn't this just asking for trouble? Idiots speeding around to fulfill unimportant requests smacks of Domino promising to deliver pizza in half an hour or less. People got killed in the process, all to deliver an imitation product that will fill you up, but still leaves you hungry.

I just don't get it. There's no FCC on the Net. There are no limits!

Then again, concert promoters were always dumb, they always took their cues from the labels. But now that they're the bank of choice, they act about as innovative as your local institution, inspiring about as much passion in the process.

Unless we stand up and punch holes in the industry music has become, we're going to continue to be presented with lame product. Once upon a time, music was cutting edge, we wanted to be rock stars. Whereas the only people who want to be rock stars today are the underclass, everybody with brains and an education doesn't even bother. Talking Heads go to RISD and start a band. Today's acts don't even get to high school and expect us to pay attention.

It doesn't have to be this way. Live Nation could be a force for good instead of evil.

Then again, the public is so dumb, voting against its interests all the way, while the rich overpay scalpers to go to the concerts of the acts worth seeing.

Oh, didn't catch that Live Nation announcement? Its Ticketmaster division is listing scalper tickets alongside the ones offered by bands. That's how low we've sunk. Instead of combating the problem, we've thrown our hands up in the air and declared there's no solution.

But there is. The acts control the tickets. The acts can clean this up.

But not the acts who are participating in this lame reality show, they're just tools, cogs in the system, no one really cares about them.

"Announcing The World Premiere Of The Rider Challenge, The First-Ever Digital Reality Series Produced By Live Nation, Powered By Ford Fiesta": http://on.wsj.com/1b8qbgo


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