By time word got to America, there were already two Graham Parker albums. The debut, "Howlin' Wind" and the follow-up, "Heat Treatment."
The cognoscenti will say "Howlin' Wind" was the best. That it had the best songs. "White Honey," "Nothin's Gonna Pull Us Apart," "Soul Shoes," "Lady Doctor" and "Don't Ask Me Questions." And I challenge almost anybody to name a track from "Heat Treatment," but it was always my favorite, still is, despite having inferior material. Why? MUTT LANGE!
At this point we had no idea who he was. There was some press about City Boy, but it would be almost half a decade before "Back In Black" conquered the airwaves and the under twenty five community's collective heart, at this point he was just the guy with the funny moniker on the back of albums, "Robert John 'Mutt' Lange."
And after "Heat Treatment," Parker returned to Nick Lowe and recorded the half-baked, stillborn, "Stick It To Me," blamed it all on his label and then signed with Arista and despite Clive Davis's best efforts, never had a hit. The tsunami of press eventually evaporated. Labels were switched, yet Parker not only didn't live up to his promise, he faded away and certainly didn't radiate.
But if you listen to "Heat Treatment" today it sounds as fresh as it did back in '76.
Oh, the opening cut sounds like you've just opened the door to a nightclub where a band of well-oiled musicians is already deep into their third set of the night, that's how tight they are. Oh, "Heat Treatment" is not a hit song, but it's energetic and powerful and gets you tapping your toe and nodding your head. And at this late date, listen intently and you'll see it's the horns and the mix, the little flourishes that come up and grab you.
And "That's What They All Say" has got this same togetherness, this same tightness, but it's even a worse song than "Heat Treatment." But it sounds so good!
But the first side truly starts to resonate with "Hotel Chambermaid." Positively English, it's a mini-movie with a jaunty production that will not be denied. You find yourself singing along with the chorus.
And then comes "Pourin' It All Out," this is where the album truly begins to swing. Oh, Brinsley Schwarz gets all the credit, and he's a good guitar player, but isn't it really about the producer, who gets the band to lock into this groove and maintain it? This is when you realize "Heat Treatment" is no run-of-the-mill LP, this is when you start to believe the reviews were right. Really, listen to the verses, especially the second, when the guitar starts to sing and the organ subtly plays...but still, it's all about the FEEL!
And "Back Door Love" sounds like it's transported straight from the fifties. And it too swings, despite being second-rate material.
And then comes the killer, the white reggae triumph, "Something You're Goin' Through." Oh, Bob Marley was finally breaking through, the Police were on the horizon, every white band, especially from the U.K., was toying with the Jamaican sound, but no one does it better at this point than Graham Parker. The band is so tight, the production is so seamless, that you're enraptured.
And then comes the piece-de-resistance, the album closer, "Fool's Gold." Imagine if Def Leppard were a pub rock act instead of a light metal band, that's what the track sounds like, it's just that powerful. Oh, it starts slow and relatively quiet and then builds, builds, builds! By the end of the track, you're marching in place, singing along, KEEP SEARCHIN'!
And absolutely nothing happened. Maybe because the band itself was not as good as the record. Oh, the Rumour could play and Parker could sing, but "Heat Treatment" was a monolithic production, it'd be like asking Tom Cruise to act out "Mission Impossible" at the Roxy.
But if you had this album at home you were instantly a Graham Parker fan. Because it was such a delicious listening experience. Never to be equaled. Oh, Lange did his best to salvage the band's live album, but at this point no one knew who he was, and he was not given credit for what he added to the act as everybody continued to lionize Nick Lowe and focused on the failings of Mercury.
And isn't it funny all these years later, even Judd Apatow couldn't resurrect Parker's career, Nick Lowe plays clubs to the few who remember and Mutt Lange is nowhere in sight, hiding behind closed doors as he basks in the financial security of the proceeds from being the best record producer of the modern rock era.
P.S. Oh, "Fool's Gold" is so heavy that when it breaks down and gets subtle a bit after 1:50, it's like the most desirable woman in the world just winked at you, she's been dancing on the stage for everybody, but now she's singled you out, and then at 2:30 it becomes positively sexual, you can feel the build-up, and like the best rock and roll it just keeps amping up and up, it never releases, whew!
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
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Friday 20 September 2013
Royals
It just went to number one.
Yes, Katy Perry boxed on the VMAs. Miley Cyrus showed everything but her box. But the woman with the most infectious track, who neither looks like a model nor acts like one, who has not taken off her clothes, who has not worked with the producers du jour, has trumped them both.
Credit the Internet. Now a sixteen year old in New Zealand can become a worldwide smash just as easily as a denizen of L.A. The action online motivated Jason Flom to fly down and sign her. But it was the song, the record, and not manipulation. There's been none.
This is even more impressive than Alanis Morissette's debut in the nineties. She was helped by a ton of video airplay. Ditto with Nirvana. Morissette was overwhelmed by her success and never equaled it. Kurt Cobain offed himself as a result. It's not only a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll, it's hard to stay there, it's even hard to stay alive, just ask Bon Scott.
Will Lorde be able to follow it up?
That's to be seen. The video era is ripe with acts who were one and done, whether it be the "Macarena" boys or Jimmy Ray or... On the Internet, novelty disappears, can you say PSY? But if for some reason you've got some talent, and you're willing to continue to play, we're all ears.
Yes, the Internet is the radio of the twenty first century. And instead of programmers, it's surfers who are in control. We are the ones who make the hits. Almost always, radio is last. Oh, radio's a rocket fuel that can propel that which is already successful into the stratosphere, but instead of breaking records, it gets on board.
Furthermore, the Lorde track has all the elements all the wannabes pooh-pooh.. It's instantly catchy, with hooks, and she can sing. If you're boring us, we're never ever gonna get to the chorus, we're too busy looking for new gems online.
Also, "Royals" doesn't sound like anything else. That's the recipe for instant success, doing it different and well. We can't even name the winners of the TV singing competitions, never mind the fact that they don't have hits. Meanwhile, something from left field surfaces, because everybody gets to play today, there are no barriers to entry.
And the end result is clutter. Which means if you're not good enough, your music will be lost, never heard, you can put it up on iTunes and it won't sell. But if you're truly great...we've got people surfing the Internet 24/7 looking for you, masses eager to spread the word, you can go from nowhere to somewhere overnight.
So yes, lament the manufactured crap.
But know that now is truly your time. If you're new and different, innovative and catchy.
Stay at home and hone your chops as opposed to tweeting and facebooking. Lorde herself didn't sell the track, the music did!
Note: Lorde's "Royals" is number one on the iTunes singles chart. It's number two on Spotify. It's number 10 on the Top Forty Mediabase chart. That's radio, one step behind! More than ever, it's about the moment, what's happening now. And you find that out online.
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Yes, Katy Perry boxed on the VMAs. Miley Cyrus showed everything but her box. But the woman with the most infectious track, who neither looks like a model nor acts like one, who has not taken off her clothes, who has not worked with the producers du jour, has trumped them both.
Credit the Internet. Now a sixteen year old in New Zealand can become a worldwide smash just as easily as a denizen of L.A. The action online motivated Jason Flom to fly down and sign her. But it was the song, the record, and not manipulation. There's been none.
This is even more impressive than Alanis Morissette's debut in the nineties. She was helped by a ton of video airplay. Ditto with Nirvana. Morissette was overwhelmed by her success and never equaled it. Kurt Cobain offed himself as a result. It's not only a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll, it's hard to stay there, it's even hard to stay alive, just ask Bon Scott.
Will Lorde be able to follow it up?
That's to be seen. The video era is ripe with acts who were one and done, whether it be the "Macarena" boys or Jimmy Ray or... On the Internet, novelty disappears, can you say PSY? But if for some reason you've got some talent, and you're willing to continue to play, we're all ears.
Yes, the Internet is the radio of the twenty first century. And instead of programmers, it's surfers who are in control. We are the ones who make the hits. Almost always, radio is last. Oh, radio's a rocket fuel that can propel that which is already successful into the stratosphere, but instead of breaking records, it gets on board.
Furthermore, the Lorde track has all the elements all the wannabes pooh-pooh.. It's instantly catchy, with hooks, and she can sing. If you're boring us, we're never ever gonna get to the chorus, we're too busy looking for new gems online.
Also, "Royals" doesn't sound like anything else. That's the recipe for instant success, doing it different and well. We can't even name the winners of the TV singing competitions, never mind the fact that they don't have hits. Meanwhile, something from left field surfaces, because everybody gets to play today, there are no barriers to entry.
And the end result is clutter. Which means if you're not good enough, your music will be lost, never heard, you can put it up on iTunes and it won't sell. But if you're truly great...we've got people surfing the Internet 24/7 looking for you, masses eager to spread the word, you can go from nowhere to somewhere overnight.
So yes, lament the manufactured crap.
But know that now is truly your time. If you're new and different, innovative and catchy.
Stay at home and hone your chops as opposed to tweeting and facebooking. Lorde herself didn't sell the track, the music did!
Note: Lorde's "Royals" is number one on the iTunes singles chart. It's number two on Spotify. It's number 10 on the Top Forty Mediabase chart. That's radio, one step behind! More than ever, it's about the moment, what's happening now. And you find that out online.
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Thursday 19 September 2013
Avicii
Could single-handedly kill hip-hop.
You know, the calcified art form that's all imitation and no innovation.
The very first thing that crosses your mind as you listen to Avicii's "True" is...how did he come up with this stuff?
We live in a world where white kids in Canada employ gang signs. Everybody's a follower and no one's testing limits and pointing the way. Until Avicii takes the stage at Ultra and leaves the audience with its mouth agape, like "Springtime For Hitler" in "The Producers."
Dan Tyminski has been hiding in plain sight ever since "O Brother." His "Man Of Constant Sorrow" was so satisfying, one of not only the best tracks of the year, but the most memorable. But did anybody capitalize on his talent? Did a label push him? Of course not, they just want ten year olds working with alta-kachers, believing that's the only way to make the cash register ring.
But the real way to make money rain down is to do something completely different and wholly satisfying, something that makes you feel good just to listen to it. Like Avicii's work with Tyminski, "Hey Brother."
Oh, listen to that acoustic guitar, an instrument banished from Top Forty radio, despite populating seemingly everybody's closet.
And then comes Dan's voice. So human. Not thin, sans melisma it takes you right back to the hollers of Appalachia. And he seems to be singing for the joy of it, not to impress you.
And then the bass starts to pump. It's like listening to the Band, if Levon Helm were still alive and they cut new music.
Oh, eventually the electronics come in, but the chorus is not dominated by them, you hear the oo's and you just want to sing along. As your head starts to nod and your body jumps with the following sounds. Yes, it's EDM, for people who've been saying it's mindless drivel. Because it's not! Yup, while you were home deploring the new sound, repeating yourself, poorly, Avicii was pushing the envelope.
And when the whole track breaks down and gets quiet again just after 2:20 it's so intimate, it's the essence of music.
This is the album track for those who lament the passage of such. Not filler, not made for the radio, it's made just for you, listening at home.
And the follow-up, "Addicted To You," is even better!
You know the Top Forty, everybody's oversinging, believing they can close you by overwhelming you. Not that the vocal here is subtle, but it is savory and sensual. It sounds like a combination of Shirley Bassey, Adele and electronica. "Addicted To You" just makes you feel warm and alive, and isn't that what music’s supposed to do, reflect the human condition?
Listen to that acoustic picking at the beginning of "Addicted To You," it sounds just like the first American Elton John album. You remember "First Episode At Hienton" and "Sixty Years On," right? Oh, the hits made Elton famous, but it was these album cuts that gave him a career, and somehow Avicii has extracted this same magic, albeit from a new, slightly different mine.
I'm not gonna say the rest of the album reaches these stratospheric peaks, other than the opening cut and already worldwide hit "Wake Me Up." It seems like Avicii was just a bit gun-shy, afraid of going all in, there's stuff that's more EDM than traditional song, then again, everything resonates.
In other words, if you go to the electronic show to get high and hang with your buds, get ready for a whole new world, where you need to get right up front and sing along while you dance. Because there's nothing more fulfilling, nothing more exciting than becoming one with the music as it pours out of the speakers and you lift your head to the sky and sing along.
Forget all the reviews. Most in the "B" territory. They miss the point.
There's no scale for excellence. There's no framework to judge. When someone is inventing something new, stretching both themselves and the audience, the usual suspects are unprepared.
But the listener is always ready.
Play this alone, at home. You'll have a party in your head.
Play it with your buddies and you'll be so glad you're a music fan, knowing that no other art form equals the sensation you get when you experience it.
Once upon a time music blew up because it was all about the bleeding edge. We were all caught up in the slipstream. We were all agog. Long before it became about how you looked and making a mini-movie to become rich and famous. You don't need to know what Avicii looks like to get "True." As for Dan Tyminski... You won't see him in GQ, but this is the kind of guy girls fall in love with...you know, he who's got something on the inside as opposed to the nitwits who are all flash and no substance.
LISTEN!
P.S. Rock's already dead.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/16sho0W
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You know, the calcified art form that's all imitation and no innovation.
The very first thing that crosses your mind as you listen to Avicii's "True" is...how did he come up with this stuff?
We live in a world where white kids in Canada employ gang signs. Everybody's a follower and no one's testing limits and pointing the way. Until Avicii takes the stage at Ultra and leaves the audience with its mouth agape, like "Springtime For Hitler" in "The Producers."
Dan Tyminski has been hiding in plain sight ever since "O Brother." His "Man Of Constant Sorrow" was so satisfying, one of not only the best tracks of the year, but the most memorable. But did anybody capitalize on his talent? Did a label push him? Of course not, they just want ten year olds working with alta-kachers, believing that's the only way to make the cash register ring.
But the real way to make money rain down is to do something completely different and wholly satisfying, something that makes you feel good just to listen to it. Like Avicii's work with Tyminski, "Hey Brother."
Oh, listen to that acoustic guitar, an instrument banished from Top Forty radio, despite populating seemingly everybody's closet.
And then comes Dan's voice. So human. Not thin, sans melisma it takes you right back to the hollers of Appalachia. And he seems to be singing for the joy of it, not to impress you.
And then the bass starts to pump. It's like listening to the Band, if Levon Helm were still alive and they cut new music.
Oh, eventually the electronics come in, but the chorus is not dominated by them, you hear the oo's and you just want to sing along. As your head starts to nod and your body jumps with the following sounds. Yes, it's EDM, for people who've been saying it's mindless drivel. Because it's not! Yup, while you were home deploring the new sound, repeating yourself, poorly, Avicii was pushing the envelope.
And when the whole track breaks down and gets quiet again just after 2:20 it's so intimate, it's the essence of music.
This is the album track for those who lament the passage of such. Not filler, not made for the radio, it's made just for you, listening at home.
And the follow-up, "Addicted To You," is even better!
You know the Top Forty, everybody's oversinging, believing they can close you by overwhelming you. Not that the vocal here is subtle, but it is savory and sensual. It sounds like a combination of Shirley Bassey, Adele and electronica. "Addicted To You" just makes you feel warm and alive, and isn't that what music’s supposed to do, reflect the human condition?
Listen to that acoustic picking at the beginning of "Addicted To You," it sounds just like the first American Elton John album. You remember "First Episode At Hienton" and "Sixty Years On," right? Oh, the hits made Elton famous, but it was these album cuts that gave him a career, and somehow Avicii has extracted this same magic, albeit from a new, slightly different mine.
I'm not gonna say the rest of the album reaches these stratospheric peaks, other than the opening cut and already worldwide hit "Wake Me Up." It seems like Avicii was just a bit gun-shy, afraid of going all in, there's stuff that's more EDM than traditional song, then again, everything resonates.
In other words, if you go to the electronic show to get high and hang with your buds, get ready for a whole new world, where you need to get right up front and sing along while you dance. Because there's nothing more fulfilling, nothing more exciting than becoming one with the music as it pours out of the speakers and you lift your head to the sky and sing along.
Forget all the reviews. Most in the "B" territory. They miss the point.
There's no scale for excellence. There's no framework to judge. When someone is inventing something new, stretching both themselves and the audience, the usual suspects are unprepared.
But the listener is always ready.
Play this alone, at home. You'll have a party in your head.
Play it with your buddies and you'll be so glad you're a music fan, knowing that no other art form equals the sensation you get when you experience it.
Once upon a time music blew up because it was all about the bleeding edge. We were all caught up in the slipstream. We were all agog. Long before it became about how you looked and making a mini-movie to become rich and famous. You don't need to know what Avicii looks like to get "True." As for Dan Tyminski... You won't see him in GQ, but this is the kind of guy girls fall in love with...you know, he who's got something on the inside as opposed to the nitwits who are all flash and no substance.
LISTEN!
P.S. Rock's already dead.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/16sho0W
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Wednesday 18 September 2013
Wrecking Ball
It's a good record.
Miley was taking no chances, at least not her manager, Larry Rudolph. What you've got is a faded teen star, the heartthrob of those without pubes, heading straight to the 7-11. How to make her relevant today? Have her grow up?
This is something that Scooter Braun has been unable to do with Justin Bieber. Still hamstrung by his pre-teen image, Justin's on bad behavior, testing limits all over the world in a way no one approves of, indicating that contrary to growing up, he's experiencing the adolescence he's been denied. It's got nothing to do with music. Justin's like a chicken with its head cut off, and Miley is a professional, getting busy, down to work, focusing first and foremost on her career.
If you don't respect Miley Cyrus, you've got no clue how the music game works. I mean it's fine if you want to wear your jeans, play rock music and try to rise up via the grass roots, but Miley was born famous and in today's world there's no room for middle level pop stars, only fantastic winners, and she's executing the program perfectly, it's as if she went to an alternative AA and is working all the steps.
That's right, steps you've seen before. But for an audience that missed out the first time. Who were still in diapers, or not even born when Madonna kissed the vacant Britney. And unlike Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus evidences a personality. And that's the key to longevity. Miley's all over YouTube, twerking, she's growing up with her fans, her admirers, and they love her for it!
This music is not made for baby boomers, whether they be aghast parents or the calcified media. Miley is playing them like a Stradivarius, even though she's got no musical skill. Her skill is marketing. And that's a perfect fit for today's world.
Oh, the single isn't groundbreaking. But how much successful music is today anyway? Miley's not in it for the art, but for the fame, for the riches. Which, unfortunately, is the ethos of most of today's younger generation. They've got access via the Internet and their futures are challenged, they're selling their wares constantly. Yup, the first thing a young "artist" will ask you is...HOW DO I MAKE MONEY?
So now we're going to criticize Miley Cyrus for ringing the bell, for doing this better than anybody?
As for getting upset that she's nude in the video... Why don't you go over to Google and enter some terms, start with "naked women." And when you get to the results, click on "Images" and get ready to see more porn on one page than children of the fifties experienced in decades. Yup, that's the world we live in. Oh, don't tell me about parental filters, the parents don't know how to use them and their kids know how to manipulate them! In a world of sexting we're worried that Miley Cyrus is naked in a video?
And speaking of the video, can we give her credit for the 119 million views she's accumulated at this point? Do you know how hard it is to reach that number? You can't sit at home and do that with your webcam. Hell, in a world where "X Factor" has abysmal ratings, half of what the show had in its debut, where its follow-up, "Master Chef," pulls better numbers, are we really going to criticize someone who takes her career into her own hands and succeeds?
Yup, while you've been bitching, the TV singing contest died. As if it was still making stars. That's conventional wisdom, always two steps behind.
I'm not saying that if you want to get ahead you should imitate Miley Cyrus, she's already done it, it'd be like trying to imitate Madonna thirty years ago. Cyrus saw the opportunity and went for it. And speaking of going for it, wasn't Madonna's number one skill marketing? Does anybody consider Madonna a musician, does anybody laud her voice? Of course not!
Unfortunately, Miley Cyrus is bringing nothing new to the party. But ain't that music, where everybody plays it safe.
Still, the verse of "Wrecking Ball" is endearing, hooky as hell. The chorus is not up to snuff, merely adequate, but how many records ring your bell? It's fodder, for the machine. And you can hate the machine, but never deny it exists.
Hell, you know you're doing it right when Elton John is criticizing you. I love Elton, but he doesn't get it. Miley Cyrus is incredibly smart, she's manipulating the clueless, even him, to increase her fame, to drive her record to number one, and she's executed beautifully.
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Miley was taking no chances, at least not her manager, Larry Rudolph. What you've got is a faded teen star, the heartthrob of those without pubes, heading straight to the 7-11. How to make her relevant today? Have her grow up?
This is something that Scooter Braun has been unable to do with Justin Bieber. Still hamstrung by his pre-teen image, Justin's on bad behavior, testing limits all over the world in a way no one approves of, indicating that contrary to growing up, he's experiencing the adolescence he's been denied. It's got nothing to do with music. Justin's like a chicken with its head cut off, and Miley is a professional, getting busy, down to work, focusing first and foremost on her career.
If you don't respect Miley Cyrus, you've got no clue how the music game works. I mean it's fine if you want to wear your jeans, play rock music and try to rise up via the grass roots, but Miley was born famous and in today's world there's no room for middle level pop stars, only fantastic winners, and she's executing the program perfectly, it's as if she went to an alternative AA and is working all the steps.
That's right, steps you've seen before. But for an audience that missed out the first time. Who were still in diapers, or not even born when Madonna kissed the vacant Britney. And unlike Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus evidences a personality. And that's the key to longevity. Miley's all over YouTube, twerking, she's growing up with her fans, her admirers, and they love her for it!
This music is not made for baby boomers, whether they be aghast parents or the calcified media. Miley is playing them like a Stradivarius, even though she's got no musical skill. Her skill is marketing. And that's a perfect fit for today's world.
Oh, the single isn't groundbreaking. But how much successful music is today anyway? Miley's not in it for the art, but for the fame, for the riches. Which, unfortunately, is the ethos of most of today's younger generation. They've got access via the Internet and their futures are challenged, they're selling their wares constantly. Yup, the first thing a young "artist" will ask you is...HOW DO I MAKE MONEY?
So now we're going to criticize Miley Cyrus for ringing the bell, for doing this better than anybody?
As for getting upset that she's nude in the video... Why don't you go over to Google and enter some terms, start with "naked women." And when you get to the results, click on "Images" and get ready to see more porn on one page than children of the fifties experienced in decades. Yup, that's the world we live in. Oh, don't tell me about parental filters, the parents don't know how to use them and their kids know how to manipulate them! In a world of sexting we're worried that Miley Cyrus is naked in a video?
And speaking of the video, can we give her credit for the 119 million views she's accumulated at this point? Do you know how hard it is to reach that number? You can't sit at home and do that with your webcam. Hell, in a world where "X Factor" has abysmal ratings, half of what the show had in its debut, where its follow-up, "Master Chef," pulls better numbers, are we really going to criticize someone who takes her career into her own hands and succeeds?
Yup, while you've been bitching, the TV singing contest died. As if it was still making stars. That's conventional wisdom, always two steps behind.
I'm not saying that if you want to get ahead you should imitate Miley Cyrus, she's already done it, it'd be like trying to imitate Madonna thirty years ago. Cyrus saw the opportunity and went for it. And speaking of going for it, wasn't Madonna's number one skill marketing? Does anybody consider Madonna a musician, does anybody laud her voice? Of course not!
Unfortunately, Miley Cyrus is bringing nothing new to the party. But ain't that music, where everybody plays it safe.
Still, the verse of "Wrecking Ball" is endearing, hooky as hell. The chorus is not up to snuff, merely adequate, but how many records ring your bell? It's fodder, for the machine. And you can hate the machine, but never deny it exists.
Hell, you know you're doing it right when Elton John is criticizing you. I love Elton, but he doesn't get it. Miley Cyrus is incredibly smart, she's manipulating the clueless, even him, to increase her fame, to drive her record to number one, and she's executed beautifully.
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Tuesday 17 September 2013
Social Media
1. We want to connect.
2. We want to participate.
3. We want access.
4. We want to know what our favorite celebrities are up to.
5. We want to know someone is reading our complaint to the corporation.
6. We want to put in little to get out a lot.
7. Clutter is our enemy.
8. We hate advertisements.
9. We want to know what's important. Filters are everything.
10. We want information we can use. The more drivel, the less we pay attention.
11. We want to believe the social media site is on the same side as us, since we're providing all the content, that it's just not a Wall Street play.
12. Privacy is everything. Especially in the wake of Snowden and the NSA. If there are controls, they must be easily accessed and understood and not constantly updated in a cat and mouse battle ensuring the site is profitable and the customer is hoodwinked.
13. Self-promotion is anathema.
14. Just because you have our ear, that does not mean we're interested in everything you have to say. Either play to your core or play to everybody. If you're doing the latter give us less information.
15. Photos are almost as important as text, because they convey a humanity and realness text cannot.
16. Most people aren't aware of most social media. Read this "New York Times" story on the girl who committed suicide after being bullied on ask.fm, Kik and Voxer. The average person wouldn't think there are enough people on these sites to make a difference, to drive someone to the brink. But just like every generation needs its pre-fab teen hero, every generation needs its own social network. As Wall Street concentrates on one, the youngsters are on the bleeding edge taking everybody to another. This is the Rock Band/Guitar Hero effect. Once everybody in industry and finance believes the ground has solidified, we know that it's going to be whipped out from underneath them.
"Girl’s Suicide Points to Rise in Apps Used by Cyberbullies": http://nyti.ms/18kyaF6
17. E-mail is more powerful than ever, which is why corporations/e-mailers are complaining about Google's new Gmail filters.
Retailers Fight Exile From Gmail In-Boxes: http://nyti.ms/17HlBRj
18. Social media is no match for word of mouth. They can be one and the same, but frequently are not, consumers know the difference between what is hype and what is genuine.
19. Quantifications end up being meaningless, because the system is being gamed. Look to results, not the number of likes and followers. In other words, you can have a ton of likes but sell no product.
20. Social media is subsidiary to the product. If the product is good enough, the minions will spread the word via social media. You don't need a social media plan if your product is good enough. However, if it's a physical product as opposed to an Internet service, seeding tastemakers with it pays dividends, this is how Samsung has made inroads in mobile.
21. The biggest tech companies have the smallest social media footprint. I.e. Google and Apple are already online, they lead with their product, their goal is to get you to go to their site as opposed to trumpeting how good they are on other sites.
22. Just because Yahoo bought Tumblr that does not mean it's forever. As a matter of fact, insiders believe it's mainly become a repository for porn, ironically replacing Yahoo Groups.
23. No one reads the comments. Not on YouTube, not on the HuffingtonPost. Comments allow the commenter to feel good about himself, seeing his name on screen, but the end effect is essentially meaningless. As for the quantity of comments...ask yourself, have you ever commented? Only those without power and too much time on their hands comment online.
24. We're inured to the new. So we're always looking for social networks. Furthermore, social networks might not be the next big thing. We assume we can connect with everybody, who will provide the next step?
25. Interface counts. MySpace was killed because of its lousy one and Twitter still hasn't come up with a reasonable one understandable by many.
26. We've got social media fatigue. People have seen the movie, they don't need the new site, they don't need to waste more time. Yes, teenagers with too much time on their hands living in the hothouse of school will search for the new, but... It's just like there are people hunting the new in music, yet most people are satisfied letting others do the legwork, only paying attention when something reaches critical mass.
27. Zynga rose and sunk. Social gaming was a fad. Oh, it will continue with massive online games, but all the people who bought mobile phones and tablets who became overnight diehard gamers are done now.
28. The social medium does not want you infiltrating its business, you might think a helper app makes users' lives easier, but even if this is so, the social medium considers you the enemy.
29. Just because Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook that does not make him an expert on anything other than Facebook.
30. Social media is now a feature, like a spell-checker. Once upon a time, spell-check was a separate program you paid extra for, then it was integrated into Microsoft Office and other word processing programs.
31. Social media is here to stay. But not on multiple platforms. There will be a consolidation, a migration to a very few, which just might be integrated into other, larger businesses.
32. The thrill is gone. We know we can connect, but can you affect our regular human everyday lives? That's where the frontier is, making us feel better about ourselves and our existence when we're not tethered to the computer, tablet or phone.
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2. We want to participate.
3. We want access.
4. We want to know what our favorite celebrities are up to.
5. We want to know someone is reading our complaint to the corporation.
6. We want to put in little to get out a lot.
7. Clutter is our enemy.
8. We hate advertisements.
9. We want to know what's important. Filters are everything.
10. We want information we can use. The more drivel, the less we pay attention.
11. We want to believe the social media site is on the same side as us, since we're providing all the content, that it's just not a Wall Street play.
12. Privacy is everything. Especially in the wake of Snowden and the NSA. If there are controls, they must be easily accessed and understood and not constantly updated in a cat and mouse battle ensuring the site is profitable and the customer is hoodwinked.
13. Self-promotion is anathema.
14. Just because you have our ear, that does not mean we're interested in everything you have to say. Either play to your core or play to everybody. If you're doing the latter give us less information.
15. Photos are almost as important as text, because they convey a humanity and realness text cannot.
16. Most people aren't aware of most social media. Read this "New York Times" story on the girl who committed suicide after being bullied on ask.fm, Kik and Voxer. The average person wouldn't think there are enough people on these sites to make a difference, to drive someone to the brink. But just like every generation needs its pre-fab teen hero, every generation needs its own social network. As Wall Street concentrates on one, the youngsters are on the bleeding edge taking everybody to another. This is the Rock Band/Guitar Hero effect. Once everybody in industry and finance believes the ground has solidified, we know that it's going to be whipped out from underneath them.
"Girl’s Suicide Points to Rise in Apps Used by Cyberbullies": http://nyti.ms/18kyaF6
17. E-mail is more powerful than ever, which is why corporations/e-mailers are complaining about Google's new Gmail filters.
Retailers Fight Exile From Gmail In-Boxes: http://nyti.ms/17HlBRj
18. Social media is no match for word of mouth. They can be one and the same, but frequently are not, consumers know the difference between what is hype and what is genuine.
19. Quantifications end up being meaningless, because the system is being gamed. Look to results, not the number of likes and followers. In other words, you can have a ton of likes but sell no product.
20. Social media is subsidiary to the product. If the product is good enough, the minions will spread the word via social media. You don't need a social media plan if your product is good enough. However, if it's a physical product as opposed to an Internet service, seeding tastemakers with it pays dividends, this is how Samsung has made inroads in mobile.
21. The biggest tech companies have the smallest social media footprint. I.e. Google and Apple are already online, they lead with their product, their goal is to get you to go to their site as opposed to trumpeting how good they are on other sites.
22. Just because Yahoo bought Tumblr that does not mean it's forever. As a matter of fact, insiders believe it's mainly become a repository for porn, ironically replacing Yahoo Groups.
23. No one reads the comments. Not on YouTube, not on the HuffingtonPost. Comments allow the commenter to feel good about himself, seeing his name on screen, but the end effect is essentially meaningless. As for the quantity of comments...ask yourself, have you ever commented? Only those without power and too much time on their hands comment online.
24. We're inured to the new. So we're always looking for social networks. Furthermore, social networks might not be the next big thing. We assume we can connect with everybody, who will provide the next step?
25. Interface counts. MySpace was killed because of its lousy one and Twitter still hasn't come up with a reasonable one understandable by many.
26. We've got social media fatigue. People have seen the movie, they don't need the new site, they don't need to waste more time. Yes, teenagers with too much time on their hands living in the hothouse of school will search for the new, but... It's just like there are people hunting the new in music, yet most people are satisfied letting others do the legwork, only paying attention when something reaches critical mass.
27. Zynga rose and sunk. Social gaming was a fad. Oh, it will continue with massive online games, but all the people who bought mobile phones and tablets who became overnight diehard gamers are done now.
28. The social medium does not want you infiltrating its business, you might think a helper app makes users' lives easier, but even if this is so, the social medium considers you the enemy.
29. Just because Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook that does not make him an expert on anything other than Facebook.
30. Social media is now a feature, like a spell-checker. Once upon a time, spell-check was a separate program you paid extra for, then it was integrated into Microsoft Office and other word processing programs.
31. Social media is here to stay. But not on multiple platforms. There will be a consolidation, a migration to a very few, which just might be integrated into other, larger businesses.
32. The thrill is gone. We know we can connect, but can you affect our regular human everyday lives? That's where the frontier is, making us feel better about ourselves and our existence when we're not tethered to the computer, tablet or phone.
--
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Mailbag
From: "W.J. Ellison"
Subject: Fwd: SHE'S SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
Hi Bob,
Thanks for writing the article.
I would like to share a story with you, and fans, of how the phrase some kind of wonderful, came to be a song. I still remember that moment as if it was yesterday. My band, the Soul Brothers Six, had signed a recording contract with a small independent record label in Philadelphia that was owned by Walter Rayfield. We met Walter at a club in Rochester, New York where we played every weekend. He convinced us to sign a management contract, plus a recording contract with him, and invited our group to come to Philly to record.
The day we were leaving for Philadelphia, I stopped by the apartment of the girl I was dating, to say goodby. Her name was Ann White. She had packed me a lunch in a brown paper bag. We stood there in silence for a moment just looking at each other. I knew this was the last time I would see her, I knew she wanted more from me than I could give her, but she understood. She knew I had dreams that nothing could get in the way of. I gave her a hug, and we kissed. I looked at her and said, you are some kind of wonderful, I'm gonna write a song about you.
This was around 6am, I turned and walked towards the old 1960 Ford we had bought for the trip that was eaten up by rust. You could see the highway through the rusted out holes in the floor. After about four hours into the trip, I ate the sandwich Ann had prepared for me. After I finished the sandwich, I began writing the lyrics to some kind of wonderful on the bag she had packed my lunch in.
I don't need a whole lots of money, I don't need a big fine car, I've got everything that a man could want, I've got more, than I could ask for.
This is the reason for those first three lines. The first line was because at that moment, money could not make me feel the way I was feeling. Although I did not want a relationship with Ann, I did have feelings for her. This was something that money could not buy.
Regarding the big fine car, I knew I could be just as happy with her in the old rusted out Ford,as I would be in a brand new car because I would have everything that I could hope for. That's how she made me feel.
Some Kind Of Wonderful was written in less than a half hour, which included the melody, the arrangement of all the music, which included the famous bass line that have been featured in many songs over the years and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Because of the many turn of events that have happened in my life, I have
written my autobiography. The Soul Brother's Six have a story that need to be told also. I am sure that one day, our story will be made into a movie.
Best regards,
John Ellison
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Some Kind Of Wonderful
Dear Bob,
Last year I had the opportunity to get Mark Farner and John Ellison together for dinner. This was the first time they ever really sat together. It was like watching two long lost brothers meeting for the first time. Never before had Mark heard why John wrote “She’s Some Kind of Wonderful†and never before had John heard why Grand Funk recorded it. I am including one picture here.
pic.twitter.com/Mvd8MRLeoi
Dennis Waldman
CEO, Barrett Productions
_______________________________________
From: MCrenshaw
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Some Kind Of Wonderful
"Some Kind Of Wonderful" by The Soul Brothers Six was HUGE in Detroit, probably the reason why it charted in Billboard.. The guys in GFR would've known it; every bar band in Michigan played it. I hope somebody sends you the SB6's version; it kills Grand Funk, eats them for breakfast, etc.. The SB6's other records are great too, like "Better Check Yourself"..
Marshall C.
_______________________________________
From: Cedar Boschan
Subject: RE: Clear Channel Direct Deals
Just discussed this today with a writer from The Tennessean, which is running a piece on the Congressional sound recording performance rights debate in its Sunday edition.
The direct deals won't stop because it is in both major labels and broadcasters' interests to cut direct deals, largely at the artists' expense.
To your point, these deals cut small indie labels - and artists thereon - entirely out of the pie because they lack leverage. But artists on labels with enough clout to negotiate broadcaster deals do not get a fair share either.
As an auditor with many major recording artist clients, some of the problems I see are:
1. Direct deals preserve the scheme under which major labels’ foreign offices collect BOTH the American artist and label shares (because, as you noted, these deals will not unlock reciprocity with foreign performance royalty societies).
2. Labels are very unlikely to split with artists all of the different kinds of consideration they receive from broadcasters, especially the non-cash consideration like equity stakes and promotional airtime, which is basically payola to benefit new artists at the cost of catalog artists.
3. What the labels do share with artists will be subject to recoupment (i.e., unrecouped artists will receive nothing, whereas payments from Sound Exchange are not subject to recoupment).
Further, as attorney Jay Cooper, copied, pointed out recently:
1. The very people we need to testify are the artists themselves and they are impossible to get.
2. Every congressperson has a radio station in their district but not every district has artists.
This is why, unless artists miraculously manage to organize, broadcasters and major labels have few reasons to stop making these direct deals that disfavor the artist and fend off any statutory terrestrial sound recording performance right.
Cedar Boschan, Partner
Hurewitz, Boschan & Co. LLP
_______________________________________
From: Perry Resnick
Subject: RE: Clear Channel Direct Deals
Bob,
You are dead right. All that foreign performance income will not be paid to US artists without a statutory terrestrial performance right. It's disgraceful that terrestrial radio can build a multi-billion dollar business by using master recordings of artist performances for which they do not have to pay a dime, and it keeps us from collecting foreign performance royalties. Their "promotional value" argument is a load of bull to keep the gravy train running as long as possible.
The other important point is that with these private deals, artist do not get paid directly. When everything goes through SoundExchange, artists and artist unions receive their 50% directly, without regard to recoupment. This is comparable to songwriters receiving their songwriter performance royalties directly from ASCAP/BMI without regard to the status of any publishing deals. Direct payment of performance royalties is sacrosant, whether artist or songwriter, and should not be messed with.
These indie labels the broadcasters are cutting deals with may not be sharing this income with their artists, and if they are, it is probably subject to recoupment.
In the spirit of disclosure, I am an Artist Representative on the
SoundExchange Board, but these are my personal opinions that I have been espousing for years. This should not be construed as any official opinion or policy of SoundExchange.
Best,
Perry Resnick
RZO, LLC
(Note: "Clear Channel's Pandora-like custom radio feature would also get a discounted rate from the 22 cents per 100 streams that it pays now, although that rate will not be less than Pandora’s 12 cents per 100 streams, these people said. The artists' portion of all of Clear Channel's royalties for Warner's repertory would be paid through SoundExchange." http://nyti.ms/1db85HV)
_______________________________________
From: Val Garay
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Linda Ronstadt
MAD LOVE the digital nightmare from hell....Recorded and mixed on the soon to be extinct 3M Digital 32 track recorder and why I ever wanted to do this is beyond me.
So many problems with a beta machine and we had 2 techs full time from 3M there from Camarillo at Record One.
One of which eventually went to work for me and then started Brent Averil Ent. and made all those wonderful pieces of Brent Averil Gear.
We nicked named him Digi Man.
You would put a track in record and all 32 would go into record so I had to take all the record cards out of the machine except the track we were recording on.
The 2 track digital editor was an aluminum box with lots of holes in it and that was another nightmare.
As for the album itself, I thought "How Do I Make You" was an interesting early Billy Steinberg song before he hooked up with Tom Kelly and wrote all those #1 hits. (Like A Virgin, True Colors, Eternal Flame, I Drove All Night, Alone and on and on)
Vg
_______________________________________
From: Charlie Feldman (and others)
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Dance To The Music
Freddie (great voice in his own right) Sly's brother sings the vocal introducing the guitar and Larry Graham sings intro to the bass, which he plays. Sly sings intro to the organ.
_______________________________________
From: Hugh Surratt
Subject: Re: Audeze LCD2
Hey Bob.
Re: So Little Time To Fly.
Not for nuttin', but that's Randy California on lead vocal--not Ferguson.
HMS.
_______________________________________
Subject: Day 2 JazzFest May 3
Mr. Lefsetz,
I thank you for your kind words yesterday. As a reader of your column/blog, I am happy to be mentioned, especially in the manner in which I was addressed yesterday. As a writer of instrumental music, it is hard to be understood at times, but I think you actually nailed it when you said you were transported (my word this time) to another place while listening. That's what I am up to. Just not in the mud.
Thank you for the entertainment and insight you bring us all.
Best regards,
Jerry Douglas
_______________________________________
From: Heather Church
Subject: Re: Buyer's Guide
Hi Bob...
Agreed on all of your best-to-buys. After reading it, I was putting away my laundry and realized that this best-to-buy should also apply to t shirts, and specifically merch shirts. I buy a shirt at every show I go to...I love art and know that small bands make their money through touring, so I when I see quality music, I buy whatever they are selling...if I LOVE what they do, I will buy extra and give them away. I'm also an avid Kickstarter (etc) junkie and love getting prizes for my donations. With that said, there are two things that bands should know...1) women like music too and we will buy your stuff, so get shirts that fit girls and 2) stop using cheap, crappy shirts to put your band name on. They suck, and I won't wear them. American Apparel (or the like) shirts may cost a few bucks more, but they're comfortable and they look good on. I'm happy to be a walking billboard for your band, but not at the cost of my own comfort or appearance.
Heather
_______________________________________
From: Paul Bailey
Subject: Mamas and Papas on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
A jazz pianist friend Bobby Gebert told me of his drive across the Sydney Harbour bridge with the world renowned artist Brett Whitley. The back of their car was filled with freshly cut, undried hooch and they were smoking a scoobie of the best. The Mamas and Papas were on the new CD player, the four windows were down and the music so loud it was peeling the paint on the bridge. Half-way across the bridge Brett screamed above the music. "Bobby kill me now. Kill me now. It's never going to get better than this."
Paul
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Bogota - (A Lonely Planet author writes)
Hi Bob,
I wrote the Lonely Planet chapter to Colombia in the 30th edition of its Latin America Guide.
I wrote this paragraph. It is specifically relevant to your mail today.
"THE CULTURE
The National Psyche
A middle-aged American couple stop on a street corner in Bogota. Reading a large map, they are obviously lost, obviously wealthy â€" or wealthier than 90% of the people passing them in the street. A motorbike pulls along- side them, the driver flips his visor. What happens next?
The bike rider dismounts and the couple feel a prickle of fear. The biker smiles, asks them where they are headed, takes the map, points out the directions, shakes hands and bids them a good day and rides off. The Americans simply cannot believe it. Such a thing would never happen in a major US capital, they say.
It's a true story, and not an isolated one. Every traveler you meet who comes to Colombia with an open mind says the same thing: the people are genuinely friendly and helpful.
Kidnaps, extortion and small-scale bombings still occur, and several areas of the country are heavily mined. But the real difficulties facing Colombians today are economic.
The national psyche is remarkably robust and happiness and warmth are the default settings for most Colombians.
Everyone dreams of a finca (country house with land). In their hearts urban Colombians are all cowboys and they romanticize rural life. Many rural Colombians, meanwhile, struggle to survive and dream of life in the big cities."
You're staying uptown, in the 90s, where the Gucci shops are.
Hit me up if you want a recommendation for a cool place downtown.
Take a plane and fly to Cartagena. It'll take you an hour and cost a hundred bucks. It will blow your mind. It's like walking into a Garcia Marquez novel.
Go to the Carribbean coast. Meet some coastal Colombians. Go to Medellin, and be amazed. It's the greatest country in the world and I love it.
Mike Power
Journalist
London
http://amzn.to/U40Wmq
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Subject: Fwd: SHE'S SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL
Hi Bob,
Thanks for writing the article.
I would like to share a story with you, and fans, of how the phrase some kind of wonderful, came to be a song. I still remember that moment as if it was yesterday. My band, the Soul Brothers Six, had signed a recording contract with a small independent record label in Philadelphia that was owned by Walter Rayfield. We met Walter at a club in Rochester, New York where we played every weekend. He convinced us to sign a management contract, plus a recording contract with him, and invited our group to come to Philly to record.
The day we were leaving for Philadelphia, I stopped by the apartment of the girl I was dating, to say goodby. Her name was Ann White. She had packed me a lunch in a brown paper bag. We stood there in silence for a moment just looking at each other. I knew this was the last time I would see her, I knew she wanted more from me than I could give her, but she understood. She knew I had dreams that nothing could get in the way of. I gave her a hug, and we kissed. I looked at her and said, you are some kind of wonderful, I'm gonna write a song about you.
This was around 6am, I turned and walked towards the old 1960 Ford we had bought for the trip that was eaten up by rust. You could see the highway through the rusted out holes in the floor. After about four hours into the trip, I ate the sandwich Ann had prepared for me. After I finished the sandwich, I began writing the lyrics to some kind of wonderful on the bag she had packed my lunch in.
I don't need a whole lots of money, I don't need a big fine car, I've got everything that a man could want, I've got more, than I could ask for.
This is the reason for those first three lines. The first line was because at that moment, money could not make me feel the way I was feeling. Although I did not want a relationship with Ann, I did have feelings for her. This was something that money could not buy.
Regarding the big fine car, I knew I could be just as happy with her in the old rusted out Ford,as I would be in a brand new car because I would have everything that I could hope for. That's how she made me feel.
Some Kind Of Wonderful was written in less than a half hour, which included the melody, the arrangement of all the music, which included the famous bass line that have been featured in many songs over the years and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Because of the many turn of events that have happened in my life, I have
written my autobiography. The Soul Brother's Six have a story that need to be told also. I am sure that one day, our story will be made into a movie.
Best regards,
John Ellison
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Some Kind Of Wonderful
Dear Bob,
Last year I had the opportunity to get Mark Farner and John Ellison together for dinner. This was the first time they ever really sat together. It was like watching two long lost brothers meeting for the first time. Never before had Mark heard why John wrote “She’s Some Kind of Wonderful†and never before had John heard why Grand Funk recorded it. I am including one picture here.
pic.twitter.com/Mvd8MRLeoi
Dennis Waldman
CEO, Barrett Productions
_______________________________________
From: MCrenshaw
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Some Kind Of Wonderful
"Some Kind Of Wonderful" by The Soul Brothers Six was HUGE in Detroit, probably the reason why it charted in Billboard.. The guys in GFR would've known it; every bar band in Michigan played it. I hope somebody sends you the SB6's version; it kills Grand Funk, eats them for breakfast, etc.. The SB6's other records are great too, like "Better Check Yourself"..
Marshall C.
_______________________________________
From: Cedar Boschan
Subject: RE: Clear Channel Direct Deals
Just discussed this today with a writer from The Tennessean, which is running a piece on the Congressional sound recording performance rights debate in its Sunday edition.
The direct deals won't stop because it is in both major labels and broadcasters' interests to cut direct deals, largely at the artists' expense.
To your point, these deals cut small indie labels - and artists thereon - entirely out of the pie because they lack leverage. But artists on labels with enough clout to negotiate broadcaster deals do not get a fair share either.
As an auditor with many major recording artist clients, some of the problems I see are:
1. Direct deals preserve the scheme under which major labels’ foreign offices collect BOTH the American artist and label shares (because, as you noted, these deals will not unlock reciprocity with foreign performance royalty societies).
2. Labels are very unlikely to split with artists all of the different kinds of consideration they receive from broadcasters, especially the non-cash consideration like equity stakes and promotional airtime, which is basically payola to benefit new artists at the cost of catalog artists.
3. What the labels do share with artists will be subject to recoupment (i.e., unrecouped artists will receive nothing, whereas payments from Sound Exchange are not subject to recoupment).
Further, as attorney Jay Cooper, copied, pointed out recently:
1. The very people we need to testify are the artists themselves and they are impossible to get.
2. Every congressperson has a radio station in their district but not every district has artists.
This is why, unless artists miraculously manage to organize, broadcasters and major labels have few reasons to stop making these direct deals that disfavor the artist and fend off any statutory terrestrial sound recording performance right.
Cedar Boschan, Partner
Hurewitz, Boschan & Co. LLP
_______________________________________
From: Perry Resnick
Subject: RE: Clear Channel Direct Deals
Bob,
You are dead right. All that foreign performance income will not be paid to US artists without a statutory terrestrial performance right. It's disgraceful that terrestrial radio can build a multi-billion dollar business by using master recordings of artist performances for which they do not have to pay a dime, and it keeps us from collecting foreign performance royalties. Their "promotional value" argument is a load of bull to keep the gravy train running as long as possible.
The other important point is that with these private deals, artist do not get paid directly. When everything goes through SoundExchange, artists and artist unions receive their 50% directly, without regard to recoupment. This is comparable to songwriters receiving their songwriter performance royalties directly from ASCAP/BMI without regard to the status of any publishing deals. Direct payment of performance royalties is sacrosant, whether artist or songwriter, and should not be messed with.
These indie labels the broadcasters are cutting deals with may not be sharing this income with their artists, and if they are, it is probably subject to recoupment.
In the spirit of disclosure, I am an Artist Representative on the
SoundExchange Board, but these are my personal opinions that I have been espousing for years. This should not be construed as any official opinion or policy of SoundExchange.
Best,
Perry Resnick
RZO, LLC
(Note: "Clear Channel's Pandora-like custom radio feature would also get a discounted rate from the 22 cents per 100 streams that it pays now, although that rate will not be less than Pandora’s 12 cents per 100 streams, these people said. The artists' portion of all of Clear Channel's royalties for Warner's repertory would be paid through SoundExchange." http://nyti.ms/1db85HV)
_______________________________________
From: Val Garay
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Linda Ronstadt
MAD LOVE the digital nightmare from hell....Recorded and mixed on the soon to be extinct 3M Digital 32 track recorder and why I ever wanted to do this is beyond me.
So many problems with a beta machine and we had 2 techs full time from 3M there from Camarillo at Record One.
One of which eventually went to work for me and then started Brent Averil Ent. and made all those wonderful pieces of Brent Averil Gear.
We nicked named him Digi Man.
You would put a track in record and all 32 would go into record so I had to take all the record cards out of the machine except the track we were recording on.
The 2 track digital editor was an aluminum box with lots of holes in it and that was another nightmare.
As for the album itself, I thought "How Do I Make You" was an interesting early Billy Steinberg song before he hooked up with Tom Kelly and wrote all those #1 hits. (Like A Virgin, True Colors, Eternal Flame, I Drove All Night, Alone and on and on)
Vg
_______________________________________
From: Charlie Feldman (and others)
Subject: Re: Rhinofy-Dance To The Music
Freddie (great voice in his own right) Sly's brother sings the vocal introducing the guitar and Larry Graham sings intro to the bass, which he plays. Sly sings intro to the organ.
_______________________________________
From: Hugh Surratt
Subject: Re: Audeze LCD2
Hey Bob.
Re: So Little Time To Fly.
Not for nuttin', but that's Randy California on lead vocal--not Ferguson.
HMS.
_______________________________________
Subject: Day 2 JazzFest May 3
Mr. Lefsetz,
I thank you for your kind words yesterday. As a reader of your column/blog, I am happy to be mentioned, especially in the manner in which I was addressed yesterday. As a writer of instrumental music, it is hard to be understood at times, but I think you actually nailed it when you said you were transported (my word this time) to another place while listening. That's what I am up to. Just not in the mud.
Thank you for the entertainment and insight you bring us all.
Best regards,
Jerry Douglas
_______________________________________
From: Heather Church
Subject: Re: Buyer's Guide
Hi Bob...
Agreed on all of your best-to-buys. After reading it, I was putting away my laundry and realized that this best-to-buy should also apply to t shirts, and specifically merch shirts. I buy a shirt at every show I go to...I love art and know that small bands make their money through touring, so I when I see quality music, I buy whatever they are selling...if I LOVE what they do, I will buy extra and give them away. I'm also an avid Kickstarter (etc) junkie and love getting prizes for my donations. With that said, there are two things that bands should know...1) women like music too and we will buy your stuff, so get shirts that fit girls and 2) stop using cheap, crappy shirts to put your band name on. They suck, and I won't wear them. American Apparel (or the like) shirts may cost a few bucks more, but they're comfortable and they look good on. I'm happy to be a walking billboard for your band, but not at the cost of my own comfort or appearance.
Heather
_______________________________________
From: Paul Bailey
Subject: Mamas and Papas on the Sydney Harbour Bridge
A jazz pianist friend Bobby Gebert told me of his drive across the Sydney Harbour bridge with the world renowned artist Brett Whitley. The back of their car was filled with freshly cut, undried hooch and they were smoking a scoobie of the best. The Mamas and Papas were on the new CD player, the four windows were down and the music so loud it was peeling the paint on the bridge. Half-way across the bridge Brett screamed above the music. "Bobby kill me now. Kill me now. It's never going to get better than this."
Paul
_______________________________________
Subject: Re: Bogota - (A Lonely Planet author writes)
Hi Bob,
I wrote the Lonely Planet chapter to Colombia in the 30th edition of its Latin America Guide.
I wrote this paragraph. It is specifically relevant to your mail today.
"THE CULTURE
The National Psyche
A middle-aged American couple stop on a street corner in Bogota. Reading a large map, they are obviously lost, obviously wealthy â€" or wealthier than 90% of the people passing them in the street. A motorbike pulls along- side them, the driver flips his visor. What happens next?
The bike rider dismounts and the couple feel a prickle of fear. The biker smiles, asks them where they are headed, takes the map, points out the directions, shakes hands and bids them a good day and rides off. The Americans simply cannot believe it. Such a thing would never happen in a major US capital, they say.
It's a true story, and not an isolated one. Every traveler you meet who comes to Colombia with an open mind says the same thing: the people are genuinely friendly and helpful.
Kidnaps, extortion and small-scale bombings still occur, and several areas of the country are heavily mined. But the real difficulties facing Colombians today are economic.
The national psyche is remarkably robust and happiness and warmth are the default settings for most Colombians.
Everyone dreams of a finca (country house with land). In their hearts urban Colombians are all cowboys and they romanticize rural life. Many rural Colombians, meanwhile, struggle to survive and dream of life in the big cities."
You're staying uptown, in the 90s, where the Gucci shops are.
Hit me up if you want a recommendation for a cool place downtown.
Take a plane and fly to Cartagena. It'll take you an hour and cost a hundred bucks. It will blow your mind. It's like walking into a Garcia Marquez novel.
Go to the Carribbean coast. Meet some coastal Colombians. Go to Medellin, and be amazed. It's the greatest country in the world and I love it.
Mike Power
Journalist
London
http://amzn.to/U40Wmq
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Monday 16 September 2013
What You Want Is In The Limo
http://amzn.to/1bnNsdj
I'm fried from dental work, but I don't want another moment to go by without hipping you to this book, could be the best rock and roll primer on the planet.
Huh?
I've about given up reading rock and roll books. Always poorly written, they never tell you what you want to hear and they leave out the essence, the myth and how it came to be.
Most people believe the concept of rock star was born with MTV. Oldsters will pooh-pooh that and say it's all about the sixties, baby. Michael Walker points to the seventies, more specifically 1973, he says that's when the screw turned, when Zeppelin, the Who and Alice Cooper went on stage.
I don't agree with his exact premise. Led Zeppelin IV was much more important than "Houses Of The Holy" and "Physical Graffiti" was a return to form, but the point is once upon a time it was about peace and love, then it turned out to be about world domination and money. Yup, everybody from Lady Gaga to the living room wannabe is living out the paradigm that these acts established exactly forty years ago, when there was so much money in music, you lived in a bubble and could do whatever you wanted.
This was back before bankers were loaded.
Back before the tech revolution.
Oh, there was always a music business. But the lion's share of the cash went to the promoters and the intermediaries. The acts were along for the ride. But not when Peter Grant got involved.
Beginning with Donn Arden, and ain't that a story, Peter Grant came from the Irving Azoff school of music management. He didn't get involved in the music itself, but he paved the way for Jimmy Page to do exactly what he wanted. He was his adorer and protector. High on coke, sometimes a teddy bear and sometimes a tyrant, it was Grant who invented the modern music business. He was the one who changed the deals so that the acts got all the money, after all, all you had to do was put the tickets on sale and they were instantly gone!
If you lived through this era you remember. Scalpers were not prevalent. You lined up overnight to get tickets. And you were thrilled just to be inside, no one complained about sitting in the last row, you were part of the shenanigans!
Woodstock illustrated there was an audience.
Grant, Gordon and Peter Rudge capitalized on it.
Yes, Shep Gordon. Who comes to L.A. with bupkes and fakes his way into managing Alice Cooper, leaving behind his days as a dope dealer at the Landmark Hotel. Read this book and you'll believe that management is everything. That you won't make it without it. Because a manager not only has a vision, he capitalizes on your luck. Alice Cooper almost didn't make it. Frank Zappa had them cut their first album in a day. And it stunk. But they convinced the unknown Bob Ezrin to produce "I'm Eighteen" and truly the rest is history. Without Ezrin, there's no Alice Cooper. And if there's no Alice Cooper, there's no Madonna and certainly no Miley Cyrus. Alice self-consciously tested limits heretofore unseen. The audience was in on the joke, the mainstream was horrified. But it's only rock and roll, back when the acts used to actually write their own songs and perform on their records.
Peter Grant got leverage by paying for Zeppelin's first record with his and Jimmy Page's money. They ended up with artistic control. Remember that when you're looking for a handout.
Furthermore, Zeppelin got terrible reviews. Yup, this was the first time in the rock and roll era reviews no longer mattered, the public was in charge. The Zeppelin you revere today? Abhorred by the cognoscenti back then. But it made no difference, just like reviews are meaningless today.
But you might know all this. But did you know promoter Jack Boyle used to fill his ice cream tubs with plaster of Paris, only putting the frozen dessert a half inch down? He charged $75 for that ice cream, he told Chip Rachlin he put his kids through college on the profits.
Yes, the promoters were trying to screw the artists. It was the job of the manager to make sure they didn't. The entire modern rock and roll business was created way back then, we've just been living on fumes ever since.
And the reason you read this book is for the tiny touches, the little stuff you did not know. And I was stunned how much of the book was new to me. Yup, after all these years you can still teach an old dog new tricks.
And you've got to know the tricks. That's why I'm recommending this book. I don't care if you hate these three bands, you'll learn more about how the rock and roll music business works than in a month of web-surfing and a year of "Billboard."
And I never ever read anything about this book other than the one review that got me to check it out. It's like it wasn't even released. The guy made some previous headway with his book about Laurel Canyon, but either he's got a bad publicist or the mainstream press is ignoring him, but this is the most insightful book about the music business since "Hit Men."
Oh, there's a big gap. And the writer is constantly executing turns of phrase that cause you to wince. And he throws in big words for no reason. But by reading this book you'll understand how it once was, when we weren't enthralled by tech but music. When these musicians were never laughingstocks but heroes. When they had more power than anybody on the planet and lived like it.
Really. Buy this book IMMEDIATELY!
"What You Want Is In The Limo: On the Road with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and the Who in 1973, the Year the Sixties Died and the Modern Rock Star Was Born": http://bit.ly/13vVuwj
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I'm fried from dental work, but I don't want another moment to go by without hipping you to this book, could be the best rock and roll primer on the planet.
Huh?
I've about given up reading rock and roll books. Always poorly written, they never tell you what you want to hear and they leave out the essence, the myth and how it came to be.
Most people believe the concept of rock star was born with MTV. Oldsters will pooh-pooh that and say it's all about the sixties, baby. Michael Walker points to the seventies, more specifically 1973, he says that's when the screw turned, when Zeppelin, the Who and Alice Cooper went on stage.
I don't agree with his exact premise. Led Zeppelin IV was much more important than "Houses Of The Holy" and "Physical Graffiti" was a return to form, but the point is once upon a time it was about peace and love, then it turned out to be about world domination and money. Yup, everybody from Lady Gaga to the living room wannabe is living out the paradigm that these acts established exactly forty years ago, when there was so much money in music, you lived in a bubble and could do whatever you wanted.
This was back before bankers were loaded.
Back before the tech revolution.
Oh, there was always a music business. But the lion's share of the cash went to the promoters and the intermediaries. The acts were along for the ride. But not when Peter Grant got involved.
Beginning with Donn Arden, and ain't that a story, Peter Grant came from the Irving Azoff school of music management. He didn't get involved in the music itself, but he paved the way for Jimmy Page to do exactly what he wanted. He was his adorer and protector. High on coke, sometimes a teddy bear and sometimes a tyrant, it was Grant who invented the modern music business. He was the one who changed the deals so that the acts got all the money, after all, all you had to do was put the tickets on sale and they were instantly gone!
If you lived through this era you remember. Scalpers were not prevalent. You lined up overnight to get tickets. And you were thrilled just to be inside, no one complained about sitting in the last row, you were part of the shenanigans!
Woodstock illustrated there was an audience.
Grant, Gordon and Peter Rudge capitalized on it.
Yes, Shep Gordon. Who comes to L.A. with bupkes and fakes his way into managing Alice Cooper, leaving behind his days as a dope dealer at the Landmark Hotel. Read this book and you'll believe that management is everything. That you won't make it without it. Because a manager not only has a vision, he capitalizes on your luck. Alice Cooper almost didn't make it. Frank Zappa had them cut their first album in a day. And it stunk. But they convinced the unknown Bob Ezrin to produce "I'm Eighteen" and truly the rest is history. Without Ezrin, there's no Alice Cooper. And if there's no Alice Cooper, there's no Madonna and certainly no Miley Cyrus. Alice self-consciously tested limits heretofore unseen. The audience was in on the joke, the mainstream was horrified. But it's only rock and roll, back when the acts used to actually write their own songs and perform on their records.
Peter Grant got leverage by paying for Zeppelin's first record with his and Jimmy Page's money. They ended up with artistic control. Remember that when you're looking for a handout.
Furthermore, Zeppelin got terrible reviews. Yup, this was the first time in the rock and roll era reviews no longer mattered, the public was in charge. The Zeppelin you revere today? Abhorred by the cognoscenti back then. But it made no difference, just like reviews are meaningless today.
But you might know all this. But did you know promoter Jack Boyle used to fill his ice cream tubs with plaster of Paris, only putting the frozen dessert a half inch down? He charged $75 for that ice cream, he told Chip Rachlin he put his kids through college on the profits.
Yes, the promoters were trying to screw the artists. It was the job of the manager to make sure they didn't. The entire modern rock and roll business was created way back then, we've just been living on fumes ever since.
And the reason you read this book is for the tiny touches, the little stuff you did not know. And I was stunned how much of the book was new to me. Yup, after all these years you can still teach an old dog new tricks.
And you've got to know the tricks. That's why I'm recommending this book. I don't care if you hate these three bands, you'll learn more about how the rock and roll music business works than in a month of web-surfing and a year of "Billboard."
And I never ever read anything about this book other than the one review that got me to check it out. It's like it wasn't even released. The guy made some previous headway with his book about Laurel Canyon, but either he's got a bad publicist or the mainstream press is ignoring him, but this is the most insightful book about the music business since "Hit Men."
Oh, there's a big gap. And the writer is constantly executing turns of phrase that cause you to wince. And he throws in big words for no reason. But by reading this book you'll understand how it once was, when we weren't enthralled by tech but music. When these musicians were never laughingstocks but heroes. When they had more power than anybody on the planet and lived like it.
Really. Buy this book IMMEDIATELY!
"What You Want Is In The Limo: On the Road with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and the Who in 1973, the Year the Sixties Died and the Modern Rock Star Was Born": http://bit.ly/13vVuwj
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Sunday 15 September 2013
I don't want to tweet. It's like pissing off a cliff in the dark. No one sees it and you risk getting yourself wet. At best, you screw up and become a pariah. Which is why Twitter is a sea of dropouts and the fawning press trumpeting its IPO doesn't realize that sites built upon the backs of users are fads. In other words, you're better off buying Apple, unless you're a Wall Street pro who buys low and gets out early.
How did it come to this?
Like every fad, once upon a time Twitter was cool. You know how it works, you hear about something from your hipster friends, you say you don't need it but eventually you dive in, love it and then abandon it. Come on, how often do you update your Facebook page now?
Furthermore, those who fan the flames of cool, the young 'uns, are always on the hunt for the latest and the greatest, moving on to new social networks their parents are unaware of, only to abandon them when they fall out of favor, or when everybody else is there, or lose their cred.
Do we need a real time news service? One in which we can learn the comings and goings of those we're interested in and facts from the street from the millions of reporters that the traditional media industry cannot provide?
Yes.
So you'll find out the world ended first on Twitter.
But you won't get any analysis. That's hard to do in 140 characters.
You might even find out your favorite singer got hitched or busted or smashed his or her car in a DUI.
But do we really want to know the comings and goings of everyday people?
No.
Call it the blockbuster mentality. We're not interested in what most people do, only a few.
Remember when every day your inbox was cluttered with a joke? I haven't gotten one in years. Because people were thrilled they could connect with old friends from around the world, but they really didn't have much to say past the initial greeting, so they sent jokes. But now everybody expects to be in contact with everybody they ever knew all the time. So there are no jokes. E-mail is for business. Maybe personal, but people complain when their inbox is being cluttered.
Facebook was cool for a minute because you could hook up with those you'd lost touch with and burnish your own self-image, trying to tell your high school buddies you'd won. But then you realized that once you graduated, no one really cared. As a result, it's only a hard core who are Facebooking today.
And there's only a hard core who are tweeting.
I've about given up. Because unless I reach deep down inside, try to be witty and viral all the time, unless I consider it my job, almost nothing I have to say will be seen by almost anybody, and it's just too frustrating to continue. So I've dropped out. And so have so many others. Oh, we've still got Albert Brooks and Kelly Oxford, but so many I used to follow have gone silent.
To be replaced by newbies with even less to say. Who believe if they just keep tweeting something good will happen to them. But we've already forgotten about the kings and queens of MySpace. And if you're not frustrated with counter games, you're not playing.
You know what I mean... How many friends do you have? How many likes? How many followers? I mean I competed in high school to get into a good college, grade-grubbing all the way. I gave that up when I got to Middlebury, you want me to play that game again now?
Yup, if I've got a low count I'm nobody and there's always someone with more followers. Either I can stay up at night dreaming how to raise my count or I can get frustrated and leave the arena. Because Twitter followers are like virtual badges, they're ultimately meaningless. You stop playing that video game, the slate is wiped clean. It's not like being the king of Twitter pays.
And so many of the tweets are personal preference. Everybody in America is lonely and looking to be important. They believe someone is interested in their travails when the truth is we all live in silos, unless you're truly famous, which comes with its own set of downsides.
And the news people are trumpeting this stuff you can live without. Links to some blog or videoclip done by some hack with no impact. Or else it's the same viral sensation you're already aware of, like that video about the fox. And then the mainstream media hypes the same damn thing making like it's important when it's truly not.
But don't get me started on viral videos. Used to be if you had 700,000 views I was wowed. Then a couple million. Today if you don't have ten million views of your video I'm shrugging my shoulders. You're just a drop in the ocean. The standards have risen.
That's what's happened all over the world. The exceptional have won and those below just can't. It's just like income inequality. But since too many people can't work or are underemployed they believe if they win in one of these fake games online, like Twitter, then their lives will be worth living.
Yes, Twitter is the new reality TV, only with a lot fewer viewers and not even scale pay.
The Internet has turned into a giant game that everybody's trying to win at and few can. Remember when everybody was gonna have a Webpage, then a blog? How long do you think they're gonna be interested in Tumblr or Pinterest? Remember how long Turntable.fm lasted?
So I won't say there's nothing there at Twitter. There is a kernel. A nugget. But following people is time-consuming, and ever less fulfilling. As for participating yourself, why would you?
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How did it come to this?
Like every fad, once upon a time Twitter was cool. You know how it works, you hear about something from your hipster friends, you say you don't need it but eventually you dive in, love it and then abandon it. Come on, how often do you update your Facebook page now?
Furthermore, those who fan the flames of cool, the young 'uns, are always on the hunt for the latest and the greatest, moving on to new social networks their parents are unaware of, only to abandon them when they fall out of favor, or when everybody else is there, or lose their cred.
Do we need a real time news service? One in which we can learn the comings and goings of those we're interested in and facts from the street from the millions of reporters that the traditional media industry cannot provide?
Yes.
So you'll find out the world ended first on Twitter.
But you won't get any analysis. That's hard to do in 140 characters.
You might even find out your favorite singer got hitched or busted or smashed his or her car in a DUI.
But do we really want to know the comings and goings of everyday people?
No.
Call it the blockbuster mentality. We're not interested in what most people do, only a few.
Remember when every day your inbox was cluttered with a joke? I haven't gotten one in years. Because people were thrilled they could connect with old friends from around the world, but they really didn't have much to say past the initial greeting, so they sent jokes. But now everybody expects to be in contact with everybody they ever knew all the time. So there are no jokes. E-mail is for business. Maybe personal, but people complain when their inbox is being cluttered.
Facebook was cool for a minute because you could hook up with those you'd lost touch with and burnish your own self-image, trying to tell your high school buddies you'd won. But then you realized that once you graduated, no one really cared. As a result, it's only a hard core who are Facebooking today.
And there's only a hard core who are tweeting.
I've about given up. Because unless I reach deep down inside, try to be witty and viral all the time, unless I consider it my job, almost nothing I have to say will be seen by almost anybody, and it's just too frustrating to continue. So I've dropped out. And so have so many others. Oh, we've still got Albert Brooks and Kelly Oxford, but so many I used to follow have gone silent.
To be replaced by newbies with even less to say. Who believe if they just keep tweeting something good will happen to them. But we've already forgotten about the kings and queens of MySpace. And if you're not frustrated with counter games, you're not playing.
You know what I mean... How many friends do you have? How many likes? How many followers? I mean I competed in high school to get into a good college, grade-grubbing all the way. I gave that up when I got to Middlebury, you want me to play that game again now?
Yup, if I've got a low count I'm nobody and there's always someone with more followers. Either I can stay up at night dreaming how to raise my count or I can get frustrated and leave the arena. Because Twitter followers are like virtual badges, they're ultimately meaningless. You stop playing that video game, the slate is wiped clean. It's not like being the king of Twitter pays.
And so many of the tweets are personal preference. Everybody in America is lonely and looking to be important. They believe someone is interested in their travails when the truth is we all live in silos, unless you're truly famous, which comes with its own set of downsides.
And the news people are trumpeting this stuff you can live without. Links to some blog or videoclip done by some hack with no impact. Or else it's the same viral sensation you're already aware of, like that video about the fox. And then the mainstream media hypes the same damn thing making like it's important when it's truly not.
But don't get me started on viral videos. Used to be if you had 700,000 views I was wowed. Then a couple million. Today if you don't have ten million views of your video I'm shrugging my shoulders. You're just a drop in the ocean. The standards have risen.
That's what's happened all over the world. The exceptional have won and those below just can't. It's just like income inequality. But since too many people can't work or are underemployed they believe if they win in one of these fake games online, like Twitter, then their lives will be worth living.
Yes, Twitter is the new reality TV, only with a lot fewer viewers and not even scale pay.
The Internet has turned into a giant game that everybody's trying to win at and few can. Remember when everybody was gonna have a Webpage, then a blog? How long do you think they're gonna be interested in Tumblr or Pinterest? Remember how long Turntable.fm lasted?
So I won't say there's nothing there at Twitter. There is a kernel. A nugget. But following people is time-consuming, and ever less fulfilling. As for participating yourself, why would you?
--
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--
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Conformity
Is it any wonder the world has been taken over by nerds?
It's the nerds who are outcasts, the nerds who are bullied. If you're everybody's friend, chances are you're not making a difference, at least not artistically.
Once upon a time, during the baby boomer era, being different was a badge of honor. Yes, that's one thing the boomers got right. But their kids, brought up in an era where you got trophies just for participating, are afraid to stand out, they're all about their network of friends, they don't want to be ostracized. And that's one of the reasons music is so bad.
What?
Yes, music is best when it's spearheaded by outsiders. Certainly not suits who believe they know best. The Beatles refused to do another's material and insisted on doing their own and "Please Please Me" went to number one. They weren't afraid to go their own way.
Don't confuse this with believing you know better. Like a child who thinks he knows more than his dad. I'm talking about questioning authority.
Everyone's afraid to lose friends. Everyone's afraid to stand out. Everyone's afraid of criticism. Hell, kids don't raise their hands in class because they don't want to be seen as different, as know-it-alls, better off to play dumb.
Was John Lennon dumb?
John Lennon spoke the truth, that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. Religious zealots freaked out and burned their albums, but that's how big the Beatles truly were.
Oh, today we've got acts that get in trouble with the law, but that's not the same thing.
We're looking for the new and the different and if you don't have people dropping their jaws, chances are you're not going to last, you probably won't even be big.
Furthermore, just because no one likes your music, that does not mean you're on the right path. The key is to be different AND liked. Nothing previous sounded like Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," but it was a huge hit. Steely Dan was twisted, but they were embraced by a public that believed it hated the jazz influences Steely Dan was selling.
And if you're ahead of the game, expect to be excoriated.
All those people who believed they'd never listen to music on computers, that CDs were best... Try taking away their iPhones, their Sonos systems. No one complains as loud as a Luddite, remember that.
So if you're not experiencing resistance, if you don't find people trying to rein you in, chances are you're not shooting high enough.
Dare to be unpopular.
Because that's where the germ of true popularity begins.
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It's the nerds who are outcasts, the nerds who are bullied. If you're everybody's friend, chances are you're not making a difference, at least not artistically.
Once upon a time, during the baby boomer era, being different was a badge of honor. Yes, that's one thing the boomers got right. But their kids, brought up in an era where you got trophies just for participating, are afraid to stand out, they're all about their network of friends, they don't want to be ostracized. And that's one of the reasons music is so bad.
What?
Yes, music is best when it's spearheaded by outsiders. Certainly not suits who believe they know best. The Beatles refused to do another's material and insisted on doing their own and "Please Please Me" went to number one. They weren't afraid to go their own way.
Don't confuse this with believing you know better. Like a child who thinks he knows more than his dad. I'm talking about questioning authority.
Everyone's afraid to lose friends. Everyone's afraid to stand out. Everyone's afraid of criticism. Hell, kids don't raise their hands in class because they don't want to be seen as different, as know-it-alls, better off to play dumb.
Was John Lennon dumb?
John Lennon spoke the truth, that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. Religious zealots freaked out and burned their albums, but that's how big the Beatles truly were.
Oh, today we've got acts that get in trouble with the law, but that's not the same thing.
We're looking for the new and the different and if you don't have people dropping their jaws, chances are you're not going to last, you probably won't even be big.
Furthermore, just because no one likes your music, that does not mean you're on the right path. The key is to be different AND liked. Nothing previous sounded like Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," but it was a huge hit. Steely Dan was twisted, but they were embraced by a public that believed it hated the jazz influences Steely Dan was selling.
And if you're ahead of the game, expect to be excoriated.
All those people who believed they'd never listen to music on computers, that CDs were best... Try taking away their iPhones, their Sonos systems. No one complains as loud as a Luddite, remember that.
So if you're not experiencing resistance, if you don't find people trying to rein you in, chances are you're not shooting high enough.
Dare to be unpopular.
Because that's where the germ of true popularity begins.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
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If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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Why don't we listen to full albums anymore?
It's money. And time.
And quality matters, but not as much as the fact that everything's available. For free.
Do you remember going to the record store? It was a thrilling experience, but also a disappointing one. Because you could not afford everything you wanted. You scanned through the new releases, you thumbed through the catalog, and you slowly started to formulate exactly what you would purchase.
Oh, back in the sixties, it was all about singles. The Beatles broke that curse and made it so the whole country, the whole WORLD, was album crazy. But MTV and the CD brought us back to the single, the only difference being you had to buy an entire CD just to hear it, but the album era was very brief, from '67 to '77, when disco came along to obliterate corporate rock.
I'm not saying you didn't enjoy your albums thereafter. But suddenly, it was more satisfying to watch MTV than to turn it off and play your LPs. Because media, when done right, is all about the club. Not only the one you go to dance your ass off, but the mental one, that makes you believe you belong. That's what the album era was all about, belonging. You played every cut, sang along in concert and felt a bond with not only the act, but the audience.
And then the Internet comes along and blows it all to pieces.
You used to look forward to the new releases, you wanted to hear what your favorite acts had to say. Other than some squibs in print, you were completely clueless as to what they were up to. But today, no one ever really goes away. They're available on Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram! Never mind their Websites, which are a cornucopia of information.
After buying your favorite new release, or catalog album, you played it. You paid for it. You had an investment. And no one likes to be a poor investor. You never hear anybody boasting of their losses in Vegas, their lousy stock picks. No, you have to prove to yourself that you made a good decision. So you scoured the album looking for that which hooked you. It sometimes took two or three plays, but by then there was a track that pricked your ears, made you smile, you started playing that side again and again. And when you knew it well, then you flipped over the LP or cassette to learn the other. And when the band came to town, you went. It was cheap. Way under ten bucks. And you were in nirvana as they played your favorite songs. And you knew you had to go to every show, because most of the new album would never be played live again.
But now when the album comes out, it costs you nothing to hear it. Whether on Spotify or YouTube. You dial it up and... You're rarely impressed. Because the acts don't realize the era has changed. That good enough is not good enough. That they've got to smash us over the head with insane quality. Otherwise...it's not exactly like we get bored, we just know what else is lurking, cuts that will satisfy us.
And even the albums of your favorite acts... You don't play those that much either. Not so much because they're substandard, but mostly because if you play them, you can't play something else. And there's so much else you want to play.
But they're not making more time.
And it used to be all about what was new. The edge. Now it's about what maintains. If you like something and nobody else does...you go look at what they do. You don't want to attach yourself to that which has been plowed under by the plethora of product.
It's got more to do with distribution than product. With the candy store door wide open, with the stock chock full 24/7, there's no desperation. Remember when you had to rush to the store because your favorite album might sell out? Boy, those days are through. As are worrying about price. You don't wait for the sale, everything's on sale all the time!
And of course iTunes and Amazon have sales. But if you're buying MP3s you're little different from those buying CDs. A step behind the rest. Everybody else is streaming.
And of course there are a few acts where everybody knows all the tunes. But most people only know the singles. It's one of the reasons the old acts do so well in concert, everybody knows the material!
And of course there are niches, a small group of people who know every note. But a lot of the time this is more about identity, belonging, a badge of honor, than the quality of the music. You know, they tell you how they listen to something incessantly and then you spin it and you say HUH? In the old days, you'd have bought it and played it too, because spending money meant you spun it. But in the old days there was so much less music. The entry bar was so much higher. The relative quality was much greater. And isn't it funny that all those sour grapes acts that said they were squeezed out of the system have not emerged triumphant? Yes, in the Internet era everybody can play, everybody can distribute, but it's a thin layer of mostly major label acts who succeed, because most acts are just not good enough to gain mainstream acceptance/success.
But, since there's so much in the pipeline, we gravitate to excellence, even fewer acts break through on a big basis. It's even harder to reach critical mass.
And of course I miss the old days.
But they're never coming back.
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And quality matters, but not as much as the fact that everything's available. For free.
Do you remember going to the record store? It was a thrilling experience, but also a disappointing one. Because you could not afford everything you wanted. You scanned through the new releases, you thumbed through the catalog, and you slowly started to formulate exactly what you would purchase.
Oh, back in the sixties, it was all about singles. The Beatles broke that curse and made it so the whole country, the whole WORLD, was album crazy. But MTV and the CD brought us back to the single, the only difference being you had to buy an entire CD just to hear it, but the album era was very brief, from '67 to '77, when disco came along to obliterate corporate rock.
I'm not saying you didn't enjoy your albums thereafter. But suddenly, it was more satisfying to watch MTV than to turn it off and play your LPs. Because media, when done right, is all about the club. Not only the one you go to dance your ass off, but the mental one, that makes you believe you belong. That's what the album era was all about, belonging. You played every cut, sang along in concert and felt a bond with not only the act, but the audience.
And then the Internet comes along and blows it all to pieces.
You used to look forward to the new releases, you wanted to hear what your favorite acts had to say. Other than some squibs in print, you were completely clueless as to what they were up to. But today, no one ever really goes away. They're available on Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram! Never mind their Websites, which are a cornucopia of information.
After buying your favorite new release, or catalog album, you played it. You paid for it. You had an investment. And no one likes to be a poor investor. You never hear anybody boasting of their losses in Vegas, their lousy stock picks. No, you have to prove to yourself that you made a good decision. So you scoured the album looking for that which hooked you. It sometimes took two or three plays, but by then there was a track that pricked your ears, made you smile, you started playing that side again and again. And when you knew it well, then you flipped over the LP or cassette to learn the other. And when the band came to town, you went. It was cheap. Way under ten bucks. And you were in nirvana as they played your favorite songs. And you knew you had to go to every show, because most of the new album would never be played live again.
But now when the album comes out, it costs you nothing to hear it. Whether on Spotify or YouTube. You dial it up and... You're rarely impressed. Because the acts don't realize the era has changed. That good enough is not good enough. That they've got to smash us over the head with insane quality. Otherwise...it's not exactly like we get bored, we just know what else is lurking, cuts that will satisfy us.
And even the albums of your favorite acts... You don't play those that much either. Not so much because they're substandard, but mostly because if you play them, you can't play something else. And there's so much else you want to play.
But they're not making more time.
And it used to be all about what was new. The edge. Now it's about what maintains. If you like something and nobody else does...you go look at what they do. You don't want to attach yourself to that which has been plowed under by the plethora of product.
It's got more to do with distribution than product. With the candy store door wide open, with the stock chock full 24/7, there's no desperation. Remember when you had to rush to the store because your favorite album might sell out? Boy, those days are through. As are worrying about price. You don't wait for the sale, everything's on sale all the time!
And of course iTunes and Amazon have sales. But if you're buying MP3s you're little different from those buying CDs. A step behind the rest. Everybody else is streaming.
And of course there are a few acts where everybody knows all the tunes. But most people only know the singles. It's one of the reasons the old acts do so well in concert, everybody knows the material!
And of course there are niches, a small group of people who know every note. But a lot of the time this is more about identity, belonging, a badge of honor, than the quality of the music. You know, they tell you how they listen to something incessantly and then you spin it and you say HUH? In the old days, you'd have bought it and played it too, because spending money meant you spun it. But in the old days there was so much less music. The entry bar was so much higher. The relative quality was much greater. And isn't it funny that all those sour grapes acts that said they were squeezed out of the system have not emerged triumphant? Yes, in the Internet era everybody can play, everybody can distribute, but it's a thin layer of mostly major label acts who succeed, because most acts are just not good enough to gain mainstream acceptance/success.
But, since there's so much in the pipeline, we gravitate to excellence, even fewer acts break through on a big basis. It's even harder to reach critical mass.
And of course I miss the old days.
But they're never coming back.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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