He was taking a panoramic photograph on his iPhone 5.
What do I know about Jack Jones?
I was sitting by the pool at the Flamingo and he walked by and tapped my little sister on the head, it was a family story that has lived on to this day, one of the highlights of our trip cross-country in 1966.
Yes, that long ago.
But it was still just as hot in the summertime in Las Vegas.
And here I am sitting next to the man himself. With no airs. A regular person. Warm and friendly.
So I ask him, does he live in the desert full-time?
When he's not on the road. As a matter of fact, he's got a new album coming out. A live one. Recorded in England. That wasn't the plan, he just gave the crew a hard drive to record from the board...
A HARD DRIVE?
Baby boomers still refer to "tape." That's what happens when you've got canned music at the show, it's on TAPE!
But "hard drive" fell off Jack's lips like he said it every day.
So he gets home, pulls up the recording on his Mac, and realizes the vocal needs to be out front a bit more, so he adds some compression...
Wait a minute, you did it YOURSELF?
Yup, oh Jack was self-deprecating. Saying his skills were limited. But he himself turned this live "tape" into an album that will be on iTunes. Like his Universal product. His RCA albums? He now owns them. Credit an old business colleague who had the foresight to put this reversion clause into his contract. Jack now sells them on his website.
Do you sign them?
Of course!
Who does fulfillment?
Jack and his wife do. That was what he was worried about most, that he'd appear small time.
I didn't start the conversation with writing about it in mind. But the more Jack talked, the more fascinated I became. So I put it to him, and he was open but hesitant, anybody who's been in the public eye has been burned by the press. I told him I wouldn't burn him. And that's when Jack told me his primary worry, since he was doing so much himself.
Oh, he's got an agent and a manager, the bloke who promotes his shows in the U.K. That's what happens when you're established, you go with those who can get you the dough, who you trust. Jack said that acts his age are sold as breakage by the youngsters, you need someone who respects you and can get value, which this guy does.
Not that Jack is not involved. He goes to every sound check and ends up spending all afternoon. The wet behind the ears sound guys don't think an old guy like him can know what he's talking about. "Is the piano in stereo?" Jack's been doing it so long he knows what's right, and always confounds the young 'uns with his knowledge.
And for forty five minutes before the show begins, there's a video, that Jack made in iMovie, featuring not only his songs but his life, growing up.
He said it was just fun.
How long have you been doing this I asked...
Since the nineties.
He was on a PC, but he switched to a Mac because it was so much easier. But he started with a TRS-80, even taught himself to program, but never learned COBOL or Fortran.
Huh? Nobody knows those, other than people making their living coding.
And Jack goes on to say his father was always into video, and this got him into it.
And he's into social media too. What he likes most about Twitter is the instant feedback. After the show is over, after he sells and signs CDs in the lobby, he checks his feed, to see what people have to say about his performance. That's what he loves about the new era, the ability to know your fans, to not only interact with them, but to know what they want.
Not that Jack tweets that much. He's more of a Facebook guy. He wishes he had more time.
But there was none of the baby boomer bitching, about the drop in record sales and the need to social network and be knowledgeable and dedicate time to efforts other than music.
We're just one or two years and a couple of changes behind Jack. Who's realized music is forever, and it's all about the fans, and the best way to proceed is to be hands-on.
It was refreshing.
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Saturday 28 September 2013
Friday 27 September 2013
Rhinofy-So What
How do you follow up "Rocky Mountain Way"?
You don't.
Going solo after success in the James Gang, Joe Walsh believed the world was his oyster, he'd have instant success now that he could play by his own rules, but this was not to be, his solo debut, "Barnstorm," was a stiff. Oh, it contained the original version of "Turn To Stone," but Joe seemed to fit the paradigm that the act was always bigger than its star. Until "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get," with the aforementioned "Rocky Mountain Way," which still gets played live by the Eagles today and has eclipsed its talk box brethren, Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way" and "Do You Feel Like We Do," in longevity.
Oh, Frampton's tracks still maintain. But somehow, unlike Peter's records, Joe's doesn't seem dated, it's not a curio, it exists as a singular relic of the seventies that has lost none of its power in the ensuing decades. That's the power of the riff. Oh, Black Sabbath majored in headbanging, but Joe eclipsed them with "Rocky Mountain Way." It was a languid walk, so representative of the ethos of the day, one in which the younger generation had detached from the economy, the entire mainstream, and had gone on its own personal hejira fueled by drink and drugs. Oh, Miley Cyrus wants parents to pay attention, to be pissed if nothing else, whereas Joe Walsh and so many of the rock stars of the seventies just got in their convertibles, headed for the sunset and never looked back...and the minions followed them. "Rocky Mountain Way" is heavy without being bleak. It works whether you're driving with the top down or in your basement almost comatose, and when it's played now, it reminds baby boomers of what once was, who they were, when they were skinny and music ruled.
And at this late date, we can see that "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" was uneven. But it was such a great listening experience, with not only "Rocky Mountain Way," but the second side opener, "Meadows," employing the same riff as Deep Purple's "My Woman From Tokyo," but with far superior dynamics, when the song gets quiet in the middle you swoon.
So, to go back to the top, "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" becomes a staple, almost impossible to follow up, but Joe Walsh tries anyway, with the not long thereafter released "So What," which is sans the absolute peaks of its predecessors, but is ultimately much more satisfying, it's the Joe Walsh album I listen to today.
Forty years ago, I saw its opening track, "Welcome To The Club" as imitation "Rocky Mountain Way," not as slow, not quite as heavy, but trying to achieve the same feeling it failed. But as the years passed and the comparison evaporated, "Welcome To The Club" began to stand on its own, listen today and you'll nod your head, because it feels so good! It's the guitar work, it's hypnotic, it's like Joe didn't care if you were paying attention, he was just gonna go off and do his own thing. And when it breaks down at the two and a half minute mark and then builds back up, you're enraptured. That's Joe Walsh's secret weapon, dynamics.
And then there's "Time Out," which also hearkens back to "Rocky Mountain Way," but is slower and therefore more meaningful, especially when you get to the sweet chorus, juxtaposed with the heavy guitar.
The second side has a remake of "Turn To Stone," since almost nobody heard it the first time around. It's refined, a bit better than the original, still I prefer the first, although I could be the only one, in any event it's a great track.
Following that is the slow "Help Me Through The Night," from an era back when everything on an album didn't sound the same. And despite being quiet, it's not a hair band ballad sellout, you think Joe truly believes it. And it's a counterpoint to the humor of the first side's "All Night Laundry Mat Blues." Joe was a three-dimensional character.
And "Song For Emma," a tribute to Joe's deceased daughter, closes the album on a quiet note.
But the piece de resistance comes just before, "County Fair."
This is the "Rocky Mountain Way" follow-up, this is where Joe went next, the fact that no one realized it does not deny it, this is an incredibly powerful cut that sounds completely different from "Rocky Mountain Way" but is every bit as powerful. I realized this sitting in a movie theatre in Century City, nearly alone, watching Robert Towne's 1998 movie about Steve Prefontaine, "Without Limits."
Oh, today all music is compressed, made to sound loud on the horrible systems people listen to. But when you're in a theatre, and the image is gigantic and the sound too...you're bowled over!
It was the second Prefontaine movie. It stiffed. But Towne was shooting for the limits, he always did, and when that whacking, powerful riff emanated from the sound system, with the drums pounding underneath, it was like being in that Maxell ad, where your hair got blown back.
Oh, "County Fair" is a long number, nearly seven minutes, and when it quiets down at the end and the riff solos, it's positively magical. They don't make music like this anymore, pristinely produced with professional playing, when you listen to "County Fair" it sounds so fresh, even more modern than what's on the airwaves, a veritable Dead Sea Scroll come alive.
Joe Walsh went on to join the Eagles, he even had more solo success, but at this late date not only has the stiff "Barnstorm" album been wiped from the map, but "So What." You should check it out.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
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You don't.
Going solo after success in the James Gang, Joe Walsh believed the world was his oyster, he'd have instant success now that he could play by his own rules, but this was not to be, his solo debut, "Barnstorm," was a stiff. Oh, it contained the original version of "Turn To Stone," but Joe seemed to fit the paradigm that the act was always bigger than its star. Until "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get," with the aforementioned "Rocky Mountain Way," which still gets played live by the Eagles today and has eclipsed its talk box brethren, Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way" and "Do You Feel Like We Do," in longevity.
Oh, Frampton's tracks still maintain. But somehow, unlike Peter's records, Joe's doesn't seem dated, it's not a curio, it exists as a singular relic of the seventies that has lost none of its power in the ensuing decades. That's the power of the riff. Oh, Black Sabbath majored in headbanging, but Joe eclipsed them with "Rocky Mountain Way." It was a languid walk, so representative of the ethos of the day, one in which the younger generation had detached from the economy, the entire mainstream, and had gone on its own personal hejira fueled by drink and drugs. Oh, Miley Cyrus wants parents to pay attention, to be pissed if nothing else, whereas Joe Walsh and so many of the rock stars of the seventies just got in their convertibles, headed for the sunset and never looked back...and the minions followed them. "Rocky Mountain Way" is heavy without being bleak. It works whether you're driving with the top down or in your basement almost comatose, and when it's played now, it reminds baby boomers of what once was, who they were, when they were skinny and music ruled.
And at this late date, we can see that "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" was uneven. But it was such a great listening experience, with not only "Rocky Mountain Way," but the second side opener, "Meadows," employing the same riff as Deep Purple's "My Woman From Tokyo," but with far superior dynamics, when the song gets quiet in the middle you swoon.
So, to go back to the top, "The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get" becomes a staple, almost impossible to follow up, but Joe Walsh tries anyway, with the not long thereafter released "So What," which is sans the absolute peaks of its predecessors, but is ultimately much more satisfying, it's the Joe Walsh album I listen to today.
Forty years ago, I saw its opening track, "Welcome To The Club" as imitation "Rocky Mountain Way," not as slow, not quite as heavy, but trying to achieve the same feeling it failed. But as the years passed and the comparison evaporated, "Welcome To The Club" began to stand on its own, listen today and you'll nod your head, because it feels so good! It's the guitar work, it's hypnotic, it's like Joe didn't care if you were paying attention, he was just gonna go off and do his own thing. And when it breaks down at the two and a half minute mark and then builds back up, you're enraptured. That's Joe Walsh's secret weapon, dynamics.
And then there's "Time Out," which also hearkens back to "Rocky Mountain Way," but is slower and therefore more meaningful, especially when you get to the sweet chorus, juxtaposed with the heavy guitar.
The second side has a remake of "Turn To Stone," since almost nobody heard it the first time around. It's refined, a bit better than the original, still I prefer the first, although I could be the only one, in any event it's a great track.
Following that is the slow "Help Me Through The Night," from an era back when everything on an album didn't sound the same. And despite being quiet, it's not a hair band ballad sellout, you think Joe truly believes it. And it's a counterpoint to the humor of the first side's "All Night Laundry Mat Blues." Joe was a three-dimensional character.
And "Song For Emma," a tribute to Joe's deceased daughter, closes the album on a quiet note.
But the piece de resistance comes just before, "County Fair."
This is the "Rocky Mountain Way" follow-up, this is where Joe went next, the fact that no one realized it does not deny it, this is an incredibly powerful cut that sounds completely different from "Rocky Mountain Way" but is every bit as powerful. I realized this sitting in a movie theatre in Century City, nearly alone, watching Robert Towne's 1998 movie about Steve Prefontaine, "Without Limits."
Oh, today all music is compressed, made to sound loud on the horrible systems people listen to. But when you're in a theatre, and the image is gigantic and the sound too...you're bowled over!
It was the second Prefontaine movie. It stiffed. But Towne was shooting for the limits, he always did, and when that whacking, powerful riff emanated from the sound system, with the drums pounding underneath, it was like being in that Maxell ad, where your hair got blown back.
Oh, "County Fair" is a long number, nearly seven minutes, and when it quiets down at the end and the riff solos, it's positively magical. They don't make music like this anymore, pristinely produced with professional playing, when you listen to "County Fair" it sounds so fresh, even more modern than what's on the airwaves, a veritable Dead Sea Scroll come alive.
Joe Walsh went on to join the Eagles, he even had more solo success, but at this late date not only has the stiff "Barnstorm" album been wiped from the map, but "So What." You should check it out.
Spotify link: http://spoti.fi/p6HcZ8
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Kanye/Kimmel
It's a gift. Or to quote a famous seer, you punch up, not down.
Yes, despite Jimmy being on ABC, Kanye West is a much bigger star than Kimmel. In the old days, network television made you a king. Today, a rotund Korean pop star can be much more famous as a result of many more views on YouTube. That's the dirty little secret of late night television...very few are watching. In a world of DVRs and Netflix, do you really want to see a tired format wherein everybody on the tube imitates what David Letterman invented thirty years ago, even Dave himself?
No.
Credit Jimmy Fallon. He's a mediocre interviewer at best. But he's got the Roots as a band, and is constantly pushing the envelope with innovative skits.
But Kimmel was there first. When you're nobody, you've got to take chances. Never a comedian, most famous for being Ben Stein's sidekick, Jimmy Kimmel was not running his show on autopilot, but trying to figure out how to gain fame, and unlike his aged brethren he realized it was all about the Internet, about YouTube, whilst other outlets were busy issuing takedown notices, Jimmy was making content especially for YouTube, and gaining traction as a result.
Testing limits. That's the only way you can go viral. Furthermore, since Jimmy is playing every day, he can afford to take shots, he can afford to make mistakes.
So he does a riff and a clip about Kanye West.
And unfortunately, Kimmel is right, Kanye comes across in the interview as someone completely out of touch with the public's perception of him. That's what happens when you live in a bubble and are surrounded by yes-people. You think you're always right and your feces don't stink.
So Kimmel points this out and Kanye goes nuclear!
Big mistake. This is Jimmy Kimmel's wet dream, what he's wishin' and hopin' for, one of the world's biggest pop stars has singled him out for attention. In the process, Jimmy gets bigger and Kanye gets smaller.
The virality is just beginning. And Jimmy has already won the war. Because he's got a sense of humor about himself. He realizes it's all irrelevant. Why didn't Kanye realize that tomorrow Kimmel would make fun of someone else and the clip would disappear? Instead, he poured gasoline on the fire. Calling Kimmel to complain. Effectively threatening him.
Oh that works. That's like hurling invective online. An endless pissing match.
But usually it's nobodies, not somebodies.
How does Kanye win here? Has he not seen "House Of Cards"? You win through thought, you utilize your advantages to exact your desire. You can't change what's past, you can only get even.
Taylor Swift writes songs about her exes. (If you're young, male and virile, I'd run away. She's got to have a hard time getting a date, at least with somebody reasonable.)
Kanye could write a song about Kimmel. Even better, he could exert pressure amongst his friends not to appear. You act behind the scenes, you leave no trail, you don't criticize in public unless you've got no fear of appearing a buffoon.
Which Kanye does here.
I just don't get it. He's got a baby with Kim Kardashian, who comes from a family that specializes in media manipulation. Hasn't any of it rubbed off on him? They all know they're famous for nothing. Except for momager Kris, who suddenly is taking umbrage and pontificating about issues outside her wheelhouse. You're a well-paid media manipulator, that's all!
You've got to know who you are. Especially in this connected era, where we not only want to talk about you, but bring you down to our level. Yup, that's what the 1% doesn't realize, sure, we want to be you, but mostly we hate you, because we realize the game is rigged and we can never ascend the ladder.
So if you're smart, you stay out of the fray. Rich people should never ever talk to the media, unless their job demands it. Bankers, lawyers before them, their professions have been eternally tarnished by the inane things they've said. Now pop stars have specialized in saying stupid stuff. But they must speak to the media to gain traction. Then again, you can speak in a controlled fashion online these days, you don't need the media as much as you used to. But if you're gonna talk, think about the consequences, know that show business is high school with money, someone's always looking to take you down.
So Kimmel's got a long term contract and a video that goes viral, making his bosses applaud him as he continues to make bank for them day after day.
Kanye's riding a stiff album, and we all know it's so hard to come back from failure or what looks like loss.
So who's the winner here?
Jimmy Kimmel, no contest.
P.S. But Kimmel is just an entertainer. Want to be a legend, speak truth. But most legends don't speak to the media at all, or fabricate, like Bob Dylan, or control access and results like so many movie stars. If Kanye West thinks he can break the paradigm, he probably believes he can release an album in 2013 without a hit single and anybody will care. We saw how that worked out.
"'We Are At Def-Kanye Five': Jimmy Kimmel Reveals How Kanye West Threatened Him During 'Angry Phone Call,' Demanded Apology Over Skit": http://bit.ly/178irGX
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Yes, despite Jimmy being on ABC, Kanye West is a much bigger star than Kimmel. In the old days, network television made you a king. Today, a rotund Korean pop star can be much more famous as a result of many more views on YouTube. That's the dirty little secret of late night television...very few are watching. In a world of DVRs and Netflix, do you really want to see a tired format wherein everybody on the tube imitates what David Letterman invented thirty years ago, even Dave himself?
No.
Credit Jimmy Fallon. He's a mediocre interviewer at best. But he's got the Roots as a band, and is constantly pushing the envelope with innovative skits.
But Kimmel was there first. When you're nobody, you've got to take chances. Never a comedian, most famous for being Ben Stein's sidekick, Jimmy Kimmel was not running his show on autopilot, but trying to figure out how to gain fame, and unlike his aged brethren he realized it was all about the Internet, about YouTube, whilst other outlets were busy issuing takedown notices, Jimmy was making content especially for YouTube, and gaining traction as a result.
Testing limits. That's the only way you can go viral. Furthermore, since Jimmy is playing every day, he can afford to take shots, he can afford to make mistakes.
So he does a riff and a clip about Kanye West.
And unfortunately, Kimmel is right, Kanye comes across in the interview as someone completely out of touch with the public's perception of him. That's what happens when you live in a bubble and are surrounded by yes-people. You think you're always right and your feces don't stink.
So Kimmel points this out and Kanye goes nuclear!
Big mistake. This is Jimmy Kimmel's wet dream, what he's wishin' and hopin' for, one of the world's biggest pop stars has singled him out for attention. In the process, Jimmy gets bigger and Kanye gets smaller.
The virality is just beginning. And Jimmy has already won the war. Because he's got a sense of humor about himself. He realizes it's all irrelevant. Why didn't Kanye realize that tomorrow Kimmel would make fun of someone else and the clip would disappear? Instead, he poured gasoline on the fire. Calling Kimmel to complain. Effectively threatening him.
Oh that works. That's like hurling invective online. An endless pissing match.
But usually it's nobodies, not somebodies.
How does Kanye win here? Has he not seen "House Of Cards"? You win through thought, you utilize your advantages to exact your desire. You can't change what's past, you can only get even.
Taylor Swift writes songs about her exes. (If you're young, male and virile, I'd run away. She's got to have a hard time getting a date, at least with somebody reasonable.)
Kanye could write a song about Kimmel. Even better, he could exert pressure amongst his friends not to appear. You act behind the scenes, you leave no trail, you don't criticize in public unless you've got no fear of appearing a buffoon.
Which Kanye does here.
I just don't get it. He's got a baby with Kim Kardashian, who comes from a family that specializes in media manipulation. Hasn't any of it rubbed off on him? They all know they're famous for nothing. Except for momager Kris, who suddenly is taking umbrage and pontificating about issues outside her wheelhouse. You're a well-paid media manipulator, that's all!
You've got to know who you are. Especially in this connected era, where we not only want to talk about you, but bring you down to our level. Yup, that's what the 1% doesn't realize, sure, we want to be you, but mostly we hate you, because we realize the game is rigged and we can never ascend the ladder.
So if you're smart, you stay out of the fray. Rich people should never ever talk to the media, unless their job demands it. Bankers, lawyers before them, their professions have been eternally tarnished by the inane things they've said. Now pop stars have specialized in saying stupid stuff. But they must speak to the media to gain traction. Then again, you can speak in a controlled fashion online these days, you don't need the media as much as you used to. But if you're gonna talk, think about the consequences, know that show business is high school with money, someone's always looking to take you down.
So Kimmel's got a long term contract and a video that goes viral, making his bosses applaud him as he continues to make bank for them day after day.
Kanye's riding a stiff album, and we all know it's so hard to come back from failure or what looks like loss.
So who's the winner here?
Jimmy Kimmel, no contest.
P.S. But Kimmel is just an entertainer. Want to be a legend, speak truth. But most legends don't speak to the media at all, or fabricate, like Bob Dylan, or control access and results like so many movie stars. If Kanye West thinks he can break the paradigm, he probably believes he can release an album in 2013 without a hit single and anybody will care. We saw how that worked out.
"'We Are At Def-Kanye Five': Jimmy Kimmel Reveals How Kanye West Threatened Him During 'Angry Phone Call,' Demanded Apology Over Skit": http://bit.ly/178irGX
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Thursday 26 September 2013
Porn
Got your attention there, didn't I?
If you want to know the future for all media, look to pornography, it leads the way. Porn was the first to videocassette, the first to DVD, the first to the Internet, and the first to be eviscerated by the Web.
Wait a minute? It's EVERYWHERE! There's more porn than ever before, it's just a click away!
True. But the porn companies of yore or crying in their beer. No one will pay anymore. They don't want movies.
But they do want cam girls.
That's what bugs me about the music industry. The goal is to constantly jet everybody into the past. You've got to pay for recordings, a lot. And the usual suspects must get richer. Then again, do you expect the RIAA to say otherwise? It's a trade group for record labels, but unlike most lobbying organizations the RIAA has little sway over its customers, because music is not B to B, but B to C, and if you think you can control customers, you probably believe you can herd cats.
So what we used to have was long porn videos with a hint of plot wherein stars did it in all manner of positions. It worked, especially in puritanical America, where we argue about whether women can breastfeed in public. But it turns out that's not what people really want. They prefer something more intimate, more one on one, more interactive.
That's how you succeed in the twenty first century, by getting the public involved. That's the key to awards shows' spiking ratings. Yes, the Emmys were horrible as TV, but a field day for snark. Twitter upped the ratings. And cam girls have created a huge revenue stream. But the money doesn't go to the usual suspects.
Live. You say you can't sell a recording and you must make it up on live. But maybe the truth is recordings are plentiful and what we're looking for most is the live experience! Looking to the cam girls, what we want even more is a personalized live experience. The more you can vary the set list, the more you can personalize the patter, the more people will want to come back. In other words, the spectacle show may only work for a few acts and may be dying, just like full length, prepackaged porn flicks are.
But the truth is there's still a ton of money in porn, it's just going to different people, who are making it in a different way. It's a completely different paradigm.
Just like there's a ton of money in music and will be even more.
Used to be there were three TV channels, sync opportunities were minimal, and completely nonexistent for the indie or wannabe. Now so many shows need music... And BMI just reported that revenues went up! Partially because of Internet radio. Yes, while you're busy bitching about Pandora payouts, you don't see that the pot is growing! Maybe it's all not going to the same people, but music revenues keep climbing, it's only recording revenue that's tanked.
And just like in music, in the camming world it's about entrepreneurs and super-serving the audience. Working, advertising, meet and greets. Everybody's a hustler these days. And that may be hard, but in the old world very few made money. Ever hear of a rich porn actor? Absolutely not! All the money went to the studios.
Change is constant. The key is to see the opportunities as opposed to mourning the loss. People want to listen to music, they just don't want to do it in the same way. Are you willing to go back to three networks and no remote control? You'd positively scream! So today listeners are grazers, they gravitate to what's great, so is it any wonder the middle class and marginal see such low royalties?
I'm not saying I'm not troubled by the hollowing out of the middle class of musicmakers. But to rail against consumer behavior is a ticket to nowhere.
The cam girls have shown us there's a way out.
And music is intertwined with sex, the hit you get from it is almost equal and more readily available. Don't let the shifting sands freak you out. There will always be a demand for music, it's just that the business might look a little different. If someone is lamenting the passage of the good old days, stop listening. Because unlike buggy whips and typewriters, music is never going out of style.
"Intimacy On The Web, With A Crowd": http://nyti.ms/1dAsRRd
"BMI Reports Record Annual Collections, Distributions": http://bit.ly/1dFQ8Bl
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If you want to know the future for all media, look to pornography, it leads the way. Porn was the first to videocassette, the first to DVD, the first to the Internet, and the first to be eviscerated by the Web.
Wait a minute? It's EVERYWHERE! There's more porn than ever before, it's just a click away!
True. But the porn companies of yore or crying in their beer. No one will pay anymore. They don't want movies.
But they do want cam girls.
That's what bugs me about the music industry. The goal is to constantly jet everybody into the past. You've got to pay for recordings, a lot. And the usual suspects must get richer. Then again, do you expect the RIAA to say otherwise? It's a trade group for record labels, but unlike most lobbying organizations the RIAA has little sway over its customers, because music is not B to B, but B to C, and if you think you can control customers, you probably believe you can herd cats.
So what we used to have was long porn videos with a hint of plot wherein stars did it in all manner of positions. It worked, especially in puritanical America, where we argue about whether women can breastfeed in public. But it turns out that's not what people really want. They prefer something more intimate, more one on one, more interactive.
That's how you succeed in the twenty first century, by getting the public involved. That's the key to awards shows' spiking ratings. Yes, the Emmys were horrible as TV, but a field day for snark. Twitter upped the ratings. And cam girls have created a huge revenue stream. But the money doesn't go to the usual suspects.
Live. You say you can't sell a recording and you must make it up on live. But maybe the truth is recordings are plentiful and what we're looking for most is the live experience! Looking to the cam girls, what we want even more is a personalized live experience. The more you can vary the set list, the more you can personalize the patter, the more people will want to come back. In other words, the spectacle show may only work for a few acts and may be dying, just like full length, prepackaged porn flicks are.
But the truth is there's still a ton of money in porn, it's just going to different people, who are making it in a different way. It's a completely different paradigm.
Just like there's a ton of money in music and will be even more.
Used to be there were three TV channels, sync opportunities were minimal, and completely nonexistent for the indie or wannabe. Now so many shows need music... And BMI just reported that revenues went up! Partially because of Internet radio. Yes, while you're busy bitching about Pandora payouts, you don't see that the pot is growing! Maybe it's all not going to the same people, but music revenues keep climbing, it's only recording revenue that's tanked.
And just like in music, in the camming world it's about entrepreneurs and super-serving the audience. Working, advertising, meet and greets. Everybody's a hustler these days. And that may be hard, but in the old world very few made money. Ever hear of a rich porn actor? Absolutely not! All the money went to the studios.
Change is constant. The key is to see the opportunities as opposed to mourning the loss. People want to listen to music, they just don't want to do it in the same way. Are you willing to go back to three networks and no remote control? You'd positively scream! So today listeners are grazers, they gravitate to what's great, so is it any wonder the middle class and marginal see such low royalties?
I'm not saying I'm not troubled by the hollowing out of the middle class of musicmakers. But to rail against consumer behavior is a ticket to nowhere.
The cam girls have shown us there's a way out.
And music is intertwined with sex, the hit you get from it is almost equal and more readily available. Don't let the shifting sands freak you out. There will always be a demand for music, it's just that the business might look a little different. If someone is lamenting the passage of the good old days, stop listening. Because unlike buggy whips and typewriters, music is never going out of style.
"Intimacy On The Web, With A Crowd": http://nyti.ms/1dAsRRd
"BMI Reports Record Annual Collections, Distributions": http://bit.ly/1dFQ8Bl
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Wednesday 25 September 2013
Virality
The Internet is maturing.
What does that mean? Stunts will be scarce and the odds of going from obscurity to fame are dropping ever lower.
Remember when record labels used to sponsor YouTube contests? Those evaporated. You can't ask people to make clips for a small prize when they're too busy uploading their own concoctions in an effort to become famous themselves. But it's worse than that...you just can't get the message out.
The other day, Paul McCartney played Hollywood Boulevard and it was a nonevent. Oh, the L.A. "Times" did a story, and there will be footage on Kimmel, but we learned long ago that appearances on late night television don't sell records, because live shows are far from scarce, they populate the aforementioned YouTube, there's more than you can see.
Kind of like documentaries. Now everybody's got one. Not a week goes by without someone hawking their new one or asking me to appear in one. Who's going to watch all these? Probably nobody, just like all those songs that are never downloaded on iTunes. Oh, you can post your stuff online, that does not mean anybody will see it.
This is not the way it was supposed to be. The Internet was supposed to level the playing field and give everybody a chance to play. Oh, we can all now play, but alone. The Internet now resembles America at large, the rich get richer and the middle class evaporates and the poor don't matter.
Used to be we were all thrilled by the next innovation. First it was e-mail, then it was texting. Along the way we burned through jokes and online greeting cards and MySpace. Now we're left with Facebook and Twitter and there are new services but none of them seem to reach critical mass, none of them seem to be used by everybody, because the public is fatigued. That's the number one problem facing both Facebook and Twitter, fatigue. After you've posted your history to Facebook, where you went to school, who you married and pictures of your progeny, the thrill is gone, especially when you realize fewer are paying attention, that only a small core care. But it's even worse on Twitter. If you're a nobody on Twitter, you're truly nowhere. And now no one goes from no followers to many unless they're already famous offline. Never mind all the stories about fake followers, even Obama, you see people sign up for Twitter and abandon the service.
Not that you'd expect Wall Street to take notice, not that nobody plays anymore. But the excitement of these services was built on the fantasy that everybody had an equal voice, but that turned out to be just a fantasy.
Meanwhile, we're all overloaded with input. A mentally ill maniac shoots up a Naval Yard and days later it's gone from the news. Miley Cyrus will have her moment of fame and then drop off the face of the earth like every teen star before her, she thinks it's forever, we've seen New Kids On The Block.
And even if you've been a star for decades the new reality is harsh. No one cares about Elton John's new album other than those beholden to his handlers. Yes, the press trumpets it but there's no audience for it. Youngsters don't care and oldsters have already got enough Elton. Meanwhile, his voice is a shadow of what it once was and do we really expect him to be as great as he was in the seventies?
That's a baby boomer problem. The belief that what was once important will continue to be.
But look at it this way... When we were listening to the Beatles back in 1964, were we also listening to the music from 1914? Of course not! So why do baby boomers expect that kids today care about what happened fifty years ago?
They don't.
As for boomers saying they loved Frank Sinatra growing up... I don't believe this is true, Sinatra nostalgia came much later, but in any event, his moment of fame came only twenty years before the Beatles, it's like patting today's kids on the back for liking George Michael.
Track the spread of today's stories and you will almost always hit...a dead end. If you're lucky, what you've done has been forwarded once or twice, but when it hits the great sea where you sink or swim on your merits, not based on who you know, it sinks. Oh, some things swim, but very few, and not for long.
So what we've got is the old era, but it's even worse. Only a tiny sliver of stuff breaks through and becomes successful. The rest is wiped clean, as if the world were a giant magic slate.
So be thrilled if you've got friends who care about what you do. If you've got non-friend fans, even better. But if you're dreaming of your one big break, the odds are exceptionally long.
"Barack Obama is political king of the fake Twitter followers, with more than 19.5 MILLION online fans who don't really exist": http://dailym.ai/1bahzFU
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What does that mean? Stunts will be scarce and the odds of going from obscurity to fame are dropping ever lower.
Remember when record labels used to sponsor YouTube contests? Those evaporated. You can't ask people to make clips for a small prize when they're too busy uploading their own concoctions in an effort to become famous themselves. But it's worse than that...you just can't get the message out.
The other day, Paul McCartney played Hollywood Boulevard and it was a nonevent. Oh, the L.A. "Times" did a story, and there will be footage on Kimmel, but we learned long ago that appearances on late night television don't sell records, because live shows are far from scarce, they populate the aforementioned YouTube, there's more than you can see.
Kind of like documentaries. Now everybody's got one. Not a week goes by without someone hawking their new one or asking me to appear in one. Who's going to watch all these? Probably nobody, just like all those songs that are never downloaded on iTunes. Oh, you can post your stuff online, that does not mean anybody will see it.
This is not the way it was supposed to be. The Internet was supposed to level the playing field and give everybody a chance to play. Oh, we can all now play, but alone. The Internet now resembles America at large, the rich get richer and the middle class evaporates and the poor don't matter.
Used to be we were all thrilled by the next innovation. First it was e-mail, then it was texting. Along the way we burned through jokes and online greeting cards and MySpace. Now we're left with Facebook and Twitter and there are new services but none of them seem to reach critical mass, none of them seem to be used by everybody, because the public is fatigued. That's the number one problem facing both Facebook and Twitter, fatigue. After you've posted your history to Facebook, where you went to school, who you married and pictures of your progeny, the thrill is gone, especially when you realize fewer are paying attention, that only a small core care. But it's even worse on Twitter. If you're a nobody on Twitter, you're truly nowhere. And now no one goes from no followers to many unless they're already famous offline. Never mind all the stories about fake followers, even Obama, you see people sign up for Twitter and abandon the service.
Not that you'd expect Wall Street to take notice, not that nobody plays anymore. But the excitement of these services was built on the fantasy that everybody had an equal voice, but that turned out to be just a fantasy.
Meanwhile, we're all overloaded with input. A mentally ill maniac shoots up a Naval Yard and days later it's gone from the news. Miley Cyrus will have her moment of fame and then drop off the face of the earth like every teen star before her, she thinks it's forever, we've seen New Kids On The Block.
And even if you've been a star for decades the new reality is harsh. No one cares about Elton John's new album other than those beholden to his handlers. Yes, the press trumpets it but there's no audience for it. Youngsters don't care and oldsters have already got enough Elton. Meanwhile, his voice is a shadow of what it once was and do we really expect him to be as great as he was in the seventies?
That's a baby boomer problem. The belief that what was once important will continue to be.
But look at it this way... When we were listening to the Beatles back in 1964, were we also listening to the music from 1914? Of course not! So why do baby boomers expect that kids today care about what happened fifty years ago?
They don't.
As for boomers saying they loved Frank Sinatra growing up... I don't believe this is true, Sinatra nostalgia came much later, but in any event, his moment of fame came only twenty years before the Beatles, it's like patting today's kids on the back for liking George Michael.
Track the spread of today's stories and you will almost always hit...a dead end. If you're lucky, what you've done has been forwarded once or twice, but when it hits the great sea where you sink or swim on your merits, not based on who you know, it sinks. Oh, some things swim, but very few, and not for long.
So what we've got is the old era, but it's even worse. Only a tiny sliver of stuff breaks through and becomes successful. The rest is wiped clean, as if the world were a giant magic slate.
So be thrilled if you've got friends who care about what you do. If you've got non-friend fans, even better. But if you're dreaming of your one big break, the odds are exceptionally long.
"Barack Obama is political king of the fake Twitter followers, with more than 19.5 MILLION online fans who don't really exist": http://dailym.ai/1bahzFU
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Tuesday 24 September 2013
What I Learned About iOS 7
1. You can make the text bold.
To do this go to Settings to General to Accessibility to Bold Text and make the circle green (i.e. on.)
This will make the time more readable, as well as the name of apps, but e-mail text will also be bold, which I find slightly bothersome, but overall, the trade-off is beneficial.
2. To access the command center, i.e. the panel with all your favorite settings, don't scroll from the bottom of the screen, but from OFF the screen. Yes, start down around the Home button and push your finger up and voila, the command center appears.
3. To improve battery life:
a. Turn off Background App Refresh.
Go to Settings then General and it's in the third panel down (why we would need background refresh when we're running on battery power baffles me, since it's almost no effort to open the app and have it refresh then.)
b. On the aforementioned command center, turn off AirDrop, unless you need it. Just click on it and the option to turn it off will appear.
c. Turn on Reduce Motion in the Accessibility pane of Settings referenced above. This will also reduce headaches, which many are experiencing, I am not.
4. You can improve visibility by turning on Increase Contrast in the Accessibility panel.
5. If raw readability is your issue, you can increase Text Size in the first General panel under settings, and you can also turn on Larger Dynamic Type in the Accessibility panel. I did neither, raw type size is not my issue, then again, I was not one of those people running around with a BlackBerry with huge fonts so I could read text without my glasses.
6. There is no cure for overall brightness of the screen. Yes, you can adjust brightness in the command center that appears when you swipe up from the Home button, but I find that this does not solve the problem.
7. No matter what you do, you cannot change the font in the typing panel in Mail, the letters do not get bolder when you adjust for Bold Text in number 1 above.
8. Having done all the foregoing, my battery still drained quickly yesterday, today it's doing better, although not as well as on iOS 6.
9. People with Android handsets hate Apple, on principle. They laud Android's customability, but as we well know, most people don't want to adjust that much, they just want it to work right out of the box.
10. Historically, "Accessibility" has been for the handicapped in Apple's lexicon. Either they've changed the definition or I'm now handicapped, I'll let you decide.
11. Misinformation rules. For everybody who sent me tips, there were others who sent me non sequiturs, stuff that made no sense, the problems they were encountering were most definitely pilot error. Meaning most manufacturers are doing a lousy job of instructing their users how to use their products, or not making them usable in the first place.
12. We live in a no user manual world. It's every man for himself. But if you're plugged into a group, you can learn new tricks. Furthermore, many sites online delineate these tricks, but unfortunately most are unaware of them, because they're not part of a network that points to them.
If you're interested in some helpful links (most of the content of which has been covered above), click here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/2049249/make-ios-7-less-nausea-inducing.html
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/18/how-to-stop-ios-7-from-destroying-your-iphones-battery-life/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2013/09/23/trouble-using-ios-7-here-are-15-tricks-to-make-the-transition-easier/
http://www.hypable.com/2013/09/20/ios-7-update-dizzy-thin-text-battery-life-sounds/
13. Just because Apple sold 9 million handsets over the weekend, that does not mean iPhone 5s sales will maintain. As for the 5c, stock is still plentiful, it appears to be a misfire, expect a price drop, if Apple is smart.
(Maybe people are wising up. It makes no sense to save a hundred dollars on the handset, since you're paying many more via the contract. In other words, you get a worse phone for almost the same money.)
14. If your contract is up, get a new phone. You're paying for it anyway. Yes, built into every monthly payment is a charge for a new phone. After twenty four months, your provider is just banking this money. So upgrade.
15. If you have any iPhone less than a 5, upgrade as soon as you can, for LTE. Surfing on LTE is broadband compared to 3G dial-up, especially if you're on Verizon, which you should be, it has the largest LTE build-out and the best and most reliable connections, and yes, you can use your iPhone overseas on Verizon. People don't switch from AT&T because they've never experienced anything better and don't believe you can get connections and no dropped calls. Having said that, Verizon's connections are not like those in Europe, in other words they'll frequently work underground, but you won't get signal absolutely everywhere. You can go to Sprint for unlimited data, but you won't be able to get LTE in most places. On T-Mobile, it's even worse. In other words, if you use your phone for business, you must be on Verizon in the United States.
16. Spotify uses no data if you are listening to synced playlists. The company is doing a lame job of conveying this message.
17. It takes a village to accomplish anything today. If you know no one and are not hooked into the web, you're clueless. I'm lucky, I'm the beneficiary of tons of feedback, but I still believe Apple bungled this launch, by not publicizing the abovementioned options and...the screen is too bright and I still cannot see the keyboard!
P.S. To unlock the phone, you do not have to swipe on "slide to unlock," you can swipe from left to right anywhere on the screen!
P.P.S. I could inundate you with tons more tips, but the above will get you started and bring your iPhone as close to iOS 6 as possible, which seems to be what most people desire.
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To do this go to Settings to General to Accessibility to Bold Text and make the circle green (i.e. on.)
This will make the time more readable, as well as the name of apps, but e-mail text will also be bold, which I find slightly bothersome, but overall, the trade-off is beneficial.
2. To access the command center, i.e. the panel with all your favorite settings, don't scroll from the bottom of the screen, but from OFF the screen. Yes, start down around the Home button and push your finger up and voila, the command center appears.
3. To improve battery life:
a. Turn off Background App Refresh.
Go to Settings then General and it's in the third panel down (why we would need background refresh when we're running on battery power baffles me, since it's almost no effort to open the app and have it refresh then.)
b. On the aforementioned command center, turn off AirDrop, unless you need it. Just click on it and the option to turn it off will appear.
c. Turn on Reduce Motion in the Accessibility pane of Settings referenced above. This will also reduce headaches, which many are experiencing, I am not.
4. You can improve visibility by turning on Increase Contrast in the Accessibility panel.
5. If raw readability is your issue, you can increase Text Size in the first General panel under settings, and you can also turn on Larger Dynamic Type in the Accessibility panel. I did neither, raw type size is not my issue, then again, I was not one of those people running around with a BlackBerry with huge fonts so I could read text without my glasses.
6. There is no cure for overall brightness of the screen. Yes, you can adjust brightness in the command center that appears when you swipe up from the Home button, but I find that this does not solve the problem.
7. No matter what you do, you cannot change the font in the typing panel in Mail, the letters do not get bolder when you adjust for Bold Text in number 1 above.
8. Having done all the foregoing, my battery still drained quickly yesterday, today it's doing better, although not as well as on iOS 6.
9. People with Android handsets hate Apple, on principle. They laud Android's customability, but as we well know, most people don't want to adjust that much, they just want it to work right out of the box.
10. Historically, "Accessibility" has been for the handicapped in Apple's lexicon. Either they've changed the definition or I'm now handicapped, I'll let you decide.
11. Misinformation rules. For everybody who sent me tips, there were others who sent me non sequiturs, stuff that made no sense, the problems they were encountering were most definitely pilot error. Meaning most manufacturers are doing a lousy job of instructing their users how to use their products, or not making them usable in the first place.
12. We live in a no user manual world. It's every man for himself. But if you're plugged into a group, you can learn new tricks. Furthermore, many sites online delineate these tricks, but unfortunately most are unaware of them, because they're not part of a network that points to them.
If you're interested in some helpful links (most of the content of which has been covered above), click here:
http://www.macworld.com/article/2049249/make-ios-7-less-nausea-inducing.html
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/18/how-to-stop-ios-7-from-destroying-your-iphones-battery-life/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2013/09/23/trouble-using-ios-7-here-are-15-tricks-to-make-the-transition-easier/
http://www.hypable.com/2013/09/20/ios-7-update-dizzy-thin-text-battery-life-sounds/
13. Just because Apple sold 9 million handsets over the weekend, that does not mean iPhone 5s sales will maintain. As for the 5c, stock is still plentiful, it appears to be a misfire, expect a price drop, if Apple is smart.
(Maybe people are wising up. It makes no sense to save a hundred dollars on the handset, since you're paying many more via the contract. In other words, you get a worse phone for almost the same money.)
14. If your contract is up, get a new phone. You're paying for it anyway. Yes, built into every monthly payment is a charge for a new phone. After twenty four months, your provider is just banking this money. So upgrade.
15. If you have any iPhone less than a 5, upgrade as soon as you can, for LTE. Surfing on LTE is broadband compared to 3G dial-up, especially if you're on Verizon, which you should be, it has the largest LTE build-out and the best and most reliable connections, and yes, you can use your iPhone overseas on Verizon. People don't switch from AT&T because they've never experienced anything better and don't believe you can get connections and no dropped calls. Having said that, Verizon's connections are not like those in Europe, in other words they'll frequently work underground, but you won't get signal absolutely everywhere. You can go to Sprint for unlimited data, but you won't be able to get LTE in most places. On T-Mobile, it's even worse. In other words, if you use your phone for business, you must be on Verizon in the United States.
16. Spotify uses no data if you are listening to synced playlists. The company is doing a lame job of conveying this message.
17. It takes a village to accomplish anything today. If you know no one and are not hooked into the web, you're clueless. I'm lucky, I'm the beneficiary of tons of feedback, but I still believe Apple bungled this launch, by not publicizing the abovementioned options and...the screen is too bright and I still cannot see the keyboard!
P.S. To unlock the phone, you do not have to swipe on "slide to unlock," you can swipe from left to right anywhere on the screen!
P.P.S. I could inundate you with tons more tips, but the above will get you started and bring your iPhone as close to iOS 6 as possible, which seems to be what most people desire.
--
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Live Nation's Reality Series
Who'd want to watch it?
Oh I know, it's all paid for by Ford. And whenever a brand gets involved, everybody in the music business bends over and takes it in the rear for the little cash flowing their way.
That's how far we've come. Tour riders were about rock and roll excess, the lifestyle, the truth, and now they're just another ancient ritual employed to sell product that no one wants.
Come on, does anybody really care about what these bands have to say or do? The Lumineers are a one hit wonder, I'm waiting for them to prove themselves otherwise. Fitz & The Tantrums are coming off a completely stiff album, where they changed direction and lost their audience. Edward Sharpe is one of those bands so bland, you'd think their rider contained a request for milk and cookies. Fall Out Boy is making a bit of a comeback, but their fans are already out of college, starting careers, making babies, not interested in the mindless shenanigans of the reality TV underclass willing to do anything for exposure. As for Kid Cudi... it wasn't rap acts that demanded extravagant stuff backstage anyway.
What a tired paradigm.
And Van Halen had a reason for asking for the removal of brown M&M's, to see if the promoter actually read the rider. What is the reason for this show to exist?
As for rock star riders, read Michael Walker's book, "What You Want Is In The Limo," to discover the creation of these demands. Music is so bankrupt, it just keeps recycling ideas. The Beatles and Pink Floyd stretched the boundaries, but the above acts don't even know where the edge of the envelope is, never mind pushing it.
Come on you nitwits over at Live Nation, at least create a show we're interested in watching!
How about the Great Groupie Challenge, wherein young women vie to service the real stars? Even more interesting, how about young men going after women, we've never seen that one before!
As for Ford...isn't this just asking for trouble? Idiots speeding around to fulfill unimportant requests smacks of Domino promising to deliver pizza in half an hour or less. People got killed in the process, all to deliver an imitation product that will fill you up, but still leaves you hungry.
I just don't get it. There's no FCC on the Net. There are no limits!
Then again, concert promoters were always dumb, they always took their cues from the labels. But now that they're the bank of choice, they act about as innovative as your local institution, inspiring about as much passion in the process.
Unless we stand up and punch holes in the industry music has become, we're going to continue to be presented with lame product. Once upon a time, music was cutting edge, we wanted to be rock stars. Whereas the only people who want to be rock stars today are the underclass, everybody with brains and an education doesn't even bother. Talking Heads go to RISD and start a band. Today's acts don't even get to high school and expect us to pay attention.
It doesn't have to be this way. Live Nation could be a force for good instead of evil.
Then again, the public is so dumb, voting against its interests all the way, while the rich overpay scalpers to go to the concerts of the acts worth seeing.
Oh, didn't catch that Live Nation announcement? Its Ticketmaster division is listing scalper tickets alongside the ones offered by bands. That's how low we've sunk. Instead of combating the problem, we've thrown our hands up in the air and declared there's no solution.
But there is. The acts control the tickets. The acts can clean this up.
But not the acts who are participating in this lame reality show, they're just tools, cogs in the system, no one really cares about them.
"Announcing The World Premiere Of The Rider Challenge, The First-Ever Digital Reality Series Produced By Live Nation, Powered By Ford Fiesta": http://on.wsj.com/1b8qbgo
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Oh I know, it's all paid for by Ford. And whenever a brand gets involved, everybody in the music business bends over and takes it in the rear for the little cash flowing their way.
That's how far we've come. Tour riders were about rock and roll excess, the lifestyle, the truth, and now they're just another ancient ritual employed to sell product that no one wants.
Come on, does anybody really care about what these bands have to say or do? The Lumineers are a one hit wonder, I'm waiting for them to prove themselves otherwise. Fitz & The Tantrums are coming off a completely stiff album, where they changed direction and lost their audience. Edward Sharpe is one of those bands so bland, you'd think their rider contained a request for milk and cookies. Fall Out Boy is making a bit of a comeback, but their fans are already out of college, starting careers, making babies, not interested in the mindless shenanigans of the reality TV underclass willing to do anything for exposure. As for Kid Cudi... it wasn't rap acts that demanded extravagant stuff backstage anyway.
What a tired paradigm.
And Van Halen had a reason for asking for the removal of brown M&M's, to see if the promoter actually read the rider. What is the reason for this show to exist?
As for rock star riders, read Michael Walker's book, "What You Want Is In The Limo," to discover the creation of these demands. Music is so bankrupt, it just keeps recycling ideas. The Beatles and Pink Floyd stretched the boundaries, but the above acts don't even know where the edge of the envelope is, never mind pushing it.
Come on you nitwits over at Live Nation, at least create a show we're interested in watching!
How about the Great Groupie Challenge, wherein young women vie to service the real stars? Even more interesting, how about young men going after women, we've never seen that one before!
As for Ford...isn't this just asking for trouble? Idiots speeding around to fulfill unimportant requests smacks of Domino promising to deliver pizza in half an hour or less. People got killed in the process, all to deliver an imitation product that will fill you up, but still leaves you hungry.
I just don't get it. There's no FCC on the Net. There are no limits!
Then again, concert promoters were always dumb, they always took their cues from the labels. But now that they're the bank of choice, they act about as innovative as your local institution, inspiring about as much passion in the process.
Unless we stand up and punch holes in the industry music has become, we're going to continue to be presented with lame product. Once upon a time, music was cutting edge, we wanted to be rock stars. Whereas the only people who want to be rock stars today are the underclass, everybody with brains and an education doesn't even bother. Talking Heads go to RISD and start a band. Today's acts don't even get to high school and expect us to pay attention.
It doesn't have to be this way. Live Nation could be a force for good instead of evil.
Then again, the public is so dumb, voting against its interests all the way, while the rich overpay scalpers to go to the concerts of the acts worth seeing.
Oh, didn't catch that Live Nation announcement? Its Ticketmaster division is listing scalper tickets alongside the ones offered by bands. That's how low we've sunk. Instead of combating the problem, we've thrown our hands up in the air and declared there's no solution.
But there is. The acts control the tickets. The acts can clean this up.
But not the acts who are participating in this lame reality show, they're just tools, cogs in the system, no one really cares about them.
"Announcing The World Premiere Of The Rider Challenge, The First-Ever Digital Reality Series Produced By Live Nation, Powered By Ford Fiesta": http://on.wsj.com/1b8qbgo
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Monday 23 September 2013
iOS 7
I can't see it!
If Steve Jobs were alive today, iOS 7 would look nothing like it does. An alta kacher baby boomer, Jobs would peer through his glasses aghast at the thin font employed, he'd say usability comes first and he'd send Jony Ive back to the drawing board.
That's what I can't understand about these companies, how they can be so myopic. I'm not saying they should do market research, but was there anybody at Apple born in the fifties who could raise their hand and say...I suddenly can't tell time? When I go to type it's like the letters are hovering in a bad space movie, wherein the planet is moving closer to the sun and we're all in danger of being burned up.
Oh, I'm all for the future. iOS 7 looked great in Apple's presentations. But from the moment I first saw it live, I knew it was too bright. Yup, at the beginning of August, Daniel Glass's teenager gave me a peek, he'd registered as a developer, he had iOS 7 on his handset. Looking at it was truly being blinded by the light. This was my first impression, and we all know the first cut is the deepest.
As for scrolling upwards to get instant access to the most used settings? I've been consistently unable to do this. Where do you put your finger to push up?
Now Spotify and Echofon, the two apps I use most other than Safari and Mail, have not employed the new keyboard. I implore them not to. They've still got the blocky letters an old fart like me can see. As for old farts...they're the ones with all the money, they're the ones paying for their kids' iPhones.
Yup, isn't it funny that in a music business, an entertainment business, an entire society wherein youth is revered, where if you've got pubes you're over the hill, that Steve Jobs was our country's number one rock star? A fiftysomething? Who'd realized his arrogance was a hindrance and remade his personality, well, softened it, in order to succeed?
Yup, only a petulant youngster rants and raves that he's made a mistake hiring John Sculley. Oh, Jobs was right, he just didn't send the message correctly. Rather than taking cues from Kevin Spacey in "House Of Cards," he acted like a teenager, kicking and screaming and pouting, the end result being he was put in a years-long time-out.
But then Jobs outmaneuvered Gil Amelio. Stabbed him in the back at the same time he appeared to be cozying up to him. That's what an adult does. Someone who's actually lived and experienced the ups and downs of life.
Oh, I know, music is for the young 'uns, and only the young 'uns are willing to sacrifice for it. But it's the oldsters who truly drive the economy, not that the oldsters want to own this, they just want to diet down into their True Religion jeans and get plastic surgery resulting in skin so shiny they can light up an entire room with their reflection.
Now I'm not switching to Android, for reasons of sync if nothing else. Oh, those Android applauders...with their multiple operating systems and malware. It's just anti-Apple arrivistes, nothing more. But Tim Cook has lost the plot and Jony Ive needs someone to bounce ideas off of. That's what a great record producer does, filter through the concepts and keep the act on track. And hasn't Cook seen his own Apple movie? The Mac was a failure, it limped along until Apple could execute a truly dominant product. The iPod was for everybody, at all price points, and at first the iPhone had no competitors. Going upscale only with iPhones is a recipe for death. Because it's not about the hardware but the software. And the smaller your market share, the fewer people who write apps. Sure, the internet/web browser saved the Mac, but on a tiny phone, it's all about the apps.
Now if Ive were smart, he'd send an update wherein I could choose my own font, so I could add a blocky one that allowed me to peck my fat fingers in the right place.
As for Cook... No Tim, you want to make cheap phones, you want to dominate the market, and you do this by undercutting everyone else. Yup, the iPod victory was all about the lock-up of solid state memory, cornering the market like a right wing industrial titan.
As for the new Mac Pro... Looks great, but you've got to add devices via Thunderbolt to make it work? The tiny professional market isn't interested in design but usability. They don't care what the device looks like, they just want to put it under their desk and have screaming I/O.
Now I hate beating up on my favorite tech company, but if I don't, who will? Naysayers who don't use the equipment don't matter, fans do. Steve Jobs was not only a futurist, but an arbiter. He knew the tiniest little things made a difference, like the font employed. If you can see the time and typing keys in iOS 7, you've probably never had sex, you certainly don't have kids.
Furthermore, the battery life sucks! I'm boasting to everybody that my iPhone 5 never runs out of juice, and suddenly the percentage of battery left is dropping faster than the air pressure in a tornado!
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If Steve Jobs were alive today, iOS 7 would look nothing like it does. An alta kacher baby boomer, Jobs would peer through his glasses aghast at the thin font employed, he'd say usability comes first and he'd send Jony Ive back to the drawing board.
That's what I can't understand about these companies, how they can be so myopic. I'm not saying they should do market research, but was there anybody at Apple born in the fifties who could raise their hand and say...I suddenly can't tell time? When I go to type it's like the letters are hovering in a bad space movie, wherein the planet is moving closer to the sun and we're all in danger of being burned up.
Oh, I'm all for the future. iOS 7 looked great in Apple's presentations. But from the moment I first saw it live, I knew it was too bright. Yup, at the beginning of August, Daniel Glass's teenager gave me a peek, he'd registered as a developer, he had iOS 7 on his handset. Looking at it was truly being blinded by the light. This was my first impression, and we all know the first cut is the deepest.
As for scrolling upwards to get instant access to the most used settings? I've been consistently unable to do this. Where do you put your finger to push up?
Now Spotify and Echofon, the two apps I use most other than Safari and Mail, have not employed the new keyboard. I implore them not to. They've still got the blocky letters an old fart like me can see. As for old farts...they're the ones with all the money, they're the ones paying for their kids' iPhones.
Yup, isn't it funny that in a music business, an entertainment business, an entire society wherein youth is revered, where if you've got pubes you're over the hill, that Steve Jobs was our country's number one rock star? A fiftysomething? Who'd realized his arrogance was a hindrance and remade his personality, well, softened it, in order to succeed?
Yup, only a petulant youngster rants and raves that he's made a mistake hiring John Sculley. Oh, Jobs was right, he just didn't send the message correctly. Rather than taking cues from Kevin Spacey in "House Of Cards," he acted like a teenager, kicking and screaming and pouting, the end result being he was put in a years-long time-out.
But then Jobs outmaneuvered Gil Amelio. Stabbed him in the back at the same time he appeared to be cozying up to him. That's what an adult does. Someone who's actually lived and experienced the ups and downs of life.
Oh, I know, music is for the young 'uns, and only the young 'uns are willing to sacrifice for it. But it's the oldsters who truly drive the economy, not that the oldsters want to own this, they just want to diet down into their True Religion jeans and get plastic surgery resulting in skin so shiny they can light up an entire room with their reflection.
Now I'm not switching to Android, for reasons of sync if nothing else. Oh, those Android applauders...with their multiple operating systems and malware. It's just anti-Apple arrivistes, nothing more. But Tim Cook has lost the plot and Jony Ive needs someone to bounce ideas off of. That's what a great record producer does, filter through the concepts and keep the act on track. And hasn't Cook seen his own Apple movie? The Mac was a failure, it limped along until Apple could execute a truly dominant product. The iPod was for everybody, at all price points, and at first the iPhone had no competitors. Going upscale only with iPhones is a recipe for death. Because it's not about the hardware but the software. And the smaller your market share, the fewer people who write apps. Sure, the internet/web browser saved the Mac, but on a tiny phone, it's all about the apps.
Now if Ive were smart, he'd send an update wherein I could choose my own font, so I could add a blocky one that allowed me to peck my fat fingers in the right place.
As for Cook... No Tim, you want to make cheap phones, you want to dominate the market, and you do this by undercutting everyone else. Yup, the iPod victory was all about the lock-up of solid state memory, cornering the market like a right wing industrial titan.
As for the new Mac Pro... Looks great, but you've got to add devices via Thunderbolt to make it work? The tiny professional market isn't interested in design but usability. They don't care what the device looks like, they just want to put it under their desk and have screaming I/O.
Now I hate beating up on my favorite tech company, but if I don't, who will? Naysayers who don't use the equipment don't matter, fans do. Steve Jobs was not only a futurist, but an arbiter. He knew the tiniest little things made a difference, like the font employed. If you can see the time and typing keys in iOS 7, you've probably never had sex, you certainly don't have kids.
Furthermore, the battery life sucks! I'm boasting to everybody that my iPhone 5 never runs out of juice, and suddenly the percentage of battery left is dropping faster than the air pressure in a tornado!
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Sunday 22 September 2013
Central Market
They were the largest pumpkins I ever saw.
Actually, that's my favorite joke. A guy drives all day through Texas and he's starving. So he goes into this giant restaurant, where they sit him at a long table and sell him a huge steak and a beer in a glass so tall it's hard to tip. And having finished, he asks the waiter where the restroom is. "Up the stairs on the right." But the patron makes a mistake and takes the door on the left. Thirty seconds later, a guy comes out and says "There's a maniac thrashing around in the swimming pool yelling DON'T FLUSH IT, DON'T FLUSH IT!"
Yes, everything's big in Texas.
Especially the supermarket.
Now I thought I knew upscale markets. I shop regularly at Whole Foods, where the prepared fodder looks phenomenal but lacks taste, and Gelson's is superb, although not located near where I live. And the rap on Gelson's is the produce, that's the selling point, that's what everybody talks about.
But Gelson's is positively minor league compared to Central Market.
It's an upscale Costco. If Costco had a zillion SKUs.
Oh, it's got that warehouse feel. With the high roofs of corrugated steel. And at the entrance we were confronted with pumpkins so large, I had to peer at the sign. They said they were from Long Island, but I've never seen anything close to this size on the east coast.
And inside, there were more peppers than I'd seen at any market.
I suddenly started to realize this was something different.
Oh, we think everything's best on the coast. That in between it's flyover country, where the people are backward and underprivileged. Well, let me tell you, the Internet works everywhere, and so does cable TV. But I really didn't expect Fort Worth, Texas to have a better supermarket!
First, there's the innovation!
You know how you buy trail mix at Whole Foods and they've got that PLU code and you've got to find a pen so you can write it down so they can weigh it and charge you at the checkout stand? Well, here you just punch in the code yourself, you weigh your trail mix right where you bag it, vegetables too, and the machine prints out a receipt, you know, the sticky kind, that affixes to the plastic. Hell, you even know how much you've purchased, in case it's too much or too little!
But the sheer variety! They had taps for olive oil and vinegar. There were more types of trail mix than Gelson's and Whole Foods combined.
And they had the sushi, pizza and other ready-made products you could sample and take home.
And there were giant trays of hummus, you just scooped out as much as you needed, there were multiple flavors. And they had seemingly miles of meat and seafood. It was a veritable cornucopia of foodstuffs.
I'm making a rule. Whenever I go to a new place, I'm giving up on the tourist sites, I'm going directly to the supermarket, that's where all the innovation takes place.
Central Market: pic.twitter.com/s5CUizXPYY
Pumpkins 1: pic.twitter.com/hU5rcpsI1E
Pumpkins 2: pic.twitter.com/qp9D0KW99T
Pumpkins 3: pic.twitter.com/gt6CgmIDMI
http://www.centralmarket.com/Home
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Actually, that's my favorite joke. A guy drives all day through Texas and he's starving. So he goes into this giant restaurant, where they sit him at a long table and sell him a huge steak and a beer in a glass so tall it's hard to tip. And having finished, he asks the waiter where the restroom is. "Up the stairs on the right." But the patron makes a mistake and takes the door on the left. Thirty seconds later, a guy comes out and says "There's a maniac thrashing around in the swimming pool yelling DON'T FLUSH IT, DON'T FLUSH IT!"
Yes, everything's big in Texas.
Especially the supermarket.
Now I thought I knew upscale markets. I shop regularly at Whole Foods, where the prepared fodder looks phenomenal but lacks taste, and Gelson's is superb, although not located near where I live. And the rap on Gelson's is the produce, that's the selling point, that's what everybody talks about.
But Gelson's is positively minor league compared to Central Market.
It's an upscale Costco. If Costco had a zillion SKUs.
Oh, it's got that warehouse feel. With the high roofs of corrugated steel. And at the entrance we were confronted with pumpkins so large, I had to peer at the sign. They said they were from Long Island, but I've never seen anything close to this size on the east coast.
And inside, there were more peppers than I'd seen at any market.
I suddenly started to realize this was something different.
Oh, we think everything's best on the coast. That in between it's flyover country, where the people are backward and underprivileged. Well, let me tell you, the Internet works everywhere, and so does cable TV. But I really didn't expect Fort Worth, Texas to have a better supermarket!
First, there's the innovation!
You know how you buy trail mix at Whole Foods and they've got that PLU code and you've got to find a pen so you can write it down so they can weigh it and charge you at the checkout stand? Well, here you just punch in the code yourself, you weigh your trail mix right where you bag it, vegetables too, and the machine prints out a receipt, you know, the sticky kind, that affixes to the plastic. Hell, you even know how much you've purchased, in case it's too much or too little!
But the sheer variety! They had taps for olive oil and vinegar. There were more types of trail mix than Gelson's and Whole Foods combined.
And they had the sushi, pizza and other ready-made products you could sample and take home.
And there were giant trays of hummus, you just scooped out as much as you needed, there were multiple flavors. And they had seemingly miles of meat and seafood. It was a veritable cornucopia of foodstuffs.
I'm making a rule. Whenever I go to a new place, I'm giving up on the tourist sites, I'm going directly to the supermarket, that's where all the innovation takes place.
Central Market: pic.twitter.com/s5CUizXPYY
Pumpkins 1: pic.twitter.com/hU5rcpsI1E
Pumpkins 2: pic.twitter.com/qp9D0KW99T
Pumpkins 3: pic.twitter.com/gt6CgmIDMI
http://www.centralmarket.com/Home
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