Delusional

Why is everybody so damn delusional?

I was brought up a shithead. That's what my parents considered me to be. They weren't coddling me, telling me how great I was, that I was going to be a world-beater, rather they kept telling me the world was a scary place and it was hard to be successful and if I put my nose to the grindstone I might be lucky to find a place in this society of ours, I wouldn't end up on the street.

But throughout history, but much worse in the Internet era, is the plethora of "winners" who can't see the forest for the trees, who believe the only impediment between them and success is your approval and your helping hand.

Let me make this clear.

Not a week goes by where I don't receive multiple e-mails from people who are going to save the music business. Mostly, people who are going to redo music distribution!

I know these people have computers, because they're e-mailing me, but do they not follow the game, do they not read the news, employ these services themselves?

You're going to eradicate piracy!

That was the discussion ten years ago, piracy in the music business is a nonstarter, irrelevant, when everything can be streamed for free, why would you steal? But these people are gonna solve that problem.

Then they don't realize they need money and rights, in that order. They believe if they just show up at Universal Music, Lucian Grainge will welcome them inside and grant the rights for nothing, bowled over by how good their idea is. Kinda like if you went into McDonald's and rapped a Ronald McDonald theme they'd load you up with McNuggets. What planet do these people live on?

Now I'm not saying everybody's like this.

Well, there's the variation... You're successful, and that's not fair. You have a hit record, and I don't, as a result I've got to talk crap about you until the end of time, or until my record makes it to number one, whichever comes first. But then you listen to the work of these people and your head spins around like Regan's. Did they not play it for anybody else? Did no one else tell them that they weren't good enough? Usually, they've got crappy voices. But it's the material that blows your mind. Almost anybody can write a song, but that does not make it good.

How did this happen? Is it the end result of millennialism? With baby boomer parents so mad that they weren't encouraged by their 'rents that they're overcompensating for their progeny?

I've got a degree in music business, where's my job?

Ever notice that people are lining up to work in the entertainment industry, and your best way in is connections, and that most people don't survive? Yup, even if you get a job you're going to get fired. But these people don't only believe they're entitled to a job, but that given the chance they'll find the next Beatles, or make their personal favorite number one.

And the end result is most of these people are ignored.

I don't answer these people ever. But just yesterday, someone used a connection to get to me. You know, they know someone I know and will I look at their business proposal.

Which was INSANE!

First and foremost, if you believe a musician can solve business issues, you believe Todd Rundgren was responsible for music video and Peter Gabriel revolutionized digital distribution. Yup, that's the truth. If you're a musician, I only pay attention to your music. Because most people can do one thing well, at best. But these wunderkinds believe the world is their oyster, that every endeavor they pursue will be embraced by the lifers in the field!

But Todd did not create MTV. And Gabriel has been on the fringes of music distribution. And they both make unbelievable music, but neither has done much since they broadened their endeavors.

But now I'm attacking the truly talented. Maybe because I just want more of what they do best, good music.

But the truth is that too is up for grabs. If the masses like it, it can't be good.

Unfortunately, the masses don't read my newsletter. The masses who viewed Kiesza's video 30 million times. I know, it sucks. People are just into self-torture. Those who put it to number one in the U.K. are zombies.

And then there are the know-it-alls who excoriate me for being late to the party, even though the track has had little traction in the U.S.

But the point is today everybody has a voice. And as a result, those who've won retreat from interaction, they don't want to be dragged down into the hole of the delusional, who just want to grab your tail and whip you around and around, wearing you out in the process.

Furthermore, feedback is so instant and the haters so vocal that today you need a new characteristic to make it, a tough skin, because if you rise above, you're going to be inundated with feedback from nobodies.

That's right, nobodies.

Used to be nobodies owned their lot. Realized they were either dead-enders or their choices left them in their own locale, as consumers as opposed to creators. But now that everybody's got the tools and the connection, they're bombarding the populace ad infinitum with their delusional, wannabe efforts and we're now living in a world where it's impossible to get people's attention, for all the idiots who demand it.

And I'm not complaining. Well, maybe I am. What I'm saying is I can't feed back, can't have intellectual discussion, because if I respond just once, I'm going to be the recipient of e-mail for YEARS!

And I know so many of you are reasonable. But I want to give you the perspective from where I sit. To know that you are not alone. That we live in an incomprehensible world where the dumb reign and the smart check out.

Kind of like the Spotify debate. Spotify pays 69%+ of revenues to rights holders, I've written it dozens of times, it's all over the Web, but major musicians keep e-mailing me that Spotify is keeping all the money. Just like the hoi polloi think you need a connection to stream to your handset, not aware that there's sync.

And this process is repeated in politics. Where disinformation rules. Where people believe death panels are gonna kill grandma and everybody's new health care policy is worse.

And I'm not saying Obamacare is perfect but I am saying the right wing is responsible for the inaccuracies. Yup, there you have it, e-mail away, you who believe vitriol trumps facts.

So I just don't understand the world we live in.

But I do understand why the rich and powerful live in gated communities, fly private and want nothing to do with the unwashed masses. BECAUSE THEY JUST CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON!

P.S. If you tell the delusional the truth, that their idea ain't gonna make it, it's just not good enough, suddenly it's your fault, you're cut to shreds as this inane e-mailer gets on his high horse and recites his thin c.v. and yells that you just don't get it, how wrong can you be, that they'll come back to laugh on your grave. What's the cliche, no good deed goes unpunished? Or, the truth is, they're just mad you're not helping them out, as if it's your duty to push them around the game board of life.


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