Winners/Losers

LOSER

Jay Leno. Off the air and out of our consciousness. If you're not in our eyes and ears every day you're on your way to being forgotten. In other words, if you take a break don't expect to come back with your fame intact.

LOSER

Samsung. The dream is over. Killed by Android more than the iPhone. Proving that a shiny exterior only goes so far, don't be swayed by looks (and be sure to pay attention to this in your personal life!) Unable to distinguish itself from low-priced competitors, Samsung is being hammered from below. Furthermore, it is being hammered by Apple from above. Its highest-priced phone, the Galaxy S5, was outsold by the disappointment known as the iPhone 5C. (http://bit.ly/1rcusny)

In other words, all that marketing, all those dollars to Jay Z, all those famous people giveaways could not compete with the marketplace, wherein price speaks and Samsung tanked.

Android phones are a commodity. It's a race to the bottom. Theoretically Samsung could have a chance with Tizen, but nah... We don't need another smartphone OS. Never mind another app store.

Their watch/gear is DOA. The phones are overpriced.

Samsung, we hardly knew ye.

LOSER

Lady Gaga. You're in the news, but not about your music. And you can never forgo your core competency. You could have cut a song for the summer, instead, you're making dollars on the road... This time. Next time? Probably not.

WINNER

Madonna. Huh? She's working with Avicii, every hip producer on the chart. And in an era where the sound is more important than the performer, she could actually come back. Sure, it will be on the shoulders of others, but isn't that how she's always triumphed?

You can be saddened, but don't be surprised.

LOSER

U2. Trying to replicate Madonna's paradigm. But whereas Madge was always a trend whore, Bono, et al, followed their own path. But now that there's no rock on Top Forty, there's nowhere to go. Trying to stay hip leaves the hard core fanbase squeamish. Their Super Bowl track tanked. They'll do a ton of publicity, but the resulting album will be meaningless.

WINNER

Google. It's not the Apple paradigm. It's a scattershot approach. We launch stuff, some fails, so what, we're rich! And they're even in the VC/development field with Google Ventures. Google's advantage is its brass is a couple of years younger than the Apple people, and the company is run by engineers. Tim Cook doesn't know enough about engineering. Jony Ive is not an engineer. At the end of the day, tech companies live on new products that run efficiently. Can Craig Federighi be Apple's secret weapon or is the Cupertino company gonna run on the past and then run out of steam?

WINNER

Jimmy Iovine. Not only for himself, but for Apple. He seems to be the secret sauce Apple needs, he's the one to bring them out of the doldrums. Jimmy's got his finger on the pulse of the younger generation, which drives the culture and ultimately dollars. Jimmy might have brought Yahoo back, Marissa Mayer cannot.

LOSER

Yahoo. Marissa Mayer has a flawed vision. She's moving downmarket, trying to capture the eyeballs of those who don't care while alienating the hard core that does. Make your homepage comprehensible. Weed out the fluff. Good for you promoting Katie Couric and Matt Bai, but the truth is their stardom is far eclipsed by that of David Pogue, who you bury. People don't care about Katie, other than out-of-touch oldsters, but Pogue was one of the two most powerful people commenting about tech, and now you've marginalized him.

WINNER

Michael Rapino. Because he knows Ticketmaster/Live Nation is an e-commerce company, that it's all about the hundreds of millions of transactions, concerts are just the fuel, and it won't be long before booking is done by data, with few humans involved.

WINNER

Data. Gut reaction only counts in art. And then only so far. Data is eviscerating the mystery. You can predict a lot of the future, if you parse the data from the past.

WINNER

Scott Borchetta. Used to be it was only Taylor Swift, now it's Florida Georgia Line, the Band Perry, Thomas Rhett, Brantley Gilbert... Borchetta is the most powerful man in music creation, even more powerful than Rick Rubin and the rest of those who get all the press. Borchetta knows how to pick winners and make them so. He's a force of nature. You should beg to be on his label. Sure, he signed the antique Reba McEntire, but I'm waiting for some old rocker to wake up and make a deal. Borchetta's putting out a country covers album of Motley Crue songs that in many instances are better than the originals. Borchetta grew up in the Valley and can talk hard rock forever. Old rockers need Scott, they just don't know it yet. Borchetta's success proves once again that it's all about individuals. And in today's world of breaking hits, Scott is number one.

WINNER

Pasquale Rotella. Because he realizes shows are not about the gross, but the experience. That's why people come back. And if you're rebuilding the world with every show, you're screwed.

LOSER

New festivals. There's Coachella and Lollapalooza, they're locks, their success is guaranteed. And then maybe ACL. Next comes Bonnaroo, but do you really want to camp in the rain and mud to hear old acts, it's not a jam band festival anymore. After that...it's a vast wasteland. We're saturated. The festival experience has to be memorable, it has to have bragging rights, so unless your customers can see a badge of honor in attending, you're screwed. Small festivals can burgeon, big ones...

WINNER

Streaming. Already won in market share, will soon rain down prodigious dollars. You can either join the future now, or be an object of ridicule in the future, when you sheepishly join in. Those complaining about streaming royalties don't have enough fans listening to their music. Sure, songwriter royalties are a small part of the pot, but if you can't see that streaming is a gold mine, please don't pontificate about the future.

WINNER

Doug Morris. He single-handedly reinvigorated Sony Music. However, once he's gone, it's a disaster.

WINNER

Monte Lipman. If Sony were smart, they'd steal Monte to replace Doug. Because Monte is Doug's number one student. Buy it, find a home for it on radio, and blow it up. If there's no reaction, stop spending. If it only lasts momentarily, find something else.

WINNER

Steve Barnett. He willed Sam Smith to be a success. If you've got a work project, no one will dedicate himself to it more, Steve needs it. If only we could enlighten him re Spotify...

LOSER

Robin Thicke. The press is deafening, how his album has tanked:

"Robin Thicke's album Paula sells fewer than 54 copies in Australia": http://bit.ly/1trVgEG

Furthermore, why was there an album? Thicke's a singles artist. He should have sat in the studio with Pharrell as long as it took to make another hit.

If Chris Brown can come back, so can Robin Thicke. If he has a thicke hide, if he comes back with an undeniable single.

LOSER

Justin Bieber. Because he's let the press get control of his narrative. Bieber's got to regain his story, he's got to explain where he's coming from. But he's young and immature and so is his manager. Bieber doesn't need to apologize so much as explain.

WINNER

Jack White. Because he realized he's selling souvenirs. Sure, he sold 40,000 vinyl records of his latest release the first week, but this is not a testimony to vinyl, but to Mr. White, who jacked up the price and added goodies. Proving once again, if people believe in you, they'll spend all their money. Mr. White wasn't selling music, he was selling a collectible!

TOSS-UP

Jay Z. Hey Jay, what about creating a hit single? You've been running on rep/fumes for far too long.

TOSS-UP

Garth Brooks. I'm sure your fourth quarter digital store will make some coin because the prices will be so low, but you've demonstrated your ignorance here, you're way too late to the game. The reason people bought your low-priced multiple CD package at Wal-Mart was because they were already there! What's going to drive people to your website to buy? And everybody has to enter their credit card number? As for new music... Shoot low, very low. Do it their way. Have your lyrics written by Dallas Davidson, then again, what kind of idiot agrees to be on a reality television show, and one must say the words Dallas uttered reinforce the cracker image of the south. But Dallas has his finger on the pulse of today's country market. Yup, Garth. Make it about trucks and rims and have one big hit and then do it your way, because to today's country audience you're Frank Sinatra, an historical legend, you're old, not new, play by their rules first. And you didn't make a deal with Borchetta
because..?

TOSS-UP

John Janick. No one can fill both of Jimmy's shoes. Can he fill one?


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