Paying To Play The Super Bowl

http://on.wsj.com/1oO7TXZ

You're surprised?

This is what happens when nerds inherit the earth and "it's just business" replaces the old saw "it's only rock 'n roll."

Name the three biggest tracks of last summer. It's easy, like taking candy, from a baby!

We've got "Get Lucky."

And "Blurred Lines."

And "Royals."

What do the first two have in common? They're fading away, they're not radiating. No one has mentioned Daft Punk since the Grammys and Robin Thicke has become a public joke.

But not Lorde.

The two biggest phenomena of the past five years are both women, and both refused to play the game, refused to turn up the marketing to ten and yell from the rooftops...I'M HERE, PAY ATTENTION, BUY MY STUFF!

That's right, Adele refused to play arenas, she didn't do any endorsements. And despite being a teenager, Lorde knows the game better than the old men who believe they run this business. That in order to get into the hearts of the young, you've got to both have their values and be a leader.

The young are not famous. Stop reciting the litany of YouTube stars and branding by prepubescents. No, the truth is most young people are in school, playing sports, living their lives not much different than it ever was. If you believe they believe selling out is the way to go, your child has been offered a million dollar deal with Pepsi. But that never happens, that only happens to the rich and famous.

Give Steve Jobs credit. He hewed to his own beliefs. But everybody else is compromising, cutting corners, trying to play the game so they can get rich.

Come on, for all the ink Wierd Al has gotten, he's already last month's news, no one's talking about him and his tracks don't populate the Spotify Top Lists. And that's what it's about, staying power.

And it turns out despite all the hogwash about men dominating the charts, it really comes down to women. Because Lorde and Adele spoke from their hearts and left money on the table.

The NFL has never left money on the table. It squeezes everybody in the chain, believing it's forever, whereas most people can't even name the last two Super Bowl winners and attendance is flagging and the press is bad and...

But the sport gets a pass, because we need something to believe in.

Once upon a time we believed in music.

Who owns the best performance in Super Bowl history? Prince! Who didn't sell tickets simultaneously. He's toured to big numbers ever since on that one performance, but most acts are all about the short term, where am I going this summer, as opposed to where I'll be five years from now.

If you think no act will pay the NFL for that exposure, you've never been exposed to the wannabes. If Ashley Madison is willing to sponsor a football stadium, believe you me someone without the cachet of Coldplay and Katy Perry will pony up, because that's America, where everything's for sale and it goes to the highest bidder.

Or does it?

Everything's a promotional exercise. Who can top who. From Jay Z to Beyonce to Weird Al to Taylor Swift. They're all Internet savvy, they all will sell their souls to the highest corporate bidder, and other than Ms. Swift, whose new effort hangs in the balance, their music has faded away.

It wasn't always like this.

But the truth is the good old days were back when the business was being developed. No one knew the rules, they were being codified. Sid Bernstein ripped off the Beatles so Peter Grant demanded 90/10 deals and after Bill Graham ripped off CSNY, Michael Cohl created a new paradigm where the artists got tons of dough, they just couldn't ask Cohl how he got the money back.

It was the wild west.

But it's the wild west no more.

Except in the music itself. That's what we're all looking for, the elixir that tickles our brain cells, something we have not heard before, that we hunger for and tweet about. Because we want to share greatness.

Sharing built Lorde.

No one's sharing the new Tom Petty other than the media he manipulated.

So, call the doctor, I think we're headed for a crash.

But you know what the doctor says in that famous Eagles song, he's coming, but you got to pay him cash.

And sure, the Eagles wanted to get paid. But they own the best-selling album in history because of the music.

You remember music, don't you?

Adele does.

And so does Lorde.

So there is an antidote to the mercenary ways.

Yup, we've pushed the new paradigm to the wall. Did you read that celebrity fragrances crashed Elizabeth Arden?

Check it out: http://nyti.ms/1pJBvVj

And know that it all comes down to the music.

Same as it ever was.


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