Final Recode

The star of the conference, other than the larger than life Mark Cuban, who delivered beyond expectations, was one Evan Williams, who started Blogger, Twitter and Medium and is a billionaire as a result. It is Evan who inspired me to write my piece about stardom yesterday.

This is the path musicians used to take. Breaking ground, over and over again. It's why we revere the Beatles, not to mention many lesser lights of the classic rock era. As for today? We get endless repeats of what once was. Something that confounds us is rare.

Williams grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and I don't know if it's Cargill size or truck size, but the truth is you can make it from anywhere. Actually, that's what I took from the conference, you can make it if you really try. The intimate environment humanized the stars, you could see yourself up on stage.

Assuming you wanted to do it for yourself.

This is the opposite of the ethos of the modern music business, where everybody's always looking for someone else to give them money. Williams funded Medium with millions of his own money, and Jason Kilar provided startup funds for Vessel. Granted, they had the cash, but if you're waiting for approval, you're going down the wrong road.

And speaking of cash, I had a great conversation with VC Stewart Alsop, who delineated his asshole theory of founder/CEO, someone who needed to reach the destination, effect change, nothing could stand in their way. These people should not be replaced, they're the driving force, they're unstoppable, they're winners. And Alsop also proffered info on when to invest and when to sell and the head fakes of these companies and it's fun to speak with smart people as opposed to hustlers who constantly implore you to buy, whose slime covers you and makes you anxious.

Also smart is record producer Rodney Jerkins. Who confronted Tim Westergren of Pandora about songwriter royalties. Westergren passed the question off to the government, but the truth is Irving's gonna push the online radio service first. If Irving pulls Pharrell and the rest of his writers, Pandora is toast. And people love Pandora, everybody in the room used it, I can't fathom it, too many tune-outs, too much work for a service that says it's about eliminating the work.

Westergren believes in radio.

The same way Kevin Tsujihara believes it's about selling movies. That's right, ownership. It was positively head-spinning to hear a media titan so lost in the past, as if he was speaking to dumb Wall Street analysts as opposed to people who live in the present. It was so insane it made you want to sell your Warner stock.

The other person who got blowback was Mark Thompson, the CEO of the "New York Times," the younger folks in attendance laughed how he had no idea how to reach them, that he'd be best off putting his stories on Snapchat. As for me... You're laying off people when you should be doubling down? Didn't Amazon create this scorched-earth paradigm? You spend until there are no competitors left and then you dominate. The "New York Times" IS news in America, the only outfit with boots on the ground, but Thompson and the rest of the employees can't get their heads out of their asses, to see the clear sky coming as opposed to the darkness immediately overhead.

Then again, the whole focus of the conference was money. Almost no creativity, no juice was in evidence. Nick Denton pontificated about his Gawker empire, but you could see working for him would be like working on Maggie's Farm. Then again, we've got no Dylan to point out the truth, everybody wants to fly on the private jet to a land where they serve man, and if you don't get the "Twilight Zone" reference...

And Denton's company is private, which is why he could speak some truth, those working for the man didn't say anything not heard before. Are you listening Chris Cox and Lucian Grainge? Why show up to say nothing?

Then again, there was Lloyd Braun who spoke for half an hour without saying a damn thing, no one in attendance could figure out what his new platform was, despite Braun getting press in the "Times" and stage time in Laguna Niguel. You see it's about relationships. That work both ways. The business uses the media and vice versa, that's how they got all these bigwigs to show up.

Chelsea Handler was funny. And caustic. She barked back when her bio was recited incorrectly.

And Tavi Gevinson was positively riveting. The thing is she's actually a good actress, she had screen presence in "Enough Said." And at 18, she wasn't guarded like the old men. She said how she changed her mind, she revealed insecurities, evidencing charisma all the while. You couldn't tune her out, unlike some of the business titans. Then again, she's really a blip on the radar screen. Despite all the press her presence is almost nonexistent. "Rookie" is a minor league player. And that's all fine and dandy, but if I was her I'd go to college, I'd prepare for the future, but what blew my mind was how little was there, despite all the press, even in the "New Yorker."

As was the same case with the social media stars. You know, from YouTube and Vine, the ones the "Times" and the rest of the media rave about and tell us will replace today's famous faces. What a joke. All you have to do is look them up on your smartphone. 2,000 Twitter followers? That's barely better than a high school student. Story is king, and these momentary stars will disappear unless they create it. Now they're in the business of train-wreck. As for making a living posting on Pinterest... I almost laughed, you do realize this is going to end, right?

And then there was Cuban. Who was not afraid of taking the unpopular position. He's against net neutrality. And his rationale was pretty good. And he's pro television, he believes oldsters lean back and that bits are bits and you may not get your shows on cable, but they'll survive. Cuban too is a star, he talked a bit about "Shark Tank," but his honesty and intelligence is what drew you to him.

Then again, Cuban was born in '58. Not everybody's wet behind the ears. Experience does count.

And if you want to make it...

You can be like Tyler, The Creator, full of charisma, going by the seat of his pants, riding the crest of the wave, utilizing old media and new to dazzle or...

You can learn how to code, go to Stanford and network.

Or you can sit at home and do something great yourself, because we're always looking for great, and the truth is there's very little great out there.


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