Bob,
Love Neil Young, but his rants feel on my deaf ears. Great mailbag, but a lot of folks are missing your real points.
I'm not just annoyed--but insulted--when legacy artists who made their money on lots of formats (vinyls, tape, cassette, CDs, downloads) over decades now are arguing about the idea of streaming's "quality." At least Taylor Swift is standing up for the songwriters lost in the shuffle.
There is nobility to the independent folks who refuse to sign up their music for streaming companies they don't trust (Steve Lawson, Zoe Keating), but did any of them read Seth Godin's blog this week: The Tech Ratchet?
My favorite quotes:
"Any useful technology that's successfully adopted by a culture won't be abandoned. Ever. After air conditioning is installed, it's never uninstalled."
"Society doesn't go backwards".
This insider baseball stuff is confusing the public who can't figure out they can store songs on their phones without using bandwidth, or that Pandora is not the same service as Spotify or Apple Music.
Where's the media on this? Writing click-bait.
This month, Wired's senior staff writer wrote a stupid article about how his friends couldn't stream music during the fireworks: Wired: Streaming Music's Offline Problem).
How is it an offline problem that you didn't plan ahead? Does this even warrant an article, by a tech publication no less? Read the comments, and most people didn't read the paragraph about how to store songs...
However, this isn't a great era for the middle-class artists. (This isn't a great era for the middle class in America, either. Try walking in the shoes of public school teachers, musicians. Even Michigan is a right-to-work state.)
Middle class artists need to recognize that:
1. the action of convincing one sale with one person is different than the relationship of a person listening to something multiple times;
2. Spotify isn't really paying per stream, nor can I really figure out the actual way it works.
Plus, I'm going to scream if another hipster using the free AD-based tier of Spotify tells me, "I listen to my favorite groups a thousand times, so they are making the same at $0.005 a stream!" Ad accounts don't pay the same, folks! And your memories deceive you. I bet you really listened to your new favorite artist about 25-50 times, not a 1000.
I don't know what the answer is for the middle class artists.
I think it starts with the truth, that the long tail we (me included) believed five to 10 years ago were just that, myths.
I also think it starts with the truth that songwriters are screwed in a streaming economy.
And that touring one's ass off isn't a great lifestyle. (Guardian's article about depression & touring.)
It's a misconstrued reality on both ends of the spectrum, Bob.
Mike Vial
P.S. Joe Pinder wrote, "I can rent Netfix for £6.99, but Spotify is £9.99. What is the rationale for this? If streaming works at £6.99 for visual media it should work for music at LESS."
He needs to consider size of catalogue and other features offered.
Netflix has a limited streaming catalogue, ever changing at the will of short contracts. You can watch Good Will Hunting this month, but it's not going to be available to stream in September.
Sure, an artist who own's their catalogue can take it off a stream platform, but really the only affect on catalogue that would make consumers leave is if the labels decided to remove large amounts of albums at once.
Seems worth $10 to me. In the 90s, I bet we would have paid twice this amount (and ignoring inflation), but Youtube and Napster have decreased our idea of music's worth.
Mike Vial
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From: MusicAlly
"Deezer suggests Neil Young is more popular with 'Elite' streamers": http://musically.com/2015/07/16/deezer-neil-young-elite-streamers/
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Bob.
Neil put his money behind his real belief that people benefit from much better sound. Most others write about concepts and numbers while others just listen to music they like on gear that pleases them.
Elliot Mazer
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i find the Neil Young discussion fascinating. I mastered Time Fades Away, On The Beach, Zuma, Tonight's The Night (my favorite), American Stars And Bars-all versions, Decade, a failed attempt at Comes A Time, a clean up and remaster of After The Gold Rush, and some edit and remix work during the crazy dance music blowup in the early 80s.
I've heard as much Neil Young as anybody, I think. And I love his music, unlike the many of the denizens of my union filled former studio.
And nobody cares today. It''s sad to me but it's the truth. If Neil played only his new album at this shows nobody would come. We want to hear the old stuff because it still thrills us. The new stuff doesn't.
And as for the digital kerfuffle, from my point of view Neil has ALWAYS chosen performance over technical considerations. I'm just going to leave it at that.
Phil Brown
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Gad; I may not be a great U2 fan — but this is bullshit whining.
1. yes, they can ("just go out there and play…"). Period.
2. I'll guarantee that there are a host more "AMERICAN UNION GUYS" on a U2 tour than this guy can count.
Hugo Burnham
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The worst part about this decade is that it's the 50th anniversary of everything, and Boomers INSIST that everyone from that era gets a pass on everything, forever, and is always relevant. Before any ad hominem "you weren't there, maaaaaan" arguments come my way, keep in mind i drive a 1968 Mustang and have been putting on a party of 1960s music for a decade. That said, instead of listening to CISL 650 AM with Red Robinson on my tuner, i listen to it on their digital streaming app or online because it's clearer.
Trevor Risk
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No reason to treat Neil any differently, up or down, than Zimmie....his last few albums have been OK musically, but seeing him with his faux "The Band Band" last October was a study in mumbling one octave lower than usual. Even Tom Waits slings out an intelligible lyric, here and there!?!
But.......HEY, it's DYLAN, right?
"He's a f****king Genius!!"
Only at bamboozlement.
We still love 'em both, though, right?
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz~jk
John P. Katsantonis
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As of 5 min ago Neil is still available on Spotify, YouTube and Tidal.
PR stunt?
Marcus T.
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Three or four months ago, I was in San Francisco working with Linda Ronstadt on the PowerPoint presentation we use for her public speaking engagements. I had my Macbook Pro set up on her dining room table with a UAD Apollo Twin Duo interface feeding a pair of her high-end Genelecs. After we finished fine-tuning the presentation, I told her I had some new downloads from HDTracks.com - 24/96 audio files. I cued up four songs: "Blue" by Joni Mitchell, "You Can Call Me Al," from Paul Simon's Graceland album, "God Only Knows" from Pet Sounds, and finally, "All Blues" by the Miles Davis Sextet from the Kind of Blue album. All those files were transferred from analog masters. While the music played, the four people in the room didn't say a word - we were all completely transfixed. After it was over, one of Linda's friends remarked that it was like hearing music for the first time. Case rested.
I don't know how my old ears would do on a double-blind test, but I know this. Next to the sound quality of that setup, Spotify, Pandora, MP3 in general, and Sirius XM, all sound like a Dixie cup and a string.
Best,
John Boylan
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Is Galen Hudson joking, or is he deaf? Could be deaf. Listening to Greendale will do that to you.
Greg Malecki
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Bill Goldsmith is full of his beloved BS. There IS audible quality loss between 320kbs mp3s and a CD.
All you need to do is avoid 'modern' pop music, and instead use classical piano, or bottom-heavy hip hop music and push the level past 6 (using cans, buds, speakers, monitors... anything!) and anyone will hear the difference.
This was tested in a bus full of French tourists a few years ago: the tour guide plugged his iPod (classic) in the luxury bus' Aux input to play music while driving through some scenic area, and the bass was 'fluffy' to use a kinder word than farty (couldn't resist). When the tour guide plugged in my iPod (classic, same model), playing the same album ripped in Apple Lossless, the bass was as tight as in our respective cars, the mid range didn't distort at higher volume, and the highs weren't shrill.
With solo piano (Keith Jarrett or Horowitz), the room ambience came out cleanly, and warmly on Apple Lossless. With mp3, even 320kbs mp3, you wouldn't have known there was a room to begin with.
It pisses me off to no end to hear, or see, people proclaim there is "no difference" between CDs and mp3s, and hide behind the fact that they work in "radio." I've worked in Radio - most people there couldn't pick the United States on a map of the world, let alone make basic auditory distinction.
Seriously.
Balisani
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Bill Goldsmith is 100% wrong.
I've taken those double blinds and passed.
I was sent files that were 96/24 and then they were downconverter to 16/44.1 and then back up so you couldn't identify it by metadata.
It wasn't difficult to hear which was which on a good system.
Saying 192/24 is B.S. is itself bullshit
I'm so sick and tired of people peddling WORSE as better or as indistinguishable.
If he thinks 320 Ogg files are indistinguishable from CDs, then I say ENJOY.
Maybe he also thinks cheap wine tastes the same as Petrus.
Michael Fremer
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Bob, this reply below, it made me pause while doing the ole Lefsetz email scan.
This guy says, "You need to bask in the glow of what's popular and trending. And you need to mock what's not. It makes you feel important.". All the while HE is mocking "popular and trending" by calling it "boring". HE mocks Spotify because it's "popular shit sound". HE mocks you because you are "popular AND trendy", but will "fall out of style". Guy could be accused of calling the kettle black, no?
Obviously he feels important… but how could he not see the irony in his own email before hitting send? The rationale didn't jive with me… a Google search later and all questions were answered.. he is an "Audiophile". Once you pay $1000 to $3500 for a digital audio cable "rational" gets removed from your vocabulary.
Aaron Johnson
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The Analogue man is spot on (that's Michael Fremer for those
non-audiophiles).....glad I happened to open your email for a change.
Hank Arnold
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AM in mono - Streaming in stereo?
Is Neil telling us his music was recorded in Mono? if not, then how is AM better?
PS. My favorite part of 8-tracks is the changing of tracks in the middle of a song...
Dave Parsons
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Didn't read Neil piece yet. But given the entertaining feedback I'd say u did ur job like a true artist should- evoke emotion!!
Man some people's ignorance toward streaming... "Who wants to listen to music on their phone" laughable!!!
Ps- I find it hilarious (and sad) that people replied saying they pay for Spotify yet still buy the cd... The old paradigm is drilled into them... And Spotify has room to market/PR 'what' their service does for people... And I commend the Boomers for embracing the 'new' :-)
Without reading the article, I say Well done Bob!
Mike Pappas
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Bob, what pisses me off is that I can't enjoy Neil's music on Spotify. I love Neil and I use and like Spotify and he's not there. WTF.
Dave Herlihy
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I have been saying Neil is just wrong and probably we will blame it on drugs. His PONO was a total farce and he sold it to the stupids. I made an app that did more than PONO and not enough people cared. All because GOOD ENOUGH is the way our society operates. Sick but true. For this reason, I have had it with the audio world. People claim to be experts and care but they aren't and they don't. It's all show.
As for Neil, I'll stick with his old stuff. La NOISE is just that!!!
David Wiener
CEO - APHEX
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"Who listens to music on their phone?"
Uh, millions and millions. That's who. It's the ONLY place for me. I have 3 young kids and my phone (with an FM transmitter) is my ONLY option.
Do people realize how many kids (or adults) don't have a computer? Let alone a sound system...
But EVERYBODY has a phone.
"Who is Neil Young?"
Indeed!
There's Neil's future, right there.
(Btw, who is Peter Gabriel?)
Bill Seipel
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Pulling his music from Spotify is eliminating possible new fans and demographics. He'd be better off just doing better promotions on vinyl releases. Make the vinyl releases special. Appease his hardcore fans with vinyl, keep his presence alive with streaming. If he makes new fans from streaming, they'll eventually find the vinyl.
Thanks,
Jason Moore
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Neil Young might be wrong about streaming. But we know HE believes it. He has earned a voice from decades of saying what he means. So there is some authenticity that most will respect even if they disagree.
Taylor Swift may be right about Apple. But who knows where that statement came from. I don't trust that is HER opinion over that of her teams. Something about the whole thing was weird and felt like a stunt more than taking a stand. It was great PR. But I am not sure I care what she has to says.
Stephen Chilton
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How can you say all that about the 'Godfather of Grunge'? rotflmao
mmpoppa1
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"Bob, my current ASCAP statement shows one song of mine, of which I own a full 50%, both writer's and publisher's shares. This song had 170,278 plays. For this, I was paid $3.12. This comes out to $0.00000183 per play. Oh, how valued I feel. And then the people don't want to pay ten bucks a month for unlimited music. Fuck them, they don't deserve any music.
Rob Meurer"
well somebody should "follow the money" cause I'm playing about 7500-8000 songs a month for 30k TLH (Total Listening Hours) and I pay my $56 to ProNet Licensing, who redistrubutes it to SoundEx, BMI, ASCAP, and SEASAC!
I have a strong feeling that too many hands are touching the cash, and there's not a direct enough path between broadcasters and artists.
Steven Leventhal
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Why isn't there room for all points of view? Neil tried to do something cool, so maybe it's not going to be a major hit but he was addressing the issues the best way he knew. The Pono thing can still have it's small pool of followers. Isn't that more the way of the future? I'm a small artist in a big sea with a selective fan base. What's wrong with that? Do we all have to follow the pied piper? Who is he anyway? Surely not Neil, or you … but maybe the next great artist who flies under the radar doing something original who is living his or her life on his or her terms. My day job is planting elaborate flower gardens for rich people but I can still run a recording studio and have contracts with film, television and other commercial entities. Why is your model so either/or?
Kristina Stykos
Pepperbox Studio
Chelsea, VT
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To Bob and all the other ignorant ones,
In general I like your letters but with your thoughts on sound quality you totally miss the point.
Ever thought about the simple fact that not everybody hears the same way and that there might be people with better hearing than you that do hear the difference ?
Regards
Jozef Pottgens
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Great post,
It's just a stitch up for his fans really
Ed Hogston
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Neil is going for scarcity but unfortunately no one cares
Robert Frech
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Maybe this is beating a dead (Crazy?) horse at this point, but it seems to me that most of the folks replying to your latest letter re: Neil Young and streaming are missing the point entirely. Either they're focussing upon what they perceive to be your denigration of Neil Young the man, the artist and/or his work, or they simply can't grasp or refuse to acknowledge the well understood science of audio, the limitations of the human ear and/or are in deep denial about their own subjectivity and confirmation bias.
From a scientific standpoint, there really is no debate. There's even an amazing Rational Wiki entry all about it, "Audio Woo":
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Audio_woo
The following quote from the article sums up the psychology of audio woo believers rather nicely:
"Explanations for why manufacturers, audiophiles and the "tweakers" perpetuate the myths of the subjective audio crowd are varied but one simple explanation is cognitive dissonance: having just spent thousands of dollars on something that does very little or nothing, it is easier to adjust one's thinking to "Wow! spending hundreds of dollars on little ceramic insulators that keep my speaker wires off the floor has opened up the sound stage and improved the distinction between the violin parts!", than it is to admit the fundamental realities that say "I can't believe how dumb I have been" and "my wife will kill me!". "
On top of this of course is the sad reality that, now in his seventies and after a lifetime of exposure to extremely loud amplification, Neil Young isn't even hearing anything at close to the full spectrum available to a younger ear. I'm sure lots of stuff sounds like shit to him unless it's in one of his controlled environments which I think it's safe to assume are full of "high end" subjectivity inducing equipment.
Lastly, the most important part of this whole thing isn't necessarily even the streaming itself, but rather the quality of the original recording, mixing and mastering.
Of course, like with many things, these pesky, objectively measurable facts prevent people from the self satisfaction that their predetermined ideas, delusions and misunderstandings somehow trump science such that arguing with them is much like the Heinlein quote "Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."
Cheers!
Marty Ferrini
PS At home I pretty much listen to music exclusively from iTunes over my WiFi network to an AppleTV hooked up to a relatively modern, $400 Marantz 1403 slimline receiver and a mix of some vintage Wharfdale 60D's I found at my local Goodwill (eighty bucks for the pair - they sort of knew what they had!), some new Audio Engine P4 passives for surrounds and an 8" subwoofer and for movies a little Definitive center channel. It all sounds fantastic and didn't require inane incantations or breaking the bank.
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I'm from Neil Young's childhood hometown and so it's nearly blasphemy to speak ill of him but I think music needs to find the next technology iteration rather than some modest improvement on the old streaming platform. Is that video - it could be. Could it be oculus rift or the new Samsung phone based virtual reality - very possibly. It could be the ultimate concert all the time. I understand there are something like 12 different VR platforms launching for this holiday season. I think video will kill the radio star again soon.
I enjoy your passion. Thanks for your opinions and insight on life and music.
Be well
Noel Atkinson
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When I read your post this morning, I wanted to reply, but chose not to. There is an old saying: "Just because you can doesn't mean you should". I am a big fan of yours; but an even bigger fan of Neil. Neil Young is a master of Rock 'n Roll history! He guided me through my teens. I love what you do, and 99% of what you say, but leave Neil alone!!! He seriously cares and works to prove it.
Now that everyone else has chimed in, I thought I'd put in my puny two cents worth. Please, do not disrespect Neil Young!!! It's like you are sucker-punching the guy who rescued me from the evil step-parents.
Yours,
Kieron McKindle
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I am 56 years old.
I think that the market is devaluing celebrity. And I like that.
Middle class artists are the shit, to paraphrase Nick Offerman.
I think that artists worth millions of dollars are using guilt and shame to sustain their wealth, their percieved power, their celebrity. The same tactics used by the Republican Party since '68. (When my political consciousness awoke)
Celebrity is currently overvalued in the marketplace.
I saw Richard Buckner in a Louisville living room for $20.
Best show I'd seen since I saw Joe Henry and his son.
Makers, not complainers.
The market prefers makers.
Stream. Independently. Make.
Bob Barnett
Louisville
Buy local. Eat local. Read local.
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Bob,
Thanks for your insightful writings. As i read last nights "STOP" sign for a favorite "Old Man" of mine and many others, i considered responding. But after reading tonight's thoughtful and varied responses, decided there was another aspect of this very large and circumspect pie that many of us live, work in and feed on that seemed to not be significantly addressed.
Not sure a "full disclosure" here is necessary (as a fan i've been spinning "Harvest" since high school) but to be safe i did do some work with him ten years ago.
I was fortunate enough to attend the "Pine Knob" show (DTE Energy) in Detroit on Tuesday night. Sure, he did the "hits" in the beginning acoustic style. And they were extremely well received. The new material had it's plus sides as well. But what i saw on Tuesday (in spite of Neil's perceived (by some) irrelevance, failures in technological ventures (?) and missing whatever marks you're referring to) there was an amphitheater packed with zealous Neil Young fans.
The demographic was diverse. There were folks Neil's age. There were young people both under the pavilion as well as out on the grass. (not intended to be a euphemism:)
But here's the point - when even in some of the new songs, they went off into guitar jam heaven Neil style - they played their hearts out. The audience felt the muse and they responded in kind. it was LIVE MUSIC! The people there paying a sizable ticket price for an experience. It was even a little drizzly that night but folks still CHOSE to come enjoy a great live music show.
So regardless of all the other elements that can be argued, the aspect of him as a true artist performing a live show gave a piece of himself to people that night. (and and extra 10K for the encore) It was packed! And "Pine Knob" (as Neil said he'd always know it as) holds over 15,000 people.
I understand the draw with blogs and such. Whether anyone is a fan of Neil Young's music (old stuff or new stuff) or not - There apparently are thousands and thousands of folks who are just "out of touch" enough their own selves regarding internet/techno/downloads/streaming/ etc. arguments to maybe not care about that nearly as much as some of us think?
As i walked back to my car, i heard various Neil songs blasting out of car speakers. Don't know if it was streaming, CD's, itunes libraries or 8 tracks - but there was music in the air and a lot a very happy people.
Thanks for starting/keeping the conversations going. As a postlude here:
+ Since 1944 folks still dine at Patsy's in N.Y.
+ For some reason old as it is…millions of people still come to see the Grand Canyon every year.
Sincerely,
Gary Pigg
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So often you blast musician/artists for not being leaders like they were, for not doing whatever they want regardless… rhapsodizing about the past… then when an artist actually stands up and does exactly that… you dump all over him.
It's perplexing!
John Ashfield
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As a super engineer friend recently said, "No one cares about good sound anymore." Sad state. Many have never heard what a great record sounds like in today's cheap earbud, mp3 player world.
Why do the movie buffs get all the best audio and still buy high end systems?
Toto's "Asia", Boz Skaggs "Silk Degrees", Steely Dan and many other old analog, real world, no ProTools recordings when singers had to sing it in tune and players knew how to play an instrument and masters of their craft knew how to write great songs still sets a high mark in our history.
The good news is that everyone has access to everything ever recorded and many want to know the history. Great artists like Marvin Gaye, the Motown writers and musicians, The Stax crew, - Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper, Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, Miles Davis and the greats still teach us that great artists can touch our souls and move our feat.
Neil may have missed the best way to bring high end audio the public in a method that incorporates it all into one device, but kudos to him for trying!
Tommy Coomes
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I'm a songwriter Bob. I Have been for over thirty years.
I'm Bernie Taupin. I'm Lamont Dozier. I'm Harlan Howard. I'm
Harold Arlin. I'm Cindy Walker. I'm Avicii's frequent co-writer. I'm a nineteen year old kid who dreams of writing songs for others to sing.
I'm not pretty. My voice is weak. But I have been given the gift of songwriting. And I'm really fucking good. I write hits. I have a wife. Children. A life.
But you don't get that do you Bob? You have flippantly discounted and marginalized a whole vital part of the universal music community. Just like that.
You are not a friend.
Bob DiPiero
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If high resolution audio didn't matter, I wouldn't be recording in the studio at 24-bit 96kHz, I'd be recording at 320kbps MP3.
Doesn't that sound foolish? Of course high resolution audio matters. Of course you can tell the difference, if you know what to listen for and if you have a decent pair of speakers.
But the music has to be mastered well, with dynamics instead of the compressed and limited messes we have today. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if it's 24/96 or a Spotify stream.
Keith Hanlon
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Dear Beth Nelson chapman,
What are you talking about?
Specifically, when you say:
"I've given up expecting you to care to understand the truth of what is happening. I just wish you'd go away and stop making things worse."
Could you please rephrase this or flesh out your argument a little better, because I've been subscribing to Bob's newsletter for about 7 years now and I can find no evidence of how he's "making things worse".
Thank you,
Eric Gall - Songwriter
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Reading all of these replies makes me chuckle. Sure payouts and sound quality may be low but....
I just returned from a 6 week tour of Europe. Each night after the show we would all retire to the hotel, cram into one guys room crack open a couple bottles of wine, bring up spotify on a laptop and pretend we were 16 yrs old and take turns playing DJ and talk music. Didn't care for a minute that we were listening on crappy computer speakers, the only thing that mattered is we had access to a plethora of great music in hundreds of genre's! ! We talked, listened, reminisced,argued laughed and generally had the time of our lives. Every member of the band had solo stuff on Spotify yet not one guy complained about it as we were doing the thing we loved, listening to music. The sound quality wasn't fantastic but who cares, for guys who grew up with 45's 8 tracks, cassettes and vinyl the reality was we just wanted to hear the songs. What this means to the general public? Nothing, what it meant to 5 guys on the road, away from home just trying to hang on to a little youth? Everything!!
Cheers
Tom Gillam
Austin Texas
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I've been reading you for a while.
Some of what you say makes sense, some is fun to read.
In this case, you are right and you are wrong.
Yes, people like you and your friends would not be able tell the difference between 128k and 160k or 320k. You just wouldn't.
But for someone like Neil or myself who live and breath and listen to their songs in the studio, that's all you hear for a year (while recording it).
A song at 48k/24bit (for myself) or in his case 192k.
Well I guarantee you that I can blind test Tidal, vs Spotify vs Pono vs Studio any day.
I almost cried the first time I heard one of my mixed songs on iTunes… It sounded like nothing I knew. Where was the high end? And oh my god, why was there no bass in my song?
I rushed to the studio to re listen to it and it wasn't me. It was iTunes…
I realize that we "studio geeks" are not the common people listening to the music that is out there so I shut up.
Neil's mistake is to think that everyone hears like him or that anyone would care.
That's his mistake.
Only the old crooners and engineers like myself care.
But I didn't even care enough to buy his pono, even though I loved the thought.
Another idea you should throw around.
How could Apple Music have won?
By releasing 3 speakers with 3 different price points (the way they like to do it), which "only" stream Apple Music with voice command, without your phone.
The Echo is a silent winner right now. Everyone will have one soon.
If Apple had jumped ahead of amazon and released a speaker to which you say: Play some Taylor Swift, they would have won the streaming war.
Sometimes I wish I'd work at Apple. ;-)
Paul Boutin
paulboutinonline.com
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The steam on Neil and streaming.. Here is your Friday file. Rant-a-roo. And yes I have d-loaded Neil's latest and agree.. Very Lazy Effort!
Clint Young
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Hey Bob,
I know this is late on this one. I been involved in all these different format experiments that didn't make it ( DVD Audio and beyond ) they mean nothing to the consumer. 99% can't tell the difference in quality. What matters to them is portability and easy to access and does it work on their phone. I could go into all the quality bit depth, compression etc. ( the public does not care ). The best place to hear music is in the studio where it was mixed. Its usually down hill from that point. The truth as picture quality improves sounds quality has gone down ( again no one cares ).
My first week at a label I sat in a meeting listening to a new record by a huge artist, still well known. The speakers in the label office were wired out of phase. It remained that way for quite a awhile. The emperor was naked.
Neil's heart is in the right place, he has a good point and is right about good quality, God bless him for trying. But no one cares. For those of us who make ( write, produce, play) music. Enjoy it in the studio as you intended then never listen again in another environment. The odds are you'll only be disappointed. If a song sucks a polished turd at the highest resolution will probably not do any better.
My kids who are into music have never asked for a new stereo or stereo speakers. Not hat they are older the've never bought a stereo insane speakers. Just ipods/ Iphones and ear buds. They bought into the "Beats" head phones. Jimmy and Dr. Dre. are the smart ones.
D.
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Neil Young gets a pass because they love him for faded glory - blindly - or they couldn't give a single shit because he's a dinosaur who makes boring music about cars and fictional Canadian towns for old people. When you are in between a legend and a nobody people care. The two poles aren't worth your time thinking about.
Daniel Grgas
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I usually agree with you. Until you start picking on Neil Young. It's unnecessary. If your goal is to agitate and generate controversy (or to make more people hate you), great! Go for it. But would you really regret NOT picking on him? Peace & Love, man.
Mark Towns
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quit validating neil young
no one was gonna buy his stuff anyway
they already have it
dont need to buy it over and over again
hes old and his new stuff is awful
move on
Wayne Krauss
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I work in the live music space. Dance music to be exact. Hundreds of Concerts. Countless Music Festivals. I interact with friends, costumers, college kids, high school kids, etc. People need to understand - NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE QUALITY - what Spotify, iTunes, and everyone puts out - is absolutely perfect. I am a tech guy so I understand the quality streaming services are using. But believe me when I say: not one person ever talks to me about poor sound quality from iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, etc. Because no one cares. I can't recall a single conversation int he past 5 years discussing poor song quality. All people talk about is: where can I find music - whats fast - whats convenient - whats cheap -
The fact these people (Neil, Tidal) think people care about song quality shows people like myself (and you) just how out of touch they are.
Kenneth Flick
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From: Al Kooper
Subject: R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Find out what it means to YOU
Neil Young produced an uncountable amount of original great work.
Shouldn't lessen that in history and in the albums you bought when you were younger.
What posseses you to drag him all over your column ?
Why don't you just get a mural for your writing room that says in big letters "NOBODY IS PERFECT"
and then think about what you are going to do when you are the same age as Neil Young is now.
People don't need to be warned, Bob - they have eyes & ears just like you.
They can make up their own minds. The plethora of artists from 1966 don't sell a great deal of new product
today but that is no reason to chastise them and then praise others who were influenced by them originally.
Let Neil do what he wants - I promise he won't harm you or others
OR you can do what I do - buy/steal/write about what you like and ignore the rest.
The first two lines of your current Neil column ?
Would you enjoy someone writing about YOU like that?
The Golden Rule applies here, Bob.
It's older than you, me, AND Neil Young.
@l k%per
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Saturday 18 July 2015
Friday 17 July 2015
Trainwreck
That it was.
Don't go see this movie, not unless it's ninety degrees and you want good a/c, not unless your standards are so low you've got time for good.
I certainly don't.
With a cornucopia of entertainment options at my fingertips I don't want to waste time before I die. I want to eat up the best, which there's a whole history of. Used to be it was locked up, behind gates, but now I can hear every song ever recorded online and see every movie and to waste time at formulaic crap like "Trainwreck" frustrates me to the point where I'm not so concerned about getting my money back, but my TIME!
Amy Schumer. The funniest new comedienne to hit the boards in half a decade. Maybe the funniest COMEDIAN!
And that's important, the battle of the sexes. You see it at affairs like this. The country is run by men who don't understand women, but nearly seventy percent of the attendees in Century City were females. And they came out in abundance. I literally got the last seat left in the upper deck (and no one wants to sit in the lower deck, it's the equivalent of Siberia, only close to the screen...Equatorsville?)
Going to the movies is a frustrating experience. We live in an on demand culture. And to have to be there at an appointed time and experience twenty minutes of commercials is to be infuriated to the point where you want to yell back at the screen. At least at the ArcLight they only have two trailers. But there's no respect for the audience at the AMC. I get it, we're a captive audience. You can expose me to previews for movies I'm completely unaware of. It's not the seventies, wherein films permeated the culture. Did you know there was a new film with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as sisters? Get ready for the hype, it's not arriving until Christmas.
Kind of like with "Trainwreck." We've been hearing about it since 2014. And unlike "Pulp Fiction," it was not worth the wait.
Judd Apatow seems to have lost the plot. His films are always twenty minutes too long and infrequently funny. I'm sitting in the theatre wanting to laugh but there are no guffaws. Is this a comedy or a drama?
As for the story arc...
High concept dreck. Party girl falls in love with real guy. Literally, just that simple.
Now I know Amy's act is based on playing the field, being a guy's girl, talking raunchy and doing the do. But unlike Lisa Lampanelli, who's the Queen of Mean 24/7, in this flick Amy shows her sensitive side. And her intellectual side. So many sides you'd think she was Sybil. If this film is autobiographical, Schumer is an enigma.
Amy Schumer flew on my radar because of her tour-de-force at the Charlie Sheen roast. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MylhoTBrLrI)
That's right, in today's world, if you hit it over the fence, we're all ears, we want to glom on to you. Because we're inundated with mediocrity. People who test the waters before they speak and are more interested in being famous than talented. Schumer hung it out so far, not worried whether you liked her or not, that you clung to her. Sheer authenticity and balls in a world laden with phoniness.
And then there was her performance on Howard Stern, where Apatow discovered her. Amy was real in a way so many are not. She could be funny, but could also reveal her truth. But this does not make her a movie star.
How come everybody wants to be something else? Isn't it good enough that you do one thing well? Chris Rock has never been great in a movie, but he's the best funny man plying the boards. Sure, Jerry Seinfeld had one of the best TV shows ever, but the truth is the genius was injected by Larry David, who's great at creating TV shows, most notably his own, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but is not good in front of a live audience.
But everybody wants to be something bigger. Kinda like Marc Maron. He's got one of the biggest podcasts extant, he interviews the President, but leveraged this to star in his own IFC show. Hey Marc, are sitcoms still a thing? Does anybody know what channel IFC is? Does anybody even surf through the unknown stations now that there are 500? Are you building a resume or trying to capture the zeitgeist?
That's what Amy Schumer did, she was the woman of the moment.
And then the media had to remind us again and again for nearly a year.
Make me puke. I was already sold, now you're turning me off.
But when I saw the good reviews I decided to go anyway.
And what I found was that Bill Hader is the best he's ever been in a flick.
And I finally get that woman Vanessa Bayer, who seems to be overacting on SNL but fits naturally here.
And who knew Colin Quinn would ever survive "Remote Control"? He's great here, until he dies.
But Amy...
She's dieted down to the point where she's somebody else. She does shtick where she claims to be 160 pounds and still f___able, but here she looks just like everybody else. (http://www.papermag.com/2015/06/amy_schumer_glamour_awards_speech.php)
She picks up every man, but works at a lowbrow magazine and then sells an article to "Vanity Fair"? Isn't that like Artie Lange publishing a story in the "New Yorker"? How does that work?
It doesn't, which is why this film doesn't either.
The arc is so overworked, such a cliche, that you almost wince. We know she's gonna fall in love with the good guy from the moment she meets him. We know they're going to be together in the end.
So there's no tension.
There are moments. With LeBron James evidencing cheapness.
But when Marv Albert does his shtick, you wish he and his toupee were banished from the media. Chris Evert is a wonder, after all it is a girls' movie, we need more of her instead of Amar'e Stoudemire.
That's right, there are funny moments, but when the big cheerleader scene happens at the end you're reminded of "Slumdog Millionaire," where they dance during the credits, not while the plot is still unfolding. That Oscar winner specialized in confounding us. But there are no surprises in "Trainwreck."
And you wonder why I'm wasting time writing about it.
Just call me a constant warning to avoid the industrial hype complex. With standards so low it cannot be trusted. It's a bandwagon of low-level taste that cannot be respected, you have to be brain-dead to pay attention to it.
But in a world where it's so hard to get your message across, the old formula works to an extent. We want to know where to spend our time. And with media whored out to any celebrity who'll give access, and every denizen believing they're a social media star, we don't know where to turn, we're confused.
If something great happens, certainly in film, where the barrier to entry is so high, where a flick is expensive and it's nearly impossible to get distributed, you'll hear about it.
"Trainwreck" will have lousy word of mouth. They got people in the theatre opening day, but business will fall off thereafter.
Do me a favor. Respect yourself. Ignore the audience. Go for the brass ring.
Amy, make a movie about the tragedy of your relationship with Anthony Jeselnik, someone you were in love with who wasn't in love with you.
Or make a movie about your imperfections, not being the most beautiful girl in the world but making it on your smarts and humor.
Make a movie about hitting on someone above your level and failing.
Give us some truth.
Because there's almost none in "Trainwreck."
And I was looking for it.
Or at least some laughs.
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Don't go see this movie, not unless it's ninety degrees and you want good a/c, not unless your standards are so low you've got time for good.
I certainly don't.
With a cornucopia of entertainment options at my fingertips I don't want to waste time before I die. I want to eat up the best, which there's a whole history of. Used to be it was locked up, behind gates, but now I can hear every song ever recorded online and see every movie and to waste time at formulaic crap like "Trainwreck" frustrates me to the point where I'm not so concerned about getting my money back, but my TIME!
Amy Schumer. The funniest new comedienne to hit the boards in half a decade. Maybe the funniest COMEDIAN!
And that's important, the battle of the sexes. You see it at affairs like this. The country is run by men who don't understand women, but nearly seventy percent of the attendees in Century City were females. And they came out in abundance. I literally got the last seat left in the upper deck (and no one wants to sit in the lower deck, it's the equivalent of Siberia, only close to the screen...Equatorsville?)
Going to the movies is a frustrating experience. We live in an on demand culture. And to have to be there at an appointed time and experience twenty minutes of commercials is to be infuriated to the point where you want to yell back at the screen. At least at the ArcLight they only have two trailers. But there's no respect for the audience at the AMC. I get it, we're a captive audience. You can expose me to previews for movies I'm completely unaware of. It's not the seventies, wherein films permeated the culture. Did you know there was a new film with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as sisters? Get ready for the hype, it's not arriving until Christmas.
Kind of like with "Trainwreck." We've been hearing about it since 2014. And unlike "Pulp Fiction," it was not worth the wait.
Judd Apatow seems to have lost the plot. His films are always twenty minutes too long and infrequently funny. I'm sitting in the theatre wanting to laugh but there are no guffaws. Is this a comedy or a drama?
As for the story arc...
High concept dreck. Party girl falls in love with real guy. Literally, just that simple.
Now I know Amy's act is based on playing the field, being a guy's girl, talking raunchy and doing the do. But unlike Lisa Lampanelli, who's the Queen of Mean 24/7, in this flick Amy shows her sensitive side. And her intellectual side. So many sides you'd think she was Sybil. If this film is autobiographical, Schumer is an enigma.
Amy Schumer flew on my radar because of her tour-de-force at the Charlie Sheen roast. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MylhoTBrLrI)
That's right, in today's world, if you hit it over the fence, we're all ears, we want to glom on to you. Because we're inundated with mediocrity. People who test the waters before they speak and are more interested in being famous than talented. Schumer hung it out so far, not worried whether you liked her or not, that you clung to her. Sheer authenticity and balls in a world laden with phoniness.
And then there was her performance on Howard Stern, where Apatow discovered her. Amy was real in a way so many are not. She could be funny, but could also reveal her truth. But this does not make her a movie star.
How come everybody wants to be something else? Isn't it good enough that you do one thing well? Chris Rock has never been great in a movie, but he's the best funny man plying the boards. Sure, Jerry Seinfeld had one of the best TV shows ever, but the truth is the genius was injected by Larry David, who's great at creating TV shows, most notably his own, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but is not good in front of a live audience.
But everybody wants to be something bigger. Kinda like Marc Maron. He's got one of the biggest podcasts extant, he interviews the President, but leveraged this to star in his own IFC show. Hey Marc, are sitcoms still a thing? Does anybody know what channel IFC is? Does anybody even surf through the unknown stations now that there are 500? Are you building a resume or trying to capture the zeitgeist?
That's what Amy Schumer did, she was the woman of the moment.
And then the media had to remind us again and again for nearly a year.
Make me puke. I was already sold, now you're turning me off.
But when I saw the good reviews I decided to go anyway.
And what I found was that Bill Hader is the best he's ever been in a flick.
And I finally get that woman Vanessa Bayer, who seems to be overacting on SNL but fits naturally here.
And who knew Colin Quinn would ever survive "Remote Control"? He's great here, until he dies.
But Amy...
She's dieted down to the point where she's somebody else. She does shtick where she claims to be 160 pounds and still f___able, but here she looks just like everybody else. (http://www.papermag.com/2015/06/amy_schumer_glamour_awards_speech.php)
She picks up every man, but works at a lowbrow magazine and then sells an article to "Vanity Fair"? Isn't that like Artie Lange publishing a story in the "New Yorker"? How does that work?
It doesn't, which is why this film doesn't either.
The arc is so overworked, such a cliche, that you almost wince. We know she's gonna fall in love with the good guy from the moment she meets him. We know they're going to be together in the end.
So there's no tension.
There are moments. With LeBron James evidencing cheapness.
But when Marv Albert does his shtick, you wish he and his toupee were banished from the media. Chris Evert is a wonder, after all it is a girls' movie, we need more of her instead of Amar'e Stoudemire.
That's right, there are funny moments, but when the big cheerleader scene happens at the end you're reminded of "Slumdog Millionaire," where they dance during the credits, not while the plot is still unfolding. That Oscar winner specialized in confounding us. But there are no surprises in "Trainwreck."
And you wonder why I'm wasting time writing about it.
Just call me a constant warning to avoid the industrial hype complex. With standards so low it cannot be trusted. It's a bandwagon of low-level taste that cannot be respected, you have to be brain-dead to pay attention to it.
But in a world where it's so hard to get your message across, the old formula works to an extent. We want to know where to spend our time. And with media whored out to any celebrity who'll give access, and every denizen believing they're a social media star, we don't know where to turn, we're confused.
If something great happens, certainly in film, where the barrier to entry is so high, where a flick is expensive and it's nearly impossible to get distributed, you'll hear about it.
"Trainwreck" will have lousy word of mouth. They got people in the theatre opening day, but business will fall off thereafter.
Do me a favor. Respect yourself. Ignore the audience. Go for the brass ring.
Amy, make a movie about the tragedy of your relationship with Anthony Jeselnik, someone you were in love with who wasn't in love with you.
Or make a movie about your imperfections, not being the most beautiful girl in the world but making it on your smarts and humor.
Make a movie about hitting on someone above your level and failing.
Give us some truth.
Because there's almost none in "Trainwreck."
And I was looking for it.
Or at least some laughs.
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Rhinofy-Laura Nyro Primer
WEDDING BELL BLUES
A hit for the 5th Dimension, I always preferred Laura's take.
It's the simple piano intro, which draws you in, you know you're gonna hear a story. Great music swings, there's something more than the notes. "Wedding Bell Blues" is a performance, something that picks you up and carries you away. You get the message without even comprehending the lyrics.
AND WHEN I DIE
It's the same song that David Clayton Thomas made famous with Blood, Sweat & Tears, but it's not a snappy jazz number, but rather a cabaret tour-de-force. Nyro's voice is not as good as the Canadian's, but this proves it's not about your pipes, but your delivery!
STONEY END
A hit for Barbra Streisand, Babs made it about her, whereas Laura lets the song itself shine, she's in service to it as opposed to dominating it.
FLIM FLAM MAN
I'll admit "More Than A New Discovery," Laura Nyro's debut, was not my first purchase. But I went back to it after loving what came after. And needing more, a further hit of the city songstress, I played it 'til I knew it by heart, and even though some of the songs were not radio hits, they became personal favorites, like this. You'll get it in one listen, and it pays further dividends thereafter. Laura Nyro was accessible, what a concept!
POVERTY TRAIN
It was with "Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" that Nyro started to get personal recognition. The cognoscenti glommed on and started to spread the word. The sound was different, "Eli" was coproduced by Laura and Charlie Calello as opposed to Milt Okun, who'd done the debut, it was rough where the debut was slick. It's not that there were imperfections, it's just that the screen went from 35mm to 70mm. There was a bigger paintbox, a broader sound, you could tell the artist was in control.
"Poverty Train" is the centerpiece of the album, even though it was never a hit. This was back when artists had to take a stand, which side were you on, if you weren't on any at all you were about to be left behind. President Johnson had his Great Society and we cared about the underprivileged, as opposed to seeing them as grifters sucking at the tit of government as so many do now. "Poverty Train" is just as powerful today, if a young 'un cut it, it would be a sensation.
STONED SOUL PICNIC
"Can you surry?"
A walk in the park, a Saturday afternoon reflection as opposed to the in-your-face 5th Dimension hit, Laura's take had more soul.
ELI'S COMIN'
A hit for Three Dog Night. Laura was the Bob Dylan of the late sixties, a talented artist in her own right who first became famous through covers, never mind wealthy.
Three Dog Night is male and bombastic, whereas Laura's iteration is an east coast frenzy, you can see the women dancing, and you want to too!
SWEET BLINDNESS
Almost a girl group number, there's so much energy and fun in this...it's infectious! Laura could be pop and deep alternately, sometimes at the same time!
This is one of the songs you instantly memorize and want to sing along with.
TIMER
If you don't fall in love with the vocalist, you've been neutered.
The media says we fall in love with the exterior, but the truth is it's the inner spark that draws us in and keeps us attached. Laura sounds so ALIVE here!
EMMIE
"Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" was an album, not just hits and filler. The "secondary" tracks had as much magic as the primary. You could see "Emmie" when you listened.
CAPTAIN FOR DARK MORNINGS
"Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" is Laura Nyro's most accessible album, full of hits with her own sound, but "New York Tendaberry" is her masterpiece. Nearly forgotten because it contained only one cover hit, "Tendaberry" is an album that pays more rewards the more you listen.
"Captain For Dark Mornings" is the key track, the raw emotion grabs you and keeps you listening. It's quiet, you lean in to get more, the greatest stuff doesn't necessarily beat you over the head and force you to pay attention. We live in the era of marketing, but it's gems like "Captain For Dark Mornings" that penetrate, get a hold on you and never let go. This brings back memories of back when yet still makes me reflect on today.
Utterly astounding.
MERCY ON BROADWAY
WHO IS THIS?
On "Captain For Dark Mornings" Laura is quiet and intimate, whereas here she's belting and swinging and you can't help but be caught up in it.
That's the magic of Laura Nyro. She was famous for the pop hits, she didn't feature loud guitars, but those who loved harder sounds embraced her too, we were all excited about music, our only criterion was that it be good, and Laura Nyro was GREAT!
GIBSOM STREET
Like "Flim Flam Man" or "Emmie," "Gibsom Street" is just an album track, but it's as powerful as the hits.
"Gibsom Street" is a journey, a story. It's the kind of thing that wraps its arms around you late at night, when a record is playing on the stereo to keep you connected, it makes you feel like you're not the only unique, misunderstood person on this planet.
SAVE THE COUNTRY
We could use this sentiment today.
Once again, Laura's iteration swings in a way the 5th Dimension's does not. Just one woman and her piano. But then it accelerates and becomes intense and when the side ends and you're confronted with silence you feel like life has left the building and you've got to lift the needle and play this album again in order to root yourself.
TIME AND LOVE
Covered by Barbra Streisand, this, like "Save The Country," is classic Nyro pop, the type that can be covered and made ubiquitous. It's very good, but what is amazing is that Laura could put it and the dark tunes on the same album, evidence all sides of her personality at such a high level when today they get you in your lane and tell you not to change.
NEW YORK TENDABERRY
Now my favorite track on the album. It goes through my head when I'm at loose ends. Like on my fiftieth birthday, I came home from my party and played it. It's not about the lyrics, but the feel, the emotion. Someone's home. Someone with more questions than answers. I don't like being at loose ends, but listening to this track I know I'm not the only one. Music can make you dance, can make you forget your problems, but it's stuff like this that I like best.
WHEN I WAS A FREEPORT AND YOU WERE THE MAIN DRAG
How do you follow up your masterpiece?
"New York Tendaberry" was not an instant listen, but with each successive play you liked it more and more. You kept playing "Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat" waiting for it to reveal itself, to like it as much, but that did not happen.
This track is the classic Nyro sound, the most obvious. But too obscure for anybody to turn into a hit.
MAP TO THE TREASURE
An eight minute adventure, in an era where people were truly stretching out, you get hooked as it plays on.
CHRISTMAS IN MY SOUL
Every year I used to get an e-mail from Desmond Child during the holiday season about Laura Nyro and this song until I stopped publishing them, but that does not mean he's not still affected, nor me.
This is my Christmas song.
Christmas is a rough time, for those of us prone to falling down emotionally. We ride it out on tenterhooks. Hoping to make it through to the new year without taking our lives.
Who's going to ride shotgun when you're not a winner, when you're overwhelmed with the b.s., when you want to keep moving but you're in stasis?
Used to be we counted on our artists, before you had to be upbeat to be popular and the songs were written by committee and everybody was a winner.
Funny about Laura Nyro... Her music faded away long before she did. It's like those in charge don't want to admit someone could be so good. We used to live on the mountaintop, and Laura Nyro was a queen, who consoled us without imploring us, who made us feel part of a tribe, who illustrated life is about loss as well as victory. She was a beacon. To those who felt the brightness of her light, she still is.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1J1ARN0
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A hit for the 5th Dimension, I always preferred Laura's take.
It's the simple piano intro, which draws you in, you know you're gonna hear a story. Great music swings, there's something more than the notes. "Wedding Bell Blues" is a performance, something that picks you up and carries you away. You get the message without even comprehending the lyrics.
AND WHEN I DIE
It's the same song that David Clayton Thomas made famous with Blood, Sweat & Tears, but it's not a snappy jazz number, but rather a cabaret tour-de-force. Nyro's voice is not as good as the Canadian's, but this proves it's not about your pipes, but your delivery!
STONEY END
A hit for Barbra Streisand, Babs made it about her, whereas Laura lets the song itself shine, she's in service to it as opposed to dominating it.
FLIM FLAM MAN
I'll admit "More Than A New Discovery," Laura Nyro's debut, was not my first purchase. But I went back to it after loving what came after. And needing more, a further hit of the city songstress, I played it 'til I knew it by heart, and even though some of the songs were not radio hits, they became personal favorites, like this. You'll get it in one listen, and it pays further dividends thereafter. Laura Nyro was accessible, what a concept!
POVERTY TRAIN
It was with "Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" that Nyro started to get personal recognition. The cognoscenti glommed on and started to spread the word. The sound was different, "Eli" was coproduced by Laura and Charlie Calello as opposed to Milt Okun, who'd done the debut, it was rough where the debut was slick. It's not that there were imperfections, it's just that the screen went from 35mm to 70mm. There was a bigger paintbox, a broader sound, you could tell the artist was in control.
"Poverty Train" is the centerpiece of the album, even though it was never a hit. This was back when artists had to take a stand, which side were you on, if you weren't on any at all you were about to be left behind. President Johnson had his Great Society and we cared about the underprivileged, as opposed to seeing them as grifters sucking at the tit of government as so many do now. "Poverty Train" is just as powerful today, if a young 'un cut it, it would be a sensation.
STONED SOUL PICNIC
"Can you surry?"
A walk in the park, a Saturday afternoon reflection as opposed to the in-your-face 5th Dimension hit, Laura's take had more soul.
ELI'S COMIN'
A hit for Three Dog Night. Laura was the Bob Dylan of the late sixties, a talented artist in her own right who first became famous through covers, never mind wealthy.
Three Dog Night is male and bombastic, whereas Laura's iteration is an east coast frenzy, you can see the women dancing, and you want to too!
SWEET BLINDNESS
Almost a girl group number, there's so much energy and fun in this...it's infectious! Laura could be pop and deep alternately, sometimes at the same time!
This is one of the songs you instantly memorize and want to sing along with.
TIMER
If you don't fall in love with the vocalist, you've been neutered.
The media says we fall in love with the exterior, but the truth is it's the inner spark that draws us in and keeps us attached. Laura sounds so ALIVE here!
EMMIE
"Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" was an album, not just hits and filler. The "secondary" tracks had as much magic as the primary. You could see "Emmie" when you listened.
CAPTAIN FOR DARK MORNINGS
"Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" is Laura Nyro's most accessible album, full of hits with her own sound, but "New York Tendaberry" is her masterpiece. Nearly forgotten because it contained only one cover hit, "Tendaberry" is an album that pays more rewards the more you listen.
"Captain For Dark Mornings" is the key track, the raw emotion grabs you and keeps you listening. It's quiet, you lean in to get more, the greatest stuff doesn't necessarily beat you over the head and force you to pay attention. We live in the era of marketing, but it's gems like "Captain For Dark Mornings" that penetrate, get a hold on you and never let go. This brings back memories of back when yet still makes me reflect on today.
Utterly astounding.
MERCY ON BROADWAY
WHO IS THIS?
On "Captain For Dark Mornings" Laura is quiet and intimate, whereas here she's belting and swinging and you can't help but be caught up in it.
That's the magic of Laura Nyro. She was famous for the pop hits, she didn't feature loud guitars, but those who loved harder sounds embraced her too, we were all excited about music, our only criterion was that it be good, and Laura Nyro was GREAT!
GIBSOM STREET
Like "Flim Flam Man" or "Emmie," "Gibsom Street" is just an album track, but it's as powerful as the hits.
"Gibsom Street" is a journey, a story. It's the kind of thing that wraps its arms around you late at night, when a record is playing on the stereo to keep you connected, it makes you feel like you're not the only unique, misunderstood person on this planet.
SAVE THE COUNTRY
We could use this sentiment today.
Once again, Laura's iteration swings in a way the 5th Dimension's does not. Just one woman and her piano. But then it accelerates and becomes intense and when the side ends and you're confronted with silence you feel like life has left the building and you've got to lift the needle and play this album again in order to root yourself.
TIME AND LOVE
Covered by Barbra Streisand, this, like "Save The Country," is classic Nyro pop, the type that can be covered and made ubiquitous. It's very good, but what is amazing is that Laura could put it and the dark tunes on the same album, evidence all sides of her personality at such a high level when today they get you in your lane and tell you not to change.
NEW YORK TENDABERRY
Now my favorite track on the album. It goes through my head when I'm at loose ends. Like on my fiftieth birthday, I came home from my party and played it. It's not about the lyrics, but the feel, the emotion. Someone's home. Someone with more questions than answers. I don't like being at loose ends, but listening to this track I know I'm not the only one. Music can make you dance, can make you forget your problems, but it's stuff like this that I like best.
WHEN I WAS A FREEPORT AND YOU WERE THE MAIN DRAG
How do you follow up your masterpiece?
"New York Tendaberry" was not an instant listen, but with each successive play you liked it more and more. You kept playing "Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat" waiting for it to reveal itself, to like it as much, but that did not happen.
This track is the classic Nyro sound, the most obvious. But too obscure for anybody to turn into a hit.
MAP TO THE TREASURE
An eight minute adventure, in an era where people were truly stretching out, you get hooked as it plays on.
CHRISTMAS IN MY SOUL
Every year I used to get an e-mail from Desmond Child during the holiday season about Laura Nyro and this song until I stopped publishing them, but that does not mean he's not still affected, nor me.
This is my Christmas song.
Christmas is a rough time, for those of us prone to falling down emotionally. We ride it out on tenterhooks. Hoping to make it through to the new year without taking our lives.
Who's going to ride shotgun when you're not a winner, when you're overwhelmed with the b.s., when you want to keep moving but you're in stasis?
Used to be we counted on our artists, before you had to be upbeat to be popular and the songs were written by committee and everybody was a winner.
Funny about Laura Nyro... Her music faded away long before she did. It's like those in charge don't want to admit someone could be so good. We used to live on the mountaintop, and Laura Nyro was a queen, who consoled us without imploring us, who made us feel part of a tribe, who illustrated life is about loss as well as victory. She was a beacon. To those who felt the brightness of her light, she still is.
Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1J1ARN0
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Thursday 16 July 2015
Re-Neil Young On Streaming
What a load of crap. BS. Spotify streams 320k Ogg files (if you're a subscriber -- it's 160k for freebies). There is NO audible quality loss between that and a CD. I guarantee that Neil could not tell the difference in a true double-blind test. The same would be true for one of his overhyped 24/192 files (providing the same original master was used). He's been peddling that 24/192 Pono BS for 2 years now. Nobody's really listening so he's trying this. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt (hey, he's Neil Young...) & say that he's delusional.
Bill Goldsmith
Radio Paradise
_______________________________________
Standing up for one's beliefs will never go out of style Bob.
But you will.
Streaming is fine, fast food is fine but so is ignoring it and so is not liking it.
I stream Tidal. It's the only one that sounds good. I could give a fuck that it's not as popular as Spotify.
Much of the music I like is unpopular. Who gives a fuck?
You do. You crave acceptance. You need to bask in the glow of what's popular and trending.
And you need to mock what's not. It makes you feel important.
You are often so perceptive and worthwhile to read. But then you go all "all that matters is what's popular and trendy"
..,and that's just so boring. Neil has always been great because he does as he pleases.
For a while that synched with popular tastes. Now it doesn't. Big deal. He still does as he pleases. Some of it is great and some of it sucks. So what?
At least he's not embarrassing himself by trying to be trendy.
Michael Fremer
_______________________________________
Bob,
1. Neil Young is a great artist.
Maybe that's why he gets a pass rightly or wrongly. I can live with that.
2. Streaming is IT! It's fabulous and here to stay, it's better than Napster and it killed piracy!!
3. Let's look at where the money goes. Major labels used to give you a distribution deal for 16 to 18% of the retail price of albums and singles. The real cost of distribution used to be around 8%. I would guess that the real cost of distribution in a digital world runs around 5% of retail value. Apple and the other download and streaming sites charge around 30%. That's a little rich and has to come down.
15 to 20% looks a lot more realistic.
4. Sony, Universal and Warners having ownership in streaming sites ( Spotify/ Tidal etc) is a conflict of interest similar to the Columbia house and Britannia ownership by labels before. Bob Marley"s estate sued Polygram for releasing Marleys music through Britannia in England and won. They were selling more than ten times as many albums through the "record club"as through regular channels paying Marley's estate a greatly reduced royalty on those sales. There is a great law suit to be had.
5. Merchandise and touring may pay a certain type of artist but certainly is not paying songwriters, musicians, arrangers and producers. All of them are indispensable parts of the musical Eco system.
6. I don't think that the price for streaming should be necessarily higher than it is, but the distribution of monies is wrong and grossly unfair. Daniel Elk should be making money as should all of those tech guys, but perhaps they are being paid a little bit too handsome and a little bit too early. How do their accomplishments stack up in comparison to those who build wonderful careers as artists, or as owners of smaller labels. It took the likes of Geffen, Blackwell, Alpert and Moss etc a lifetime to earn the wealth they walked away with.
Just sayin...
Best
Peter Koepke
_______________________________________
Bob,
Neil loses all credibility when he claims AM radio and 8-track tapes "kick streaming's ass." Who is he trying to fool? Anyone who has streamed -- and I am a Deezer subscriber who gets the HQ stream -- knows it's infinitely superior to AM. But I can't believe an artist who's so precious about his art would say 8-track is better than streaming. 8-track: a format on which albums would fade out mid-song when the program changed; a format on which running orders were jumbled to accommodate the format. (Have you ever seen the 8-track of Sgt. Pepper? Even the tracks on that milestone album are reordered with no concern about flow.) Fact is, an album as lazy as The Monsanto Years sounds crap regardless what format you play it on.
David Veitch
_______________________________________
Spot on
Anthony Vontz
_______________________________________
We're all old men, ranting in a darkened room. Nobody gives a shit what anyone over 40 thinks. Neil gets a pass because he's Neil. Still, as you point out, crickets are the only thanks he gets for his pronouncements. It's hard for us baby boomers to acknowledge, let alone accept, but we have to face facts. We don't matter.
Ray Staar
_______________________________________
Neil Young gets a "pass" because he wrote many, many great songs. More than most. He's an "artist".
Personally, I don't even love him that much because he sings out of tune half the time. But I recognize that he stands out amongst the masses. His songs continue to resonate far and wide.
I don't mind hearing his thoughts on the music business. Perhaps he's not as forward thinking as some. But he's definitely earned the right to have an opinion at least as equally valid as yours Bob.
Ari Posner
_______________________________________
FWIW, the Monsanto Years is probably the best album he's done since Greendale, though I doubt you care. Not that you should. But it's a decent record, exceeded expectations.
Galen Hudson
_______________________________________
Hi Bob,
For perspective.
Neil is a brilliant musician.
He's not a visionary.
Very few musicians see the future because they are so busy using their gifts to reflect and re-imagine the present. It's the story of most poets and most singers through history. The exceptions prove the rule.
Those who see the future (Da Vinci, Edison, Steve Jobs) are artists of a different kind.
John Parikhal
_______________________________________
"Why does Neil Young get a pass?"
Why not? He's done everything a real artist needs to do to guarantee his place in rock and roll history.
"So let's forget Neil Young."
Yes please! Let the man say whatever he wants. It's unseemly and kinda weird to go after Neil Young so vehemently. You've got lots of great things to say, don't worry about the icons…
"And whether you get paid for recordings or not, that's not where the lion's share of the money is. Most of the money is in touring and sponsorships"
Yes Bob that's true, but as I've written to you before, that truth buries the songwriter. Wish there was a way to get a great writer that is not an artist paid i.e. Brill Building, Motown…much of the great American Catalog!
appreciate your work,
Doug Kahan
_______________________________________
Funny enough - Neil is still on YouTube. His publisher and label won't take it down. Even talks with them today confirmed this is a lone gasp and not directive.
Please don't use my name if you decide to reprint.
_______________________________________
Why does Neil Young get a pass?
because he's neil young. plain and simple.......
Even better, what if you said you were gonna save the music business and no one cared?
then you'd be jay-z, madonna and jack white.....
Neil Young is just coasting on his past
if he were coasting i don't think he'd be stoked touring with the 'new' band behind his new record. say what you will - neil's out there pushing for what he believes whether it's railing against monsanto or promoting pono - he's OUT THERE DOING IT. gotta love that.
So let's forget Neil Young.
i wish you would. you complain about him as much as he complains about sound quality......
Denise Mello
_______________________________________
It's fine to embrace streaming -- but, Bob, EVERYONE WHO CREATES MUSIC DOES NOT WANT A "CAREER", touring and selling merch.
How can you get anyone interested in being a songwriter these days, when there is no money in it unless you're Max Martin? Not a singer-songwriter, not someone who only wants to bleed into the microphone, but a professional songwriter... Streaming has dried that profession up to near extinction already. Because of the absurd, insulting, criminally tiny amount paid for each play.
For many years I have waved the flag for the new world of music, arguing with my ever-complaining peers that it all needed to be embraced, telling everyone to stop bellyaching and get with it. Until, all at once, my songwriting income collapsed to under 5% of what it was.
I still try to keep a good outlook about it. But Spotify and Pandora and all them are thieving bastards who are getting seriously rich off the backs of the music creators. This is not complaining, this is simply talking facts. And this is not okay. And frequently you speak as if all this should make every musician dance with joy. There are a LOT of people on the other side of your computer whose lives have changed dramatically for the worse, and it has zero to do with them not being good or people not wanting to hear them.
Bob, my current ASCAP statement shows one song of mine, of which I own a full 50%, both writer's and publisher's shares. This song had 170,278 plays. For this, I was paid $3.12. This comes out to $0.00000183 per play. Oh, how valued I feel.
And then the people don't want to pay ten bucks a month for unlimited music. Fuck them, they don't deserve any music.
Rob Meurer
_______________________________________
Neil Young is playing live for 3hours 20 minutes.. no intermission.. No talking...
Just LIVE MUSIC with the Most kick ass band....
The Promise of the Real.
So u want to jump on the master
And push him around and tell people to forget him...
Man U talk out of both ends, brother.
Yet u give yahoos like U2
A pass??
U2 don't play 3:20...
They can't just go out there
On a stage and play without
All the syrupy support from technology.
Neil Young is completely REAL,
so is the band....
Wish our food was that real.
Nothing else out there compares.
And no automated lighting
12 American Union guys on the truss operating follow spots.
No other lights or video.
DRAMATIC..no video screens
No eye candy just music and
musicians.
He is putting America back to work.
Writing songs about our food culture which has poisoned our
citizens.
Not like all the tech guys u droll over
Who live in illusion....and slaughter
Our minds on a minute to minute basis.
Take a breath, my friend.
Marc Brickman
_______________________________________
Wow Bob...you ll never post this BUT if you are such a music man as you profess..highly doubt you did 55 shows in 65 days on a Prevost or Golden Eagle you ll never get it
Who gives a shit what Neil does because if you had any sense of music and songwriting you would acknowledge. He is one of the greatest songwriters ever....and any vet could care less what he does.
He a Neil Young and stop acting like a guy got your info from Passmans book of shit.....you re better than that man
Chris Apostle
_______________________________________
Not saying Pono is vastly better , since I've never heard it.
Cd quality streaming may be here , but it still cuts out frequencies , so I'm better Pono sounds better
But I'm not about to buy overprice player and music again.
casbag2000
_______________________________________
The Mark Levinson sound system in my car sounds stunning, with what little hearing I have left. Lol To argue against streaming both audio and video is like arguing against the merits of the wheel. I will check out the other two services that you just turn me on too to see if the sound quality is better. I love Spotify, but it just doesn't sound as good as I'm used to. This is a nice piece Bob, I'm glad I didn't overlook it in my Inbox. Thanks for teaching me about different things with your work.
Lavon Pagan
_______________________________________
Hey Bob, remember Prince announced the Internet was a fad?
Getting old is easy for no one rockstars even more so.
Keith Walker
_______________________________________
Neil Old.
Britt Benston
_______________________________________
Preach
Ed Harris
_______________________________________
One of your best in a while - you're so right here, the march of technology is inexorable and anyone who wasn't there for the old days doesn't give a shit.
Really enjoy your stuff.
- chris schultz
_______________________________________
Bob,
You don't get why Neil Young gets a pass? Honestly? You don't know that he got under Monsanto's skin and raised awareness about its dark side, even if there is an element of naïveté?
We don't care about how many records he sells, YOU do. I'm not such a big fan now, but he TRIES, and Pono was a factor, however small, in raising consciousness about the low quality and standards of music today. He could retire and play golf like what'shisname from Pink Floyd, but he cares and does his art. His album isn't great, but it at least sounds alive and there is clever writing and crafty musicianship there. He has already sold enough records!
One day you rant about how the values of your youth have gone to hell and the next day you vilify Neil Young of all people. You don't realize how you talk out of both sides of your mouth and how obvious it is?
Neil Young should be our worst enemy. If only...
Rob Wolfson
_______________________________________
Bob, dig your stuff. I would pay solid money to watch a video of Neil Young performing a double-blind ABX audio text of a 320 MP3 or 256 AAC file vs 24-Bit/96k Hi-Res file. There's some really great reliable, free and easy to use testers readily available. I recently did it at my studio in Nashville, and I was shocked to find out my results...
Schylar Shoates
Producer/Musician/Teacher
Gene Ford Music
_______________________________________
While listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' on Spotify, a friend's 10 year old son asked his father 'who is Neil Young?'
Adam Sieff
_______________________________________
Why slam Neil Young?
He's made some of the weirdest albums that are sonic experiences and CARES. We need that among the David Guettas and Ed Sheerans too. Let's keep something holy.
You're right, you have to stay in the game. It's good advice for up and coming artist, but if you can stay on your ranch, fuck Daryll Hanna and make music for your own pleasure more power to you.
If you're old man river and wrote Harvest Moon you can do whatever you want and that's what young people should aspire to: artistry. Not just working the system.
Jeff Bhasker
_______________________________________
Ever taken a risk Bob and put your bollocks on the table ? or just got paid off the back of others doing the gambling ??
This is an easy passage of critique because it seems to stem from a place of distance from the reality of the people who took chances and made the industry great - exciting,risky and dangerous ….who dared won (and i don't mean another round of funding taking it in the arse from finance)
Now its the bland chosen few,controlled by a twisted high school marginalised little prick who's out for revenge
Well they can have all the money in the world,but the skirt will still see them as a pay cheque and they'll know it,and it'll still eat them up however many zero's they have on the end of their name.
So tech won ….great
Lets see how that turns out
So far i see people getting ripped off and paedo's having a fucking ball
If you've ever put the house on black in the name of endeavour good luck to you …..if not - you've got nothing
Nick Hanson
_______________________________________
Hi Bob,
There was a blog posted about a study published by the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society and they asked the question, what bitrate is needed to sound like analog FM? The short answer they gave was 300 kbp/s or greater. They said, "in less critical listening environments, bit rates of 160-192 kbp/s will work." I am in Australia and I have a Premium Spotify account which allows me to stream at 320 kbp/s on my mobile. Spotify calls it "Extreme Quality." I'm not sure but I think it's fairly new. I only noticed it appear as an option in the last few months. So effectively, whilst it's not CD quality, I can stream Spotify through my car speakers and to my ears and according to the experts, it sounds like FM radio. If that's the case, Neil should promptly request that all his music be removed from all radio stations as they are equivalent to streaming quality. Apparently AM stations are even worse at around 128 kbp/s or less so he should maybe start with them. Or maybe Neil needs to
pay for a Premium Spotify account.
The blog about the study: http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2013/11/what-bitrate-is-needed-to-sound-like-analog-fm/
PS - I love your emails and Neil Young too.
PPS - You turned me onto Spotify but I still buy some CDs.
PPPS - I prefer pre mastered recordings through my studio monitors - I hope that maybe one day streaming will be of that quality, but I'm not complaining for now.
Best regards,
Victor Stranges
_______________________________________
Bob:
I have been a huge Neil Young fan since I heard Sugar Mountain at sleep away camp on the late 70s (born in '66) but he has gone off his rocker lately. Everything you say below is exactly what I was thinking. I mean he released his music on 8-track I am sure and cassette as well. All I know is that open my Spotify or (Apple) app and I blue tooth to my car system and it sounds really great. This is the greatest time in rock history for access to discover new bands because of the ability to listen on demand without having to drop $15 on a new CD that has 1 good song. I just can't understand that he would have a problem with the quality. Also, going to "crowd funding" to raise money for a private business, WTF. I really could not understand that whole thing. Plus the product is a joke. I have yet to meet one person who uses it. After I read that he was taking off, I checked my Spotify and he was not off yet, so I teed up Cortex the Killer one last time.
Hal J Cohen
_______________________________________
I have loved Neil forever. He was the man. I actually like his new release and I haven't liked anything since Ragged Glory. I bought all his shit and so much of it was shit but... He followed his muse. Now he is old, and his silo of hangers on tells him that he is brilliant... and he is pretty much meaningless and sometimes silly. RIP Neil.
Michael A. Becker
_______________________________________
Streaming sucks...it's like renting.....who seriously listens to music on their PHONE????
Ownership is and always will be the way to have the full experience......
In my genre (dance) vinyl is still being released.
I can invite my friends over to my crib to listen and see what new records I have....
The experience.....
I'm not gonna connect my phone to my sound system to listen to music....
Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. are good to find out what's out, to see what you are gonna own next...
All the music I listen to takes months to get on streaming services......
You think I'm gonna pay to rent music?????
And then when the internet is down (which happens sometimes) I have to skip, or rely on what is on my phone?????
No way.......
Streaming sucks......period.
Jay Negron
_______________________________________
a-fucking-men.
to use one of your favorite words, Bob, lately its been members of the "professional music press" that I've seen BLOVIATING about their oh-so-unfair lot in life, and latching onto their infallible idols whose legend-building once lined their pockets, as if, together, they can turn the tide of the new generation that refuses to fall their same old line of bullshit.
Ed Rivadavia
_______________________________________
Streaming is a concept by which we measure our pay/play.
I don't believe in Spotify.
I don't believe in Pandora.
I just believe in me, Pono and me,
and that's reality.
The stream is over.
Harold Lepidus
Bob Dylan Examiner
Performing Arts Examiner
_______________________________________
I like Neil Young. I like his music, I like his one man, change an industry ethos, and the fact that he tries new things - WITH A PASSION. Obvs he doesn't always get it right, nor does Apple.
Now I've got that off my chest you raise some very good points in your latest post, which don't seem to get much air time:
1. I'm based in the UK - we're used to paying more for everything American as nobody can quite get their heads round a GLOBAL economy yet so there's a US price then plus plus for the rest of the world. That will change one day, but by God we've waited a long time. $9.99 in the US, £9.99 here, but we pay.
2. Hi Res streaming - All of the above applies, but what I really don't see debated is music versus cinema. I can rent Netfix for £6.99, but Spotify is £9.99. What is the rationale for this? If streaming works at £6.99 for visual media it should work for music at LESS, not more. I entirely agree with paying a premium for higher res - same as Blu-Ray v DVD, but why oh why is music so much more expensive than video?
3. You're right, streaming is the current go to for music - but do you know what - lots of people like me, probably old, of course, will then buy a CD, use it as free backup, but add it to my media streamer. That's right I use Spotify like I used to listen to the radio, and probably listen to much more new music today, than I have in the last 20 years.
Someone must have the numbers for video/movie streaming versus music - but you never see them quoted. And showing a film in the cinema is the equivalent of a live music show, so there is a comparison.
I love your newsletter, introduced to me by a US musician, but please lighten up on Neil!!
PS - My limited edition PONO is gathering dust, but I love it, and of course so are lots of other obsolete pieces of tech that just last for days until they're superceded.
Philip Haines
_______________________________________
The best news for streaming isn't apple music; it's yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece on Sonos and a host of new competitors that make using streaming music over speakers vs headphones, a lot easier and better. Music still needs to be visceral, which in general it isn't on earbuds, but affordable good sounding speakers you can operate without a physics degree and a spare teen-ager, are what's really going to change things that and the trend towards cheaper data services.
Joe Pinder
_______________________________________
Bob,
I don't listen to Neil Young and I don't own a Pono, but I do think there is merit in edge case people pursuing edge case goals. Their failures (and occasional successes) inform the rest of us.
Regards,
Josh Karp
_______________________________________
I agree that Neil is severely out of touch re: music delivery in the modern age. Your comments on Pono, iTunes, and YouTube are spot on, unassailable, patently obvious unless one's head is buried in the sand On The Beach.
But forget Neil Young? Never. He has been a paragon of transparency, humanity, fallibility, and anti-market anti-commercial integrity, literally NOT putting corporate money where his mouth is, for his entire career. The art that the record labels and journalists crapped all over in the Seventies stands as some of the highest achievement of the form. I shudder to imagine a world without Tonight's the Night.
And the new records are good too. If you don't like the Psychedelic Pill record from a couple years ago, you were never a Neil fan to begin with.
This note's for you, if you care to listen. Don't confuse your not caring with his not delivering.
Patrick Daly
_______________________________________
I knew he was full of shit when he said both AM radio and 8-track cassettes had better sound quality than streaming. What streaming service is he listening too?
Richard Wells
_______________________________________
Bob,
I agree with just about everything you say here. About streaming, the old ways of getting paid being irrelevant. Dead right.
But I do with there was a higher fidelity personal music player around that didn't cost a mint. You know, something that, unlike ipod, actually sounded significantly better than am radio, but costs less than Astell & Kern, or even Pono, that I could take to the gym. Oh, and something that didn't break every year the way ipods do -- what a crappy way to try to squeeze more "upgrade" money from customers. Maybe I am pipe dreaming here? So 1/2 a cheer for Neil for at least trying with Pono.
But no audiophile is going to use Pono -- or even A&K -- as a primary music source in a listening room (I know, listening rooms are for music freaks and dinosaurs, everyone else listens to third rate audio quality on mobile, but we dinosaurs have a right to live too, at least some of the time!). My old pair of Apogee Acoustics electrostatic speakers that I bought on closeout, are STILL hard to beat, 20 years on... and most of the music sources coming out now are so much worse that my ears want to throw up.
I get that if you want to make it as an artist you have to make lots of people care. But there still exist some of us, who, when we like what we hear, would actually like to hear the art. Who want to sit in it, swim in it, sink in it.
Jonathan Bernstein
_______________________________________
Great response, Bob, as I knew it would be.
Every new music format has been about convenience and access. Quality is vital, but not as vital (to the listener) as the song itself.
I'm a classically trained pianist and have always been surrounded by musicians and composers, and so I appreciate sound quality and I appreciate music production. I do believe that music lovers and music-makers want both access and quality, not always or necessarily at the same time... and that's okay. Hasn't it always been about how we experience music, which is recorded music most of the time?
I listen to vinyl records at home for a different experience. I love how they look, sound and feel. I'm also a Spotify Premium subscriber. I find no conflict. Streaming is inextricable from my life. Now, if we were still in the era of swooshy, low-quality Napster MP3s that took hours to burn onto a CD, I might see Mr Young's point.
But he's making an argument from affluence, and it sure doesn't resonate.
Jennifer Carney
_______________________________________
Thank god for people like Neil !
Derek Petrillo
_______________________________________
Hey Bob- I'm with you. You gotta stay with the times or just go back to your ranch and make music for the fun of it. I don't even use streaming services, unless I'm specifically researching a song, nor do I listen to CDs. For me it's cassettes and vinyl. I'm not saying it sounds good or better. I just like it. I routinely distribute my music on CD, vinyl and streaming. Those are today's choices.
I love Neil, he's pretty much my favorite non-country old timer. I love that he has always been sketchy. It proves he's pushing his own formulas and limits. That's studly.
One more thing. You misquoted his song.
Best-
Tim Bluhm
_______________________________________
Dear Bob:
As usual you are "on the money," "You want to make money on streaming music? Stay independent, don't sign to a label." So simple - - - and tour, tour, tour. Basements, living rooms, small clubs, anywhere two or more people will listen and then talk about your music. In the "old days" I bought an album and invited friends over to listen. Today "stream" and head phones. However it the artist comes to town, then I can get my friends together and share the experience!
Rock & Roll.
Bud Becker
_______________________________________
The one thing about streaming anything, wether it be music, movies or videos is it
DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK.
Its not a seamless process because the bandwith in this country is so limited due to the providers who want you to struggle with connectivity so as they roll out the next bigger better option, they hit you for higher fees.
Try streaming in lower Manhattan, the mountain regions of Vermont or the Poconos in Pa.
It barely works in a lot of these places & Im sure there is a list of NO Fly Zones for data everywhere.
Truly immersive music listeners experience physical & emotional pain when their music pauses, skips or hangs in the lost data zone of perpetual buffering.
It disrupts the experience & I end up bouncing to some horrible terrestrial station playing the same 20 or so acts/songs they have had on their playlist since 1977.
Remember when we held our Albums like a cherished porcelain doll, only on the edges, careful not to smudge or scratch the pristine vinyl with our grubby paws?
This was to prevent the unacceptable disruption of skipping or getting lodged in a scratch which led to the redundant skip, over & over & over.
This is the same experience, more often than not, of streaming music currently.
will it improve? Sure, like anything else it will get better.
For now connectivity is a huge issue with streaming.
I know these factors are irrelevant to the masses, sales & the almighty numbers.
I think Neil Young & a lot of your readers would get the frustration many of us have with the
imperfections of the streaming revolution.
Joe Naz/Allshows.com NYC
_______________________________________
To be fair: he said it wasn't about the money. It's about sound quality.
Sure, his action doubles as a Pono plug, but at least the guy is on record about this issue.
But I'm in 100% agreement with you about the media's fawning treatment of Neil Young. The guy has many masterpieces to his name, but they're well in the past. He's earned our attention and respect, but that doesn't give him a pass for life.
Maybe one day streaming will pay better. Maybe one day it'll sound better. These seem like fights worth having. But when you've already got a horse in the game (don't forget the Pono store), it's a lot harder to take you seriously. At least Taylor Swift could be perceived as genuinely sticking up for the little guy in her dispute with Apple.
Andrew Parker
_______________________________________
"But let's admit that streaming is here to stay."
ABSOLUTELY!
"So let's forget Neil Young."
WHAT? YOU CAN'T DE SERIOUS!?! This part of your rant sounds personal Bob...or it's time to cut back to decaf...
-doug trantow
_______________________________________
hi Bob
I think you miss his point. It is about sound. Yes Neil is not happy with the direction of the future of music cause the sound quality of streaming music sucks big time. And i know some will say the bit rate is equivalent to blah de blah and superior to cd or fm signal - really try driving in the bay area or the sierras Sound quality is diminished by spotty signal strength muting the sound to a a thin and weak remnant. The music business is leaving quality behind to focus on trying to find a way to make money again via streaming to limit piracy but the cost to those who want good sound is steep. some people still want to own not rent. I may be a luddite but my yesterday when i dropped Oh yeah by yello on my turntable my kids literally froze in their tracks and stopped to listen and said the sound was so full and rich i can hear each instrument. Good luck hearing placement with streaming. This may be the new paradigm, however i am not pleased with this it creates a reality where if
one day the cloud is not accessible or if you miss a payment to spotify or apple - you will lose your access to music - perhaps your entire collection.
Chris
_______________________________________
You are once again coming off as such a major asshole.
You're brick wall with a mouth spouting misinformation that overlooks a huge number of struggling talented musicians artists and songwriters who cannot find any support to develop because others are keeping more than their fair percentage of the money that work of these creators generates.
I've given up expecting you to care to understand the truth of what is happening. I just wish you'd go away and stop making things worse.
Statements like this below are so ignorant. Find another hobby Bob. Or find out that you don't know what you're talking about.
Beth Nielsen Chapman
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Bill Goldsmith
Radio Paradise
_______________________________________
Standing up for one's beliefs will never go out of style Bob.
But you will.
Streaming is fine, fast food is fine but so is ignoring it and so is not liking it.
I stream Tidal. It's the only one that sounds good. I could give a fuck that it's not as popular as Spotify.
Much of the music I like is unpopular. Who gives a fuck?
You do. You crave acceptance. You need to bask in the glow of what's popular and trending.
And you need to mock what's not. It makes you feel important.
You are often so perceptive and worthwhile to read. But then you go all "all that matters is what's popular and trendy"
..,and that's just so boring. Neil has always been great because he does as he pleases.
For a while that synched with popular tastes. Now it doesn't. Big deal. He still does as he pleases. Some of it is great and some of it sucks. So what?
At least he's not embarrassing himself by trying to be trendy.
Michael Fremer
_______________________________________
Bob,
1. Neil Young is a great artist.
Maybe that's why he gets a pass rightly or wrongly. I can live with that.
2. Streaming is IT! It's fabulous and here to stay, it's better than Napster and it killed piracy!!
3. Let's look at where the money goes. Major labels used to give you a distribution deal for 16 to 18% of the retail price of albums and singles. The real cost of distribution used to be around 8%. I would guess that the real cost of distribution in a digital world runs around 5% of retail value. Apple and the other download and streaming sites charge around 30%. That's a little rich and has to come down.
15 to 20% looks a lot more realistic.
4. Sony, Universal and Warners having ownership in streaming sites ( Spotify/ Tidal etc) is a conflict of interest similar to the Columbia house and Britannia ownership by labels before. Bob Marley"s estate sued Polygram for releasing Marleys music through Britannia in England and won. They were selling more than ten times as many albums through the "record club"as through regular channels paying Marley's estate a greatly reduced royalty on those sales. There is a great law suit to be had.
5. Merchandise and touring may pay a certain type of artist but certainly is not paying songwriters, musicians, arrangers and producers. All of them are indispensable parts of the musical Eco system.
6. I don't think that the price for streaming should be necessarily higher than it is, but the distribution of monies is wrong and grossly unfair. Daniel Elk should be making money as should all of those tech guys, but perhaps they are being paid a little bit too handsome and a little bit too early. How do their accomplishments stack up in comparison to those who build wonderful careers as artists, or as owners of smaller labels. It took the likes of Geffen, Blackwell, Alpert and Moss etc a lifetime to earn the wealth they walked away with.
Just sayin...
Best
Peter Koepke
_______________________________________
Bob,
Neil loses all credibility when he claims AM radio and 8-track tapes "kick streaming's ass." Who is he trying to fool? Anyone who has streamed -- and I am a Deezer subscriber who gets the HQ stream -- knows it's infinitely superior to AM. But I can't believe an artist who's so precious about his art would say 8-track is better than streaming. 8-track: a format on which albums would fade out mid-song when the program changed; a format on which running orders were jumbled to accommodate the format. (Have you ever seen the 8-track of Sgt. Pepper? Even the tracks on that milestone album are reordered with no concern about flow.) Fact is, an album as lazy as The Monsanto Years sounds crap regardless what format you play it on.
David Veitch
_______________________________________
Spot on
Anthony Vontz
_______________________________________
We're all old men, ranting in a darkened room. Nobody gives a shit what anyone over 40 thinks. Neil gets a pass because he's Neil. Still, as you point out, crickets are the only thanks he gets for his pronouncements. It's hard for us baby boomers to acknowledge, let alone accept, but we have to face facts. We don't matter.
Ray Staar
_______________________________________
Neil Young gets a "pass" because he wrote many, many great songs. More than most. He's an "artist".
Personally, I don't even love him that much because he sings out of tune half the time. But I recognize that he stands out amongst the masses. His songs continue to resonate far and wide.
I don't mind hearing his thoughts on the music business. Perhaps he's not as forward thinking as some. But he's definitely earned the right to have an opinion at least as equally valid as yours Bob.
Ari Posner
_______________________________________
FWIW, the Monsanto Years is probably the best album he's done since Greendale, though I doubt you care. Not that you should. But it's a decent record, exceeded expectations.
Galen Hudson
_______________________________________
Hi Bob,
For perspective.
Neil is a brilliant musician.
He's not a visionary.
Very few musicians see the future because they are so busy using their gifts to reflect and re-imagine the present. It's the story of most poets and most singers through history. The exceptions prove the rule.
Those who see the future (Da Vinci, Edison, Steve Jobs) are artists of a different kind.
John Parikhal
_______________________________________
"Why does Neil Young get a pass?"
Why not? He's done everything a real artist needs to do to guarantee his place in rock and roll history.
"So let's forget Neil Young."
Yes please! Let the man say whatever he wants. It's unseemly and kinda weird to go after Neil Young so vehemently. You've got lots of great things to say, don't worry about the icons…
"And whether you get paid for recordings or not, that's not where the lion's share of the money is. Most of the money is in touring and sponsorships"
Yes Bob that's true, but as I've written to you before, that truth buries the songwriter. Wish there was a way to get a great writer that is not an artist paid i.e. Brill Building, Motown…much of the great American Catalog!
appreciate your work,
Doug Kahan
_______________________________________
Funny enough - Neil is still on YouTube. His publisher and label won't take it down. Even talks with them today confirmed this is a lone gasp and not directive.
Please don't use my name if you decide to reprint.
_______________________________________
Why does Neil Young get a pass?
because he's neil young. plain and simple.......
Even better, what if you said you were gonna save the music business and no one cared?
then you'd be jay-z, madonna and jack white.....
Neil Young is just coasting on his past
if he were coasting i don't think he'd be stoked touring with the 'new' band behind his new record. say what you will - neil's out there pushing for what he believes whether it's railing against monsanto or promoting pono - he's OUT THERE DOING IT. gotta love that.
So let's forget Neil Young.
i wish you would. you complain about him as much as he complains about sound quality......
Denise Mello
_______________________________________
It's fine to embrace streaming -- but, Bob, EVERYONE WHO CREATES MUSIC DOES NOT WANT A "CAREER", touring and selling merch.
How can you get anyone interested in being a songwriter these days, when there is no money in it unless you're Max Martin? Not a singer-songwriter, not someone who only wants to bleed into the microphone, but a professional songwriter... Streaming has dried that profession up to near extinction already. Because of the absurd, insulting, criminally tiny amount paid for each play.
For many years I have waved the flag for the new world of music, arguing with my ever-complaining peers that it all needed to be embraced, telling everyone to stop bellyaching and get with it. Until, all at once, my songwriting income collapsed to under 5% of what it was.
I still try to keep a good outlook about it. But Spotify and Pandora and all them are thieving bastards who are getting seriously rich off the backs of the music creators. This is not complaining, this is simply talking facts. And this is not okay. And frequently you speak as if all this should make every musician dance with joy. There are a LOT of people on the other side of your computer whose lives have changed dramatically for the worse, and it has zero to do with them not being good or people not wanting to hear them.
Bob, my current ASCAP statement shows one song of mine, of which I own a full 50%, both writer's and publisher's shares. This song had 170,278 plays. For this, I was paid $3.12. This comes out to $0.00000183 per play. Oh, how valued I feel.
And then the people don't want to pay ten bucks a month for unlimited music. Fuck them, they don't deserve any music.
Rob Meurer
_______________________________________
Neil Young is playing live for 3hours 20 minutes.. no intermission.. No talking...
Just LIVE MUSIC with the Most kick ass band....
The Promise of the Real.
So u want to jump on the master
And push him around and tell people to forget him...
Man U talk out of both ends, brother.
Yet u give yahoos like U2
A pass??
U2 don't play 3:20...
They can't just go out there
On a stage and play without
All the syrupy support from technology.
Neil Young is completely REAL,
so is the band....
Wish our food was that real.
Nothing else out there compares.
And no automated lighting
12 American Union guys on the truss operating follow spots.
No other lights or video.
DRAMATIC..no video screens
No eye candy just music and
musicians.
He is putting America back to work.
Writing songs about our food culture which has poisoned our
citizens.
Not like all the tech guys u droll over
Who live in illusion....and slaughter
Our minds on a minute to minute basis.
Take a breath, my friend.
Marc Brickman
_______________________________________
Wow Bob...you ll never post this BUT if you are such a music man as you profess..highly doubt you did 55 shows in 65 days on a Prevost or Golden Eagle you ll never get it
Who gives a shit what Neil does because if you had any sense of music and songwriting you would acknowledge. He is one of the greatest songwriters ever....and any vet could care less what he does.
He a Neil Young and stop acting like a guy got your info from Passmans book of shit.....you re better than that man
Chris Apostle
_______________________________________
Not saying Pono is vastly better , since I've never heard it.
Cd quality streaming may be here , but it still cuts out frequencies , so I'm better Pono sounds better
But I'm not about to buy overprice player and music again.
casbag2000
_______________________________________
The Mark Levinson sound system in my car sounds stunning, with what little hearing I have left. Lol To argue against streaming both audio and video is like arguing against the merits of the wheel. I will check out the other two services that you just turn me on too to see if the sound quality is better. I love Spotify, but it just doesn't sound as good as I'm used to. This is a nice piece Bob, I'm glad I didn't overlook it in my Inbox. Thanks for teaching me about different things with your work.
Lavon Pagan
_______________________________________
Hey Bob, remember Prince announced the Internet was a fad?
Getting old is easy for no one rockstars even more so.
Keith Walker
_______________________________________
Neil Old.
Britt Benston
_______________________________________
Preach
Ed Harris
_______________________________________
One of your best in a while - you're so right here, the march of technology is inexorable and anyone who wasn't there for the old days doesn't give a shit.
Really enjoy your stuff.
- chris schultz
_______________________________________
Bob,
You don't get why Neil Young gets a pass? Honestly? You don't know that he got under Monsanto's skin and raised awareness about its dark side, even if there is an element of naïveté?
We don't care about how many records he sells, YOU do. I'm not such a big fan now, but he TRIES, and Pono was a factor, however small, in raising consciousness about the low quality and standards of music today. He could retire and play golf like what'shisname from Pink Floyd, but he cares and does his art. His album isn't great, but it at least sounds alive and there is clever writing and crafty musicianship there. He has already sold enough records!
One day you rant about how the values of your youth have gone to hell and the next day you vilify Neil Young of all people. You don't realize how you talk out of both sides of your mouth and how obvious it is?
Neil Young should be our worst enemy. If only...
Rob Wolfson
_______________________________________
Bob, dig your stuff. I would pay solid money to watch a video of Neil Young performing a double-blind ABX audio text of a 320 MP3 or 256 AAC file vs 24-Bit/96k Hi-Res file. There's some really great reliable, free and easy to use testers readily available. I recently did it at my studio in Nashville, and I was shocked to find out my results...
Schylar Shoates
Producer/Musician/Teacher
Gene Ford Music
_______________________________________
While listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Sweet Home Alabama' on Spotify, a friend's 10 year old son asked his father 'who is Neil Young?'
Adam Sieff
_______________________________________
Why slam Neil Young?
He's made some of the weirdest albums that are sonic experiences and CARES. We need that among the David Guettas and Ed Sheerans too. Let's keep something holy.
You're right, you have to stay in the game. It's good advice for up and coming artist, but if you can stay on your ranch, fuck Daryll Hanna and make music for your own pleasure more power to you.
If you're old man river and wrote Harvest Moon you can do whatever you want and that's what young people should aspire to: artistry. Not just working the system.
Jeff Bhasker
_______________________________________
Ever taken a risk Bob and put your bollocks on the table ? or just got paid off the back of others doing the gambling ??
This is an easy passage of critique because it seems to stem from a place of distance from the reality of the people who took chances and made the industry great - exciting,risky and dangerous ….who dared won (and i don't mean another round of funding taking it in the arse from finance)
Now its the bland chosen few,controlled by a twisted high school marginalised little prick who's out for revenge
Well they can have all the money in the world,but the skirt will still see them as a pay cheque and they'll know it,and it'll still eat them up however many zero's they have on the end of their name.
So tech won ….great
Lets see how that turns out
So far i see people getting ripped off and paedo's having a fucking ball
If you've ever put the house on black in the name of endeavour good luck to you …..if not - you've got nothing
Nick Hanson
_______________________________________
Hi Bob,
There was a blog posted about a study published by the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society and they asked the question, what bitrate is needed to sound like analog FM? The short answer they gave was 300 kbp/s or greater. They said, "in less critical listening environments, bit rates of 160-192 kbp/s will work." I am in Australia and I have a Premium Spotify account which allows me to stream at 320 kbp/s on my mobile. Spotify calls it "Extreme Quality." I'm not sure but I think it's fairly new. I only noticed it appear as an option in the last few months. So effectively, whilst it's not CD quality, I can stream Spotify through my car speakers and to my ears and according to the experts, it sounds like FM radio. If that's the case, Neil should promptly request that all his music be removed from all radio stations as they are equivalent to streaming quality. Apparently AM stations are even worse at around 128 kbp/s or less so he should maybe start with them. Or maybe Neil needs to
pay for a Premium Spotify account.
The blog about the study: http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2013/11/what-bitrate-is-needed-to-sound-like-analog-fm/
PS - I love your emails and Neil Young too.
PPS - You turned me onto Spotify but I still buy some CDs.
PPPS - I prefer pre mastered recordings through my studio monitors - I hope that maybe one day streaming will be of that quality, but I'm not complaining for now.
Best regards,
Victor Stranges
_______________________________________
Bob:
I have been a huge Neil Young fan since I heard Sugar Mountain at sleep away camp on the late 70s (born in '66) but he has gone off his rocker lately. Everything you say below is exactly what I was thinking. I mean he released his music on 8-track I am sure and cassette as well. All I know is that open my Spotify or (Apple) app and I blue tooth to my car system and it sounds really great. This is the greatest time in rock history for access to discover new bands because of the ability to listen on demand without having to drop $15 on a new CD that has 1 good song. I just can't understand that he would have a problem with the quality. Also, going to "crowd funding" to raise money for a private business, WTF. I really could not understand that whole thing. Plus the product is a joke. I have yet to meet one person who uses it. After I read that he was taking off, I checked my Spotify and he was not off yet, so I teed up Cortex the Killer one last time.
Hal J Cohen
_______________________________________
I have loved Neil forever. He was the man. I actually like his new release and I haven't liked anything since Ragged Glory. I bought all his shit and so much of it was shit but... He followed his muse. Now he is old, and his silo of hangers on tells him that he is brilliant... and he is pretty much meaningless and sometimes silly. RIP Neil.
Michael A. Becker
_______________________________________
Streaming sucks...it's like renting.....who seriously listens to music on their PHONE????
Ownership is and always will be the way to have the full experience......
In my genre (dance) vinyl is still being released.
I can invite my friends over to my crib to listen and see what new records I have....
The experience.....
I'm not gonna connect my phone to my sound system to listen to music....
Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. are good to find out what's out, to see what you are gonna own next...
All the music I listen to takes months to get on streaming services......
You think I'm gonna pay to rent music?????
And then when the internet is down (which happens sometimes) I have to skip, or rely on what is on my phone?????
No way.......
Streaming sucks......period.
Jay Negron
_______________________________________
a-fucking-men.
to use one of your favorite words, Bob, lately its been members of the "professional music press" that I've seen BLOVIATING about their oh-so-unfair lot in life, and latching onto their infallible idols whose legend-building once lined their pockets, as if, together, they can turn the tide of the new generation that refuses to fall their same old line of bullshit.
Ed Rivadavia
_______________________________________
Streaming is a concept by which we measure our pay/play.
I don't believe in Spotify.
I don't believe in Pandora.
I just believe in me, Pono and me,
and that's reality.
The stream is over.
Harold Lepidus
Bob Dylan Examiner
Performing Arts Examiner
_______________________________________
I like Neil Young. I like his music, I like his one man, change an industry ethos, and the fact that he tries new things - WITH A PASSION. Obvs he doesn't always get it right, nor does Apple.
Now I've got that off my chest you raise some very good points in your latest post, which don't seem to get much air time:
1. I'm based in the UK - we're used to paying more for everything American as nobody can quite get their heads round a GLOBAL economy yet so there's a US price then plus plus for the rest of the world. That will change one day, but by God we've waited a long time. $9.99 in the US, £9.99 here, but we pay.
2. Hi Res streaming - All of the above applies, but what I really don't see debated is music versus cinema. I can rent Netfix for £6.99, but Spotify is £9.99. What is the rationale for this? If streaming works at £6.99 for visual media it should work for music at LESS, not more. I entirely agree with paying a premium for higher res - same as Blu-Ray v DVD, but why oh why is music so much more expensive than video?
3. You're right, streaming is the current go to for music - but do you know what - lots of people like me, probably old, of course, will then buy a CD, use it as free backup, but add it to my media streamer. That's right I use Spotify like I used to listen to the radio, and probably listen to much more new music today, than I have in the last 20 years.
Someone must have the numbers for video/movie streaming versus music - but you never see them quoted. And showing a film in the cinema is the equivalent of a live music show, so there is a comparison.
I love your newsletter, introduced to me by a US musician, but please lighten up on Neil!!
PS - My limited edition PONO is gathering dust, but I love it, and of course so are lots of other obsolete pieces of tech that just last for days until they're superceded.
Philip Haines
_______________________________________
The best news for streaming isn't apple music; it's yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece on Sonos and a host of new competitors that make using streaming music over speakers vs headphones, a lot easier and better. Music still needs to be visceral, which in general it isn't on earbuds, but affordable good sounding speakers you can operate without a physics degree and a spare teen-ager, are what's really going to change things that and the trend towards cheaper data services.
Joe Pinder
_______________________________________
Bob,
I don't listen to Neil Young and I don't own a Pono, but I do think there is merit in edge case people pursuing edge case goals. Their failures (and occasional successes) inform the rest of us.
Regards,
Josh Karp
_______________________________________
I agree that Neil is severely out of touch re: music delivery in the modern age. Your comments on Pono, iTunes, and YouTube are spot on, unassailable, patently obvious unless one's head is buried in the sand On The Beach.
But forget Neil Young? Never. He has been a paragon of transparency, humanity, fallibility, and anti-market anti-commercial integrity, literally NOT putting corporate money where his mouth is, for his entire career. The art that the record labels and journalists crapped all over in the Seventies stands as some of the highest achievement of the form. I shudder to imagine a world without Tonight's the Night.
And the new records are good too. If you don't like the Psychedelic Pill record from a couple years ago, you were never a Neil fan to begin with.
This note's for you, if you care to listen. Don't confuse your not caring with his not delivering.
Patrick Daly
_______________________________________
I knew he was full of shit when he said both AM radio and 8-track cassettes had better sound quality than streaming. What streaming service is he listening too?
Richard Wells
_______________________________________
Bob,
I agree with just about everything you say here. About streaming, the old ways of getting paid being irrelevant. Dead right.
But I do with there was a higher fidelity personal music player around that didn't cost a mint. You know, something that, unlike ipod, actually sounded significantly better than am radio, but costs less than Astell & Kern, or even Pono, that I could take to the gym. Oh, and something that didn't break every year the way ipods do -- what a crappy way to try to squeeze more "upgrade" money from customers. Maybe I am pipe dreaming here? So 1/2 a cheer for Neil for at least trying with Pono.
But no audiophile is going to use Pono -- or even A&K -- as a primary music source in a listening room (I know, listening rooms are for music freaks and dinosaurs, everyone else listens to third rate audio quality on mobile, but we dinosaurs have a right to live too, at least some of the time!). My old pair of Apogee Acoustics electrostatic speakers that I bought on closeout, are STILL hard to beat, 20 years on... and most of the music sources coming out now are so much worse that my ears want to throw up.
I get that if you want to make it as an artist you have to make lots of people care. But there still exist some of us, who, when we like what we hear, would actually like to hear the art. Who want to sit in it, swim in it, sink in it.
Jonathan Bernstein
_______________________________________
Great response, Bob, as I knew it would be.
Every new music format has been about convenience and access. Quality is vital, but not as vital (to the listener) as the song itself.
I'm a classically trained pianist and have always been surrounded by musicians and composers, and so I appreciate sound quality and I appreciate music production. I do believe that music lovers and music-makers want both access and quality, not always or necessarily at the same time... and that's okay. Hasn't it always been about how we experience music, which is recorded music most of the time?
I listen to vinyl records at home for a different experience. I love how they look, sound and feel. I'm also a Spotify Premium subscriber. I find no conflict. Streaming is inextricable from my life. Now, if we were still in the era of swooshy, low-quality Napster MP3s that took hours to burn onto a CD, I might see Mr Young's point.
But he's making an argument from affluence, and it sure doesn't resonate.
Jennifer Carney
_______________________________________
Thank god for people like Neil !
Derek Petrillo
_______________________________________
Hey Bob- I'm with you. You gotta stay with the times or just go back to your ranch and make music for the fun of it. I don't even use streaming services, unless I'm specifically researching a song, nor do I listen to CDs. For me it's cassettes and vinyl. I'm not saying it sounds good or better. I just like it. I routinely distribute my music on CD, vinyl and streaming. Those are today's choices.
I love Neil, he's pretty much my favorite non-country old timer. I love that he has always been sketchy. It proves he's pushing his own formulas and limits. That's studly.
One more thing. You misquoted his song.
Best-
Tim Bluhm
_______________________________________
Dear Bob:
As usual you are "on the money," "You want to make money on streaming music? Stay independent, don't sign to a label." So simple - - - and tour, tour, tour. Basements, living rooms, small clubs, anywhere two or more people will listen and then talk about your music. In the "old days" I bought an album and invited friends over to listen. Today "stream" and head phones. However it the artist comes to town, then I can get my friends together and share the experience!
Rock & Roll.
Bud Becker
_______________________________________
The one thing about streaming anything, wether it be music, movies or videos is it
DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK.
Its not a seamless process because the bandwith in this country is so limited due to the providers who want you to struggle with connectivity so as they roll out the next bigger better option, they hit you for higher fees.
Try streaming in lower Manhattan, the mountain regions of Vermont or the Poconos in Pa.
It barely works in a lot of these places & Im sure there is a list of NO Fly Zones for data everywhere.
Truly immersive music listeners experience physical & emotional pain when their music pauses, skips or hangs in the lost data zone of perpetual buffering.
It disrupts the experience & I end up bouncing to some horrible terrestrial station playing the same 20 or so acts/songs they have had on their playlist since 1977.
Remember when we held our Albums like a cherished porcelain doll, only on the edges, careful not to smudge or scratch the pristine vinyl with our grubby paws?
This was to prevent the unacceptable disruption of skipping or getting lodged in a scratch which led to the redundant skip, over & over & over.
This is the same experience, more often than not, of streaming music currently.
will it improve? Sure, like anything else it will get better.
For now connectivity is a huge issue with streaming.
I know these factors are irrelevant to the masses, sales & the almighty numbers.
I think Neil Young & a lot of your readers would get the frustration many of us have with the
imperfections of the streaming revolution.
Joe Naz/Allshows.com NYC
_______________________________________
To be fair: he said it wasn't about the money. It's about sound quality.
Sure, his action doubles as a Pono plug, but at least the guy is on record about this issue.
But I'm in 100% agreement with you about the media's fawning treatment of Neil Young. The guy has many masterpieces to his name, but they're well in the past. He's earned our attention and respect, but that doesn't give him a pass for life.
Maybe one day streaming will pay better. Maybe one day it'll sound better. These seem like fights worth having. But when you've already got a horse in the game (don't forget the Pono store), it's a lot harder to take you seriously. At least Taylor Swift could be perceived as genuinely sticking up for the little guy in her dispute with Apple.
Andrew Parker
_______________________________________
"But let's admit that streaming is here to stay."
ABSOLUTELY!
"So let's forget Neil Young."
WHAT? YOU CAN'T DE SERIOUS!?! This part of your rant sounds personal Bob...or it's time to cut back to decaf...
-doug trantow
_______________________________________
hi Bob
I think you miss his point. It is about sound. Yes Neil is not happy with the direction of the future of music cause the sound quality of streaming music sucks big time. And i know some will say the bit rate is equivalent to blah de blah and superior to cd or fm signal - really try driving in the bay area or the sierras Sound quality is diminished by spotty signal strength muting the sound to a a thin and weak remnant. The music business is leaving quality behind to focus on trying to find a way to make money again via streaming to limit piracy but the cost to those who want good sound is steep. some people still want to own not rent. I may be a luddite but my yesterday when i dropped Oh yeah by yello on my turntable my kids literally froze in their tracks and stopped to listen and said the sound was so full and rich i can hear each instrument. Good luck hearing placement with streaming. This may be the new paradigm, however i am not pleased with this it creates a reality where if
one day the cloud is not accessible or if you miss a payment to spotify or apple - you will lose your access to music - perhaps your entire collection.
Chris
_______________________________________
You are once again coming off as such a major asshole.
You're brick wall with a mouth spouting misinformation that overlooks a huge number of struggling talented musicians artists and songwriters who cannot find any support to develop because others are keeping more than their fair percentage of the money that work of these creators generates.
I've given up expecting you to care to understand the truth of what is happening. I just wish you'd go away and stop making things worse.
Statements like this below are so ignorant. Find another hobby Bob. Or find out that you don't know what you're talking about.
Beth Nielsen Chapman
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Wednesday 15 July 2015
Neil Young On Streaming
"Old man take a look at yourself"
What if you put out new music and no one cared?
Even better, what if you said you were gonna save the music business and no one cared?
Then you'd be Neil Young.
I'd say he's become a laughingstock, but the people he's playing to, the writers for the somnambulant press, trumpet his every word and neglect to point out his failings.
That's right, they review all his new music, usually giving it stellar accolades. And then when it fails in the marketplace...crickets.
Where's the follow-up story to the Pono disaster? We had to endure endless plaudits for his Toblerone box, how so few paid so much on Kickstarter, Neil appeared not only on late night TV, but at the Salesforce conference. Then the product became commercially available and it made less noise than Peter Frampton's "I'm In You." At least the press castigated Robin Thicke for his "Paula" album, but more people heard that than Pono.
Why does Neil Young get a pass?
Even better, why are we discussing the merits of streaming music?
Streaming music has already won. It's the delivery medium of choice. Primarily on YouTube. To rail against streaming music is to rail something established that ain't going away. Instead, we've got all these irrelevant acts complaining that someone moved their cheese and the hoi polloi is tuning out. And let me let you in on a little secret, you only make money when the hoi polloi LISTEN!
That's your challenge, getting people to pay attention, not pay for music.
If you're worried about people paying for music, you're probably concerned with whether Jenga pieces are made out of wood or plastic. You're so deep in the weeds that you cannot see the forest.
The bottom line is we've got a lot of stuff fighting for attention. Not only other music, but books, video, pornography, sex... Everything is now at people's fingertips, how do you gain an audience?
Not by complaining.
If you're a middle class artist you're never going to make the money on streaming that you did on sales back in the pre-internet era. Because today all the superstars of all time are within everybody's reach. People don't want to listen to you. And the money is in mass.
And whether you get paid for recordings or not, that's not where the lion's share of the money is. Most of the money is in touring and sponsorships. And will continue to be. Because our whole society is moving towards experiences, that's what people will pay for, human exercises that cannot be purchased anywhere else. That's where Neil Young's been making his money for eons. Just ask Clear Channel/Live Nation, which footed his bill for years. And the reason people come to see him is the music of his past. Which they oftentimes heard through AM radios, with some of the worst speakers of all time. Listening to a low-res stream on Beats headphones is far superior to what Detroit was delivering when Neil Young made his bones. But the truth is, CD quality streaming is already here. That's right, both Deezer and Tidal deliver CD quality music. But most people don't want to pay for it. Either because they can't hear the difference or they believe it's too expensive. Want to solve the
problem, agitate for a reduction in price. Furthermore, Spotify streams in 320. iTunes doesn't even sell at that quality. Are you gonna remove your music from the iTunes Store too, Mr. Young?
If Neil Young were twenty five today, he'd be giving his music away for free. Like Ed Sheeran and David Guetta, who've testified to the benefit of streaming and piracy respectively. These guys know it's a new world. They've adjusted. Neil Young is just coasting on his past. Hey, Neil. Only play your new album at your shows, watch your live business dry up!
Furthermore, don't you see that Neil's got skin in this game, that he's trying to drive Pono utilization, which is like trying to put a Segway in every garage. That's why Neil's making this tsimmis. Sure, he's got a history of worrying about sound quality, but he's also got a history of missing the mark.
As for the rest of you...
You want to make money on streaming music?
Stay independent, don't sign to a label.
Yup, Spotify pays quite well if you're the only rightsholder. Assuming people are listening. But you wanted to make a deal with a major for that marketing and promotion push and now you're bitching about payment. The public does not care. Just like they didn't care about making the Tidal owners rich. This is inside baseball, take your complaint off the homepage, you're only muddying the water, you're driving people FROM streaming, and your only hope is to get people to stream. CDs are dead. Most computers don't even come with a disk drive anymore. As for files... Why don't you try selling 45s while you're at it.
Just shut up. Stop trying to line your personal coffers and get in the pit with your audience. How does this help your audience Neil, if they can no longer hear your music? But they can! On YouTube for free, which sounds even worse! Or they can steal it! But the more difficult you make access, the more marginal you become. You're old, you can run on fumes, but anybody following your lead is brain dead.
So let's forget Neil Young.
But let's admit that streaming is here to stay. And sure, we want people to pay for it, but the truth is we're building careers. And careers rain down money. And if you've got a career, you're set.
Neil already has his.
But how about the people who don't?
They should embrace streaming, they should tell everybody to sign up. They should make access to their music cheap and easy. And argue about the division of revenues off the field.
P.S. Remember when AC/DC wouldn't be on iTunes? Now they're not only there, but streaming services too. History tells us these transitions are momentary kerfuffles and only those who can't see the future or are waiting for a paycheck hold out, oftentimes to their detriment.
https://www.facebook.com/NeilYoung/posts/10155765667375317:0
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What if you put out new music and no one cared?
Even better, what if you said you were gonna save the music business and no one cared?
Then you'd be Neil Young.
I'd say he's become a laughingstock, but the people he's playing to, the writers for the somnambulant press, trumpet his every word and neglect to point out his failings.
That's right, they review all his new music, usually giving it stellar accolades. And then when it fails in the marketplace...crickets.
Where's the follow-up story to the Pono disaster? We had to endure endless plaudits for his Toblerone box, how so few paid so much on Kickstarter, Neil appeared not only on late night TV, but at the Salesforce conference. Then the product became commercially available and it made less noise than Peter Frampton's "I'm In You." At least the press castigated Robin Thicke for his "Paula" album, but more people heard that than Pono.
Why does Neil Young get a pass?
Even better, why are we discussing the merits of streaming music?
Streaming music has already won. It's the delivery medium of choice. Primarily on YouTube. To rail against streaming music is to rail something established that ain't going away. Instead, we've got all these irrelevant acts complaining that someone moved their cheese and the hoi polloi is tuning out. And let me let you in on a little secret, you only make money when the hoi polloi LISTEN!
That's your challenge, getting people to pay attention, not pay for music.
If you're worried about people paying for music, you're probably concerned with whether Jenga pieces are made out of wood or plastic. You're so deep in the weeds that you cannot see the forest.
The bottom line is we've got a lot of stuff fighting for attention. Not only other music, but books, video, pornography, sex... Everything is now at people's fingertips, how do you gain an audience?
Not by complaining.
If you're a middle class artist you're never going to make the money on streaming that you did on sales back in the pre-internet era. Because today all the superstars of all time are within everybody's reach. People don't want to listen to you. And the money is in mass.
And whether you get paid for recordings or not, that's not where the lion's share of the money is. Most of the money is in touring and sponsorships. And will continue to be. Because our whole society is moving towards experiences, that's what people will pay for, human exercises that cannot be purchased anywhere else. That's where Neil Young's been making his money for eons. Just ask Clear Channel/Live Nation, which footed his bill for years. And the reason people come to see him is the music of his past. Which they oftentimes heard through AM radios, with some of the worst speakers of all time. Listening to a low-res stream on Beats headphones is far superior to what Detroit was delivering when Neil Young made his bones. But the truth is, CD quality streaming is already here. That's right, both Deezer and Tidal deliver CD quality music. But most people don't want to pay for it. Either because they can't hear the difference or they believe it's too expensive. Want to solve the
problem, agitate for a reduction in price. Furthermore, Spotify streams in 320. iTunes doesn't even sell at that quality. Are you gonna remove your music from the iTunes Store too, Mr. Young?
If Neil Young were twenty five today, he'd be giving his music away for free. Like Ed Sheeran and David Guetta, who've testified to the benefit of streaming and piracy respectively. These guys know it's a new world. They've adjusted. Neil Young is just coasting on his past. Hey, Neil. Only play your new album at your shows, watch your live business dry up!
Furthermore, don't you see that Neil's got skin in this game, that he's trying to drive Pono utilization, which is like trying to put a Segway in every garage. That's why Neil's making this tsimmis. Sure, he's got a history of worrying about sound quality, but he's also got a history of missing the mark.
As for the rest of you...
You want to make money on streaming music?
Stay independent, don't sign to a label.
Yup, Spotify pays quite well if you're the only rightsholder. Assuming people are listening. But you wanted to make a deal with a major for that marketing and promotion push and now you're bitching about payment. The public does not care. Just like they didn't care about making the Tidal owners rich. This is inside baseball, take your complaint off the homepage, you're only muddying the water, you're driving people FROM streaming, and your only hope is to get people to stream. CDs are dead. Most computers don't even come with a disk drive anymore. As for files... Why don't you try selling 45s while you're at it.
Just shut up. Stop trying to line your personal coffers and get in the pit with your audience. How does this help your audience Neil, if they can no longer hear your music? But they can! On YouTube for free, which sounds even worse! Or they can steal it! But the more difficult you make access, the more marginal you become. You're old, you can run on fumes, but anybody following your lead is brain dead.
So let's forget Neil Young.
But let's admit that streaming is here to stay. And sure, we want people to pay for it, but the truth is we're building careers. And careers rain down money. And if you've got a career, you're set.
Neil already has his.
But how about the people who don't?
They should embrace streaming, they should tell everybody to sign up. They should make access to their music cheap and easy. And argue about the division of revenues off the field.
P.S. Remember when AC/DC wouldn't be on iTunes? Now they're not only there, but streaming services too. History tells us these transitions are momentary kerfuffles and only those who can't see the future or are waiting for a paycheck hold out, oftentimes to their detriment.
https://www.facebook.com/NeilYoung/posts/10155765667375317:0
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