So what have we learned?
That talent is the fuel, but rarely the engine. And it's harder to build an engine than find new talent.
So if we go back two decades, we find three of the highest profile players in Hollywood teaming up to create a new studio, a veritable United Artists, making all that money for themselves.
Sound like the modern music business paradigm?
Well, if you're thinking last decade. What we've learned is the record labels provide certain services, have certain relationships, that are hard to equal. Hell, the managers didn't step up, they don't like to pay. And the promoters pay all day long, but they don't create out of thin air, they just fulfill demand.
So PSY made it alone. Amanda Palmer got a big buck on Kickstarter.
But where are they today?
Where is Lucian Grainge today?
Very little talent outlasts the company, the enterprise lives on.
So we start with Steven Spielberg, the most successful director of his era, he invented the blockbuster with "Jaws." Although his forays into TV were checkered at best. A bit better on films he produced but did not direct, but the truth is Spielberg's a director, not a businessman. He's learned tons via direct experience, but a businessman has a different personality. Furthermore, studios are kept alive on their libraries, on their slate of films. You balance out the risk. When DreamWorks ramped up production there were too many failures, there was not a deep catalog, names only got them so far.
And then comes Jeffrey Katzenberg. The supposed genius behind Disney's animation renaissance. And that it was, from moribund to making money. Kudos. But it's one thing to run herd over people, making sure they work Sunday as well as Saturday, but another to run herd over an entire organization. Michael Eisner may have been a tyrant, but he gets most of the credit for bringing Disney back from the dead. And even Eisner has not been able to triumph on his own. Never underestimate the power of the edifice, the resources at your fingertips, the ability to leverage what you've got in power plays. Sure, Eisner learned how to make beaucoup bucks with films starring underpaid has-beens, but ideas are secondary to capital, secondary to lanes.
And then came the Pixar juggernaut. A company employing Steve Jobs's deep pockets to get it exactly right. Turns out John Lasseter was the genius, not Jeffrey Katzenberg. That's not a surprise, Lasseter bled animation, it was his whole life, Katzenberg fell into it, was he a suit claiming too much credit? I'll let you decide.
And that brings us to David Geffen, entrepreneur extraordinaire. What Geffen specializes in is getting talent what it wants. That's why he got behind Spielberg and Katzenberg, he wanted to give his friends not only the best opportunities, but the most remuneration. But Geffen is not talent. If he was, I'd have bet on DreamWorks SKG. Then again, Geffen's major victories were in a pool he played in his whole life, records. He knew that world. And the trio's label failed, because it had no catalog and couldn't see that times were changing, too much money was spent reimagining the Warner Brothers of the seventies, only it was the nineties. One can ask if Geffen is really a builder, or someone who extracts value, knows how to make a deal. One can't take away his triumph on Broadway with "Dreamgirls," but even his own forays into film were uneven. As William Goldman famously said, "Nobody knows anything." Which is why you hedge your bets and don't try to revolutionize.
No, DreamWorks SKG was not a disruptive enterprise, at most it was a victory lap, and then it imploded. The aforementioned record label tanked, as did the video game division and Geffen ultimately made a deal for Spielberg's output and the animation division went public.
And then the game begins. Can you give the Street what it wants? A baseline of profit, no dips with occasional peaks?
That's nearly impossible to do.
And when you have a disaster in film, it's nearly a total write-off.
Katzenberg scrambled. Saw he was gonna hit the wall and cut expenses and tried to live in the modern era. But was he doomed from the start? Was the task insurmountable?
That's the question, can you compete with Amazon?
Nobody has yet.
As for Google... Bing has little market share and has lost over a billion.
And Facebook... It turns out there's room for only one social network. And when another one appeared, Facebook bought it. That's right, Zuckerberg scooped up Instagram, and while he was at it bought WhatsApp for good measure. Could Facebook possibly fall to Evan Spiegel's Snapchat? Possible, although the profits at Snapchat are thin. But one thing you can say is Snapchat was a new idea, evanescent product. What was the new idea at DreamWorks?
There wasn't one.
So be wary of competing in an established marketplace. Especially one with long entrenched players. You're going to hit headwinds from minute one.
And think twice about going into capital intensive enterprises where you either succeed or fail and there's no in-between. Records are cheap, movies are really expensive. Records can come alive long after release, and sell long after release, whereas the revenue chain for movies is down down down from the beginning. So if you're busy spending and there's nothing coming in...
That's the dirty little secret of the studios and the labels, they've always got something coming in.
And the assets that generate this income, the library and the catalog, can be employed as leverage.
Independence is a loser's bet, even the Weinstein brothers have failed. They lost Miramax and their new company has been teetering, and if Spielberg is the best director out there, they're the best promoters.
So...
1. Don't compete with the behemoths unless your enterprise is truly disruptive, has an element that cannot be seen by your competitors. Furthermore, it's best if you can produce cheaper and scale quickly at little cost. And now, with so much content in the sphere, excellence is key. This is what killed Jeffrey, for a long time Disney was the only company in the animation business, then everybody was in it. The audience can't see every cartoon, only the best.
2. Know what you do best. Spielberg directed. Katzenberg worked for others. As for Geffen, one can argue he did do what he did best, he delivered for Steven and Jeffrey beyond their wildest dreams, it just wasn't a financial triumph for David.
3. Have a steady stream of income to tide you over the low points. Sure, in tech you garner an audience first and revenue last. But even that paradigm is fading. If you're spending big and waiting for the money to come in...you're at risk. Hell, the history of independent movie companies is death, Carolco bit the dust, maybe you just can't do it.
4. Sexy doesn't define the bottom line. Faceless hard work does...the animators who exercised Katzenberg's wishes at Disney, the CPAs and other bodies at the studio who make the whole thing work.
We're gonna see unicorns in the future. But if you expect outsiders to come along and dethrone film studios and record companies...you probably believe Tidal will become a raging success. People vote with their dollars. And they spend them reluctantly and wisely. They'll follow your antics in the news, but when it comes to paying...
They want what everybody else wants. Not what is promoted best, but that which is considered quality and successful.
So, so long DreamWorks. You're a relic of the nineties, before the world was blown apart by the internet and consolidation ruled.
Comcast is rolling up. Give credit to Katzenberg for selling out.
But it's hard to characterize DreamWorks as anything but a disaster, a blip on the radar screen at best.
P.S. "Synergy," the most overused word of the seventies, has finally come to flower in the twenty first century. Huge conglomerates can utilize assets in a way that small enterprises cannot. There are Pixar attractions at Disneyland, Comcast can feature DreamWorks Animation properties at Universal Studios. We live in a global economy. He with deep pockets can amass assets that propel each other to untold profits around the world.
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Thursday 28 April 2016
Torn Rotator Cuff
Just when I'd convinced myself there was nothing wrong.
The turning point was physical therapy, last Thursday, improvement was nearly nil, I knew this was more serious than I hoped it might be.
So I came home and immediately called the bigwig doctor, who couldn't see me for five weeks, I could see the number two on May 9th, this can't be!
I made the appointment. And then I called my go-to guy. You have to know people in this world, and you know who this guy is, and thank god he was on the case, I got an appointment first thing Monday morning.
Where the doctor was reluctant to shoot me up. Because if it's a torn rotator cuff it makes it worse.
I intentionally didn't stretch before I saw him, I wanted to be the worst I could be. As it was, it was tough for me to go, I felt I should brush it off.
I was stunned when he commented on how bad my movement was, mortified when he spoke of a potential rotator cuff tear and surgery, he said I needed an MRI to be sure.
CAN I GET ONE RIGHT NOW?
That's my personality, when I'm on the case there's nothing in the way, I clear the decks and get right on it. I went into the tube Monday night, during the first available window.
And in the interim I reeled.
A 4-6 month recovery period? With your arm immobilized in a sling for the first thirty days? How was I gonna type? And what about my standard transmission car, and my obligations?
But by time I was finished with the MRI I'd calmed down, a bit anyway, to tell you the truth I was agitated, but I'd done all I could, now I just had to wait.
My original plan was to call the doctor, the report would be ready midday Tuesday. Then I reconsidered. What if there was more, would it translate well on the phone?
It wouldn't have.
Today I got there early and I had to wait. Stunningly, the doctor apologized.
And by this point, as I stated above, I thought I was out of the woods. I could lift my arm above my head. Pain was lessened. But there was still that pop.
That pop turned out to be a biceps tear. And there's a labrum tear too. And theoretically I could skip surgery, it's only one of four rotator cuff tendons, but the doctor said he would tell a family member to do it, because there'd be weakness for the rest of my life, and possibly pain.
But I can lift my arm over my head now, I showed him!
And he pointed out the hitch in the lift.
So they pass the info on to the surgeon, who reviews it and gets back to me within three days. This is the guy I couldn't see for five weeks, this guy is world class.
And what's the recovery like?
Well, there's a good amount of pain.
Well, I can't take anything with Tylenol, it interferes with my Gleevec.
But the doctor reeled off a bunch of alternatives.
So where does this leave me?
I'm gonna have surgery, I'm not dumb. You don't fix things and they haunt you in the future. It's kind of like a car, I don't let it slide, I get the repairs, I don't want the thing breaking down on the side of the road, I don't want to be hit with an even bigger bill in the future.
And to tell you the truth, I'm numb. I was forewarned, but I'd convinced myself I was fine.
But I'm not.
P.S. Had kidney tests yesterday, awaiting results. I don't anticipate a problem, then again there's the above, however I haven't bled since.
P.P.S. There's a brief window within which you can do the surgery, a month or two, it depends on your biology. So, if you wait and see, you lose your opportunity.
P.P.P.S. The tube, the MRI... Don't be afraid, it's just a psychological game. The first time I signed up for the sedative, but then I decided I'd give it a shot without. Now I'm a regular, I almost look forward to it, where else can you be undisturbed by phone calls and e-mail?
P.P.P.P.S. As I said, the doctor apologized for running late, but I'm willing to wait... Yet it's good to hear. And I'm standing over his computer screen where I see a report detailing an acute rotator cuff tear...and I go into shock, this cannot be me! And I'm not sure it was. The MD had to go back and bring up another screen, had to type my name in. Maybe I got a reprieve, but it was not to be. We looked at the pictures and it was clear. I asked him would the MRI have shown problems even without the trauma and he said yes, maybe there was a preexisting condition, but what he saw now needed to be addressed. And I can't get over the pops in my arm, the biceps muscle out of its groove and the rotator cuff tendon flailing, that sensation when it slides from under the bone.
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The turning point was physical therapy, last Thursday, improvement was nearly nil, I knew this was more serious than I hoped it might be.
So I came home and immediately called the bigwig doctor, who couldn't see me for five weeks, I could see the number two on May 9th, this can't be!
I made the appointment. And then I called my go-to guy. You have to know people in this world, and you know who this guy is, and thank god he was on the case, I got an appointment first thing Monday morning.
Where the doctor was reluctant to shoot me up. Because if it's a torn rotator cuff it makes it worse.
I intentionally didn't stretch before I saw him, I wanted to be the worst I could be. As it was, it was tough for me to go, I felt I should brush it off.
I was stunned when he commented on how bad my movement was, mortified when he spoke of a potential rotator cuff tear and surgery, he said I needed an MRI to be sure.
CAN I GET ONE RIGHT NOW?
That's my personality, when I'm on the case there's nothing in the way, I clear the decks and get right on it. I went into the tube Monday night, during the first available window.
And in the interim I reeled.
A 4-6 month recovery period? With your arm immobilized in a sling for the first thirty days? How was I gonna type? And what about my standard transmission car, and my obligations?
But by time I was finished with the MRI I'd calmed down, a bit anyway, to tell you the truth I was agitated, but I'd done all I could, now I just had to wait.
My original plan was to call the doctor, the report would be ready midday Tuesday. Then I reconsidered. What if there was more, would it translate well on the phone?
It wouldn't have.
Today I got there early and I had to wait. Stunningly, the doctor apologized.
And by this point, as I stated above, I thought I was out of the woods. I could lift my arm above my head. Pain was lessened. But there was still that pop.
That pop turned out to be a biceps tear. And there's a labrum tear too. And theoretically I could skip surgery, it's only one of four rotator cuff tendons, but the doctor said he would tell a family member to do it, because there'd be weakness for the rest of my life, and possibly pain.
But I can lift my arm over my head now, I showed him!
And he pointed out the hitch in the lift.
So they pass the info on to the surgeon, who reviews it and gets back to me within three days. This is the guy I couldn't see for five weeks, this guy is world class.
And what's the recovery like?
Well, there's a good amount of pain.
Well, I can't take anything with Tylenol, it interferes with my Gleevec.
But the doctor reeled off a bunch of alternatives.
So where does this leave me?
I'm gonna have surgery, I'm not dumb. You don't fix things and they haunt you in the future. It's kind of like a car, I don't let it slide, I get the repairs, I don't want the thing breaking down on the side of the road, I don't want to be hit with an even bigger bill in the future.
And to tell you the truth, I'm numb. I was forewarned, but I'd convinced myself I was fine.
But I'm not.
P.S. Had kidney tests yesterday, awaiting results. I don't anticipate a problem, then again there's the above, however I haven't bled since.
P.P.S. There's a brief window within which you can do the surgery, a month or two, it depends on your biology. So, if you wait and see, you lose your opportunity.
P.P.P.S. The tube, the MRI... Don't be afraid, it's just a psychological game. The first time I signed up for the sedative, but then I decided I'd give it a shot without. Now I'm a regular, I almost look forward to it, where else can you be undisturbed by phone calls and e-mail?
P.P.P.P.S. As I said, the doctor apologized for running late, but I'm willing to wait... Yet it's good to hear. And I'm standing over his computer screen where I see a report detailing an acute rotator cuff tear...and I go into shock, this cannot be me! And I'm not sure it was. The MD had to go back and bring up another screen, had to type my name in. Maybe I got a reprieve, but it was not to be. We looked at the pictures and it was clear. I asked him would the MRI have shown problems even without the trauma and he said yes, maybe there was a preexisting condition, but what he saw now needed to be addressed. And I can't get over the pops in my arm, the biceps muscle out of its groove and the rotator cuff tendon flailing, that sensation when it slides from under the bone.
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Tuesday 26 April 2016
Apple's Numbers
He not busy being born is busy dying.
So said Bob Dylan, in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," a fountain of wisdom on "Bringing It All Back Home," a transition from politics to inner truth, from folk to rock, this was the LP before "Highway 61 Revisited," when Dylan became a household name with "Like A Rolling Stone."
But that's what Dylan was, a man who kept rolling, kept changing, kept exploring, who was not married to the past and cared not a whit for naysayers.
Kind of like Steve Jobs.
And as long as Jobs was at the helm of Apple the company burgeoned.
But those days are through. To expect the Cupertino company to continue to triumph is to expect the Doors to succeed without Jim Morrison.
Granted, some bands survive the loss of their frontman. Van Halen soldiered on with Sammy Hagar, and Phil Collins emerged from behind the kit to lead Genesis, but usually...when the creative genius is gone, it's over.
But the public does not want to believe this.
It's hard to get people's attention, it's hard to gain their loyalty, but once they're inured to you they don't want to give up. Exhibit number one is BlackBerry. Anybody who'd used an iPhone knew the Canadian company was toast. But even the financial press was out of the loop, looking at the numbers instead of society.
And what does society want?
Something new and different that not only titillates its fancy, but demonstrates extreme utility.
Unlike the Apple Watch, which was good in theory yet dead on arrival, or after twenty four hours, when it ran out of juice. You had to recharge it, was it worth the effort, or were you better off just putting it in a drawer? And like a cult band from the eighties which hits a wall and goes no further, there was no word of mouth on the Apple Watch, some owners testified, but the rest of the populace just ignored it.
Tim Cook needs to be replaced. Apple doesn't need a traffic cop, it needs a visionary. Execution is important, but it's secondary to inspiration. The idea is king, never forget it.
But it won't happen, because in modern society the board is a tool of the CEO, an echo chamber. And no one likes to take big risks, no one likes to upset the apple cart when things are going reasonably well. But then they start to tank and it's over.
Kind of like the iPad, replaced by the phablet, the large phone.
The iPad was killed by the phablet the same way the iPod was killed by the iPhone. What did Cook and company do? They doubled-down on the iPad, creating a Pro version with a stylus that was a marvel of technology but is something most people just don't need. Meanwhile, there was this canard that the device was a desktop replacement when the truth is it's nothing of the sort.
As for the future...
That's what we depended upon Steve Jobs for. We're not techies, we're not engineers, we're just consumers. We buy, you provide.
So we're down to three, Amazon, Google and Facebook, Apple is over.
And it hurts me to say this, being a Mac user since '86, but he who cannot see the writing on the wall is destined to a life of business illiteracy, never mind being left behind.
You can fail, but you must learn from your mistakes. Amazon killed its Fire phone, but it's building a juggernaut with its Echo. Apple made the big splash, with Siri, but it's the Seattle company that's taking the flag and running with it, doing what Apple used to do best. Yes, Apple did not create the first portable MP3 player nor the first smartphone, it just did it better. Amazon has not only trumped Apple in voice recognition, it put a dent in wireless speaker leader Sonos, which is pivoting at this very moment.
But there's no pivot at Apple, only an endless victory lap.
As for the electric car... Assuming they're building one, Steve didn't focus on me-too products, but breakthrough products. And the breakthrough is in driverless cars, and Google dominates there.
The two founders, the two principals, took over the reins from Eric Schmidt, they no longer need adult supervision. And although they've stumbled here and there, Google keeps pushing the envelope, funding new businesses most people haven't heard of, and adjusting for a mobile economy along the way.
Which Facebook does best. Facebook has made inroads into mobile advertising and the average person just thinks it's a social network, the same way most people don't know the prime revenue driver at Amazon is the web services division, not retail.
Smartphones are nearly a commodity. This is what's hurting Samsung, the cheap competition from the bottom, the Korean company just can't establish enough differentiation to hold on to market share, never mind profits. Sure, the iPhone has an ecosystem, it may even sport the best OS out there, but Apple has been legendarily bad at services and we need look no further to Sony to see how those selling premium-priced products are ultimately eclipsed. Turned out Samsung was just as good, if not better, in flat panel TVs, the Trinitron was no longer an engine of growth. The future comes and if you don't continue to lead, you're toast.
This is not a musical act, which can thrive on the hits of its past. No one wants a cassette Walkman, and no one wants a twenty inch tube TV.
Bill Campbell believed in founders. Turns out adult supervision makes the trains run on time, balances the books, but makes your company moribund. You've got to find a way to keep the crazy innovators in charge. And if they can't adjust their ways, if they can't get along, they're booted, like Andy Rubin, or neutered, like Marissa Mayer, both at Google. And yes, Marissa got another gig, where she's accomplished little, demonstrating the worst parts of her willful, my way or the highway personality in the process. Maybe Yahoo was unfixable, but if the board had done its research it would have never hired her.
Apple needs a house hippie. Someone who can see into the future and bend the company to his or her will. Tim Cook must retreat to doing what he does best, which is overseeing the supply chain, maximizing efficiencies. Steve Jobs got it wrong once, hiring Sculley, he could get it wrong again. The smart money makes changes soon, the dumb money just lets things roll along until the train approaches the wall it's going to crash into.
This has got little to do with finances today. Despite the drop, Apple is huge and still throwing off cash. But business history is littered with those who dominated today but were marginalized tomorrow.
It's hard to find an original, someone strong-willed enough to lead minions into a future frequently only they can see. Which is why most bands and most companies don't make it.
But they shouldn't. Competition is cutthroat, we're only interested in the best.
So I don't know who can lead Apple out of the doldrums. Probably someone young, not invested in the past. Then again, Steve Jobs had an investment in Apple, it was his baby, when he returned he had to make it right.
Who has that investment now?
Kind of like a record company without its founder still in place, run by someone beholden to suits as opposed to his gut.
The history of success is one of great leaps of faith, big risks.
And we haven't seen any risk from Apple in a long time.
Then again, you've got to know where to go.
That's why movies were so great in the seventies, the directors knew where to go. The suits came in and normalized the industry and today it's a meaningless scrapheap that generates cash but has the cultural significance of a trash bag, it does its job, it throws out the garbage, and then you forget about it.
Sure, detractors love to deride the leader. Which just illustrates how hard it is to stay on top. But Zuck buys WhatsApp, knowing that messaging is king, having a vision around the world, and Apple still keeps iMessage locked behind a wall.
It's sad, but it's time to change leadership at Apple now. Before Cook gets uptight and makes lame acquisitions like Ballmer, purchasing the moribund Nokia, most of its value needing to ultimately be written off.
Innovation...
It happens in music. Shawn Fanning led the way, Daniel Ek has picked up the flag. If you think they're the enemy you don't know how the future arrives, it's in the air, if it wasn't Shawn it would have been someone else. Ek just found a way to make streaming music work, and continues to double down on the free tier, raising and spending money when everybody twice his age says he's a bozo.
But those twice his age are already done. They want Robert Plant to reform Led Zeppelin, but in tech we've already established that there's little demand for the past, and the past never grows, it only recedes.
We've got an endless supply of MBAs, people who can install order in a land of chaos. But we've got very few visionaries, those who deserve the ball like Steph Curry. We thought Michael Jordan could never be matched, but it turns out someone playing a different game could wow us. Who knew the three point shot was so effective?
That's right, who knows?
Someone does.
And it's no one at Apple.
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So said Bob Dylan, in "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," a fountain of wisdom on "Bringing It All Back Home," a transition from politics to inner truth, from folk to rock, this was the LP before "Highway 61 Revisited," when Dylan became a household name with "Like A Rolling Stone."
But that's what Dylan was, a man who kept rolling, kept changing, kept exploring, who was not married to the past and cared not a whit for naysayers.
Kind of like Steve Jobs.
And as long as Jobs was at the helm of Apple the company burgeoned.
But those days are through. To expect the Cupertino company to continue to triumph is to expect the Doors to succeed without Jim Morrison.
Granted, some bands survive the loss of their frontman. Van Halen soldiered on with Sammy Hagar, and Phil Collins emerged from behind the kit to lead Genesis, but usually...when the creative genius is gone, it's over.
But the public does not want to believe this.
It's hard to get people's attention, it's hard to gain their loyalty, but once they're inured to you they don't want to give up. Exhibit number one is BlackBerry. Anybody who'd used an iPhone knew the Canadian company was toast. But even the financial press was out of the loop, looking at the numbers instead of society.
And what does society want?
Something new and different that not only titillates its fancy, but demonstrates extreme utility.
Unlike the Apple Watch, which was good in theory yet dead on arrival, or after twenty four hours, when it ran out of juice. You had to recharge it, was it worth the effort, or were you better off just putting it in a drawer? And like a cult band from the eighties which hits a wall and goes no further, there was no word of mouth on the Apple Watch, some owners testified, but the rest of the populace just ignored it.
Tim Cook needs to be replaced. Apple doesn't need a traffic cop, it needs a visionary. Execution is important, but it's secondary to inspiration. The idea is king, never forget it.
But it won't happen, because in modern society the board is a tool of the CEO, an echo chamber. And no one likes to take big risks, no one likes to upset the apple cart when things are going reasonably well. But then they start to tank and it's over.
Kind of like the iPad, replaced by the phablet, the large phone.
The iPad was killed by the phablet the same way the iPod was killed by the iPhone. What did Cook and company do? They doubled-down on the iPad, creating a Pro version with a stylus that was a marvel of technology but is something most people just don't need. Meanwhile, there was this canard that the device was a desktop replacement when the truth is it's nothing of the sort.
As for the future...
That's what we depended upon Steve Jobs for. We're not techies, we're not engineers, we're just consumers. We buy, you provide.
So we're down to three, Amazon, Google and Facebook, Apple is over.
And it hurts me to say this, being a Mac user since '86, but he who cannot see the writing on the wall is destined to a life of business illiteracy, never mind being left behind.
You can fail, but you must learn from your mistakes. Amazon killed its Fire phone, but it's building a juggernaut with its Echo. Apple made the big splash, with Siri, but it's the Seattle company that's taking the flag and running with it, doing what Apple used to do best. Yes, Apple did not create the first portable MP3 player nor the first smartphone, it just did it better. Amazon has not only trumped Apple in voice recognition, it put a dent in wireless speaker leader Sonos, which is pivoting at this very moment.
But there's no pivot at Apple, only an endless victory lap.
As for the electric car... Assuming they're building one, Steve didn't focus on me-too products, but breakthrough products. And the breakthrough is in driverless cars, and Google dominates there.
The two founders, the two principals, took over the reins from Eric Schmidt, they no longer need adult supervision. And although they've stumbled here and there, Google keeps pushing the envelope, funding new businesses most people haven't heard of, and adjusting for a mobile economy along the way.
Which Facebook does best. Facebook has made inroads into mobile advertising and the average person just thinks it's a social network, the same way most people don't know the prime revenue driver at Amazon is the web services division, not retail.
Smartphones are nearly a commodity. This is what's hurting Samsung, the cheap competition from the bottom, the Korean company just can't establish enough differentiation to hold on to market share, never mind profits. Sure, the iPhone has an ecosystem, it may even sport the best OS out there, but Apple has been legendarily bad at services and we need look no further to Sony to see how those selling premium-priced products are ultimately eclipsed. Turned out Samsung was just as good, if not better, in flat panel TVs, the Trinitron was no longer an engine of growth. The future comes and if you don't continue to lead, you're toast.
This is not a musical act, which can thrive on the hits of its past. No one wants a cassette Walkman, and no one wants a twenty inch tube TV.
Bill Campbell believed in founders. Turns out adult supervision makes the trains run on time, balances the books, but makes your company moribund. You've got to find a way to keep the crazy innovators in charge. And if they can't adjust their ways, if they can't get along, they're booted, like Andy Rubin, or neutered, like Marissa Mayer, both at Google. And yes, Marissa got another gig, where she's accomplished little, demonstrating the worst parts of her willful, my way or the highway personality in the process. Maybe Yahoo was unfixable, but if the board had done its research it would have never hired her.
Apple needs a house hippie. Someone who can see into the future and bend the company to his or her will. Tim Cook must retreat to doing what he does best, which is overseeing the supply chain, maximizing efficiencies. Steve Jobs got it wrong once, hiring Sculley, he could get it wrong again. The smart money makes changes soon, the dumb money just lets things roll along until the train approaches the wall it's going to crash into.
This has got little to do with finances today. Despite the drop, Apple is huge and still throwing off cash. But business history is littered with those who dominated today but were marginalized tomorrow.
It's hard to find an original, someone strong-willed enough to lead minions into a future frequently only they can see. Which is why most bands and most companies don't make it.
But they shouldn't. Competition is cutthroat, we're only interested in the best.
So I don't know who can lead Apple out of the doldrums. Probably someone young, not invested in the past. Then again, Steve Jobs had an investment in Apple, it was his baby, when he returned he had to make it right.
Who has that investment now?
Kind of like a record company without its founder still in place, run by someone beholden to suits as opposed to his gut.
The history of success is one of great leaps of faith, big risks.
And we haven't seen any risk from Apple in a long time.
Then again, you've got to know where to go.
That's why movies were so great in the seventies, the directors knew where to go. The suits came in and normalized the industry and today it's a meaningless scrapheap that generates cash but has the cultural significance of a trash bag, it does its job, it throws out the garbage, and then you forget about it.
Sure, detractors love to deride the leader. Which just illustrates how hard it is to stay on top. But Zuck buys WhatsApp, knowing that messaging is king, having a vision around the world, and Apple still keeps iMessage locked behind a wall.
It's sad, but it's time to change leadership at Apple now. Before Cook gets uptight and makes lame acquisitions like Ballmer, purchasing the moribund Nokia, most of its value needing to ultimately be written off.
Innovation...
It happens in music. Shawn Fanning led the way, Daniel Ek has picked up the flag. If you think they're the enemy you don't know how the future arrives, it's in the air, if it wasn't Shawn it would have been someone else. Ek just found a way to make streaming music work, and continues to double down on the free tier, raising and spending money when everybody twice his age says he's a bozo.
But those twice his age are already done. They want Robert Plant to reform Led Zeppelin, but in tech we've already established that there's little demand for the past, and the past never grows, it only recedes.
We've got an endless supply of MBAs, people who can install order in a land of chaos. But we've got very few visionaries, those who deserve the ball like Steph Curry. We thought Michael Jordan could never be matched, but it turns out someone playing a different game could wow us. Who knew the three point shot was so effective?
That's right, who knows?
Someone does.
And it's no one at Apple.
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Modern Stardom
NOT EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR NAME
This is what the internet has wrought. It hasn't made everybody a star, hasn't lifted the obscure to ubiquity, but it has muddied the water with so much information that it's nearly impossible to break through. You may be on television, you may be on the cover of a magazine, and still most people are clueless as to your identity.
THEY'RE GONNA KNOW YOUR NAME BEFORE YOUR WORK
It takes too long to check things out. We learn about you from seeing your name everywhere. To investigate, to dig deeper, that's a spontaneous reaction caused by a confluence of factors that cannot be codified. It's the sheer number of name encounters, it's the field you work in, it's the trusted filters saying you're worth it. That's another change in the last three years, we don't even have time to check out what our trusted filters recommend, at most we click through our Spotify Discover Weekly playlist, because we know it was made just for us. We're looking for more that is made just for us.
THE VICTORY LAP COMES FAR IN THE DISTANCE
Lin-Manuel Miranda won Tonys in 2008 for "In The Heights." "Hamilton" got raves at the Public Theater. "Hamilton" opened on Broadway and got the best reviews of any musical in years. The soundtrack album was released...crickets. Then the cast appeared on the Grammys, finally there was some awareness outside the bubble, and that's what NYC is, a place for the wealthy and hip. D.C. is for the government. SF is for the techies. And L.A. is where those without a CV go to become famous, a land of wispy trends that rarely gain traction. So, you live in one of these enclaves and you think what you're involved in is happening, but that's rarely the case. "Hamilton" was the talk of the town but it wasn't until Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped up as its star, in the very recent past, that the show started to move across this great country of ours. We need a focus, now more than ever, we can believe in individuals more than projects, because we are individuals. The fact that someone who is flesh and
blood created such greatness...we're wowed. And when he makes up a ditty for a podcast, raps on "Last Week Tonight"...he starts to become part of the public discussion. Modern stardom is about becoming part of the public discussion, for what you've done in the past and what you are doing now. Miranda is on his way to becoming not only the biggest star in America, but the most anointed, someone who truly everybody will know and adore. And he's 36. So, if you think flash in the pan is everything, if you think you're too old to make it, if you think sans charisma you're toast, you're wrong. Now, more than ever, we're looking for substance. And when we find it the drums start to pound, people start to talk, that's when you're truly on the stardom gravy train. And the funny thing is youngsters hit a wall, oldsters and press with gravitas doesn't care. But the three-dimensional...this is their time, if they're willing to hang in there, wait and create.
HE NOT BUSY BEING BORN IS BUSY DYING
You've got to create constantly. Making an album and milking it only works for the biggest of superstars, like Taylor Swift and Adele. And Swiftie understands the new paradigm, it's only recently she stopped promoting, stopped creating circumstances that got news. She invited the hoi polloi to hear her record in her house, she delivered Christmas gifts, she had guests at her show... Give Swift credit, she's young and understands the game. Meanwhile, oldsters keep wishing it would return to what once was. As for Adele... She's neither here nor there, she had thunderous publicity around her album release and now there's silence while she plays her dates, getting local publicity at best. Might work for Adele, she's the biggest of the big, but not for everybody else. You don't want to be out of the public eye. And the best way to stay in it is to create something new. And it's not about flogging it as much as making sure it exists. An artist today is...an artist today. Not a pretty
face, not a public figure, but someone who is known for what he or she does. Kanye gets it too. Sure, he's boasting and bloviating, but he's also making videos, creating clothing, giving us something to react to and talk about. As for Beyonce... She knows that advance work is worthless, especially because it's not monetized. You sell as soon as you are ready. But beware of blowing your complete load at once, it's very easy for the public to move on, what's big news in the morning can be forgotten in the afternoon, which is why you must keep creating.
EDGES HOOK
The blander you are, the less chance you'll stick. What rises to the top is what's different, what makes us question our preconceptions and ourselves. Trainwreck can get looky-loos, but if there's a backstory there's a greater chance of longevity.
LEVERAGE
That's right, stars today leverage their stardom, to make political statements, to move the ball. I'm not sure whether the Boss's boycott of North Carolina will change conditions in the state, but it certainly boosted his image and his career. As for those who don't care...there are always those who don't care, you're doing a disservice to your career by playing to them. And the funny thing is, so many detractors ultimately come on board, they're sick of being left out, they sample your wares and get addicted to your talent, this is the story of Howard Stern. Stern also focuses on truth. In the social media world, where everything is exposed, cultivating image is a mistake. You reveal your true identity and dig deep, knowing everybody makes mistakes and you will too. Mistakes are plowed under by the endless news cycle, don't worry about getting it perfect.
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG
The newspaper is not where you build your career, publicity there is nearly worthless, unless you're a niche artist building your career on cred. And late night TV just gives these same wankers something to talk about, active buyers, certainly millennials, believe television is something you watch on demand, they might view comedy clips culled from late night shows online, but to sit there and watch an entire program...that would be torture. Kind of like 24 hour cable news, which gets anemic ratings and is mostly just people shouting at each other, or purveying biased opinions. News is an on demand item online. And people are going to Facebook to get it, not the homepage of the vaunted periodical. Carefully plotted media campaigns can be executed, but they rarely achieve their goals. Today you walk into the morass and just start spewing. If you do something newsworthy it will spread online, amongst users first and the news media last. Look inward, not outward. If it feels good to
you, do it. If it seems phony or just done for eyeballs, don't.
BE HAPPY WHERE YOU ARE
One Direction's music was unknown by so many, but the act sold out stadiums. World domination is a thing of the past. We lived in a monoculture where MTV minted stars overnight, today we live in a Balkanized world where nobody knows the truth and despite all our online connections we feel socially isolated, that's why everybody's posting their activities online, they want to be known, accepted, move up the food chain. We look to art to explain all this, the human condition. We bond with art. TV is in its heyday. Movies have gone off the deep end, in pursuit of worldwide profits to the point where the title of the movie about comic book characters is the entire plot. Music is the x-factor. Music is personal. It evidences the thoughts, feelings and identity of the creator. People look to music to not only soothe and inspire them, but to educate them. Technology is the story of the last fifteen years, the story of the next fifteen is the art. We've got all the tools. Have you got
something to say?
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This is what the internet has wrought. It hasn't made everybody a star, hasn't lifted the obscure to ubiquity, but it has muddied the water with so much information that it's nearly impossible to break through. You may be on television, you may be on the cover of a magazine, and still most people are clueless as to your identity.
THEY'RE GONNA KNOW YOUR NAME BEFORE YOUR WORK
It takes too long to check things out. We learn about you from seeing your name everywhere. To investigate, to dig deeper, that's a spontaneous reaction caused by a confluence of factors that cannot be codified. It's the sheer number of name encounters, it's the field you work in, it's the trusted filters saying you're worth it. That's another change in the last three years, we don't even have time to check out what our trusted filters recommend, at most we click through our Spotify Discover Weekly playlist, because we know it was made just for us. We're looking for more that is made just for us.
THE VICTORY LAP COMES FAR IN THE DISTANCE
Lin-Manuel Miranda won Tonys in 2008 for "In The Heights." "Hamilton" got raves at the Public Theater. "Hamilton" opened on Broadway and got the best reviews of any musical in years. The soundtrack album was released...crickets. Then the cast appeared on the Grammys, finally there was some awareness outside the bubble, and that's what NYC is, a place for the wealthy and hip. D.C. is for the government. SF is for the techies. And L.A. is where those without a CV go to become famous, a land of wispy trends that rarely gain traction. So, you live in one of these enclaves and you think what you're involved in is happening, but that's rarely the case. "Hamilton" was the talk of the town but it wasn't until Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped up as its star, in the very recent past, that the show started to move across this great country of ours. We need a focus, now more than ever, we can believe in individuals more than projects, because we are individuals. The fact that someone who is flesh and
blood created such greatness...we're wowed. And when he makes up a ditty for a podcast, raps on "Last Week Tonight"...he starts to become part of the public discussion. Modern stardom is about becoming part of the public discussion, for what you've done in the past and what you are doing now. Miranda is on his way to becoming not only the biggest star in America, but the most anointed, someone who truly everybody will know and adore. And he's 36. So, if you think flash in the pan is everything, if you think you're too old to make it, if you think sans charisma you're toast, you're wrong. Now, more than ever, we're looking for substance. And when we find it the drums start to pound, people start to talk, that's when you're truly on the stardom gravy train. And the funny thing is youngsters hit a wall, oldsters and press with gravitas doesn't care. But the three-dimensional...this is their time, if they're willing to hang in there, wait and create.
HE NOT BUSY BEING BORN IS BUSY DYING
You've got to create constantly. Making an album and milking it only works for the biggest of superstars, like Taylor Swift and Adele. And Swiftie understands the new paradigm, it's only recently she stopped promoting, stopped creating circumstances that got news. She invited the hoi polloi to hear her record in her house, she delivered Christmas gifts, she had guests at her show... Give Swift credit, she's young and understands the game. Meanwhile, oldsters keep wishing it would return to what once was. As for Adele... She's neither here nor there, she had thunderous publicity around her album release and now there's silence while she plays her dates, getting local publicity at best. Might work for Adele, she's the biggest of the big, but not for everybody else. You don't want to be out of the public eye. And the best way to stay in it is to create something new. And it's not about flogging it as much as making sure it exists. An artist today is...an artist today. Not a pretty
face, not a public figure, but someone who is known for what he or she does. Kanye gets it too. Sure, he's boasting and bloviating, but he's also making videos, creating clothing, giving us something to react to and talk about. As for Beyonce... She knows that advance work is worthless, especially because it's not monetized. You sell as soon as you are ready. But beware of blowing your complete load at once, it's very easy for the public to move on, what's big news in the morning can be forgotten in the afternoon, which is why you must keep creating.
EDGES HOOK
The blander you are, the less chance you'll stick. What rises to the top is what's different, what makes us question our preconceptions and ourselves. Trainwreck can get looky-loos, but if there's a backstory there's a greater chance of longevity.
LEVERAGE
That's right, stars today leverage their stardom, to make political statements, to move the ball. I'm not sure whether the Boss's boycott of North Carolina will change conditions in the state, but it certainly boosted his image and his career. As for those who don't care...there are always those who don't care, you're doing a disservice to your career by playing to them. And the funny thing is, so many detractors ultimately come on board, they're sick of being left out, they sample your wares and get addicted to your talent, this is the story of Howard Stern. Stern also focuses on truth. In the social media world, where everything is exposed, cultivating image is a mistake. You reveal your true identity and dig deep, knowing everybody makes mistakes and you will too. Mistakes are plowed under by the endless news cycle, don't worry about getting it perfect.
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG
The newspaper is not where you build your career, publicity there is nearly worthless, unless you're a niche artist building your career on cred. And late night TV just gives these same wankers something to talk about, active buyers, certainly millennials, believe television is something you watch on demand, they might view comedy clips culled from late night shows online, but to sit there and watch an entire program...that would be torture. Kind of like 24 hour cable news, which gets anemic ratings and is mostly just people shouting at each other, or purveying biased opinions. News is an on demand item online. And people are going to Facebook to get it, not the homepage of the vaunted periodical. Carefully plotted media campaigns can be executed, but they rarely achieve their goals. Today you walk into the morass and just start spewing. If you do something newsworthy it will spread online, amongst users first and the news media last. Look inward, not outward. If it feels good to
you, do it. If it seems phony or just done for eyeballs, don't.
BE HAPPY WHERE YOU ARE
One Direction's music was unknown by so many, but the act sold out stadiums. World domination is a thing of the past. We lived in a monoculture where MTV minted stars overnight, today we live in a Balkanized world where nobody knows the truth and despite all our online connections we feel socially isolated, that's why everybody's posting their activities online, they want to be known, accepted, move up the food chain. We look to art to explain all this, the human condition. We bond with art. TV is in its heyday. Movies have gone off the deep end, in pursuit of worldwide profits to the point where the title of the movie about comic book characters is the entire plot. Music is the x-factor. Music is personal. It evidences the thoughts, feelings and identity of the creator. People look to music to not only soothe and inspire them, but to educate them. Technology is the story of the last fifteen years, the story of the next fifteen is the art. We've got all the tools. Have you got
something to say?
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Monday 25 April 2016
Prince Obervations
I NEVER WANTED TO BE YOUR WEEKEND LOVER
But he was.
I was stunned what big news this was. In an era where info comes and goes, where nobody dominates the news cycle and reaches everybody, Prince's death not only eclipsed the demise of all of this year's luminaries, it echoed the deaths of Elvis Presley and John Lennon. It stopped us in our tracks. I'm not sure he realized how deeply beloved he was.
After being hounded with election stories for nearly a year, after hearing how big Taylor Swift and Beyonce are despite them having a fraction of the penetration of the acts of yore, it was stunning to see Prince wipe the slate clean, be the talk of the town, be respected by news organizations like "The New Yorker," which turned its cover purple, and sports teams and cities... It reminds us of the power of music. Especially when made by someone who seemed beholden to the sound as opposed to the adulation, to the music as opposed to the money, to the song as opposed to the stardom.
Let this be a beacon for the younger generation, who believe selling out is the goal and cash the reward. Are you a musician or an attraction? When your motive is pure you gain the best results.
MUSIC IN SCHOOL COUNTS
Prince played trumpet in the junior high school band:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/my-classmate-prince-the-rock-star-1461279053
Something has been lost in the dash for cash, the anointment and adulation of the billionaires. Our society has become coarse and it's every person for themselves. Too many say taxes have to be cut and services have to be eviscerated because the government wastes money. But one thing the government provides is education. And music and art used to be part of the curriculum. And the outpouring of grief, the hubbub, is testimony to the fact that art triumphs over money every day of the week. Sure, Prince was rich. Sure, he was a star. But the discussion centered around the man's music, his identity, as opposed to the trappings.
When are we going to realize we're all in the same family? When are we going to lift each other up? When are we going to realize culture is more important than GDP?
MINNESOTA
Everybody else moves to L.A. or New York. Maybe when their fame fades they retire to Montana or Virginia, even go back home. But as big a star as Prince was, who he was was more important, and he was a Midwestern boy with Midwestern values and felt most comfortable away from the flash, where everybody knew his name but respected his privacy. He spoke via his music, as opposed to the nightclub encounters, the tinseltown shenanigans that keep the gossip columns alive.
NORMALCY
He rode a bike. Do today's social media stars even know how?
Life is about more than being seen. You need to live it to have something to say. Experience is everything. Prince played basketball, he was a man of the people, but he was not. He was amongst us, but above us. Not because he kept his distance, but because he was so damn talented.
10,000 HOURS
Used to be you could labor in obscurity. It was nearly impossible to get noticed. You honed your chops in the hope you could get a record deal, for without it you were destined to be playing local bars.
Turns out there's a limited pool of great talent in America. The internet did not surface a ton of overlooked musicians screwed by the system. But tireless self-promoters willing to do anything to get noticed did pop up. And with so many vying for attention it's become harder than ever to break through. Does this herald a day when stardom will come later, after people pay their dues and work out the kinks? Probably. We've got a two-tiered stardom. The tools of the system, the youngsters willing to to be molded, written for, primped and promoted... And those taking an alternative path, finding out who they are and what they want to be and emerging fully-formed at a relatively later age. This is the story of the Beatles, this is the story of Prince. Neither needed artist development in the classic record company sense. They both were ready when the spotlight shone. It is not the label's duty to sign and nurture you, it's now your own responsibility, the same way you provide your own
tech help. You have all the tools at your fingertips, recording and promotion are cheap and easy. However the waters are full, which means you must be that much better to survive. Prince was.
SCARCITY
Died with the internet and only Prince adjusted, maybe Garth Brooks too, although Garth was so buy being aw-shucks about it his endless tour resembled a carney attraction. Prince played. So much you could get a ticket. Which was cheap if there were a lot of people there and expensive if there were few. He was hiding in plain sight. He was a working musician. Garth keeps saying he's doing it for the fans, it was clear Prince was doing it for himself. Sure, he liked the exuberance of the fans, but the shows seemed scheduled to burn off energy, you went to see him burn bright. And he may not have played what you wanted to hear, but you had no doubt he was giving it his all.
So all this hogwash about ticket scalping...
Maybe you just need to play more. Even if it's a month in one city.
As for bitching that you have to go on the road...
True musicians love to work.
BLACK OR WHITE
Michael Jackson was seen as an oddball. He anointed himself the King Of Pop but we revered the records more than the man. He was a star to all, but a weirdo. Turns out Prince was the guy both black and white embraced. The music was the linchpin, but the identity, the gender-bending, the fashion, liberated all, gay and straight, those of all ethnicities. He had to die for us to realize what a deep impact he had.
ALONE
Married twice, Prince went home alone the night before he died. You think fame solves all your issues, anxiety and loneliness, but it doesn't.
THE VAULT
He never stopped working. You never heard Prince bitch that people weren't listening. He recorded because he needed to.
THE INTERNET
He tried to figure it out, he thought going direct to the people was the answer. But the truth is making and promoting are two different things and you're best off keeping the latter to professionals.
As for keeping his music off YouTube, Spotify, et al...
It will be on now. For all to hear for all time.
I tried to pull up his tracks, and when I came up empty I remembered...you had to pay.
So I combed through thousands of discs, turned on my CD player for the first time in eons.
And listened.
More money would have been made if streaming was available, because there was limited inventory in the retail stores, except for iTunes, where they could make copies ad infinitum.
That's the modern era, it's there if you want it.
We wanted Prince.
And, like Elvis, it appears we're gonna want him for a very long time.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Dead is dead, doesn't matter how it happens. And it wasn't until yesterday or today that it sunk in that Prince was gone. Prince never fell off our radar, we expected him to pop up on a regular basis, with recordings, shows and pronouncements. And unlike seemingly everybody else, he did not lose a step, he could still wail and wanted to.
We might never know what really happened. Go online and you can read theories spinning drugs, disease and religion. Funny how in the information age we can know so little.
But Prince only wanted us to know so much. He put the music first, and let it speak for him. Funny how at the end of the day our stars are two-dimensional. You think you know them, but you really don't.
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But he was.
I was stunned what big news this was. In an era where info comes and goes, where nobody dominates the news cycle and reaches everybody, Prince's death not only eclipsed the demise of all of this year's luminaries, it echoed the deaths of Elvis Presley and John Lennon. It stopped us in our tracks. I'm not sure he realized how deeply beloved he was.
After being hounded with election stories for nearly a year, after hearing how big Taylor Swift and Beyonce are despite them having a fraction of the penetration of the acts of yore, it was stunning to see Prince wipe the slate clean, be the talk of the town, be respected by news organizations like "The New Yorker," which turned its cover purple, and sports teams and cities... It reminds us of the power of music. Especially when made by someone who seemed beholden to the sound as opposed to the adulation, to the music as opposed to the money, to the song as opposed to the stardom.
Let this be a beacon for the younger generation, who believe selling out is the goal and cash the reward. Are you a musician or an attraction? When your motive is pure you gain the best results.
MUSIC IN SCHOOL COUNTS
Prince played trumpet in the junior high school band:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/my-classmate-prince-the-rock-star-1461279053
Something has been lost in the dash for cash, the anointment and adulation of the billionaires. Our society has become coarse and it's every person for themselves. Too many say taxes have to be cut and services have to be eviscerated because the government wastes money. But one thing the government provides is education. And music and art used to be part of the curriculum. And the outpouring of grief, the hubbub, is testimony to the fact that art triumphs over money every day of the week. Sure, Prince was rich. Sure, he was a star. But the discussion centered around the man's music, his identity, as opposed to the trappings.
When are we going to realize we're all in the same family? When are we going to lift each other up? When are we going to realize culture is more important than GDP?
MINNESOTA
Everybody else moves to L.A. or New York. Maybe when their fame fades they retire to Montana or Virginia, even go back home. But as big a star as Prince was, who he was was more important, and he was a Midwestern boy with Midwestern values and felt most comfortable away from the flash, where everybody knew his name but respected his privacy. He spoke via his music, as opposed to the nightclub encounters, the tinseltown shenanigans that keep the gossip columns alive.
NORMALCY
He rode a bike. Do today's social media stars even know how?
Life is about more than being seen. You need to live it to have something to say. Experience is everything. Prince played basketball, he was a man of the people, but he was not. He was amongst us, but above us. Not because he kept his distance, but because he was so damn talented.
10,000 HOURS
Used to be you could labor in obscurity. It was nearly impossible to get noticed. You honed your chops in the hope you could get a record deal, for without it you were destined to be playing local bars.
Turns out there's a limited pool of great talent in America. The internet did not surface a ton of overlooked musicians screwed by the system. But tireless self-promoters willing to do anything to get noticed did pop up. And with so many vying for attention it's become harder than ever to break through. Does this herald a day when stardom will come later, after people pay their dues and work out the kinks? Probably. We've got a two-tiered stardom. The tools of the system, the youngsters willing to to be molded, written for, primped and promoted... And those taking an alternative path, finding out who they are and what they want to be and emerging fully-formed at a relatively later age. This is the story of the Beatles, this is the story of Prince. Neither needed artist development in the classic record company sense. They both were ready when the spotlight shone. It is not the label's duty to sign and nurture you, it's now your own responsibility, the same way you provide your own
tech help. You have all the tools at your fingertips, recording and promotion are cheap and easy. However the waters are full, which means you must be that much better to survive. Prince was.
SCARCITY
Died with the internet and only Prince adjusted, maybe Garth Brooks too, although Garth was so buy being aw-shucks about it his endless tour resembled a carney attraction. Prince played. So much you could get a ticket. Which was cheap if there were a lot of people there and expensive if there were few. He was hiding in plain sight. He was a working musician. Garth keeps saying he's doing it for the fans, it was clear Prince was doing it for himself. Sure, he liked the exuberance of the fans, but the shows seemed scheduled to burn off energy, you went to see him burn bright. And he may not have played what you wanted to hear, but you had no doubt he was giving it his all.
So all this hogwash about ticket scalping...
Maybe you just need to play more. Even if it's a month in one city.
As for bitching that you have to go on the road...
True musicians love to work.
BLACK OR WHITE
Michael Jackson was seen as an oddball. He anointed himself the King Of Pop but we revered the records more than the man. He was a star to all, but a weirdo. Turns out Prince was the guy both black and white embraced. The music was the linchpin, but the identity, the gender-bending, the fashion, liberated all, gay and straight, those of all ethnicities. He had to die for us to realize what a deep impact he had.
ALONE
Married twice, Prince went home alone the night before he died. You think fame solves all your issues, anxiety and loneliness, but it doesn't.
THE VAULT
He never stopped working. You never heard Prince bitch that people weren't listening. He recorded because he needed to.
THE INTERNET
He tried to figure it out, he thought going direct to the people was the answer. But the truth is making and promoting are two different things and you're best off keeping the latter to professionals.
As for keeping his music off YouTube, Spotify, et al...
It will be on now. For all to hear for all time.
I tried to pull up his tracks, and when I came up empty I remembered...you had to pay.
So I combed through thousands of discs, turned on my CD player for the first time in eons.
And listened.
More money would have been made if streaming was available, because there was limited inventory in the retail stores, except for iTunes, where they could make copies ad infinitum.
That's the modern era, it's there if you want it.
We wanted Prince.
And, like Elvis, it appears we're gonna want him for a very long time.
CAUSE OF DEATH
Dead is dead, doesn't matter how it happens. And it wasn't until yesterday or today that it sunk in that Prince was gone. Prince never fell off our radar, we expected him to pop up on a regular basis, with recordings, shows and pronouncements. And unlike seemingly everybody else, he did not lose a step, he could still wail and wanted to.
We might never know what really happened. Go online and you can read theories spinning drugs, disease and religion. Funny how in the information age we can know so little.
But Prince only wanted us to know so much. He put the music first, and let it speak for him. Funny how at the end of the day our stars are two-dimensional. You think you know them, but you really don't.
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