Wait a second, isn't music video dead? Didn't it bite the dust when MTV went to scripted programming? How many years did we hear musicians bitch about this?
They were completely wrong. Video is bigger than ever. And it's in your hands as opposed to the gatekeepers'. It's the same, yet different, as everything is in the future.
This clip is cut from the same cloth as Madonna's "Sex" book. That's the appeal, it'll bring so many looky-loos, but in this case you don't have to buy it to see it, that's so last century, it's free for the taking on the internet. Because in today's world you don't charge for everything, you garner your audience and monetize later, like the tech companies.
Now there was a premiere at the Forum. At first I bought the press reaction, to this and the Madison Square Garden reveal, that everybody's showing up for a non-show. But the truth is when you're young and dumb with nothing better to do you do. Show up, that is. I remember going to record store in-stores, just to be close to the band. If I were still twenty five I'd pay $25 to go to the Forum. To be part of the experience. Come on, imagine the story you could tell, you could dine out on it for weeks!
And since the Forum is an all music building, little advance planning was necessary. So different from being beholden to sports teams in arenas that view music as a second-class citizen.
And there was little advance notice. When tours go on sale a year ahead of time, locking up that dough, all commerce, this was a whim. It was happening right away. Kanye knows the modern paradigm. Just like advance publicity is history, you don't want a long lead time, immediacy is everything. And, in a world dominated by screens, hanging with real live people is such a thrill. It's worth twenty five bucks.
So, you had the event, which was monetized. At a very low price.
And now you've got the video.
Unlike in the days of MTV, you can watch it on demand. You don't have to wait for it to come up. This is what Netflix knows and terrestrial radio doesn't understand. We want it all and we want it now, and if you aren't moving your enterprise in that direction you're headed for the trash bin.
And despite its fame, ratings for MTV were paltry. 100,000 people at a time was de rigueur. Well, right now 70,898 people are simultaneously streaming "Famous" on the feed I'm watching. But they can play it again and again, embed it on social media, spread the word... Today music is a virus, and it can infect broad swaths of the public rapidly.
But then it so frequently burns out. This is a stunt. We won't be talking about it next month, if we're even discussing it next week. But that's okay, Kanye will come up with something else. Whilst radio takes a year to move a track up the chart modern creators know it's not about reaching every last potential audience member, but satiating the core and moving on.
As for the content, when you marry boobies and fame you've hit the jackpot. All but the asexual want to see this clip at least once. Hell, you slow down on the freeway to view an accident, right?
And this is a trainwreck the media can't avoid covering. The modern media, which has little analysis but loves headlines which generate clicks so they can sell advertising. Kanye is their dream, whether you like him or not.
And Kanye claiming it's all real just adds fuel to the fire. Come on who would believe this? But the press prints it.
But they won't tell the story of the up and coming act, unless the performer has an ace PR person. But even if you get ink, there's no virality, which is the juice that fuels the enterprise today. If it's not spreading, it's not happening.
If you were alive back when, when Madonna put out her book, you might claim you've seen this before. But not really. Not only is this externally focused, not solely about Kanye in the clip, it's a demonstration of modern pull, whereas Madonna was all about push. The media and the public are coming to Kanye. Madonna had to push her book down our throats, she's still utilizing that paradigm, not knowing she appears desperate.
But few can be as hot as Kanye.
But he's not a creature of the machine, he did all this himself.
That's what the modern tools will give you.
That's what the internet provides.
It's all good, as the kids say.
Watch here: http://goo.gl/1pqOFd
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Saturday 25 June 2016
Friday 24 June 2016
Led Zeppelin IV
I heard "Black Dog" at Tony's Pizza.
I don't know if students get drunk the same way we did back in college, when they lowered the drinking age to eighteen and imbibing was a novelty, when all we'd ever known was dope. We didn't go to fraternity parties, the Greeks certainly were not freaks and their entire system was anathema. Instead, every Friday and Saturday night we'd buy a six pack, Schlitz, you never wanted to be a Budweiser person, it might have been the King of Beers but we saw it as pedestrian, and if it was a special weekend we went with Michelob. It'd start around 8, in somebody's dorm room, no one lived off campus, it was always in the dorm. And at some point as the evening wore on we needed sustenance, and the only option was at the edge of campus, the aforementioned Tony's Pizza, where the pies were only one step up from edible, back before there was any delivery, never mind Domino's.
Actually, it was the manager of Tony's who convinced us to drink Schlitz. Twenty seven, he seemed so much older than us, with a wife and a kid and a Plymouth Duster. We ultimately became friends, he let us make our own pizzas in the back, we spent a lot of time at Tony's, and we knew everything on the jukebox.
This was the fall of '71. So there was a lot of "Riders On The Storm." Morrison had just died, the band had been in a lull, they'd parted ways with their producer, we expected dreck but we got a classic.
And then there was "Black Dog."
I was done with Led Zeppelin. An early adopter, I'd seen them in the rain at Yale Bowl just before I'd departed for college, just before the release of "III," which I overpaid for at the Vermont Book Shop, I was just that big a fan. But although I loved "Gallows Pole," and became enamored of "Tangerine," I was disappointed, the band seemed to have gone off track, and with only so much money to spend on LPs, I didn't bother with IV, I felt they were past their peak.
Now if you lived in civilization, with good radio, you were immediately exposed to "Stairway To Heaven," IV didn't jump out of the box like "II," which was an instant ubiquitous hit, but it got traction, amongst the brain dead headbangers who'd finally grown their hair out and been exposed to FM radio. Yes, I had contempt for them, I was a hipster, all I had were my bona fides, personally established, they might not have meant anything to anybody else, but they were oh-so-important to me.
But I never heard "Stairway." I just got "Black Dog" and then "Rock And Roll" at Tony's. No one at Middlebury would be caught dead with Led Zeppelin, everybody cottoned to the Dead and the Allman Brothers and you had to be laid back as opposed to in your face. So...
I was out of the loop.
Self-satisfiedly so. I mean "Rock And Roll"? Is that what you sing about when you've completely run out of ideas?
And by time I got back to Connecticut, "Stairway" had run its course. I discovered it eons late, looking at that dumb painting in the gatefold cover at a friend's abode, he couldn't believe I didn't know it, so he played it, I got it, but I didn't need to hear it ad infinitum.
And then IV was superseded by "Houses Of The Holy," and to this day I can't take "D'yer Mak'er," lame English reggae overplayed on the FM. Which now was beyond its salad days, we started to get countdowns, on holiday weekends, especially Memorial Day, with its 500, and "Stairway" always topped the list.
But it wasn't until '75 that I truly got into "IV," after the release of "Physical Graffiti," which I came to love, hearing it every damn day after skiing at Mammoth Mountain during the month of May. The guy who brings the stereo controls the music, and one thing about twentysomethings, they love to hear the same damn songs over and over again. But I learned of "Kashmir," and "Ten Years Gone" and "In My Time Of Dying" and...
IV.
It too was on an 8-track tape. That's what we were listening to, Jimmy had recorded the albums back in Utah and brought his stereo along. I felt superior to his taste, the Zeppelin, the Doobies, but that's where my love of each was cemented.
I now needed my own copies. I bought "Physical Graffiti," I bought IV, and during that month of October when I was back home in Connecticut, training for the freestyle circuit, wondering where my life was going, I listened to them every damn day.
I might have been a college graduate, but it was just like high school. My parents would be in bed, I'd put on the headphones, turn out the light and crank it up. And that's when "When The Levee Breaks" revealed itself to me.
I call it the heaviest track of all time, because I remember the force pounding in my ears, like Bonzo was hitting the skins with baseball bats, like I was on DMT, this cut with absolutely no airplay entranced me, made me feel like I bonded with these madmen.
And then there was "Going To California," a state I yearned to get back to, this was the promise of "III," acoustic, but on target, and... This was before the internet, California was a dream, and "Going To California" was dreamy, they captured the essence, that's the power of music, when done right it exceeds all other art forms.
And now, in context, with knowledge, I could understand the magic of "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll," I'd heard them over and over at Tony's but there was never any penetration, I knew them but didn't like them, but now I did.
But the piece de resistance was "The Battle Of Evermore."
I knew who Sandy Denny was. I'd seen Fairport Convention, albeit after she'd left. Her vocals here seemed part of a continuum, starting with Merry Clayton on "Gimmie Shelter," moving on to Maggie Bell on "Every Picture Tells A Story" and ending up here. All three women's vocals were secondary elements of their respective cuts, yet it was their work that put the tracks over the top. They radiated a womanly touch absent from their male counterparts' work, they added sass and meaning and...all I know is I wanted to bring it back. That month in Mammoth, the clarity I once had, the vision, the direction, I only seemed rooted when I was listening to music.
The sound was so ethereal, the track started over a hill and far away, and then it came front and center, like gypsies coming to town, exotic creatures that could not help but fascinate you.
And as much as "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" were headbanging headbeaters, tracks to prove that Zeppelin was the biggest band in the land and you'd better pay attention, "Evermore" seemed to be cut without the audience in mind whatsoever, this was the power of the legendary acts, there was a barrier between them and us, we could get a peak by buying the record, but we could never gain access, they were dark, mysterious figures on an aural journey of their own device.
But by this time, with constant FM overplay, it seemed like only the dimwitted and dull still believed. Sure, "Stairway" was a staple, but "Graffiti" had no singles, "Kashmir" was too heavy for school dances, suddenly I was washed upon a shore with people I wanted nothing to do with, the uneducated blue collar beer drinkers...but then I realized, I was one of them too, I started testifying, how great Led Zeppelin was, as good as they ever were, and I just got eye rolls and stares, statements that the band had peaked on their first LP, with their blues influenced numbers.
Which cast me adrift. I was long gone from Middlebury, and I didn't want to return. My freestyle career was a bust. I belonged nowhere, except in front of the speakers, with the amplifier cranked to the max. And the funny thing is I could never burn out on these tracks, they continued to satisfy.
I bought a ticket for the Rose Bowl.
Robert had that accident and the show was canceled.
I ended up seeing the band at the Forum in '77. In a seat close to the ceiling. But I was thrilled just to be inside, they played like they meant it, that they were godhead and you were privileged to be in attendance.
Yes, I was there.
And now you can't even see Led Zeppelin. Bonzo's dead and Robert can't hit the notes and doesn't want to do it anyway, because he doesn't believe in nostalgia.
And neither do I. If you're not going forward you're being left behind. People want to pigeonhole you, put you in a box, but not only is that inner death, the truth is what people want most is something new.
But that does not mean my entire life is not locked up in these records, that when I play them they don't reveal experiences and feelings, ironically continuing to reveal new truths.
In case you don't know, the piper's calling you to join him.
I'm a member of the cult. Listen to the glorious sound, but beware, you'll soon be a member too.
That's the power of music.
That's the power of Led Zeppelin
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I don't know if students get drunk the same way we did back in college, when they lowered the drinking age to eighteen and imbibing was a novelty, when all we'd ever known was dope. We didn't go to fraternity parties, the Greeks certainly were not freaks and their entire system was anathema. Instead, every Friday and Saturday night we'd buy a six pack, Schlitz, you never wanted to be a Budweiser person, it might have been the King of Beers but we saw it as pedestrian, and if it was a special weekend we went with Michelob. It'd start around 8, in somebody's dorm room, no one lived off campus, it was always in the dorm. And at some point as the evening wore on we needed sustenance, and the only option was at the edge of campus, the aforementioned Tony's Pizza, where the pies were only one step up from edible, back before there was any delivery, never mind Domino's.
Actually, it was the manager of Tony's who convinced us to drink Schlitz. Twenty seven, he seemed so much older than us, with a wife and a kid and a Plymouth Duster. We ultimately became friends, he let us make our own pizzas in the back, we spent a lot of time at Tony's, and we knew everything on the jukebox.
This was the fall of '71. So there was a lot of "Riders On The Storm." Morrison had just died, the band had been in a lull, they'd parted ways with their producer, we expected dreck but we got a classic.
And then there was "Black Dog."
I was done with Led Zeppelin. An early adopter, I'd seen them in the rain at Yale Bowl just before I'd departed for college, just before the release of "III," which I overpaid for at the Vermont Book Shop, I was just that big a fan. But although I loved "Gallows Pole," and became enamored of "Tangerine," I was disappointed, the band seemed to have gone off track, and with only so much money to spend on LPs, I didn't bother with IV, I felt they were past their peak.
Now if you lived in civilization, with good radio, you were immediately exposed to "Stairway To Heaven," IV didn't jump out of the box like "II," which was an instant ubiquitous hit, but it got traction, amongst the brain dead headbangers who'd finally grown their hair out and been exposed to FM radio. Yes, I had contempt for them, I was a hipster, all I had were my bona fides, personally established, they might not have meant anything to anybody else, but they were oh-so-important to me.
But I never heard "Stairway." I just got "Black Dog" and then "Rock And Roll" at Tony's. No one at Middlebury would be caught dead with Led Zeppelin, everybody cottoned to the Dead and the Allman Brothers and you had to be laid back as opposed to in your face. So...
I was out of the loop.
Self-satisfiedly so. I mean "Rock And Roll"? Is that what you sing about when you've completely run out of ideas?
And by time I got back to Connecticut, "Stairway" had run its course. I discovered it eons late, looking at that dumb painting in the gatefold cover at a friend's abode, he couldn't believe I didn't know it, so he played it, I got it, but I didn't need to hear it ad infinitum.
And then IV was superseded by "Houses Of The Holy," and to this day I can't take "D'yer Mak'er," lame English reggae overplayed on the FM. Which now was beyond its salad days, we started to get countdowns, on holiday weekends, especially Memorial Day, with its 500, and "Stairway" always topped the list.
But it wasn't until '75 that I truly got into "IV," after the release of "Physical Graffiti," which I came to love, hearing it every damn day after skiing at Mammoth Mountain during the month of May. The guy who brings the stereo controls the music, and one thing about twentysomethings, they love to hear the same damn songs over and over again. But I learned of "Kashmir," and "Ten Years Gone" and "In My Time Of Dying" and...
IV.
It too was on an 8-track tape. That's what we were listening to, Jimmy had recorded the albums back in Utah and brought his stereo along. I felt superior to his taste, the Zeppelin, the Doobies, but that's where my love of each was cemented.
I now needed my own copies. I bought "Physical Graffiti," I bought IV, and during that month of October when I was back home in Connecticut, training for the freestyle circuit, wondering where my life was going, I listened to them every damn day.
I might have been a college graduate, but it was just like high school. My parents would be in bed, I'd put on the headphones, turn out the light and crank it up. And that's when "When The Levee Breaks" revealed itself to me.
I call it the heaviest track of all time, because I remember the force pounding in my ears, like Bonzo was hitting the skins with baseball bats, like I was on DMT, this cut with absolutely no airplay entranced me, made me feel like I bonded with these madmen.
And then there was "Going To California," a state I yearned to get back to, this was the promise of "III," acoustic, but on target, and... This was before the internet, California was a dream, and "Going To California" was dreamy, they captured the essence, that's the power of music, when done right it exceeds all other art forms.
And now, in context, with knowledge, I could understand the magic of "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll," I'd heard them over and over at Tony's but there was never any penetration, I knew them but didn't like them, but now I did.
But the piece de resistance was "The Battle Of Evermore."
I knew who Sandy Denny was. I'd seen Fairport Convention, albeit after she'd left. Her vocals here seemed part of a continuum, starting with Merry Clayton on "Gimmie Shelter," moving on to Maggie Bell on "Every Picture Tells A Story" and ending up here. All three women's vocals were secondary elements of their respective cuts, yet it was their work that put the tracks over the top. They radiated a womanly touch absent from their male counterparts' work, they added sass and meaning and...all I know is I wanted to bring it back. That month in Mammoth, the clarity I once had, the vision, the direction, I only seemed rooted when I was listening to music.
The sound was so ethereal, the track started over a hill and far away, and then it came front and center, like gypsies coming to town, exotic creatures that could not help but fascinate you.
And as much as "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll" were headbanging headbeaters, tracks to prove that Zeppelin was the biggest band in the land and you'd better pay attention, "Evermore" seemed to be cut without the audience in mind whatsoever, this was the power of the legendary acts, there was a barrier between them and us, we could get a peak by buying the record, but we could never gain access, they were dark, mysterious figures on an aural journey of their own device.
But by this time, with constant FM overplay, it seemed like only the dimwitted and dull still believed. Sure, "Stairway" was a staple, but "Graffiti" had no singles, "Kashmir" was too heavy for school dances, suddenly I was washed upon a shore with people I wanted nothing to do with, the uneducated blue collar beer drinkers...but then I realized, I was one of them too, I started testifying, how great Led Zeppelin was, as good as they ever were, and I just got eye rolls and stares, statements that the band had peaked on their first LP, with their blues influenced numbers.
Which cast me adrift. I was long gone from Middlebury, and I didn't want to return. My freestyle career was a bust. I belonged nowhere, except in front of the speakers, with the amplifier cranked to the max. And the funny thing is I could never burn out on these tracks, they continued to satisfy.
I bought a ticket for the Rose Bowl.
Robert had that accident and the show was canceled.
I ended up seeing the band at the Forum in '77. In a seat close to the ceiling. But I was thrilled just to be inside, they played like they meant it, that they were godhead and you were privileged to be in attendance.
Yes, I was there.
And now you can't even see Led Zeppelin. Bonzo's dead and Robert can't hit the notes and doesn't want to do it anyway, because he doesn't believe in nostalgia.
And neither do I. If you're not going forward you're being left behind. People want to pigeonhole you, put you in a box, but not only is that inner death, the truth is what people want most is something new.
But that does not mean my entire life is not locked up in these records, that when I play them they don't reveal experiences and feelings, ironically continuing to reveal new truths.
In case you don't know, the piper's calling you to join him.
I'm a member of the cult. Listen to the glorious sound, but beware, you'll soon be a member too.
That's the power of music.
That's the power of Led Zeppelin
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The Overwhelming Decade
There's just too much of EVERYTHING!
We've got the world at our fingertips, yet we know less than ever before, lack control not only of our government and society, but our personal lives too. We have fear of missing out, but we're not sure what's worth doing. The old admire the young and the young laugh at the old but the dirty little secret is the nascent generation can't handle it either. Turns out you can't multi-task, that was a media canard that's been debunked. How do you cope?
Some check out. Especially the oldsters. Not a week goes by when you don't see an article decrying smartphones or the internet, as if you could turn back time, as if the future doesn't always arrive.
Others boast that they've got it nailed. Somehow, they can update their Facebook page, post on Instagram and keep their job, meanwhile having the free time to tell you all about it. You can either feel inferior or judge them. But the latter is equivalent to hatred, and we all abhor the haters.
Democrats keep calling the Republicans uninformed, which is hard not to do when their candidate keeps espousing falsehoods with no penalty.
And the Republicans feel the Democrats are unaware of their plight. They're sick of being told what's going on in their own hometown when the speakers have never set foot there.
And those speaking loudest fly private and don't engage with anybody but their brethren, they live inside a bubble yet are unaware of this.
There are too many movies. Did you check today's paper, at least twenty came out, who can keep track, never mind view them. Used to be you knew the up and coming actors from bit parts here and there, now "Vanity Fair" and "TMZ" feature stars you've never heard of, and then you ask your children and they haven't heard of them either. It's like there's a whole industry making people famous, but we've still got to keep up with the travails of Meg Ryan and Jane Fonda and...how many people can you keep in your brain at one time anyway?
And TV... That's a constant topic of conversation, what series should I binge on next. And you have to not only collect the data, but pass it through the sieve of the tastemaker's personality. Sure, "Game Of Thrones" is great, but I don't like fantasy, now what?
As for music... There are twenty million-odd tracks and it seems whenever you hear something new it either rubs you the wrong way or it's not quite good enough. And then, when you're just about to check out, turn the damn thing off, someone serves up something so exquisite you remember how much you love music, but you've got no idea how to follow it up, how to find the next great thing.
Babies are scheduled.
Schoolchildren have no free time.
Amy Schumer is working so much she can't possibly have a personal life. But if you're not in the public eye 24/7 you're falling behind. And isn't it funny how women have mastered this game, it's the men who are forgotten.
That's another element. Not only is there too much info, the rules keep changing. New apps take over for old. No one cares about the second link on Google, even the search engine itself, which is more like Wikipedia today, serving up a synopsis as opposed to a link.
And you're using the service all the time. Nothing is unknown, so you spend endless time looking it up.
And if someone texts you and you don't get back to them immediately they figure you're dead, or you've ghosted them.
But no one will admit to all this. We're all keeping up an image. That's what social media is all about, demonstrating not only our fabulous lives, but that we've got it covered, we know it all, when the truth is we know so little.
Youngsters know that if they don't fight hard for success, they'll be left behind, there's no time for finding yourself, watching the wheels go by. Only the toppermost keep telling us this, in their interviews in the media, that a first job is not as important as where you end up. But we can't get first jobs, and why is it that everybody with a seven digit income has all the answers? College professors are to be pushed back upon, but techies lean in.
But we're already sick of Sheryl Sandberg, a woman we'll never meet who we know too much about, actually, more than our neighbors. We hate that which we cannot touch, because we believe it's holding us back, so we go online and tear them down and these icons protest that they're just people too.
But exactly what is a person in the teens? Someone who does good deeds, who can keep up their end of a conversation? Or someone who posts really good YouTube clips and has a passel of subscribers. We know money counts, but we're told everything is about experiences, so we're confused.
We're all confused.
This is what the internet, the information revolution, has wrought.
And we haven't yet figured out a way to cope with it.
And it's not that it's bad, it's just that we've got no framework. Playlists try to help, but then there are a zillion of those too. And no one has enough time to weed through all the options.
Is that what life has become, an endless weeding through the options, keeping up to date on social media, maintaining soft ties, titillated by online porn, but sans long term personal relationships?
We used to have leaders, heroes who pointed the way.
Now there are people who tell us they have all the answers, yet ultimately we find out they're clueless too. Meaning it's all about us. But it can't just be about us, we live in a society, there's got to be a hierarchy, but who's deserving of our adulation?
That's the human condition today. We're all in it together, tied up online, but we've never felt so separate, and unsure where to turn next.
We'll figure it out eventually.
But right now it's utter chaos.
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We've got the world at our fingertips, yet we know less than ever before, lack control not only of our government and society, but our personal lives too. We have fear of missing out, but we're not sure what's worth doing. The old admire the young and the young laugh at the old but the dirty little secret is the nascent generation can't handle it either. Turns out you can't multi-task, that was a media canard that's been debunked. How do you cope?
Some check out. Especially the oldsters. Not a week goes by when you don't see an article decrying smartphones or the internet, as if you could turn back time, as if the future doesn't always arrive.
Others boast that they've got it nailed. Somehow, they can update their Facebook page, post on Instagram and keep their job, meanwhile having the free time to tell you all about it. You can either feel inferior or judge them. But the latter is equivalent to hatred, and we all abhor the haters.
Democrats keep calling the Republicans uninformed, which is hard not to do when their candidate keeps espousing falsehoods with no penalty.
And the Republicans feel the Democrats are unaware of their plight. They're sick of being told what's going on in their own hometown when the speakers have never set foot there.
And those speaking loudest fly private and don't engage with anybody but their brethren, they live inside a bubble yet are unaware of this.
There are too many movies. Did you check today's paper, at least twenty came out, who can keep track, never mind view them. Used to be you knew the up and coming actors from bit parts here and there, now "Vanity Fair" and "TMZ" feature stars you've never heard of, and then you ask your children and they haven't heard of them either. It's like there's a whole industry making people famous, but we've still got to keep up with the travails of Meg Ryan and Jane Fonda and...how many people can you keep in your brain at one time anyway?
And TV... That's a constant topic of conversation, what series should I binge on next. And you have to not only collect the data, but pass it through the sieve of the tastemaker's personality. Sure, "Game Of Thrones" is great, but I don't like fantasy, now what?
As for music... There are twenty million-odd tracks and it seems whenever you hear something new it either rubs you the wrong way or it's not quite good enough. And then, when you're just about to check out, turn the damn thing off, someone serves up something so exquisite you remember how much you love music, but you've got no idea how to follow it up, how to find the next great thing.
Babies are scheduled.
Schoolchildren have no free time.
Amy Schumer is working so much she can't possibly have a personal life. But if you're not in the public eye 24/7 you're falling behind. And isn't it funny how women have mastered this game, it's the men who are forgotten.
That's another element. Not only is there too much info, the rules keep changing. New apps take over for old. No one cares about the second link on Google, even the search engine itself, which is more like Wikipedia today, serving up a synopsis as opposed to a link.
And you're using the service all the time. Nothing is unknown, so you spend endless time looking it up.
And if someone texts you and you don't get back to them immediately they figure you're dead, or you've ghosted them.
But no one will admit to all this. We're all keeping up an image. That's what social media is all about, demonstrating not only our fabulous lives, but that we've got it covered, we know it all, when the truth is we know so little.
Youngsters know that if they don't fight hard for success, they'll be left behind, there's no time for finding yourself, watching the wheels go by. Only the toppermost keep telling us this, in their interviews in the media, that a first job is not as important as where you end up. But we can't get first jobs, and why is it that everybody with a seven digit income has all the answers? College professors are to be pushed back upon, but techies lean in.
But we're already sick of Sheryl Sandberg, a woman we'll never meet who we know too much about, actually, more than our neighbors. We hate that which we cannot touch, because we believe it's holding us back, so we go online and tear them down and these icons protest that they're just people too.
But exactly what is a person in the teens? Someone who does good deeds, who can keep up their end of a conversation? Or someone who posts really good YouTube clips and has a passel of subscribers. We know money counts, but we're told everything is about experiences, so we're confused.
We're all confused.
This is what the internet, the information revolution, has wrought.
And we haven't yet figured out a way to cope with it.
And it's not that it's bad, it's just that we've got no framework. Playlists try to help, but then there are a zillion of those too. And no one has enough time to weed through all the options.
Is that what life has become, an endless weeding through the options, keeping up to date on social media, maintaining soft ties, titillated by online porn, but sans long term personal relationships?
We used to have leaders, heroes who pointed the way.
Now there are people who tell us they have all the answers, yet ultimately we find out they're clueless too. Meaning it's all about us. But it can't just be about us, we live in a society, there's got to be a hierarchy, but who's deserving of our adulation?
That's the human condition today. We're all in it together, tied up online, but we've never felt so separate, and unsure where to turn next.
We'll figure it out eventually.
But right now it's utter chaos.
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Thursday 23 June 2016
Mailbag
Re: Stairway To Heaven
Hi Bob-
Had to jump in on this one.
The "Stairway" claim was based on the 4 chord descending progression at the beginning of the song, which is similar to the Spirit one (and maybe 30 other songs- one of which Randy California came across and used for the Spirit piece- he didn't write it. He used it.)
The Grandfather of these progressions is: C, A minor, F, and G. Starting with the early 1950's, there are probably 500 of these songs, all with those 4 chords- but each with different melodies
and words. THAT should be the criteria for claims. C, A minor, F and G wasn't stolen- it's a standard single song form. Nobody owns these.
Robert Plant's vocal melody and haunting lyrics make "Stairway" uniquely different from anything else which might have occasional
similar chords.
It's called "Intellectual Property" and the Internet ate it.
One more thing- NOBODY in a Music Business Legal procedure is telling the truth.
Best
Joe Walsh
______________________________________
From: Jon Webster
Subject: Stairway
"Yet the real revelation at the trial was how little money "Stairway" actually made. The performers' accountant said Page earned $615,000 and Plant $532,000 since 2011, Rhino said the song grossed $3 million and netted $868,000 in the same period."
Earned those sums from what?
Mechanical publishing?
Performance?
Which territories? US only? The world?
If the guys had a 50/50 split why are they different?
Master rights? Through Rhino? For US? For the world? What about the equitable remuneration? In the US? Only on digital
In Australia? The majors keep it all don't they?
Isn't the above the real problem?
Easy to bandie those figures about. Much less easy to understand them. Or to be party to the real figures.
Webbo
______________________________________
Re: Stairway To Heaven
It's not plagiarism. And I'm a huge Randy California fan. The descending chord figure in the first two bars is the same one, but from that point on they go to different chords. Two bars is not near the understood threshold of plagiarism. Rule of thumb has always been "My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine", that's getting close, but then going to "I really want to see you" with the same melody and chords as the next four bars of "He's So Fine", bingo! We have a winner.
Having laymen saying, "Boy that sounds like just the same thing!" is NOT the way to decide plagiarism. Can you even begin to imagine how many songs using blues progressions would get hauled up?
______________________________________
From: Mike Verzi
Subject: Re: Stairway To Heaven
Bob, did you see this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT64JH-Vh98
Rik Emmett nails it on the Stairway to Heaven court case.
(Note this is worth watching to see Rik Emmett hit the notes, you marvel at his talent, and the sound...)
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Stairway To Heaven
I wonder why Jagger and Richards never sued Neil Young for "Mr. Soul."? EXACT same guitar riff as "Satisfaction."
Why did Stephen Stills never sue David Allan Coe for "Willie, Waylon, and Me"? EXACT same melody and chord changes(at the start of the verses) as "Helplessly Hoping." Maybe Stills never heard it...or heard it and thought it sucked so bad he didn't want anyone to compare the two.
David Allgood
______________________________________
From: Connie Stefanson
Subject: RE: Stairway To Heaven
Hello, Bob!
Two songs I've always felt shared a reeeeallly similar intro riff are "Can't Stop" by the RHCP (from 0:23 to 0:33) and "Wild Eyes" (1:20 to 1:30) by The Stampeders. Both intro riffs are 10 seconds long. I played one on top of the other…freaky, man!
______________________________________
From: Harvey Goldsmith
Subject: RE: Ticketing
1. You must define what a ticket is before deciding what it can do. ( This is the biggest problem that Government has failed to deal with) I was surprised to hear at the APPG that the report did not define a ticket.
My contention is that a ticket is an identification to a point of entry for a concert or experience NOT a commodity that can be bought and sold.
Primary ticket distributors have no skin in the game. They are like leaking sieves.
This allows for touts, bots and the secondary market to exist.
If tickets were only allowed to be sold for a 10% mark up, an exchange site would be made available to those who cannot use their tickets and for those who could not buy a ticket.
This would be managed by the promoters/ producers collectively with the 10% margin used to cover costs and a small profit.
If this procedure was to be adopted by the Government then :
A) the money would be in the right place
B) it would wipe out the secondary and touting market immediately
There are already a number of systems around that ensure that security dictates that only the person buying could enter an event.
If tickets are limited to a determined and advertised number per application then the BOTS are dealt with.
I have just seen the most secure system yet called YOTI, which does precisely that.
The problem today is that the primary ticketing operations also own secondary auction sites and send applicants to them at an early stage.
This is doing untold harm to our business.
In order to get a ticket for popular heroes you have to pay a huge premium to these sites.
This prevents
a) the real fans who continually support those heroes from getting tickets at the right price
b) they do not spend on Food and beverage nor merchandising
c) they do not support newer breaking acts as they have no surplus funds
d) most promoters deliberately price tickets at a fair price for fans. The reason is to encourage fans to try and support new artists and ideas. This keeps our business going.
e) the current state of affairs has turned off many people from attending events as they know they are being ripped off.
As a result the business is in decline on new artists.
Successive Governments have refused to listen to these pleas.
They do not understand how our business works and the harm being done as the public are turning a blind eye to new plays, artists etc.
The popular shows will always sell but unless more investment is given to creating new ideas and artists the future of the business is bleak.
Tourists are fed up being ripped off trying to get theatre tickets for the same reason.
Best
Harvey
______________________________________
From: Marty Winsch
Subject: Re: Ticketing
Performances are not art. Performances are commodities. The moment an artist externalizes his or her output for financial gain, they become businessmen. The concept that these individuals are "artists" and therefore can transcend, control, are immune to the inherent delta that exists within supply and demand is arrogant and asinine.
______________________________________
From: Tommy Lipuma
Subject: Re: You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone
Dear Bob,
I'm just turning 80 this coming July 5th, so your article "You Don't Know What You've Got 'til It's Gone" hit me quite deeply.
In the past two years, I've experienced the loss of too many of my friends, from Joe Sample and Natalie Cole to Dan Hicks, and this past March 9th, though he may not be known on the pop scene, one of the all time great composers and arrangers of the 20th century, Claus Ogerman.
Claus has literally worked with everyone from the ridiculous to the sublime. He arranged Leslie Gore's "It's my Party" for Quincy Jones, and did a slew of Connie Francis hits, but I learned about him when I heard the classic Antonio Carlos Jobim "The Composer Play's" album, circa 1963, and later the classic Frank Sinatra album with Jobim.
I met him in 1966 at his publishing office in the Brill Building, about the time "Tin Pan Alley" was breathing its last breath. He arranged everything for me, from the George Benson "Breezin" album to Diana Krall's 'The Look Of Love" among many others, including four of his own albums. He will truly be missed.
Best,
Tommy LiPuma
______________________________________
From: Jake Udell
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Hey Bob, I thought you may find the below information valuable -
Sure, Spotify has several playlists. However, they use their smaller playlists to evaluate data on listening patterns, retention, and most importantly skip rates.
This data from the smaller playlists helps them determine what order the songs should go in and more importantly which should graduate to the platforms bigger playlists. This is the new radio. However, it's way more efficient, accurate, and transparent to all stakeholders.
As far as that one playlist you speak of, they already have it. It's Today's Top Hits. It's the fifth largest audience in the world and growing faster than any audience everywhere. In a couple years, the add to this playlist will be the single largest audience in the world, bigger than Z100 or BBC Radio1.
Furthermore, the people in charge of this process have been working on it for years - It was a company by the name of Tunigo. I have met many of these executives, some of which come from the radio world. I can assure you they are the best and brightest when it comes to understanding what the fans want - They live and breathe the intersection of music curation and data.
Spotify is already breaking hits... And it's only just the beginning.
Best,
Jake
______________________________________
From: Denton Biety
Subject: RE: Playlists, Not Radio
Just in case no one has already told you where to start with the new Paul Simon....
Try this, I heard it on KCRW and was quite pleasantly surprised.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5wys7OYZ9O9qppVvsuxKK6
Cheers!
Denton
______________________________________
From: Raymond Lynn
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Paul Simon - Wristband is the track
______________________________________
From: Aldo Blardone
Subject: RE: Playlists, Not Radio
Dear Bob,
From Paul Simon new album, check The werewolf.
And from Mudcrutch, you can go with Trailer or Dreams of Flying.
Also try No Way by Gilbert O'Sullivan, Stones in my passway by Eric
Clapton, Rolling on by Peter Wolf, Need you tonight by Bonnie Raitt
(yes, the INXS song), and the whole Monkees new album.
Best,
Aldo
______________________________________
From: Rich Price
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Bob, I agree that radio is all but irrelevant- at least for music. When I was signed to Geffen in 2003, they sent me and my band on the road for 8 months to work on our live show and make appearances at the local AAA stations at each stop. Stations like KFOG in SF, WFUV in NYC, WXPN in Philly, would spin new acts like ours, alongside Van Morrison, Petty, U2, David Gray. But just last month, KFOG "reformatted" and fired most of the DJs that "Fogheads" relied on for their new music fix.
Guess which platform has given my band, The Sweet Remains, the best shot at finding new fans? Spotify.
And there are curators at Spotify. One of our tracks landed on its Your Favorite Coffeehouse playlist, and then a few more popped up there. We now have roughly 13 million plays on Spotify and more than 250k monthly listeners. It's gotten a lot of criticism for its model for paying artists- and these streaming services do need to figure it out- but Spotify, and to a lesser extent Pandora, is far more powerful a tool for indie bands like ours.
Best, Rich Price (The Sweet Remains)
"Moving in Slow Motion": 4,861,099
"When We Were Young": 2,132,657
"Dance With Me": 6,293,869
______________________________________
From: Mark Rushton
Subject: Adult music playlists hiding in plain sight
I'm making the kind of playlist you might be interested in:
https://open.spotify.com/user/1235060861/playlist/3MsEXBIJAckcwsul2ScrIe
"Wristband" by Paul Simon is GREAT!
So is that new Case / Lang / Viers track, "Atomic Number".
And I'm a sucker for modern recreations of 80's style synth pop, like "Diagram Girl" by Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve.
And Damien Jurado, that whole new album of his with the weird cover is FANTASTIC.
And Spotify put a song in my Discovery Weekly a while back by a band called The Clientele called "Bonfires on the Heath" which is OUTSTANDING, that band has been on hiatus a few years now.
And this Japanese singer songwriter guy Tomemitsu....
And on and on...
I post my playlist links here and there, FB, message boards, etc. I've got a bunch but I throw together new ones every 3 or 4 months. Nobody cares, though. Too many people are stuck in a cul de sac. Or they hate Spotify for irrational reasons. But I'm going to keep making them... FOR ME... It's fun!!!!
______________________________________
From: Terry Tompkins
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Bob. I agree with you here but there's more to consider. It's not just playlist"ING" but actual PLAYS! and the potential monetization of ancillary revenue streams through streaming platforms by identifying top listeners. Yesterday I got a message from Spotify on Brett Dennen's behalf. I must admit I have a penchant for Brett's music and not only does Spotify know it but so does Brett. The email stated I was a "top listener" of Brett's music and offered me a opportunity to pre-order tickets for his fall tour (before anyone else has access). What an amazing tool for artists and labels. We have gone from SS reports with geo and demographic profiles and Apple following suit with its limited customer data. Now you can learn who really loves your music and go D2F with complimentary marketing efforts. Huge potential here. In light of this, does even really matter if you ever even paid or acquired an album? What matters is who is listening and how often. If artists and labels are able to
leverage concert tickets, merch and other ancillary revenue to fans who are engaged with the artists' music through Spotify and other SSP...streaming might have found a way to overcome the criticism of low payouts a offer a massive opportunity to it clients. Yes these fans have to find the artist and playlists will be key. What you can do with the data about your fans listening tendencies is paramount to steaming evolution.
Best Terry Tompkins
______________________________________
From: Mitch Koulouris
Subject: Re: Mass Is Everything
Bob,
I couldn't agree more. When I started Digital Music Group in 2004, I drank The Long Tail Kool-aid almost daily. By the time we we went public on Nasdaq in 2006 it became clear The Long Tail was complete crap.
We had about 2 million tracks in our catalog at the time. The reality was the top 15% best selling tracks accounted for 90% of our revenues each month. 20% of our tracks didn't sell at all each month.
The same is true on the digital retailer side. The top 3 stores (iTunes, napster and rhapsody) accounted for 85% of our sales (with iTunes taking about 75-80% of that number each month). The remaining "long tail" of digital stores accounted for the remaining 15%, most of which generated nothing to nearly nothing.
Mass really is everything. Enjoyed the read.
Mitch Koulouris
______________________________________
From: Michael A. Becker
Subject: RE: Mass Is Everything
Try this, it made me smile and is semi new. It made me dig and find out I liked all his stuff. Ray Davies meets J Mascis.
"I'm so sick of....fill in the blank".
"You have a right to be depressed, you haven't tried hard enough to like it."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_a1hPwXiWw
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Altamont
RE: Altamont. Sam Cutler was just here visiting in Macon recently. He was the Tour Manager for 1969 Stones Tour including Altamont. Met him later when he was with the Dead and Allman's combined with them on some big stadium shows in 1973 and Watkins Glen, the biggest of them all with Band, Dead and Allmans and about 600,000 intimate guests. Produced by Bill Graham for promoters Shelly Finkel and Jimmy Koplik. Each band was to receive a flat $117,500.00, but I watched as Allmans personal manager, the late Phil Walden, was able to secretly re-negotiate another $86,000.00 for the ABB only based on the size of the gate before the concert was declared free and open. A truly amazing weekend that was!
Anyway, Sam is a storybook character. I understand he whipped cancer once and is now fighting it again possibly. Peace and love to him.
Willie Perkins
Macon, GA
______________________________________
From: colm
Subject: Re: Henry McCullough
Henry was Irish, Back in the 69's, Phil Lynnott, Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher, Paul Brady, we all had little bands. Another local lad with a band called "Them" was Van Morrison. In the last few years, when Henry was housebound and dying, Van paid all the money to have Henry's house remodeled to add to the quality of life in his dying years. Henry was revered In the Irish/English scene. A gentleman.
______________________________________
From: Merel Bregante
Subject: Re: Henry McCullough
Bob...
I had the pleasure of meeting Henry. No big deal. I 'knew' him. He 'knew' me. It was an honor. Simple as that.
Henry was a players player. A journey man. A proud man. A fucking side man.
This year marks my fiftieth as a side man. When I say this, the level of pride I feel is far deeper than can be verbally expressed. Fifty years. No day gig. Still beating the shit out of a drum kit. Fuckin'-A!
God bless you, Henry. You always came to play. You always brought your very best game. 'Nuff said...
Peace to all...
______________________________________
From: Max Suchov
Subject: Re: Bloodline
Bob -
I am a long time reader of your blog from my days in the music industry. I now lead business development efforts at Netflix for our Americas programmatic marketing team. Thrilled to hear you are enjoying Bloodline, it is an in-house favorite here at the office for exactly the reasons you've outlined. It is one of the first times we've taken the liberty to dive so deep into character development and let the acting really make the statement.
Having worked in the old guard of Hollywood, I have to tell you being here is a remarkably different experience. We are agile, deliberate and empowered to take risks. You may have heard about our culture deck and how differently we operate as a team. I believe these values are the reason we make content a bit differently, and why I think the traditional system can't stop making the same film/tv show over and over again. This is a special place and I feel lucky to be here and witnessing it from the inside.
A quick recommendation / shameless plug:
We have Baz Luhrmann's - The Get Down coming out in a few months which I sincerely hope you will enjoy. It is the story of the birth of Hip-Hop in the Bronx and the transition from Disco into something radically different. It is one of our most ambitious productions to date and from one music fan to another, I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
Also - one of our most overlooked projects is Peaky Blinders - an epic gangster drama set in the lawless streets of post-war Birmingham on the cusp of the 1920s. I'm a few seasons into it and amazed that very few people have caught on so far.
Thanks for doing what you do.
Best,
Max
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Steph Curry
Bob -
At first I rolled my eyes at your premise.... then I thought about it, and related it to what my kid, 15, has been going through this year via basketball. He's a video gamer, not a music nut like me, and he's also very passionate about first college basketball and, over the past couple of years, NBA. It doesn't hurt that he is already taller than me, has a dead-eye 3 pointer, and sometimes can even dribble like Pistol Pete Maravich (who, just to bring in a few degrees of separation theory, was a counselor at Lefty Drisell's summer basketball camp at Davidson College all those years ago - and who taught yours truly and his fellow campers ballhandlng tricks after hours in the dorm).
What strikes me: some of the NBA players, and this year Curry in particular, are indeed verging on being his Beatles. The parallels, from the obsessive scrutiny to the memorization of stats and the like, and the inspiration factor to attempt what they are doing, are uncanny. If the Beatles launched a zillion bands from my generation, I can accept the fact that Curry is launching a zillion little basketball players. Hell, he's even got me sold; my son and I have watched every Warriors playoff game so far. Everybody needs to dream, and to have a hero. Here's hoping Curry understands what a huge responsibility it can be, though, as a role model. He's got good role models himself in his mom and dad (who, just to bring in some more degrees of separation theory, shopped for dress shoes during his Hornets years at the same Charlotte fashion store that I worked at and sold dress shoes for at the time). John Lennon never quite figured out the implications of the role model thing, I don't
think, although he did show admirable flashes of it from time to time.
Fred Mills
Asheville NC
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Me
I don't have a surgery story, but the long weekend aspect hit home for me.
I was 21 yrs old and living at home. A friend wanted to store some hot merchandise in our garage over, you guessed it, Memorial Day weekend. The stuff is in the garage and my parents are not happy. Saturday morning, a police detective shows up at the front door looking for me. Somehow I managed to hide the fact that my stomach was sinking and my head was spinning. It turns out to be totally unrelated. He was questioning a kid down the street about some expensive (stolen?) parts on his BMX bike. The kid panicked and said he got them from me. At the time I was working at a Bicycle wholesaler. Needless to say, a very long long weekend.
______________________________________
From: Neil Lasher
Subject: Re: Re-Shoulder Surgery
OK just a bid on opioids. As a certified interventionist, counselor and a person with 29 years of recovery you must really take very seriously the use of pain pills after a few days. There is a heroin epidemic in this country caused directly by doctors who prescribed these meds willy-nilly. After months of addiction and being forced to stop using prescription pain pills lots of kids turned to heroin because it was cheaper and more easily available.
I am very "out" about my recovery so I'll add I last thing. I go to lots and lots of 12 step meetings.
Every time, (well 98%) someone shares about relapsing 1 major reason is "I started pain pills for medical reasons and could not stop."
Please. Ask your Drs how much addiction work they did in Medical school. The usual answer is 2 hours.
Neil
______________________________________
From: Tom Krehbiel
Subject: Re: All Hell Breaks Loose
I'm one of the alte kakers I guess. I can remember when this happened.
It was five days after that Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock. Could have been coincidence.
September 19, 1957
"Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus"
Grand Forks, N.D., Sept. 18 (AP) -- Trumpet player Louis Armstrong said last night he had given up plans for a Government-sponsored trip to the Soviet Union because "the way they are treating my people in the South, the Government can go to hell."
Here for a concert, Mr. Armstrong said President Eisenhower had "no guts" and described Gov. Orval E. Faubus of Arkansas as an "uneducated plow boy."
He said the President was "two-faced" and had allowed Governor Faubus to run the Federal Government.
"It's getting almost so bad a colored man hasn't got any country," the Negro entertainer said.
"Don't get me wrong," he added, "the South is full of intelligent white people, it's bad for the lower class people who make all the noise, though."
He said if he ever did go to the Soviet Union, "I'll do it on my own."
In Washington the State Department declined to comment on Mr. Armstrong's statements. Officials made no attempt, however, to hide the concern they caused.
Mr. Armstrong was regarded by the State Department as perhaps the most effective unofficial goodwill ambassador this country had.
They said Soviet propagandists undoubtedly would seize on Mr. Armstrong's words.
https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/armstrong-eisenhower.html
______________________________________
From: David Hughes
Subject: Re: You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone
Bob,
I'm 65 and both parents died within a year and a half of each other over thirty years ago. After my father died (mom went first) the most profound observation in the months and years to follow, was that I had lost my immediate source of family information.
As a child and as an adult, I was so used to being able to ask for example, "Mom, what was the name of the town where Aunt June was from in Russia?" or "What was the name of that lake when I cut my foot that summer?"--when both parents are gone, you learn those personal stories and the details of them that you do not recall, are now gone forever.
The first time it happened to me it was shocking and then just sad. Sad because I cared to know, but then when I'm gone, no one will care about those little bits that were important and made up my life.
Enjoy the moments--they are mostly just yours.
David Hughes
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Hi Bob-
Had to jump in on this one.
The "Stairway" claim was based on the 4 chord descending progression at the beginning of the song, which is similar to the Spirit one (and maybe 30 other songs- one of which Randy California came across and used for the Spirit piece- he didn't write it. He used it.)
The Grandfather of these progressions is: C, A minor, F, and G. Starting with the early 1950's, there are probably 500 of these songs, all with those 4 chords- but each with different melodies
and words. THAT should be the criteria for claims. C, A minor, F and G wasn't stolen- it's a standard single song form. Nobody owns these.
Robert Plant's vocal melody and haunting lyrics make "Stairway" uniquely different from anything else which might have occasional
similar chords.
It's called "Intellectual Property" and the Internet ate it.
One more thing- NOBODY in a Music Business Legal procedure is telling the truth.
Best
Joe Walsh
______________________________________
From: Jon Webster
Subject: Stairway
"Yet the real revelation at the trial was how little money "Stairway" actually made. The performers' accountant said Page earned $615,000 and Plant $532,000 since 2011, Rhino said the song grossed $3 million and netted $868,000 in the same period."
Earned those sums from what?
Mechanical publishing?
Performance?
Which territories? US only? The world?
If the guys had a 50/50 split why are they different?
Master rights? Through Rhino? For US? For the world? What about the equitable remuneration? In the US? Only on digital
In Australia? The majors keep it all don't they?
Isn't the above the real problem?
Easy to bandie those figures about. Much less easy to understand them. Or to be party to the real figures.
Webbo
______________________________________
Re: Stairway To Heaven
It's not plagiarism. And I'm a huge Randy California fan. The descending chord figure in the first two bars is the same one, but from that point on they go to different chords. Two bars is not near the understood threshold of plagiarism. Rule of thumb has always been "My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine", that's getting close, but then going to "I really want to see you" with the same melody and chords as the next four bars of "He's So Fine", bingo! We have a winner.
Having laymen saying, "Boy that sounds like just the same thing!" is NOT the way to decide plagiarism. Can you even begin to imagine how many songs using blues progressions would get hauled up?
______________________________________
From: Mike Verzi
Subject: Re: Stairway To Heaven
Bob, did you see this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT64JH-Vh98
Rik Emmett nails it on the Stairway to Heaven court case.
(Note this is worth watching to see Rik Emmett hit the notes, you marvel at his talent, and the sound...)
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Stairway To Heaven
I wonder why Jagger and Richards never sued Neil Young for "Mr. Soul."? EXACT same guitar riff as "Satisfaction."
Why did Stephen Stills never sue David Allan Coe for "Willie, Waylon, and Me"? EXACT same melody and chord changes(at the start of the verses) as "Helplessly Hoping." Maybe Stills never heard it...or heard it and thought it sucked so bad he didn't want anyone to compare the two.
David Allgood
______________________________________
From: Connie Stefanson
Subject: RE: Stairway To Heaven
Hello, Bob!
Two songs I've always felt shared a reeeeallly similar intro riff are "Can't Stop" by the RHCP (from 0:23 to 0:33) and "Wild Eyes" (1:20 to 1:30) by The Stampeders. Both intro riffs are 10 seconds long. I played one on top of the other…freaky, man!
______________________________________
From: Harvey Goldsmith
Subject: RE: Ticketing
1. You must define what a ticket is before deciding what it can do. ( This is the biggest problem that Government has failed to deal with) I was surprised to hear at the APPG that the report did not define a ticket.
My contention is that a ticket is an identification to a point of entry for a concert or experience NOT a commodity that can be bought and sold.
Primary ticket distributors have no skin in the game. They are like leaking sieves.
This allows for touts, bots and the secondary market to exist.
If tickets were only allowed to be sold for a 10% mark up, an exchange site would be made available to those who cannot use their tickets and for those who could not buy a ticket.
This would be managed by the promoters/ producers collectively with the 10% margin used to cover costs and a small profit.
If this procedure was to be adopted by the Government then :
A) the money would be in the right place
B) it would wipe out the secondary and touting market immediately
There are already a number of systems around that ensure that security dictates that only the person buying could enter an event.
If tickets are limited to a determined and advertised number per application then the BOTS are dealt with.
I have just seen the most secure system yet called YOTI, which does precisely that.
The problem today is that the primary ticketing operations also own secondary auction sites and send applicants to them at an early stage.
This is doing untold harm to our business.
In order to get a ticket for popular heroes you have to pay a huge premium to these sites.
This prevents
a) the real fans who continually support those heroes from getting tickets at the right price
b) they do not spend on Food and beverage nor merchandising
c) they do not support newer breaking acts as they have no surplus funds
d) most promoters deliberately price tickets at a fair price for fans. The reason is to encourage fans to try and support new artists and ideas. This keeps our business going.
e) the current state of affairs has turned off many people from attending events as they know they are being ripped off.
As a result the business is in decline on new artists.
Successive Governments have refused to listen to these pleas.
They do not understand how our business works and the harm being done as the public are turning a blind eye to new plays, artists etc.
The popular shows will always sell but unless more investment is given to creating new ideas and artists the future of the business is bleak.
Tourists are fed up being ripped off trying to get theatre tickets for the same reason.
Best
Harvey
______________________________________
From: Marty Winsch
Subject: Re: Ticketing
Performances are not art. Performances are commodities. The moment an artist externalizes his or her output for financial gain, they become businessmen. The concept that these individuals are "artists" and therefore can transcend, control, are immune to the inherent delta that exists within supply and demand is arrogant and asinine.
______________________________________
From: Tommy Lipuma
Subject: Re: You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone
Dear Bob,
I'm just turning 80 this coming July 5th, so your article "You Don't Know What You've Got 'til It's Gone" hit me quite deeply.
In the past two years, I've experienced the loss of too many of my friends, from Joe Sample and Natalie Cole to Dan Hicks, and this past March 9th, though he may not be known on the pop scene, one of the all time great composers and arrangers of the 20th century, Claus Ogerman.
Claus has literally worked with everyone from the ridiculous to the sublime. He arranged Leslie Gore's "It's my Party" for Quincy Jones, and did a slew of Connie Francis hits, but I learned about him when I heard the classic Antonio Carlos Jobim "The Composer Play's" album, circa 1963, and later the classic Frank Sinatra album with Jobim.
I met him in 1966 at his publishing office in the Brill Building, about the time "Tin Pan Alley" was breathing its last breath. He arranged everything for me, from the George Benson "Breezin" album to Diana Krall's 'The Look Of Love" among many others, including four of his own albums. He will truly be missed.
Best,
Tommy LiPuma
______________________________________
From: Jake Udell
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Hey Bob, I thought you may find the below information valuable -
Sure, Spotify has several playlists. However, they use their smaller playlists to evaluate data on listening patterns, retention, and most importantly skip rates.
This data from the smaller playlists helps them determine what order the songs should go in and more importantly which should graduate to the platforms bigger playlists. This is the new radio. However, it's way more efficient, accurate, and transparent to all stakeholders.
As far as that one playlist you speak of, they already have it. It's Today's Top Hits. It's the fifth largest audience in the world and growing faster than any audience everywhere. In a couple years, the add to this playlist will be the single largest audience in the world, bigger than Z100 or BBC Radio1.
Furthermore, the people in charge of this process have been working on it for years - It was a company by the name of Tunigo. I have met many of these executives, some of which come from the radio world. I can assure you they are the best and brightest when it comes to understanding what the fans want - They live and breathe the intersection of music curation and data.
Spotify is already breaking hits... And it's only just the beginning.
Best,
Jake
______________________________________
From: Denton Biety
Subject: RE: Playlists, Not Radio
Just in case no one has already told you where to start with the new Paul Simon....
Try this, I heard it on KCRW and was quite pleasantly surprised.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5wys7OYZ9O9qppVvsuxKK6
Cheers!
Denton
______________________________________
From: Raymond Lynn
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Paul Simon - Wristband is the track
______________________________________
From: Aldo Blardone
Subject: RE: Playlists, Not Radio
Dear Bob,
From Paul Simon new album, check The werewolf.
And from Mudcrutch, you can go with Trailer or Dreams of Flying.
Also try No Way by Gilbert O'Sullivan, Stones in my passway by Eric
Clapton, Rolling on by Peter Wolf, Need you tonight by Bonnie Raitt
(yes, the INXS song), and the whole Monkees new album.
Best,
Aldo
______________________________________
From: Rich Price
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Bob, I agree that radio is all but irrelevant- at least for music. When I was signed to Geffen in 2003, they sent me and my band on the road for 8 months to work on our live show and make appearances at the local AAA stations at each stop. Stations like KFOG in SF, WFUV in NYC, WXPN in Philly, would spin new acts like ours, alongside Van Morrison, Petty, U2, David Gray. But just last month, KFOG "reformatted" and fired most of the DJs that "Fogheads" relied on for their new music fix.
Guess which platform has given my band, The Sweet Remains, the best shot at finding new fans? Spotify.
And there are curators at Spotify. One of our tracks landed on its Your Favorite Coffeehouse playlist, and then a few more popped up there. We now have roughly 13 million plays on Spotify and more than 250k monthly listeners. It's gotten a lot of criticism for its model for paying artists- and these streaming services do need to figure it out- but Spotify, and to a lesser extent Pandora, is far more powerful a tool for indie bands like ours.
Best, Rich Price (The Sweet Remains)
"Moving in Slow Motion": 4,861,099
"When We Were Young": 2,132,657
"Dance With Me": 6,293,869
______________________________________
From: Mark Rushton
Subject: Adult music playlists hiding in plain sight
I'm making the kind of playlist you might be interested in:
https://open.spotify.com/user/1235060861/playlist/3MsEXBIJAckcwsul2ScrIe
"Wristband" by Paul Simon is GREAT!
So is that new Case / Lang / Viers track, "Atomic Number".
And I'm a sucker for modern recreations of 80's style synth pop, like "Diagram Girl" by Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve.
And Damien Jurado, that whole new album of his with the weird cover is FANTASTIC.
And Spotify put a song in my Discovery Weekly a while back by a band called The Clientele called "Bonfires on the Heath" which is OUTSTANDING, that band has been on hiatus a few years now.
And this Japanese singer songwriter guy Tomemitsu....
And on and on...
I post my playlist links here and there, FB, message boards, etc. I've got a bunch but I throw together new ones every 3 or 4 months. Nobody cares, though. Too many people are stuck in a cul de sac. Or they hate Spotify for irrational reasons. But I'm going to keep making them... FOR ME... It's fun!!!!
______________________________________
From: Terry Tompkins
Subject: Re: Playlists, Not Radio
Bob. I agree with you here but there's more to consider. It's not just playlist"ING" but actual PLAYS! and the potential monetization of ancillary revenue streams through streaming platforms by identifying top listeners. Yesterday I got a message from Spotify on Brett Dennen's behalf. I must admit I have a penchant for Brett's music and not only does Spotify know it but so does Brett. The email stated I was a "top listener" of Brett's music and offered me a opportunity to pre-order tickets for his fall tour (before anyone else has access). What an amazing tool for artists and labels. We have gone from SS reports with geo and demographic profiles and Apple following suit with its limited customer data. Now you can learn who really loves your music and go D2F with complimentary marketing efforts. Huge potential here. In light of this, does even really matter if you ever even paid or acquired an album? What matters is who is listening and how often. If artists and labels are able to
leverage concert tickets, merch and other ancillary revenue to fans who are engaged with the artists' music through Spotify and other SSP...streaming might have found a way to overcome the criticism of low payouts a offer a massive opportunity to it clients. Yes these fans have to find the artist and playlists will be key. What you can do with the data about your fans listening tendencies is paramount to steaming evolution.
Best Terry Tompkins
______________________________________
From: Mitch Koulouris
Subject: Re: Mass Is Everything
Bob,
I couldn't agree more. When I started Digital Music Group in 2004, I drank The Long Tail Kool-aid almost daily. By the time we we went public on Nasdaq in 2006 it became clear The Long Tail was complete crap.
We had about 2 million tracks in our catalog at the time. The reality was the top 15% best selling tracks accounted for 90% of our revenues each month. 20% of our tracks didn't sell at all each month.
The same is true on the digital retailer side. The top 3 stores (iTunes, napster and rhapsody) accounted for 85% of our sales (with iTunes taking about 75-80% of that number each month). The remaining "long tail" of digital stores accounted for the remaining 15%, most of which generated nothing to nearly nothing.
Mass really is everything. Enjoyed the read.
Mitch Koulouris
______________________________________
From: Michael A. Becker
Subject: RE: Mass Is Everything
Try this, it made me smile and is semi new. It made me dig and find out I liked all his stuff. Ray Davies meets J Mascis.
"I'm so sick of....fill in the blank".
"You have a right to be depressed, you haven't tried hard enough to like it."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_a1hPwXiWw
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Altamont
RE: Altamont. Sam Cutler was just here visiting in Macon recently. He was the Tour Manager for 1969 Stones Tour including Altamont. Met him later when he was with the Dead and Allman's combined with them on some big stadium shows in 1973 and Watkins Glen, the biggest of them all with Band, Dead and Allmans and about 600,000 intimate guests. Produced by Bill Graham for promoters Shelly Finkel and Jimmy Koplik. Each band was to receive a flat $117,500.00, but I watched as Allmans personal manager, the late Phil Walden, was able to secretly re-negotiate another $86,000.00 for the ABB only based on the size of the gate before the concert was declared free and open. A truly amazing weekend that was!
Anyway, Sam is a storybook character. I understand he whipped cancer once and is now fighting it again possibly. Peace and love to him.
Willie Perkins
Macon, GA
______________________________________
From: colm
Subject: Re: Henry McCullough
Henry was Irish, Back in the 69's, Phil Lynnott, Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher, Paul Brady, we all had little bands. Another local lad with a band called "Them" was Van Morrison. In the last few years, when Henry was housebound and dying, Van paid all the money to have Henry's house remodeled to add to the quality of life in his dying years. Henry was revered In the Irish/English scene. A gentleman.
______________________________________
From: Merel Bregante
Subject: Re: Henry McCullough
Bob...
I had the pleasure of meeting Henry. No big deal. I 'knew' him. He 'knew' me. It was an honor. Simple as that.
Henry was a players player. A journey man. A proud man. A fucking side man.
This year marks my fiftieth as a side man. When I say this, the level of pride I feel is far deeper than can be verbally expressed. Fifty years. No day gig. Still beating the shit out of a drum kit. Fuckin'-A!
God bless you, Henry. You always came to play. You always brought your very best game. 'Nuff said...
Peace to all...
______________________________________
From: Max Suchov
Subject: Re: Bloodline
Bob -
I am a long time reader of your blog from my days in the music industry. I now lead business development efforts at Netflix for our Americas programmatic marketing team. Thrilled to hear you are enjoying Bloodline, it is an in-house favorite here at the office for exactly the reasons you've outlined. It is one of the first times we've taken the liberty to dive so deep into character development and let the acting really make the statement.
Having worked in the old guard of Hollywood, I have to tell you being here is a remarkably different experience. We are agile, deliberate and empowered to take risks. You may have heard about our culture deck and how differently we operate as a team. I believe these values are the reason we make content a bit differently, and why I think the traditional system can't stop making the same film/tv show over and over again. This is a special place and I feel lucky to be here and witnessing it from the inside.
A quick recommendation / shameless plug:
We have Baz Luhrmann's - The Get Down coming out in a few months which I sincerely hope you will enjoy. It is the story of the birth of Hip-Hop in the Bronx and the transition from Disco into something radically different. It is one of our most ambitious productions to date and from one music fan to another, I sincerely hope you enjoy it.
Also - one of our most overlooked projects is Peaky Blinders - an epic gangster drama set in the lawless streets of post-war Birmingham on the cusp of the 1920s. I'm a few seasons into it and amazed that very few people have caught on so far.
Thanks for doing what you do.
Best,
Max
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Steph Curry
Bob -
At first I rolled my eyes at your premise.... then I thought about it, and related it to what my kid, 15, has been going through this year via basketball. He's a video gamer, not a music nut like me, and he's also very passionate about first college basketball and, over the past couple of years, NBA. It doesn't hurt that he is already taller than me, has a dead-eye 3 pointer, and sometimes can even dribble like Pistol Pete Maravich (who, just to bring in a few degrees of separation theory, was a counselor at Lefty Drisell's summer basketball camp at Davidson College all those years ago - and who taught yours truly and his fellow campers ballhandlng tricks after hours in the dorm).
What strikes me: some of the NBA players, and this year Curry in particular, are indeed verging on being his Beatles. The parallels, from the obsessive scrutiny to the memorization of stats and the like, and the inspiration factor to attempt what they are doing, are uncanny. If the Beatles launched a zillion bands from my generation, I can accept the fact that Curry is launching a zillion little basketball players. Hell, he's even got me sold; my son and I have watched every Warriors playoff game so far. Everybody needs to dream, and to have a hero. Here's hoping Curry understands what a huge responsibility it can be, though, as a role model. He's got good role models himself in his mom and dad (who, just to bring in some more degrees of separation theory, shopped for dress shoes during his Hornets years at the same Charlotte fashion store that I worked at and sold dress shoes for at the time). John Lennon never quite figured out the implications of the role model thing, I don't
think, although he did show admirable flashes of it from time to time.
Fred Mills
Asheville NC
______________________________________
Subject: Re: Me
I don't have a surgery story, but the long weekend aspect hit home for me.
I was 21 yrs old and living at home. A friend wanted to store some hot merchandise in our garage over, you guessed it, Memorial Day weekend. The stuff is in the garage and my parents are not happy. Saturday morning, a police detective shows up at the front door looking for me. Somehow I managed to hide the fact that my stomach was sinking and my head was spinning. It turns out to be totally unrelated. He was questioning a kid down the street about some expensive (stolen?) parts on his BMX bike. The kid panicked and said he got them from me. At the time I was working at a Bicycle wholesaler. Needless to say, a very long long weekend.
______________________________________
From: Neil Lasher
Subject: Re: Re-Shoulder Surgery
OK just a bid on opioids. As a certified interventionist, counselor and a person with 29 years of recovery you must really take very seriously the use of pain pills after a few days. There is a heroin epidemic in this country caused directly by doctors who prescribed these meds willy-nilly. After months of addiction and being forced to stop using prescription pain pills lots of kids turned to heroin because it was cheaper and more easily available.
I am very "out" about my recovery so I'll add I last thing. I go to lots and lots of 12 step meetings.
Every time, (well 98%) someone shares about relapsing 1 major reason is "I started pain pills for medical reasons and could not stop."
Please. Ask your Drs how much addiction work they did in Medical school. The usual answer is 2 hours.
Neil
______________________________________
From: Tom Krehbiel
Subject: Re: All Hell Breaks Loose
I'm one of the alte kakers I guess. I can remember when this happened.
It was five days after that Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock. Could have been coincidence.
September 19, 1957
"Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus"
Grand Forks, N.D., Sept. 18 (AP) -- Trumpet player Louis Armstrong said last night he had given up plans for a Government-sponsored trip to the Soviet Union because "the way they are treating my people in the South, the Government can go to hell."
Here for a concert, Mr. Armstrong said President Eisenhower had "no guts" and described Gov. Orval E. Faubus of Arkansas as an "uneducated plow boy."
He said the President was "two-faced" and had allowed Governor Faubus to run the Federal Government.
"It's getting almost so bad a colored man hasn't got any country," the Negro entertainer said.
"Don't get me wrong," he added, "the South is full of intelligent white people, it's bad for the lower class people who make all the noise, though."
He said if he ever did go to the Soviet Union, "I'll do it on my own."
In Washington the State Department declined to comment on Mr. Armstrong's statements. Officials made no attempt, however, to hide the concern they caused.
Mr. Armstrong was regarded by the State Department as perhaps the most effective unofficial goodwill ambassador this country had.
They said Soviet propagandists undoubtedly would seize on Mr. Armstrong's words.
https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/armstrong-eisenhower.html
______________________________________
From: David Hughes
Subject: Re: You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone
Bob,
I'm 65 and both parents died within a year and a half of each other over thirty years ago. After my father died (mom went first) the most profound observation in the months and years to follow, was that I had lost my immediate source of family information.
As a child and as an adult, I was so used to being able to ask for example, "Mom, what was the name of the town where Aunt June was from in Russia?" or "What was the name of that lake when I cut my foot that summer?"--when both parents are gone, you learn those personal stories and the details of them that you do not recall, are now gone forever.
The first time it happened to me it was shocking and then just sad. Sad because I cared to know, but then when I'm gone, no one will care about those little bits that were important and made up my life.
Enjoy the moments--they are mostly just yours.
David Hughes
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Stairway To Heaven
So this is what it takes to get Led Zeppelin back together.
I was getting worried, I figured this would be a slam dunk, that the jury would come back in an hour or two and let Robert and Jimmy off the hook. The fact that they didn't showed they were thinking about it.
That's what it's come down to, eight nobodies weighing in on the provenance of rock and roll.
But where there's a hit, there's a writ. And let's be honest, Zeppelin has nicked songs before. But seemingly the only person who wanted Spirit to win this case was Randy California's attorney, the public believed it a bridge too far, don't mess with the canon, our history, what we live for.
Did Robert and Jimmy tell the truth?
Damned if I know, but I do know someone who lied on the stand in a well-known music industry case. And if you believe selective omission is the same as a lie, well...
Then again, musicians were never known for their honesty, otherwise why would they keep firing managers and exhibiting duplicitous behavior that might deliver short term results, but long term penalties.
Are the tracks similar?
OF COURSE!
Is it infringement?
Well, you've got an arcane copyright law that doesn't square with reality. KInd of like the DMCA and YouTube. Washington and the legal system are always a step behind, and if you look to them to solve your problems you're gonna waste a lot of time and money and probably end up with a less than satisfactory result. Meaning, the end of the YouTube "value gap" will come from negotiation, not legislation.
And music, despite being made on computers, is not zeros and ones. It cannot be stuck in a framework, evaluated by a machine. It's amorphous and alive and that's its appeal.
So chalk one up for the creative community, which believed after the "Blurred Lines" case that everything was up for grabs.
But it had gone too far. That Sam Smith song is not "I Won't Back Down," unless you believe that Petty tune is also one of many.
Everybody's too afraid.
Then again, these same rightsholders killed sampling, changing the trajectory of hip-hop, and have also played whac-a-mole with reuse.
But we don't live in a vacuum. Nothing's truly original. We're a sum of our influences.
But where's the line?
Who knows.
But it's been pushed back.
Yet the real revelation at the trial was how little money "Stairway" actually made. The performers' accountant said Page earned $615,000 and Plant $532,000 since 2011, Rhino said the song grossed $3 million and netted $868,000 in the same period.
THAT'S PEANUTS!
That's not tech money. Maybe not chump change, but nowhere near the $60 million the plaintiff's expert alleged.
You see there's just not that much money in music. Much less than we believe. We think if you're famous, you're rich, but this is patently untrue. Of course, the Zeppelin boys had other income from their catalog, they did well, but not as well as they did in the seventies, before financiers raped and pillaged and techies became the new rock stars.
This trial brought rock back to earth. Pulled off the scrim and illustrated that not only are its players old, they care about money. Remember when Zeppelin flew back to England after their Madison Square Garden payment was stolen? They showed up here.
Then again, it's rumored they stole that money themselves.
Then again, it's about dignity and reputation.
But...
Feel free to steal again. Know that every juror does not see the famous as a deep pocket. Know that the line is truly blurry.
And if you want to get rich...
DO SOMETHING ELSE!
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I was getting worried, I figured this would be a slam dunk, that the jury would come back in an hour or two and let Robert and Jimmy off the hook. The fact that they didn't showed they were thinking about it.
That's what it's come down to, eight nobodies weighing in on the provenance of rock and roll.
But where there's a hit, there's a writ. And let's be honest, Zeppelin has nicked songs before. But seemingly the only person who wanted Spirit to win this case was Randy California's attorney, the public believed it a bridge too far, don't mess with the canon, our history, what we live for.
Did Robert and Jimmy tell the truth?
Damned if I know, but I do know someone who lied on the stand in a well-known music industry case. And if you believe selective omission is the same as a lie, well...
Then again, musicians were never known for their honesty, otherwise why would they keep firing managers and exhibiting duplicitous behavior that might deliver short term results, but long term penalties.
Are the tracks similar?
OF COURSE!
Is it infringement?
Well, you've got an arcane copyright law that doesn't square with reality. KInd of like the DMCA and YouTube. Washington and the legal system are always a step behind, and if you look to them to solve your problems you're gonna waste a lot of time and money and probably end up with a less than satisfactory result. Meaning, the end of the YouTube "value gap" will come from negotiation, not legislation.
And music, despite being made on computers, is not zeros and ones. It cannot be stuck in a framework, evaluated by a machine. It's amorphous and alive and that's its appeal.
So chalk one up for the creative community, which believed after the "Blurred Lines" case that everything was up for grabs.
But it had gone too far. That Sam Smith song is not "I Won't Back Down," unless you believe that Petty tune is also one of many.
Everybody's too afraid.
Then again, these same rightsholders killed sampling, changing the trajectory of hip-hop, and have also played whac-a-mole with reuse.
But we don't live in a vacuum. Nothing's truly original. We're a sum of our influences.
But where's the line?
Who knows.
But it's been pushed back.
Yet the real revelation at the trial was how little money "Stairway" actually made. The performers' accountant said Page earned $615,000 and Plant $532,000 since 2011, Rhino said the song grossed $3 million and netted $868,000 in the same period.
THAT'S PEANUTS!
That's not tech money. Maybe not chump change, but nowhere near the $60 million the plaintiff's expert alleged.
You see there's just not that much money in music. Much less than we believe. We think if you're famous, you're rich, but this is patently untrue. Of course, the Zeppelin boys had other income from their catalog, they did well, but not as well as they did in the seventies, before financiers raped and pillaged and techies became the new rock stars.
This trial brought rock back to earth. Pulled off the scrim and illustrated that not only are its players old, they care about money. Remember when Zeppelin flew back to England after their Madison Square Garden payment was stolen? They showed up here.
Then again, it's rumored they stole that money themselves.
Then again, it's about dignity and reputation.
But...
Feel free to steal again. Know that every juror does not see the famous as a deep pocket. Know that the line is truly blurry.
And if you want to get rich...
DO SOMETHING ELSE!
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Pop
It's not surprising pop dominates.
It is surprising it's marginalized everything else.
You've got to go back to MTV. It was a rock world. Disco made inroads but in a racist, homophobic uprising rock fans killed it. And then Bob Pittman and his minions declared MTV an AOR outlet. That's "Album Oriented Rock" for the great unwashed. A misnomer in that the tracks CAME from albums, but stations no longer went deep.
MTV minted new stars. Most famously Duran Duran and Culture Club, which AOR refused to play. As a result, Top Forty stations appeared on the FM dial to fill this gap. This was a revelation, prior to the early eighties Top Forty was an AM dungeon where only the most uniformed went to listen. KROQ, a marginal outlet in Pasadena, broke trend by playing this newfangled music, AOR started to crumble, and then came Michael Jackson.
MJ broke the color line. And after the success of "Thriller," he called himself "The King Of Pop."
Notice, not "rock," not "soul," but a word dreaded in the heart of every white boy American music aficionado.
But there was a reprieve. Although Michael infiltrated the playlist and other non-white performers followed him, KROQ took MTV hostage. Andy Schuon left Pasadena for New York, he decided what got on. And as a result, we had the great alternative wave, of not only REM, but ultimately Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
But rap gained a toehold. And expensive, effects-laden videos triumphed. And rockers blinked. They didn't like sacrificing all this power to the director, spending all that money and looking like a doofus all at the same time. That's when the good-looking nonentity took over. That's when pop started to triumph.
But radio still mattered and records were expensive to make so other scenes still existed, other radio formats still mattered, pop was something, but it wasn't everything.
It is today.
And we did not foresee this.
We thought there was room for everybody. That by opening the floodgates the big tent would be populated with a cornucopia of sounds.
But the truth is none of the rock acts that dominated MTV in the eighties can get any traction. Tom Petty and Don Henley can put out new music, but no matter how good, it ultimately stalls. And it's not much different for those who came thereafter, like Metallica and Pearl Jam. Their audience still comes out in prodigious numbers to hear the classics live, and that's seemingly all they want to hear, but their cultural impact has not only waned, but disappeared.
What happened?
The audience got younger, it had no reference points. Everything that meant something to both older listeners and the business not only didn't matter, it was unknown! Credibility, writing your own material, having chops... That was from a different era. Now you can fake it. And when you can fake it, ear candy is everything.
Which brings us to today.
Like I said, pop started to dominate with Michael Jackson. But now, if you're not on Top Forty radio, you've got no chance. You can garner a marginal audience, be on Patreon, sell merch on Pledge, but you just cannot break through.
We think we want choice, but we don't.
That's the story of today. One Amazon is enough. One Google too. Microsoft spent billions on Bing! and the only market share it got was paid for. We only have ears for hits, and the young audience that spends, that goes to the show, that builds acts, wants community, a club they can belong to, and today that's pop.
Even better, anybody can play. You too can win the lottery. Whether on TV, with "Idol" or "The Voice," or in your home studio utilizing Pro Tools to upload the end product to YouTube so you can gain notice and hopefully money. People go where the money is, and that's pop.
And the oldsters can't understand.
Oldsters remember when the Beatles and rock KILLED Top Forty, they believe music must be not only ear-pleasing, but meaningful. How can this be?
It could be something else. Doesn't have to be the pop music on today's chart. It's just that the pop music delivers mass appeal in a way other genres don't. Jazz is a joke and rock is moribund. Who wants to hear imitations of the real thing? Better to go back to the originals. As for meaning and credibility, we've got hip-hop, however long in the tooth that might be, and its most successful acts have gone Top Forty. And country still exists, but everybody in the format laments that not only is it Bro, it's got elements of pop, the rapping, the sounds, Florida Georgia Line is just one step away from Top Forty. And the biggest country act gave up the ghost, threw away the banjo and went pop completely, and Taylor Swift only got bigger, turns out she didn't need Nashville whatsoever.
She got it. She knew using Max Martin and singing anthems is more important than plumbing the soul and revealing one's warts. She used to do that when she wore cowboy boots, but she's taking no risk in today's pop world.
It's not going to get better. The landscape is not going to broaden. You can make it, but they probably won't hear it. Pop is everything, because the market demands it. It whittles down choices and delivers what people want to hear.
Like I said, eventually they'll want to hear something else.
Then again, every few years a trend used to come along to wipe the deck clean. Hair bands were replaced by alternative bands and then hip-hop killed them both.
Nothing new is on the horizon. We're in a period of consolidation. We've only just figured out distribution, for ten years we were worried music was gonna be free.
But when the monetization becomes obvious, new forces will come along to dethrone what presently exists. But that hasn't happened for fifteen years, which is how music lost its relevancy.
But not in cultural forecasting. This is what's happening everywhere. Only a few movies succeed, never mind apps. This is our future. The big will get bigger, and if the small exists at all, most people will never see it.
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It is surprising it's marginalized everything else.
You've got to go back to MTV. It was a rock world. Disco made inroads but in a racist, homophobic uprising rock fans killed it. And then Bob Pittman and his minions declared MTV an AOR outlet. That's "Album Oriented Rock" for the great unwashed. A misnomer in that the tracks CAME from albums, but stations no longer went deep.
MTV minted new stars. Most famously Duran Duran and Culture Club, which AOR refused to play. As a result, Top Forty stations appeared on the FM dial to fill this gap. This was a revelation, prior to the early eighties Top Forty was an AM dungeon where only the most uniformed went to listen. KROQ, a marginal outlet in Pasadena, broke trend by playing this newfangled music, AOR started to crumble, and then came Michael Jackson.
MJ broke the color line. And after the success of "Thriller," he called himself "The King Of Pop."
Notice, not "rock," not "soul," but a word dreaded in the heart of every white boy American music aficionado.
But there was a reprieve. Although Michael infiltrated the playlist and other non-white performers followed him, KROQ took MTV hostage. Andy Schuon left Pasadena for New York, he decided what got on. And as a result, we had the great alternative wave, of not only REM, but ultimately Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
But rap gained a toehold. And expensive, effects-laden videos triumphed. And rockers blinked. They didn't like sacrificing all this power to the director, spending all that money and looking like a doofus all at the same time. That's when the good-looking nonentity took over. That's when pop started to triumph.
But radio still mattered and records were expensive to make so other scenes still existed, other radio formats still mattered, pop was something, but it wasn't everything.
It is today.
And we did not foresee this.
We thought there was room for everybody. That by opening the floodgates the big tent would be populated with a cornucopia of sounds.
But the truth is none of the rock acts that dominated MTV in the eighties can get any traction. Tom Petty and Don Henley can put out new music, but no matter how good, it ultimately stalls. And it's not much different for those who came thereafter, like Metallica and Pearl Jam. Their audience still comes out in prodigious numbers to hear the classics live, and that's seemingly all they want to hear, but their cultural impact has not only waned, but disappeared.
What happened?
The audience got younger, it had no reference points. Everything that meant something to both older listeners and the business not only didn't matter, it was unknown! Credibility, writing your own material, having chops... That was from a different era. Now you can fake it. And when you can fake it, ear candy is everything.
Which brings us to today.
Like I said, pop started to dominate with Michael Jackson. But now, if you're not on Top Forty radio, you've got no chance. You can garner a marginal audience, be on Patreon, sell merch on Pledge, but you just cannot break through.
We think we want choice, but we don't.
That's the story of today. One Amazon is enough. One Google too. Microsoft spent billions on Bing! and the only market share it got was paid for. We only have ears for hits, and the young audience that spends, that goes to the show, that builds acts, wants community, a club they can belong to, and today that's pop.
Even better, anybody can play. You too can win the lottery. Whether on TV, with "Idol" or "The Voice," or in your home studio utilizing Pro Tools to upload the end product to YouTube so you can gain notice and hopefully money. People go where the money is, and that's pop.
And the oldsters can't understand.
Oldsters remember when the Beatles and rock KILLED Top Forty, they believe music must be not only ear-pleasing, but meaningful. How can this be?
It could be something else. Doesn't have to be the pop music on today's chart. It's just that the pop music delivers mass appeal in a way other genres don't. Jazz is a joke and rock is moribund. Who wants to hear imitations of the real thing? Better to go back to the originals. As for meaning and credibility, we've got hip-hop, however long in the tooth that might be, and its most successful acts have gone Top Forty. And country still exists, but everybody in the format laments that not only is it Bro, it's got elements of pop, the rapping, the sounds, Florida Georgia Line is just one step away from Top Forty. And the biggest country act gave up the ghost, threw away the banjo and went pop completely, and Taylor Swift only got bigger, turns out she didn't need Nashville whatsoever.
She got it. She knew using Max Martin and singing anthems is more important than plumbing the soul and revealing one's warts. She used to do that when she wore cowboy boots, but she's taking no risk in today's pop world.
It's not going to get better. The landscape is not going to broaden. You can make it, but they probably won't hear it. Pop is everything, because the market demands it. It whittles down choices and delivers what people want to hear.
Like I said, eventually they'll want to hear something else.
Then again, every few years a trend used to come along to wipe the deck clean. Hair bands were replaced by alternative bands and then hip-hop killed them both.
Nothing new is on the horizon. We're in a period of consolidation. We've only just figured out distribution, for ten years we were worried music was gonna be free.
But when the monetization becomes obvious, new forces will come along to dethrone what presently exists. But that hasn't happened for fifteen years, which is how music lost its relevancy.
But not in cultural forecasting. This is what's happening everywhere. Only a few movies succeed, never mind apps. This is our future. The big will get bigger, and if the small exists at all, most people will never see it.
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All Hell Breaks Loose
"Bedlam Erupts In House Floor Standoff Over Gun Control": http://goo.gl/GrPJUj
Looks a lot like Napster, dontcha think?
Oh, the history of that file-trading service has been rewritten. Almost two decades later it's seen as techies running roughshod over institutions, a free for all with free music for everybody. But the truth is its success was evidence of the public's hunger for change, a populace sick of twenty dollar CDs with one good song and the inability to hear so much of what they wanted to without paying a toll.
And now the Democrats in the House are revolting.
It was a long time in coming, but the truth is Trump and Bernie scared them, proved that if you're an insider doing business as usual your reign is time-stamped, Either stand for something or you stand for nothing at all.
Kind of like the musicians of the sixties. This is what it was like.
We emerged from a period of relative calm, back then it was the fifties, now it's the nineties. And suddenly the seams started to crack and truths were revealed. Youngsters questioned precepts and then not only was everybody smoking dope and having sex willy-nilly, they were against the Vietnam war.
And there was chaos in the marketplace. Not only did the younger generation wipe the slate clean of Perry Como and his ilk, the heroes of yesteryear, of the establishment, the bland, safe pop music was thrown overboard too. It was all new, all the time. Almost no one before the Beatles survived after the Beatles. And there was a migration from AM to FM and Woodstock showed how strong our nation was...
And we've been coasting on fumes ever since.
Who knew that politics was gonna be the music of the teens?
Tech is dead. You don't need a new phone and the new apps provide services that might be convenient, might provide titillation and distraction, but despite their ubiquity their necessity is almost nil.
But when it comes to the government...
They tell us in elementary school to believe, to trust, that anyone can become President. And then some fake barely a billionaire bozo wins the nomination and you reflect that it wasn't supposed to be this way.
But that was after they stole your safety net and paid fealty to the rich and pulled up your supposed ladder to the top. The populace is unhappy, on the left and the right. You see their opportunity has been stolen. And they want change.
Which the Republicans don't want. They'd rather go on a death march. Not only did they lose control of their own nominating process by being beholden to the rich and only paying lip service to the poor, they don't understand their basic tenets are wrong. Their constituency wants not only Obamacare, but Medicare and Social Security. Republican rank and file want abortion rights and gun control. Check the statistics. But the elected officials who are supposed to represent the electorate can't go against the NRA and the religious right, they've got no cojones, despite their bluster.
And the left wing Democrats have been squealing about bullies on the playground for decades, and their constituency has had enough. Not only have they given up on the working man, stood idly by while unions were eviscerated, they have refused to stand up to the Republicans whatsoever, complaining about their behavior and doing nothing about it.
Until tonight, oh, what a night.
THEY BROKE THE RULES!
Just like Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. He who refuses to stand up for what's right, despite regulation, is destined to be overthrown.
They utilized Periscope! U2 takes cash from Meerkat when we already knew that service would be overtaken, and these anything but hip legislators who Bono thinks he has influence over but does not leapfrog the entire entertainment business and employ the streaming service in its best application ever.
I know what's gonna happen.
We're not gonna return to business as usual. Everybody's too afraid. Except for the Republicans, who cannot see that by refusing to even evaluate a new Supreme Court Justice they're just burying their chances, alienating their core. When you do nothing, you're history.
Just ask the record labels, who've lost half of their recorded revenue. They could have made a deal with Napster, but NO, they'd rather teach the upstarts a lesson and lose in the process. And too many with a voice in the music sphere are on the wrong side of the issues. The youngsters use the new tools, they don't bitch about them. If you're not making a ton of money from streaming you're not a hit act, sorry.
But these same youngsters grew up in an era of Mariah Carey and TRL. They never had to worry about getting their asses shot off in Nam. They think it's all about brand and fans and cash. WRONG! It's about the work. We're drawn to the flame of those who testify, who lay down their truth. But there's little truth in evidence. All we get is old farts like Tom Morello and Chuck D. making execrable music, despite their hearts being in the right place.
No, the revolution is gonna come from the young. But they idolize the moneygrubbers of the CD era, the Tommy Mottolas, they've got no heroes.
But now they do. A bunch of renegade representatives who know that doing what's right is more important than maintaining decorum.
The wheels of change turn slowly. But when there's no movement, we get frustrated, we flip out, it's like having a dad who never lets you drive the car, who always tells you to turn down the tunes, who never gives you a break. We get sick of hearing no.
And we're sick of mass shootings. The problem cannot be eradicated, but something can be done.
That's what the public thinks. Forget the blowhards at Fox News and the NRA who are working the refs. The people, who control this country, who truly own it, want safety and change.
And it's happening right now.
A bill might not be passed but business as usual is over. It will never be the same in Washington again.
The same way it was never the same after Napster.
And the Beatles.
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Looks a lot like Napster, dontcha think?
Oh, the history of that file-trading service has been rewritten. Almost two decades later it's seen as techies running roughshod over institutions, a free for all with free music for everybody. But the truth is its success was evidence of the public's hunger for change, a populace sick of twenty dollar CDs with one good song and the inability to hear so much of what they wanted to without paying a toll.
And now the Democrats in the House are revolting.
It was a long time in coming, but the truth is Trump and Bernie scared them, proved that if you're an insider doing business as usual your reign is time-stamped, Either stand for something or you stand for nothing at all.
Kind of like the musicians of the sixties. This is what it was like.
We emerged from a period of relative calm, back then it was the fifties, now it's the nineties. And suddenly the seams started to crack and truths were revealed. Youngsters questioned precepts and then not only was everybody smoking dope and having sex willy-nilly, they were against the Vietnam war.
And there was chaos in the marketplace. Not only did the younger generation wipe the slate clean of Perry Como and his ilk, the heroes of yesteryear, of the establishment, the bland, safe pop music was thrown overboard too. It was all new, all the time. Almost no one before the Beatles survived after the Beatles. And there was a migration from AM to FM and Woodstock showed how strong our nation was...
And we've been coasting on fumes ever since.
Who knew that politics was gonna be the music of the teens?
Tech is dead. You don't need a new phone and the new apps provide services that might be convenient, might provide titillation and distraction, but despite their ubiquity their necessity is almost nil.
But when it comes to the government...
They tell us in elementary school to believe, to trust, that anyone can become President. And then some fake barely a billionaire bozo wins the nomination and you reflect that it wasn't supposed to be this way.
But that was after they stole your safety net and paid fealty to the rich and pulled up your supposed ladder to the top. The populace is unhappy, on the left and the right. You see their opportunity has been stolen. And they want change.
Which the Republicans don't want. They'd rather go on a death march. Not only did they lose control of their own nominating process by being beholden to the rich and only paying lip service to the poor, they don't understand their basic tenets are wrong. Their constituency wants not only Obamacare, but Medicare and Social Security. Republican rank and file want abortion rights and gun control. Check the statistics. But the elected officials who are supposed to represent the electorate can't go against the NRA and the religious right, they've got no cojones, despite their bluster.
And the left wing Democrats have been squealing about bullies on the playground for decades, and their constituency has had enough. Not only have they given up on the working man, stood idly by while unions were eviscerated, they have refused to stand up to the Republicans whatsoever, complaining about their behavior and doing nothing about it.
Until tonight, oh, what a night.
THEY BROKE THE RULES!
Just like Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. He who refuses to stand up for what's right, despite regulation, is destined to be overthrown.
They utilized Periscope! U2 takes cash from Meerkat when we already knew that service would be overtaken, and these anything but hip legislators who Bono thinks he has influence over but does not leapfrog the entire entertainment business and employ the streaming service in its best application ever.
I know what's gonna happen.
We're not gonna return to business as usual. Everybody's too afraid. Except for the Republicans, who cannot see that by refusing to even evaluate a new Supreme Court Justice they're just burying their chances, alienating their core. When you do nothing, you're history.
Just ask the record labels, who've lost half of their recorded revenue. They could have made a deal with Napster, but NO, they'd rather teach the upstarts a lesson and lose in the process. And too many with a voice in the music sphere are on the wrong side of the issues. The youngsters use the new tools, they don't bitch about them. If you're not making a ton of money from streaming you're not a hit act, sorry.
But these same youngsters grew up in an era of Mariah Carey and TRL. They never had to worry about getting their asses shot off in Nam. They think it's all about brand and fans and cash. WRONG! It's about the work. We're drawn to the flame of those who testify, who lay down their truth. But there's little truth in evidence. All we get is old farts like Tom Morello and Chuck D. making execrable music, despite their hearts being in the right place.
No, the revolution is gonna come from the young. But they idolize the moneygrubbers of the CD era, the Tommy Mottolas, they've got no heroes.
But now they do. A bunch of renegade representatives who know that doing what's right is more important than maintaining decorum.
The wheels of change turn slowly. But when there's no movement, we get frustrated, we flip out, it's like having a dad who never lets you drive the car, who always tells you to turn down the tunes, who never gives you a break. We get sick of hearing no.
And we're sick of mass shootings. The problem cannot be eradicated, but something can be done.
That's what the public thinks. Forget the blowhards at Fox News and the NRA who are working the refs. The people, who control this country, who truly own it, want safety and change.
And it's happening right now.
A bill might not be passed but business as usual is over. It will never be the same in Washington again.
The same way it was never the same after Napster.
And the Beatles.
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Wednesday 22 June 2016
Mass Is Everything
And niche is nowhere.
Ever since that misguided book "The Long Tail" came out everyone with a keyboard believes they're entitled to an audience and compensation online. This is patently untrue. Ironically, as more people got access, broadband prospered and mobile reigned the scene started to resemble our nation at large, one of haves and have-nots, of income inequality, of winners and losers, but the great unwashed refuse to believe this.
Like those starting podcasts.
Just because you can do it doesn't mean anybody wants to listen to it. And Malcolm Gladwell enters the fray years late and goes directly to the top of the chart. That's the power of name recognition, career accomplishment and talent. When few were podcasting you had a chance. Now, fuggetaboutit.
Why is it everybody gloms on when a medium becomes mature, when the experts know the game is all about the bleeding edge, being first, testing limits, planting your flag on an outpost. But that's damn hard to do, you have to have confidence, talent and insight. And perseverance. That's the dirty little secret, most people give up, sooner rather than later.
We see this great inequality, the gap between losers and winners, in the tech infrastructure. There's only ONE Facebook. And there are a couple of other social networks with traction, Instagram and Snapchat. If you're trying to compete odds are long, very long. Apple failed twice, with Ping and Connect.
And in mobile operating systems there's Android and iOS. BlackBerry is moribund and despite the marketing power of Microsoft, Windows cannot compete.
So, if they can't win, what are the odds you can?
Which is why you're making so little despite your tunes being on Spotify, YouTube even. Sure, you have 10,000 views, which seems significant to you, but there are unknown acts with 50 million, truly, they just haven't blown up yet, most of the world is an untapped market.
You see the public wants to belong, be a member of the group, have something to talk about, and those in the music sphere seem categorically unable to accept this, if they acknowledge it at all. People like hits. They want to listen to what everybody else does. They want to be members of a community. They want to go to the show en masse and celebrate.
Do not equate the modern era with the pre-internet one. In the twentieth century five thousand albums were released a year. Just getting a record deal was a near-impossibility. Most people could not play in the game at all. And those that did had a leg up. They got publicity and some airplay and word of mouth was available, there were few competing projects. So when you were niche in the seventies or eighties or even nineties, you really weren't. You were already an exclusive club member. People knew who you were. You could play clubs, supported by your label. Fans championed you and supported you, but not as much as your record company, which footed the bill before either hitting the jackpot or giving up.
But today the scene is incomprehensible. There's just too much out there. And labels are businesses, they want to make money. And they can only do this by reaching mass. And mirroring income inequality they're only interested in that which can truly break through, rain down coin, the middle is anathema. Just ask the movie business, where you can't get a comedy or adult drama funded. But, you tell them, you can make it for under ten mil, bunts instead of home runs. But home runs score and bunts do not. And with overhead, marketing expenses and opportunity cost, it doesn't pay to do anything but swing for the fences.
That's on the side of production.
On the side of consumption...
The public leans toward that which is anointed. Which is what the Grammy bounce is all about. Hell, "Hamilton" just shot up the chart after winning all those Tonys. The music on the album didn't change, but people's awareness of it did.
Which is why all these streaming music services will not survive. Because, like bands, mass is where it's at. People want to be where everybody else is. How do you even share a song on Apple Music? If you're on Tidal? Can you send it to someone who doesn't subscribe?
There's only one Amazon, one trustworthy retailer, which expanded into new territories, kind of like Spotify, which now has podcasts and video.
But Spotify's model of endless playlists is b.s. The whole playlist canard is b.s. Because it doesn't serve the customer. The customer wants trusted curation of that which everybody is paying attention to. We don't only want great, we want great that everybody else is listening to. When all the acts on the playlist are unknown to you, you don't even bother listening. You feel like you're wasting your time. Even if you found something you liked you feel no one else would have ever heard of it. But if everybody's listening to the same playlist, then you know you have a starting point.
I know, I know, this is everything you hate about the old system. But gatekeepers don't only exact tolls, they keep order, they deliver comprehension, which the public greatly needs.
So don't tell me about your personal playlist. Or the obscure one you listen to. Doesn't float my boat, doesn't satisfy my urges. I need community, something today's music services do a piss-poor job of providing. Spotify would be better off resembling KROQ more than a record store. Build culture and belief, narrow it down for us.
But, like "The Long Tail," streaming services have it all wrong, they're too busy being everything to everybody and satisfying few in the process.
And hustlers muddy the water trying to gain attention for what they're selling even though no one cares.
Mass adds definition. Look at the Kardashians. Everybody knows who they are. Some love 'em, some hate 'em, others are indifferent. But if you come to my house we can argue about them. We can't argue about most bands.
But the Kardashians know you gain traction and hammer the message. And the family had the same damn members before they were on TV. And Kim was just a pale imitation of Paris Hilton.
But isn't it funny we rarely hear about Paris anymore. We don't need her if we have Kim.
We don't need you if we've got Zeppelin and Bieber.
But at least Bieber and Drake, who releases a mixtape seemingly every time the seasons change, get the new paradigm. That it's about being constantly in the public eye, with new product, that you don't rest on your laurels, you keep creating.
Are you a winner or a loser?
First, check your field. If you can't be at the top, you're not gonna make it on the internet.
But if you've got a shot, utilize the tools. Don't scream at streaming services, embrace them. Go where everybody else is.
That's what the public wants.
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Ever since that misguided book "The Long Tail" came out everyone with a keyboard believes they're entitled to an audience and compensation online. This is patently untrue. Ironically, as more people got access, broadband prospered and mobile reigned the scene started to resemble our nation at large, one of haves and have-nots, of income inequality, of winners and losers, but the great unwashed refuse to believe this.
Like those starting podcasts.
Just because you can do it doesn't mean anybody wants to listen to it. And Malcolm Gladwell enters the fray years late and goes directly to the top of the chart. That's the power of name recognition, career accomplishment and talent. When few were podcasting you had a chance. Now, fuggetaboutit.
Why is it everybody gloms on when a medium becomes mature, when the experts know the game is all about the bleeding edge, being first, testing limits, planting your flag on an outpost. But that's damn hard to do, you have to have confidence, talent and insight. And perseverance. That's the dirty little secret, most people give up, sooner rather than later.
We see this great inequality, the gap between losers and winners, in the tech infrastructure. There's only ONE Facebook. And there are a couple of other social networks with traction, Instagram and Snapchat. If you're trying to compete odds are long, very long. Apple failed twice, with Ping and Connect.
And in mobile operating systems there's Android and iOS. BlackBerry is moribund and despite the marketing power of Microsoft, Windows cannot compete.
So, if they can't win, what are the odds you can?
Which is why you're making so little despite your tunes being on Spotify, YouTube even. Sure, you have 10,000 views, which seems significant to you, but there are unknown acts with 50 million, truly, they just haven't blown up yet, most of the world is an untapped market.
You see the public wants to belong, be a member of the group, have something to talk about, and those in the music sphere seem categorically unable to accept this, if they acknowledge it at all. People like hits. They want to listen to what everybody else does. They want to be members of a community. They want to go to the show en masse and celebrate.
Do not equate the modern era with the pre-internet one. In the twentieth century five thousand albums were released a year. Just getting a record deal was a near-impossibility. Most people could not play in the game at all. And those that did had a leg up. They got publicity and some airplay and word of mouth was available, there were few competing projects. So when you were niche in the seventies or eighties or even nineties, you really weren't. You were already an exclusive club member. People knew who you were. You could play clubs, supported by your label. Fans championed you and supported you, but not as much as your record company, which footed the bill before either hitting the jackpot or giving up.
But today the scene is incomprehensible. There's just too much out there. And labels are businesses, they want to make money. And they can only do this by reaching mass. And mirroring income inequality they're only interested in that which can truly break through, rain down coin, the middle is anathema. Just ask the movie business, where you can't get a comedy or adult drama funded. But, you tell them, you can make it for under ten mil, bunts instead of home runs. But home runs score and bunts do not. And with overhead, marketing expenses and opportunity cost, it doesn't pay to do anything but swing for the fences.
That's on the side of production.
On the side of consumption...
The public leans toward that which is anointed. Which is what the Grammy bounce is all about. Hell, "Hamilton" just shot up the chart after winning all those Tonys. The music on the album didn't change, but people's awareness of it did.
Which is why all these streaming music services will not survive. Because, like bands, mass is where it's at. People want to be where everybody else is. How do you even share a song on Apple Music? If you're on Tidal? Can you send it to someone who doesn't subscribe?
There's only one Amazon, one trustworthy retailer, which expanded into new territories, kind of like Spotify, which now has podcasts and video.
But Spotify's model of endless playlists is b.s. The whole playlist canard is b.s. Because it doesn't serve the customer. The customer wants trusted curation of that which everybody is paying attention to. We don't only want great, we want great that everybody else is listening to. When all the acts on the playlist are unknown to you, you don't even bother listening. You feel like you're wasting your time. Even if you found something you liked you feel no one else would have ever heard of it. But if everybody's listening to the same playlist, then you know you have a starting point.
I know, I know, this is everything you hate about the old system. But gatekeepers don't only exact tolls, they keep order, they deliver comprehension, which the public greatly needs.
So don't tell me about your personal playlist. Or the obscure one you listen to. Doesn't float my boat, doesn't satisfy my urges. I need community, something today's music services do a piss-poor job of providing. Spotify would be better off resembling KROQ more than a record store. Build culture and belief, narrow it down for us.
But, like "The Long Tail," streaming services have it all wrong, they're too busy being everything to everybody and satisfying few in the process.
And hustlers muddy the water trying to gain attention for what they're selling even though no one cares.
Mass adds definition. Look at the Kardashians. Everybody knows who they are. Some love 'em, some hate 'em, others are indifferent. But if you come to my house we can argue about them. We can't argue about most bands.
But the Kardashians know you gain traction and hammer the message. And the family had the same damn members before they were on TV. And Kim was just a pale imitation of Paris Hilton.
But isn't it funny we rarely hear about Paris anymore. We don't need her if we have Kim.
We don't need you if we've got Zeppelin and Bieber.
But at least Bieber and Drake, who releases a mixtape seemingly every time the seasons change, get the new paradigm. That it's about being constantly in the public eye, with new product, that you don't rest on your laurels, you keep creating.
Are you a winner or a loser?
First, check your field. If you can't be at the top, you're not gonna make it on the internet.
But if you've got a shot, utilize the tools. Don't scream at streaming services, embrace them. Go where everybody else is.
That's what the public wants.
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Tuesday 21 June 2016
Playlists, Not Radio
Radio is killing the music business.
Alta kachers and record labels pay fealty to this antiquated medium to their detriment. In an on demand society where the playlist is king the business keeps focusing on getting airplay and there are not enough slots and not enough people listening. It's like they're coal miners fighting for market share in a world that's become about natural gas, solar and wind.
The revolution has happened. It's just that those with power refuse to acknowledge it. Sales are a dead metric, like counting the number of landlines in a mobile world, it's all about streams. But how do you get people to stream if they don't know what playlist to check out?
Paul Simon put out a new album. Reviews say it's good, I haven't listened to it. Where do I start?
Same deal with Tom Petty's Mudcrutch.
The acts make LPs in a singles world, get traditional publicity in an online social world, and then they blame the system when their new projects gain no traction.
Used to be we tuned into the same radio stations.
Then we all tuned into MTV.
These outlets pruned the wares, they told us what to listen to, they gave us clarity in the face of chaos.
But now there's even chaos in the playlist world!
We need fewer playlists.
But even more, we need a handful of targeted playlists, that would allow listeners to check out new music.
That's right, the baby boomers, who are active consumers...where's their one playlist with the best new work of the old and the work of the new they should be aware of? I'd listen to it, you would too. Instead, the whole scene has been hijacked by non-comm stations who believe they're arbiters of quality, but are really gatekeepers of the graveyard. Yes, these stations have some active listeners, but they're a zit on the ass of the total populace. And, at best, they feed us track by track over a period of years whereas an act might have a few good cuts worth listening to all at once.
So...
Spotify. This is your job. Apple Music is moribund, a vehicle for the industry to complain that someone moved their cheese. And YouTube is for youngsters and it's about subscriptions, not playlists, so...
The Swedish outlet has to lead. Has to create one playlist for old people with the best new stuff. To give not only Paul Simon and Tom Petty a chance, but Neil Young too, who's been bitching on Marc Maron's WTF.
Right there on the homepage. A veritable radio playlist, only this time it's on demand, on a streaming service, and you can scroll through and sample and discover.
Sure, Discover Weekly is good, but those playlists are too personalized. They can't break an act. We crave community, and the streaming services have done a piss-poor job of giving it to us. But this could change, and benefit everyone, acts and listeners alike.
Then again, oldsters hate streaming. But that's the only way to get paid for recordings! And the more acts promote it the more listeners will clamor for it.
So, create an Adult Playlist.
Sure, I could comb through Spotify and see which of the Simon and Mudcrutch tracks got the most spins, but that's way too much work in an overwhelming world. Can't you get a curator, like a programmer of yore, to cull the best and serve it up?
It's the job of Spotify to break acts now. Radio's the last hurrah, even in pop. It's time for the streaming service to step up.
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Alta kachers and record labels pay fealty to this antiquated medium to their detriment. In an on demand society where the playlist is king the business keeps focusing on getting airplay and there are not enough slots and not enough people listening. It's like they're coal miners fighting for market share in a world that's become about natural gas, solar and wind.
The revolution has happened. It's just that those with power refuse to acknowledge it. Sales are a dead metric, like counting the number of landlines in a mobile world, it's all about streams. But how do you get people to stream if they don't know what playlist to check out?
Paul Simon put out a new album. Reviews say it's good, I haven't listened to it. Where do I start?
Same deal with Tom Petty's Mudcrutch.
The acts make LPs in a singles world, get traditional publicity in an online social world, and then they blame the system when their new projects gain no traction.
Used to be we tuned into the same radio stations.
Then we all tuned into MTV.
These outlets pruned the wares, they told us what to listen to, they gave us clarity in the face of chaos.
But now there's even chaos in the playlist world!
We need fewer playlists.
But even more, we need a handful of targeted playlists, that would allow listeners to check out new music.
That's right, the baby boomers, who are active consumers...where's their one playlist with the best new work of the old and the work of the new they should be aware of? I'd listen to it, you would too. Instead, the whole scene has been hijacked by non-comm stations who believe they're arbiters of quality, but are really gatekeepers of the graveyard. Yes, these stations have some active listeners, but they're a zit on the ass of the total populace. And, at best, they feed us track by track over a period of years whereas an act might have a few good cuts worth listening to all at once.
So...
Spotify. This is your job. Apple Music is moribund, a vehicle for the industry to complain that someone moved their cheese. And YouTube is for youngsters and it's about subscriptions, not playlists, so...
The Swedish outlet has to lead. Has to create one playlist for old people with the best new stuff. To give not only Paul Simon and Tom Petty a chance, but Neil Young too, who's been bitching on Marc Maron's WTF.
Right there on the homepage. A veritable radio playlist, only this time it's on demand, on a streaming service, and you can scroll through and sample and discover.
Sure, Discover Weekly is good, but those playlists are too personalized. They can't break an act. We crave community, and the streaming services have done a piss-poor job of giving it to us. But this could change, and benefit everyone, acts and listeners alike.
Then again, oldsters hate streaming. But that's the only way to get paid for recordings! And the more acts promote it the more listeners will clamor for it.
So, create an Adult Playlist.
Sure, I could comb through Spotify and see which of the Simon and Mudcrutch tracks got the most spins, but that's way too much work in an overwhelming world. Can't you get a curator, like a programmer of yore, to cull the best and serve it up?
It's the job of Spotify to break acts now. Radio's the last hurrah, even in pop. It's time for the streaming service to step up.
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Making It
How rich is Donald Trump?
One of the first rules of Hollywood is to ditch modesty, whether true or false. In a land where no CV is necessary, where hustlers reign and people lie about their educations if they went to college at all, he or she who doesn't say they're the best ever is instantly ignored, we don't have time for that, there aren't enough hours in the day to weed through those who beat their chests claiming they're the best.
"After one Cohn coup, Mr. Trump rewarded him with a pair of diamond-encrusted cuff links and buttons in a Bulgari box."
"He did get to keep the cuff links Mr. Trump had given Mr. Cohn. Years later, Mr. Fraser had them appraised; they were knockoffs, he said."
That's from today's front page "Times" story on Trump and Roy Cohn, the pugilistic barrister who viewed the world as his oyster. (http://goo.gl/S0QpiM) That's what they don't tell you, the rich and powerful believe the game is to be manipulated, that the rules are an amorphous amalgamation they can bend to their will. Which is why despite Ivy League graduates being pillars of society they rarely effect change, they so often don't rule, because this is anathema to their being.
You see on the east coast where you went to college is important. And sure, you try to pull strings, if you're wealthy enough you donate a building, but mostly you do what's expected of you, you play by the rules, you get good grades, study up for the SATs, do a ton of extracurricular activities, and when you're accepted at the august institution you think you've made it.
Only you haven't. Sure, you can get into medical school, or law school, maybe even get a gig at the bank, but that's not where the action is today. Finance might make you rich, but it rarely gives you power, and power is everything.
Which is why those seeking it can be found outside the traditional system, in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, not in Miami, a haven of hedonism. Hunger is palpable on the west coast and it's pooh-poohed by the east. Whether it be the slimy entertainment types or the Silicon Valleyites wreaking havoc on what once was and never more will be. The revolution is effected by the can-dos, and most of those playing by the rules are the can-nots.
And they cannot fathom Donald Trump. The east coast intelligentsia has its knickers in a twist, how can this be? Very easily, if you get out and see how the world really works. Whether it be YouTube stars or anybody else who hustled their way from the bottom to the top.
Most of what you read about entertainment is wrong, pure fiction, lies, drummed up by publicists for effect. But the media repeats it and the public buys it and the perpetrators have the last laugh. You don't become the biggest star in the world because you have the most talent, but because you've been anointed by the machine, that's the dirty little secret. And you get into position by hustling, telling everybody how great you are, making loyal friends and working the angles. Of course luck counts, so many projects end up failing, but not all of them.
Donald Trump knows the value of publicity. That's how he earned his name, by cutting through red tape and funding the reconstruction of a skating rink. He branded himself as a can-do guy.
The same way a singer gets a duet or an appearance on an awards show...you're in the public eye and then you capitalize on it.
And despite protesting that you're warm and friendly, you've got sharp elbows, you keep others down, there are only a limited number of places at the top.
And then you leverage your success and suddenly where you came from and how you got there has been forgotten, or forgiven, we love winners. Isn't that the American Way, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, even if you were born on third base?
Now that Donald Trump has won the nomination, true scrutiny has begun. You couldn't depend upon the right wing to do this previously, there are no reporters at Fox News, only talking heads, and Rush Limbaugh is a gasbag who gets his talking points from the "Times." And the "Times" detailed how Trump was a failure in Atlantic City.
But he told everybody he was a success.
And if you call him on it, he'll blast you back to the stone age, possibly suing you in the process, or denying your press credentials along the way.
And the wimpy left wing establishment just doesn't get it. They believe you build your resume honestly, that you play nicely with others...but that's a route to the middle, and Trump needed to be on the top.
Trump kept leveraging his middling success, piling on publicity for more fame, getting his own television show, knowing that publicity is everything, that the news is subservient to those making it. And he hoodwinked the entire nation.
As performers have done before.
This is Entertainment Business 101 folks. Smoke and mirrors. Becoming a star because you say so. To the point where naysayers look like haters and you win in the end.
So much has changed in the past few decades. Most wealth is newly-earned, income inequality has burgeoned, there's more media than ever. But what has not been acknowledged is the entertainmentification of our country. It started with Reagan, an actor who got Alzheimer's who's been recast as a god, with public places named after him ad infinitum. Do you think he earned it? Then you've got no idea how the game is played.
And then came MTV, which showed us stars could be bigger than we ever thought possible.
And despite techies owning all the systems and making all the billions, the content creators own the hearts and minds of our society, entertainment rules.
And Trump is an entertainer.
Are you?
P.S. "How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions": http://goo.gl/tW3Mt6
I don't expect you to read this article, no one ever does. We don't want facts, but talking points, we skew the news in our favor, we model it after what we want to believe. And our beliefs are most malleable when it comes to soft news, as opposed to wonky subjects. And that's how Trump has succeeded, by focusing on soft topics we can repeat and discuss. He may ultimately fail at the polls, but this is a sea change, we're never going back to what once was. Expect Mark Cuban to run for President and win. No one cares how he made his money, few even know, but he made a basketball team a success, standing up to the NBA all the while, and is on television every week. Mindshare is everything. Clinton thought she could succeed with Saturday debates and no press conferences, and Trump's such a bad candidate, whose faux pas are catching up with him, that she probably will, but she's the last gasp of a dying paradigm.
P.P.S. Are you a leader or a follower? If you think self-help books and websites can turn you into the former from the latter, you're dreaming. Either you believe the world can be bent in your favor or you don't.
P.P.P.S. Fame eclipses money every day of the week. An actor tragically gets pinned by his automobile and it's front page news, Tom Perkins dies and most people have no idea who that is.
P.P.P.P.S. Say something long enough and loud enough and most people believe it, even if it's untrue. John Oliver specializes in revealing this, tune in. Either you're gushing for dollars or speaking the truth, you can't do both, sorry to say.
P.P.P.P.P.S. No one blows the whistle because the government is in bed with the rich and you only get ahead by being in bed with the rich. So if you think someone is looking out for you, the common man, you're wrong.
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Before income inequality, some of those east coast hoop-jumpers went into music, believing they could gain power and make some coin in the process. But now those people are in search of safety, and there's less of it in entertainment than anywhere. The establishment doesn't like long odds, and is always flabbergasted when those who apply themselves triumph. This is the story of Elon Musk and Tesla. Despite the "Wall Street Journal" carping the company is the beneficiary of government subsidies, people don't care, they glom on to those who break barriers and test limits. But in music all we've got is the uneducated unwashed who believe money is everything. Isn't it funny that Shawn Fanning, Tim Westergren and Daniel Ek are bigger heroes than most of the players. Because these techies leveraged their smarts to break barriers and satiate the public. The music business hates YouTube, the public does not. And if you think you can win without the public on your side, you're
probably Marco Rubio or Jeb or the rest of the Republican wannabes who just could not see the game had changed. Kanye may be hated, but he's gained tons of power by being in the news every damn day and scaring away critics who he excoriates every time they question him. He's the biggest star in the land because he says so. Same with Donald Trump.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Business follows the money, absolutely. Whether it be P&G or Pfizer. A record company doesn't care what it sells, as long as it sells. Trump got a TV show because he had a brand name and was a tireless self-promoter. TV would give Hitler a show if they thought it would garner good ratings. And isn't it interesting that record labels support acts that shoot each other, never mind do drugs and get arrested.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Trump's not that rich. But since he said he was we believe him. Now THAT'S the American Way.
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One of the first rules of Hollywood is to ditch modesty, whether true or false. In a land where no CV is necessary, where hustlers reign and people lie about their educations if they went to college at all, he or she who doesn't say they're the best ever is instantly ignored, we don't have time for that, there aren't enough hours in the day to weed through those who beat their chests claiming they're the best.
"After one Cohn coup, Mr. Trump rewarded him with a pair of diamond-encrusted cuff links and buttons in a Bulgari box."
"He did get to keep the cuff links Mr. Trump had given Mr. Cohn. Years later, Mr. Fraser had them appraised; they were knockoffs, he said."
That's from today's front page "Times" story on Trump and Roy Cohn, the pugilistic barrister who viewed the world as his oyster. (http://goo.gl/S0QpiM) That's what they don't tell you, the rich and powerful believe the game is to be manipulated, that the rules are an amorphous amalgamation they can bend to their will. Which is why despite Ivy League graduates being pillars of society they rarely effect change, they so often don't rule, because this is anathema to their being.
You see on the east coast where you went to college is important. And sure, you try to pull strings, if you're wealthy enough you donate a building, but mostly you do what's expected of you, you play by the rules, you get good grades, study up for the SATs, do a ton of extracurricular activities, and when you're accepted at the august institution you think you've made it.
Only you haven't. Sure, you can get into medical school, or law school, maybe even get a gig at the bank, but that's not where the action is today. Finance might make you rich, but it rarely gives you power, and power is everything.
Which is why those seeking it can be found outside the traditional system, in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, not in Miami, a haven of hedonism. Hunger is palpable on the west coast and it's pooh-poohed by the east. Whether it be the slimy entertainment types or the Silicon Valleyites wreaking havoc on what once was and never more will be. The revolution is effected by the can-dos, and most of those playing by the rules are the can-nots.
And they cannot fathom Donald Trump. The east coast intelligentsia has its knickers in a twist, how can this be? Very easily, if you get out and see how the world really works. Whether it be YouTube stars or anybody else who hustled their way from the bottom to the top.
Most of what you read about entertainment is wrong, pure fiction, lies, drummed up by publicists for effect. But the media repeats it and the public buys it and the perpetrators have the last laugh. You don't become the biggest star in the world because you have the most talent, but because you've been anointed by the machine, that's the dirty little secret. And you get into position by hustling, telling everybody how great you are, making loyal friends and working the angles. Of course luck counts, so many projects end up failing, but not all of them.
Donald Trump knows the value of publicity. That's how he earned his name, by cutting through red tape and funding the reconstruction of a skating rink. He branded himself as a can-do guy.
The same way a singer gets a duet or an appearance on an awards show...you're in the public eye and then you capitalize on it.
And despite protesting that you're warm and friendly, you've got sharp elbows, you keep others down, there are only a limited number of places at the top.
And then you leverage your success and suddenly where you came from and how you got there has been forgotten, or forgiven, we love winners. Isn't that the American Way, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, even if you were born on third base?
Now that Donald Trump has won the nomination, true scrutiny has begun. You couldn't depend upon the right wing to do this previously, there are no reporters at Fox News, only talking heads, and Rush Limbaugh is a gasbag who gets his talking points from the "Times." And the "Times" detailed how Trump was a failure in Atlantic City.
But he told everybody he was a success.
And if you call him on it, he'll blast you back to the stone age, possibly suing you in the process, or denying your press credentials along the way.
And the wimpy left wing establishment just doesn't get it. They believe you build your resume honestly, that you play nicely with others...but that's a route to the middle, and Trump needed to be on the top.
Trump kept leveraging his middling success, piling on publicity for more fame, getting his own television show, knowing that publicity is everything, that the news is subservient to those making it. And he hoodwinked the entire nation.
As performers have done before.
This is Entertainment Business 101 folks. Smoke and mirrors. Becoming a star because you say so. To the point where naysayers look like haters and you win in the end.
So much has changed in the past few decades. Most wealth is newly-earned, income inequality has burgeoned, there's more media than ever. But what has not been acknowledged is the entertainmentification of our country. It started with Reagan, an actor who got Alzheimer's who's been recast as a god, with public places named after him ad infinitum. Do you think he earned it? Then you've got no idea how the game is played.
And then came MTV, which showed us stars could be bigger than we ever thought possible.
And despite techies owning all the systems and making all the billions, the content creators own the hearts and minds of our society, entertainment rules.
And Trump is an entertainer.
Are you?
P.S. "How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions": http://goo.gl/tW3Mt6
I don't expect you to read this article, no one ever does. We don't want facts, but talking points, we skew the news in our favor, we model it after what we want to believe. And our beliefs are most malleable when it comes to soft news, as opposed to wonky subjects. And that's how Trump has succeeded, by focusing on soft topics we can repeat and discuss. He may ultimately fail at the polls, but this is a sea change, we're never going back to what once was. Expect Mark Cuban to run for President and win. No one cares how he made his money, few even know, but he made a basketball team a success, standing up to the NBA all the while, and is on television every week. Mindshare is everything. Clinton thought she could succeed with Saturday debates and no press conferences, and Trump's such a bad candidate, whose faux pas are catching up with him, that she probably will, but she's the last gasp of a dying paradigm.
P.P.S. Are you a leader or a follower? If you think self-help books and websites can turn you into the former from the latter, you're dreaming. Either you believe the world can be bent in your favor or you don't.
P.P.P.S. Fame eclipses money every day of the week. An actor tragically gets pinned by his automobile and it's front page news, Tom Perkins dies and most people have no idea who that is.
P.P.P.P.S. Say something long enough and loud enough and most people believe it, even if it's untrue. John Oliver specializes in revealing this, tune in. Either you're gushing for dollars or speaking the truth, you can't do both, sorry to say.
P.P.P.P.P.S. No one blows the whistle because the government is in bed with the rich and you only get ahead by being in bed with the rich. So if you think someone is looking out for you, the common man, you're wrong.
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Before income inequality, some of those east coast hoop-jumpers went into music, believing they could gain power and make some coin in the process. But now those people are in search of safety, and there's less of it in entertainment than anywhere. The establishment doesn't like long odds, and is always flabbergasted when those who apply themselves triumph. This is the story of Elon Musk and Tesla. Despite the "Wall Street Journal" carping the company is the beneficiary of government subsidies, people don't care, they glom on to those who break barriers and test limits. But in music all we've got is the uneducated unwashed who believe money is everything. Isn't it funny that Shawn Fanning, Tim Westergren and Daniel Ek are bigger heroes than most of the players. Because these techies leveraged their smarts to break barriers and satiate the public. The music business hates YouTube, the public does not. And if you think you can win without the public on your side, you're
probably Marco Rubio or Jeb or the rest of the Republican wannabes who just could not see the game had changed. Kanye may be hated, but he's gained tons of power by being in the news every damn day and scaring away critics who he excoriates every time they question him. He's the biggest star in the land because he says so. Same with Donald Trump.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Business follows the money, absolutely. Whether it be P&G or Pfizer. A record company doesn't care what it sells, as long as it sells. Trump got a TV show because he had a brand name and was a tireless self-promoter. TV would give Hitler a show if they thought it would garner good ratings. And isn't it interesting that record labels support acts that shoot each other, never mind do drugs and get arrested.
P.P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Trump's not that rich. But since he said he was we believe him. Now THAT'S the American Way.
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