It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n roll.
In Jay Jay French's case, ten years.
Dee Snider? From the time he joined it took six plus years to get a deal, and then the record company went bankrupt.
I don't care about Twisted Sister, I occasionally get e-mail from Jay Jay French, who doesn't like "We're Not Gonna Take It," but watch a documentary on the band? It'd be a seventy five minute lovefest with no perspective, fuggedaboutit.
But I kept getting e-mail about it. That it was on Netflix, and I had to see it, to the point I fired it up, that's how everything works in this world, now, more than ever, it's word of mouth. And if you're on the selling side...you're knocking on every door, you're in stasis, not getting ahead, and then the right person crosses paths and...
It begins.
So I'm waiting for Jason Flom. A great storyteller, I heard Jason tell the tale at a UJA function, about singing the act, jumpstarting his career.
Atlantic didn't care. Doug Morris told him to stop mentioning the band or he'd be fired.
But Jason never appeared!
I'm watching the flick, I can see it's longer than two hours, do I really want to make the commitment? And it's getting boring, they're going into such minutiae, but I'm gonna wait for Jason...
And then it becomes a joke.
THEY DON'T GET SIGNED UNTIL THE LAST FIFTEEN MINUTES!
It begins...
In 1972. When your only options were the movies or a band. That's it, There wasn't a soul alive who hadn't been to a club to hear a band. Manny's and Sam Ash were kept alive by the wannabes, never mind the local shop in the middle of nowhere.
But Jay Jay, et al, were in New York. Where the Manhattan clubs were small and didn't pay.
So they went to the island, as in Long, as in put down even more than New Jersey if you live on the east coast. And yes, the band ended up playing in NJ too!
Jay Jay went to see the Dolls and they sucked. They did! It was a hype, a scene, Jay Jay thought he could do better than that.
And there begins our adventure.
Some go to college. Some become professionals.
And everybody else scrounges for a living.
Rock and roll is played without a net. Those who survive...give them props, they've been through the war, endured unheralded battles that kill most comers. But still, getting everybody else to care? Damn near impossible.
They're selling 2,000 tickets. 3,000. Today, labels would be all over them, because today you prove your worth on the road and if you can put butts in the seats, everybody's interested. But back then it was all about recordings, did you have talent, could you write hit songs?
Twisted Sister was a performance band. Their goal was to destroy all others. They had to be the best, they had to conquer.
And the fans testify.
The fans will crack you up. With their dems and dose. These are New Yorkers, the rank and file. We hear so much about the richies that we forget the average outnumber them. Twisted Sister was a band for the average.
They played almost every night. They got laid, Jay Jay and Dee didn't drink, but the others did. They assaulted the audience, they needed to win.
But victory, the big time, always eluded their grasp.
They ruled the tri-state area, but beyond that...crickets. And it didn't pay to expand into new territories, they were making too much back home.
And it's so AMATEURISH! Outfits handmade. Posters and other tchotchkes done by those on hand. When you've got nothing, you lead with little, and you try to advance along the way.
In the professional world... You earn your degree and lord it over the rest of us.
I earned the degree.
But I was bitten by rock and roll.
It was nothing like today. Music is everywhere, but then it was a religion, the only thing that spoke to our generation. Sell out? The corporations wanted nothing to do with us, the Fortune 500 weren't lining up, they were staying away. And then the music built and built and took over the world.
And then it cratered, like everything too big for its britches.
Twisted Sister lost its record deal, half a decade after signing with Atlantic, cast into the dustbin, the professionals needing something new.
But the fans never forget. This music changed our lives.
Everyone interested in making it in music must watch this documentary. Because this is how it really is. The struggle, the dead ends, the loss of optimism, the jadedness as you soldier on. Only now do we think you can do it without paying your dues. And sure, the machine props up nobodies, but then those nobodies are replaced by other nobodies. Those who last... Worked hard at it. This was their only option. They could never give up. Twisted Sister persevered when no one cared, when they were losing audience because they were no longer the new thing.
After realizing the band wasn't gonna be signed until the end of the flick, when Flom finally showed up, it dawned on me that what I'd watched, however down the rabbit hole at times, was the journey of every successful act. It's boring, there are tons of details. So many blind alleys until you hit the big time and everybody pays attention.
I couldn't turn "We Are F***ing Twisted Sister" off.
And you won't be able to either.
Because in it you'll recognize yourself, your passion, your belief.
That's you.
And that's me.
I wanna rock.
And as much as I waver, as much as I tell myself it's not the same and I've got to get out...
I watch something like this and I realize there's no choice.
I'm a lifer.
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Friday 26 August 2016
Thursday 25 August 2016
A Hard Day's Night Live At The Hollywood Bowl
goo.gl/6wDd6v
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a fifty year old recording of a defunct band trumps the work of the modern masters?
One in which most acts play to track in search of perfection and have lived their entire life in the spotlight, one in which talent is secondary to image and you fake it to make it.
Imagine being able to sing to qualify.
I constantly get e-mail from lame singers pointing me to their lyrics, and when I tell them the vocal is substandard and the words don't carry the track, they point me to Bob Dylan...and I respond yes, Dylan had a less than perfect voice, but he was THE BEST LYRICIST OF ALL TIME!
And Dylan was famous for being one and done, doing very few takes, he wanted to catch the essence and then move on. Comping vocals back in '65? Give me a break. Not only was live about energy, but recordings too, it was about capturing the magic, evidencing humanity.
I'm shocked how good this live version of "A Hard Day's Night" is. My modern cynicism tells me it was overdubbed, fixed in the studio after the fact, like most live albums, but then I remember John Lennon's been gone for decades and George has departed this mortal coil too.
But they left us this magical cut, a window into what once was, that will drop your jaw.
It was the rehearsal, all those gigs in Hamburg, all that work when no one was paying attention, experimenting, honing their chops. Whereas today everybody's playing in plain sight, putting videos up on YouTube before puberty, believing they deserve attention, wondering why they haven't already gone to the top of the chart.
"Meet The Beatles" blew it up in America. "The Beatles' Second Album" came shortly thereafter. Diehard fans went back and bought the VeeJay LP, "Introducing The Beatles," and by the summer of '64, we were all on the same page, Beatlemania reigned, and "A Hard Day's Night" was released.
First came the album. A truncated version on United Artists in the States. There were too many instrumental interludes. But the Beatle originals, they were devastating. Even sans the magical "Things We Said Today" and the outright tear of "Any Time At All" which were included in the UK LP but were absent from the American iteration.
And it all started with the title track, "A Hard Day's Night."
There was that opening chord...
All baby boomers hear it and immediately think of the movie, the four lads running down the street, the excitement, that bubbling adrenaline, which overtakes your body and excites you, drowning out all intellectualism, you're running on feeling.
And you couldn't get enough of that, so you went to see the act live. Assuming you could get a ticket.
But this was when PA's were laughable, before we expected you to be able to play, never mind sing. Remember CSNY's vocals in the "Woodstock" movie? Our expectations were lowered in person, although we were thrilled to be there.
And then we find the progenitor, before Peter Grant flipped the remuneration, before Showco and the Clair Brothers built infrastructure, blowing the roof off a joint that had no roof to begin with!
There's that CHORD! There's no way they should be able to recreate that live. And then John starts to sing...LIKE HE BELIEVES IT! He's not punching the clock, he's trying to CONVINCE YOU! Reveling in his expertise, knowing he's blowing minds. And the harmonies... Really? How can they do this?
And then we have Paul's soulful middle eight, whew!
And then the band is locked into it once again. Just four guys, no support, yet it's enough.
Greatness is always enough.
George is not missing notes in the break, Ringo is propulsively keeping it all on track, a band without a solid drummer is no band at all.
It's like being jetted back in a time machine to an era with no cell phones, no social media, when if you weren't at the show you completely missed it. Talk about FOMO? It was much worse back then.
And the girls are screaming, the band throws in bits of improvisation, and you're listening believing you missed something, something incredible.
And then you remember you were there, when Beatlemania took the country by storm, when optimism ruled, when the youth stole the country from the establishment and ran with it.
And it was all powered by music.
And the Beatles were there first.
P.S. If you haven't already, pick up Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" and read the section on the Beatles, wherein the writer posits the Fab Four played more gigs before they were famous than most bands today play in their entire career. There's your 10,000 hour rule right there. You become world class by putting your time in via hard practice, winning over audiences who don't care. That's what the Beatles had to do, play endlessly, converting those who didn't care. That's your job.
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What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a fifty year old recording of a defunct band trumps the work of the modern masters?
One in which most acts play to track in search of perfection and have lived their entire life in the spotlight, one in which talent is secondary to image and you fake it to make it.
Imagine being able to sing to qualify.
I constantly get e-mail from lame singers pointing me to their lyrics, and when I tell them the vocal is substandard and the words don't carry the track, they point me to Bob Dylan...and I respond yes, Dylan had a less than perfect voice, but he was THE BEST LYRICIST OF ALL TIME!
And Dylan was famous for being one and done, doing very few takes, he wanted to catch the essence and then move on. Comping vocals back in '65? Give me a break. Not only was live about energy, but recordings too, it was about capturing the magic, evidencing humanity.
I'm shocked how good this live version of "A Hard Day's Night" is. My modern cynicism tells me it was overdubbed, fixed in the studio after the fact, like most live albums, but then I remember John Lennon's been gone for decades and George has departed this mortal coil too.
But they left us this magical cut, a window into what once was, that will drop your jaw.
It was the rehearsal, all those gigs in Hamburg, all that work when no one was paying attention, experimenting, honing their chops. Whereas today everybody's playing in plain sight, putting videos up on YouTube before puberty, believing they deserve attention, wondering why they haven't already gone to the top of the chart.
"Meet The Beatles" blew it up in America. "The Beatles' Second Album" came shortly thereafter. Diehard fans went back and bought the VeeJay LP, "Introducing The Beatles," and by the summer of '64, we were all on the same page, Beatlemania reigned, and "A Hard Day's Night" was released.
First came the album. A truncated version on United Artists in the States. There were too many instrumental interludes. But the Beatle originals, they were devastating. Even sans the magical "Things We Said Today" and the outright tear of "Any Time At All" which were included in the UK LP but were absent from the American iteration.
And it all started with the title track, "A Hard Day's Night."
There was that opening chord...
All baby boomers hear it and immediately think of the movie, the four lads running down the street, the excitement, that bubbling adrenaline, which overtakes your body and excites you, drowning out all intellectualism, you're running on feeling.
And you couldn't get enough of that, so you went to see the act live. Assuming you could get a ticket.
But this was when PA's were laughable, before we expected you to be able to play, never mind sing. Remember CSNY's vocals in the "Woodstock" movie? Our expectations were lowered in person, although we were thrilled to be there.
And then we find the progenitor, before Peter Grant flipped the remuneration, before Showco and the Clair Brothers built infrastructure, blowing the roof off a joint that had no roof to begin with!
There's that CHORD! There's no way they should be able to recreate that live. And then John starts to sing...LIKE HE BELIEVES IT! He's not punching the clock, he's trying to CONVINCE YOU! Reveling in his expertise, knowing he's blowing minds. And the harmonies... Really? How can they do this?
And then we have Paul's soulful middle eight, whew!
And then the band is locked into it once again. Just four guys, no support, yet it's enough.
Greatness is always enough.
George is not missing notes in the break, Ringo is propulsively keeping it all on track, a band without a solid drummer is no band at all.
It's like being jetted back in a time machine to an era with no cell phones, no social media, when if you weren't at the show you completely missed it. Talk about FOMO? It was much worse back then.
And the girls are screaming, the band throws in bits of improvisation, and you're listening believing you missed something, something incredible.
And then you remember you were there, when Beatlemania took the country by storm, when optimism ruled, when the youth stole the country from the establishment and ran with it.
And it was all powered by music.
And the Beatles were there first.
P.S. If you haven't already, pick up Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers" and read the section on the Beatles, wherein the writer posits the Fab Four played more gigs before they were famous than most bands today play in their entire career. There's your 10,000 hour rule right there. You become world class by putting your time in via hard practice, winning over audiences who don't care. That's what the Beatles had to do, play endlessly, converting those who didn't care. That's your job.
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Tuesday 23 August 2016
Viacom Lessons
CREATIVE TRUMPS FINANCIAL
Tom Freston is one of the best managers of all time. Not only did he oversee the spectacular growth at MTV Networks, he left his charges alone, they made the decisions, he was the cheerleader, the advisor, but they were empowered. MTV ruled the music business, its programmer was the most powerful person in the industry, threw off boatloads of cash and was the cultural denominator for not only the nation, but the world. Furthermore, Freston was ahead of his viewers. Despite watchers clamoring for more clips, Tom said MTV was never gonna air videos 24/7 anymore, since they'd become an on demand item on the web, which they most certainly have, wait for a video on cable while it's available on demand on YouTube? And in a world where there's almost never a second act, where Walter Yetnikoff and Tommy Mottola and Donnie Ienner lose their jobs and disappear, Freston has been the enabler of Vice, which is not only cool, but burgeoning, about to take over youth news by being edgy and accurate, delivering what you really want to see, as opposed to providing bland talking heads no one believes in. If Freston was still CEO, Viacom would not be in this snit, he would have pivoted, he would have changed, because in media he not busy being born is busy dying. This is the guy who thought MySpace was overpriced and passed and lost his job because he didn't get on the bandwagon and didn't lie about corporate projections. Then a manager, Philippe Dauman, came in and the whole thing went to pot, as Dauman was overpaid in the process. We've seen this movie many times before. Doug Morris was forced out at Warner and then built Universal. Few bands survive the loss of their front man. Don't focus on the bottom line, focus on the TALENT!
SEX TRUMPS EVERYTHING
Sumner Redstone was thinking with the little head. All these execs do, and so do the athletes. The most powerful people are oftentimes the spouses and girlfriends. Sex is biology, everybody is vulnerable, the person on the pedestal is driven by the same things you and me are.
EVERYONE DIES
I don't know whether Sumner Redstone is capable or not, but I do know he thought he'd live forever, famously said so, and really didn't have a proper succession plan in place. Your time will be done, no matter how powerful you are today. Train your successors, who might do a better job than you. That's right, Lucian Grainge runs Universal better than Doug Morris did. Because not only does he know the creative side, he's aware of tech and the changing landscape and he is leveraging his power at Universal for change, like trying to bring Japan into the twenty first century in terms of music formats. Sure, Doug Morris survives at Sony, he's a great music executive, don't get me wrong. But Morris was replaceable and Sony is just a record company with hits, Universal is so much more.
YOU DON'T SELL THE CORPORATE JEWELS
Paramount, Dauman wanted to sell half to make the stock jump. But once you start selling that which got you to the prom that still has asset value, you're in terminal decline. Sure, Paramount is presently moribund, but that's fixable with a few hits. Shuffle the deck, change the systems, nothing is preventing Paramount from succeeding, it is not an institutional problem. It'd be like selling your car to make rent and then being unable to get to work. Think to the future, not the past.
STOCK PRICE IS NOT EVERYTHING
Sumner split Viacom in two, creating CBS and Viacom. Turns out that Les Moonves is not only a programming whiz, but a financial one too, he rides herd over Wall Street. But today it would be better if the two were together, and because of gross differences in stock price they may not be able to be reunited. So the loss is palpable. Never mind that Moonves would be a better manager of Viacom's assets than Dauman. Building an enterprise is one thing, keeping it running is another. I give Sumner credit for sticking by his people, it's just that with Dauman he picked the wrong person.
THE SECOND GENERATION IS CLUELESS
Sumner legendarily promoted from within, but the fact that Tom Dooley was given the reins shows that Shari Redstone and her handlers are clueless. This is repeating the formula. They need a creative guy, not someone who can make the trains run on time. You don't need to calm the waters, you need a great leap forward. At least Steve Jobs gave Tim Cook responsibilities before his death, Cook was experienced. But Cook is everything that's wrong with Apple, he can make the trains run on time but he can't lay new track, everybody's going where he is now, but will they in the future, of course not!
HUBRIS KNOWS NO BOUNDS
There's a fiction that if we expose the heinous activities of the rich, they'll be shamed into doing the right thing. But not only was Dauman one of America's highest paid execs before the turmoil, he insisted on costing the company money to fight for his failed vision before he settled and walked away with a stratospheric payment. You and me would be embarrassed, but not this prick. Enough is never enough. And if you think this guy is gonna resurface, you're a fan of Mickey Schulhof and Michael Fuchs.
COURT IS LEVERAGE
No one wants an extended legal fight. You just shoot your arrows and wait for a few decisions to go your way and then settle. The amazing thing is how those with a losing hand take so long to realize this, like Dauman, like Kesha. If you're gonna fight in court, you'd better be able to win, rulings have to go your way or don't even start. And never forget, when it comes to high profile cases, you'll always find an attorney to take them on, lawyers like the glory too, everything's show business today.
NOTHING IS FOREVER
Not MTV or Nickelodeon. The past is paved with enterprises that have gone under, you've got to constantly adjust and prepare for the future.
WE'RE GETTING OLDER EVERY DAY
MTV fired its audience, not its employees. Yup, the beloved veejays, they were all canned, they were too old, MTV had a young demo it wanted to maintain. "Rolling Stone" was the bible of the baby boomers, it's irrelevant to their children. He who grays with his audience is destined for irrelevancy.
DISTRIBUTION RULES
On a limited cable system, Viacom was a giant. When distribution moved online, not only did Viacom miss the boat, no one goes to mtv.com, it lost its monopoly.
Tom Freston is one of the best managers of all time. Not only did he oversee the spectacular growth at MTV Networks, he left his charges alone, they made the decisions, he was the cheerleader, the advisor, but they were empowered. MTV ruled the music business, its programmer was the most powerful person in the industry, threw off boatloads of cash and was the cultural denominator for not only the nation, but the world. Furthermore, Freston was ahead of his viewers. Despite watchers clamoring for more clips, Tom said MTV was never gonna air videos 24/7 anymore, since they'd become an on demand item on the web, which they most certainly have, wait for a video on cable while it's available on demand on YouTube? And in a world where there's almost never a second act, where Walter Yetnikoff and Tommy Mottola and Donnie Ienner lose their jobs and disappear, Freston has been the enabler of Vice, which is not only cool, but burgeoning, about to take over youth news by being edgy and accurate, delivering what you really want to see, as opposed to providing bland talking heads no one believes in. If Freston was still CEO, Viacom would not be in this snit, he would have pivoted, he would have changed, because in media he not busy being born is busy dying. This is the guy who thought MySpace was overpriced and passed and lost his job because he didn't get on the bandwagon and didn't lie about corporate projections. Then a manager, Philippe Dauman, came in and the whole thing went to pot, as Dauman was overpaid in the process. We've seen this movie many times before. Doug Morris was forced out at Warner and then built Universal. Few bands survive the loss of their front man. Don't focus on the bottom line, focus on the TALENT!
SEX TRUMPS EVERYTHING
Sumner Redstone was thinking with the little head. All these execs do, and so do the athletes. The most powerful people are oftentimes the spouses and girlfriends. Sex is biology, everybody is vulnerable, the person on the pedestal is driven by the same things you and me are.
EVERYONE DIES
I don't know whether Sumner Redstone is capable or not, but I do know he thought he'd live forever, famously said so, and really didn't have a proper succession plan in place. Your time will be done, no matter how powerful you are today. Train your successors, who might do a better job than you. That's right, Lucian Grainge runs Universal better than Doug Morris did. Because not only does he know the creative side, he's aware of tech and the changing landscape and he is leveraging his power at Universal for change, like trying to bring Japan into the twenty first century in terms of music formats. Sure, Doug Morris survives at Sony, he's a great music executive, don't get me wrong. But Morris was replaceable and Sony is just a record company with hits, Universal is so much more.
YOU DON'T SELL THE CORPORATE JEWELS
Paramount, Dauman wanted to sell half to make the stock jump. But once you start selling that which got you to the prom that still has asset value, you're in terminal decline. Sure, Paramount is presently moribund, but that's fixable with a few hits. Shuffle the deck, change the systems, nothing is preventing Paramount from succeeding, it is not an institutional problem. It'd be like selling your car to make rent and then being unable to get to work. Think to the future, not the past.
STOCK PRICE IS NOT EVERYTHING
Sumner split Viacom in two, creating CBS and Viacom. Turns out that Les Moonves is not only a programming whiz, but a financial one too, he rides herd over Wall Street. But today it would be better if the two were together, and because of gross differences in stock price they may not be able to be reunited. So the loss is palpable. Never mind that Moonves would be a better manager of Viacom's assets than Dauman. Building an enterprise is one thing, keeping it running is another. I give Sumner credit for sticking by his people, it's just that with Dauman he picked the wrong person.
THE SECOND GENERATION IS CLUELESS
Sumner legendarily promoted from within, but the fact that Tom Dooley was given the reins shows that Shari Redstone and her handlers are clueless. This is repeating the formula. They need a creative guy, not someone who can make the trains run on time. You don't need to calm the waters, you need a great leap forward. At least Steve Jobs gave Tim Cook responsibilities before his death, Cook was experienced. But Cook is everything that's wrong with Apple, he can make the trains run on time but he can't lay new track, everybody's going where he is now, but will they in the future, of course not!
HUBRIS KNOWS NO BOUNDS
There's a fiction that if we expose the heinous activities of the rich, they'll be shamed into doing the right thing. But not only was Dauman one of America's highest paid execs before the turmoil, he insisted on costing the company money to fight for his failed vision before he settled and walked away with a stratospheric payment. You and me would be embarrassed, but not this prick. Enough is never enough. And if you think this guy is gonna resurface, you're a fan of Mickey Schulhof and Michael Fuchs.
COURT IS LEVERAGE
No one wants an extended legal fight. You just shoot your arrows and wait for a few decisions to go your way and then settle. The amazing thing is how those with a losing hand take so long to realize this, like Dauman, like Kesha. If you're gonna fight in court, you'd better be able to win, rulings have to go your way or don't even start. And never forget, when it comes to high profile cases, you'll always find an attorney to take them on, lawyers like the glory too, everything's show business today.
NOTHING IS FOREVER
Not MTV or Nickelodeon. The past is paved with enterprises that have gone under, you've got to constantly adjust and prepare for the future.
WE'RE GETTING OLDER EVERY DAY
MTV fired its audience, not its employees. Yup, the beloved veejays, they were all canned, they were too old, MTV had a young demo it wanted to maintain. "Rolling Stone" was the bible of the baby boomers, it's irrelevant to their children. He who grays with his audience is destined for irrelevancy.
DISTRIBUTION RULES
On a limited cable system, Viacom was a giant. When distribution moved online, not only did Viacom miss the boat, no one goes to mtv.com, it lost its monopoly.
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Monday 22 August 2016
Universal Ends Exclusives
Lucian Grainge sent out an email to Universal executives today ending all future exclusives with Universal artists.
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Re-Frank Ocean Exclusive
The hip built a 30 year career on doing things for fans first........ Ugh
Jake Gold
________________________________
I couldn't agree more. Exclusives hurt the fan... PERIOD! Short term dollars and small thinking. They could have promoted this on every streaming platform and got way more out of the launch. SMH
Justin Bartek
________________________________
You are so, so right. Kudos to Spotify for staying the course.
Jim Urie
________________________________
Please withhold my name.
I'm a marketing executive at a major. I can tell you that we are completely against exclusives. We see it as a step back from all the progress we've made in the last 5 years with weaning fans off of illegal downloads to legal music services. There are still so many people that do not understand how streaming works and we already want to give hoops to jump through. The concept of a music exclusive in the digital age is ridiculous.
Personally, I'm a Spotify Premium user and do not plan on switching to Apple. If they truly want to beat Spotify, they should just create a better service, but seems like they can't.
________________________________
Screw Apple. I wanted it to be my go to steaming app but it had so many bugs I just went back to Spotify. Now only if Spotify had a cloud service I could upload my non Spotify music to, which, sadly, Apple has with Match, my music experience would be perfect.
Dave Lincoln
________________________________
You speak like somebody who's never torrented an album in their life ya fogie! Believe me, I'm excited as hell about the new Frank Ocean, and I'm going to listen to it. Same with most people my age. But I don't pay fealty to Apple Music, I just know how to download things illegally. Frank Ocean will get my money at shows because that money, I'm assuming, will actually get to him. But I'm not giving any money to Apple. They're just screwing us over, and their product sucks.
kaeliearle
________________________________
Been waiting for 4 years for this and it's not even music..or art. It's like Frank's random drug fueled thoughts put to GarageBand beats. Highly disappointed. His mix tapes before he was signed were the real deal but now he's just another sell out to the big machine for dough.
-anonymous
________________________________
I'm a Spotify subscriber because the Apple Music is a bad app.
I haven't listened to Beyonce's last two albums not to protest exclusives but I never got around to it. Same will happen with Frank Ocean even though I liked his last album. In the past I would pirate it, now it's not worth the hassle.
The music industry doesn't realize their competition is attention. I don't listen to as much music as I used to, way more podcasts.
Raymond Traylor
________________________________
Bob I'm officially unsubscribe to this. You have no vision anymore you are part of the dragging industry. Frank Ocean album is great and although I love Adele to compare the both is not even fair.
Juan Hernandez
________________________________
With an endless amount of content available at our fingertips, time, not cash begins to really separate from the pack as far as it being our most valuable commodity.
Marty Winsch
________________________________
Bob, labels approach to Apple and Spotify is like how they were in bed with record clubs back in the day. Take the money and run. "You are putting my artist's music behind a paywall where only diehard fans will go for it. I don't care. Did our check clear?" The beauty of radio was no paywalls. Everybody heard the music and could then buy it. Putting paywalls up is going to kill acts.
Larry LeBlanc
________________________________
You're right. I'm one of those music fans that can care less about Frank Ocean and his new album.
wfong9
________________________________
I want the new Frank Ocean album. I won't buy it via Apple. I want to own it in the format of my choosing.
royo
________________________________
Agree 100% - I've actually been a Frank Ocean fan since the beginning, but I have no interest in deciphering how to access his new album. I went to his Tumblr blog which led me down a wormhole to itunes and then….?
I haven't heard the latest Adele, Beyonce, or Kanye, either. By the time they arrive on Spotify (with no fanfare or notice), I've lost interest and moved on to something else.
I have too many Howards to catch up on too keep track of this stuff anyway.
Best Regards,
Zach Goode
________________________________
Exclusives aren't good for anyone.
Maybe its just not my style, but that album was nothing special. People will overreact and say its album of the year, until the next one comes out.
Ryan Jacobs
________________________________
Bravo Bob- Spot on about the biz. Overkill these days on marketing and gimmic too. 2 Frank Ocean albums in 1 week but 1/2 the tracks on both releases are interludes/vignettes/under 2 minute "experimental" tracks. Greed, plain and simple.
Daniel Woods
________________________________
Rolling Stone, Fader all of them are talking about Frank Ocean's recent releases. Cant find anything better to talk about. I like stories about new artists. Where is the best place for that?
John Kauchick
________________________________
This is a lot of drama over a two week exclusive.
Ryan Heller
________________________________
And guess who is
Doing a FUNDRAISER
for Hillary on Wednesday...
TIM COOK
Marc Brickman
________________________________
Just went to Pirate Bay and downloaded both albums, Endless nicely broken down into tracks for me, playing it on my iPhone now. Interestingly, I felt compelled to buy Radiohead's recent album, they sold it direct to fans and it was available pretty much everywhere straight away - no games played with fans and no feeling that I was part of a greater corporate battleground. That was the way to do it.
Jeremy Redmore
________________________________
The free-tier is important, but not so much as making music available on all the streaming platforms. Every platform is selling it's product on the idea that, once you pay, you'll have access to all the music. And with releases exclusive only to a specific platform, their sales pitch becomes a sham. It decreases the inherent value of what the actual subscribers are paying for: access to music!
It's a crutch the services use to make up for the shoddiness of the user-interface side of their product and in the long run it'll hurt them more than it helps them.
Apple Music wouldn't have to offer exclusive anything if it was an easier product to use, period.
Christopher Kapolas
________________________________
He's preaching to the converted, the ones (like me) who will lay down $9.99 to buy the album without hearing it. But you are so right that he's losing out on discovery - the curious people who want to check it out at the height of the media exposure. Based on his Grammy appearance from a few years ago, I'm not surprised he would shoot himself in the foot commercially!
Cheers,
Jeremy Shatan
________________________________
Truly sad. All it really proves is only a few people will hear the record.
The rest will wait patiently until it hits "Spot." And once it does, if it doesn't live up to the Channel Orange legend, he's forgotten.
I'll be honest, I still haven't spun Adele's latest. I've lost interest...
Adam Franklin
________________________________
Didn't our mythical fall from grace thing happen when Adam and Eve took a bite from The Apple? Hmmmm....
Paul Koidis
________________________________
Have you even listened to the record?
Billy Taylor
________________________________
I am a fan of Channel Orange and really anticipated this new album, but after finding out its exclusivity to Apple, and only releasing the magazine in four major cities, it's BS. I would have loved a copy, not to sel on eBay like the 100 or so copies going for up to $1000.
Glad to see Frank cares about his fans in the smaller parts of the country and world.
William Martin
________________________________
Bob-
What is the difference between what Frank Ocean and other artists that you constantly lambaste are doing, versus what artists like The Eagles (as well as KISS, AC/DC, Garth Brooks, and even BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN) used to do with Wal-Mart?
Sure, the days of Napster, where everyone could download music for free, was great. Hey, I was a middle-school kid with a $20 weekly allowance, that now had the ability to get unlimited music. But today, paying $10 a month for unlimited music, without the fear of downloading a virus or a fake song, is equally, if not more wonderful.
In an ideal world, music should be available for everyone, for free. But we don't live in an ideal world. We pay for health care, we have to pay for the food on our plates, we pay for our cable and our streaming services... Really, what is the difference between what Frank Ocean is doing with Apple Music and the Netflix smash "Stranger Things?" If you want to watch Stranger Things, you need Netflix, which comes along with a monthly subscription. Why no outcry at the creators for not putting it on basic cable for all to enjoy?
Hernando Courtright
________________________________
Agree. This is why I didn't give in and buy it. Streamed it on SoundCloud. Oops.
Chelsea Williams
________________________________
The free tier is radio.
Everything else is just plain wrong.
I understand the new paradigm.
And the idea Apple should be investigated for anti-trust is the mark of a true leftie.
Antitrust is a massive conspiracy that goes against business and consumers.
So, sorry Bob, but bollocks.
Somehow, somewhere, the industry has to find a way to enable writers and performers to get paid.
You're part of the problem, not he solution. Napster was criminal. Full stop.
Paul Phillips
________________________________
While I agree with much of this I still wonder, where is the great online hope for music that takes care of the musician, the consumer and the management ???
Brian Allman
________________________________
Truth be told I wouldn't bother with the Frank Ocean release if I didn't already have Apple Music.
The exclusives, as you've well noted, are self defeating. When Adele refrained from making "25" available for streaming, I just passed. With 30 million other tracks at my fingertips, I had no trouble finding something else new and interesting to listen to. When it was finally released for streaming a couple of months ago, it was cool to finally hear. It was worthy of the wait. But the wait was meaningless.
Exclusive is not synonymous with special.
Michael Evans
________________________________
Spot on as per useeee...
Michael Sherr
________________________________
DAMN LEFSETZ. shots. fired.
Tyler Evanston Moore
________________________________
Thx
Fred Mollin
________________________________
Right on Bob as usual for calling them out!!
Val Garay
________________________________
Amen.
Charlie Hanna
________________________________
Bob,
Why do you hate on Apple Music so much?
It makes Spotify look like the inept musical excel spreadsheet it really is!
No wonder they can't get any of the decent new releases on their service.
Move with the times!
Regards,
Paul Anthony Tucker
________________________________
I agree with this completely. All of these exclusive acts play the role as an advertisement for Apple Music. This doesn't change the fact that I'm a college student who can't justify paying for the service when I can hardly pay for groceries every week. It's just annoying because I do want to listen to the albums but I'm stuck in the free tier of Spotify until I can make some more money, so I will have to wait to hear Frank Ocean. Very relatable article!
Dayne Meyerink
________________________________
Listen to his album, digest the album, make an attempt to understand what true art is before making judgements like these. An artist deciding how they want their art consumed is their prerogative. If you understood who he was and the culture that he come from then you'd understand how what he's doing transcends the conversation you are lumping him in.
Daouda Leonard
________________________________
Add to this the fact that three Frank Ocean pop-up shops that materialized to hype the release passed out a free magazine with the album on CD that are now surfacing on Ebay for over $500 each...
Matt Nixon
________________________________
always always always ahead of the pack/curve bob...thanks.
Gary William Mendel
________________________________
Interesting comments. My buddy and I are in our mid-40s and are heavy users of Spotify. We've each learned of new acts and music over the last couple of years through this streaming platform. One idea we've had, that I would think the artists would want and that Spotify should want to get good will from the artists, is for Spotify to add a digital tip jar. Talk about disruptive to the labels! Imagine liking a band and paying them directly. I try to buy albums still of bands that I really like, but how much more convenient for the artist. Would be interested in your thoughts on the idea and the likelihood of such a model developing. Take care!
William Still
________________________________
Frank Who? I swear I have no idea who he is, nor do I care.
Leigh Goldstein
________________________________
Bob,
I'm with you on most of this. But I'm not sure what your solution looks like. If everything is available on every different streaming service, there wouldn't be much competition. Ultimately, one company would end up winning and have a monopoly on streaming music, which seems very problematic (and unlikely).
Or, maybe you envision a world where everything is available on all services, but there are small differentiating factors, like quality, interface, usability, etc. But even in that world, long term there may only be two or three options at best — sort of like cable. But still in that world there are ad-ons/ pay-per-views/ special channels, etc.
My point is I don't see another world. I'm with you on the griping, but I feel like there's nothing we can do about it. Just hope you have a friend who can rip it and send it to you. That's what I did for LEMONADE & The Life of Pablo (until it was released on Spotify). And that's sort of how it's always been. You either ponied up, or you got a 2nd hand copy.
I foresee some sort of a combination of Spotify and Bandcamp— you have to "pay what you want" to unlock a record - could be $.01 or it could be $10 - then you can stream it all you want, with royalties trickling to the band. I think a small monthly fee is still necessary, though. But also could see it going another direction that is much more difficult to navigate and much more expensive.
Thinking,
Mitchell Parrish
________________________________
You nailed it on this one. My wife is a contributor to a few different horror movie websites and for the past few weeks all the talk has been Netflix's "Stranger Things." Included in the love for the show has been the love for the soundtrack, and immediately everyone was wondering when it would be released. Spotify put out a "Stranger Things" playlist, but no original score on it. Then Lakeshore Records announced they were putting it out, and after a big build up for a Friday, August 12th release, I hear cussing from my wife that morning. Apparently the release was only on iTunes, and she's an Android person. I told her, "I'll grab it on my iPhone, we'll have it for our trip." "That's not the point! I can't buy it, I can't even stream it!" So she tweets Lakeshore, who responds with an apology, stating they were sorry it's only available on iTunes but soon, hopefully the 19th, it will be available on Google Play (currently it's still not). It's now the 21st and interest is lost in the soundtrack already in our household, and as we talk to friends and other writers she works with, that seems to be the general consensus. Why have a show that's available on a service that's on all platforms, but then put out a companion piece that's only available on one specific platform? At least a few years ago when a band put out a cd with a "Best Buy Exclusive Track," I could still go to any other record (or department) store and get the album if my town didn't have a Best Buy. There's no incentive to buy when your device doesn't and will never have that specific store on it. And musical attention spans are extremely short, especially when "Stranger Things-The Soundtrack" won't be doing 150 shows a year on the road.
Alexa is so cool, I now wish the Fire Phone would have been a hit.
--Adam Odor
________________________________
Right on point.
Nick Cooper
________________________________
Blissfully ignorant, that's me. Almost every email you send out, I look at and think, "Who's that?"
It honestly feels good.
Frank Ocean?
And wow, are you ever right about the movie industry. I can never find ANYTHING i have on my list of movies I want to see, new and old. I mean, 60-year old classics, or last year's hit, acclaimed foreign director…they're not there! Used to be, Netflix DVDs had everything. Now Netflix has f***-all.
Rob Meurer
________________________________
Huh?
The press wasn't interested in "Lean on" because Diplo making a hit isn't news, and the singer is disposable. The chorus of the song is a single syllable, chopped up and played back. They could have recorded a pet monkey and still made a hit. Forget Lieber and Stoller, today's hitmakers are "cut" and "paste".
M0's album dropped like 3 years ago and didn't make a splash. Frank ocean is (putatively) an artist (whose career was sidelined after a shitty Grammy performance that was almost certainly playback-related) that is at least a face that can sell T-shirts.
Adele succeeds because she was stage managed, carefully, by the English system which still has fans that pay for records and labels that pay for studios, backup singers, real musicians, vintage gear, etc... And she has a fan base of lovelorn women, which is why she's still milking that same breakup 3 albums later. (They are repeating it in a male version with Sam Smith, it is so successful). Frank Ocean's last album was literally vocal + keyboard, that's it, and I don't know who his fan base is except the novelty seekers.
Apple's doing it wrong but don't fault them for trying. There's no American Adele that has the same level of investment, not even close. If I'm wrong, tell me who.
Billy White
________________________________
Hi Bob,
I still run an aged iPhone 4. Not even a 4s. I bought the thing outright years and years ago, and while it still works (just) may as well see it to its grave. Naturally I haven't updated it in years. Yet in the past month suddenly I get pop ups from Apple, ten times daily, urging me to sign into my iCloud. Which I've never signed up to, as far as I remember. I just press cancel, I'm not interested. Yet it's another sign that Apple will keep on pushing, and pushing, and pushing, even if we repeatedly press cancel. They won't take no for an answer.
As for Frank Ocean. I can't really blame him too much. Chances of getting a reasonable, never mind serious, buck in the hand are getting lower and lower, all the time. And careers are getting shorter. And no doubt this is all part of the new release strategy- subscribers first, the hoi polloi quite a lot later when 90% of the hype/streams/sales have gone already. It's now standard policy even for hobbyists on Bandcamp...
All the best
Tom Green
________________________________
You still don't seem to understand it Bob.
Napster was not a consumer revolution, it was a CRIMINAL revolution.
And in it the s***tiest people rose to the top. The people who couldn't care about anyone else are now tasked with welfare of a corporation, of investors, and of clients.
Guess what, they are continually failing in that position. Only way they can count clients is if they give the product away, of course it's not anything which THEY have worked at that is being given away - it's that of others.
As for the argument that people wanted singles and not albums, well singles have always been available ... 45s, cassette singles, cd singles... and online: a company called Liquid Audio pre-dated Napster et al with 99 cent tracks which were of professional quality and made certain rights holders were paid.
Instead the terrorists won.
We're in a situation now where the music execs that are left don't know what to do, and so they're now following the movie industries lead and are going to be alienating customers even more.
People still want 'ownership' of music - the older guard is smart enough to know that if they are not in control that the powers that be will soon take it away. And others are realizing that streaming isn't what it's all cracked up to be... dead zones, low bitrates, advertisements...
Dan Yotz
________________________________
I think Kanye paved the new course for not caring about radio and just making a great conceptual art album. and at the end of the day, those who do that right end up with one of the best albums of the year with no hit, no care.
Adele has never made a product which competes in that realm, probably never will, as singers typically don't.
This idea that all artists must be striving to have a great classic singalong album which wins in sales and radio, is a fading idea. It'll always be there, but it's no longer thee goal for all.
For what it matters, Frank Beyonce Chance and Adele will battle for album of the year.
There will be another Kanye moment if 25 wins.
Jon O'Neil
________________________________
Bob -- you missed the point with this one.
Despite this story you weave of the fledgling music industry and its poor customers, that is not the true lesson here. Your first line should have read: "Frank Ocean is helping keep the passion of music alive."
I just bought the album on iTunes. Haven't listened to it yet but pressing 'Buy' gave me that rush I haven't felt in years. I don't buy music anymore due to Spotify, SoundCloud, and torrents. But for the price of a drink in an LA bar, I can now spend the next hour and a bit soaking up one of my favorite artists.
When I heard Frank was releasing this as an Apple Music exclusive a few weeks ago I was pissed. I thought it selfish. But now I get it. In a few weeks time it'll be everywhere anyway. These first few days are for the true fans, where we can enjoy the album without the added mess of the mainstream opinion.
So while you shame Mr. Ocean and add to the media's nonsense, I'll be sitting here enjoying his sweet serenades.
Cheers,
Scott Korchinski
________________________________
No. Just no.
I don't think Frank Ocean got in bed with Apple because of the money or even piracy. Channel Orange was a mixtape for chrissakes.
I think he did it because of Connect.
He produced a 45-minute FILM art piece debuting a very painstakingly timed and mixed medley of his music with a visual metaphor. He wants to be multi-dimensional and multi-platform. And not just digital and CD and vinyl, he wants print and film and streaming/digital audio. There is rumoured to be a comic book or graphic novel type publication to go along with this album. And Endless was a masterpiece to those of us with an attention span of at least an hour.
Spotify doesn't have an HD video option. It doesn't have a bookstore. Apple does. One-stop-shop. And free tier or not, Frank has made a one-man show, a story, an album. You can't interrupt that with ads for car insurance and other albums. Have a word with yourself, Bob.
Have you forgotten there are SOME artists out there who still make ART and actually care about the best way to debut it to the world? If he was all about the money, he would be Drake, shitting out an album every 30 seconds or Kanye, saying ANYTHING to keep himself in the press and having a platform to whinge about how none of the fashion people will play with him at the playground.
Frank needed a company with a distribution arm capable of releasing all his work. ALL his work. Not just the songs.
And please stop with the Adele praise. I love her. She's talented beyond measure. But she's not like Frank Ocean and she would be the first to say it. She writes sad songs and love songs and sings amazingly well. But Frank has a list of contributors that span the generations, the world, genres, levels of musical talent, mediums of art and pioneers in technology. They don't sign on to Adele records because they know they're the out-of-focus guys behind the diva. With Frank these contributors were hand-picked, valued for what they would bring to the table, and doing what Frank wants, but cannot do or doesn't want to do himself.
I still have Apple Music, because I like the extra content, I like being able to see and hear artists. Maybe I'm from the "I Want My MTV" generation, but I don't want to have to sit through an ad for pampers before I watch a music video. And I'm not alone. MTV just brought back Classic and The 90s because some of us wanna know what our favourite band looks like and wouldn't mind watching a 3 minute video of their visual interpretation of their song. Frank pushed the envelope as he always does. And I love him for it.
I couldn't care less about Tidal and Lemonade and all that nonsense. Because Beyoncé jumped the shark ages ago and Kanye is just annoying. But there is a reason Frank chose Apple and it isn't money. Or he would have gone with Tidal. No doubt.
Be careful who you accuse of being money hungry and disingenuous. I applaud Frank for being critical and tasteful and patient and fighting to get his work made his way. It's rare. And don't think for a second his record label didn't hound him a bit to release the damn record already.
And his tumblr is humorous. Because he knows he is a pain in the ass. But he also knows his work is worth waiting for -- and it was.
Angela Randall
________________________________
Is Frank related to Billy?
Todd Devonshire
________________________________
Yawn.
Only story this weekend is Gord and The Hip.
Chris Lusher
Jake Gold
________________________________
I couldn't agree more. Exclusives hurt the fan... PERIOD! Short term dollars and small thinking. They could have promoted this on every streaming platform and got way more out of the launch. SMH
Justin Bartek
________________________________
You are so, so right. Kudos to Spotify for staying the course.
Jim Urie
________________________________
Please withhold my name.
I'm a marketing executive at a major. I can tell you that we are completely against exclusives. We see it as a step back from all the progress we've made in the last 5 years with weaning fans off of illegal downloads to legal music services. There are still so many people that do not understand how streaming works and we already want to give hoops to jump through. The concept of a music exclusive in the digital age is ridiculous.
Personally, I'm a Spotify Premium user and do not plan on switching to Apple. If they truly want to beat Spotify, they should just create a better service, but seems like they can't.
________________________________
Screw Apple. I wanted it to be my go to steaming app but it had so many bugs I just went back to Spotify. Now only if Spotify had a cloud service I could upload my non Spotify music to, which, sadly, Apple has with Match, my music experience would be perfect.
Dave Lincoln
________________________________
You speak like somebody who's never torrented an album in their life ya fogie! Believe me, I'm excited as hell about the new Frank Ocean, and I'm going to listen to it. Same with most people my age. But I don't pay fealty to Apple Music, I just know how to download things illegally. Frank Ocean will get my money at shows because that money, I'm assuming, will actually get to him. But I'm not giving any money to Apple. They're just screwing us over, and their product sucks.
kaeliearle
________________________________
Been waiting for 4 years for this and it's not even music..or art. It's like Frank's random drug fueled thoughts put to GarageBand beats. Highly disappointed. His mix tapes before he was signed were the real deal but now he's just another sell out to the big machine for dough.
-anonymous
________________________________
I'm a Spotify subscriber because the Apple Music is a bad app.
I haven't listened to Beyonce's last two albums not to protest exclusives but I never got around to it. Same will happen with Frank Ocean even though I liked his last album. In the past I would pirate it, now it's not worth the hassle.
The music industry doesn't realize their competition is attention. I don't listen to as much music as I used to, way more podcasts.
Raymond Traylor
________________________________
Bob I'm officially unsubscribe to this. You have no vision anymore you are part of the dragging industry. Frank Ocean album is great and although I love Adele to compare the both is not even fair.
Juan Hernandez
________________________________
With an endless amount of content available at our fingertips, time, not cash begins to really separate from the pack as far as it being our most valuable commodity.
Marty Winsch
________________________________
Bob, labels approach to Apple and Spotify is like how they were in bed with record clubs back in the day. Take the money and run. "You are putting my artist's music behind a paywall where only diehard fans will go for it. I don't care. Did our check clear?" The beauty of radio was no paywalls. Everybody heard the music and could then buy it. Putting paywalls up is going to kill acts.
Larry LeBlanc
________________________________
You're right. I'm one of those music fans that can care less about Frank Ocean and his new album.
wfong9
________________________________
I want the new Frank Ocean album. I won't buy it via Apple. I want to own it in the format of my choosing.
royo
________________________________
Agree 100% - I've actually been a Frank Ocean fan since the beginning, but I have no interest in deciphering how to access his new album. I went to his Tumblr blog which led me down a wormhole to itunes and then….?
I haven't heard the latest Adele, Beyonce, or Kanye, either. By the time they arrive on Spotify (with no fanfare or notice), I've lost interest and moved on to something else.
I have too many Howards to catch up on too keep track of this stuff anyway.
Best Regards,
Zach Goode
________________________________
Exclusives aren't good for anyone.
Maybe its just not my style, but that album was nothing special. People will overreact and say its album of the year, until the next one comes out.
Ryan Jacobs
________________________________
Bravo Bob- Spot on about the biz. Overkill these days on marketing and gimmic too. 2 Frank Ocean albums in 1 week but 1/2 the tracks on both releases are interludes/vignettes/under 2 minute "experimental" tracks. Greed, plain and simple.
Daniel Woods
________________________________
Rolling Stone, Fader all of them are talking about Frank Ocean's recent releases. Cant find anything better to talk about. I like stories about new artists. Where is the best place for that?
John Kauchick
________________________________
This is a lot of drama over a two week exclusive.
Ryan Heller
________________________________
And guess who is
Doing a FUNDRAISER
for Hillary on Wednesday...
TIM COOK
Marc Brickman
________________________________
Just went to Pirate Bay and downloaded both albums, Endless nicely broken down into tracks for me, playing it on my iPhone now. Interestingly, I felt compelled to buy Radiohead's recent album, they sold it direct to fans and it was available pretty much everywhere straight away - no games played with fans and no feeling that I was part of a greater corporate battleground. That was the way to do it.
Jeremy Redmore
________________________________
The free-tier is important, but not so much as making music available on all the streaming platforms. Every platform is selling it's product on the idea that, once you pay, you'll have access to all the music. And with releases exclusive only to a specific platform, their sales pitch becomes a sham. It decreases the inherent value of what the actual subscribers are paying for: access to music!
It's a crutch the services use to make up for the shoddiness of the user-interface side of their product and in the long run it'll hurt them more than it helps them.
Apple Music wouldn't have to offer exclusive anything if it was an easier product to use, period.
Christopher Kapolas
________________________________
He's preaching to the converted, the ones (like me) who will lay down $9.99 to buy the album without hearing it. But you are so right that he's losing out on discovery - the curious people who want to check it out at the height of the media exposure. Based on his Grammy appearance from a few years ago, I'm not surprised he would shoot himself in the foot commercially!
Cheers,
Jeremy Shatan
________________________________
Truly sad. All it really proves is only a few people will hear the record.
The rest will wait patiently until it hits "Spot." And once it does, if it doesn't live up to the Channel Orange legend, he's forgotten.
I'll be honest, I still haven't spun Adele's latest. I've lost interest...
Adam Franklin
________________________________
Didn't our mythical fall from grace thing happen when Adam and Eve took a bite from The Apple? Hmmmm....
Paul Koidis
________________________________
Have you even listened to the record?
Billy Taylor
________________________________
I am a fan of Channel Orange and really anticipated this new album, but after finding out its exclusivity to Apple, and only releasing the magazine in four major cities, it's BS. I would have loved a copy, not to sel on eBay like the 100 or so copies going for up to $1000.
Glad to see Frank cares about his fans in the smaller parts of the country and world.
William Martin
________________________________
Bob-
What is the difference between what Frank Ocean and other artists that you constantly lambaste are doing, versus what artists like The Eagles (as well as KISS, AC/DC, Garth Brooks, and even BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN) used to do with Wal-Mart?
Sure, the days of Napster, where everyone could download music for free, was great. Hey, I was a middle-school kid with a $20 weekly allowance, that now had the ability to get unlimited music. But today, paying $10 a month for unlimited music, without the fear of downloading a virus or a fake song, is equally, if not more wonderful.
In an ideal world, music should be available for everyone, for free. But we don't live in an ideal world. We pay for health care, we have to pay for the food on our plates, we pay for our cable and our streaming services... Really, what is the difference between what Frank Ocean is doing with Apple Music and the Netflix smash "Stranger Things?" If you want to watch Stranger Things, you need Netflix, which comes along with a monthly subscription. Why no outcry at the creators for not putting it on basic cable for all to enjoy?
Hernando Courtright
________________________________
Agree. This is why I didn't give in and buy it. Streamed it on SoundCloud. Oops.
Chelsea Williams
________________________________
The free tier is radio.
Everything else is just plain wrong.
I understand the new paradigm.
And the idea Apple should be investigated for anti-trust is the mark of a true leftie.
Antitrust is a massive conspiracy that goes against business and consumers.
So, sorry Bob, but bollocks.
Somehow, somewhere, the industry has to find a way to enable writers and performers to get paid.
You're part of the problem, not he solution. Napster was criminal. Full stop.
Paul Phillips
________________________________
While I agree with much of this I still wonder, where is the great online hope for music that takes care of the musician, the consumer and the management ???
Brian Allman
________________________________
Truth be told I wouldn't bother with the Frank Ocean release if I didn't already have Apple Music.
The exclusives, as you've well noted, are self defeating. When Adele refrained from making "25" available for streaming, I just passed. With 30 million other tracks at my fingertips, I had no trouble finding something else new and interesting to listen to. When it was finally released for streaming a couple of months ago, it was cool to finally hear. It was worthy of the wait. But the wait was meaningless.
Exclusive is not synonymous with special.
Michael Evans
________________________________
Spot on as per useeee...
Michael Sherr
________________________________
DAMN LEFSETZ. shots. fired.
Tyler Evanston Moore
________________________________
Thx
Fred Mollin
________________________________
Right on Bob as usual for calling them out!!
Val Garay
________________________________
Amen.
Charlie Hanna
________________________________
Bob,
Why do you hate on Apple Music so much?
It makes Spotify look like the inept musical excel spreadsheet it really is!
No wonder they can't get any of the decent new releases on their service.
Move with the times!
Regards,
Paul Anthony Tucker
________________________________
I agree with this completely. All of these exclusive acts play the role as an advertisement for Apple Music. This doesn't change the fact that I'm a college student who can't justify paying for the service when I can hardly pay for groceries every week. It's just annoying because I do want to listen to the albums but I'm stuck in the free tier of Spotify until I can make some more money, so I will have to wait to hear Frank Ocean. Very relatable article!
Dayne Meyerink
________________________________
Listen to his album, digest the album, make an attempt to understand what true art is before making judgements like these. An artist deciding how they want their art consumed is their prerogative. If you understood who he was and the culture that he come from then you'd understand how what he's doing transcends the conversation you are lumping him in.
Daouda Leonard
________________________________
Add to this the fact that three Frank Ocean pop-up shops that materialized to hype the release passed out a free magazine with the album on CD that are now surfacing on Ebay for over $500 each...
Matt Nixon
________________________________
always always always ahead of the pack/curve bob...thanks.
Gary William Mendel
________________________________
Interesting comments. My buddy and I are in our mid-40s and are heavy users of Spotify. We've each learned of new acts and music over the last couple of years through this streaming platform. One idea we've had, that I would think the artists would want and that Spotify should want to get good will from the artists, is for Spotify to add a digital tip jar. Talk about disruptive to the labels! Imagine liking a band and paying them directly. I try to buy albums still of bands that I really like, but how much more convenient for the artist. Would be interested in your thoughts on the idea and the likelihood of such a model developing. Take care!
William Still
________________________________
Frank Who? I swear I have no idea who he is, nor do I care.
Leigh Goldstein
________________________________
Bob,
I'm with you on most of this. But I'm not sure what your solution looks like. If everything is available on every different streaming service, there wouldn't be much competition. Ultimately, one company would end up winning and have a monopoly on streaming music, which seems very problematic (and unlikely).
Or, maybe you envision a world where everything is available on all services, but there are small differentiating factors, like quality, interface, usability, etc. But even in that world, long term there may only be two or three options at best — sort of like cable. But still in that world there are ad-ons/ pay-per-views/ special channels, etc.
My point is I don't see another world. I'm with you on the griping, but I feel like there's nothing we can do about it. Just hope you have a friend who can rip it and send it to you. That's what I did for LEMONADE & The Life of Pablo (until it was released on Spotify). And that's sort of how it's always been. You either ponied up, or you got a 2nd hand copy.
I foresee some sort of a combination of Spotify and Bandcamp— you have to "pay what you want" to unlock a record - could be $.01 or it could be $10 - then you can stream it all you want, with royalties trickling to the band. I think a small monthly fee is still necessary, though. But also could see it going another direction that is much more difficult to navigate and much more expensive.
Thinking,
Mitchell Parrish
________________________________
You nailed it on this one. My wife is a contributor to a few different horror movie websites and for the past few weeks all the talk has been Netflix's "Stranger Things." Included in the love for the show has been the love for the soundtrack, and immediately everyone was wondering when it would be released. Spotify put out a "Stranger Things" playlist, but no original score on it. Then Lakeshore Records announced they were putting it out, and after a big build up for a Friday, August 12th release, I hear cussing from my wife that morning. Apparently the release was only on iTunes, and she's an Android person. I told her, "I'll grab it on my iPhone, we'll have it for our trip." "That's not the point! I can't buy it, I can't even stream it!" So she tweets Lakeshore, who responds with an apology, stating they were sorry it's only available on iTunes but soon, hopefully the 19th, it will be available on Google Play (currently it's still not). It's now the 21st and interest is lost in the soundtrack already in our household, and as we talk to friends and other writers she works with, that seems to be the general consensus. Why have a show that's available on a service that's on all platforms, but then put out a companion piece that's only available on one specific platform? At least a few years ago when a band put out a cd with a "Best Buy Exclusive Track," I could still go to any other record (or department) store and get the album if my town didn't have a Best Buy. There's no incentive to buy when your device doesn't and will never have that specific store on it. And musical attention spans are extremely short, especially when "Stranger Things-The Soundtrack" won't be doing 150 shows a year on the road.
Alexa is so cool, I now wish the Fire Phone would have been a hit.
--Adam Odor
________________________________
Right on point.
Nick Cooper
________________________________
Blissfully ignorant, that's me. Almost every email you send out, I look at and think, "Who's that?"
It honestly feels good.
Frank Ocean?
And wow, are you ever right about the movie industry. I can never find ANYTHING i have on my list of movies I want to see, new and old. I mean, 60-year old classics, or last year's hit, acclaimed foreign director…they're not there! Used to be, Netflix DVDs had everything. Now Netflix has f***-all.
Rob Meurer
________________________________
Huh?
The press wasn't interested in "Lean on" because Diplo making a hit isn't news, and the singer is disposable. The chorus of the song is a single syllable, chopped up and played back. They could have recorded a pet monkey and still made a hit. Forget Lieber and Stoller, today's hitmakers are "cut" and "paste".
M0's album dropped like 3 years ago and didn't make a splash. Frank ocean is (putatively) an artist (whose career was sidelined after a shitty Grammy performance that was almost certainly playback-related) that is at least a face that can sell T-shirts.
Adele succeeds because she was stage managed, carefully, by the English system which still has fans that pay for records and labels that pay for studios, backup singers, real musicians, vintage gear, etc... And she has a fan base of lovelorn women, which is why she's still milking that same breakup 3 albums later. (They are repeating it in a male version with Sam Smith, it is so successful). Frank Ocean's last album was literally vocal + keyboard, that's it, and I don't know who his fan base is except the novelty seekers.
Apple's doing it wrong but don't fault them for trying. There's no American Adele that has the same level of investment, not even close. If I'm wrong, tell me who.
Billy White
________________________________
Hi Bob,
I still run an aged iPhone 4. Not even a 4s. I bought the thing outright years and years ago, and while it still works (just) may as well see it to its grave. Naturally I haven't updated it in years. Yet in the past month suddenly I get pop ups from Apple, ten times daily, urging me to sign into my iCloud. Which I've never signed up to, as far as I remember. I just press cancel, I'm not interested. Yet it's another sign that Apple will keep on pushing, and pushing, and pushing, even if we repeatedly press cancel. They won't take no for an answer.
As for Frank Ocean. I can't really blame him too much. Chances of getting a reasonable, never mind serious, buck in the hand are getting lower and lower, all the time. And careers are getting shorter. And no doubt this is all part of the new release strategy- subscribers first, the hoi polloi quite a lot later when 90% of the hype/streams/sales have gone already. It's now standard policy even for hobbyists on Bandcamp...
All the best
Tom Green
________________________________
You still don't seem to understand it Bob.
Napster was not a consumer revolution, it was a CRIMINAL revolution.
And in it the s***tiest people rose to the top. The people who couldn't care about anyone else are now tasked with welfare of a corporation, of investors, and of clients.
Guess what, they are continually failing in that position. Only way they can count clients is if they give the product away, of course it's not anything which THEY have worked at that is being given away - it's that of others.
As for the argument that people wanted singles and not albums, well singles have always been available ... 45s, cassette singles, cd singles... and online: a company called Liquid Audio pre-dated Napster et al with 99 cent tracks which were of professional quality and made certain rights holders were paid.
Instead the terrorists won.
We're in a situation now where the music execs that are left don't know what to do, and so they're now following the movie industries lead and are going to be alienating customers even more.
People still want 'ownership' of music - the older guard is smart enough to know that if they are not in control that the powers that be will soon take it away. And others are realizing that streaming isn't what it's all cracked up to be... dead zones, low bitrates, advertisements...
Dan Yotz
________________________________
I think Kanye paved the new course for not caring about radio and just making a great conceptual art album. and at the end of the day, those who do that right end up with one of the best albums of the year with no hit, no care.
Adele has never made a product which competes in that realm, probably never will, as singers typically don't.
This idea that all artists must be striving to have a great classic singalong album which wins in sales and radio, is a fading idea. It'll always be there, but it's no longer thee goal for all.
For what it matters, Frank Beyonce Chance and Adele will battle for album of the year.
There will be another Kanye moment if 25 wins.
Jon O'Neil
________________________________
Bob -- you missed the point with this one.
Despite this story you weave of the fledgling music industry and its poor customers, that is not the true lesson here. Your first line should have read: "Frank Ocean is helping keep the passion of music alive."
I just bought the album on iTunes. Haven't listened to it yet but pressing 'Buy' gave me that rush I haven't felt in years. I don't buy music anymore due to Spotify, SoundCloud, and torrents. But for the price of a drink in an LA bar, I can now spend the next hour and a bit soaking up one of my favorite artists.
When I heard Frank was releasing this as an Apple Music exclusive a few weeks ago I was pissed. I thought it selfish. But now I get it. In a few weeks time it'll be everywhere anyway. These first few days are for the true fans, where we can enjoy the album without the added mess of the mainstream opinion.
So while you shame Mr. Ocean and add to the media's nonsense, I'll be sitting here enjoying his sweet serenades.
Cheers,
Scott Korchinski
________________________________
No. Just no.
I don't think Frank Ocean got in bed with Apple because of the money or even piracy. Channel Orange was a mixtape for chrissakes.
I think he did it because of Connect.
He produced a 45-minute FILM art piece debuting a very painstakingly timed and mixed medley of his music with a visual metaphor. He wants to be multi-dimensional and multi-platform. And not just digital and CD and vinyl, he wants print and film and streaming/digital audio. There is rumoured to be a comic book or graphic novel type publication to go along with this album. And Endless was a masterpiece to those of us with an attention span of at least an hour.
Spotify doesn't have an HD video option. It doesn't have a bookstore. Apple does. One-stop-shop. And free tier or not, Frank has made a one-man show, a story, an album. You can't interrupt that with ads for car insurance and other albums. Have a word with yourself, Bob.
Have you forgotten there are SOME artists out there who still make ART and actually care about the best way to debut it to the world? If he was all about the money, he would be Drake, shitting out an album every 30 seconds or Kanye, saying ANYTHING to keep himself in the press and having a platform to whinge about how none of the fashion people will play with him at the playground.
Frank needed a company with a distribution arm capable of releasing all his work. ALL his work. Not just the songs.
And please stop with the Adele praise. I love her. She's talented beyond measure. But she's not like Frank Ocean and she would be the first to say it. She writes sad songs and love songs and sings amazingly well. But Frank has a list of contributors that span the generations, the world, genres, levels of musical talent, mediums of art and pioneers in technology. They don't sign on to Adele records because they know they're the out-of-focus guys behind the diva. With Frank these contributors were hand-picked, valued for what they would bring to the table, and doing what Frank wants, but cannot do or doesn't want to do himself.
I still have Apple Music, because I like the extra content, I like being able to see and hear artists. Maybe I'm from the "I Want My MTV" generation, but I don't want to have to sit through an ad for pampers before I watch a music video. And I'm not alone. MTV just brought back Classic and The 90s because some of us wanna know what our favourite band looks like and wouldn't mind watching a 3 minute video of their visual interpretation of their song. Frank pushed the envelope as he always does. And I love him for it.
I couldn't care less about Tidal and Lemonade and all that nonsense. Because Beyoncé jumped the shark ages ago and Kanye is just annoying. But there is a reason Frank chose Apple and it isn't money. Or he would have gone with Tidal. No doubt.
Be careful who you accuse of being money hungry and disingenuous. I applaud Frank for being critical and tasteful and patient and fighting to get his work made his way. It's rare. And don't think for a second his record label didn't hound him a bit to release the damn record already.
And his tumblr is humorous. Because he knows he is a pain in the ass. But he also knows his work is worth waiting for -- and it was.
Angela Randall
________________________________
Is Frank related to Billy?
Todd Devonshire
________________________________
Yawn.
Only story this weekend is Gord and The Hip.
Chris Lusher
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Sunday 21 August 2016
Frank Ocean Exclusive
So this is what it's come to. A recorded music industry battered for 16 years, which has seen 60% of its revenue evaporate, has learned nothing, circled the wagons and left the customer out.
That's right, Napster was a consumer revolution. At this late date, only Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker are demonized, but if you think back you'll remember, all those acts and execs complaining that fans just did not know how to do the right thing. Which in this case was to give up piracy and consume overpriced CDs for one good track.
They didn't. They don't even buy CDs anymore. But these same people are complaining that the audience doesn't purchase files, complaining that they stream. Proving, once again, if you want to find people behind the curve, just look to the music industry.
But the truth is the music industry is the most advanced of the media enterprises. It's come through the digital wars scathed, but it's well-prepared for the future. Streaming has won and it's been fan-friendly.
Until now.
The movie business isn't fan-friendly. Read about a flick and you won't find it on Netflix, never mind Amazon Prime or Hulu. They want you to subscribe to everything and still be left out, which is why the movie business is still battered by piracy. But movies are different from music, despite sequel-mania, the truth is every flick is a one time event, oftentimes seen one time. But musical careers are long term. People want to listen to their favorite tracks over and over, and they hope that their favorite acts deliver new music that will entice them, fans are invested in careers.
As for television... Cord-cutting is real, and although HBO and Showtime have standalone products, ESPN refuses to budge meaningfully. It just announced an app that won't feature its core events, who's waiting for that?
But in music, you can find everything you want to hear, right at your fingertips.
Until now.
Because there's a conspiracy between Apple Music and the industry to change the game, to get everybody to pay for a subscription by putting hit content behind a paywall.
Apple should be investigated by the government for antitrust. How do you compete with the world's richest company that's got endless cash on hand? You can't. It'd be like expecting hillbillies to get into Harvard if slots went to the highest bidder. The rich get richer and the rest of us...we're left out, just like in America at large, which is why Bernie and Trump got traction, the usual suspects doing it for themselves have rigged the game in their favor, and now the music industry is trying to do this too.
But the truth is few care.
That's right, I said it, most people don't give a crap about the new Frank Ocean album. We've got an industry that promotes marginal products that appeal to few and makes them unavailable to most people? That's hysterical!
The biggest act in the business is Adele, and her music sounds like no one else's. She can sing, the songs are well-constructed, and they appeal to almost everybody. This is the music industry that used to triumph, it's one being left behind, as insiders pursue a pop game wherein the youth are everything and if you can't get it on the radio they don't care.
Is this really helping Frank Ocean's career?
OF COURSE NOT!
But he can't turn down the cash. And sure, his songs will be available elsewhere eventually, after all the publicity dies down. And it could work for him, although I doubt it, he's leaving the looky-loos alone, and this business has always thrived on the casual listener who drives by and gets hooked, but there are few acts of Ocean's stature.
But there's all this press!
Funny how the press wasn't interested in Major Lazer's "Lean On," which ended up being the biggest track of the year on Spotify.
We need a free tier. We need a place where casual fans can experience new music. We're in the business of building lifelong fans, but how do you do this when you can't hear the music first, when you've got to overpay to experience it, that's a twentieth century model but we're deep in the twenty first!
For a while there, about ten years ago, the music industry paid fealty to its fans, saying they were the most important element in the food chain.
Every act still does. After thanking Jesus, they lavish praise on their fans.
But it's dishonest, it's bait and switch, it's no different from Republicans appealing to rank and file workers by cutting taxes on the rich, no different from Democrats letting unions wither on the vine, expecting laborers to still go blue.
This is what happens when you neglect your constituency.
But it's not hard to believe this is happening when Jimmy Iovine at Apple Music used to be a label executive, when Apple used to have monopolies via breakthrough products. Apple Music is a me-too product that works badly that's locked behind a paywall and the music industry wants it to be the dominant platform so the fan is squeezed and indie acts are pushed down to the bottom where they belong.
And it's all happening now.
And Frank Ocean is complicit.
Shame on you Frank, and shame on everybody else who takes money from Apple and screws fans. There's enough money in music without taking every last buck, and the joke is on you, for thinking so short term, you want your music available to everybody, because in these days of information overload we need nobody, everybody is superfluous, you don't want to enter the marketplace with one hand tied behind your back.
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That's right, Napster was a consumer revolution. At this late date, only Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker are demonized, but if you think back you'll remember, all those acts and execs complaining that fans just did not know how to do the right thing. Which in this case was to give up piracy and consume overpriced CDs for one good track.
They didn't. They don't even buy CDs anymore. But these same people are complaining that the audience doesn't purchase files, complaining that they stream. Proving, once again, if you want to find people behind the curve, just look to the music industry.
But the truth is the music industry is the most advanced of the media enterprises. It's come through the digital wars scathed, but it's well-prepared for the future. Streaming has won and it's been fan-friendly.
Until now.
The movie business isn't fan-friendly. Read about a flick and you won't find it on Netflix, never mind Amazon Prime or Hulu. They want you to subscribe to everything and still be left out, which is why the movie business is still battered by piracy. But movies are different from music, despite sequel-mania, the truth is every flick is a one time event, oftentimes seen one time. But musical careers are long term. People want to listen to their favorite tracks over and over, and they hope that their favorite acts deliver new music that will entice them, fans are invested in careers.
As for television... Cord-cutting is real, and although HBO and Showtime have standalone products, ESPN refuses to budge meaningfully. It just announced an app that won't feature its core events, who's waiting for that?
But in music, you can find everything you want to hear, right at your fingertips.
Until now.
Because there's a conspiracy between Apple Music and the industry to change the game, to get everybody to pay for a subscription by putting hit content behind a paywall.
Apple should be investigated by the government for antitrust. How do you compete with the world's richest company that's got endless cash on hand? You can't. It'd be like expecting hillbillies to get into Harvard if slots went to the highest bidder. The rich get richer and the rest of us...we're left out, just like in America at large, which is why Bernie and Trump got traction, the usual suspects doing it for themselves have rigged the game in their favor, and now the music industry is trying to do this too.
But the truth is few care.
That's right, I said it, most people don't give a crap about the new Frank Ocean album. We've got an industry that promotes marginal products that appeal to few and makes them unavailable to most people? That's hysterical!
The biggest act in the business is Adele, and her music sounds like no one else's. She can sing, the songs are well-constructed, and they appeal to almost everybody. This is the music industry that used to triumph, it's one being left behind, as insiders pursue a pop game wherein the youth are everything and if you can't get it on the radio they don't care.
Is this really helping Frank Ocean's career?
OF COURSE NOT!
But he can't turn down the cash. And sure, his songs will be available elsewhere eventually, after all the publicity dies down. And it could work for him, although I doubt it, he's leaving the looky-loos alone, and this business has always thrived on the casual listener who drives by and gets hooked, but there are few acts of Ocean's stature.
But there's all this press!
Funny how the press wasn't interested in Major Lazer's "Lean On," which ended up being the biggest track of the year on Spotify.
We need a free tier. We need a place where casual fans can experience new music. We're in the business of building lifelong fans, but how do you do this when you can't hear the music first, when you've got to overpay to experience it, that's a twentieth century model but we're deep in the twenty first!
For a while there, about ten years ago, the music industry paid fealty to its fans, saying they were the most important element in the food chain.
Every act still does. After thanking Jesus, they lavish praise on their fans.
But it's dishonest, it's bait and switch, it's no different from Republicans appealing to rank and file workers by cutting taxes on the rich, no different from Democrats letting unions wither on the vine, expecting laborers to still go blue.
This is what happens when you neglect your constituency.
But it's not hard to believe this is happening when Jimmy Iovine at Apple Music used to be a label executive, when Apple used to have monopolies via breakthrough products. Apple Music is a me-too product that works badly that's locked behind a paywall and the music industry wants it to be the dominant platform so the fan is squeezed and indie acts are pushed down to the bottom where they belong.
And it's all happening now.
And Frank Ocean is complicit.
Shame on you Frank, and shame on everybody else who takes money from Apple and screws fans. There's enough money in music without taking every last buck, and the joke is on you, for thinking so short term, you want your music available to everybody, because in these days of information overload we need nobody, everybody is superfluous, you don't want to enter the marketplace with one hand tied behind your back.
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