Taylor Lorenz's Book

"Extremely Online": https://tinyurl.com/4kjthpmd

You've got to read it. Like right now. Like click that link and start in. Because this is the key to the real America, the real world, that the boomers and the straight media pooh-pooh but drives all the viewers, eats up all the attention, generates all the dollars.

Forget the backlash. That goes with the territory. Like the negative reviews on Amazon. They don't like Lorenz writing about their field, where they live, so they're hating on her, just like everybody does on social media. Like I've said again and again, if you're not experiencing online hate, you're not playing, or you're not honest enough, not posting enough, because social media is a giant pecking order, a greased pole that everybody wants to climb, and if they can't make it to the top they're going to tear you down in the process.

Lorenz left the "New York Times"... I've heard her version, I've read the public version, but one thing is for sure, the usual suspects at the "Times" had no time for her. Because she was part of the scene, part of what she was writing about, she didn't keep the usual distance, wasn't neutral in the way they were taught in J-school. But that paradigm went out with the internet itself. If you don't participate, you've got no idea what is truly happening. The old paradigm of who, what, why, where, when and how? Gone. We don't want reporters, we want the words of people living the lifestyle, in the pit, reporting back their experience. The cheese moved and the mainstream media denizens don't like it. So, social media is a criticized backwater just like rock and roll in the sixties... It's where all the youth are, it's driving the culture, but the oldsters denigrate it, say it's worthless, decry all the time the youth are spending on these social media sites.

So what we've got here is the history. From blogs to Friendster to MySpace to Facebook to...

And for a minute there I was bummed, because I know so much of this. But do most people know all this, do they care? Kind of like all those books about Napster and file-trading, the changes in music distribution...we all lived through it, who needed to be reminded of it. But most people did not live through social media, at least the kind who are going to read this book. They were too busy doing other stuff. But just like you laid on the rug in your bedroom, listening to records while you devoured "Rolling Stone," today's younger generations go online and spend that time on social media. Yes, want to know about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Go on TikTok. I'm not saying the straight news is doing a bad job here, but it's completely different from what you get on TikTok. On TikTok you get people testifying personally, the message is more vivid, it resonates, it's right here as opposed to over there.

That's right, many people use TikTok like Google, to research products, to find the news...

But even me...I don't know all the players in history. Maybe I know Maker Studios, but not the names of those who started it and the ins-and-outs of its development. You've got to know, in the beginning, there was not that much money in it, and therefore unless you were in the scene you ignored it, were clueless, like a developing band fifty years ago. They might ultimately break through, but the early albums, the gigs, the history, you had to be there. And with so much diversion in today's world, unless you lived on social media, you're not going to know all this information.

But there's a parallel story... How the usual players, the agents, the studios, ignored the growth of social media stars. Wanted nothing to do with them.

And then there is the platforms themselves. They were devised to do one thing, but then the creators took them somewhere else, a place unforeseen.

And if you were around in the early days of the record business, the post-Beatles music business, you'll know it was cottage industry, with people forming new companies, trying to figure it out, make a buck, and the music itself was so interesting that it attracted the brightest minds.

The brightest minds were in social media. Because they were willing to think independently, to pivot. It's one thing if you've got the template and follow it, but to create the template? That's something else.

As for the music business today, we're in a post-template world, and everybody who was around in the pre-internet era can't handle it, and hates it. The business used to be defined, and closed. You needed a major label, for distribution, to get paid. And the major label owned radio and the press and other means of public relations. Today? It's a free-for-all, everybody's got the tools, and everybody's creating. And there's a lot of dross, but there's a ton of great stuff too.

And it's mostly based on personality. Your identity, your life, your thoughts, your comings and goings...things that got excised as music became more centralized, as opportunity cost rose, these elements were squeezed out.

Again and again in the book, after being rejected by the usual gatekeepers, the creators wake up and ask themselves why they need these intermediaries, why can't they do it for themselves? And then they do and make beaucoup bucks.

Right now I'm only in Instagram, the book is chronological, but I got a text from Lewi about Aspen and I told him I was reading the book...Jim devours business books, and it immediately occurred to me that I had to tell him about it, that he had to read it.

You see it's a completely different vision. They're making it up as they go, with no restraints. That's what blew up the music business. Yes, you got Tull, Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell all burning up the charts at once. People were excited about music in general, they were open to everything, they didn't want something calculated, but something new and different.

This is where all the money is, social media. Used to be in the movie business, then in the music business, but now it's social media. Anybody can make it, but very few do. Then again, so many die trying.

But this is where you can express yourself. This is where you can connect with the public. And you don't have to narrowly define yourself, you can be who you are, changing along the way, and you can find an audience and thrive.

Don't tell me about some of the worthless influencers, who are prank-oriented, where there's so little there there, they're like Top Forty hits, getting all the ink but not representative of what is going on. You've got to dig deeper.

This is so exciting. This is the world today. And just about everybody with power is missing it! They don't understand it. All they can say is it's worthless and to get off your damn phone.

But that would be like telling people not to listen to their Jimi Hendrix records in the sixties... Where else could you get this excitement?

The economy is gigantic. As is the artistic expression. And most people are unaware of the details, how we got here, the building blocks, to their detriment.

There is not another book like "Extremely Online." It's a peek into a world that you don't know everything about unless you're living it 24/7 and based on my inbox and what I read in big time media, most people are not. This is a window, a decoder ring.

I'm telling you now. Buy and devour this book. It's not hard to read, you might get bogged down occasionally in the names, but isn't that just the point, the fact that you don't know who these people are, that you're clueless?

And the sites might change, but the bedrock remains. This is about people, expressing their humanity, that's where all the money and excitement is today, and if you want to know what is going on...

Read this book!


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