Tune in Saturday July 12th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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Friday, 11 July 2025
Thursday, 10 July 2025
My Nakamichi 582
1
Ed Cherney told me to toss it.
But he was making peace with the fact that he was going to die in a few months. I told him a bit of the backstory and he laughed and reiterated his point.
The Nakamichi 582 was the ultimate cassette deck.
This ain't no Sony, no AIWA, no portable, this is a Ferrari. Or was back when cassette recording was still a thing. The 582 came with a little screwdriver that allowed you to align the heads, adjust the EQ and azimuth using a built-in tone generator. And the tapes it generated? You would not believe it, you couldn't tell the difference from the original recording. But the legend was true. If you played a tape you recorded on a Nakamichi on another deck it just didn't sound good. It was playable, but if you cared about sound... I ended up buying a cheap AIWA just to record cassettes for my car.
Not that the Nakamichi was foolproof. My first issue arose not long after I bought it. It wouldn't generate a test signal that hit zero on the meters. At that time Nakamichi was on Colorado in Santa Monica, so I packed the thing up, took it there, waited my turn, and the Japanese guy who waited on me...laughed at me and then insulted me. It took all of my gumption to stand my ground, reiterate there was a problem. So the guy deigned to test it himself...and lo and behold he had the same problem. And after fiddling with it for about thirty seconds, he lifted the whole unit up and RAN into a back room, having said nothing. He reappeared about fifteen minutes later with a smile on his face. He said it was the TAPE! The best tape TDK made, and then he said that TDK made their tape, Nakamichi had its own line, and that every once in a while you get a bad batch...
And then there was the time the entire machine froze. I had no money but my sometime to be wife and then ex said I shouldn't live without it, I should be able to use it, I should have that functionality. Ultimately I drove somewhere in the South Bay where Nakamichi now had its headquarters and paid two hundred dollars and change to get it repaired. This was 1985. I'd purchased the deck in 1979. And while I'm waiting for the clerk to retrieve my unit, this guy standing next to me in the waiting room tells me he wants to buy it, how they have a whole fleet of 582s, they use them at the institute, or some formal name like that. He offered me less than the repair cost. But as I continued to talk to him it came out that he was a Scientologist, and they used Nakamichis in their reproduction facility.
Now a week ago a promoter friend sent me a Bad Company tape made straight from the board back in the seventies. I was worried about the quality of said tape, but it turned out to be a Maxell, so my anxiety diminished. Cheap tape flakes, but Maxell is pretty good. And then I realized...
I had to play the tape in the Nakamichi. Which is like firing up a Ferrari that's been under wraps for a decade.
I had a Walkman. They sent it along with a cassette of the latest Lumineers album. The funniest thing is it was playing in the box. Not the tape, but the built-in radio. We came home from Vail and we're sorting through the mail and we're starting to freak out, where is that sound coming from? Took us about half an hour to figure out it was the Walkman inside the box.
Not that it was a Walkman, it was some off-brand. Good for a promotion.
And I listened to the tape and then I put the "Walkman" on the counter where it sat for weeks. And then...
I'm a hoarder. My girlfriend is just the opposite. I'm stunned she doesn't throw ME out! And I'm sitting there looking at this piece of junk, thinking I might want to play a tape in the future, but, nah...
So I toss it.
And I don't think about it again until this promoter friend sends me this cassette.
My car stereo doesn't even have a CD player, never mind a tape deck. It came down to the Nakamichi.
2
Normally I like to start open-ended projects early in the day. Otherwise, if I can't fix it, can't solve the problem, I can't disengage, I end up frustrated working on it into the wee hours and then being unable to fall asleep.
But I'd had this cassette the better part of a week, I didn't want to be ungrateful.
So I fired up the amp and clicked one of the tape inputs. Turned on the Nakamichi, inserted the tape, pressed play and...
Nothing happened.
It looks like there's light on the VU meters. I mean I'm getting power, right?
But then I pull the unit out and realize it's not plugged in. So I plug it into an outlet and...nothing. But maybe it's the outlet, so I plug it into a known live outlet and...still nothing.
Oh well, the Nakamichi has a problem.
So I go to eject the cassette and... The button pushes in and stays there, the cassette door won't pop out.
Okay, now I start to wrestle with it. But nothing works.
So I go to the expert.
Google. There's an answer for everything. And there's an answer for my problem too, it comes right up. Turns out there's a plastic piece that is known to break and if it has broken the door won't open. But the other thing the boards tell me is, whatever I do, DON'T FORCE IT!
So now what?
I decide I'm going to do surgery. I mean if I take off the cover I can get the tape, right?
I go get the toolbox, wondering if I've got the right-sized screwdriver and it turns out I do.
Turns out taking off the cover is not that difficult, I'm proud of myself.
But I'm nowhere near fixing my problem.
I ultimately decide I have to go deeper, I have to take off the faceplate.
Well now...
There are five screws on top, of different sizes, and they're tiny, and if I can even get them out can I keep from losing them? I know, I know, I should have a plastic tray, holding all the screws, but I'm on a mission now and when you're on a mission, either you stop or continue, and I couldn't stop, because the tape was still locked up!
And I try removing some of these screws and I'm at my limit so I go back to Dr. Google. Whereupon I find the Nakamichi repair manual.
Voila!
Well, no. It's written in English, but unless you've worked for NASA, good luck. But one thing is clear, I only have to remove three of the five screws, so I dive back in.
But the faceplate still won't come off.
Hmm... I turn the unit over and it turns out there are another three screws on the bottom! Which won't come out. I'm turning and turning and are they stripped or... I mean I've come this far, I've got to get the faceplate off.
Which I ultimately do.
And when I do, all the dials and buttons pop off the faceplate. They're all over the floor. This isn't good, but...let me first get the cassette out.
And not only the dials and buttons pop out, but so did the broken piece! It was all very clear. But I'm pushing on buttons and pulling on belts and the damn well won't open so I can retrieve the tape.
And I'm pushing every piece of plastic in there. You'd be stunned how much stuff there is in there, a veritable Rube Goldberg construction.
I mean if it's electronic, I'm screwed. But I think the eject button is one thing that is manual. I should be able to push a lever and...
NOPE!
Well maybe it pushes this belt. That's one of the reasons I was reluctant to fire up the Nakamichi to begin with, the belts are known to stretch over time, and ultimately break. And it had been years since I'd used it... And I'm wary of stretching this belt and then I hear Ed Cherney's words in my brain. Maybe he was right, maybe he wasn't being offhand about it, maybe it had nothing to do with being close to the end, maybe it was just TIME!
I mean the deck is forty six years old. But I scrimped and saved to buy it. I'm just gonna toss it?
But now it gets worse. Can I really just toss it anyway? Don't I have to go to a special place to dispose of electronic gear?
Now I'm kneeling on the floor. And my body hurts. And I'm wondering...am I too old to do this?
Forget whether someone can actually fix this thing, have I reached the point where I'm so old I shouldn't be addressing tasks like this?
I'm not a guy with a workshop. I wouldn't say I'm handy. But when it comes to logic, I'm pretty good. I love fixing the toilet, getting TVs to work, it's all about thinking it out. It's kind of fun. But it can be really frustrating.
And now I'm starting to sweat. So I turn the A/C up a notch, or down, depending how you see it.
And I'm touching and pushing everything inside this unit and nothing will pop the door.
And that's when I realize...
I can just break it.
I mean that I can do. But I'm going to sacrifice this nearly thousand dollar tape deck for a one dollar cassette?
But the cassette is viable, and the deck is not.
And now my mind starts to drift...
Why do I expect this forty six year old unit to work anyway? Nakamichi's in the rearview mirror. Recording on cassettes is in the rearview mirror. And the new solutions are so much better. There's not the issue of the tape, the transport, the EQ and the azimuth, there's no wear and tear the more you play it... And unlike vinyl, digital has no surface noise, and it certainly doesn't skip. It's AMAZING!
So what I've got here is a relic. Can I toss it?
And my entire life is flashing in front of my eyes. When I bought this deck, when I repaired it, being afraid to use it for fear it would break again.
I'm thinking of the girl I lived with when I purchased it, who was mad I spent all that money on it instead of her.
I'm thinking of the lost nineties.
The twenty first century and Napster and the digital revolution and...
It's already 2025! They're doing twenty five year retrospectives. America's going to have its 250th birthday next year. I remember the Bicentennial!
I don't feel old.
Then again, I'm roaming around the floor dirty and lightheaded...
I'm getting more and more depressed.
No wonder it costs so much to repair anything. Just GETTING to the problem is an effort, never mind solving it.
And I still can't solve it.
So now it comes down to breaking the deck. Can I really do that?
And then the door pops open.
IT'S A MIRACLE!
I pushed some piece of plastic inside...I couldn't repeat the process, but it worked!
So now what?
I've got the tape, do I just toss the deck? I mean I could have forgone all that effort, broken the door and retrieved the cassette and not wasted all that time.
No, I'm going to screw this thing back together. Well, at least I'm going to try.
And it ain't easy. Certain screws won't grip. But with enough OCD therapy I decide I'm not going to force it, if the screw doesn't fall out I'm not going to to continue to turn it until it stops.
So now I've got to install all the dials and buttons.
Easier than I thought, but to align them? So the indicators line up as they should? That is not easy. And when I get it wrong I have to pull the faceplate off to remove and reinstall them.
And then I'm all done and I realize some of the buttons...they have tiny little white spots that are indicators, and I hadn't seen them in the low light and was I gonna leave them misaligned or get them right?
I couldn't leave them wrong, even though they would have worked. I mean if I'm going to put this unit back together, I'm going to do it right.
And then I realize I forgot to put the well's cover back on and...
I'm definitely not taking the faceplate off again.
So I decide to squeeze it on. Instinct has taken over. My conscious brain is telling me this is a bad idea, it'll probably break, but then it pops in!
This is AMAZING!
Now all I have left is to screw the cover back on. And this turns out to be amazingly easy.
And then I'm done.
NOW WHAT?
Am I really going to pay to get this deck fixed? Is there anybody who CAN fix it? And if I fix it, when am I going to use it, other than to play this Bad Company tape.
This is the moment to throw it away. I've achieved my mission. I'm wasted and I'm covered in dust, but the surgery was successful. It can now be MY choice to toss the Nakamichi as opposed to being forced to because I broke it to get the tape out or couldn't manage to put the damn thing back together.
Am I willing to break with the past? Write off my prior investment, forget about sunk costs? This is about the Nakamichi, but really it's about MUCH MORE!
Do I toss out the Technics SL1300, the old top of the line, which works but really needs the speed pot adjusted? I mean I've got other turntables. But that Technics is direct drive and...
What else should I throw away?
One thing is for sure, when I die my family will throw EVERYTHING AWAY!
And I've accepted this, but I've told Felice over and over, NOT THE VINYL RECORDS! They're worth a fortune! Don't toss them, don't just give them away, sell them, not for the money but because I spent decades building the collection and it's worth more to me than the records themselves!
Really? A monument to myself?
Did I tell you I threw out all my laminates? Larry still has all of his, he showed them to me.
Now since then I've kept a few, like all access for the Rolling Stones, but... All this stuff I have, how recently have I used it? But I've got it and I know where it is and someday...
This is another of the secrets of aging. Only a secret because no one talks about it, no one wants to admit they're old, that they're going to die... Your stuff contains less and less meaning. You realize certain people you're never going to see again. You start to realize you're going to die and...
Don't tell me to be optimistic, you're just in denial. I'm just trying to face facts. I mean I skied 102 days last season, to what degree are you even physically active? To what degree won't you do things because you're afraid of injury?
And right now, let me count them... I have ten pairs of skis. And only two are not current models. And let me tell you, I can rationalize them all, but there was a point in my life when if I had a quiver this big I'd be thrilled and proud and I'm not saying I don't like having these skis, but there's a level of meaning that's just gone.
Like Ed Cherney.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Ed Cherney told me to toss it.
But he was making peace with the fact that he was going to die in a few months. I told him a bit of the backstory and he laughed and reiterated his point.
The Nakamichi 582 was the ultimate cassette deck.
This ain't no Sony, no AIWA, no portable, this is a Ferrari. Or was back when cassette recording was still a thing. The 582 came with a little screwdriver that allowed you to align the heads, adjust the EQ and azimuth using a built-in tone generator. And the tapes it generated? You would not believe it, you couldn't tell the difference from the original recording. But the legend was true. If you played a tape you recorded on a Nakamichi on another deck it just didn't sound good. It was playable, but if you cared about sound... I ended up buying a cheap AIWA just to record cassettes for my car.
Not that the Nakamichi was foolproof. My first issue arose not long after I bought it. It wouldn't generate a test signal that hit zero on the meters. At that time Nakamichi was on Colorado in Santa Monica, so I packed the thing up, took it there, waited my turn, and the Japanese guy who waited on me...laughed at me and then insulted me. It took all of my gumption to stand my ground, reiterate there was a problem. So the guy deigned to test it himself...and lo and behold he had the same problem. And after fiddling with it for about thirty seconds, he lifted the whole unit up and RAN into a back room, having said nothing. He reappeared about fifteen minutes later with a smile on his face. He said it was the TAPE! The best tape TDK made, and then he said that TDK made their tape, Nakamichi had its own line, and that every once in a while you get a bad batch...
And then there was the time the entire machine froze. I had no money but my sometime to be wife and then ex said I shouldn't live without it, I should be able to use it, I should have that functionality. Ultimately I drove somewhere in the South Bay where Nakamichi now had its headquarters and paid two hundred dollars and change to get it repaired. This was 1985. I'd purchased the deck in 1979. And while I'm waiting for the clerk to retrieve my unit, this guy standing next to me in the waiting room tells me he wants to buy it, how they have a whole fleet of 582s, they use them at the institute, or some formal name like that. He offered me less than the repair cost. But as I continued to talk to him it came out that he was a Scientologist, and they used Nakamichis in their reproduction facility.
Now a week ago a promoter friend sent me a Bad Company tape made straight from the board back in the seventies. I was worried about the quality of said tape, but it turned out to be a Maxell, so my anxiety diminished. Cheap tape flakes, but Maxell is pretty good. And then I realized...
I had to play the tape in the Nakamichi. Which is like firing up a Ferrari that's been under wraps for a decade.
I had a Walkman. They sent it along with a cassette of the latest Lumineers album. The funniest thing is it was playing in the box. Not the tape, but the built-in radio. We came home from Vail and we're sorting through the mail and we're starting to freak out, where is that sound coming from? Took us about half an hour to figure out it was the Walkman inside the box.
Not that it was a Walkman, it was some off-brand. Good for a promotion.
And I listened to the tape and then I put the "Walkman" on the counter where it sat for weeks. And then...
I'm a hoarder. My girlfriend is just the opposite. I'm stunned she doesn't throw ME out! And I'm sitting there looking at this piece of junk, thinking I might want to play a tape in the future, but, nah...
So I toss it.
And I don't think about it again until this promoter friend sends me this cassette.
My car stereo doesn't even have a CD player, never mind a tape deck. It came down to the Nakamichi.
2
Normally I like to start open-ended projects early in the day. Otherwise, if I can't fix it, can't solve the problem, I can't disengage, I end up frustrated working on it into the wee hours and then being unable to fall asleep.
But I'd had this cassette the better part of a week, I didn't want to be ungrateful.
So I fired up the amp and clicked one of the tape inputs. Turned on the Nakamichi, inserted the tape, pressed play and...
Nothing happened.
It looks like there's light on the VU meters. I mean I'm getting power, right?
But then I pull the unit out and realize it's not plugged in. So I plug it into an outlet and...nothing. But maybe it's the outlet, so I plug it into a known live outlet and...still nothing.
Oh well, the Nakamichi has a problem.
So I go to eject the cassette and... The button pushes in and stays there, the cassette door won't pop out.
Okay, now I start to wrestle with it. But nothing works.
So I go to the expert.
Google. There's an answer for everything. And there's an answer for my problem too, it comes right up. Turns out there's a plastic piece that is known to break and if it has broken the door won't open. But the other thing the boards tell me is, whatever I do, DON'T FORCE IT!
So now what?
I decide I'm going to do surgery. I mean if I take off the cover I can get the tape, right?
I go get the toolbox, wondering if I've got the right-sized screwdriver and it turns out I do.
Turns out taking off the cover is not that difficult, I'm proud of myself.
But I'm nowhere near fixing my problem.
I ultimately decide I have to go deeper, I have to take off the faceplate.
Well now...
There are five screws on top, of different sizes, and they're tiny, and if I can even get them out can I keep from losing them? I know, I know, I should have a plastic tray, holding all the screws, but I'm on a mission now and when you're on a mission, either you stop or continue, and I couldn't stop, because the tape was still locked up!
And I try removing some of these screws and I'm at my limit so I go back to Dr. Google. Whereupon I find the Nakamichi repair manual.
Voila!
Well, no. It's written in English, but unless you've worked for NASA, good luck. But one thing is clear, I only have to remove three of the five screws, so I dive back in.
But the faceplate still won't come off.
Hmm... I turn the unit over and it turns out there are another three screws on the bottom! Which won't come out. I'm turning and turning and are they stripped or... I mean I've come this far, I've got to get the faceplate off.
Which I ultimately do.
And when I do, all the dials and buttons pop off the faceplate. They're all over the floor. This isn't good, but...let me first get the cassette out.
And not only the dials and buttons pop out, but so did the broken piece! It was all very clear. But I'm pushing on buttons and pulling on belts and the damn well won't open so I can retrieve the tape.
And I'm pushing every piece of plastic in there. You'd be stunned how much stuff there is in there, a veritable Rube Goldberg construction.
I mean if it's electronic, I'm screwed. But I think the eject button is one thing that is manual. I should be able to push a lever and...
NOPE!
Well maybe it pushes this belt. That's one of the reasons I was reluctant to fire up the Nakamichi to begin with, the belts are known to stretch over time, and ultimately break. And it had been years since I'd used it... And I'm wary of stretching this belt and then I hear Ed Cherney's words in my brain. Maybe he was right, maybe he wasn't being offhand about it, maybe it had nothing to do with being close to the end, maybe it was just TIME!
I mean the deck is forty six years old. But I scrimped and saved to buy it. I'm just gonna toss it?
But now it gets worse. Can I really just toss it anyway? Don't I have to go to a special place to dispose of electronic gear?
Now I'm kneeling on the floor. And my body hurts. And I'm wondering...am I too old to do this?
Forget whether someone can actually fix this thing, have I reached the point where I'm so old I shouldn't be addressing tasks like this?
I'm not a guy with a workshop. I wouldn't say I'm handy. But when it comes to logic, I'm pretty good. I love fixing the toilet, getting TVs to work, it's all about thinking it out. It's kind of fun. But it can be really frustrating.
And now I'm starting to sweat. So I turn the A/C up a notch, or down, depending how you see it.
And I'm touching and pushing everything inside this unit and nothing will pop the door.
And that's when I realize...
I can just break it.
I mean that I can do. But I'm going to sacrifice this nearly thousand dollar tape deck for a one dollar cassette?
But the cassette is viable, and the deck is not.
And now my mind starts to drift...
Why do I expect this forty six year old unit to work anyway? Nakamichi's in the rearview mirror. Recording on cassettes is in the rearview mirror. And the new solutions are so much better. There's not the issue of the tape, the transport, the EQ and the azimuth, there's no wear and tear the more you play it... And unlike vinyl, digital has no surface noise, and it certainly doesn't skip. It's AMAZING!
So what I've got here is a relic. Can I toss it?
And my entire life is flashing in front of my eyes. When I bought this deck, when I repaired it, being afraid to use it for fear it would break again.
I'm thinking of the girl I lived with when I purchased it, who was mad I spent all that money on it instead of her.
I'm thinking of the lost nineties.
The twenty first century and Napster and the digital revolution and...
It's already 2025! They're doing twenty five year retrospectives. America's going to have its 250th birthday next year. I remember the Bicentennial!
I don't feel old.
Then again, I'm roaming around the floor dirty and lightheaded...
I'm getting more and more depressed.
No wonder it costs so much to repair anything. Just GETTING to the problem is an effort, never mind solving it.
And I still can't solve it.
So now it comes down to breaking the deck. Can I really do that?
And then the door pops open.
IT'S A MIRACLE!
I pushed some piece of plastic inside...I couldn't repeat the process, but it worked!
So now what?
I've got the tape, do I just toss the deck? I mean I could have forgone all that effort, broken the door and retrieved the cassette and not wasted all that time.
No, I'm going to screw this thing back together. Well, at least I'm going to try.
And it ain't easy. Certain screws won't grip. But with enough OCD therapy I decide I'm not going to force it, if the screw doesn't fall out I'm not going to to continue to turn it until it stops.
So now I've got to install all the dials and buttons.
Easier than I thought, but to align them? So the indicators line up as they should? That is not easy. And when I get it wrong I have to pull the faceplate off to remove and reinstall them.
And then I'm all done and I realize some of the buttons...they have tiny little white spots that are indicators, and I hadn't seen them in the low light and was I gonna leave them misaligned or get them right?
I couldn't leave them wrong, even though they would have worked. I mean if I'm going to put this unit back together, I'm going to do it right.
And then I realize I forgot to put the well's cover back on and...
I'm definitely not taking the faceplate off again.
So I decide to squeeze it on. Instinct has taken over. My conscious brain is telling me this is a bad idea, it'll probably break, but then it pops in!
This is AMAZING!
Now all I have left is to screw the cover back on. And this turns out to be amazingly easy.
And then I'm done.
NOW WHAT?
Am I really going to pay to get this deck fixed? Is there anybody who CAN fix it? And if I fix it, when am I going to use it, other than to play this Bad Company tape.
This is the moment to throw it away. I've achieved my mission. I'm wasted and I'm covered in dust, but the surgery was successful. It can now be MY choice to toss the Nakamichi as opposed to being forced to because I broke it to get the tape out or couldn't manage to put the damn thing back together.
Am I willing to break with the past? Write off my prior investment, forget about sunk costs? This is about the Nakamichi, but really it's about MUCH MORE!
Do I toss out the Technics SL1300, the old top of the line, which works but really needs the speed pot adjusted? I mean I've got other turntables. But that Technics is direct drive and...
What else should I throw away?
One thing is for sure, when I die my family will throw EVERYTHING AWAY!
And I've accepted this, but I've told Felice over and over, NOT THE VINYL RECORDS! They're worth a fortune! Don't toss them, don't just give them away, sell them, not for the money but because I spent decades building the collection and it's worth more to me than the records themselves!
Really? A monument to myself?
Did I tell you I threw out all my laminates? Larry still has all of his, he showed them to me.
Now since then I've kept a few, like all access for the Rolling Stones, but... All this stuff I have, how recently have I used it? But I've got it and I know where it is and someday...
This is another of the secrets of aging. Only a secret because no one talks about it, no one wants to admit they're old, that they're going to die... Your stuff contains less and less meaning. You realize certain people you're never going to see again. You start to realize you're going to die and...
Don't tell me to be optimistic, you're just in denial. I'm just trying to face facts. I mean I skied 102 days last season, to what degree are you even physically active? To what degree won't you do things because you're afraid of injury?
And right now, let me count them... I have ten pairs of skis. And only two are not current models. And let me tell you, I can rationalize them all, but there was a point in my life when if I had a quiver this big I'd be thrilled and proud and I'm not saying I don't like having these skis, but there's a level of meaning that's just gone.
Like Ed Cherney.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
How AI Changes Music
It's going to put a huge dent in the middle class and cause a rush to authenticity.
AI makes it easier. So if you're looking for music to accompany your YouTube video, voila! If you're just another wanker recreating the electronic sounds/effects of the Spotify Top 50, good luck!
AI will be a tool. Just like with Velvet Sundown, auteurs will use AI to enhance their productions, just like the 808 and the Synclavier and other digital keyboards and effects. But this era where everybody makes music and believes they're entitled to a living?
MORE people will be making music.
But fewer people will be professionals.
If you can strum a guitar and sing the hits you might be able to get a job at your local bar. But it's doubtful, it's cheaper for that establishment to just play records, delivered via streaming services, or a DJ who does essentially the same.
Technology changes the landscape.
The new recording technologies of the sixties caused a concomitant surge in the sale of higher end stereos, so people could hear the productions as clearly as possible.
The CD held more than seventy minutes of music, therefore albums got longer and longer, there was this belief that you could stretch out without compromise and that somehow the public would judge you negatively if you didn't use up the space.
MTV put an emphasis on the looks of performers heretofore unseen. We still live in a visual environment, but the music has never been as separate from images since the heyday of MTV.
The music got compressed, you didn't need to hear it on a full spectrum stereo, so people got all-in-one units, or even boomboxes, which were portable!
At the beginning of the digital music era an MP3 took up far less space than a full featured recording and the public accepted this so there was a vast reduction in the need for sound quality.
And then AirPods and headphones became popular, both of which have a hard time reproducing bass, so the quality of the sound was reduced once more, if you can't hear it, why spend all that money to make it?
Do not fear AI.
Unless maybe you're a coder. Anything to do with math, facts, rights and wrongs? AI is great at that. But the next iteration of AI known as relational AI is now on the market and this advance has rendered even MORE hallucinations. So this constant AI fear in the marketplace...do you remember NFTs? I'm not saying AI will have no impact, but it is overblown. Because the experts don't even think they'll be able to improve the accuracy soon, never mind that they've run out of data to train their models on.
So...
You can make a professional sounding song using AI. Right now it's a party trick. I wouldn't quite call it a fad, like the Syndrum, but it won't be long before listeners are no longer impressed by a lame new track by a famous artist. It'll be like sending jokes when the internet broke, no one does that anymore.
But to use AI as PART of your creation? That's where the digital future lies. As for using it to write your papers, your legal documents...just in the newspaper today there was a judge castigating the legal team of the MyPillow guy because their documents were riddled with errors produced by AI.
So...
If you're a musician and you want to survive... EMBRACE AI! It is not going away. Learn how to use it. Whether you ultimately use it in your compositions or recordings or not. This lesson has been taught over and over during the last two plus decades and creators still refuse to learn it. THE PAST IS NOT COMING BACK! We are only going forward. Don't be a Luddite sitting on the sidelines.
There will be some people with little musical training who will create hits via AI.
And there will be pros who create hits.
But all the dreck filling up Spotify, et al, today?
If you're making music that sounds like the Beach Boys, it must be BETTER than the Beach Boys, because I can get pretty good AI Beach Boys sounding music already.
So if you're me-too about what once was... Good luck with that.
As for modern music, the Spotify Top 50, a lot of it is just a takeoff on what has been done by someone else, employing the same teams of writers, producers, remixers... So if you're doing this, it won't stand out. And the competition will be fierce, because you will be able to imitate the Spotify Top 50 cheaply and quickly.
But as far as authenticity?
If you're skilled at playing your instrument, especially if it is acoustic/organic...this is your best hedge against AI. Authenticity, credibility is where AI is lacking. It's literally a regurgitation of the past. As we go forward it might be able to be programmed to do something innovative and new, but that will come down to the experts referenced above who know how to do this.
The public always desires humanity, that's what machines do worse. So for those of you complaining that AI will steal the musician's lunch... Not that of someone who knows how to play and create something new.
Once again, we are going to see a hollowing out of the middle.
We will be exposed to genius productions at both ends of the spectrum. Stuff that we couldn't even conceive of. AI could cause a renaissance in music.
As for AI in general...
This is music's time once again. Music was the canary in the coal mine for digital distribution disruption and AI music is the canary in the coal mine for creative disruption. The applications AI is used for now... Rote tasks. But AI that can be part of the final product? What that looks like? Music will be first. Because music is cheap to make and distribute, unlike film and so many other enterprises.
You've got to jump into the fire.
AI music will only get better.
As for drummers being put out of business by the drum machine... There's a huge market for drum programming, it's a skill unto itself. I'm not saying it's a one to one replacement, but drummers were not wiped out. There are always winners and losers in a new environment.
As for those ten year olds trying to have hits? Addison Rae? That's commerce, not art. And AI can do that work very easily.
AI is going to EMPOWER creators, just like the computer and Pro Tools.
Get ready!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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AI makes it easier. So if you're looking for music to accompany your YouTube video, voila! If you're just another wanker recreating the electronic sounds/effects of the Spotify Top 50, good luck!
AI will be a tool. Just like with Velvet Sundown, auteurs will use AI to enhance their productions, just like the 808 and the Synclavier and other digital keyboards and effects. But this era where everybody makes music and believes they're entitled to a living?
MORE people will be making music.
But fewer people will be professionals.
If you can strum a guitar and sing the hits you might be able to get a job at your local bar. But it's doubtful, it's cheaper for that establishment to just play records, delivered via streaming services, or a DJ who does essentially the same.
Technology changes the landscape.
The new recording technologies of the sixties caused a concomitant surge in the sale of higher end stereos, so people could hear the productions as clearly as possible.
The CD held more than seventy minutes of music, therefore albums got longer and longer, there was this belief that you could stretch out without compromise and that somehow the public would judge you negatively if you didn't use up the space.
MTV put an emphasis on the looks of performers heretofore unseen. We still live in a visual environment, but the music has never been as separate from images since the heyday of MTV.
The music got compressed, you didn't need to hear it on a full spectrum stereo, so people got all-in-one units, or even boomboxes, which were portable!
At the beginning of the digital music era an MP3 took up far less space than a full featured recording and the public accepted this so there was a vast reduction in the need for sound quality.
And then AirPods and headphones became popular, both of which have a hard time reproducing bass, so the quality of the sound was reduced once more, if you can't hear it, why spend all that money to make it?
Do not fear AI.
Unless maybe you're a coder. Anything to do with math, facts, rights and wrongs? AI is great at that. But the next iteration of AI known as relational AI is now on the market and this advance has rendered even MORE hallucinations. So this constant AI fear in the marketplace...do you remember NFTs? I'm not saying AI will have no impact, but it is overblown. Because the experts don't even think they'll be able to improve the accuracy soon, never mind that they've run out of data to train their models on.
So...
You can make a professional sounding song using AI. Right now it's a party trick. I wouldn't quite call it a fad, like the Syndrum, but it won't be long before listeners are no longer impressed by a lame new track by a famous artist. It'll be like sending jokes when the internet broke, no one does that anymore.
But to use AI as PART of your creation? That's where the digital future lies. As for using it to write your papers, your legal documents...just in the newspaper today there was a judge castigating the legal team of the MyPillow guy because their documents were riddled with errors produced by AI.
So...
If you're a musician and you want to survive... EMBRACE AI! It is not going away. Learn how to use it. Whether you ultimately use it in your compositions or recordings or not. This lesson has been taught over and over during the last two plus decades and creators still refuse to learn it. THE PAST IS NOT COMING BACK! We are only going forward. Don't be a Luddite sitting on the sidelines.
There will be some people with little musical training who will create hits via AI.
And there will be pros who create hits.
But all the dreck filling up Spotify, et al, today?
If you're making music that sounds like the Beach Boys, it must be BETTER than the Beach Boys, because I can get pretty good AI Beach Boys sounding music already.
So if you're me-too about what once was... Good luck with that.
As for modern music, the Spotify Top 50, a lot of it is just a takeoff on what has been done by someone else, employing the same teams of writers, producers, remixers... So if you're doing this, it won't stand out. And the competition will be fierce, because you will be able to imitate the Spotify Top 50 cheaply and quickly.
But as far as authenticity?
If you're skilled at playing your instrument, especially if it is acoustic/organic...this is your best hedge against AI. Authenticity, credibility is where AI is lacking. It's literally a regurgitation of the past. As we go forward it might be able to be programmed to do something innovative and new, but that will come down to the experts referenced above who know how to do this.
The public always desires humanity, that's what machines do worse. So for those of you complaining that AI will steal the musician's lunch... Not that of someone who knows how to play and create something new.
Once again, we are going to see a hollowing out of the middle.
We will be exposed to genius productions at both ends of the spectrum. Stuff that we couldn't even conceive of. AI could cause a renaissance in music.
As for AI in general...
This is music's time once again. Music was the canary in the coal mine for digital distribution disruption and AI music is the canary in the coal mine for creative disruption. The applications AI is used for now... Rote tasks. But AI that can be part of the final product? What that looks like? Music will be first. Because music is cheap to make and distribute, unlike film and so many other enterprises.
You've got to jump into the fire.
AI music will only get better.
As for drummers being put out of business by the drum machine... There's a huge market for drum programming, it's a skill unto itself. I'm not saying it's a one to one replacement, but drummers were not wiped out. There are always winners and losers in a new environment.
As for those ten year olds trying to have hits? Addison Rae? That's commerce, not art. And AI can do that work very easily.
AI is going to EMPOWER creators, just like the computer and Pro Tools.
Get ready!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Don Was-This Week's Podcast
From Was Not Was to Bonnie Raitt to the Rolling Stones AND MORE! You'll dig this!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/don-was/id1316200737?i=1000716622758
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6KKwtCgn1FKdq1JC9L8S70?si=67fa8ef378d7466d
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/don-was-285166939/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/ae01c956-99be-4aed-8698-d8403ce55178/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-don-was
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/don-was/id1316200737?i=1000716622758
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6KKwtCgn1FKdq1JC9L8S70?si=67fa8ef378d7466d
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/don-was-285166939/
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/ae01c956-99be-4aed-8698-d8403ce55178/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-don-was
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Lord Huron's "Bag of Bones"
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1M2AqYT4Y6X0zRboZgIw8K?si=63845e43759b43dc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59wcc2Ml-yk
It's hypnotic.
You know it when you hear it, this track stuck out in Jeff Pollack's weekly pick of five. Nothing else resonated, but this did.
Not that I was in a good mood. Usually that determines whether you're receptive to new music, you have to be open to it, and that usually requires you to be settled and reflective, ready to slow down and spend some time in our fast-paced world where you slide through TikTok videos.
So what level do we want to analyze "Bag of Bones" on? The vocal, the instrumentation, the changes?
I'll throw all that out, that's being too professional, that's not how the audience listens to a record, for them it's a question of whether it resonates, how it makes them feel, and if they like it they'll play it again and again until it reveals itself further, deciphering a line here and there until it all makes sense.
Or it does not.
Now if you click on the YouTube edition of "Bag of Bones" you can turn on closed captioning and read the lyrics and...
One thing is for sure, this is not the words of the Spotify Top 50, there's no element of self-congratulation, domination, the singer is not a world-beater, anything but. This is alienation, this is rock and roll.
A sound that was ultimately eviscerated by MTV. Mood and feel didn't work well there. Maybe Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," but the video was innovative and the sound was new and... Setting your mind free, adrift, that does not square with video, it's the antithesis of today's fast-paced world, it's the other.
You want a respite from the freeway of life. You want to take the off-ramp into the wilderness and slow down and contemplate today's existence, where there's too much news and everybody's out for themselves and compassion is dead and...
That's modern life.
What's a poor boy to do?
LISTEN TO A RECORD!
Actually, the younger generations are all about creation, and I applaud that, but it's quite different from listening, being passive. And that's the essence of music...it's coming out of the speakers into your ears, it's personal, how does it make you feel?
In truth, although somewhat striking, the video does a disservice to "Bag of Bones." The track works better without images. But you need a video today as part of your promotional attack, but one thing is for sure, this is not the eighties, this video was made on the cheap, it was more about conception than seeing money spent on the screen.
Now Lord Huron's been at it for over a decade. Even the rock bands of yore didn't take this long to break. Then again, what is the status of Lord Huron? They're certainly not a household name, but clicking through their site I can see they do great business in the sheds and they are playing Madison Square Garden, although there are plenty of seats still available, but not on the floor, up close.
So what is the experience you're going to have at the show?
Maybe this is the kind of show you get stoned for. It's not about dancing and shooting selfies, but letting the music wash over you.
But this is not Phish, this is not a jam band, "Bag of Bones" is closer to "Rooster" than "You Enjoy Myself." You don't need to be a fan of the band, be deeply invested in the band's history to enjoy "Bag of Bones."
I don't want to overstate the case. "Bag of Bones" is not "Rooster." But both exist in their own space, you invest yourself in them or...you don't.
It's no longer a zero sum game. You're no longer on MTV or not, you're no longer on the radio or not, you can survive quite nicely if you're not in the Spotify Top 50.
Is being a musician enough, or are you in it for the trappings?
There are not trappings for most. Maybe some dope and sex, but you're not going to be featured on TMZ unless maybe you die.
"Bag of Bones" is in a long tradition of rock that began with FM radio in the late sixties. Chart statistics were not primary, there might be a guy chomping a cigar somewhere, but he couldn't tell the band what to do creatively, no way, and the act had a clear line separating what was right from what was wrong, what they'd do and what they wouldn't.
Maybe that's overstating the case with Lord Huron, but...
My inbox will be filled with people telling me "Bag of Bones" is sh*t. People will be vicious. But the joke will be on them, you're wasting time hating on something? Why waste all that energy...no one has to listen to anything they don't want to anymore, you've got yours and I've got mine.
So "Bag of Bones" gives a glimpse of what once was. Makes me believe in rock and roll, because once again it's the antithesis of what is being hyped today. This isn't the only kind of music I like to listen to, but I've got a wide spot in my heart for it, this fills a niche, exercises a muscle, activates a part of me that had been dormant, and it feels so good, not in an exuberant way, but an interior way. You get what I mean?
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59wcc2Ml-yk
It's hypnotic.
You know it when you hear it, this track stuck out in Jeff Pollack's weekly pick of five. Nothing else resonated, but this did.
Not that I was in a good mood. Usually that determines whether you're receptive to new music, you have to be open to it, and that usually requires you to be settled and reflective, ready to slow down and spend some time in our fast-paced world where you slide through TikTok videos.
So what level do we want to analyze "Bag of Bones" on? The vocal, the instrumentation, the changes?
I'll throw all that out, that's being too professional, that's not how the audience listens to a record, for them it's a question of whether it resonates, how it makes them feel, and if they like it they'll play it again and again until it reveals itself further, deciphering a line here and there until it all makes sense.
Or it does not.
Now if you click on the YouTube edition of "Bag of Bones" you can turn on closed captioning and read the lyrics and...
One thing is for sure, this is not the words of the Spotify Top 50, there's no element of self-congratulation, domination, the singer is not a world-beater, anything but. This is alienation, this is rock and roll.
A sound that was ultimately eviscerated by MTV. Mood and feel didn't work well there. Maybe Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," but the video was innovative and the sound was new and... Setting your mind free, adrift, that does not square with video, it's the antithesis of today's fast-paced world, it's the other.
You want a respite from the freeway of life. You want to take the off-ramp into the wilderness and slow down and contemplate today's existence, where there's too much news and everybody's out for themselves and compassion is dead and...
That's modern life.
What's a poor boy to do?
LISTEN TO A RECORD!
Actually, the younger generations are all about creation, and I applaud that, but it's quite different from listening, being passive. And that's the essence of music...it's coming out of the speakers into your ears, it's personal, how does it make you feel?
In truth, although somewhat striking, the video does a disservice to "Bag of Bones." The track works better without images. But you need a video today as part of your promotional attack, but one thing is for sure, this is not the eighties, this video was made on the cheap, it was more about conception than seeing money spent on the screen.
Now Lord Huron's been at it for over a decade. Even the rock bands of yore didn't take this long to break. Then again, what is the status of Lord Huron? They're certainly not a household name, but clicking through their site I can see they do great business in the sheds and they are playing Madison Square Garden, although there are plenty of seats still available, but not on the floor, up close.
So what is the experience you're going to have at the show?
Maybe this is the kind of show you get stoned for. It's not about dancing and shooting selfies, but letting the music wash over you.
But this is not Phish, this is not a jam band, "Bag of Bones" is closer to "Rooster" than "You Enjoy Myself." You don't need to be a fan of the band, be deeply invested in the band's history to enjoy "Bag of Bones."
I don't want to overstate the case. "Bag of Bones" is not "Rooster." But both exist in their own space, you invest yourself in them or...you don't.
It's no longer a zero sum game. You're no longer on MTV or not, you're no longer on the radio or not, you can survive quite nicely if you're not in the Spotify Top 50.
Is being a musician enough, or are you in it for the trappings?
There are not trappings for most. Maybe some dope and sex, but you're not going to be featured on TMZ unless maybe you die.
"Bag of Bones" is in a long tradition of rock that began with FM radio in the late sixties. Chart statistics were not primary, there might be a guy chomping a cigar somewhere, but he couldn't tell the band what to do creatively, no way, and the act had a clear line separating what was right from what was wrong, what they'd do and what they wouldn't.
Maybe that's overstating the case with Lord Huron, but...
My inbox will be filled with people telling me "Bag of Bones" is sh*t. People will be vicious. But the joke will be on them, you're wasting time hating on something? Why waste all that energy...no one has to listen to anything they don't want to anymore, you've got yours and I've got mine.
So "Bag of Bones" gives a glimpse of what once was. Makes me believe in rock and roll, because once again it's the antithesis of what is being hyped today. This isn't the only kind of music I like to listen to, but I've got a wide spot in my heart for it, this fills a niche, exercises a muscle, activates a part of me that had been dormant, and it feels so good, not in an exuberant way, but an interior way. You get what I mean?
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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The Downtown/Universal Deal
It's all about the data.
The major labels blew the internet. If they didn't have their catalogs, they'd be moribund enterprises, akin to other titans of the last century like MTV and terrestrial radio stations. The labels were so invested in the old model that they couldn't adapt to the new. And when they finally woke up to the end of the physical world, the streaming takeover, they relied on their catalogs to hold up distribution outlets to get paid the most dollars.
Meanwhile, they keep inventing new verticals of monetization, which is why you should be wary of selling your publishing and recording royalties, and you never know when a band might cover one of your old hits and turn it into a juggernaut, raining down cash, like Weezer did with Toto's "Africa." The key is to have a stake in the game.
And the major labels were losing their stake.
It's great to own a catalog, but the business of recordings relies on new acts and new material. The game was to get your act on the radio, jam print and then with television appearances you'd find out if you had something or you didn't. Most times you didn't, but the hits covered the stiffs and royalty rates continued to be low, after all, where could the hit acts otherwise go, they needed major distribution and marketing.
But not anymore.
How do you break a record today?
Via TikTok.
How do you do that? Good question. Turns out elbow grease is oftentimes more important than talent. Are you willing to post multiple times a day, can you create content that engenders virality? The majors know how this works but they can't game the system, and this frustrates them.
Furthermore, majors no longer want bunts or singles, just like the movie business they're dependent upon blockbusters, so they invest heavily in ever fewer products and...
The movie studios have the streamers to save them. But there is no one who is saving the majors. A stiff is ultimately worth nothing. There is no secondary market. So...
You could seed the marketplace with a zillion different acts and tracks and see what gains traction and then blow it up.
That's what this Downtown/Universal deal is all about.
Rob Stringer admitted it. You buy the independents to not only feed your distribution arm, but to gain insight into what is gaining traction and then you blow it up (or imitate it).
Imagine this. It would be like Russia getting a peek into Ukraine's armaments, how many they are and where they're deployed. And if you see a movement, you put troops there to counteract it.
Yes, the majors are going to build their businesses for the future on the backs of independent acts. Only took them twenty five years to figure out this was the proper model. I told Roger Ames to do this during the height of the P2P wars and wrote about it too and I don't need a victory lap, but I will say if you're looking for forward thinking, you don't find it at record companies.
But you do find it in distribution. Which is why Spotify is now worth more than any major label, by far, nearly three times as much as Universal.
Once upon a time, back in the seventies, the predecessor of Sony Music, CBS Records, owned a chain of record stores, Discount Records. But ultimately they axed it, there weren't enough profits to make it worth the company's while.
Meanwhile, the majors controlled distribution. Which is what the creation of WEA was about. And you needed a distributor, to get all that physical product into stores, and to get paid. And indie labels had a hard time getting paid, which is why major distribution ruled.
But traditional distribution is irrelevant in the digital world. You make a deal with the streamer and send your files, you don't need a slew of sales people to achieve this.
Meanwhile, the costs at Spotify, et al, are de minimis compared to the retailers of yore. There's no rent, few employees, it's a digital business just like Apple or Microsoft or Meta. When done right, it scales.
That used to be the paradigm in the record industry. Let's just get lucky and sell ten million copies of an album, the expenses are already amortized, it doesn't cost much to sell more records once the album is adopted by the public and becomes a juggernaut.
But now very few albums become juggernauts. And the economics of the album are in the toilet, it's mostly a singles business and...
It's the heyday of the indie.
Sure, there are a few acts streaming tonnage, but the independent sector is growing and growing and will own the future.
It's just like the rest of the world. Tons of niches. Acts can sell out Madison Square Garden and most people have never heard of them.
But this is not the way it used to be.
So now the majors have pivoted and acquired the independent companies. Distributors indie acts need to get their music on streamers, you can't do a direct deal by yourself, you must go through an intermediary.
And everything is built to sell. So these indie companies keep growing and keep getting sold, like the Orchard and Kobalt's label services arm and now Downtown.
On one hand you can't criticize Downtown, it built a business out of thin air based on the new world, and the owners want a return on their investment. But where does it leave all the acts the company distributes?
We've heard bitching about Spotify payments for fifteen years now, has there been any change? OF COURSE NOT! Because there's only a hundred cents in a dollar, to believe otherwise is to evidence your ignorance. But Spotify is nothing without music, and it lives on the backs of indie artists who don't realize this. They don't realize their value and who the enemy is. And in this case the enemy is Universal Music.
Virgin, the company under whose umbrella Downtown will sit, says it will not look at the data. Yeah, right. And when that girl or guy is naked in the bathroom and leaves the door open you're going to cover your eyes. And you're not going to look at your girl or boyfriend's bank account. And while you're at it, you're not going to check out the streams of your competitors. OF COURSE YOU ARE!
So now the majors will be able to see exactly what is happening in the world of music and be able to capitalize on it, profit on the backs of indies. Meanwhile, the indie acts are too busy complaining they're not getting paid enough.
It's about to get worse if this deal is approved.
But there's very little blowback in the U.S. Because it's every person for themselves here and the acts are not organized and antitrust is the devil.
Sure, a new independent company could come along and compete, but could they really? It's kind of like the fifties and sixties into the seventies. The independent record companies which ruled the business were all purchased, there was no longer any there there. They didn't have the money to compete...
It's kind of like competing with Amazon or Google... They own their spheres. Every once in a while there's a change that flips the script, like AI, but in music...it's always going to be about the music, and it's always going to be about copyright.
Music is not a traditional manufacturing business, it's all about rights. And copyright extends beyond the life of the creator and...you can leverage those rights.
And the more rights you have the more leverage you've got.
And the more rights you control the harder it is for an indie to compete.
Music is now an independent business. The majors can't break an act. You break it and then they license it and do their best to blow it up, assuming they're interested at all. Traditionally they're only looking for blockbusters, and if you're not one, they don't care, but now that they will control EVERY record, they do care.
It's like the government. It has access to everybody's tax returns, but the individual does not.
Amazon knows what sells and at what price, never mind having economies of scale, anyone who goes into competition with them...they underprice and put out of business or purchase.
This is the game the majors are now in.
These are not benevolent enterprises. All three companies are public and they've got to deliver returns for stockholders, they're not about music but finance. Which is one reason Robert Kyncl is downsizing at Warner. To make the numbers work, not to make better, more successful music. BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO DO THIS!
No one does anymore.
Furthermore, music is about as cottage industry as it was back in the caveman days. You start it yourself in your own market, if you're looking for a deep pocket to take you there, you've been listening to that Staples Singers song too much.
And on one hand, this is a good thing, everybody's starting from the same line. But the majors want to eliminate this, game the system via their control of indie distribution.
This is happening in plain sight, but it's not sexy enough to rile up independent creators. They'll only feel the loss after the fact, when it's too late.
The game always triumphs, and he or she with the most information has a leg up, which is what Universal's purchase of Downtown is all about.
The rewards go to the visionaries, which is why Daniel Ek is a billionaire and Lucian Grainge is not. And there's not enough money in the music business to attract the best and the brightest, but it has been a bastion of entrepreneurs who don't fit in elsewhere.
The goal here is to control the entrepreneurs or squeeze them out of the system.
No independent movie studio has survived without a catalog and without a catalog, an independent music company is screwed.
But music is much cheaper to make and distribute than film/visual productions. Which means the individual act can triumph.
Distribution is king. The majors want to control it. They want to take a toll from every act out there.
Do you build a new hightway?
Just look at the revenue from your toll.
Should you build EVs or only SUVs...are sedans coming back?
The toll will tell you.
A driver has no option. Sure, they could take the backroads, but it would take forever. They've got no choice.
And soon independent acts won't have any choice either.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
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The major labels blew the internet. If they didn't have their catalogs, they'd be moribund enterprises, akin to other titans of the last century like MTV and terrestrial radio stations. The labels were so invested in the old model that they couldn't adapt to the new. And when they finally woke up to the end of the physical world, the streaming takeover, they relied on their catalogs to hold up distribution outlets to get paid the most dollars.
Meanwhile, they keep inventing new verticals of monetization, which is why you should be wary of selling your publishing and recording royalties, and you never know when a band might cover one of your old hits and turn it into a juggernaut, raining down cash, like Weezer did with Toto's "Africa." The key is to have a stake in the game.
And the major labels were losing their stake.
It's great to own a catalog, but the business of recordings relies on new acts and new material. The game was to get your act on the radio, jam print and then with television appearances you'd find out if you had something or you didn't. Most times you didn't, but the hits covered the stiffs and royalty rates continued to be low, after all, where could the hit acts otherwise go, they needed major distribution and marketing.
But not anymore.
How do you break a record today?
Via TikTok.
How do you do that? Good question. Turns out elbow grease is oftentimes more important than talent. Are you willing to post multiple times a day, can you create content that engenders virality? The majors know how this works but they can't game the system, and this frustrates them.
Furthermore, majors no longer want bunts or singles, just like the movie business they're dependent upon blockbusters, so they invest heavily in ever fewer products and...
The movie studios have the streamers to save them. But there is no one who is saving the majors. A stiff is ultimately worth nothing. There is no secondary market. So...
You could seed the marketplace with a zillion different acts and tracks and see what gains traction and then blow it up.
That's what this Downtown/Universal deal is all about.
Rob Stringer admitted it. You buy the independents to not only feed your distribution arm, but to gain insight into what is gaining traction and then you blow it up (or imitate it).
Imagine this. It would be like Russia getting a peek into Ukraine's armaments, how many they are and where they're deployed. And if you see a movement, you put troops there to counteract it.
Yes, the majors are going to build their businesses for the future on the backs of independent acts. Only took them twenty five years to figure out this was the proper model. I told Roger Ames to do this during the height of the P2P wars and wrote about it too and I don't need a victory lap, but I will say if you're looking for forward thinking, you don't find it at record companies.
But you do find it in distribution. Which is why Spotify is now worth more than any major label, by far, nearly three times as much as Universal.
Once upon a time, back in the seventies, the predecessor of Sony Music, CBS Records, owned a chain of record stores, Discount Records. But ultimately they axed it, there weren't enough profits to make it worth the company's while.
Meanwhile, the majors controlled distribution. Which is what the creation of WEA was about. And you needed a distributor, to get all that physical product into stores, and to get paid. And indie labels had a hard time getting paid, which is why major distribution ruled.
But traditional distribution is irrelevant in the digital world. You make a deal with the streamer and send your files, you don't need a slew of sales people to achieve this.
Meanwhile, the costs at Spotify, et al, are de minimis compared to the retailers of yore. There's no rent, few employees, it's a digital business just like Apple or Microsoft or Meta. When done right, it scales.
That used to be the paradigm in the record industry. Let's just get lucky and sell ten million copies of an album, the expenses are already amortized, it doesn't cost much to sell more records once the album is adopted by the public and becomes a juggernaut.
But now very few albums become juggernauts. And the economics of the album are in the toilet, it's mostly a singles business and...
It's the heyday of the indie.
Sure, there are a few acts streaming tonnage, but the independent sector is growing and growing and will own the future.
It's just like the rest of the world. Tons of niches. Acts can sell out Madison Square Garden and most people have never heard of them.
But this is not the way it used to be.
So now the majors have pivoted and acquired the independent companies. Distributors indie acts need to get their music on streamers, you can't do a direct deal by yourself, you must go through an intermediary.
And everything is built to sell. So these indie companies keep growing and keep getting sold, like the Orchard and Kobalt's label services arm and now Downtown.
On one hand you can't criticize Downtown, it built a business out of thin air based on the new world, and the owners want a return on their investment. But where does it leave all the acts the company distributes?
We've heard bitching about Spotify payments for fifteen years now, has there been any change? OF COURSE NOT! Because there's only a hundred cents in a dollar, to believe otherwise is to evidence your ignorance. But Spotify is nothing without music, and it lives on the backs of indie artists who don't realize this. They don't realize their value and who the enemy is. And in this case the enemy is Universal Music.
Virgin, the company under whose umbrella Downtown will sit, says it will not look at the data. Yeah, right. And when that girl or guy is naked in the bathroom and leaves the door open you're going to cover your eyes. And you're not going to look at your girl or boyfriend's bank account. And while you're at it, you're not going to check out the streams of your competitors. OF COURSE YOU ARE!
So now the majors will be able to see exactly what is happening in the world of music and be able to capitalize on it, profit on the backs of indies. Meanwhile, the indie acts are too busy complaining they're not getting paid enough.
It's about to get worse if this deal is approved.
But there's very little blowback in the U.S. Because it's every person for themselves here and the acts are not organized and antitrust is the devil.
Sure, a new independent company could come along and compete, but could they really? It's kind of like the fifties and sixties into the seventies. The independent record companies which ruled the business were all purchased, there was no longer any there there. They didn't have the money to compete...
It's kind of like competing with Amazon or Google... They own their spheres. Every once in a while there's a change that flips the script, like AI, but in music...it's always going to be about the music, and it's always going to be about copyright.
Music is not a traditional manufacturing business, it's all about rights. And copyright extends beyond the life of the creator and...you can leverage those rights.
And the more rights you have the more leverage you've got.
And the more rights you control the harder it is for an indie to compete.
Music is now an independent business. The majors can't break an act. You break it and then they license it and do their best to blow it up, assuming they're interested at all. Traditionally they're only looking for blockbusters, and if you're not one, they don't care, but now that they will control EVERY record, they do care.
It's like the government. It has access to everybody's tax returns, but the individual does not.
Amazon knows what sells and at what price, never mind having economies of scale, anyone who goes into competition with them...they underprice and put out of business or purchase.
This is the game the majors are now in.
These are not benevolent enterprises. All three companies are public and they've got to deliver returns for stockholders, they're not about music but finance. Which is one reason Robert Kyncl is downsizing at Warner. To make the numbers work, not to make better, more successful music. BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO DO THIS!
No one does anymore.
Furthermore, music is about as cottage industry as it was back in the caveman days. You start it yourself in your own market, if you're looking for a deep pocket to take you there, you've been listening to that Staples Singers song too much.
And on one hand, this is a good thing, everybody's starting from the same line. But the majors want to eliminate this, game the system via their control of indie distribution.
This is happening in plain sight, but it's not sexy enough to rile up independent creators. They'll only feel the loss after the fact, when it's too late.
The game always triumphs, and he or she with the most information has a leg up, which is what Universal's purchase of Downtown is all about.
The rewards go to the visionaries, which is why Daniel Ek is a billionaire and Lucian Grainge is not. And there's not enough money in the music business to attract the best and the brightest, but it has been a bastion of entrepreneurs who don't fit in elsewhere.
The goal here is to control the entrepreneurs or squeeze them out of the system.
No independent movie studio has survived without a catalog and without a catalog, an independent music company is screwed.
But music is much cheaper to make and distribute than film/visual productions. Which means the individual act can triumph.
Distribution is king. The majors want to control it. They want to take a toll from every act out there.
Do you build a new hightway?
Just look at the revenue from your toll.
Should you build EVs or only SUVs...are sedans coming back?
The toll will tell you.
A driver has no option. Sure, they could take the backroads, but it would take forever. They've got no choice.
And soon independent acts won't have any choice either.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
Monday, 7 July 2025
In The Big Room
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7bbtCK8bw9afEV9IdjtMM1?si=edS067dpQ_-dQQnGCttEiw
1
There's a killer version of "In Your Eyes," but what I needed to hear most and am most satisfied with is another rendition of "Secret World."
Do you know this new Peter Gabriel live package is out?
I had no idea until dyed-in-the-wool Gabriel/Genesis fan Jake texted me about it. Took me a couple of days to pull it up and I was stunned, because it was totally in the pocket, great, and I was going to write about it but then I got diverted.
By time Peter Gabriel left Genesis most people had no idea who he was. And although "Solsbury Hill" ultimately became an AOR staple most people were still unfamiliar with the man and his history, even though his best album, his third solo, released on Mercury after Atco passed, came out in 1980.
Bob Ezrin created a solo debut that was pure statement, Robert Fripp brought his cred to the second LP, but it was the wet behind the ears Steve Lillywhite who truly captured Gabriel's essence on the third disc entitled "Peter Gabriel."
Based on the artistic success of that album Gabriel was signed to Geffen where he promptly shocked the monkey and ultimately sledgehammered his way into the public consciousness, with an indelible song with a boundary-pushing video.
"In Your Eyes" brought Diane Court to Lloyd Dobler, Gabriel steamed up the stage at the Grammys and then...as the centuries flipped he was no longer primary in public perception, after all he wasn't a rapper, he didn't make pop records and he wasn't a fit on Active Rock. Unlike his progressive brethren Gabriel was still pushing the envelope, refusing to rest on his laurels, diverting his attention to tech all the while, after all tech was much more interesting than music twenty five years ago, to a degree still is.
But tech is not music.
So Gabriel continued to release music, however sporadically, playing to the diehards, of which there are many, but not everybody. Gabriel has become a niche, part of the endless sideshow, and either you're paying attention or you're not.
Furthermore, Gabriel's albums require repeated plays to ingest and digest, to fully understand and embrace, and that's not how people listen anymore. They cherry-pick tracks and oftentimes don't even listen to most of an LP.
Now Gabriel is not happy with me, because he released his last album over a series of months, a few tracks at a time, and I thought he lost marketing value, as that paradigm worked a decade or so ago, but not anymore, today it's so hard to reach everybody that you have to bang them over the head with shall I say...A SLEDGEHAMMER!
2
Now if you want to hear the definitive Gabriel live work, you must partake of the 1994 double album "Secret World Live," which was accompanied by a purchasable video of Gabriel's unique live show, with the extended telephone cord and...
What made "Secret World Live" so great was not only the opening "Come Talk to Me," imploring listeners to pay attention, but the extended side ending versions of "Secret World" and "In Your Eyes." They are utter tours-de-force. Especially the former, it makes the "Us" closer truly come alive. Which is why I needed to hear this new version.
It's the intro that grabs you, akin to a bagpipe, even though it's not.
And then Gabriel's nearly whispered vocal. In an era where everybody's banging you over the head Gabriel sees no need for this, the music suffices, and it's best if it sneaks up on you, if you come to it as opposed to vice versa.
"Down by the railway side
In our secret world we were colliding
In all the places we were holding love
What was it we were thinking of"
This is where Gabriel starts to put the pedal to the metal, he's on the straightaway engaging DRS. And then he takes it up a notch and nearly caterwauling he sings:
"In this house of make believe
Divided in two like Adam and Eve
You put out and I receive"
And now it's a completely different track, no longer nearly sotto voce, but in-your-face. It's like Gabriel has spread his arms wide and lifted the entire audience up into a levitating position, where they're stunned, amazed and focused, there's no room for random thoughts, you're engaged.
And the bombast continues until the entire track quiets down and simple notes akin to those played on a toy piano are played. This is the genius of the long take on "Secret World Live," it's what I was waiting for here, it was why I played the track.
It's nearly quiet. You're reveling in the sound.
Then Gabriel comes in like an angel:
"Seeing things that were not there
On a wing on a prayer
In this state of disrepair"
And then the intensity returns. At first solely percussion. Then crazy guitar, like someone plugged their body into an electrical outlet. And then it's like some bizarre carnival, the kind that got us all hooked back in the day, when music was more than entertainment, you're listening to the music, not worried about chart position, merch numbers, if you're listening you can't resist. And it's not bad on earbuds, but if you've got an old school stereo turn it up and it fills the complete room.
"Shaking it up
Breaking it up
Making it up in our secret world"
That's what it was, a secret world. You couldn't read about it in the newspaper, you just had to know...you found out from the radio, in the case of Gabriel more print and your friends, and it made you feel so GOOD! This a not mindless drivel, these were thinking people appealing to your intellect as well as your genitalia.
3
"Accepting all I've done and said
I want to stand and stare again
'Til there's nothing left, whoa
It remains there in your eyes
Whatever comes and goes
Oh, it's in your eyes"
Unlike the studio version of "Secret World" the studio take of "In Your Eyes" is not behind tempered glass, it's right in front of your eyes, it's like watching a movie in the sky.
That's not how the version on "Secret World Live" sounds, the live take is a celebration.
But the version on "In the Big Room" is PERSONAL. Not only is it live, you don't feel like you're in the arena, but up close and personal. You can feel the humanity.
And those initial accents akin to treble cowbells is much more prominent in this take than the "Secret World Live" version.
The "In the Big Room" version is less composed, more relaxed, it evidences confidence, Gabriel is not trying to prove anything, he knows what he's got, and you know it too.
It's a 39 year old song kids. It's not unknown. But here it doesn't sound calcified, but purely alive, as if Gabriel is doing his first shows after the release of "So."
4
Is "In the Big Room" a revelation? A pushing of the envelope, a great leap forward?
No. But it will satisfy more than fans. Because of the energy, the life. This is not someone playing to hard drive, there might be electronic sounds, but there's definitely humanity.
In the middle of "In Your Eyes" it sounds like you're in the middle of the jungle, music's power was always its ability to take you away.
You've got to dream big to create big. But it costs money and time to execute on this level, and today no one wants to give this kind of free rein to an artist. The label not only wants you to make it cheap, they want input, they want to steer it to commercial success.
But that's not the way it used to be.
Sure, not every expensive record was an artistic breakthrough, never mind an exploration. But we were regularly wowed with what people came up in the pre-complaint era.
That's all anyone can do anymore, complain. The system is against them, streaming doesn't pay, when in truth if you're a successful artist you're making more bread in adjusted dollars than you ever have, although you might have to go on the road to earn those bucks, then again it was a very brief period that music went from a live to a recorded medium, the emphasis has switched back again.
But there was a moment in time...
"I want to stand and stare again
Oh, it's in your eyes"
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
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To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
1
There's a killer version of "In Your Eyes," but what I needed to hear most and am most satisfied with is another rendition of "Secret World."
Do you know this new Peter Gabriel live package is out?
I had no idea until dyed-in-the-wool Gabriel/Genesis fan Jake texted me about it. Took me a couple of days to pull it up and I was stunned, because it was totally in the pocket, great, and I was going to write about it but then I got diverted.
By time Peter Gabriel left Genesis most people had no idea who he was. And although "Solsbury Hill" ultimately became an AOR staple most people were still unfamiliar with the man and his history, even though his best album, his third solo, released on Mercury after Atco passed, came out in 1980.
Bob Ezrin created a solo debut that was pure statement, Robert Fripp brought his cred to the second LP, but it was the wet behind the ears Steve Lillywhite who truly captured Gabriel's essence on the third disc entitled "Peter Gabriel."
Based on the artistic success of that album Gabriel was signed to Geffen where he promptly shocked the monkey and ultimately sledgehammered his way into the public consciousness, with an indelible song with a boundary-pushing video.
"In Your Eyes" brought Diane Court to Lloyd Dobler, Gabriel steamed up the stage at the Grammys and then...as the centuries flipped he was no longer primary in public perception, after all he wasn't a rapper, he didn't make pop records and he wasn't a fit on Active Rock. Unlike his progressive brethren Gabriel was still pushing the envelope, refusing to rest on his laurels, diverting his attention to tech all the while, after all tech was much more interesting than music twenty five years ago, to a degree still is.
But tech is not music.
So Gabriel continued to release music, however sporadically, playing to the diehards, of which there are many, but not everybody. Gabriel has become a niche, part of the endless sideshow, and either you're paying attention or you're not.
Furthermore, Gabriel's albums require repeated plays to ingest and digest, to fully understand and embrace, and that's not how people listen anymore. They cherry-pick tracks and oftentimes don't even listen to most of an LP.
Now Gabriel is not happy with me, because he released his last album over a series of months, a few tracks at a time, and I thought he lost marketing value, as that paradigm worked a decade or so ago, but not anymore, today it's so hard to reach everybody that you have to bang them over the head with shall I say...A SLEDGEHAMMER!
2
Now if you want to hear the definitive Gabriel live work, you must partake of the 1994 double album "Secret World Live," which was accompanied by a purchasable video of Gabriel's unique live show, with the extended telephone cord and...
What made "Secret World Live" so great was not only the opening "Come Talk to Me," imploring listeners to pay attention, but the extended side ending versions of "Secret World" and "In Your Eyes." They are utter tours-de-force. Especially the former, it makes the "Us" closer truly come alive. Which is why I needed to hear this new version.
It's the intro that grabs you, akin to a bagpipe, even though it's not.
And then Gabriel's nearly whispered vocal. In an era where everybody's banging you over the head Gabriel sees no need for this, the music suffices, and it's best if it sneaks up on you, if you come to it as opposed to vice versa.
"Down by the railway side
In our secret world we were colliding
In all the places we were holding love
What was it we were thinking of"
This is where Gabriel starts to put the pedal to the metal, he's on the straightaway engaging DRS. And then he takes it up a notch and nearly caterwauling he sings:
"In this house of make believe
Divided in two like Adam and Eve
You put out and I receive"
And now it's a completely different track, no longer nearly sotto voce, but in-your-face. It's like Gabriel has spread his arms wide and lifted the entire audience up into a levitating position, where they're stunned, amazed and focused, there's no room for random thoughts, you're engaged.
And the bombast continues until the entire track quiets down and simple notes akin to those played on a toy piano are played. This is the genius of the long take on "Secret World Live," it's what I was waiting for here, it was why I played the track.
It's nearly quiet. You're reveling in the sound.
Then Gabriel comes in like an angel:
"Seeing things that were not there
On a wing on a prayer
In this state of disrepair"
And then the intensity returns. At first solely percussion. Then crazy guitar, like someone plugged their body into an electrical outlet. And then it's like some bizarre carnival, the kind that got us all hooked back in the day, when music was more than entertainment, you're listening to the music, not worried about chart position, merch numbers, if you're listening you can't resist. And it's not bad on earbuds, but if you've got an old school stereo turn it up and it fills the complete room.
"Shaking it up
Breaking it up
Making it up in our secret world"
That's what it was, a secret world. You couldn't read about it in the newspaper, you just had to know...you found out from the radio, in the case of Gabriel more print and your friends, and it made you feel so GOOD! This a not mindless drivel, these were thinking people appealing to your intellect as well as your genitalia.
3
"Accepting all I've done and said
I want to stand and stare again
'Til there's nothing left, whoa
It remains there in your eyes
Whatever comes and goes
Oh, it's in your eyes"
Unlike the studio version of "Secret World" the studio take of "In Your Eyes" is not behind tempered glass, it's right in front of your eyes, it's like watching a movie in the sky.
That's not how the version on "Secret World Live" sounds, the live take is a celebration.
But the version on "In the Big Room" is PERSONAL. Not only is it live, you don't feel like you're in the arena, but up close and personal. You can feel the humanity.
And those initial accents akin to treble cowbells is much more prominent in this take than the "Secret World Live" version.
The "In the Big Room" version is less composed, more relaxed, it evidences confidence, Gabriel is not trying to prove anything, he knows what he's got, and you know it too.
It's a 39 year old song kids. It's not unknown. But here it doesn't sound calcified, but purely alive, as if Gabriel is doing his first shows after the release of "So."
4
Is "In the Big Room" a revelation? A pushing of the envelope, a great leap forward?
No. But it will satisfy more than fans. Because of the energy, the life. This is not someone playing to hard drive, there might be electronic sounds, but there's definitely humanity.
In the middle of "In Your Eyes" it sounds like you're in the middle of the jungle, music's power was always its ability to take you away.
You've got to dream big to create big. But it costs money and time to execute on this level, and today no one wants to give this kind of free rein to an artist. The label not only wants you to make it cheap, they want input, they want to steer it to commercial success.
But that's not the way it used to be.
Sure, not every expensive record was an artistic breakthrough, never mind an exploration. But we were regularly wowed with what people came up in the pre-complaint era.
That's all anyone can do anymore, complain. The system is against them, streaming doesn't pay, when in truth if you're a successful artist you're making more bread in adjusted dollars than you ever have, although you might have to go on the road to earn those bucks, then again it was a very brief period that music went from a live to a recorded medium, the emphasis has switched back again.
But there was a moment in time...
"I want to stand and stare again
Oh, it's in your eyes"
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Sunday, 6 July 2025
Dream State
https://t.ly/tU5nO
The first section of this book is positively mesmerizing. I'm not sure I've seen this situation detailed so well previously, at least not recently.
You know how it is, when you feel a connection. And you wonder if they feel it too.
There hasn't been any conversation about it. You're twisting in the wind, do they feel the same way you do?
I was riveted.
The best book I've read recently is not "Dream State," but "The Slip," which is billed as this year's "Corrections," and Ron Charles of the "Washington Post" said you're going to love it or hate it, just like everybody seems to do with Jonathan Franzen books.
HOWEVER, "The Slip" is in no way smug. As a matter of fact, it's great. Except for two things. One, it focuses on boxing. That's the not the entire plot, but it figures in pretty bigly, so if you find that a turnoff... (Yet the boxing is not macho, this is not the gym culture of a movie.) And I found the ending unsatisfying.
Therefore, I recommend you read "Dream State" before "The Slip," but I'm not giving two thumbs way up to either of these books, neither is a slam dunk, but both are a huge step above most of the stuff out there.
These are not genre books, they are not mysteries, never mind romance novels. They're about life, people and real world situations. Which I find to be the most rewarding reading.
As for "Dream State"...it's about average people doing average things. What I mean is no one is setting the world on fire to the point where they're featured in the news. The people are not unsuccessful, but normal, like most, which is what makes the book so interesting.
And your dreams and choices... How do those work out for you? You wake up and one day you realize this is your life, and most of it is behind you, and did you do what you wanted to do, did you achieve what you wanted to, did you make the right choices? And everybody weighs "what if" to a degree, if they'd gone down the other path...
I kinda want to write about some of the plot points, but I don't want to ruin it. But I will quote a few lines.
"But greatness was cruelty, it was passion, it was Self at the expense of everything else."
This is what no one tells you, this is what the average person doesn't realize. It takes EVERYTHING to make it, you can't have a normal life. You may portray a normal human being in the media, but don't confuse that with the truth. If you're not willing to sacrifice everything but your dream, you won't make it. And if you're truly trying to make it, if you're playing on an elite level, everything else is secondary: love relationships, kids... Believe me, this is true, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
"...and losing his glove had made him weirdly depressed"
Your good mood can evaporate in an instant. They're out skiing and the glove is lost and they're in the mountains on a day it is dumping and everything is looking up and then suddenly it looks down. This is the nature of life, your spirit can crash in an instant. And what's worse, then everybody criticizes you for being down. You're in a gorgeous environment, how can you be depressed?
"Life was a long, incompetent search to get back to a feeling you had when you were six."
Isn't that it? The sense of wonder and magic?
"If you look for a meaning, Tarkovsky once said, you'll miss everything that happens."
You've got to jump in, you've got to experience. This is the problem with too much MFA writing, the authors are detached, trying for big themes instead of getting into the story. I read for story, I watch for story, the big meaning can be contemplated afterward. This is the scourge of elite education, focusing on analysis instead of experience. What I want to do is experience it like I'm six, like above.
Turns out "Dream State" is an Oprah book.
When I read it, I thought it was a Jenna book, which was why I was reluctant. The stuff Jenna recommends is often a reasonable read, a decent ride, but a bit too lowbrow. Reese's stuff is one step better, but Oprah always recommends stuff if not exactly highbrow, at least serious...as in the person can write and there's a level of intelligence emanating from the words, Oprah's books are never a waste of time. And neither is "Dream State."
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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The first section of this book is positively mesmerizing. I'm not sure I've seen this situation detailed so well previously, at least not recently.
You know how it is, when you feel a connection. And you wonder if they feel it too.
There hasn't been any conversation about it. You're twisting in the wind, do they feel the same way you do?
I was riveted.
The best book I've read recently is not "Dream State," but "The Slip," which is billed as this year's "Corrections," and Ron Charles of the "Washington Post" said you're going to love it or hate it, just like everybody seems to do with Jonathan Franzen books.
HOWEVER, "The Slip" is in no way smug. As a matter of fact, it's great. Except for two things. One, it focuses on boxing. That's the not the entire plot, but it figures in pretty bigly, so if you find that a turnoff... (Yet the boxing is not macho, this is not the gym culture of a movie.) And I found the ending unsatisfying.
Therefore, I recommend you read "Dream State" before "The Slip," but I'm not giving two thumbs way up to either of these books, neither is a slam dunk, but both are a huge step above most of the stuff out there.
These are not genre books, they are not mysteries, never mind romance novels. They're about life, people and real world situations. Which I find to be the most rewarding reading.
As for "Dream State"...it's about average people doing average things. What I mean is no one is setting the world on fire to the point where they're featured in the news. The people are not unsuccessful, but normal, like most, which is what makes the book so interesting.
And your dreams and choices... How do those work out for you? You wake up and one day you realize this is your life, and most of it is behind you, and did you do what you wanted to do, did you achieve what you wanted to, did you make the right choices? And everybody weighs "what if" to a degree, if they'd gone down the other path...
I kinda want to write about some of the plot points, but I don't want to ruin it. But I will quote a few lines.
"But greatness was cruelty, it was passion, it was Self at the expense of everything else."
This is what no one tells you, this is what the average person doesn't realize. It takes EVERYTHING to make it, you can't have a normal life. You may portray a normal human being in the media, but don't confuse that with the truth. If you're not willing to sacrifice everything but your dream, you won't make it. And if you're truly trying to make it, if you're playing on an elite level, everything else is secondary: love relationships, kids... Believe me, this is true, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
"...and losing his glove had made him weirdly depressed"
Your good mood can evaporate in an instant. They're out skiing and the glove is lost and they're in the mountains on a day it is dumping and everything is looking up and then suddenly it looks down. This is the nature of life, your spirit can crash in an instant. And what's worse, then everybody criticizes you for being down. You're in a gorgeous environment, how can you be depressed?
"Life was a long, incompetent search to get back to a feeling you had when you were six."
Isn't that it? The sense of wonder and magic?
"If you look for a meaning, Tarkovsky once said, you'll miss everything that happens."
You've got to jump in, you've got to experience. This is the problem with too much MFA writing, the authors are detached, trying for big themes instead of getting into the story. I read for story, I watch for story, the big meaning can be contemplated afterward. This is the scourge of elite education, focusing on analysis instead of experience. What I want to do is experience it like I'm six, like above.
Turns out "Dream State" is an Oprah book.
When I read it, I thought it was a Jenna book, which was why I was reluctant. The stuff Jenna recommends is often a reasonable read, a decent ride, but a bit too lowbrow. Reese's stuff is one step better, but Oprah always recommends stuff if not exactly highbrow, at least serious...as in the person can write and there's a level of intelligence emanating from the words, Oprah's books are never a waste of time. And neither is "Dream State."
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Tour de France: Unchained-Season 3
Netflix trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaE5_704KUo
Did you watch today's Formula 1 race from Silverstone? It was the best of the year!
Usually I fast-forward through the competition, otherwise it's just too boring in a whiz-bang world. I keep my eye on the leaderboard and when there's movement, I slow down the recording and replay it. But not today! Today I watched all the way through.
I'm a Hamilton guy. And his switch to Ferrari has not looked so wise with the results of his old Mercedes teammate George Russell this season. However, Hamilton has been improving and he had a great practice session on Friday and nearly as good a qualifying session on Saturday, but Verstappen squeaked by to take the pole in front of the McLarens, the team with this year's fastest cars.
I like Lando Norris, but I actually prefer his teammate Oscar Piastri, it's his intensity, Australian humor and driving skills this year.
However, what made today's race so interesting was THE RAIN! The fact that they even drove in this stuff was amazing. I mean the drivers could barely see! And it became a game of strategy, pitting and switching tires and there were two great moments... When Verstappen spun out, falling back many places and ruining his race, and Hulkenberg ending up third.
HOWEVER, this is about bike racing. "Unchained" is similar in format to "Drive to Survive," but there are differences.
First and foremost, "Unchained" can be more confusing. You see there are many more teams. And each team has many more participants. So it's a challenge to lay out the series, they bounce from team to team, narrative to narrative, but you get into the groove and enjoy it nonetheless.
Now I'd recommend watching the previous two seasons to catch up on some of the personalities who were focused on in the past but don't get the spotlight today, it will add flavor.
And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure I remember who won last year, although I think I do, but...
I've come 'round on Tadej Poga?ar. I used to think the Slovenian was a prick like Max Verstappen, but now I think that was a matter of him speaking in English. Poga?ar is not overconfident and snide, he's got a sense of humor.
As for Jonas Vingegaard... I supported the Dane when he was the underdog, I have sympathy re his comeback from his crash, but now that he's won...he doesn't evidence much personality, he can be vulnerable, but he's more of a machine.
In case you've never followed the Tour de France, it's not that complicated. There is an overall winner and then there are winners of the stages, i.e. the individual races, which are usually twenty one in number. As for the mountain stages... The effort involved in climbing is staggering and the downhills are scary. And then there's the gravel stage...it ultimately lives up to the billing.
This is a dangerous sport. They've got little more than helmets protecting them. It's kind of like basketball in that equipment is not really a factor, it comes down to the athlete themselves. How good are they.
There's raw genetics/biology, not everybody can win, you need the right oxygen consumption number to succeed.
But to a degree it's a team sport just like basketball, no matter how good you are, you can't win the overall unless your team helps you.
As for the individual teams, each has drama... It comes down to money and results.
But the riders are human. They are not machines like in F1. As for psychology...does it really make a difference, can you really implore someone to win? Doesn't look like it.
So what you've got is these lean riders who are in incredible shape and then these old farts who drive around in support cars or sit in buses, acting like fat cats when in truth, they've got little to do with the results. The team principals do not have the airs of Toto and Horner, and since the bikes are not a huge factor, it all comes down to the rider, who has even more importance than he does in Formula 1.
As for the vistas... It'll make you want to visit France, if not even move there.
I can't exactly explain why these foreign sports are so fascinating to me. Maybe because in the rest of the world they mean so much. But it also comes down to the way Netflix constructs these shows, the storytelling and the drama, to the point where you can already know the results and still be on the edge of your seat.
I used to watch a lot of sports. Even though my brethren boomers are deep into baseball, I don't have enough time to watch games. As for the NFL... I watch one game a year, the Super Bowl, as it's a national rite, the injuries, especially the head injuries, are too bad for me to rationalize.
And one of the reasons the NFL eclipsed the MLB was because of the speed and the intensity, which both Formula 1 and bicycle racing have in spades. These two shows have brought me back from the sidelines, maybe because they're absent the rah-rah macho of most American sports. They're intriguing. But like in all sports, the athletes are disposable, they have their moments and then they're gone. It's very weird, there's little loyalty, it's all about winning, you have your era and then you're done, it's cutthroat, you can't drive or ride into your sixties.
But along the way...
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Did you watch today's Formula 1 race from Silverstone? It was the best of the year!
Usually I fast-forward through the competition, otherwise it's just too boring in a whiz-bang world. I keep my eye on the leaderboard and when there's movement, I slow down the recording and replay it. But not today! Today I watched all the way through.
I'm a Hamilton guy. And his switch to Ferrari has not looked so wise with the results of his old Mercedes teammate George Russell this season. However, Hamilton has been improving and he had a great practice session on Friday and nearly as good a qualifying session on Saturday, but Verstappen squeaked by to take the pole in front of the McLarens, the team with this year's fastest cars.
I like Lando Norris, but I actually prefer his teammate Oscar Piastri, it's his intensity, Australian humor and driving skills this year.
However, what made today's race so interesting was THE RAIN! The fact that they even drove in this stuff was amazing. I mean the drivers could barely see! And it became a game of strategy, pitting and switching tires and there were two great moments... When Verstappen spun out, falling back many places and ruining his race, and Hulkenberg ending up third.
HOWEVER, this is about bike racing. "Unchained" is similar in format to "Drive to Survive," but there are differences.
First and foremost, "Unchained" can be more confusing. You see there are many more teams. And each team has many more participants. So it's a challenge to lay out the series, they bounce from team to team, narrative to narrative, but you get into the groove and enjoy it nonetheless.
Now I'd recommend watching the previous two seasons to catch up on some of the personalities who were focused on in the past but don't get the spotlight today, it will add flavor.
And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure I remember who won last year, although I think I do, but...
I've come 'round on Tadej Poga?ar. I used to think the Slovenian was a prick like Max Verstappen, but now I think that was a matter of him speaking in English. Poga?ar is not overconfident and snide, he's got a sense of humor.
As for Jonas Vingegaard... I supported the Dane when he was the underdog, I have sympathy re his comeback from his crash, but now that he's won...he doesn't evidence much personality, he can be vulnerable, but he's more of a machine.
In case you've never followed the Tour de France, it's not that complicated. There is an overall winner and then there are winners of the stages, i.e. the individual races, which are usually twenty one in number. As for the mountain stages... The effort involved in climbing is staggering and the downhills are scary. And then there's the gravel stage...it ultimately lives up to the billing.
This is a dangerous sport. They've got little more than helmets protecting them. It's kind of like basketball in that equipment is not really a factor, it comes down to the athlete themselves. How good are they.
There's raw genetics/biology, not everybody can win, you need the right oxygen consumption number to succeed.
But to a degree it's a team sport just like basketball, no matter how good you are, you can't win the overall unless your team helps you.
As for the individual teams, each has drama... It comes down to money and results.
But the riders are human. They are not machines like in F1. As for psychology...does it really make a difference, can you really implore someone to win? Doesn't look like it.
So what you've got is these lean riders who are in incredible shape and then these old farts who drive around in support cars or sit in buses, acting like fat cats when in truth, they've got little to do with the results. The team principals do not have the airs of Toto and Horner, and since the bikes are not a huge factor, it all comes down to the rider, who has even more importance than he does in Formula 1.
As for the vistas... It'll make you want to visit France, if not even move there.
I can't exactly explain why these foreign sports are so fascinating to me. Maybe because in the rest of the world they mean so much. But it also comes down to the way Netflix constructs these shows, the storytelling and the drama, to the point where you can already know the results and still be on the edge of your seat.
I used to watch a lot of sports. Even though my brethren boomers are deep into baseball, I don't have enough time to watch games. As for the NFL... I watch one game a year, the Super Bowl, as it's a national rite, the injuries, especially the head injuries, are too bad for me to rationalize.
And one of the reasons the NFL eclipsed the MLB was because of the speed and the intensity, which both Formula 1 and bicycle racing have in spades. These two shows have brought me back from the sidelines, maybe because they're absent the rah-rah macho of most American sports. They're intriguing. But like in all sports, the athletes are disposable, they have their moments and then they're gone. It's very weird, there's little loyalty, it's all about winning, you have your era and then you're done, it's cutthroat, you can't drive or ride into your sixties.
But along the way...
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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