My Birthday

1 I couldn't sleep last night because Dave Mason died. At least that's what I figured out. Oh, I was a Dave Mason fan. "Only You Know and I Know" was the breakout track from Delaney & Bonnie's "On Tour" album, the one with Eric Clapton, but the definitive version came months later on Dave's solo debut, "Alone Together." For a minute there, Dave was hot. Ironically, it was not in 1970, when those two LPs were released, but fully seven years later, when Dave had a hit with "We Just Disagree," which he didn't write, did you know that? It was composed by Jim Krueger, a member of Mason's band. That's life, you continue to discover new things, then you die. And that's what I'm talking about here, dying. Dave Mason just passed at 79. He would have been 80 next month. We knew he was ill, he had to stop touring, but we didn't expect him to die just now, we don't expect to die just now, and that's the point. I sleep intermittently. I have to get up to pee multiple times per night, despite taking anti-pee medication. The urologist said you don't wake up to pee, you wake up and then get the urge to pee. Hard for me to buy that, but he's the expert. Last night before I went to bed I was reading Karl Ove Knausgard's "The School of Night." I first heard of him at dinner in Oslo fifteen years ago. My two compatriots were testifying about him, how he was the most famous guy in Norway. A writer? And then "My Struggle" broke in the U.S. and I found it hard to read. But Felice just completed "The School of Night" and I decided to make a commitment. It's like Tolstoy, as in despite being long and dense a lot happens. It's the opposite of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, it's not laden with description, story is king. But it doesn't cut like butter, maybe because it's translated from the Norwegian. And then I lay my head down. The Knausgard book was a good palate cleanser. It's hard not to get wrapped up in the perils, the commitments of life. But the Knausgard book is otherworldly, in that it's mostly inner dialogue, what goes on in the main character’s head, just like all these thoughts play in your own brain 24/7. And I won't say that after putting the book down I fell asleep instantly, I never do. As I always say, I never get tired and I can't get up. As in trying to keep my eyes open...that never happens to me. Like Frank Zappa, I could stay up twenty hours a day and ultimately work my way around the clock. But that's hard to do if you're not a rock star, society demands you fit in. And society tells you you're never going to die. So I ultimately fall asleep, wake up hours later, I'm not sure of the time, (I keep the clock covered, otherwise the number will freak me out and keep me awake), and can't fall back asleep. Now when I was going through a bad time in the nineties, the doctor said if you can't sleep there's a reason. I know many take pills, or gummies. But I listen to what the man said, if I can't sleep, I believe I have something to work out, and I stay awake and power through it. Which can be painful, but... And last night I couldn't fall back asleep and that's when it occurred to me, I was gonna die. 2 Steve Winwood is the only core member of Traffic still alive. Chris Wood drank himself to death, pneumonia put the nail in his coffin at age 39, over forty years ago. Jim Capaldi was taken down by stomach cancer at age 60, twenty years ago. Rik Grech worked with Traffic, he passed at 43 as a result of alcoholism in 1990. Remember when Chris Blackwell bought out their studio time so Roger Hawkins and David Hood would go on the road as the rhythm section of Traffic? Hawkins is gone, as well as their compatriot in Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, piano player Barry Beckett. However, Hood is still kicking at 82. As for Rebop Kwaku Baah? He died on stage of a cerebral hemorrhage at 39. Maybe someone who was there knows if he snorted a ton of coke, that's one of the main reasons this occurs. That's quite a trail of age and misadventure. But we expect our musicians to die early, but when they live long... It seems like Ringo is going to live forever, he's got a new album, still goes on the road and will be 86 in July. McCartney's a bit younger, and just as spry, a spring chicken at 83 who will be 84 in June. But the Big C got George Harrison, he didn't even make it to 60. And we all know what happened to John Lennon... The two remaining Beatles are poster boys for good health. But all four Ramones are dead. And now... I'm in a better mood. Talking about rock history, my mental rolodex going through the years. That's what music will do, keep you young. But I didn't feel young in the middle of the night. I mean if Dave Mason died at 79...THAT'S ONLY SIX YEARS AWAY! And that put a whole new lens on things. Now I've got to tell you, I've never met a baby boomer who thought they were going to die. They're not like their parents, they changed the world, they're hip, they're forever... But they're not. So if I die in six years... Well, I'd better start spending my money. Do what I want to. Only the older you get, the more you realize you're not going to do everything you wanted to. So how do you live? Do you throw everyday life aside and start traveling? That's another thing they don't tell you...as you get older so much loses meaning. First your possessions, then your status in life, it's kind of like you become detached from society and fade out. Then there are those fighting to be current. Known by the youngsters, in the game. Still accumulating, hoping to impact the world. But the truth is the world doesn't care. If anyone is remembered, chances are we don't know who they are right now. Nick Drake? So I'm numb. I can't eat and I can barely speak. And I can't share my thoughts with anyone because they're all in denial. If I tell them I'm afraid of dying they'll tell me how healthy I am. They're just plugging along, staying alive, what makes me so different? Only I'm not. I'm verbalizing what so many feel inside. And now it's my birthday. And I'm 73. Try squaring that. You can't. 3 So I'm disoriented. In a world that's more disorienting than ever. The news is confounding. Then I just read that Representative David Scott died at 80. He was seeking reelection. Turns out the road does not go on forever. I'm not old, I'm young! That's how I feel, but tell it to my insides. You can update the exterior with plastic surgery, but the interior keeps breaking down. Tomorrow my special day will be in the rearview mirror. But today... I take my birthday seriously, I disconnect from work, I eat my pastrami sandwich, I luxuriate in feeling special. And then it's over. But today, I'm stuck at the crossroads of life. The traffic light is blinking alternately green and red. Caution is thrown to the wind, why play it safe at this age? I'm not quite sure of the path forward. And to what degree it involves the past. But I just got this e-mail: Dear Bob, I wanted to reach out and let you know That I co-wrote Dave’s memoir with him, “only you know and I know.“ He shared with me more than once how much he enjoyed talking with you a number of years ago and how much he appreciated what you wrote about him. He loved how you called him a “guitar slinger“ and really understood what his live show was all about. He and I became such dear friends over the years before during and after working on the book and I just wanted to reach out and let you know that he really respected you and appreciated what you did. Chris Epting -- 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

Ternus Replaces Cook

He's a product guy. Cook was an efficiency expert. Although not a total surprise, the timing of this changing of the guard was unexpected. It illustrates that everything comes to an end, and you're better off if you prepare for it. As for those hanging on too long... We now realize Disney was failing not because of the loss of Bob Iger, but because of a change in the landscape. And the landscape has changed in tech. What we've learned since the death of Steve Jobs in 2011 is it's all about software, which somehow seems hard to comprehend for both pundits and the hoi polloi. In other words, it's more about what it can DO than what it IS! So... The iPhone dominates in the U.S. with a market share north of 50%. Overseas, it just achieved number one in sales, but iOS is dwarfed by Android. So, the juggernaut will continue for a while, Apple isn't losing its stranglehold on the market, it is not going anywhere, until..? That's the question. For some reason, writers keep focusing on hardware. Remember that AI clip, the one you attached to your clothing? That failed miserably. As for glasses...there's a market there, but if you think people are going to control their lives via their eyes, you've got to wonder why evolution has left us with the dexterity of ten fingers on two hands. Or to put it another way, used to be in American cars you changed the lights from bright to low beam via a pedal in the floor of the car, but then U.S. manufacturers took a page from their European brethren and moved the bright/low-beam function to a stalk on the steering wheel, because the hand functions faster and more easily than the foot. Actually, we're in the midst of a usability crisis right now, automobiles have replaced buttons with touch screens and endless menus and...some have gone back to buttons, but one thing is for sure, everybody agrees buttons are easier to use. And all the functions you do on your smartphone will definitely not be easier to do with your eyes. So, it's become about the ecosystem, locking you into one or another. And at this late date, the selling point of Apple is still the same, usability. A power user might lament being unable to customize to his heart's desire, but the average person just wants the damn thing to work, and Apple does...more than any other platform, never mind the reliability of its products is always topnotch/best in field. So where do we go from here? The AI path is unclear. And to what degree is it consumer facing, in terms of where all the money is. Most of the scuttlebutt on AI has to do with job replacement. As for search, Apple abandoned that field years ago, it would rather have Google pay it billions to be the Cupertino company's preferred provider. Staying out of AI could be the best decision Apple ever made, whether it be conscious or unconscious. And, although the lion's share of Apple's revenue comes from the iPhone, service income is no longer de minimis, it's significant. And, Apple has a full product line. You don't only have an iPhone, but a Mac and maybe an iPad too. The competition does not cover the market as well, nor is the software unique/proprietary, keeping users in the walled garden. So... Where is it all going? WE DON'T KNOW! Look at Mark Zuckerberg who professed the metaverse to be the future and just wrote off tens of billions of dollars as a result of this wrong turn. Amazon makes its money via AWS, i.e. Amazon Web Services. Microsoft also got into web services, i.e. cloud storage/computing, and its focus is on business, it's the opposite of Apple. Google... Give the company credit for owning the browser with Chrome, never mind its cash cow search, then again, traditional Google search is being challenged by AI and ad revenue might be heading for a cliff. As for Nvidia... A one trick pony, and competitors are now doing their best to catch up. So. Apple still looks pretty good, by being consumer-facing, which was one of Steve Jobs's edicts when he returned to the company in the late nineties. But there is one product that is making all the difference, which most people can't see or fathom, and that is Apple's proprietary chips, developed under Johnny Srouji, who was rumored to be leaving but just got a promotion to Chief Hardware Officer. Apple not only has its own chips, they're one step ahead of competitors and they're optimized for Apple products. Also, chip development allowed the release of the new MacBook Neo, which is a juggernaut... They say people want to use the same computer at home as they do in the office? Get kids on Apple with a $499 machine...and they may be in the ecosystem for life! In other words, right now Apple looks pretty good, healthy in both products and financials. Where 's it all going? NOBODY KNOWS! Don't ever forget that Apple was almost never first, it was late and better. That philosophy can continue to triumph. Assuming John Ternus can see around corners like Steve Jobs did. This transition, this changing of the guard, is a good thing. Something we rarely see not only in tech, but other corporations and the government. Everybody from the old world hangs on too long, they don't understand the new world, they didn't grow up in it, they aren't entrenched in it. But the Boomers and Gen-X always believe they know better. These are corporations, not people. As soon as they hew to tradition, become calcified, they're done. Let's be clear, if it weren't for their catalogs, all three of the major label groups would be done. They're neither prescient nor nimble when it comes to new music exploitation. Give Tim Cook credit, he didn't wait to be pushed out, he walked. If only more of those in power would do this, would pass the torch. As for John Ternus... He's got the CV. Can he do the job? You never know until you give someone the gig. But you can only survive via change, and oldsters tend to be averse to this. The king is dead. Long live the king! -- 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

Capping Resale

"Live Nation is supporting two California bills to lower prices. Can fans trust it?": https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-04-17/live-nation-is-supporting-two-california-bills-to-lower-prices-can-fans-trust-it I don't believe in it. A. Because fans like resale. B. Because it's unenforceable The bottom line is you can get a ticket to any show you want to go to today, assuming you're willing to pay for it. This is what StubHub has ushered in. In a business that is notoriously consumer-unfriendly, tickets often go on sale for shows that don't play for nearly a year. Do you know what you're doing at the beginning of April next year? Then you're one of the only ones. Most of us don't plan that far in advance. But, the business wants to tie up that money, wants to get it before someone else does, and you ultimately find out that you bought tickets you can't use because of a conflict, or the act gets hot or you become a fan and want to buy a ticket to a show that went on sale possibly before you'd ever heard the gig was happening, or even heard of the act! The bottom line is concert tickets are underpriced. Live Nation keeps saying this and since the company is the biggest in the industry, no one wants to believe it. There must be a flaw in the logic, someone is pulling the wool over our eyes. However it's quite simple, concert prices are subject to the rule of supply and demand, which is immutable. So we have this antirust case prosecuted under the concept that breaking up or kneecapping Live Nation will bring ticket prices down, which is utterly laughable. Everybody can't get a ticket to the show. Of course there are shows with unsold inventory, shows that are canceled for poor sales, but for the stars, most of the arena shows sell out. Or maybe you can buy a ticket in the rafters, but fans believe they should be able to sit up close, at a low price to boot. After all, they're FANS! What have we learned again and again? The fans can't wrap their heads around many business concepts, which is why Steve Jobs famously did no consumer research, he believed it would tell you where you've been as opposed to where you're going. Furthermore, the true way to succeed is to get ahead of the fans, which is what Spotify delivered. The labels wanted to sue customers into buying overpriced CDs, the fans thought ownership was key, the fans believed if they were out of cell range they'd have no music, and still others complained the sound quality was not as good. Turned out that Daniel Ek knew more than all of them, the fans LOVE streaming! And the fans will love when acts charge what the tickets are worth. Of course there are those who will grumble. They'll grumble no matter what. Read the one star reviews on Amazon, you'll get a feel for the public. There are people who just cannot be satiated, and to play to them is a gross mistake. If the tickets were priced at their fair market value, there would be no need to go to the scalper/secondary market. You could always get a ticket, but you'd have to pay the promoter/act to get it, and all the revenue would go to the promoter/act. I just don't get it. Where else does a product that is in overwhelming demand, that cannot be produced in enough quantity to satisfy customers, is LOWERED IN PRICE? Look at the car companies. A hot, new car comes out and they charge OVER sticker. Furthermore, those who buy these automobiles are proud to do so! Because they're the first on the block, they have bragging rights. As for everybody else...they don't want to pay the freight and they wait until the cost comes down. What is the fair market price of a concert ticket and how do you establish it? Right now there is no perfect way to determine this, but it can be attempted. Maybe a quarter of the first ten rows are $250. A quarter are $500. A quarter are $1000. And a quarter are $2000. Who do you think is buying tickets on the secondary market? Sure, sometimes it's the wealthy, but mostly it's hard core fans, they're willing to pay, they want to see the act that much. And do they complain after the show? No! They're thrilled they got to go! Kind of like the Springsteen fracas. Remember when he was charging over a hundred bucks on tour a few years back...the Boss's fans went berserk! It was too much, he's a working class artist, he never charged this much before. They're entitled to cheap prices as they spend a hundred bucks for their pre-show meal. Springsteen is selling tickets for $593.55 in the middle of the floor in Atlanta. For the same seats in New York, he's charging $1,601.25. WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE? Crickets. I haven't heard one word about tickets for this Springsteen tour being overpriced. People are thrilled just to go. The public knows it's a fair deal. Who knows when the Boss will go on the road again, who knows if he'll play all these songs again. And to be clear, these are not resale/secondary market Springsteen tickets, they're primary, and still available long after the original on sale date. Talk about a model... There is another alternative, which is linking the ticket to the original purchaser. This does affect resale, but in this case the public's hands are unclean. It's easy to allow them to resell the tickets at face value to another fan, but NO, they want to scalp the tickets themselves, garner the uplift, make a profit! So let me get this straight, the same people who are such big fans of an act that they want prices to be cheap and for the act to reap all the benefits are taking money from the mouths of the acts? In what world is that fair? There have been so many changes in the world today, and in most cases, the public accepts them if they deem them fair. You can't get anybody on the phone at Facebook, but you're not paying for the service. Just like with music, you loved to own and now you rent/stream. OF COURSE some people still complain, but the dirty little secret is if you don't like the prices, DON'T GO TO THE SHOW! And the people who bitch...so many end up buying tickets and going and being happy anyway. You can't listen to the public. So let's say that California passes a law saying resale must be capped at 10%... Are they going to comb Craigslist, go into people's e-mail, how are they going to make sure this law is adhered to? Damned if I know. It's all performative. Legislators trying to look good to their constituents to no ultimate effect. As for banning speculative resale... I'm down with that, but once again, charging fair market value eliminates the problem. And technology keeps marching forward, if the blockchain allows us to tie the ticket to the purchaser... Sure, it's a cat and mouse game, but who do you know who steals cable today? It's all digitized! And you used to be able to rip CDs that had no copy protection...there's no discussion of copy protection whatsoever anymore, it's been superseded in a streaming world. Do not try to hold back the consumer. Do not try to combat the laws of the marketplace, never mind human nature. What you do is get out ahead of the public, have them come to you, provide them with a better solution. And the solution is to charge what the tickets are worth. -- 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

The Billy Idol Movie

"Billy Idol Should Be Dead": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eByNViJ8388 1 You reach a point where you no longer believe. I was doing an interview and I was asked who my heroes were. Stunningly, I've never been asked this before. Normally you put a dime in my jukebox and you get endless spiel, these stories are embedded in my DNA. But I was stumped, I was speechless, I was having trouble coming up with an answer. So then I started thinking about my go-tos, from the past... I mentioned Tom Wolfe, exemplar of the New Journalism. But the more I know about the man, his distance from his subjects, his contempt for so many of his subjects, his right wing viewpoints, his meticulous management of his image... I still love "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," I love his writing style, but the man... And then I thought of rock stars. I used to be able to list a score. Some were famous for throwing a spanner in the works, shocking us to attention, some wrote the words that embodied my life, still others took me away with their sounds and... I still have respect for the music, but the people who make it? Let me be clear, they didn't change, I did. You see I met a lot of these people, and not only were they just as f*cked up as I was, they were mortal. They could do this one thing exceptionally well, and it still means so much to me, their work, but the image... Oh, it gets worse. Those who dye their hair, get plastic surgery, try to have you believe they're the same age as they were when you discovered them, even though you're decades older now. It's like they're locked in amber, they refuse to grow up. And it's not only them, it's so many of the fans, with their long hair and leather jackets, their sunglasses at night. If it makes them happy, that's cool, but on the inside I'm laughing when I'm not wincing. They don't want to grow up, and the thing about life is it's inevitable, assuming you continue to live. 2 Now it used to be different. It started with the Beatles. And then there was the San Francisco sound and underground FM radio and then Led Zeppelin and punk and new wave and it all ended up with MTV. If you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you listened to a record. One thing is for sure, so many of these people were wise beyond their years. Jackson Browne wrote "These Days" when he was 16...how did he know all this stuff, I certainly did not. And then there are people in this business who are doing the same damn thing they've been doing for the past fifty years. How do they stay interested? Their identity is so wrapped up in their job, how is it satisfying? They may be making money, still be connected, in the business, but do they really care? Do they want access that much? Like the "Hits" guys... You're deep into your seventies and you're promoting the record du jour and talking about the young employees, do you really care? And then there's Irving, who has pivoted, to buildings and their penumbra, management, services, ticketing... You've got to keep it interesting to yourself. 3 So you may be connected enough to go to Coachella, but do you really want to attend? You saw Led Zeppelin during their week-long residency at the Forum in '77, do you really need to see Sabrina Carpenter or Justin Bieber? As for festivals... You didn't care that the food sucked, that you were all crowded in together, the music was paramount and...no one in the audience rose above another, you were brethren, who loved each other. As for Woodstock, it wasn't until years later that the festival went into the black, after the movie had played. The festival itself? A financial disaster. Now the festivals are all about the money. So where does that leave me? 4 Now let me be clear, the songs haven't changed, not an iota, they still contain the magic. I don't pull those up and wince, rather when I listen they not only make me feel good, they take me back to the era when they were hits. Which I know is gone, but... That's the best part of this Billy Idol documentary. The formative years. Especially if you grew up in America. They make sense of the punk years over there better than "Rolling Stone" ever did over here. How it was not only a reaction, but a lark. And when the Sex Pistols were on TV...the entire scene broke open. And then there was Marc Bolan's TV show... Bolan only had one hit in the U.S., but he was as big as they come in the U.K., as big as David Bowie at the time. And Generation X were on his TV show and... I bought the Generation X debut, because not only had I read about it, I heard "Ready Steady Go" on the radio. On KROQ, when it was still a free-format station, I can still recite the names of the deejays, it was a club and I was a member and there weren't that many of us. But... You could find us at the club shows... You'd actually see the same people, you'd recognize those you'd never spoken with, there was a shared sensibility. And, of course, there was the Masque and other clubs that featured unsigned acts, most of which remained that way. They wrote about them in the "L.A. Weekly," which was the cultural Bible, it told you where all the shows were, who was playing. And even the L.A. "Times" and its Sunday Calendar section, never mind the daily paper. It was all happening in the city, but you could very easily ignore it. And L.A. punk was different from New York punk, after all it's sunny here and people don't live vampire hours, but we got into the Talking Heads and Blondie and...almost nobody bought the first two Ramones albums, sales were anemic, barely five figures, you didn't hear them on the radio until the third LP, "Rocket to Russia," with the Beach Boys influenced "Rockaway Beach," a hit if I've ever heard one. 5 So you see the scene develop, you see Billy Idol develop. First and foremost he was middle class in a scene that had contempt for those of that status, it was truly a problem. But Billy built his character and hopscotched from opportunity to opportunity. He was good-looking, he even acknowledges this here, he's not false-humble. And some good records were made, that the public embraced. But on one level, he was no different from my friends and I. He grew up in the suburbs, his father was a successful salesman, Billy even went to college for a minute or two. But then he jumped the track. That's not how it happens today. If you come from a good family with a solid middle class income, you want to maintain that income and lifestyle. You don't want to get off track, and if you do...in the back of your mind, you can always go back to graduate school. So it's those without a future who are making music. We've lost the middle class sensibility, of questioning, of refusing to do anything and everything for a buck. But back then... Everything was a lark, who cares about tomorrow, we'll deal with that when we get to it. But most of us just couldn't take this risk. We jumped through traditional hoops, went to college, even graduate school, while people like Billy Idol lived our fantasy, we lived through him. To be that popular, that good-looking, to have that confidence and charisma. Whew! Give me more, more, MORE! You want to find the most passionate music fans? They're doctors, other professionals, they did what their parents told them to do, they couldn't take a risk, think for themselves, but Billy Idol did... 6 And he was YOUNG! Not that young, Billy Idol was born in 1955, he's only two years younger than me. But at that age at that time you didn't need much money to get by, and you could be part of the free-floating party, getting high, getting laid, with somewhere to go every night... This documentary gets that all right. And you get the story of Billy's beginnings, his home life, his first band... Not all of this has been public in this way previously, or you couldn't literally see it, as you do here. Stunningly, other than Bill Aucoin, everybody's alive. This was a different generation, it's those who were born in the forties who died of misadventure. But Billy gets into heroin, he says everybody is doing it. I mean really? But when he does really make it, with Steve Stevenes by his side, you hear how hard it is to calm down after a show, after playing to nearly twenty thousand screaming people in an arena. Those who don't do this do not know... There's a hit you get from being on stage that you can't get anywhere else. You're God for two hours. And people will throw themselves at you for willing sex, drugs are free...everybody wants to get closer, you feel like the most powerful person on earth! As for the money... As long as there is enough. And there certainly was enough, especially as MTV came along and made you a worldwide household name and CDs hit the market and... 7 MTV. It was a mania. At first it was a secret. I mean not if you were in the business or close to it, you knew it was coming, but when it launched in 1981 you couldn't even get it in Manhattan, you couldn't get it almost anywhere. And then legendary rock stars said they wanted their MTV and people you knew had access and when you went to their house, you stared at the screen for hours. And you saw stuff you'd never seen before. Culture Club. Duran Duran. They were a clear break from the classic rock ethos. And they knew without a hit, you were nowhere in the world of MTV. So the entire business changed, you absolutely had to have a single or you were dead in the water. The video could be lousy, but the song had to be great. And if you had charisma... Billy felt comfortable in front of the camera, his attitude came through. The sneer... No one thought Billy Idol was dangerous, just that he'd beaten the system. He didn't have to get a day job, it was a life of hedonism 24/7... And that's another thing that changes as you get older. When people tell me they live to party... I want nothing to do with them. Because I find it so unfulfilling. Believe me, I can tell you stories of the inebriated lifestyle, but after getting stopped for drunk driving... Don't call me if you want to sit at the bar and have a drink or two, but if you want to have no limits, in pursuit of the night of your life...I WAS YOUR MAN! But it catches up with you. Some get caught up in the whirlwind and go down the drain. Some truly don't get out alive. But just like people envied, had their hopes and dreams in rock stars, they wanted to live the lifestyle. The worst offenders are the techies and financiers. Money is not enough, it's who you are. And our heroes existed outside the system, that's what we loved about them. They weren't brands, sponsorship was taboo...selling t-shirts was about the limit. But what they and their music represented... Hair bands came along and burned out the power ballad. But then Kurt Cobain and Nirvana came along and flipped the table. And then rappers realized the true power of video and they carried the mantle of rock and roll, the limit-testing, the danger, and the HONESTY! Once the rock acts were wearing spandex, you knew it was over. 8 And then came the internet and the twenty first century. At first it just poured gasoline on what already existed. Coldplay and Dave Matthews Band would be nowhere near as big today if they hadn't broken through before the whole system fell apart. And at first MySpace was about professing your love for your favorites, and then it was about professing your love for yourself. And then Facebook and Instagram came along and it became about creating a monument to yourself...we were no longer all in it together, every day you were trying to prove to your brethren that your life was better than theirs. And then you got the Kardashians who were famous, AND RICH!, with no discernible artistic talent. And then TikTok came along and... Suddenly, if you had a hankering to be famous, if you wanted to have impact, if you wanted to make money, you had an outlet! Let's be clear, the big influencers make a ton more money than almost all musicians, and many of them are very creative too and parents hate them just like the boomers' parents hated the Beatles. There's a gigantic generational gap, a cultural gap, but since they're on GLP-1's and have the latest smartphone, elders think they have their finger on the pulse, when nothing could be further from the truth. As for the old acts... David Bowie continued to push the envelope until his death. If it wasn't interesting to him, he didn't do it. Ditto Bob Dylan, who is still confounding us. He's on Patreon? But the rest of the classic acts...most have given up making new music completely. Because it can never be as big as their original hits, the market has changed that much, and their fans who come to see them on the road don't want to hear anything but the hits. But those old records, they still remain. 9 Now this Billy Idol documentary is great, I totally recommend it, until somewhere in the eighties when you get to woulda shoulda coulda, when they go down the rabbit hole of hagiography. Yes, if it weren't for Bill Aucoin and Billy's motorcycle accident, he'd be a movie star. Is that even a paradigm anymore? Why in the hell would you want to be in a movie, you're already famous, there are easier ways to make money and films have never had less of a hold on the culture. And since everybody's available all the time, no one can emulate Billy Idol. The people you grew up with will out your true self. You'll be beaten up online. So, rather than focus purely on the content, acts are all about expanding their empire with brand extensions, they're mini-corporations, they ARE the man! The entire landscape has changed, but the business has not. The industry and the media trumpet hit acts and records that most people have never heard of. You might know the name, but not the music, of even the supposedly biggest acts. So the biggest acts are the older acts, who made it before the internet blew up the world, Green Day can play stadiums, never mind Paul McCartney. As for Sir Paul... It's a mind trick. Everybody knows that despite still appearing boyish, his voice is nearly shot, his band does a good job of covering it up, but it's nostalgia personified, as he continues to put out mediocre records that are hyped but no longer deserve your attention. But when Wings toured America in 1976? And how about the Stones in '72... They rampaged across the U.S., they didn't compromise, if you could just go to the show... But now they still sing about adolescent tropes... Keith Richards has owned his aging, he's the real deal, but on some level...it's hysterical. You're not like the old blues guys of yore, who after writing those great songs ended up getting day jobs, they couldn't pay the bills with their music until the folk/blues revival in the sixties. 10 Perspective. No one wants to have it, everybody wants to believe. Look at politics. Forget the public, how about the elected officials in D.C? Or the wannabe judges who refuse to admit that Trump lost in 2020! Then again, Trump is perfect for the internet, where the truth is oftentimes hard to discern, everybody spewing their b .s. all the time. As far as believing... Sure, there are some who still believe in those who make music, but being a member of the BTS Army is like being a member of a cult. You believe and adore, but outsiders hear these tunes and go...WTF? And it's not that I'm too old to get it, but I am too old to buy into it. Been there, done that, give me something new. But what we've got is people trying to recreate a past that has never returned. Begging for attention online 24/7. Attention being the hardest thing to garner. But back in the eighties, when they put Billy Idol on MTV... 11 My favorite was always "Flesh for Fantasy," although "Eyes Without a Face" was pretty good too. And even at this late date, when I hear "Rebel Yell" I smile, it still makes you want to suspend disbelief and thrust your arm in the air. But there ain't no rebellion involved. That's deep in the rearview mirror. As for Billy Idol himself, he survived, he's a grandfather... Good for him, but that's not really what these acts were selling back then. Then again, two of the kids were born out of wedlock, one was only discovered via 23andMe. I mean it would be fun to hang with Billy Idol, but it would be impossible to put him on a pedestal. Then again, there are some who still do. They want to believe in these acts, in the past. They can't handle that they got old, gained weight and lost their hair. When they hear these songs, they're young again. But if you've lived long enough to get old... What are you gonna do with that? Especially if you were a dyed-in-the-wool rocker. You can just put on blinders and say it's the same as it ever was, but even David Byrne reinvented himself...no one wanted to hear his new music so he made it all about dancing, a stage production, and it WORKED! Because people are looking for the new and different. And this doesn't end just because you get old. You can be like Billy Idol, play granddad, go on the road singing your decades-old hits to pay the bills or... You also no longer envy these people. Is this the life I wanted to have? I'm not saying I'm perfect, but you get to the point where you believe in yourself, or at least admit who you are. Start there and march forward because the old days are never coming back. Billy Idol does a good job of reminding you of them... But at some points in this film he's like that guy who says he coulda played for the Yankees, you know, glory days. You don't have to give up your past, but how do you march forward? That's the question, that's the conundrum. -- 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

Siblings In Bands-SiriusXM This Week

Tune in Saturday April 18th 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, 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

Unfamiliar

Netflix trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY-FSHJ7fKA This series really doesn't kick in until the fourth episode (of six). Before that... I was wincing at some of the fights, which were extended and choreographed to the point you thought you were watching a lame kung fu movie. And the plot twists? They overtook the main plot itself. Which was not completely comprehensible and seemed trivial until the pieces fell in place halfway through. So... Why am I writing about an imperfect series? BECAUSE OF THE FEMALE STAR! Susanne Wolff as Meret Schäfer... Meret and her husband Simon are spies for the BND, the German intelligence agency, or they were and they're retired but maybe they're still active, who knows... And for some reason this guy Koleev... There's this plot line all about what happened in Belarus, so Koleev is Belarusian? I mean is the BND really that concerned with that old Russian satellite? Eventually you find out Koleev is Russian, but they could have made that clear earlier, and I'm giving away nothing by telling you this, only making things more comprehensible. So, it's kinda like "Godfather III," in that Meret and Simon are dragged back in, but... This isn't the typical action couple. Where the mean leads and the woman stands by and looks pretty. I won't quite say that Meret wears the pants, but she takes initiative, she is not reluctant to enter a dicey situation, and how she behaves there... Furthermore, Susanne Wolff is 52, actually she'll be 53 next month, and the casting of a woman of this age in a starring role... That's not how Hollywood does it. And Wolff has not been sliced and diced to look younger than her years, she even has a scar in her chin that messes with the perfect image but makes her that much more relatable. Despite being a spy, Wolff feels real, she's not overly concerned with her look, she's comfortable. Anyway, Meret is a loving mother, but she is also devious and... She surprises you, where she's coming from, what she's doing, that's part of the essence of the show. But before that... What we've got here is a lot of running around, as we, the viewer, try to figure out what is really going on. And it's not wholly believable, what spy show ever is? In truth, a lot of what spies/undercover agents do is incredibly boring. And the actions sequences, at first, were just too over the top. But as the characters developed... I guess that most TV shows are about escape, that whew! moment when you're out of harm's way, whereas Meret is always leaning in, but unlike Sheryl Sandberg, her life is at risk and she's not overpaid. As for behaving this way... Are the Shäfers too old for this sh*t? Have they lost their true identities over the years? And...underneath it all you've got the relationship issues between Susanne and Simon...subtle, but they're there, like in all marriages. Have you been forthcoming, honest, have you held back information...and at what cost? Now "Unfamiliar" is not in the league of "Payback' and so many other shows I've written about, but it's right there on Netflix and it was in the Top Ten for a while and much better to watch this than the popular dreck that drops weekly and is a part of everyday conversation. The imagery is rich and you feel like you're in a foreign country, but not that you're behind...Berlin comes across as just another metropolis where people live. Like I said... The fight Meret gets into in the first episode almost had me turning off the series. It wasn't until episode four that I was truly glued to the screen. But then I definitely was, I was caught up in the tension, I wanted to see how it all played out, at that point I was totally involved. And that's what I look for. -- 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

Coachella

The brand is bigger than the acts. Which is why so many festivals have failed recently, they believe it's about the lineup. If you're dependent upon the lineup to sell tickets, you're screwed. You need to be selling more than music, you need to be selling CULTURE! Now my biggest takeaway from Coachella so far is the anointment of Leah Halton as the "most beautiful girl alive" on social media as a result of her Coachella "appearance." Never heard of her? Then you're neither social media nor news savvy, because this story has been EVERYWHERE! But this is the tale of the past fifteen years, the internet's flattening of society, the swarming of traditional voices with those of nobodies, the connection of the younger generation online. And all the Baby Boomers and Gen-X'ers want to do is decimate it! Let's be honest... Does someone well-adjusted commit suicide after talking to a chatbot? OF COURSE NOT! So we had violence in movies, violence in videogames, lyrics on records that needed warnings... All those wars, did they make a bit of difference? All these years later, one must ask whether there ever really was a problem. Ditto on social media and the internet. Come on, people like Elon Musk and Sarah Silverman play videogames, they're 54 and 55 respectively. Videogames are now part of the culture. As are influencers. In gatekeeper culture all eyes are on those who make it through the sieve, and they're given undue powers, never mind they oftentimes don't deserve them. People need other people, to react to, believe in, this is what the internet provides, this is what oldsters hate. Because if you don't play by modern internet rules, you lose. Rule #1? You need constant contact with the public. You must create at all times. This is where young musical stars get it and the old ones do not. They say they're "artists," that to post on social media is below them. WRONG! Young people know that social media is part of their art, another way to expose their identity, their sense of humor, to bond themselves to their audience. But influencers have one over on most musical acts. The goal of musical acts is to become a brand and then create brand extensions. The problem here is these extensions are too far from their identities. Kim Kardashian, who is selling visuals, a shapely body, sells SKIMS. Kim's sister Kylie made her money selling cosmetics, supposedly a billion, more than almost all musical acts. But it's not just the Kardashians... The influencers... They're selling image, clothing, cosmetics, and they tie in with the manufacturers who pay them directly, and sometimes they sell these products themselves. It's seamless. The beauty influencers uses this foundation...YOU GO AND BUY THAT FOUNDATION! Of course there's an element of FOMO involved, but when has FOMO not existed? The public used to look to celebrities for clues, for influences. But the celebrities rested on their laurels, thought they were above it, immune. Now a movie star means little, they're empty vessels, they stand for nothing. But the influencers? Now for a while there Coachella continued to drive in its preestablished lane, as a festival of new music, with roots in the old days, with acts who often started in the old days. But the audience for these aged acts died out, no one wanted to come see the reunion of a band whose members were now in their fifties or sixties. No, like MTV, Coachella cast aside its old audience and focused on the new, as it should continue to do. As for Justin Bieber singing along with YouTube videos on his Mac...I thought that was brilliant, but let's remember, he debuted as a recording artist in 2009, SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO! A lot of the audience wasn't even familiar with his early hits, they were barely out of diapers. No, even Bieber is background, all the acts...Goldenvoice is presenting an environment, wherein the attendees vie for social status. That's what Coachella is all about. As for grazing and discovering new acts... It's too hot and you can't get close and almost all of the acts on the undercard are never going to be heard from again, why shoot a selfie? But the FOOD! Coachella has doubled-down on offerings, that's what influencers and other attendees really want to photograph. And then there are the brands with their experiences... To a punter, someone who actually goes to Coachella, what do they feel when they hear about these houses/events? LEFT OUT! That's what's missing in today's world, scarcity. To focus on the commercialization of Coachella is to miss the point, because THAT IS THE POINT! What Goldenvoice is selling is an experience. And the media has been convinced that this experience deserves attention. To read the reviews of the performances is laughable, that's not what people on the polo fields are really talking about, they're talking about each other, the great unwashed, the hoi polloi! You can get up close and personal with a famous influencer, not someone on stage. And the influencers know it's not one and done, they're there for the entire festival, all three days, if not more...taking the stage on one day? That's for the acts, a completely separate category. The action is all down in the pit, not on the stage. So... Festivals have to focus on the penumbra, the experience. And with individual acts refraining from playing, since they can make just as much dough or more alone... If you're looking for next year's headliners, you're already gone. As for the public and the influencers themselves... Don't try to beat them at their own game, your role is different. But most of the acts today are chasing the same dream... Fame. And the money it generates. The actual music... Would a real artist listen to the label and use an outside writer? Didn't Tom Petty stand up against all this? Justin Bieber ain't Tom Petty, nor is Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter is sex light. This is not the edgy sexual tension of the seventies, never mind the eighties and Madonna. Carpenter, unlike the Rolling Stones, is so safe you can bring her home to mama! No, if you want to be a successful act today you have to be honest and credible and do it differently. Sure, you've got to post on social media, but garnering sponsorships, selling clothing...that leaves you little different from the nobodies online. You've got to refrain from that, do it your own way, which requires creativity, which is in short supply. This is a sea change. The audience has become the star. Just go to a show and watch people talk and shoot selfies during the performance. A recording of having been there is more important than being there! As for the brands... They're hipper than the music business. They're going where the money is, the exposure, they want bang for their buck. Why settle for signage on stage when you can pay an influencer with millions of followers to rave about your product in an intimate video online? Coachella as a place to break bands is toast. Coachella as a cultural driver, as a focus of America, the world, as a place where the public comes and creates content which is then instantly spread around the globe, is number one! Where we go from here... Ask yourself what you want. If you desire money, there are more avenues than ever before. If you consider yourself a musician, know that we live in an attention economy, and if you can't garner attention, which you must manufacture yourself, constantly, it's your own damn fault. And if you're a promoter... You go where the bucks are. Used to be the labels broke the acts and the promoters followed in their wake, hoovering up dollars. Then the promoters not only sold what was established, but broke acts too. Now everything is in the hands of consumers, it's about discerning trends, seeing what is hot, and capitalizing on it. To make it today, you've got to be totally dialed-in. It's not something you can learn in business school, it's not even something you can learn in college. You can only win today if you're online 24/7, like the younger generations who dominate the culture. To do otherwise is a fool's errand. -- 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

Dry Cleaning

https://open.spotify.com/album/79o6ZvFsXaAkL9MHCE6ts4?si=nQEaSDBsT3uvZ1U9ANNTVQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s875QIZQzxc I'm talking about the band, not clothes. My secret cultural resource is "The Week," that's where I pick up left field tips about books, TV shows, podcasts and music. Every week "The Week" features three albums, which they rate on a four star system, and almost never, I mean I can't remember the last time they gave an album a four star review. Two or three star reviews are a dime a dozen, they don't deserve my attention, but four stars? Then I pay attention. But like I said, this is very rare. But "The Week" gave Dry Cleaning's new album "Secret Love" a four star review. Now you may have been aware of the mania surrounding the Canadian duo, Angine de Poitrine. I first heard about them weeks ago from George Drakoulias, and I pay attention to everything George says. And I checked out the band, and I got it immediately, but I asked myself how much was shock value, hit and run, and to what degree did I want to listen to an album of this stuff over and over again? What I'm saying here is people are looking so hard for the next good thing that they trumpet it without questioning whether it has anything beyond first impression, shock value. Kinda like Alice Cooper. The ethos, the stage act were there, but it wasn't until they worked with Bob Ezrin and created "I'm Eighteen" that they made music you wanted to hear more than once, over and over again. Do you want to hear Dry Cleaning over and over again? Some compare Dry Cleaning to Wire. I bought "Pink Flag" when it came out, played it, understood it, but didn't play it much more thereafter. I got it intellectually, it did hit me emotionally, but I didn't want to go to that place on a regular basis. Whereas Dry Cleaning's "Hit My Head All Day"... Now you don't have to do much research to learn that the vocals are more spoken than sung, and that works occasionally in a song, but on a regular basis I find it unsatisfying. And I'll admit the thundering drum intro of "Hit My Head All Day" didn't grab me, draw me right in, nor the spoken vocal, but when the guitar came along forty seconds in, I got it IMMEDIATELY! I was instantly hooked. And ultimately there was a guitar hook, which stuck in my brain long after the song was over. Who is making this music? Well, there are four members of the group, and although I believe the guitarist to be the star so far, all the focus is upon the frontwoman, Florence Shaw. Who Wikipedia says is 36 or 37. Now wait just a minute, this is not the paradigm we see executed today Today's acts are younger and younger, they learn how to use the digital tools nearly from birth, they're expert marketers...as for the music, well purveyors believe young people are the active audience, so these young acts are signed and promoted and... They sound nothing like Dry Cleaning. And it's not like Florence Shaw has been in the garage with the guys since her teenage years, she only joined the group in 2018. When most people are thinking about settling down as opposed to going on an artistic adventure. Then again, she used to teach illustration at universities, she only gave up this gig recently, as a result of the band's increased notoriety and success. Now it's not like Dry Cleaning is completely unknown. They've got two EPs and three albums, and they've gotten some press. But Pitchfork is a tsunami of information almost as incomprehensible as the release schedule itself, never mind having peaked before it was acquired by Condé Nast. But "Secret Love" was also reviewed in the "Wall Street Journal." And I get the paper and look at the reviews but my eyes always start to slide into the back of my head when I read them. So often acts I know little if anything about that are overanalyzed at length. Most of which don't demand much attention. And that's what Dry Cleaning demands, attention. You can listen to "Hit My Head All Day" on earbuds, even headphones, but you won't get it, you may not get it at all. No, you need the bass to infect your body, you need to feel it in your bones, that guitar's got to sting, and you can only get those experiences from a real audio system with enough raw power not to distort. Listening to "Hit My Head All Day" reminds me of the pre-internet days, the seventies, when I'd crank up an album on the stereo, the most important element of my living room, MY HOUSE, and the sound would envelop me as I walked around, sometimes I'd just sit on the couch in front of the speakers and let the sound wash over me, envelop me. It was the opposite of today's concert experience, being there with your buds, shooting selfies. No, it was an isolationist experience. Actually better alone. Someone else in the room would just make you self-conscious. No, it was just you and the music, a religious experience. Will you like "Hit My Head All Day"? Most people will not, most people will want to turn it off immediately. Then there are those who remember this sound, this feeling, of the bleeding edge, not needing to tell everybody about it because you're too busy listening, experiencing it. As for the rest of "Secret Love"...I am not yet as enamored of it as I am of "Hit My Head All Day." This is not Angine de Poitrine. This is not visual, it's something that goes into your ears, that you feel. All I know is I can't turn "Hit My Head All Day" off, because I like the feeling, the mood it puts me in. -- 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

Prairie Prince-This Week's Podcast

Drummer for the Tubes, Todd Rundgren and more! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prairie-prince/id1316200737?i=1000761790993 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1duYGG0EWjRriPXAPwujvP?si=w_SMRVqfQdKzHNtpPriGBw https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/prairie-prince-330475147?app=listen https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/060400d0-3e40-4639-8431-024d360dfc55/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-prairie-prince -- 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

Luminate Year-End Report

aDownload here: https://luminatedata.com/reports/yearend-music-industry-report-2025/ What surprised me most in this report at first was the biggest hit per decade. When it comes to the sixties, it's Creedence Clearwater's "Fortunate Son." I'm not saying that Creedence was not huge in the sixties, but I would have expected a Beatles song, something different. Now this report says chart position was driven by short form video... That's not ringing a bell in my head, then again, we all get different social media feeds. Now if you listen to the lyrics of "Fortunate Son," you will see that they're as apropos today as they were back in 1969, when the record first came out. Sure, it's antiwar, but it's also anti-rich, anti-blind patriotism...you'd think that the Democrats would adopt this as their theme song. Then again, that would require them to be smart. As for the following decades, that's less surprising. For the seventies, it's Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams,' then again, that viral video, that broke back in 2020, but the song has sustained. The eighties are "Don't Stop Believin'." Nineties Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," which has been pointed out by many, and the story of its sustainability was well-documented by the "Wall Street Journal": "How a ’90s Goo Goo Dolls Hit Became the Song of the Summer - 'Iris' has been a top global hit on Spotify for most of the last three months" https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/music/iris-goo-goo-dolls-spotify-charts-tiktok-0b3e20a9?st=q4MGSg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink Mr. Brightside owned the aughts, which is strange in a world where rock is seen as a second-class citizen. And the teens... Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey"? Which did make it to number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, but only number 57 on the Country Airplay chart and number 20 on the Hot 100... Not only is the biggest streaming song from the decade a country song, it wasn't a hit in the way "Choosin' Texas" is today. As for this decade... It's Alex Warren's "Ordinary." Now wait just a second, where the f*ck is TAYLOR SWIFT! Didn't we experience Swiftmania just a couple of years back with the Eras Tour? Isn't she the biggest act in the world, far above all comers? Isn't that what the press has said over and over... After all, we've got Taylor and Travis, it's all Swift all the time... Except in the hit parade. Now if you scroll down in the report, you'll find that Taylor Swift does not occupy one spot in the 2025 Global Top 10 Songs On-Demand Audio streams chart. Nor does she appear in the Global Top 10 Songs On-Demand video streams. Now her "Life of a Showgirl" is the number one album, but the devil is in the details. When it comes to On-Demand Audio Streams, she's got less than everybody in the Top 10 other than Tate McRae. That's right, Taylor Swift has 2.030 billion On-Demand Audio Streams. The big winner? Morgan Wallen, who has got 6.049 billion, three times as many. Wallen's "I'm the Problem" is number two in the top ten. Let's count down the rest. SZA? She's got 3.219 billion. "KPop Demon Hunters"? 2.605 billion. Bad Bunny? 2.963 billion. Kendrick Lamar? 2.359 billion. Sabrina Carpenter? 2.114 billion. And here comes the kicker at #8...it's Morgan Wallen's "One Thing at a Time," which came out in 2023! It had 2.458 billion streams, more than Taylor Swift's latest. Drake? Who was supposedly neutered by Kendrick Lamar in their diss war? With PARTYNEXTDOOR their "$ome $exy $ongs 4 U" has 2.192 billion streams. And the aforementioned Tate McRae finished up the list with 1.889 billion. But Taylor Swift owns video, right? Once again, the only person who has fewer On-Demand Video Streams is Tate McRae. Taylor's got 63.4 million Morgan has 246.6 with his latest album. SZA has 141.3. "KPop Demon Hunters" has 205.9 million. Bad Bunny has 197.7 million Kendrick Lamar 150.3 million. Sabrina Carpenter? 81.7 million. Morgan Wallen's 2023 album? 120.9 million PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake? 97.8 million. Tate McRae? 52.2 million. Now as you can see, the numbers don't add up. How can Taylor Swift's "Life of a Showgirl" be the number one album if the numbers say it's #9? WELCOME TO BIZARROLAND! Taylor wins because of physical album sales. Yes, all those zillions of variations, they sold 3,985,000 copies! No one else in the Top Ten even broke seven figures (that's a million for the math-challenged.) As a matter of fact, no one else even sold 500,000! I'd recite all the numbers, but I think you get it. Well, just to add some flavor, three of the albums didn't even cross the SIX FIGURE (i.e. a hundred thousand) threshold. But, but, BUT, the public overwhelmingly CONSUMED eight of the other albums more. In some cases WAY MORE! But in the bizarre math of the music business, where physical sales are overweighted, where some buy vinyl but don't have a turntable, some buy CDs without possessing a deck, a new stat has been created, TOTAL ALBUM-EQUIVALENT CONSUMPTION! Now that's pretty stupid, because that's not how people listen anymore. They pick and choose tracks. Sure, some people listen to the album through and through, but most don't. This is easily observed on Spotify where the numbers are public. Usually certain tracks have stratospheric streams and others are anemic. But having said that, the streams on "Life of a Showgirl" are evenly spread when it comes to the album tracks as opposed to the hits. In other words, not only is the industry telling everybody Taylor is #1, the press repeats this info. But really, look at the statistics above... It's like saying you're number one at the country club because you beat the scratch golfer with your 36 handicap! But, but, BUT you say... One must factor in release date and the number of cuts on an album and... I hear you, but that doesn't account for all of the wide disparities here. Let's go to U.S. Top 10 Songs On-Demand Audio + Video streams. Taylor Swift is nowhere to be seen. Nor is she in the U.S. Top 10 Songs On-Demand Audio streams or the U.S. Top 10 Songs On-Demand Video Streams. I mean one of her songs should have triumphed, right? NO! Hell, Taylor Swift isn't even in the U.S. Top 10 Songs Programmed Audio Streams! Nor is she in the U.S. Top Radio Songs Based on audience impressions. Now I'm not judging Taylor Swift on her numbers, she's a huge act with a huge fan base that consumes her music in volume. And quantity is not a definitive representation of quality. But when it comes to statistics... Hell, it's not only in straight news that the public ends up misinformed. I guarantee you, if you ask almost anybody in America over ten, they'll say that Taylor Swift is the biggest act in the country, if not the world, that it's a slam dunk. But is this really true? First and foremost we've got to stop overweighting physical sales, which are manipulated by artists for chart position. But we also have to point out that at this late date, the music business is still spewing falsehoods and the media and therefore the public are buying them. Draw your own conclusions. -- 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

Live Nation Loses

So let me see... They put Richard Grenell on the board, they hire behind-the-scenes fixer Mike Davis, who put the knife in the back of Gail Slater, the chief antitrust officer, they even employ Ms. Alternative Facts herself, Kellyanne Conway, and THEY STILL LOSE? This is not a story of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. This is not a story of concert ticket prices. This is a story of the Trump administration and its losing streak. We can start with a war that's not a war that has never been adequately explained to the public that is ruining the world economy. Then we can go to the insane support of authoritarian Viktor Orbán, J.D. Vance even traveling to Hungary to try and boost his candidacy, with Orbán ending up being trounced... The bottom line is when Biden was in office, the antitrust division believed it would defeat Live Nation no problem, which is why this case was never settled. Believe me, Live Nation wanted to settle. And then after Slater was blown out and the case was going poorly in court, Mike Davis made a secret settlement with the government, leaving out not only the judge, but the government's own attorneys and the states, and then continued the trial! It's almost out of "The Godfather," then again, the Mafia has a code, whereas Trump makes it up as he goes. Belief has been if you kiss his ass, if you pay fealty, it's all going to work out. So we've got law firms settling, Tim Apple giving Donald a gold award, FIFA coming up with a "Peace Prize" and Maria Corina Machado handing over her Nobel Peace Prize... But Trump and his minions can't stop shooting themselves in the foot. It's almost laughable. Pam Bondi with her burn book then getting blown out. Noem with her jet and its bedroom... Never mind nincompoops like Hegseth. They all thought they were invulnerable, because they were the sweepers pushing aside the dung in the wake of Trump's elephant. It's even worse... The Supreme Court has legitimized so much of Trump's behavior. SO WHY IS HE LOSING! The only question in this trial is why it took the jury so long to reach a verdict. I truly thought they'd come back in an hour or two, max. The fact that they were taking their time over days made me believe that this slam dunk might not be one. But it turned out to be one. As for the attorneys on both sides? Latham & Watkins was arguing the law, that's how the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger got approved in the first place, high-priced lawyers negotiating with the government. But when the states grew balls and decided to continue the trial on their own, they hired Jeffrey Kessler, who'd just helped Michael Jordan behead the indomitable NASCAR. Kessler simplified the case, he did the opposite of Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden in the O.J. trial. He didn't bore the jury with endless evidence, he just focused on the concept of Live Nation being a monopoly, he kept driving that home. Anybody with any legal experience knew that Live Nation was f*cked from the get-go. A jury trial? Come on... Which is one of the reasons they settled, on very advantageous terms not long after the trial began. So what happens now... One thing is for sure, ticket prices won't go down. They're a function of the marketplace. To get people to understand ticketing is like trying to get them to understand how AI works... They don't, and they trust misinformation all day long. But they want to go to the show and they believe that since they're big fans they're entitled to a ticket up close for under a hundred bucks. So really, this trial is inside baseball. About what happens behind the scenes...other promoters, other ticketing companies. Because the public? It ain't gonna benefit at all, not really. Then again, it feels good. Like when Microsoft was beaten in the Internet Explorer case back in 2000. If you look at the details, they're not that different. Microsoft was using its leverage to dominate the browser wars, never mind control the internet. But Google came along and now owns the browser market with Chrome. Begging the question if you need antitrust enforcement or the market will always solve the underlying problem. But even more interesting is despite all of Steve Ballmer's missteps, like buying the handset business of Nokia, twenty five years later Microsoft is once again a monolith! It pivoted to cloud storage and... If Live Nation loses Ticketmaster... It may be case closed, but business goes on. Live Nation dwarfs its competitors in terms of venues and shows. I don't see anybody else ponying up that kind of money. And this scale throws off sponsorship revenue that allows the company to pay artists in many cases more than anybody else. Of course having Ticketmaster is an advantage. But if you believe slicing Ticketmaster from Live Nation cuts the concert promotion company off at the knees, you're sorely mistaken. Then again, what we've got here is the power of the individual. No one else could make SFX/Clear Channel what ultimately became Live Nation work. Michael Rapino sliced off the legitimate theatre division, Ticketmaster was merged with the company. You can take away some of the toys, but not the vision. But what really killed Live Nation in this case was human nature. American business is about cutting corners, and the odds of being caught are now infinitesimal. Trump has said that bribing foreign entities for business is legit. Trump has eviscerated the IRS. But the business of most companies doesn't elicit the passion that concerts do. So... Did the Live Nation employees do everything they were accused of? OF COURSE THEY DID! They wanted to look good to the boss, they wanted to get their bonus, a bigger bonus. They used every tool in the box, business is all about leverage anyway. FURTHERMORE, they put it all in e-mail. What dummies. When it's questionable, don't document, because if you don't there's always plausible deniability. If you think the employees who crossed the line in this case are masterminds, geniuses, you've never worked in the entertainment business, which is the opposite of tech, it's based on bullying, pure power, good luck with the rules, there aren't any. So you expect the people in the trenches to observe a consent decree? Give me a break. Now we've got to wait for the judge's decision... To tell you the truth, as I've stated previously, I don't see how anything but a clear division, a breakup, works. Yup, separating Ticketmaster from Live Nation. Because putting conditions on a deal, counting on Live Nation to do the right thing, that hasn't worked. But I can't predict the future. Believe me, Live Nation will look to settle again. But the company has burned out its good will with the judge, by going behind his back and settling with the government and not cluing him in on the deal. And if there's no settlement, there will be an appeal that goes on for years and... What is being sold is a unique, once in a lifetime experience. It's not like a movie, which opens up in thousands of theatres across the nation, then plays on the home screen forever. No, the act may never play the songs from this tour ever again. The act might never go on the road ever again. In a world where you've got no trust in the government, where you need a north star, you rely on music to get you through. You want to see the acts live, you've GOT to see the acts live. And in a digital world lived on our devices, concerts are one of the few places where you can get together with your brethren in real life and have a good time. The concert business has never been healthier. More acts are doing more business. Both old and new. You can play arenas on your first tour! That never happened before. So if you saw Billy Joel... You might not ever be able to see him again. And, you can tell the tale of seeing him for the rest of your life! So even if Ticketmaster is severed from Live Nation, the latter company is not defeated. But Donald Trump and his gang that can't shoot straight? As the losses pile up... People and corporations will no longer be afraid of him. They'll pull up to the bumper and put up a fight. Akin to Ukraine and Russia. As for today's success... This is the greatest victory for the public in years, there might not be parties in the street, but the big bad evil empire has been crushed, brought down a notch, TAKE THAT! Could Live Nation have foreseen this? OF COURSE! But to rein in its employees would be antithetical to its mission. In other words, the company was asking for it. And the only people pissed today, who are upset, are those who work at Live Nation itself. The rest of the business, the public, they're partying like it's 1999. But it's still 2026. The government still doesn't understand the concert business, nor does the public. But this is perceived as a victory for the little guy. HOORAY! -- 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

Donald Tarlton

This guy was one of a kind. Scratch that... There was a group of concert promoters, who built this business, who had personality, moxie and could tell a story that you'd repeat for the rest of your life! That's what concert promoters have...stories. It's not like working at a label, the relationship with the acts is different. And they continue. And even though you may only intersect with the act once a year, you're considered a close friend, because the nature of a rock act is...they go on the road, come back home and write and record a record and then go back on the road...such that these concert promoters may be some of the people they see most! Anyway... Donald Tarlton, aka Donald K. Donald, just died. If you're under the age of 60 do you care? If you're under the age of 50 do you care? If you're under the age of 40 you definitely don't care. You've never heard of him and never will. And the business is completely different today. You see the concert business in the sixties and into the seventies was just like tech in the nineties and first decade of this century. It was the wild west, filled with entrepreneurs. And for everyone who succeeded, there were tons who failed. These were not fat cats, just young people with an idea. They could tell something was in the air. They listened to the radio, they perceived the power of music and they knew that kids would want to see these acts...why shouldn't they do it? They could do it, right? Borrow some money and put on a show? Like I said, not everybody succeeded. But there were those who did and rose above and then Frank Barsalona created a territorial system... You played his acts in your assigned territory only, you did not poach from others, and Frank would not only give you the stars, but the up and comers, which you had an obligation to play. And the system was great, and functioned such that everybody got rich, until Robert Sillerman decided to roll up these old promoters and I could run you through a few steps but the end result is today that company is known as Live Nation and it is publicly-traded. Concert promotion is mature. Only for the big boys (and girls). In the old days everybody worked together, if your date stiffed, you'd give the promoter money back, so they could stay in business and book you and pay you in the future. No one gives money back to Live Nation, it's a public company, SCREW THEM! It's no longer a family business, it's just business. Forget the labels. They're moribund. Museums of old records with a few new ones thrown in for sexiness. These new records in few genres get press, but all the action is in live, where if you succeed, you can be a lifer. Now it used to be that labels shuffled the deck every few years, and that's no longer true, but that's just evidence of the calcification of the business. As for live... It's all about relationships, and it all comes down to money. All the b.s. at the labels, deciding who to sign, messing with the act's creativity, that doesn't exist in live. In live if you can sell tickets, everybody wants to be in business with you and they'll pay the freight. And unlike with recordings, the act gets the lion's share of the money. Anyway, Donald Tarlton was there in the sixties. His first breakthrough was at the world's fair, Expo 67. Now I hate to tell the story, because Donald told it so well. And you'll see reference to it in some of the obits, but... Bottom line, Donald made a bad deal for a club at the fair, and it wouldn't work financially. But then he had a brilliant idea. Make it a HALF HOUR disco! And parade people in and out. And I'm not going to give you more, because you've got to know, Donald would not only tell you the story, HE'D ACT IT OUT! Shuffling the people out of the disco. And boy could Donald tell a story, smiling with nuance. And there are two other absolutely legendary stories... One involving Don Fox in New Orleans... Let's just say that Fox was led to believe he was at risk of the Big Guy coming, and he didn't want that... Yup, not the police, not the mafia, please don't let it happen. And when Fox was freaking out, it turned out to be TARLTON who was the Big Guy, and at the time he was a big guy! And he'd wear those white shoes. He looked like he just came from the golf course or Miami Beach, but underneath it all, he was more rock and roll than most of the people in the business today. And he grew an empire, with records, with acts you've heard of, who sold millions, but then... There was the time he played the Who. Great show, all good. And then in the middle of the night, he got a call they'd been locked up...right now I don't remember the offense, I think it had something to do with being rude to the cops. Anyway, to bail them out, Donald needed over 10k in cash. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! This is what a concert promoter does, fixes problems, comes through. They couldn't wait until the banks opened the next morning, the band had to move on down the road. SO... In the middle of the night, Donald calls the local mafioso. Who gives him the money in a paper bag and... Donald shows up at the jail with the cash and the Who are in the cell, with their hands on the bars, singing DON'T FENCE ME IN! Yes, Donald knew the local mafioso. You had to. Everybody knew everybody, it was a shady business. And it's not completely clean today. Now the last time I saw Donald in Toronto... He was hobbled, a bit out of it, we nodded heads at each other, I greeted him in passing, but I just couldn't stop and converse like I normally would. He'd lost more than a step, and I just couldn't handle it. Because Donald Tarlton was so alive. Told the best road stories I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot! And he wasn't threatening, not intimidating, like so many of his peers. He was nice, congenial...not that he did not know where every dollar was buried. Put Donald in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Put all of the legends from Barsalona's circuit. But Donald was in Montreal, which in America is seen as an outpost where people speak French. But Donald was a player, as savvy as anybody in Canada, anybody in the United States. And now he's gone. And he's not the only one. They were all characters, entrepreneurs, and the one thing they had in common was they could tell STORIES! To this day, each and every concert promoter... You think you want to hang backstage with the band? NO WAY! You want to hang with the promoter, go to dinner with the promoter. Which I did with Donald. And I remember that night with that woman in Toronto... No, it's not as dark as you think, but it was intimate and it was important and now Donald is gone. And it's not like the people you see on stage. But in many ways Donald was a bigger rock star than anybody plying the boards. Because he did it his way and he LASTED! Yup, decade after decade, looking like a guy who sold insurance. But Donald sold music, he created events people will never forget, he signed and distributed legendary music and... It was a thrill, an honor to know Donald... No, I don't want to overstate it... I guess that Donald treated me as an equal, and he told his stories this way. He didn't lord them over you, he wanted you in on the joke. And you were, and you'd never forget them or him. I certainly won't. -- 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

It's Not Cancer

It's inflammation. What caused said inflammation? Could be an infection, it's not clear. What happens now? Well, I take a steroid dosepak to try and fix the condition. And in three months, I return for another scope. But there is one caveat, they have to run the urine sample. Theoretically that could show cancer, but the odds are very low. So I'm relieved, but right now numb. Actually, the anticipatory anxiety began on Sunday night. Oh, that's right, I did not tell you I employed a connection to move the appointment up to today. One's entire life is about building relationships that pay dividends. Ultimately, it's all about who you know, and in this case I know someone who could pull the right strings and I'm forever grateful, if for no other reason than I don't have to continue to remain in suspended animation, wondering what is going on for two more weeks. Then again, to say I've returned to normal emotionally is not quite accurate. As for my dick... IT DOESN'T HURT! Not significantly more than when I went in there...there's still some residual pain from the first cystoscopy. As the appointment approached my anxiety became more about the procedure than the result. Because really, last time it was ultimately so painful that I just could not imagine tolerating that level of discomfort once again. And then I had to wait. Which I can tolerate. But at Clark Urology the last time they saw me EARLY, they're usually close to on time. And what do you do during that window? Funny what you can look up on your phone that has nothing to do with everyday life. Reminds me when I have to take opioids after an operation. You can't concentrate and work, you just mindlessly surf. In this case at adultconfessions.com Don't ask me how I found it... I just clicked through on some Google result and ended up there and I continued to read the stories, which are as far removed from the war in Iran as one can get. But eventually my name was called. By my buddy the nurse. We picked up where we left off. We talked watches and cars and I undressed and I lay down with my penis through an opening while he lacquered me up and... Waited for the doctor to come in. As for the doctor... Never forget, everybody's an expert. You do know why I have this condition, don't you? THE COVID VACCINE! Yup, multiple people e-mailed me that. And then there were those who said not to trust western medicine, that I needed to take these supplements from some doctor in Hawaii and... Do people really believe this stuff? Is this how distrusted expertise has become? I remember when my back went nuclear three decades ago. Everybody told me two things...do not go to physical therapy and do not get a steroid shot, never ever! So I didn't go to physical therapy, just stayed with acupuncture for months, and never got a steroid shot... But physical therapy ultimately cured me. And when my back was bad before Covid, they shot me up and the pain went away! But I listened to the scuttlebutt, from the people warning me about all the potential ill effects. Don't listen, trust the experts. So I'm trusting the system, I'm not at the stage where you get a second opinion. I was going to use the expert I was referred to. But my inbox started to go wild with all these authorities telling me who to use, because obviously their doctor is the best. Well, the funny thing is...most of the people said to use the doctor I was seeing, so that was good confirmation. And when the doctor finally arrived. I expressed my anxiety. And he shrugged, close to a wince. So I told him about the pain I'd experienced last time, that I was more worried about the procedure than the results, which at this point I really was. He said there would be no problem. AND THERE WASN'T! Reminds me of when I had my first bone marrow test when I got cancer. To say it was painful... This nurse is drilling into my hip bone, and not only was the procedure excruciating, the recovery took weeks. And the next time they were preparing me for a bone marrow test... I locked into the conversation. They seemed to be talking about the previous test, which had been months before, I mean how could they remember it? And then they started to soothe me in advance, told me it wouldn't be like the last time, and they'd FIRED THAT NURSE AFTER MY PROCEDURE! Whew! And that second bone marrow test was light years less painful and with today's cystoscopy I had the same experience. Actually, the injection of the lidocaine in advance in preparation was more painful. And as I'm girding for the worst, the doctor tells me to look at the monitor. And I can see that I'm bleeding, not heavily, but I still am bleeding, which I thought would not be the case, since I hadn't been urinating blood, VISIBLE blood. But inky blood was streaming off the bladder wall... Well, low-level streaming. And the doctor is moving the camera, he points out the various bleeding areas and says it's like the San Andreas Fault. After he says it doesn't look like cancer, that cancer looks completely different. And it wasn't hit and run, he drove the camera around my bladder, zeroed in on the problem areas, and it wasn't painful at all. And he said the problem was inflammation. So what caused the inflammation? He did not know. Could be an infection, could be an injury, it's unclear. But compared to having cancer, this is no big deal, this is GREAT! And he wasn't upset. You've got to be there when the doctor does the test and the results are not good. Unfortunately, I've experienced this. Their whole demeanor changes, this is no longer routine. But today it was no big deal! Then again, as he was whipping off his rubber gloves, the doctor did say he couldn't be absolutely definitive until he ran the urine test. It could show cancer. But when I quizzed him, like I said above, he told me the odds were extremely low. So... What have I learned? That first night, after I stopped bleeding and saw no need to go to the emergency room? That was stupid. This problem needed to be addressed. After all, my bladder is still bleeding, however lightly, nearly three weeks later. Two, you've got to plug into a major health system, with not only world class experts, but more than one of them. You don't want to be at the mercy of the one person in town, who probably doesn't do this every day. Third... When you've got a health issue, everything else becomes secondary. Fourth... I was positively stunned at the response I got to my issue, the caring and the warmth. I mean I expected a response, but not of this intensity and magnitude. To quote James Taylor: "Once you tell somebody The way that you feel You can feel it beginning to ease I think it's true what they say About the squeaky wheel Always getting the grease" "Shower the People" So we will now be returning to our usual programming, where you disagree with me and put me down. But I can handle it. It's much better than what I was facing! -- 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

The Hollywood Letter

"Hollywood Heavyweights Sign Letter Opposing Paramount’s Deal for Warner Bros. - The letter warns that the deal will result in fewer jobs for creatives, along with higher costs and less choice for audiences." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/business/media/hollywood-letter-opposing-paramount-warner-bros-deal.html You can't stop progress... Or why does Hollywood continue to fight the last war? Do I like Bari Weiss in control of news not only at CBS, but CNN? Do I like Zaslav walking away with a billion dollars? No, but the story here is not the consolidation of aged film studios, but the explosion of alternative avenues of distribution. Statistics, as well as analysts, tell us Netflix's main combatant for viewing time is not Disney+ or Amazon Prime or Hulu or network or cable, but YOUTUBE! The barrier to entry on YouTube is nonexistent! Anybody can create and play. As for the amount of money they say it takes to make a movie... Let's see, music is the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. So what happened in music when the avenues of distribution were changed, from physical retail to online streaming? Creation EXPLODED! Used to be it cost a fortune to go into a studio and make a major label album. Now you can do it on you laptop in your home. And even the biggest stars are making music more cheaply, why do you need a big studio to cut vocals? The entire industry has changed as a result of technology. But we hear again and again from those in the film world that the game must remain the same. Why are movies immune? They've got no antitrust protection like the NFL...and the government is investigating that right now, since you have to pay multiple outlets to see all the games, the three (four) network availability is long gone. So... Let's talk about distribution... The problem isn't getting in the theatre, being available at all. Even completely indie pictures that are not picked up at film festivals can be monetized on YouTube and other services. As for technology... You can and even auteurs like Steven Soderbergh, have shot complete movies on iPhones. Now let's be clear, if you've got tens of millions of dollars, great gaffers, never mind cinematographers, and support with craft service can you achieve a better-looking film than you can for bupkes? OF COURSE! But the dirty little secret is what makes a film successful is story, not look. Look is secondary. But so many went to film school and put look first... Maybe they should be forced to work on the cheap. Furthermore, the major studios have curtailed production dramatically. Why? Because the audience cannot support more films. Theatrical attendance is down. Trying to keep the theatres propped up with numerous films is akin to trying to prop up your local full-price physical bookstore when there's the Amazon alternative. As for publishers, they killed the e-book, and what is the result? BUSINESS IS DOWN! That's what keeping your business in the past looks like. So, would creative people like more outlets for their wares? OF COURSE! But talk to mastering engineers, there used to be a few elite people, now there are a zillion and you can even do it with LANDR and no people. But it's not only in Hollywood that no one can lose their job, but America in general. Just because you trained for a gig, even worked it for a decade or two, you're not entitled to lifetime employment, no one gets that in America anymore, but film people believe they deserve this? Films are now a home experience. If I hear one more ancient self-satisfied director talk about seeing flicks in a theatre... I'm going to whip out twenty five year old stories where the major labels and classic acts said that MP3s were inferior and music must be listened to on a purchased CD. MP3s were good enough for the public, and they loved the portability. In an on demand world do you really want me to plan ahead to see a movie in a theatre with those who do attend on their smartphones and...talk about a bad experience. My home screen may not be as large, but the film starts when I want it to, I can pause it for a bathroom break or a phone call...this is not a step backward, but progress. Can we discuss overseas production? Absolutely, but in the same breath we have to talk about local incentives, i.e. states competing against each other with tax breaks. The film business is far from perfect, but... It is a business. And Warner Bros. Discovery is LADEN with debt. Wasn't that the complaint just recently? That Zaslav was killing projects left and right? It is a business, and something had to be done about that debt. This is the greatest time in history to be a creator. The means of production and distribution are at your fingertips. Do they look identical to the ones of the past? No, but how come Hollywood not only overpays its executives, but believes its cheese should never move? This is a bad look. Do you really think the public has sympathy for these creators protesting? It's like the billionaires lobbying against the California wealth tax. Who exactly has compassion for these people? Certainly not the public... Which is overwhelmed with content. Never mind so many angry that studios don't even make the kinds of films they like anymore. As for consolidation... Once again, it happened in music first. And I must admit, the three remaining majors do have undue power as a result of their catalogs, but that wouldn't differ whether there were three or six, it's hard for an independent company to compete with an entity with these past treasures... However, when it comes to streaming music, the majors have negotiating leverage, but ultimately, Spotify, et al, give all rightsholders essentially the same split. Maybe on the terms the majors negotiated, but there's a limit to how good a deal they can make, otherwise the DSPs will be put out of business, they need a profit too. As for that profit... Physical retailers got a hundred percent markup. Spotify, et al, give about 70% to rightsholders, and there's no manufacturing, no shipping and no returns! But what has happened as the majors have consolidated? The indie field has burgeoned. That's an understatement, the indie slice of the pie keeps growing and that of the major labels' new artists' keeps going down. Nature abhors a vacuum. The majors can't break an act, so nimble indies are running circles around them. Actually, the same thing is happening in video too, it's just that smug Hollywood doesn't want to admit it. Sure, there's dreck on TikTok and YouTube, but there's a ton of dreck coming from the studios too. But all the innovation seems to be coming online. That's where the bleeding edge is, and that's what people always want in entertainment, something new and different. We are not living in the days of yore... Even the aforementioned CBS News and CNN... They reach a tiny fragment of the public, most people get their news from a zillion different sites. Do you really think America wants to see the same few studio films? OF COURSE NOT! And of course studios make TV shows too... But come on, streaming has added so many new shows, there may not be as much production now, but compared to the pre-Netflix days? How can so many be so out of touch? Even Lars Ulrich ultimately embraced the techies. As for not wanting Metallica's work tapes distributed, the script has now flipped. Acts are begging for any attention at all! They're not only putting out everything in the vault, they're creating material especially for social media, to try and gain traction. So I've got no sympathy. And who are you complaining to anyway? Trump? Like Trump is on the side of Hollywood? As the Eagles sang three decades ago, GET OVER IT! -- 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