You've got to build it from scratch.
And you have to know each and every member and how to reach them.
Remember the MTV era? Instant heroes who soon became zeros. The faster you make it, the faster you lose it.
In other words, if you're depending on the label, the corporation, to bring you to the top, you're in trouble.
I know this is antithetical to everything you've been taught, but the mentality of the music business exists in the twentieth century, while we're living in the twenty first. Grass roots. Credibility. Honesty. All these things are going to grow your career in today's era, and it's gonna happen slowly. You might never break through to the big time, but your fans will support you. Fans will house you, promote you and give you all their money. All they want in return is respect and access. It's the best deal in history. One e-mail, one tweet can motivate them into taking action.
No candidate is better known than Joe Biden. But he's living in the last century, he had no mailing list, except for the one from when he ran for Vice President, and they say those mailing lists are only good for two years.
Biden said he raised $6.3 million in his first day of fundraising, more than Bernie's first day, which netted the Vermont Senator $5.9 million.
But the devil is in the details. Biden raised the money from 97,000 donors. Bernie raised his cash from 225,000. It's about fans, not grosses. Which is why you'll see big bands limiting ticket prices, selling tickets to fan clubs, doing everything to maintain their base which will sustain them through the thin times.
Furthermore, Biden got $700,000 from fat cats, at a fundraiser. And in today's era, all the little people hate the big people.
It's happening in music too, it's just that the big people don't want you to know it. The imprimatur of the label, the push at radio, these are things the true fans have no sympathy for. The labels and radio are in the hits business, the fans are in the career business, and there's so much more money in that.
The press is behind Biden. As are the corporate donors, lobbyists and the Party. You'd think he's a winner until you look at the actual voters. This is how the Republican fat cats lost control of their party, when Trump swooped in and appealed to the little people who felt ignored.
A big publicity campaign won't tell you who you're reaching, won't give you hardly any information at all. And today it's all about the data. Spotify will tell you where you're hot and where you're not. But even more important is the rank and file, the fans. They want to hear from you, but with so many media messages your effort gets lost and stops before it reaches them. No one catches everything, it's impossible. Even the biggest of publicity campaigns don't reach everyone.
It's all about targets. Efficiency.
And there's a nerd in your fanbase who will coordinate all this. Someone savvy, who'll do it for the love.
You've got to be organized, you're managing yourself. If you're handing off responsibility to someone else, you're missing the point. Fans want you, and they can tell when it's fake.
Of course it's a lot of hard work, but the dividends are paid in the future.
Bernie could only raise this much money because he ran in 2016, he had an infrastructure.
The era of the vapid instant superstar is done. It only resonates with the media and the brain dead. True fans want to feel like they belong, they want to channel their energy, they want to know they're important.
So we've got two music businesses today. Actually three.
One is the oldsters who made it before the internet coasting on their hits, never to have another one.
Number two is the Spotify wonders. Propped up by the machine. Hyped. Sure, some of them will sustain, but most of them will not. Come on, you know that fans want to own the act themselves before everybody else does, they want to say they were there first, they don't want to be a number, they want to be known. They want to say they saw you in a club. That they bought a t-shirt from you at the merch table. And when you break through, they'll still support you.
Number three is the vast majority. Those who the machine doesn't want. Those who do not rap or sing pop to an 808 beat. Their time is coming. Stop bitching about recording revenue, everybody can hear your music essentially for free, that's a good thing! You used to have to depend on radio and sales for traction, now your music is just a click away and there are so many ways to monetize, be encouraged, not discouraged.
The media can't cope with numerous genres. It's all about winners. But in the internet era there are tons of winners. And the more different you are from the hitmakers, the greater the chances that you'll succeed.
But it's a slower process than before.
And you have to do most of the work yourself.
But your fanbase will support you through thick and thin. And no one is as rabid as a fan in spreading the word, they'll drag friends to a gig, which is why you've got to be great every night even if there are only ten people in the audience, because one person today has more power than any newspaper if they believe.
The world has become inverted. We're going from the macro to the micro. And the truth is there's plenty of money in the micro. And if you hang in there long enough, you can go macro. The machine is throwing things against the wall. You're making music containing your heart and soul, humanity emanates from the grooves, it's not for the good times, but for all time.
The old game is dying.
You're in charge of the new game. But you must use the new game paradigm. And that starts with ones and twos, fans. Know who they are and activate them, it's the only way to win in the music game today.
If you want to sell perfume and have a clothing line that's a different path.
But if you're a musician, your time has come.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Saturday, 27 April 2019
Friday, 26 April 2019
This Is It
There are no do-overs, just like there's no crying in baseball. You start at GO! and you never pass by again, if only you knew then what you know now.
You were much better looking than you ever thought you were. You look back at the pictures and marvel how skinny you were, your flaxen hair, you wonder why that person was so insecure.
You wanted to be popular but now you realize that's not your personality. You don't want to be phony and you're not a member of the group and you don't like to diss people, all you are is you. You had one close friend, maybe two, it's been this way your entire life, own it, it's all right.
Where you were born and who were your parents counts. Opportunity depends on it. But the truth is there are many pathways for the disadvantaged, assuming you do the work. The best colleges and universities are need-blind, meaning if you get in and have no money they'll pay, but the truth is the entitled don't want you to know this. All that time you wasted watching TV and posting on social media could have been used to get ahead.
Everybody's got an interest, it's up to you to follow it. Playing it safe means you're never gonna get where you want to go. Be a dentist and you can buy tickets in the front row, but you can never get backstage, which is fine unless you want to be backstage, part of the action, because you live and breathe it as opposed to wanting to boast about it.
Not that where you went to college matters. It all comes down to you baby.
And they don't prepare you for what comes next. You're supposed to find a job, doing what you have no idea, you've just got to pay your bills, and maybe your student loans. And you can waste five or six years figuring it all out to find that you're on the wrong path, and then it's too late to change.
Kinda like having a family and children and a house and a car. No one told you to do all that, if you want to pursue your dream you've got to sacrifice. No one wants to sacrifice in America anymore, that's someone else's job.
And it's true half of getting ahead is showing up. You'd be surprised who can't. And if you're not a kiss-ass, work alone, because organizations are all about kissing up. People like to be flattered, and it's a veritable network of relationships and just doing your work is not enough. If you're not looking for a new job the minute you start the old one the joke is on you.
As it is if you don't go to college. It's an entry fee. People just want to know you have a diploma. Find a school, figure it out.
And if you want to take the path untrodden...be prepared for hardship. If you're lucky you've got parents who will support you, otherwise you're gonna realize it takes money to survive. The corporations don't only make billionaires, they force people to be poor. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the poor can't pay their bills and since they have no money, politicians won't listen to them. It all comes down to money, never forget that, it's the great motivator, what gets people interested.
And the truth is your career won't keep you warm at night, which is why you should have a spouse and children but they push you onto the hamster wheel. I know, it's a conundrum. That's the essence of life, everybody keeps telling you how to do it, you feel inadequate, and it's not until you're old and tired that you realize no one had a better idea than you, they were just faking it, or bullying, you could have competed, or maybe you are now.
You can't do anything you want, you can't be a basketball player if you're 5'5", but people will point out players who were but ignore them, trivia knowledge gets you nowhere unless you're on "Jeopardy." The record company doesn't want an employee who knows music history, they want one who can get their record on the chart!
But you can find your niche. But know it's a jungle out there. You're on your own.
And don't marry someone if you think you're gonna get divorced, the aftermath is too painful. Then again, the most perfect marriages break up, because you don't know what happens behind closed doors, and those who don't argue...someone is holding their tongue.
And it becomes overwhelming. And you're too young and then you're too old. You get carded and then you don't. The older generation runs the world and then the younger one, it never seems to be your time.
But you don't know it then. You're either a slave to the grind or barking up trees with no limbs. It comes down to people. You've got to know the right ones. Sometimes it's only one. Spend time with losers and you too are a loser. Not that everyone poor or going nowhere is a loser, being a good person counts for a lot, but a lot of the losers are delusional or sour grapes, they're gonna make it, they would have made it, except for...
But we're all animals at the core, and we're here to reproduce, and your children will make your life worthwhile, assuming you pay attention to them.
And if you don't have children your career has got to work.
And you think your life is in front of you before it's suddenly behind. Your parents die and then friends die and then you realize it's you next. All the things you were gonna do, the places you were gonna go, it's too late, time's up.
But you don't know all this until it's too late. You're drifting, and then you're hanging on for dear life.
Some people will tell you the truth, but you don't listen, you only realize their wisdom in hindsight.
Like your health is everything... Meaningless when you're in your twenties, everything when you're over fifty.
And speaking of meaningless, life is, achievement is, it's all a game that means nothing. You can keep playing it, believing if you win you'll be respected and feel better, or you can hew to your own desires, assuming you haven't been so brainwashed you don't know what they are anymore. People tell you what to do all day long, it really comes down to what you want to do.
And nothing happens if you don't take action. You've got to engage.
And the path to where you wanna go is fraught with danger.
Then again, Julia Child didn't make it until she was in her sixties, or was it seventies, or fifties...it doesn't matter, because she's not you.
And speaking of not being you, stop reading the business books, the self-help books, because you're not Ray Dalio and you're not a standard patient.
You're just you. And they don't want you to be you. So you're fighting your whole life to be you.
And then you realize at the end it's all about moments, laughs, good times, doing things for others...nothing makes you feel better.
But you don't see this in the media. And in the internet age you can see everybody striving and you believe you're doing it wrong, you're not.
Everybody's got their own special gift, respect others and find yours.
But time keeps rolling. Try to keep your eyes open. Try to capture your own personal zeitgeist. You only go around once, reincarnation, all that hogwash was created by people who were scared, who couldn't believe this was it, all of it. But once you embrace that it's one and done you've got a new perspective. Funny how life is. There are rewards in being a member of the group, but also restrictions.
Life is a riddle, you've got to figure it out.
Accept you're gonna do so too late.
But that does not mean you should not keep keepin' on, trying to solve your own personal puzzle.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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You were much better looking than you ever thought you were. You look back at the pictures and marvel how skinny you were, your flaxen hair, you wonder why that person was so insecure.
You wanted to be popular but now you realize that's not your personality. You don't want to be phony and you're not a member of the group and you don't like to diss people, all you are is you. You had one close friend, maybe two, it's been this way your entire life, own it, it's all right.
Where you were born and who were your parents counts. Opportunity depends on it. But the truth is there are many pathways for the disadvantaged, assuming you do the work. The best colleges and universities are need-blind, meaning if you get in and have no money they'll pay, but the truth is the entitled don't want you to know this. All that time you wasted watching TV and posting on social media could have been used to get ahead.
Everybody's got an interest, it's up to you to follow it. Playing it safe means you're never gonna get where you want to go. Be a dentist and you can buy tickets in the front row, but you can never get backstage, which is fine unless you want to be backstage, part of the action, because you live and breathe it as opposed to wanting to boast about it.
Not that where you went to college matters. It all comes down to you baby.
And they don't prepare you for what comes next. You're supposed to find a job, doing what you have no idea, you've just got to pay your bills, and maybe your student loans. And you can waste five or six years figuring it all out to find that you're on the wrong path, and then it's too late to change.
Kinda like having a family and children and a house and a car. No one told you to do all that, if you want to pursue your dream you've got to sacrifice. No one wants to sacrifice in America anymore, that's someone else's job.
And it's true half of getting ahead is showing up. You'd be surprised who can't. And if you're not a kiss-ass, work alone, because organizations are all about kissing up. People like to be flattered, and it's a veritable network of relationships and just doing your work is not enough. If you're not looking for a new job the minute you start the old one the joke is on you.
As it is if you don't go to college. It's an entry fee. People just want to know you have a diploma. Find a school, figure it out.
And if you want to take the path untrodden...be prepared for hardship. If you're lucky you've got parents who will support you, otherwise you're gonna realize it takes money to survive. The corporations don't only make billionaires, they force people to be poor. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the poor can't pay their bills and since they have no money, politicians won't listen to them. It all comes down to money, never forget that, it's the great motivator, what gets people interested.
And the truth is your career won't keep you warm at night, which is why you should have a spouse and children but they push you onto the hamster wheel. I know, it's a conundrum. That's the essence of life, everybody keeps telling you how to do it, you feel inadequate, and it's not until you're old and tired that you realize no one had a better idea than you, they were just faking it, or bullying, you could have competed, or maybe you are now.
You can't do anything you want, you can't be a basketball player if you're 5'5", but people will point out players who were but ignore them, trivia knowledge gets you nowhere unless you're on "Jeopardy." The record company doesn't want an employee who knows music history, they want one who can get their record on the chart!
But you can find your niche. But know it's a jungle out there. You're on your own.
And don't marry someone if you think you're gonna get divorced, the aftermath is too painful. Then again, the most perfect marriages break up, because you don't know what happens behind closed doors, and those who don't argue...someone is holding their tongue.
And it becomes overwhelming. And you're too young and then you're too old. You get carded and then you don't. The older generation runs the world and then the younger one, it never seems to be your time.
But you don't know it then. You're either a slave to the grind or barking up trees with no limbs. It comes down to people. You've got to know the right ones. Sometimes it's only one. Spend time with losers and you too are a loser. Not that everyone poor or going nowhere is a loser, being a good person counts for a lot, but a lot of the losers are delusional or sour grapes, they're gonna make it, they would have made it, except for...
But we're all animals at the core, and we're here to reproduce, and your children will make your life worthwhile, assuming you pay attention to them.
And if you don't have children your career has got to work.
And you think your life is in front of you before it's suddenly behind. Your parents die and then friends die and then you realize it's you next. All the things you were gonna do, the places you were gonna go, it's too late, time's up.
But you don't know all this until it's too late. You're drifting, and then you're hanging on for dear life.
Some people will tell you the truth, but you don't listen, you only realize their wisdom in hindsight.
Like your health is everything... Meaningless when you're in your twenties, everything when you're over fifty.
And speaking of meaningless, life is, achievement is, it's all a game that means nothing. You can keep playing it, believing if you win you'll be respected and feel better, or you can hew to your own desires, assuming you haven't been so brainwashed you don't know what they are anymore. People tell you what to do all day long, it really comes down to what you want to do.
And nothing happens if you don't take action. You've got to engage.
And the path to where you wanna go is fraught with danger.
Then again, Julia Child didn't make it until she was in her sixties, or was it seventies, or fifties...it doesn't matter, because she's not you.
And speaking of not being you, stop reading the business books, the self-help books, because you're not Ray Dalio and you're not a standard patient.
You're just you. And they don't want you to be you. So you're fighting your whole life to be you.
And then you realize at the end it's all about moments, laughs, good times, doing things for others...nothing makes you feel better.
But you don't see this in the media. And in the internet age you can see everybody striving and you believe you're doing it wrong, you're not.
Everybody's got their own special gift, respect others and find yours.
But time keeps rolling. Try to keep your eyes open. Try to capture your own personal zeitgeist. You only go around once, reincarnation, all that hogwash was created by people who were scared, who couldn't believe this was it, all of it. But once you embrace that it's one and done you've got a new perspective. Funny how life is. There are rewards in being a member of the group, but also restrictions.
Life is a riddle, you've got to figure it out.
Accept you're gonna do so too late.
But that does not mean you should not keep keepin' on, trying to solve your own personal puzzle.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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Thursday, 25 April 2019
Cherish
"You don't know how many times I've wished that I could
Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you"
Everything sounded good on the radio today.
Last week I was skiing in Colorado, and I came home to spring in Southern California. That freshness in the air, especially in the morning. But even more, the change from long sleeves to short, and soon I'll be wearing my shorts, but not on the east coast where I'm going tomorrow, it's not quite as warm there.
And I was listening to 60s on 6 and "Wooly Bully" reached me in a way that it hadn't in decades. It was a revelation on the airwaves back in the sixties, we didn't know about that sound, never mind the humorous lyrics.
And Lulu's "To Sir With Love"...with its line "but what can I give you in return?"
Before, it was just an offer, a quid pro quo, but today, today it sounded like Lulu had gratitude for the experience, for the lessons she learned, and she really wants to let the teacher know she appreciates it, but knows that nothing she can give will equal what she has gotten.
Pop songs. You know them by heart, but then decades later they reveal meanings that heretofore went unnoticed.
I heard "I'll Get You" on the Beatles channel.
That was the flip-side of "She Loves You," which meant we played it incessantly until we knew it, that's how hungry for Beatle material we were.
Prior to this, the B-side was dreck. Oftentimes unlistenable, but the Beatles changed that.
Now when I listened to "I'll Get You" with my sixth grade brain, I thought it was about payback, I'll get you for the way you treated me, just you wait.
And then, within the last year, I suddenly realized it's about getting the woman in the end. He never had her, he wants her, she's immune to his advances, he's gonna win in the end.
This is a completely different scenario. It's about desire, male power. Whereas I always thought it was about rejection and woman power. Whew!
The record didn't change, I did. The meaning was there all along. It's not like I misheard the words, I just never understood them!
So after "To Sir With Love" played, the read-out said it was gonna be "Cherish," by the Association.
Now the first Association hit is an unheralded classic. "Along Comes Mary," whether it's about smoking marijuana or not, has the feel of dope, of being cut in another room, through a locked door, you can smell it, but you can't go there, listening is your only option. The record took you away, made you feel older.
But the subsequent Association tracks were not as edgy, not as deep. The band was a known quantity, kinda like Bread after them, that existed on the hit parade but didn't quite move your personal needle.
And I pushed the button to 70s on 7, but I didn't cotton to that track and went back to "Cherish" and heard the above lyrics.
Now you've got to know, we heard these songs through a cheap speaker in the dashboard, or a transistor radio. That's one of the reasons why so many people got the words wrong, like there being a bathroom on the right in that Creedence Clearwater Revival song. We know them, but we don't know them as well as we think we do. Or maybe I was just too young to understand them back then.
I mean I thought "Cherish" was a love song, a man singing to a woman, how much he cherished his girlfriend/wife, but today I realized THAT'S NOT WHAT IT'S ABOUT AT ALL!
Oh, he's got a feeling for her inside all right, he's TORTURED!
I figured the lyrics about how many times he wished that he could hold her were about being on the road, I didn't know it was an unspoken crush.
"That I am not gonna be the one to share your dreams
That I am not gonna be the one to share your schemes
That I am not gonna be the one to share what
Seems to be the life that you could
Cherish as much as I do yours"
I guess previously I just heard "dreams" and "schemes" and I thought it was just fear, of losing her, which is why he wanted to tell her he cherished her. But NOW, I realize he realizes that he's never gonna get her, unlike in the Beatle number.
"Oh, I'm beginning to think that man has never found
The words that could make you want me"
He's in the friend zone! She's nice to him, but she doesn't think of him that way.
"That could make you hear, make you see
That you are drivin' me out of my mind"
That's what it feels like. You can't sleep, you think of them all the time, and you avoid them, because you realize if you talk to them you'll be paralyzed, you'll come across badly, better to dream than to have hope extinguished.
"Oh, I could say I need you, but then you'd realize
That I want you just like a thousand other guys"
She's an icon, she's desirable, and he's nothing special, he knows he's got no chance against the hunks, so he thinks he's got to try a different approach, but he can't approach her at all.
Meanwhile she's got no idea.
He wants to change her, mold her, have her cherish him as much as he cherishes her.
"And I do cherish you"
He's testifying, but only to himself. He's in his own private universe, which may as well be in Idaho, that's how far he is from her.
So "Cherish" isn't a beautiful love song, but more a tale of frustration, of desire, of unrequited love.
And I didn't know that until today!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Mold you into someone who could
Cherish me as much as I cherish you"
Everything sounded good on the radio today.
Last week I was skiing in Colorado, and I came home to spring in Southern California. That freshness in the air, especially in the morning. But even more, the change from long sleeves to short, and soon I'll be wearing my shorts, but not on the east coast where I'm going tomorrow, it's not quite as warm there.
And I was listening to 60s on 6 and "Wooly Bully" reached me in a way that it hadn't in decades. It was a revelation on the airwaves back in the sixties, we didn't know about that sound, never mind the humorous lyrics.
And Lulu's "To Sir With Love"...with its line "but what can I give you in return?"
Before, it was just an offer, a quid pro quo, but today, today it sounded like Lulu had gratitude for the experience, for the lessons she learned, and she really wants to let the teacher know she appreciates it, but knows that nothing she can give will equal what she has gotten.
Pop songs. You know them by heart, but then decades later they reveal meanings that heretofore went unnoticed.
I heard "I'll Get You" on the Beatles channel.
That was the flip-side of "She Loves You," which meant we played it incessantly until we knew it, that's how hungry for Beatle material we were.
Prior to this, the B-side was dreck. Oftentimes unlistenable, but the Beatles changed that.
Now when I listened to "I'll Get You" with my sixth grade brain, I thought it was about payback, I'll get you for the way you treated me, just you wait.
And then, within the last year, I suddenly realized it's about getting the woman in the end. He never had her, he wants her, she's immune to his advances, he's gonna win in the end.
This is a completely different scenario. It's about desire, male power. Whereas I always thought it was about rejection and woman power. Whew!
The record didn't change, I did. The meaning was there all along. It's not like I misheard the words, I just never understood them!
So after "To Sir With Love" played, the read-out said it was gonna be "Cherish," by the Association.
Now the first Association hit is an unheralded classic. "Along Comes Mary," whether it's about smoking marijuana or not, has the feel of dope, of being cut in another room, through a locked door, you can smell it, but you can't go there, listening is your only option. The record took you away, made you feel older.
But the subsequent Association tracks were not as edgy, not as deep. The band was a known quantity, kinda like Bread after them, that existed on the hit parade but didn't quite move your personal needle.
And I pushed the button to 70s on 7, but I didn't cotton to that track and went back to "Cherish" and heard the above lyrics.
Now you've got to know, we heard these songs through a cheap speaker in the dashboard, or a transistor radio. That's one of the reasons why so many people got the words wrong, like there being a bathroom on the right in that Creedence Clearwater Revival song. We know them, but we don't know them as well as we think we do. Or maybe I was just too young to understand them back then.
I mean I thought "Cherish" was a love song, a man singing to a woman, how much he cherished his girlfriend/wife, but today I realized THAT'S NOT WHAT IT'S ABOUT AT ALL!
Oh, he's got a feeling for her inside all right, he's TORTURED!
I figured the lyrics about how many times he wished that he could hold her were about being on the road, I didn't know it was an unspoken crush.
"That I am not gonna be the one to share your dreams
That I am not gonna be the one to share your schemes
That I am not gonna be the one to share what
Seems to be the life that you could
Cherish as much as I do yours"
I guess previously I just heard "dreams" and "schemes" and I thought it was just fear, of losing her, which is why he wanted to tell her he cherished her. But NOW, I realize he realizes that he's never gonna get her, unlike in the Beatle number.
"Oh, I'm beginning to think that man has never found
The words that could make you want me"
He's in the friend zone! She's nice to him, but she doesn't think of him that way.
"That could make you hear, make you see
That you are drivin' me out of my mind"
That's what it feels like. You can't sleep, you think of them all the time, and you avoid them, because you realize if you talk to them you'll be paralyzed, you'll come across badly, better to dream than to have hope extinguished.
"Oh, I could say I need you, but then you'd realize
That I want you just like a thousand other guys"
She's an icon, she's desirable, and he's nothing special, he knows he's got no chance against the hunks, so he thinks he's got to try a different approach, but he can't approach her at all.
Meanwhile she's got no idea.
He wants to change her, mold her, have her cherish him as much as he cherishes her.
"And I do cherish you"
He's testifying, but only to himself. He's in his own private universe, which may as well be in Idaho, that's how far he is from her.
So "Cherish" isn't a beautiful love song, but more a tale of frustration, of desire, of unrequited love.
And I didn't know that until today!
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Stephen Marcussen-This Week's Podcast
Mastering...the final process in making a record, but most people don't know anything about it.
Stephen Marcussen has mastered the records of the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Stevie Wonder, R.E.M., Gillian Welch, the Decemberists, the list goes on and on.
If you listen to this podcast you will understand what mastering is and how it is done.
You'll also hear how Stephen followed a tip in the grocery store to Richard Perry's Studio 55 and ultimately to his mastering gig.
If you make records, you want to tune in.
If you're a student of the business, you want to tune in.
If you just like a good story...YOU'RE WELCOME!
Listen on:
iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
Apple: https://apple.co/2UX66qj
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2GzalOL
Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2IVgHe1
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Stephen Marcussen has mastered the records of the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Stevie Wonder, R.E.M., Gillian Welch, the Decemberists, the list goes on and on.
If you listen to this podcast you will understand what mastering is and how it is done.
You'll also hear how Stephen followed a tip in the grocery store to Richard Perry's Studio 55 and ultimately to his mastering gig.
If you make records, you want to tune in.
If you're a student of the business, you want to tune in.
If you just like a good story...YOU'RE WELCOME!
Listen on:
iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
Apple: https://apple.co/2UX66qj
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2GzalOL
Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2IVgHe1
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Biden Announces
Conventional wisdom is frequently wrong.
It's kind of like a superstar act releasing a new album. Expectations are high, but frequently there's disappointment. Not only Frampton's "I'm In You," but everything Michael Jackson did past "Thriller." He kept telling us he was the King of Pop, we got turned off and stopped listening.
The newspapers will tell you where you've been, but not where you're going. That's the problem with research. That's what's great about art, you never know what will truly succeed, what will resonate, and when people will stop paying attention to what they once were riveted by. Kind of like movie musicals... A staple, and then unmakeable. Everything falls off the cliff. Whether it be baseball, football, Debbie Gibson or mood rings. Razr scooters too. There are fads and there are trends and if anyone could call them right, they'd be a billionaire. That's what wowed us about Steve Jobs, he constantly gave us what we didn't know we wanted. Meanwhile, Microsoft fell behind with me-too products, constantly refining what came before, as if we were looking for more features as opposed to a breakthrough. As for Amazon, it's eye-popping numbers are a result of cloud services, hell, they make more money selling others' products than their own, they're the new eBay (and the new Google too, Amazon is the place to advertise).
The "New York Times" missed Trump. The whole media enterprise missed Trump. The statisticians missed Trump. They were just not in touch with the will of the public. That's the game, what the public wants.
Does the public want an aged politician who hasn't run for solo office for an eternity who's got a long history of putting his foot in his mouth? Biden didn't realize he could challenge Hillary in 2016, that he was more appealing, and the media got Bernie Sanders wrong then and now. They keep criticizing the Vermont senator for being a millionaire. His fans don't care, he keeps saying things that appeal to them. Columnists thought he was a joke, they told him to drop out, but he's leading now.
As for Mayor Pete, no one saw this coming. Come on, a gay mayor from Indiana? But he spoke truth to power and admits what he doesn't know and that resonates with people. What resonates with Biden? His hair plugs and rust belt talk? The rust belt rusted, like coal it's in the rearview mirror. We live in a tech/gas/solar world right now, youngsters know this, does Biden?
The Presidential race is not sports. Sports are littered with bad people who succeed. You may not be able to predict the winner, but you know who is excellent, who's got the best possibility of winning. But Presidential races?
What the media doesn't understand is not only has the game board been flipped, it's been taken away. It's like playing Monopoly without GO! Or tennis without a net. You can move your pieces, hit the ball, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Hell, the news outlets themselves have been challenged, by Google, Facebook and the internet. Are they the sources to be trusted to know what is really going on? As for TV news, it's professional wrestling, pure entertainment, outrage is king. But if you were that outrageous at work, you'd get fired, you'd have no friends in your personal life.
The truth is most people are hurting, except for the wealthy. They think the game is rigged against them, whether it be the right or the left. They don't want incremental change, they want something more akin to revolution. That's why they voted for Trump, that's why Biden is in trouble. He's the safe entry. The one in the middle. Look at music, in the middle always fails. We want something new, and edgy. And more people pay attention to music than politics.
I'm not saying it's impossible for Biden to get the nomination, but he hasn't run yet and the public hasn't voted yet. Polls don't reflect the truth... First and foremost, most people never answer them. Few have landlines. I've never answered a question online. It's not the seventies anymore, it's a whole new era, and it appears the populace wants new faces, or old faces that don't reflect the status quo.
But the media keeps shoveling us the same old crap, believing they live in the pre-cable era, when the three networks purveyed bland product to appeal to everybody. But it turned out the public wanted edgier and racier fare on not only HBO, but FX and A&E and Bravo...
And then Netflix came along and upset the apple cart. Everybody is chasing the newbie and no one in Hollywood saw it coming.
Do the prognosticators see what is coming in politics?
NO!
It's kind of like a superstar act releasing a new album. Expectations are high, but frequently there's disappointment. Not only Frampton's "I'm In You," but everything Michael Jackson did past "Thriller." He kept telling us he was the King of Pop, we got turned off and stopped listening.
The newspapers will tell you where you've been, but not where you're going. That's the problem with research. That's what's great about art, you never know what will truly succeed, what will resonate, and when people will stop paying attention to what they once were riveted by. Kind of like movie musicals... A staple, and then unmakeable. Everything falls off the cliff. Whether it be baseball, football, Debbie Gibson or mood rings. Razr scooters too. There are fads and there are trends and if anyone could call them right, they'd be a billionaire. That's what wowed us about Steve Jobs, he constantly gave us what we didn't know we wanted. Meanwhile, Microsoft fell behind with me-too products, constantly refining what came before, as if we were looking for more features as opposed to a breakthrough. As for Amazon, it's eye-popping numbers are a result of cloud services, hell, they make more money selling others' products than their own, they're the new eBay (and the new Google too, Amazon is the place to advertise).
The "New York Times" missed Trump. The whole media enterprise missed Trump. The statisticians missed Trump. They were just not in touch with the will of the public. That's the game, what the public wants.
Does the public want an aged politician who hasn't run for solo office for an eternity who's got a long history of putting his foot in his mouth? Biden didn't realize he could challenge Hillary in 2016, that he was more appealing, and the media got Bernie Sanders wrong then and now. They keep criticizing the Vermont senator for being a millionaire. His fans don't care, he keeps saying things that appeal to them. Columnists thought he was a joke, they told him to drop out, but he's leading now.
As for Mayor Pete, no one saw this coming. Come on, a gay mayor from Indiana? But he spoke truth to power and admits what he doesn't know and that resonates with people. What resonates with Biden? His hair plugs and rust belt talk? The rust belt rusted, like coal it's in the rearview mirror. We live in a tech/gas/solar world right now, youngsters know this, does Biden?
The Presidential race is not sports. Sports are littered with bad people who succeed. You may not be able to predict the winner, but you know who is excellent, who's got the best possibility of winning. But Presidential races?
What the media doesn't understand is not only has the game board been flipped, it's been taken away. It's like playing Monopoly without GO! Or tennis without a net. You can move your pieces, hit the ball, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Hell, the news outlets themselves have been challenged, by Google, Facebook and the internet. Are they the sources to be trusted to know what is really going on? As for TV news, it's professional wrestling, pure entertainment, outrage is king. But if you were that outrageous at work, you'd get fired, you'd have no friends in your personal life.
The truth is most people are hurting, except for the wealthy. They think the game is rigged against them, whether it be the right or the left. They don't want incremental change, they want something more akin to revolution. That's why they voted for Trump, that's why Biden is in trouble. He's the safe entry. The one in the middle. Look at music, in the middle always fails. We want something new, and edgy. And more people pay attention to music than politics.
I'm not saying it's impossible for Biden to get the nomination, but he hasn't run yet and the public hasn't voted yet. Polls don't reflect the truth... First and foremost, most people never answer them. Few have landlines. I've never answered a question online. It's not the seventies anymore, it's a whole new era, and it appears the populace wants new faces, or old faces that don't reflect the status quo.
But the media keeps shoveling us the same old crap, believing they live in the pre-cable era, when the three networks purveyed bland product to appeal to everybody. But it turned out the public wanted edgier and racier fare on not only HBO, but FX and A&E and Bravo...
And then Netflix came along and upset the apple cart. Everybody is chasing the newbie and no one in Hollywood saw it coming.
Do the prognosticators see what is coming in politics?
NO!
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Wednesday, 24 April 2019
The Jeopardy Phenom
My favorite game show was "Kideo Village." The junior version of "Video Village," it aired on Saturday morning, along with "Crusader Rabbit" and "Andy Devine"...PLUNK YOUR MAGIC TWANGER, FROGGY! Boy did I hate that show. And there were no other choices. I'd sit in front of the TV with the can of Charles Chips and wait for the hour to go by so I could watch something else.
We were addicted to television. It was the internet of yore. New. Remember when there was COLOR? Maybe not. Maybe you don't even remember when computer monitors went from black and white to color, never mind flat screens. Steve Jobs stuck with black and white, it's one of the many reasons he got kicked out of his own company, but he thought the screen was sharper and it cost less.
We knew every show. There were three networks and in the New York market, three independents. The independents aired stuff like Claude Kirshner's circus show and Soupy Sales and Zacherle, but at 7:30 PM, prime time began, and we all tuned in.
And there were some game shows at night, but most aired in the afternoon.
Let's see, "Password." We used to play the home version in the car, my father always refused to play and then blurted out the answer.
"To Tell The Truth."
"The Price Is Right."
"Queen For A Day."
And Monty Hall's "Let's Make A Deal."
That's right, we not only knew the shows, but the hosts. Bud Collyer. Bill Cullen.
And Art Fleming.
"Jeopardy" was different, it wasn't about laughs, like the idiotic "Family Feud," it was about knowledge. But it ran its course and was taken off the air and when it came back after its encore, it had a new host, Alex Trebek, and everybody forgot about Art Fleming. That's the weird thing about getting older, youngsters don't get the references and they don't care, furthermore you realize fame is evanescent. You can't leave your hotel room and then you're seen in the grocery store and no one even comes up to say hi.
Now I went to college in a TV-free zone. It cured my addiction. I didn't have a TV until seventeen years after I left home. Of course we'd go to other people's houses to watch "Saturday Night Live," when it was still pushing the envelope and it made cultural history, but I missed so many of the sitcoms and to be honest, I don't feel like I missed anything, especially in this era of overwhelming product.
That's modern society, we're all in our niches.
"Laugh-In" came on on Monday night, and then Tuesday you were all telling the same jokes in school and everybody got 'em, because everybody watched.
Our nation was united. Even Richard Nixon implored the cast to sock it to him.
But now the networks are dying and we feel so alone. We can watch or listen to whatever we want, but it's unfulfilling, because we're a party of one. Last night I read "Relix," you might not even know what that is, but it contained a huge cross-section of bands I'd never heard of. But they're part of that scene. I don't even know where to start. No one is telling me what's important, what's worth not only my attention, but my time. I've got the world at my fingertips but I can't speak the same language to anybody. I was with friends who work for a classic metal band and I read them the Mediabase Active Rock chart and they didn't know six of the Top Ten. Anybody who tells you they know what's going on is lying.
But we know about Trump.
And Tiger.
And now James Holzhauer.
Hell, I wanted Tiger to win, because I love dominance, the same way I enjoy Holzhauer succeeding, but all this fawning bugs me. Tiger's an automaton, he plays golf, that's all, he won't even admit he's black, he doesn't stand for anything but himself and his sponsors. So now we're saying he embodies American values? Oh, come on, this is a manufactured story. Furthermore, today sports stars are seen as narrow identities, able to do only one thing well, except for the players in the NBA, they have views and they express them, that's what happens when you set people free. America is all about keeping people under control, to their and society's detriment. It's best when you let your freak flag fly, evidence your personality.
And to tell you the truth, I never watch "Jeopardy." I was stunned tonight that the values of the clues have doubled. Hell, I remember when the top value was a hundred bucks instead of two thousand. And video clues?
But I had to see James Holzhauer in action.
And he's not warm and fuzzy, kind of cold in fact. But the fact that he keeps winning and keeps betting...word on the street is he's broken the game.
He wagers absurd amounts on the Daily Double. He starts with the expensive clues, he jumps around the board, and we're riveted. How come in nearly sixty years no one else has done this?
It's kind of like the Beatles. You can remember before and after. Kind of like the internet. One day there was emptiness, vapidity, and the next day the whole world changed. People off the radar screen turned it upside down. Not the celebrities in the media, but unheralded people. It's about taking a risk and doing it differently, we're attracted to that.
And we're attracted to anything that brings the country together, that gives us the ability to connect with others. We can talk about James Holzhauer and others can express amazement, dig a bit deeper into his technique, whereas with seemingly every other subject, we can't find alignment.
These moments are the backbones of society. And they always come from left field.
For decades it's been about being rich. Or the rags to riches story. Alex asked James if he could take care of his parents with his winnings. James said they were already comfortable. Everybody else is poor-mouthing, this guy is owning his middle class status.
And a million bucks really isn't that much in today's market. But compared to everybody else? He's trumped Ken Jennings's winnings per game. And Jennings is not crying the game is fixed, changed, that he still deserves the title, he's amazed and supportive. What a class act.
Now the weird thing is "Jeopardy" is pre-taped. People know what happens to Holzhauer. Imagine if it was in real time, then it'd truly be must-see TV.
But still, it's pretty riveting. A guy making it on his intelligence. Not a drone at the bank, but a sports bettor.
And his parents weren't criminals paying to get James into USC or Stanford, rather he went to the University of Illinois, that was enough.
And I'm sure James can't do everything. Maybe he can't throw a ball, or do quantum mechanics, or maybe even cook, but he's really good at trivia. He seems to know something about this world. Which is a far cry from the influencers who are selling style rather than substance.
This is an American story, this is what America is about, not the rah-rah crap, but the rugged individual who triumphs employing his own strategy. It's not about the team or the coach, it's like Bob Dylan writing "Blowin' In The Wind"...HOW DID HE DO THAT?
It inspires you to get off the couch and try to put a dent in the universe yourself.
It gives you hope.
And that's what we need in America today.
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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We were addicted to television. It was the internet of yore. New. Remember when there was COLOR? Maybe not. Maybe you don't even remember when computer monitors went from black and white to color, never mind flat screens. Steve Jobs stuck with black and white, it's one of the many reasons he got kicked out of his own company, but he thought the screen was sharper and it cost less.
We knew every show. There were three networks and in the New York market, three independents. The independents aired stuff like Claude Kirshner's circus show and Soupy Sales and Zacherle, but at 7:30 PM, prime time began, and we all tuned in.
And there were some game shows at night, but most aired in the afternoon.
Let's see, "Password." We used to play the home version in the car, my father always refused to play and then blurted out the answer.
"To Tell The Truth."
"The Price Is Right."
"Queen For A Day."
And Monty Hall's "Let's Make A Deal."
That's right, we not only knew the shows, but the hosts. Bud Collyer. Bill Cullen.
And Art Fleming.
"Jeopardy" was different, it wasn't about laughs, like the idiotic "Family Feud," it was about knowledge. But it ran its course and was taken off the air and when it came back after its encore, it had a new host, Alex Trebek, and everybody forgot about Art Fleming. That's the weird thing about getting older, youngsters don't get the references and they don't care, furthermore you realize fame is evanescent. You can't leave your hotel room and then you're seen in the grocery store and no one even comes up to say hi.
Now I went to college in a TV-free zone. It cured my addiction. I didn't have a TV until seventeen years after I left home. Of course we'd go to other people's houses to watch "Saturday Night Live," when it was still pushing the envelope and it made cultural history, but I missed so many of the sitcoms and to be honest, I don't feel like I missed anything, especially in this era of overwhelming product.
That's modern society, we're all in our niches.
"Laugh-In" came on on Monday night, and then Tuesday you were all telling the same jokes in school and everybody got 'em, because everybody watched.
Our nation was united. Even Richard Nixon implored the cast to sock it to him.
But now the networks are dying and we feel so alone. We can watch or listen to whatever we want, but it's unfulfilling, because we're a party of one. Last night I read "Relix," you might not even know what that is, but it contained a huge cross-section of bands I'd never heard of. But they're part of that scene. I don't even know where to start. No one is telling me what's important, what's worth not only my attention, but my time. I've got the world at my fingertips but I can't speak the same language to anybody. I was with friends who work for a classic metal band and I read them the Mediabase Active Rock chart and they didn't know six of the Top Ten. Anybody who tells you they know what's going on is lying.
But we know about Trump.
And Tiger.
And now James Holzhauer.
Hell, I wanted Tiger to win, because I love dominance, the same way I enjoy Holzhauer succeeding, but all this fawning bugs me. Tiger's an automaton, he plays golf, that's all, he won't even admit he's black, he doesn't stand for anything but himself and his sponsors. So now we're saying he embodies American values? Oh, come on, this is a manufactured story. Furthermore, today sports stars are seen as narrow identities, able to do only one thing well, except for the players in the NBA, they have views and they express them, that's what happens when you set people free. America is all about keeping people under control, to their and society's detriment. It's best when you let your freak flag fly, evidence your personality.
And to tell you the truth, I never watch "Jeopardy." I was stunned tonight that the values of the clues have doubled. Hell, I remember when the top value was a hundred bucks instead of two thousand. And video clues?
But I had to see James Holzhauer in action.
And he's not warm and fuzzy, kind of cold in fact. But the fact that he keeps winning and keeps betting...word on the street is he's broken the game.
He wagers absurd amounts on the Daily Double. He starts with the expensive clues, he jumps around the board, and we're riveted. How come in nearly sixty years no one else has done this?
It's kind of like the Beatles. You can remember before and after. Kind of like the internet. One day there was emptiness, vapidity, and the next day the whole world changed. People off the radar screen turned it upside down. Not the celebrities in the media, but unheralded people. It's about taking a risk and doing it differently, we're attracted to that.
And we're attracted to anything that brings the country together, that gives us the ability to connect with others. We can talk about James Holzhauer and others can express amazement, dig a bit deeper into his technique, whereas with seemingly every other subject, we can't find alignment.
These moments are the backbones of society. And they always come from left field.
For decades it's been about being rich. Or the rags to riches story. Alex asked James if he could take care of his parents with his winnings. James said they were already comfortable. Everybody else is poor-mouthing, this guy is owning his middle class status.
And a million bucks really isn't that much in today's market. But compared to everybody else? He's trumped Ken Jennings's winnings per game. And Jennings is not crying the game is fixed, changed, that he still deserves the title, he's amazed and supportive. What a class act.
Now the weird thing is "Jeopardy" is pre-taped. People know what happens to Holzhauer. Imagine if it was in real time, then it'd truly be must-see TV.
But still, it's pretty riveting. A guy making it on his intelligence. Not a drone at the bank, but a sports bettor.
And his parents weren't criminals paying to get James into USC or Stanford, rather he went to the University of Illinois, that was enough.
And I'm sure James can't do everything. Maybe he can't throw a ball, or do quantum mechanics, or maybe even cook, but he's really good at trivia. He seems to know something about this world. Which is a far cry from the influencers who are selling style rather than substance.
This is an American story, this is what America is about, not the rah-rah crap, but the rugged individual who triumphs employing his own strategy. It's not about the team or the coach, it's like Bob Dylan writing "Blowin' In The Wind"...HOW DID HE DO THAT?
It inspires you to get off the couch and try to put a dent in the universe yourself.
It gives you hope.
And that's what we need in America today.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Corporate Hate
What kind of crazy fucked-up world do we live in where politicians eschew corporate donations but musicians are in bed with the companies?
One in which music, normally the pusher of the envelope, has lost touch with its audience.
Credibility is key. That's why people have stopped believing Elon Musk. You're supposed to over deliver and under promise, not over promise and under deliver. Musk has yet to establish a deadline he can meet. Sure, the short-sellers are hurting Tesla, but Musk is also culpable.
But credibility left the music business once recording royalties declined and acts believed they had to make up the cash somewhere else. It used to be taboo to tie up with the man, but now it's de rigueur.
But not in politics. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
The Democratic Party was not prepared. That's the story of 2016 and quite possibly the story of 2020. The usual suspects kept Bernie Sanders down, and now they're freaking out about his lead in fund-raising, all from small donors. Turns out there's more money in speaking to the people than speaking to the man. This is how the Republicans lost control of their party. Today it's all about the individual, the grass roots, even on the right, that's how Trump beat the anointed candidate, Jeb Bush. Sure, Trump is still serving corporate interests, but that's not what he ran on. His only hope of staying in power is continuing to point to minorities and immigrants as the problem, appealing to his constituents' xenophobia, but the truth is America is changing, and the politicians are in the lead.
You speak your truth and appeal to the bottom, not the top. And this adds to your cred and ends up growing not only your pocketbook, but your image.
Think about that. You can make as much money, if not more, by not playing the game.
Think long term. Great acts are forever. Comets fade away. And we've got so many evanescent acts these days.
It's the 1960s all over again.
Then it was about Vietnam, today it's about income inequality. Those bragging how rich they are are missing the point. They appeal to nitwits who are soon on to the next thing anyway. Today you've got to have a soul, you've got to be able to say no. If you take the check, expect to pay the price.
That's how Beto O'Rourke got his name. By appealing to the individual donor.
And never forget, it's the individual who keeps you alive. Sure, you get a big Amex check for the pre-sale, but the real money is in selling the tickets themselves. Meanwhile, you just piss off the audience by keeping the ticketing process opaque.
Look at Pearl Jam, they're still selling arenas and they haven't had a hit in eons. But they appeal to their fans, who have rock solid belief in the act. One can argue the best thing Pearl Jam ever did was sue Ticketmaster. Standing up to the man pays dividends.
Sure, sell merch. But know there's a limit to what you can sell without looking like you're whoring yourself out.
Then again, the business has shifted over the decades. Used to be the acts were in charge, now the business infrastructure is in charge. Labels will reject music. Agents and managers will say to take the corporate deal because they want their commission.
There's a change brewing in America. On both the left and the right. The average American trusts neither the corporations nor the government. They believe the game is rigged and the odds are stacked against them. You succeed by appealing to their beliefs, not by making deals with their enemies.
As for becoming a billionaire... The odds are almost nil, and the truth is billionaires are now anxious about the public blowback.
It's a veritable revolution I tell you. And it's noticeable in politics because that's where the reporters are, they tell the tale.
Whereas in music, all we've got is sycophants, stoking the fires, propping up the beast.
The next big acts in the business will be the ones slugging it out on the road and the internet. We're going to see a whole new set of acts from different genres emerge. Because the public demands this. That'll be the story of the coming years, the demolition of the divide between mega-popular and everybody else. The popular will mean less. They will be seen as part of the machine. Whereas the other acts on the sidelines will be truly driving the culture, and we'll realize it a step after it happens, but we'll realize it nonetheless.
You've got to pay your dues, you've got to have something to sell, it'll be regional before it's national. Bubbling under before it is dominant.
And this is not only in music, but all other walks of life. It'll be about feelings, not bucks. It'll be about usefulness, not disposability.
These new people funded politicians are monoliths.
The acts will come next.
But it won't come from the industry, but outside. That's the story of disruption, Clayton Christensen said that corporations should disrupt themselves, but they never do, it's always outside entrepreneurs who cam smell where it's going as opposed to where it's at.
Leave some money on the table, become fan first.
It'll pay dividends, that's the story of the future.
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One in which music, normally the pusher of the envelope, has lost touch with its audience.
Credibility is key. That's why people have stopped believing Elon Musk. You're supposed to over deliver and under promise, not over promise and under deliver. Musk has yet to establish a deadline he can meet. Sure, the short-sellers are hurting Tesla, but Musk is also culpable.
But credibility left the music business once recording royalties declined and acts believed they had to make up the cash somewhere else. It used to be taboo to tie up with the man, but now it's de rigueur.
But not in politics. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
The Democratic Party was not prepared. That's the story of 2016 and quite possibly the story of 2020. The usual suspects kept Bernie Sanders down, and now they're freaking out about his lead in fund-raising, all from small donors. Turns out there's more money in speaking to the people than speaking to the man. This is how the Republicans lost control of their party. Today it's all about the individual, the grass roots, even on the right, that's how Trump beat the anointed candidate, Jeb Bush. Sure, Trump is still serving corporate interests, but that's not what he ran on. His only hope of staying in power is continuing to point to minorities and immigrants as the problem, appealing to his constituents' xenophobia, but the truth is America is changing, and the politicians are in the lead.
You speak your truth and appeal to the bottom, not the top. And this adds to your cred and ends up growing not only your pocketbook, but your image.
Think about that. You can make as much money, if not more, by not playing the game.
Think long term. Great acts are forever. Comets fade away. And we've got so many evanescent acts these days.
It's the 1960s all over again.
Then it was about Vietnam, today it's about income inequality. Those bragging how rich they are are missing the point. They appeal to nitwits who are soon on to the next thing anyway. Today you've got to have a soul, you've got to be able to say no. If you take the check, expect to pay the price.
That's how Beto O'Rourke got his name. By appealing to the individual donor.
And never forget, it's the individual who keeps you alive. Sure, you get a big Amex check for the pre-sale, but the real money is in selling the tickets themselves. Meanwhile, you just piss off the audience by keeping the ticketing process opaque.
Look at Pearl Jam, they're still selling arenas and they haven't had a hit in eons. But they appeal to their fans, who have rock solid belief in the act. One can argue the best thing Pearl Jam ever did was sue Ticketmaster. Standing up to the man pays dividends.
Sure, sell merch. But know there's a limit to what you can sell without looking like you're whoring yourself out.
Then again, the business has shifted over the decades. Used to be the acts were in charge, now the business infrastructure is in charge. Labels will reject music. Agents and managers will say to take the corporate deal because they want their commission.
There's a change brewing in America. On both the left and the right. The average American trusts neither the corporations nor the government. They believe the game is rigged and the odds are stacked against them. You succeed by appealing to their beliefs, not by making deals with their enemies.
As for becoming a billionaire... The odds are almost nil, and the truth is billionaires are now anxious about the public blowback.
It's a veritable revolution I tell you. And it's noticeable in politics because that's where the reporters are, they tell the tale.
Whereas in music, all we've got is sycophants, stoking the fires, propping up the beast.
The next big acts in the business will be the ones slugging it out on the road and the internet. We're going to see a whole new set of acts from different genres emerge. Because the public demands this. That'll be the story of the coming years, the demolition of the divide between mega-popular and everybody else. The popular will mean less. They will be seen as part of the machine. Whereas the other acts on the sidelines will be truly driving the culture, and we'll realize it a step after it happens, but we'll realize it nonetheless.
You've got to pay your dues, you've got to have something to sell, it'll be regional before it's national. Bubbling under before it is dominant.
And this is not only in music, but all other walks of life. It'll be about feelings, not bucks. It'll be about usefulness, not disposability.
These new people funded politicians are monoliths.
The acts will come next.
But it won't come from the industry, but outside. That's the story of disruption, Clayton Christensen said that corporations should disrupt themselves, but they never do, it's always outside entrepreneurs who cam smell where it's going as opposed to where it's at.
Leave some money on the table, become fan first.
It'll pay dividends, that's the story of the future.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Tuesday, 23 April 2019
Best (Worst) Opening Act-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in today, Tuesday April 23rd, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive
Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive
Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive
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Sunday, 21 April 2019
Youth vs. Experience
I saw Mayor Pete on "CBS Sunday Morning."
I was not impressed.
Actually, this is the first time I've watched the show. And now I get it, it's appointment television for those who still remember appointment television. Oldsters. Youngsters expect the world to operate on their own schedule, on demand.
I've got nothing against Pete Buttigieg, it's just that he lacks EXPERIENCE!
There used to be two threads in the music business. Overnight sensation pop stars proffered by the major labels and radio, and acts which practiced, rehearsed, wrote their own songs and made it over time.
Now we primarily have the former. Overnight sensations. Who we're supposed to give credence to because they are young. Let's take Billie Eilish. The youngest performer we had in the classic rock era was Peter Noone, aka Herman. It was believed you had to have experience, you had to have lived in order to have something to say, in order to be great.
Let's be honest, America has lived through a tech revolution in the past thirty years. And most boomers are not up to speed. They can post to Facebook, they can iMessage, but they don't know how the software works, as a matter of fact, they're still into hardware, gadgets. Whereas youngsters have grown up in an era of no tech help, where you figure it out by yourself and the landscape always changes. The youngsters don't know everything, but they ride the tiger, unlike the ignorant congressman who complained to the Google exec that his iPhone didn't work properly. The answer was obvious, it's a different OS, Android vs. iOS, but this oldster didn't get it.
And Joe Biden doesn't get it, he doesn't realize that unwanted touch is taboo, he's just saying he didn't mean it, and that it was meaningless. Kinda like someone who employs epithets against blacks and Jews and claims as an excuse that they've never met one before.
And Bernie Sanders has experience, but he's old too. Let's be honest, if you're in Congress you don't have time to play Fortnite, you're so busy you oftentimes don't know how the world truly works. You're aware of the big concepts, but not the little events that burgeon and change society.
So where do we go from here?
Somehow, experience has been denigrated, and fresh and new exalted. Oldsters can't get their music heard, no matter how good it might be. The system is biased against it. Then again, so many of these acts do boffo at the b.o.
In other words is Mayor Pete Lil Nas X, someone who captures the public imagination for a moment but has very little beneath the surface?
Come on, being mayor is not like being governor, or a congressperson, but our nation has changed. It's a combination of veneration of the new and young and the lack of hope. We're holding on to hope wherever we can get it.
I understand the appeal of Mayor Pete. Especially in the way he stood up to Pence. But you listen to him talk and you realize Trump is gonna mow him right down in the debates. We need someone battle tested. Not in Afghanistan, but government.
As for the right, the CONSERVATIVES, they just want to go back to the past. As if iOS 2 was as good as iOS 12. As if electric cars are not the future and coal is not fading. The right criticizes, but has no new ideas.
And the media wants eyeballs. They want action. And if you're boring but great, no one cares.
Now boomers are not going to live forever, but there's no plan for handing over the baton. In the live business, it's almost all alta kachers, no one's letting go. And at the labels, there's a dearth of young talent because there's no upward mobility. The youth are unnecessarily stifled.
But the youth are the ones who oftentimes push the envelope, unaware of what they don't know, and change the world. But when they're on top, like Mark Zuckerberg, they're out of touch with reality, they can't manage what they've built. Never forget, Steve Jobs wasn't the man you know until he went off into the the wilderness and lost with NeXT and gained some experience, especially in how you deal with people.
Government is a job. Not anybody can do it. But the public and the media think everybody's able. Do you want Oprah flying your plane? Doing your taxes? Defending you in court? OF COURSE NOT! You want someone who's been in the field for decades to handle those jobs. Why do we think anybody can be President? Why do we think anybody can be a pop star?
And the truth is experienced studio musicians played on the pop hits of yore. And the Beatles slugged it out in Hamburg before anybody knew who they were, playing essentially all day.
Now you get to the 10,000 hour rule. But those who are truly aware of it know it's 10,000 hours of HARD PRACTICE! Not dicking around. We want pros behind the wheel.
Which is why so many oldsters can't understand the music of today. The players/singers/rappers have so little experience that they don't resonate with them.
So if Mayor Pete goes to Congress, or becomes Governor, maybe he'll be ready. But what's next, the student council president running for Senate? Or maybe the Presidency itself!
But that's America, there's no center.
There used to Rockefeller Republicans, who were fiscally conservative, but socially progressive.
There used to be the fairness rule in media. It all wasn't about clicks. The press was a public trust. Now it's oftentimes no different from reality television, and the wankers at home can't tell true from false.
Which is why a strongman like Trump appeals. He's gonna boil it down to those damn foreigners and a few other bogeymen and tell you if you give him all the power, he'll eliminate the problem.
And the left is so busy fighting over everybody's personal rights that they've lost sight of the big picture.
It's like we've got all this technology, but it hasn't been integrated into the world. The major labels run their operations like it's still the twentieth century, radio too. There are just a few hits, which are either pop or hip-hop, when the truth is there are more scenes than ever but they just don't get major traction. And the irony is those fighting it out in the trenches survive on experience. Because you've got to be good to survive all by your lonesome.
But that's not the game anymore. It's all about flash. As if we're supposed to take the influencers, whored out to the corporations, seriously.
We need new vision, we need hope, but it can't be based on a rickety foundation. You've got to give the Republicans one thing, they think long term, like with the Federalist Society. Why is everything so immediate when life is long and we must think of the future?
We're just investing in pop stars.
But people want to see holograms of dead musicians.
But we're supposed to be convinced the new acts are nascent Frank Zappas or Roy Orbisons.
I don't think so.
--
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--
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I was not impressed.
Actually, this is the first time I've watched the show. And now I get it, it's appointment television for those who still remember appointment television. Oldsters. Youngsters expect the world to operate on their own schedule, on demand.
I've got nothing against Pete Buttigieg, it's just that he lacks EXPERIENCE!
There used to be two threads in the music business. Overnight sensation pop stars proffered by the major labels and radio, and acts which practiced, rehearsed, wrote their own songs and made it over time.
Now we primarily have the former. Overnight sensations. Who we're supposed to give credence to because they are young. Let's take Billie Eilish. The youngest performer we had in the classic rock era was Peter Noone, aka Herman. It was believed you had to have experience, you had to have lived in order to have something to say, in order to be great.
Let's be honest, America has lived through a tech revolution in the past thirty years. And most boomers are not up to speed. They can post to Facebook, they can iMessage, but they don't know how the software works, as a matter of fact, they're still into hardware, gadgets. Whereas youngsters have grown up in an era of no tech help, where you figure it out by yourself and the landscape always changes. The youngsters don't know everything, but they ride the tiger, unlike the ignorant congressman who complained to the Google exec that his iPhone didn't work properly. The answer was obvious, it's a different OS, Android vs. iOS, but this oldster didn't get it.
And Joe Biden doesn't get it, he doesn't realize that unwanted touch is taboo, he's just saying he didn't mean it, and that it was meaningless. Kinda like someone who employs epithets against blacks and Jews and claims as an excuse that they've never met one before.
And Bernie Sanders has experience, but he's old too. Let's be honest, if you're in Congress you don't have time to play Fortnite, you're so busy you oftentimes don't know how the world truly works. You're aware of the big concepts, but not the little events that burgeon and change society.
So where do we go from here?
Somehow, experience has been denigrated, and fresh and new exalted. Oldsters can't get their music heard, no matter how good it might be. The system is biased against it. Then again, so many of these acts do boffo at the b.o.
In other words is Mayor Pete Lil Nas X, someone who captures the public imagination for a moment but has very little beneath the surface?
Come on, being mayor is not like being governor, or a congressperson, but our nation has changed. It's a combination of veneration of the new and young and the lack of hope. We're holding on to hope wherever we can get it.
I understand the appeal of Mayor Pete. Especially in the way he stood up to Pence. But you listen to him talk and you realize Trump is gonna mow him right down in the debates. We need someone battle tested. Not in Afghanistan, but government.
As for the right, the CONSERVATIVES, they just want to go back to the past. As if iOS 2 was as good as iOS 12. As if electric cars are not the future and coal is not fading. The right criticizes, but has no new ideas.
And the media wants eyeballs. They want action. And if you're boring but great, no one cares.
Now boomers are not going to live forever, but there's no plan for handing over the baton. In the live business, it's almost all alta kachers, no one's letting go. And at the labels, there's a dearth of young talent because there's no upward mobility. The youth are unnecessarily stifled.
But the youth are the ones who oftentimes push the envelope, unaware of what they don't know, and change the world. But when they're on top, like Mark Zuckerberg, they're out of touch with reality, they can't manage what they've built. Never forget, Steve Jobs wasn't the man you know until he went off into the the wilderness and lost with NeXT and gained some experience, especially in how you deal with people.
Government is a job. Not anybody can do it. But the public and the media think everybody's able. Do you want Oprah flying your plane? Doing your taxes? Defending you in court? OF COURSE NOT! You want someone who's been in the field for decades to handle those jobs. Why do we think anybody can be President? Why do we think anybody can be a pop star?
And the truth is experienced studio musicians played on the pop hits of yore. And the Beatles slugged it out in Hamburg before anybody knew who they were, playing essentially all day.
Now you get to the 10,000 hour rule. But those who are truly aware of it know it's 10,000 hours of HARD PRACTICE! Not dicking around. We want pros behind the wheel.
Which is why so many oldsters can't understand the music of today. The players/singers/rappers have so little experience that they don't resonate with them.
So if Mayor Pete goes to Congress, or becomes Governor, maybe he'll be ready. But what's next, the student council president running for Senate? Or maybe the Presidency itself!
But that's America, there's no center.
There used to Rockefeller Republicans, who were fiscally conservative, but socially progressive.
There used to be the fairness rule in media. It all wasn't about clicks. The press was a public trust. Now it's oftentimes no different from reality television, and the wankers at home can't tell true from false.
Which is why a strongman like Trump appeals. He's gonna boil it down to those damn foreigners and a few other bogeymen and tell you if you give him all the power, he'll eliminate the problem.
And the left is so busy fighting over everybody's personal rights that they've lost sight of the big picture.
It's like we've got all this technology, but it hasn't been integrated into the world. The major labels run their operations like it's still the twentieth century, radio too. There are just a few hits, which are either pop or hip-hop, when the truth is there are more scenes than ever but they just don't get major traction. And the irony is those fighting it out in the trenches survive on experience. Because you've got to be good to survive all by your lonesome.
But that's not the game anymore. It's all about flash. As if we're supposed to take the influencers, whored out to the corporations, seriously.
We need new vision, we need hope, but it can't be based on a rickety foundation. You've got to give the Republicans one thing, they think long term, like with the Federalist Society. Why is everything so immediate when life is long and we must think of the future?
We're just investing in pop stars.
But people want to see holograms of dead musicians.
But we're supposed to be convinced the new acts are nascent Frank Zappas or Roy Orbisons.
I don't think so.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
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