In case you missed it, and the point here is you probably did, the mainstream media has been debating the left-leaning Democratic Presidential candidates since the debates. The right is this year's left. As in, they can't really nominate one of these lefties, going on about Medicare for all and taxing the rich, and the left is playing the role of the right, as in are we losing control of our party?
But the truth is most people are not paying attention. Oh, they're interested in politics, but they're not getting their info from the usual suspects, certainly not the spin.
This has happened in the music business too. The mainstream media and the major labels have detached from music itself. The belief is that which is hyped, written about in these same mainstream media outlets, dominates, but it does not.
How did we get here?
Via the internet.
First, there was the infiltration of the internet. Call it Napster. Suddenly the purveyors were not in control. Furthermore, it turned out listeners wanted what the purveyors weren't offering, like live tracks and alternate takes and...
Used to be a live album was de rigueur, but why now, when all that stuff is on the internet?
At first musicians and labels bitched about leaks, they didn't want the public to know an album was a stiff before it was released. This is still haunting the movie business, railing at RottenTomatoes.
But then the situation switched. Suddenly, you couldn't gain attention. So you posted live takes on YouTube, you gave away music on Soundcloud, anything to make it easier for listeners to partake, to gain attention. Meanwhile, the big shots focused on radio, believing it was best to go where the most ears were. This is just like the TV networks saying they're the best place to still find mass for advertisers. The ratings are a fraction of what they once were, the audience hates ads, and all the action is on Netflix. Talk about missing a paradigm change.
So not only are the columnists in papers unlistened to, other than in their personal echo chambers, but they're out of touch to boot. This is how the media miscalled the election in 2016. This is the same media that miscalled the election in 2018. Don't you remember on election night, for days thereafter, they thought the Republican wall had held, and that the Democrats had made no inroads?
Most people don't get their news from newspapers anymore. And they certainly don't get it from TV. Ever check the ratings for Fox News, never mind MSNBC, they're positively anemic. And they're trumped by those of the late night TV talk shows, which the music industry now knows don't sell music whatsoever. If you want to do it, if you want a free videoclip, be my guest, but don't expect a bump.
This is like the focus on SNL.
I wrote about how Sebastian Maniscalco was a second-rate comic with little mainstream traction and I was inundated by fans, telling me not only that he was funny, but he'd done multiple Madison Square Gardens. They thought since they were in the know, everybody else was too. But they're not! And I still think he's second-rate and unfunny.
Used to be a sold out date at MSG meant you made it, you were a superstar. Then again, Phish played thirteen sold-out dates there in a row and most people have never heard their music.
This failing of the power hierarchy is very important, and it does not only apply to news and music. The truth is, today things break from the bottom up. You get your news from your friends. They give you the spin. Only the junkies are addicted to Fox News and MSNBC, and there are few junkies. Like hip-hop. However big it is, and it's the biggest genre there is today, it's nowhere near as big as rock was, or Motown, to compare the two is like saying Mariah Carey has the impact of the Beatles, since she has almost the same number of "Billboard" Top Ten hits. "Billboard" itself doesn't mean the same thing anymore. At least it's pivoted from the industry to the public-at-large, but the truth is the publication is its own private backwater.
So how does this change?
Via vote.
In the music business, they call it ticket sales. They don't look like the Spotify Top 50, never mind the radio Top Forty. It's not only hip-hop and pop, it turns out the public demands many genres of entertainment, you'd think that the recording industry would speak to this, but it doesn't. And expect these other genres to overwhelm hip-hop and pop. First it's left field, then it's mainstream, and then it's superseded by something else. But one thing is for sure, the starmakers are not in control.
That's what the Republican Party learned. It did not want Trump.
And now the whole party has gone Trump, because he's speaking to the party's hard core, its true base. Turns out there are many more disaffected blue collar workers than professionals, never mind billionaires. Which is why these same rich(er) people should beware of what's coming down the pike. Sure, Trump has taken care of them this time around, but it's not what his base wants. It's just that he's satiating his base by pointing to enemies/scapegoats, like immigrants.
And the Democrats... The DNC is as clueless as the RNC was in 2016. It thinks it is in control, but it is not. So it's freaked out when left-leaning candidates get traction. But these same candidates are tapping into the true base of the Democratic party, not the one ruled by professional elites that lost all these elections. If you're beaten down, working two jobs, you don't want gradual change, you want to turn over the table, you want instant revolution.
But the so-called experts in the media will talk about history. That's like predicting the aforementioned Beatles by listening to Pat Boone and the Four Seasons.
And these same people are confounded when things go quite differently from what they expect.
The public sees the talking heads, the columnists, as no different from internet influencers. People striving for attention, wanting to get rich by being in our faces.
But we don't have to pay attention to the internet influencers.
And very few pay attention to the mainstream media analysts/pundits.
At best, the biggest names are cheerleaders. Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson? They twist the facts and say heinous things on a regular basis. But ever been to a high school football game, where it's all about destroying the enemy? As for Rachel Maddow, she appeals to these same Democratic elites, overeducated with time to watch her, that have lost touch with where the nation is going. Rachel is most famous for the history lessons that start her show. Do you think most people care?
All we hear are battles between left and right.
But the war is being fought online. And it's not so much fake ads, as leveraging information to tighten bonds with voters. You want someone who speaks your language. The writers/pundits in the mainstream media don't. So they're not paid attention to.
Meanwhile, the mainstream is all about saving the past. Bookstores, time away from smartphones, decrying what was lost. But the truth is most people would rather not make dinner and love delivery. The same way they'd rather order from Amazon at home. And all the out of it oldsters can talk about is Wal-Mart destroying Main Street. The mall is history. Maybe the fast food outlet too. The key is to adjust.
But the mainstream does not know how to do this.
Who under the age of forty (sixty?) watches the network news? I dare you to name the anchors. Sure, they reach more people than Carlson and Maddow, but that's just like the music business. The off the chart acts have more sustained passion than the mainstream ones.
If you want to know what's going on in this country, go online. Connect with your friends. Surf the net. Try to find the pulse.
Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer still uses a flip-phone.
But Buttigieg didn't even know who Alfred E. Neuman was.
And plenty of people don't trust the mainstream anyway. Hell, look at the anti-vaxxers, most of them educated and wealthy, they don't believe the science touted and printed by the mainstream media.
Think about this. Expand this concept. Don't make it about right or wrong.
The anti-vaxxers do it to feel powerful, in a world where they've got little true power. They think if they're educated and have a few bucks they're entitled to their own say, to make up their own facts. Sound like someone you know...TRUMP!
One thing's for sure. The fourth estate has lost touch. Journalists don't realize we're living in the age of the cult of personality. That's what's gonna give a Democratic candidate the chance to win, not a utilization of old paradigms to try to define the present. Baseball went to statistics and the NBA went to three-point shots, nearly overnight.
But in media...
It's the same as it ever was.
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Saturday, 6 July 2019
Earthquake #2
Shake, rattle and roll.
We weren't expecting this. Maybe an aftershock, but a whole new quake?
Andy and Felice were talking at the table. I was listening. And then suddenly, like Carole King, I felt the earth move.
It's always subtle at first. And then you know what's happening.
But they didn't. I said it. EARTHQUAKE!
And they stopped their conversation and acknowledged what was going on and we made a few comments and then we waited, for it to end.
It's eerie. You're thinking about the end of the world, and what to do.
I'm wondering if the brick pillars surrounding us will fall. Where to run if we wanted to. I thought, if we jumped in the pool would we be safer there, like that guy who supposedly put on his scuba gear and survived a fire? I mean water slows down impact and...
Then the water began to move. It had been placid, now it was rocking from side to side, overflowing its barriers, and we were silent.
There's nothing left to say. You just white knuckle it. Try to enjoy the ride unless it gets worse, like it did in '94.
But in '94, there were no trees surrounding my house, nothing to fall but the house itself. In Andy's backyard there were trees and...
We waited. Alternately looking at each other and into space. No one had any control. It wasn't a matter of bad judgment. We were powerless, Mother Nature was in control.
And if you've never experienced it...
The truth is, every place has got its downsides. Flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes.
But you expect the earth to remain solid and still beneath your feet.
This ain't no movie, this ain't no VR, this is real life.
And as the ground continues to roll, you wonder what is really going on. Are the plates shifting, is one slab sliding down and the other rising up?
But that's a different kind of earthquake. Yes, there are different kinds. That's a jolt. You're thrown off guard. It ends quickly, except in '94.
And in '94, the ground was tilting, insulators were exploding on telephone poles. You thought it was the end of the world, at least until it stopped. You know, like when you're on a thrill ride, or slipping in the mountains, you feel like this moment...could be your last.
And it did not stop. Usually these aftershocks are relatively minor affairs, you get to the point where you adjust to them, it rolls for a few seconds and then it's done.
But last night, it kept going on.
And on one hand you're enjoying it, on another you're freaked out.
It doesn't pay to get excited, to lose it, until you feel that monster shake, but that did not happen.
But it would not stop. How long would it go on? Was something worse in the offing?
The earth kept rolling and rolling and...you've lost control, and that's a weird feeling.
Kinda like getting caught in an avalanche. The strangest thing is when the snow slides, you slide with it. Let me explain, you normally expect the snow to be stable and for you to plow down it, be in control. But when the surface starts to slide, it is moving, but you are not, you're sliding with it. There's nothing you can do but ride it out. It's happened to me a couple of times. Most noticeably at Mammoth Mountain. I was skiing with the World Champion and his buddies, I didn't know them, they were afraid to go first. So I did, to prove my mettle.
And that's when it started to slide.
And when it stopped, shortly thereafter, when I was only six or ten feet further down this slope, just before it got very steep, the assembled multitude did not help me, they did not even cry out to me, they hightailed it out of there, very quickly, very softly, trying not to disturb the snow, leaving me behind.
So I sidestepped ever so slowly up the slope. To the trees. Knowing with one false move it could all be over, the snow would slide again.
It did not.
And they did not wait for me when I got out.
But last night we were all waiting together. For a minute. It just kept going and going and then...
Twitter said it was a 7.1. And then television revealed it was a whole new earthquake, not an aftershock. And the more we watched the talking heads, the more unstable and scared I got.
Meanwhile, the shaking screwed up their A/C. Was it the Nest or the HVAC unit on the roof? We couldn't fix it, and the Nest hotline couldn't either.
And then I'm wondering. What will it look like on the ride home. Will the lights be working? They weren't in '94.
Then again, the epicenter was in Northridge. We were much further away this time.
But next time?
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We weren't expecting this. Maybe an aftershock, but a whole new quake?
Andy and Felice were talking at the table. I was listening. And then suddenly, like Carole King, I felt the earth move.
It's always subtle at first. And then you know what's happening.
But they didn't. I said it. EARTHQUAKE!
And they stopped their conversation and acknowledged what was going on and we made a few comments and then we waited, for it to end.
It's eerie. You're thinking about the end of the world, and what to do.
I'm wondering if the brick pillars surrounding us will fall. Where to run if we wanted to. I thought, if we jumped in the pool would we be safer there, like that guy who supposedly put on his scuba gear and survived a fire? I mean water slows down impact and...
Then the water began to move. It had been placid, now it was rocking from side to side, overflowing its barriers, and we were silent.
There's nothing left to say. You just white knuckle it. Try to enjoy the ride unless it gets worse, like it did in '94.
But in '94, there were no trees surrounding my house, nothing to fall but the house itself. In Andy's backyard there were trees and...
We waited. Alternately looking at each other and into space. No one had any control. It wasn't a matter of bad judgment. We were powerless, Mother Nature was in control.
And if you've never experienced it...
The truth is, every place has got its downsides. Flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes.
But you expect the earth to remain solid and still beneath your feet.
This ain't no movie, this ain't no VR, this is real life.
And as the ground continues to roll, you wonder what is really going on. Are the plates shifting, is one slab sliding down and the other rising up?
But that's a different kind of earthquake. Yes, there are different kinds. That's a jolt. You're thrown off guard. It ends quickly, except in '94.
And in '94, the ground was tilting, insulators were exploding on telephone poles. You thought it was the end of the world, at least until it stopped. You know, like when you're on a thrill ride, or slipping in the mountains, you feel like this moment...could be your last.
And it did not stop. Usually these aftershocks are relatively minor affairs, you get to the point where you adjust to them, it rolls for a few seconds and then it's done.
But last night, it kept going on.
And on one hand you're enjoying it, on another you're freaked out.
It doesn't pay to get excited, to lose it, until you feel that monster shake, but that did not happen.
But it would not stop. How long would it go on? Was something worse in the offing?
The earth kept rolling and rolling and...you've lost control, and that's a weird feeling.
Kinda like getting caught in an avalanche. The strangest thing is when the snow slides, you slide with it. Let me explain, you normally expect the snow to be stable and for you to plow down it, be in control. But when the surface starts to slide, it is moving, but you are not, you're sliding with it. There's nothing you can do but ride it out. It's happened to me a couple of times. Most noticeably at Mammoth Mountain. I was skiing with the World Champion and his buddies, I didn't know them, they were afraid to go first. So I did, to prove my mettle.
And that's when it started to slide.
And when it stopped, shortly thereafter, when I was only six or ten feet further down this slope, just before it got very steep, the assembled multitude did not help me, they did not even cry out to me, they hightailed it out of there, very quickly, very softly, trying not to disturb the snow, leaving me behind.
So I sidestepped ever so slowly up the slope. To the trees. Knowing with one false move it could all be over, the snow would slide again.
It did not.
And they did not wait for me when I got out.
But last night we were all waiting together. For a minute. It just kept going and going and then...
Twitter said it was a 7.1. And then television revealed it was a whole new earthquake, not an aftershock. And the more we watched the talking heads, the more unstable and scared I got.
Meanwhile, the shaking screwed up their A/C. Was it the Nest or the HVAC unit on the roof? We couldn't fix it, and the Nest hotline couldn't either.
And then I'm wondering. What will it look like on the ride home. Will the lights be working? They weren't in '94.
Then again, the epicenter was in Northridge. We were much further away this time.
But next time?
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Friday, 5 July 2019
The David Crosby Movie
It's utterly fantastic. Riveting. If you were around back then, if "Deja Vu" was a staple in your bedroom, or dorm room, you're going to be taken right back to that era and marvel, it isn't nostalgia, but more like being woken up, to the lost dream, and the journey thereto, and the possibilities that still remain.
David Crosby. Didn't both he and Nash pale in comparison to Stills?
Then again, Stills pales in comparison to Young. Who is famous for going his own way. It's Neil who abandoned Stephen right before the "Long May You Run" tour, Stills soldiered on.
And then Neil reinvented himself, he told us it's better to burn out than to fade away, and if you follow your dream and keep looking over that distant horizon and bow to no one, you can remain mysterious and continue to garner eyeballs. But does it make you happy? Is Bob Dylan happy on his endless tour reinventing his songs?
But Bob doesn't know what else to do. Like Croz. He can only make music.
But the difference between Neil and the rest of CSN is that the latter made it on folk music, dreamy music, pleasant music, touch your soul music, and that never quite goes away. Sure, Stephen stretched into harder rocking and even Latin, but when you think of Crosby, Stills & Nash, your mind is set free as the mellifluous sound washes over you. Even the impassioned "Almost Cut My Hair" or "Long Time Gone," they're your inner angst, you can relate.
And you'll be able to relate to David Crosby in this movie, because he's human.
Now when you reach my age, you're surprised by two things. The people who get sick and die, and those who retire and give up. Whereas there's a small coterie who keep trying to push the envelope. David Crosby is one of those people. He's so loquacious, you lament when he stops talking. He's not exactly lovable, but he's so real. In a world of duplicity. He was always this way. Which accounts for both his successes and his failures. Because people don't like honesty. You tell lies to spare people's feelings, to get along. David Crosby burns through people, hurts them, he doesn't get along. All these years later, the body may be fading but the spirit shines through, brilliantly.
If you saw "Echo In The Canyon," Crosby talks about being kicked out of the Byrds. Emphatically, he says he was a word that begins with an "a" and ends with an "e" and I'd spell it out here, but then this missive would never make it through the spam filters. Crosby never worried about the spam filters in life. He ran around naked, did drugs, he and his music were why we wanted to move to California. To partake.
And Crosby was oftentimes there first. The first musician to move to Laurel Canyon. And he doesn't want credit as much as he wants to set the record straight. This movie is mostly about looking backward, but somehow, at 77, David Crosby is still looking forward.
He's got to work, he's got to go on tour, to pay the bills.
Sure, he blew a lot of money, but there's this fantasy that rock stars are rich. But did you read that Gary Duncan, who played guitar in Quicksilver, who just died at 72, was a longshoreman after the music money dried up? We all have to pay the piper. Unless you're lucky enough to be a billionaire, or to inherit the money and not blow it. So David Crosby is working, chances are you've got a bigger nest egg than he does. Then again, he's not cutting corners, he's got a nice spread with some horses.
So he wants to be a rock and roll star. And he makes it. Today he says he wished he'd realized how hard that was, and soaked it up.
And he did it to get laid. And he took advantage. But unlike too many musicians, he can hold a conversation, he's not mute, he's intelligent and can wrestle with concepts and you wish you could hang out with him on his couch, shooting the s___.
So he gets kicked out of the Byrds, which is done very well here, in animation, and he goes to Florida and discovers Joni Mitchell and shows her off in L.A. Because she wanted it. And she also wanted Croz. David says it was her choice.
And in the movie they roll up to that house. You know, OUR HOUSE, and Crosby tells all the tales, of singing with Stephen and Graham for the first time and...
You wished you were there. But you weren't. That's the difference between then and now. Then it happened behind closed doors, and usually stayed there, you did not have access.
And music was everything and you could buy the records and go to the show, those were your only options, other than the radio, but that wasn't for true fans. When you see pictures of the comeback stadium tour, in '74, your draw will drop. The only people who can sell that many tickets today, by themselves, are maybe Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, for now. But this was already four years past their last hit. Does anybody care after four years today?
You feel the pulse. It's like that Eagles doc. When they're walking into the stadium in Colorado. What you feel is...THE POWER!
And it's not about personality, but music. Which at that time everybody wrote by themselves, or with their group, it went straight from their heart directly into yours.
Now the film is told in a somewhat linear fashion. But there are excursions back and forth and the truth is you lived through this era, addicted to the sound, what were you doing when it all went down?
And there's Kent State. And even the Dick Cavett show after Woodstock, which Crosby talks about too and...
What if you had a ringside seat. For life, for whatever was going down. If you were a rock star back then, you were international royalty, recognized everywhere by everybody and treated like a king.
But those were just the trappings.
Today it's only about the trappings. And no one's that big. And the rich hide behind gates, and vacation on private islands and...
This film will take you back when.
And just like those days, you won't be able to avert your eyes, you won't be thinking about anything else, you'll be glued to the screen.
And movies today are something different. They're based on comic books. As if real life is too scary. As if we all needed an escape.
But the truth is in the sixties and seventies not only was the music our escape, it was a journey unto itself, we sailed away from our parents as we were inspired to think for ourselves and...
David Crosby has never stopped thinking.
He admits his faults. He says when the adrenaline flows, he can't help but express his anger, which gets him in trouble.
Then again, all the greats are warped. They're trying to fill a hole inside that can never be topped-off, no matter how much money and success.
And the money is always cool. But it used to be about what's inside.
You get inside David Crosby's head in this movie.
And that's one of the great journeys of all time.
Who are we? What is this life about? What should we be doing?
Too many drift through life somnambulant, without ever taking a risk, or putting themselves in the mix.
So when someone marches to the beat of their own drummer, we want to know how they did it. What motivated them, what they saw.
And David Crosby saw and did a lot. And when you watch him you know why. He's different.
Are you?
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David Crosby. Didn't both he and Nash pale in comparison to Stills?
Then again, Stills pales in comparison to Young. Who is famous for going his own way. It's Neil who abandoned Stephen right before the "Long May You Run" tour, Stills soldiered on.
And then Neil reinvented himself, he told us it's better to burn out than to fade away, and if you follow your dream and keep looking over that distant horizon and bow to no one, you can remain mysterious and continue to garner eyeballs. But does it make you happy? Is Bob Dylan happy on his endless tour reinventing his songs?
But Bob doesn't know what else to do. Like Croz. He can only make music.
But the difference between Neil and the rest of CSN is that the latter made it on folk music, dreamy music, pleasant music, touch your soul music, and that never quite goes away. Sure, Stephen stretched into harder rocking and even Latin, but when you think of Crosby, Stills & Nash, your mind is set free as the mellifluous sound washes over you. Even the impassioned "Almost Cut My Hair" or "Long Time Gone," they're your inner angst, you can relate.
And you'll be able to relate to David Crosby in this movie, because he's human.
Now when you reach my age, you're surprised by two things. The people who get sick and die, and those who retire and give up. Whereas there's a small coterie who keep trying to push the envelope. David Crosby is one of those people. He's so loquacious, you lament when he stops talking. He's not exactly lovable, but he's so real. In a world of duplicity. He was always this way. Which accounts for both his successes and his failures. Because people don't like honesty. You tell lies to spare people's feelings, to get along. David Crosby burns through people, hurts them, he doesn't get along. All these years later, the body may be fading but the spirit shines through, brilliantly.
If you saw "Echo In The Canyon," Crosby talks about being kicked out of the Byrds. Emphatically, he says he was a word that begins with an "a" and ends with an "e" and I'd spell it out here, but then this missive would never make it through the spam filters. Crosby never worried about the spam filters in life. He ran around naked, did drugs, he and his music were why we wanted to move to California. To partake.
And Crosby was oftentimes there first. The first musician to move to Laurel Canyon. And he doesn't want credit as much as he wants to set the record straight. This movie is mostly about looking backward, but somehow, at 77, David Crosby is still looking forward.
He's got to work, he's got to go on tour, to pay the bills.
Sure, he blew a lot of money, but there's this fantasy that rock stars are rich. But did you read that Gary Duncan, who played guitar in Quicksilver, who just died at 72, was a longshoreman after the music money dried up? We all have to pay the piper. Unless you're lucky enough to be a billionaire, or to inherit the money and not blow it. So David Crosby is working, chances are you've got a bigger nest egg than he does. Then again, he's not cutting corners, he's got a nice spread with some horses.
So he wants to be a rock and roll star. And he makes it. Today he says he wished he'd realized how hard that was, and soaked it up.
And he did it to get laid. And he took advantage. But unlike too many musicians, he can hold a conversation, he's not mute, he's intelligent and can wrestle with concepts and you wish you could hang out with him on his couch, shooting the s___.
So he gets kicked out of the Byrds, which is done very well here, in animation, and he goes to Florida and discovers Joni Mitchell and shows her off in L.A. Because she wanted it. And she also wanted Croz. David says it was her choice.
And in the movie they roll up to that house. You know, OUR HOUSE, and Crosby tells all the tales, of singing with Stephen and Graham for the first time and...
You wished you were there. But you weren't. That's the difference between then and now. Then it happened behind closed doors, and usually stayed there, you did not have access.
And music was everything and you could buy the records and go to the show, those were your only options, other than the radio, but that wasn't for true fans. When you see pictures of the comeback stadium tour, in '74, your draw will drop. The only people who can sell that many tickets today, by themselves, are maybe Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, for now. But this was already four years past their last hit. Does anybody care after four years today?
You feel the pulse. It's like that Eagles doc. When they're walking into the stadium in Colorado. What you feel is...THE POWER!
And it's not about personality, but music. Which at that time everybody wrote by themselves, or with their group, it went straight from their heart directly into yours.
Now the film is told in a somewhat linear fashion. But there are excursions back and forth and the truth is you lived through this era, addicted to the sound, what were you doing when it all went down?
And there's Kent State. And even the Dick Cavett show after Woodstock, which Crosby talks about too and...
What if you had a ringside seat. For life, for whatever was going down. If you were a rock star back then, you were international royalty, recognized everywhere by everybody and treated like a king.
But those were just the trappings.
Today it's only about the trappings. And no one's that big. And the rich hide behind gates, and vacation on private islands and...
This film will take you back when.
And just like those days, you won't be able to avert your eyes, you won't be thinking about anything else, you'll be glued to the screen.
And movies today are something different. They're based on comic books. As if real life is too scary. As if we all needed an escape.
But the truth is in the sixties and seventies not only was the music our escape, it was a journey unto itself, we sailed away from our parents as we were inspired to think for ourselves and...
David Crosby has never stopped thinking.
He admits his faults. He says when the adrenaline flows, he can't help but express his anger, which gets him in trouble.
Then again, all the greats are warped. They're trying to fill a hole inside that can never be topped-off, no matter how much money and success.
And the money is always cool. But it used to be about what's inside.
You get inside David Crosby's head in this movie.
And that's one of the great journeys of all time.
Who are we? What is this life about? What should we be doing?
Too many drift through life somnambulant, without ever taking a risk, or putting themselves in the mix.
So when someone marches to the beat of their own drummer, we want to know how they did it. What motivated them, what they saw.
And David Crosby saw and did a lot. And when you watch him you know why. He's different.
Are you?
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Thursday, 4 July 2019
The Earthquake
I was sitting on the toilet.
Now you've got to know, it's unlike any feeling you've ever had. Like I said back in '94, you depend on the earth to be there. And when it's not...
It used to happen all the time back in the seventies and eighties. Minor shakes. 2's or 3's. If it went on for a while, you went under a doorjamb. But now they say to do something different. I've forgotten what, there's so much to keep up on.
And I don't have an earthquake kit either. I guess in the Amazon age we believe we can get everything in a day.
But back in '94 that wasn't the case.
So I'm catching up on my phone. Isn't that what you do first thing in the morning? I know, I know, it was closer to eleven than seven, but I slept in, I was up late reading "Fleishman Is In Trouble," one of this summer's hot books. I could write about it, but it's not that great. Interesting, but not a home run. Ultimately, it's about role reversal, where the wife is the go-getter, in this case an entertainment agent, and the husband takes care of the abode and the children. But he still works. He's a liver doctor. But he only makes $258,000 a year, so he's considered a loser in the modern world. Remember when your parents wanted you to be a doctor or lawyer? Those days are gone, you can't make the big money, better to go into business. Then again, MBA programs are folding left and right. It seems that when it comes to business, you're better off doing it for yourself. Business school teaches you how to be a manager, if you want to be an entrepreneur... But it is interesting that a quarter of a million bucks is now chump change. In Manhattan anyway. And the keeping up with the Joneses! It's endless, there are always people with more money than you. And what bonds you is your fabulousness. But you know you're not really that fabulous. Meanwhile, you leave your spouse for something better and...you find out it's not better.
But I'm addicted to books. After finishing the Lori Gottlieb screed, I took a couple of days off, but I found myself lost, there was no center. Music used to be the center. It was driven by radio, MTV and print. You could comprehend the scene, it was clear what was worthy of attention... But today? I read all this hype about Julia Michaels, in "Entertainment Weekly" she looked like a god (goddess?) So I went on Spotify to listen to her new solo album, "Inner Monologue Part 2," and I thought the opening track was close, not quite there, but interesting. And then... I checked the stream counts. At this point, only one of the eight cuts has been streamed on Spotify over a million times. In other words, despite all the hype, it's a stiff. Proving that mainstream press just doesn't matter when it comes down to big time stuff, the radio Top 40, the Spotify Top 50. And if I listened to the whole album and wrote about it...almost nobody would have heard it. Is it worth investing the time? You hear about an act, play a few tunes, understand why there's attention, but unless a cut breaks through, you move on. Indie acts and the fans thereof hate this. But the truth is we're looking for pointers, we want to be members of a club.
And a book is a club of its own. And it demands attention. You can't graze it, you can't give it five minutes to see what it's about, you've got to delve in and go all the way. Although I do read some reviews, at least the last paragraph thereof, I don't want to know what happened, isn't that why you read a book to begin with? And I do look at the star rating on Amazon. And I do download the sample chapter and read it before I'm in. But if I make a decision, if I buy the book, I go down the rabbit hole. The experience is singular, definable. Hell, in today's era, story is king. Which is one of the reasons TV is dominant and music is a second-class citizen. We're looking for context, we're looking to make sense of this world, we're already overwhelmed with input, which is why you can dance to the tunes, go to the festival and shoot selfies as the band (DJ?) plays in the background, but you're not gonna sit in front of the stereo looking at the album cover while the music plays. Actually, I'm thinking live business is gonna plateau and fall. The truth is, you go to be amongst the crowd, have an experience, the music is just the background live. Or, you're going to hear someone perform their current hit. Or else you go to hear the classics, but they never even put out new music, they know it will come and go in a day, despite all the traditional hype.
So I'm catching up on my phone. Takes the better part of an hour. I've got to cruise the NYT, WaPo, NYMag, WSJ, LAT, and with my WSJ subscription I just got a free subscription to the "London Times," which is otherwise behind a paywall, and not a soft one. And then there are the ski sites and Twitter and hitsdailydouble. I don't bother with "Billboard," too many bad writers filling up space. Actually, most of what's written is close to unreadable, or boring. At least the ethos of the newspaper is straightforward reporting, but... Oh yes, I also read the "New Yorker" app, the one with the daily comment and...
I feel the toilet start to shake.
Now, toilets shake on a regular basis, not all are rooted to the ground so well. And oftentimes the seat is loose. But after a beat, it's clear, we're having an...
EARTHQUAKE!
That's what I yelled out to Felice.
And I know what you do when it's strong, you run out of your house, immediately, like I did in '94, sans clothes in fact.
But that was at four thirty in the morning. Funny how most earthquakes never happen during business hours. Although I do remember waiting for a light on Pico one afternoon and my car started jumping around.
And this was the middle of the day, but it is a holiday.
And then... I'm monitoring the situation. And it does not stop shaking. It's all you can think about, it's like the end of the world. Who your parents are, where you went to school, how much money you have, they're all irrelevant.
But it did not stop shaking. It was a real-life thrill ride.
And now I'm wondering if it's ever gonna stop. Usually, it's just brief jolts.
And I'm sitting there thinking about the science...giant plates are thrusting against each other. It's not like it's only my neighborhood, these are vast, catastrophic events.
And then after thirty seconds, enough time to wonder if it was ever gonna stop...it did.
Oh, what does it feel like?
First you feel some shaking. And with this one we went back and forward and back and forward and...we humans want to be in control, in this case I was not.
Now in the old days, when the ground stabilized, you'd turn on the TV. Assuming it worked.
Or the radio. Usually the TV first, because you could dial in to the local news network immediately.
And after a few beats, if the TV didn't have a story, and it never did, the radio might say something.
And then in the internet era, you went to the LAT site.
But now I've realized, none of those outlets is truly prepared, there's no one in the building ready to push a button. No, you've got to find a reporter, you've got to gather the facts...BUT I JUST EXPERIENCED THE FACTS!
So the only place you can go, for instant news, for an instant reaction is...
Twitter. That's right, the site the oldsters abhor, but the digerati love. Instagram is a sideshow, Twitter is the high wire.
And people were already on it. Only a minute later. There was a link, which showed the epicenter, and it said it was a 6.6!
That's really high. The numbers don't go up arithmetically, but logarithmically. To make it simple, a 6 is ten times greater than a 5.
Now since it's been downgraded to a 6.4. But they're predicting tons of aftershocks, that's what did me in back in '94, the aftershocks.
But nothing fell off the shelves here.
But closer to the epicenter...
And not too long later, the news was all over the net.
This too was different from '94. Back then, in the days of landlines, I called my mother all shaken up and she had no idea what was happening. But today, she called me.
Everything's fine.
For now.
Now you've got to know, it's unlike any feeling you've ever had. Like I said back in '94, you depend on the earth to be there. And when it's not...
It used to happen all the time back in the seventies and eighties. Minor shakes. 2's or 3's. If it went on for a while, you went under a doorjamb. But now they say to do something different. I've forgotten what, there's so much to keep up on.
And I don't have an earthquake kit either. I guess in the Amazon age we believe we can get everything in a day.
But back in '94 that wasn't the case.
So I'm catching up on my phone. Isn't that what you do first thing in the morning? I know, I know, it was closer to eleven than seven, but I slept in, I was up late reading "Fleishman Is In Trouble," one of this summer's hot books. I could write about it, but it's not that great. Interesting, but not a home run. Ultimately, it's about role reversal, where the wife is the go-getter, in this case an entertainment agent, and the husband takes care of the abode and the children. But he still works. He's a liver doctor. But he only makes $258,000 a year, so he's considered a loser in the modern world. Remember when your parents wanted you to be a doctor or lawyer? Those days are gone, you can't make the big money, better to go into business. Then again, MBA programs are folding left and right. It seems that when it comes to business, you're better off doing it for yourself. Business school teaches you how to be a manager, if you want to be an entrepreneur... But it is interesting that a quarter of a million bucks is now chump change. In Manhattan anyway. And the keeping up with the Joneses! It's endless, there are always people with more money than you. And what bonds you is your fabulousness. But you know you're not really that fabulous. Meanwhile, you leave your spouse for something better and...you find out it's not better.
But I'm addicted to books. After finishing the Lori Gottlieb screed, I took a couple of days off, but I found myself lost, there was no center. Music used to be the center. It was driven by radio, MTV and print. You could comprehend the scene, it was clear what was worthy of attention... But today? I read all this hype about Julia Michaels, in "Entertainment Weekly" she looked like a god (goddess?) So I went on Spotify to listen to her new solo album, "Inner Monologue Part 2," and I thought the opening track was close, not quite there, but interesting. And then... I checked the stream counts. At this point, only one of the eight cuts has been streamed on Spotify over a million times. In other words, despite all the hype, it's a stiff. Proving that mainstream press just doesn't matter when it comes down to big time stuff, the radio Top 40, the Spotify Top 50. And if I listened to the whole album and wrote about it...almost nobody would have heard it. Is it worth investing the time? You hear about an act, play a few tunes, understand why there's attention, but unless a cut breaks through, you move on. Indie acts and the fans thereof hate this. But the truth is we're looking for pointers, we want to be members of a club.
And a book is a club of its own. And it demands attention. You can't graze it, you can't give it five minutes to see what it's about, you've got to delve in and go all the way. Although I do read some reviews, at least the last paragraph thereof, I don't want to know what happened, isn't that why you read a book to begin with? And I do look at the star rating on Amazon. And I do download the sample chapter and read it before I'm in. But if I make a decision, if I buy the book, I go down the rabbit hole. The experience is singular, definable. Hell, in today's era, story is king. Which is one of the reasons TV is dominant and music is a second-class citizen. We're looking for context, we're looking to make sense of this world, we're already overwhelmed with input, which is why you can dance to the tunes, go to the festival and shoot selfies as the band (DJ?) plays in the background, but you're not gonna sit in front of the stereo looking at the album cover while the music plays. Actually, I'm thinking live business is gonna plateau and fall. The truth is, you go to be amongst the crowd, have an experience, the music is just the background live. Or, you're going to hear someone perform their current hit. Or else you go to hear the classics, but they never even put out new music, they know it will come and go in a day, despite all the traditional hype.
So I'm catching up on my phone. Takes the better part of an hour. I've got to cruise the NYT, WaPo, NYMag, WSJ, LAT, and with my WSJ subscription I just got a free subscription to the "London Times," which is otherwise behind a paywall, and not a soft one. And then there are the ski sites and Twitter and hitsdailydouble. I don't bother with "Billboard," too many bad writers filling up space. Actually, most of what's written is close to unreadable, or boring. At least the ethos of the newspaper is straightforward reporting, but... Oh yes, I also read the "New Yorker" app, the one with the daily comment and...
I feel the toilet start to shake.
Now, toilets shake on a regular basis, not all are rooted to the ground so well. And oftentimes the seat is loose. But after a beat, it's clear, we're having an...
EARTHQUAKE!
That's what I yelled out to Felice.
And I know what you do when it's strong, you run out of your house, immediately, like I did in '94, sans clothes in fact.
But that was at four thirty in the morning. Funny how most earthquakes never happen during business hours. Although I do remember waiting for a light on Pico one afternoon and my car started jumping around.
And this was the middle of the day, but it is a holiday.
And then... I'm monitoring the situation. And it does not stop shaking. It's all you can think about, it's like the end of the world. Who your parents are, where you went to school, how much money you have, they're all irrelevant.
But it did not stop shaking. It was a real-life thrill ride.
And now I'm wondering if it's ever gonna stop. Usually, it's just brief jolts.
And I'm sitting there thinking about the science...giant plates are thrusting against each other. It's not like it's only my neighborhood, these are vast, catastrophic events.
And then after thirty seconds, enough time to wonder if it was ever gonna stop...it did.
Oh, what does it feel like?
First you feel some shaking. And with this one we went back and forward and back and forward and...we humans want to be in control, in this case I was not.
Now in the old days, when the ground stabilized, you'd turn on the TV. Assuming it worked.
Or the radio. Usually the TV first, because you could dial in to the local news network immediately.
And after a few beats, if the TV didn't have a story, and it never did, the radio might say something.
And then in the internet era, you went to the LAT site.
But now I've realized, none of those outlets is truly prepared, there's no one in the building ready to push a button. No, you've got to find a reporter, you've got to gather the facts...BUT I JUST EXPERIENCED THE FACTS!
So the only place you can go, for instant news, for an instant reaction is...
Twitter. That's right, the site the oldsters abhor, but the digerati love. Instagram is a sideshow, Twitter is the high wire.
And people were already on it. Only a minute later. There was a link, which showed the epicenter, and it said it was a 6.6!
That's really high. The numbers don't go up arithmetically, but logarithmically. To make it simple, a 6 is ten times greater than a 5.
Now since it's been downgraded to a 6.4. But they're predicting tons of aftershocks, that's what did me in back in '94, the aftershocks.
But nothing fell off the shelves here.
But closer to the epicenter...
And not too long later, the news was all over the net.
This too was different from '94. Back then, in the days of landlines, I called my mother all shaken up and she had no idea what was happening. But today, she called me.
Everything's fine.
For now.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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America-This Week's Podcast
Fitting, don't you think? Or would you rather have X, and "4th of July"?
Gerry and Dewey are great guys. Friendly and knowledgeable. You think of stars as being aloof, but not these two. Hear about their peripatetic lives as military brats and how they came together to make music and ended up shooting to the top of the charts, being picked up by David Geffen and selling more units than the supposed superstars.
I loved talking to them.
Listen:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://open.spotify.com/show/3QQChyYncANduSOs72eCbV
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=62358072
--
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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--
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Gerry and Dewey are great guys. Friendly and knowledgeable. You think of stars as being aloof, but not these two. Hear about their peripatetic lives as military brats and how they came together to make music and ended up shooting to the top of the charts, being picked up by David Geffen and selling more units than the supposed superstars.
I loved talking to them.
Listen:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://open.spotify.com/show/3QQChyYncANduSOs72eCbV
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/id1316200737
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=62358072
--
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, 2 July 2019
Passman Stands Up For Swift
"Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others."
Don Passman
https://bit.ly/324N0OK
Horseshit. EVERYTHING'S FOR SALE!
That's like saying you couldn't go on a date because the girl didn't ask you. Make an offer, see what they say!
I'm sick and tired of Taylor Swift playing the aggrieved party. It's like Bill Gates complaining he was ripped-off, or Mark Zuckerberg. What's the end game here? How can you win?
Then again, who are Swift and her team playing to? Insiders or outsiders?
The publicity was just dying down, and now Passman threw some gasoline on the fire, keeping it burning longer than it should, embedding this fracas in people's brains. Some of this is Star 101. Where's the manager? Oh, that's right, Taylor manages herself, to her detriment, she needs an outside opinion, because she certainly can't see the forest for the trees.
It's about long term, not short. It's about being likable. The last thing you want to do is piss people off, then it's a press story, and the press lives for kerfuffles, it sells ads!
Insiders are ignoring Passman's statement. Because they can see right through it. Suddenly knowledgeable enough to not respond, Taylor sent in her second. Come on, if Passman wanted to weigh in he would have days ago. As for Scooter's seconds, they made statements nearly instantaneously. And the truth is Braun has more credibility than Swift. She's gonna fade, he seems to always be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Hell, if you're a young act, he's one of the first you call, because he's closer to your age and has had success. That's the truth, too many of the great managers are long in the tooth, and the best and the brightest of the youth have shied away from the music business because it doesn't generate enough cash. And do you really want to sign with a conglomerate like Red Light or Artist Nation, where you get lost in the shuffle working for the man? They call it PERSONAL management, and that's what an artist wants most, personal treatment, if they don't believe they're number one in your stable, they move on, especially if they're superstars.
Insiders know the score. With internet success you can make any deal you want. Labels don't sign anything unless you prove it first online, and this gives you leverage. You can license the music, whatever your lawyer can negotiate. Sure, some people take the cash, some people think long term, but it's the artist's call. The artist has gained power in the twenty first century. Sure, recording revenue may have gone down, but not only is it now going up, you can make the music and put it online for essentially nothing! Of course, the landscape is littered with the work of wannabes, but that's what happens with democratization.
And if you've got enough money and make an offer, you'll find you can buy nearly anything. If you play in this game, especially in L.A., you know someone who had no intention of selling their house and then a buyer came along and asked for the owner's fantasy price and the buyer met it!
Furthermore, EVERYBODY on the inside knew Big Machine was for sale. But Swift didn't want to pay for it, she felt she was owed the masters emotionally, she'd paid her dues. But that's like being the best customer at Tiffany and walking in and insisting you own the store, with no additional money paid. Or that everyone who ever made a bad deal gets a do-over. No, that's why you have a team, a manager and a lawyer, so you don't get screwed!
And irrelevant of the sale, Taylor should have stayed at Big Machine anyway. Never underestimate the power of being a big fish in a little pond. Swift's music had to be successful at Big Machine, it's they're crown jewel. But Monty's got a bunch of superstars, from the Weeknd to Ariana Grande to Shawn Mendes, and a bunch of stars too, like Florence and the Machine and the Jonas Brothers. Republic doesn't need Swift to hit, as long as something hits, Monty comes up to bat regularly.
But not Borchetta, who built Taylor. And irrelevant of how the money was split, Borchetta did break her, never underestimate his efforts.
So Passman speaks and the Swifties are satiated. But these are the same people who will never abandon Team Swift. Then again, Team Swift is leaking members. As any act does after it's past its peak. You can't dominate forever. Own it. Or reinvent yourself.
This is what the music business has come to. There's not an act out there with this kind of mindshare. The story has been covered everywhere, from the "New York Times" to "Billboard" to social media. We're hungry for something to sink our teeth into. And we know it won't be Swift's new album "Lover." Madonna was always a sly manipulator, it's not like one day she said she'd let men take advantage of her. She was consistent. Swift was the hater, reacting to every perceived insult to the point where her thin skin was a joke, to the point where she couldn't let anything roll off her back. And it's not like Howard Stern, who went to therapy and changed his outlook, it's just the same b.s. again and again. Swift a lover? What's next, Trump best friends with Nancy Pelosi?
Leopards don't change their spots, and it appears Taylor Swift doesn't either.
The truth is most people just don't care. And by keeping the story alive Swift is burning out many more, by appearing the narcissist who always plays the victim.
You want to make it about the music.
But suddenly it's about Swift's antics. Kinda like Charlie Sheen. Who lost his mind and was the train-wreck of all time for a few months, he even did live dates, but woke up one day and discovered he'd lost his television gig and couldn't get another that paid anywhere near as much. Now Charlie is just a footnote. Keep acting this way Taylor, and you'll be one too.
Don Passman
https://bit.ly/324N0OK
Horseshit. EVERYTHING'S FOR SALE!
That's like saying you couldn't go on a date because the girl didn't ask you. Make an offer, see what they say!
I'm sick and tired of Taylor Swift playing the aggrieved party. It's like Bill Gates complaining he was ripped-off, or Mark Zuckerberg. What's the end game here? How can you win?
Then again, who are Swift and her team playing to? Insiders or outsiders?
The publicity was just dying down, and now Passman threw some gasoline on the fire, keeping it burning longer than it should, embedding this fracas in people's brains. Some of this is Star 101. Where's the manager? Oh, that's right, Taylor manages herself, to her detriment, she needs an outside opinion, because she certainly can't see the forest for the trees.
It's about long term, not short. It's about being likable. The last thing you want to do is piss people off, then it's a press story, and the press lives for kerfuffles, it sells ads!
Insiders are ignoring Passman's statement. Because they can see right through it. Suddenly knowledgeable enough to not respond, Taylor sent in her second. Come on, if Passman wanted to weigh in he would have days ago. As for Scooter's seconds, they made statements nearly instantaneously. And the truth is Braun has more credibility than Swift. She's gonna fade, he seems to always be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Hell, if you're a young act, he's one of the first you call, because he's closer to your age and has had success. That's the truth, too many of the great managers are long in the tooth, and the best and the brightest of the youth have shied away from the music business because it doesn't generate enough cash. And do you really want to sign with a conglomerate like Red Light or Artist Nation, where you get lost in the shuffle working for the man? They call it PERSONAL management, and that's what an artist wants most, personal treatment, if they don't believe they're number one in your stable, they move on, especially if they're superstars.
Insiders know the score. With internet success you can make any deal you want. Labels don't sign anything unless you prove it first online, and this gives you leverage. You can license the music, whatever your lawyer can negotiate. Sure, some people take the cash, some people think long term, but it's the artist's call. The artist has gained power in the twenty first century. Sure, recording revenue may have gone down, but not only is it now going up, you can make the music and put it online for essentially nothing! Of course, the landscape is littered with the work of wannabes, but that's what happens with democratization.
And if you've got enough money and make an offer, you'll find you can buy nearly anything. If you play in this game, especially in L.A., you know someone who had no intention of selling their house and then a buyer came along and asked for the owner's fantasy price and the buyer met it!
Furthermore, EVERYBODY on the inside knew Big Machine was for sale. But Swift didn't want to pay for it, she felt she was owed the masters emotionally, she'd paid her dues. But that's like being the best customer at Tiffany and walking in and insisting you own the store, with no additional money paid. Or that everyone who ever made a bad deal gets a do-over. No, that's why you have a team, a manager and a lawyer, so you don't get screwed!
And irrelevant of the sale, Taylor should have stayed at Big Machine anyway. Never underestimate the power of being a big fish in a little pond. Swift's music had to be successful at Big Machine, it's they're crown jewel. But Monty's got a bunch of superstars, from the Weeknd to Ariana Grande to Shawn Mendes, and a bunch of stars too, like Florence and the Machine and the Jonas Brothers. Republic doesn't need Swift to hit, as long as something hits, Monty comes up to bat regularly.
But not Borchetta, who built Taylor. And irrelevant of how the money was split, Borchetta did break her, never underestimate his efforts.
So Passman speaks and the Swifties are satiated. But these are the same people who will never abandon Team Swift. Then again, Team Swift is leaking members. As any act does after it's past its peak. You can't dominate forever. Own it. Or reinvent yourself.
This is what the music business has come to. There's not an act out there with this kind of mindshare. The story has been covered everywhere, from the "New York Times" to "Billboard" to social media. We're hungry for something to sink our teeth into. And we know it won't be Swift's new album "Lover." Madonna was always a sly manipulator, it's not like one day she said she'd let men take advantage of her. She was consistent. Swift was the hater, reacting to every perceived insult to the point where her thin skin was a joke, to the point where she couldn't let anything roll off her back. And it's not like Howard Stern, who went to therapy and changed his outlook, it's just the same b.s. again and again. Swift a lover? What's next, Trump best friends with Nancy Pelosi?
Leopards don't change their spots, and it appears Taylor Swift doesn't either.
The truth is most people just don't care. And by keeping the story alive Swift is burning out many more, by appearing the narcissist who always plays the victim.
You want to make it about the music.
But suddenly it's about Swift's antics. Kinda like Charlie Sheen. Who lost his mind and was the train-wreck of all time for a few months, he even did live dates, but woke up one day and discovered he'd lost his television gig and couldn't get another that paid anywhere near as much. Now Charlie is just a footnote. Keep acting this way Taylor, and you'll be one too.
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The Fourth of July
"In my mind I can't study war no more"
I don't know whether to laugh or cry, whether to be freaked out or just let it pass.
But our long national nightmare will not be over even if a Democrat is elected President. You see there is gerrymandering, a Republican Supreme Court, and red states that are strictly red, in all branches of government.
Yet the Democrats are arguing amongst themselves, moderates rallying around a tired old man who will never be elected king when the truth is we need impassioned lefties to make our nation be aware of what's at stake.
What's at stake if you're rich?
Not much. You can buy your way inside. If you're smart, you're not on social media and no one knows who you are as you fly in your private jet and live behind the walls at your numerous residences. For every Koch brother, there are tons of wealthy people who believe they can never be touched.
But you call this class warfare.
Actually, I just went on foxnews.com, and they don't even mention Trump's shenanigans on the Fourth.
That's right, he's gonna speak. There are gonna be flybys. There are gonna be tanks. And if you're a VIP you sit right up front, to avoid hecklers getting close.
The "Wall Street Journal" told the story, but believe me, the rank and file Republicans don't read that paper behind a paywall. All they know is they want a return to what once was, even though it wasn't that good to begin with, when the truth is the future is being made every day and if you don't change, you're gonna be left behind.
But I get it. The elites changed the game and you didn't get a vote. They call it globalization. And now all you can do is work in an un-air conditioned Amazon warehouse so wankers can get their products immediately.
Bread and circuses. We've got smartphones, we've got YouTube and Netflix and the public is so deep into its respective rabbit holes that it doesn't know what's going on.
Meanwhile, Trump is the biggest rock star out there, making news every day, staying in the public eye. Maybe that's why rock stars are dead, you can't record a hit song every day, but somehow Trump manages to. Music is relegated to the background, it's so Balkanized that no one could sing the same song at a protest.
But that's what we need.
We've got to protest where they can see us. We've got to make news. We've got to have our story heard.
We did last week, at the debates. And what did we hear? The game is rigged, the little people need help, health care, and what was the blowback? The establishment saying it can't be done, scaring the populace into retreating, but is this so?
This is a music paradigm. The sound changes, it never stays static.
And neither does the world.
In the sixties, the military and the police were the enemy.
Today they're vaunted kings. Hell, you can't go to a public event without people paying fealty to the military, it's the new American flag pin. But do you think they do this around the world? Of course not, because of coups, because of military abuse. The military is one step away from taking power, just look at history.
And there's a canard that Democracy will survive. Why? it's not doing so well in the rest of the world. What we've got is isolationism and strongmen. Who promise to make it all right and then end up consolidating power and ruling. Can you say Putin? He just declared the age of liberalism was dead, and he's Trump's best friend, a guy who couldn't possibly have meddled in our election.
Up is down and down is up.
Maybe we need a draft. If your ass was on the line, where Trump keeps placing our troops, you'd be questioning these activities. No one wants to see their kid killed. But we keep lauding women in the military. Cool, a woman can do what a man does, but why would anybody want to be trained as a fighting machine? Especially in an era where the threat comes from technology, not brute force. If Trump really wanted to have a parade, he'd get all the denizens from Silicon Valley to come to D.C. and walk the streets, they're the ones who've delivered what the people want, what's making their lives so good.
Oh, that's right, the bros in San Francisco have run ragged over our nation. And I'll admit online abuse is an issue. Facebook and Instagram and Twitter have to set limits. But truly, are any of these outlets a bigger problem than Fox News? NO!
You've got to understand, we no longer have a national news source. Trump is the only person covered by both sides. It's all Trump all the time. And the right reports and its audience is hypnotized and the left calls out the faux pas and nothing changes. It'd be like being the parent of a child and noting their misbehavior and expecting them to change without taking action. At some point you've got to delve in and do the hard work.
But no one wants to, they're stars, on Instagram! Or, they're too busy playing Fortnite. It's the new American Dream, I'll post on social media, become an influencer and get rich! But the odds are about as good as Powerball. Then again, lotteries are a tax on the poor. The poor are ripped-off and taken advantage of in this country day in and day out. But their spending keeps the economy humming. That's right, everybody needs food and clothing and a roof over their head. Our country runs on public spending. But somehow it's the corporations, the rich, who are our benefactors. You can invent a brilliant video game, but if no one plays it, no one buys the virtual tchotchkes, you're screwed.
I know, I know, it's been the same story for two and a half years, you're used to it.
But that's just what they want. To numb you into inaction.
Trump acts unilaterally and the Democrats in the House move at the pace of a snail, via the legal system, protesting when things don't go their way, afraid of pissing anybody off. Trump doesn't roll that way. He does whatever he wants. The fear is if the Democrats impeach Trump, he'll win again. But this is just the behavior that is sealing the deal. In tech, no one wants a ten year old product, never mind one from the eighties or nineties. But somehow, the establishment believes Biden is the answer. That's right, let's all go back to Netscape, on AOL! On our big box computers, with their terrible color screens. That's anathema, so why is Joe so great?
But not only is the right selling fear, but so is the left. The left is paralyzed, but AOC showed that change can be instant. I don't care whether you like her or not, the truth is she came from nowhere on her own truth and is now one of the most powerful and famous people in America. Take that DNC, take that music industry!
And this is what entertainers don't understand. AOC ain't rich, she's only selling her brain, her ideas, her credibility. But everyone in entertainment is selling out, trying to to get rich, but believe me, they can never be as rich as the ruling class. You've missed the plot if you think it's about money.
So July Fourth will come and go, you'll forget about what happens in D.C. and move on. But ever hear of a cumulative effect?
All over the world, in Hong Kong, Istanbul, Prague, people are standing up against authoritarianism.
But we believe it can't happen here.
But it can.
"Save the people
Save the children
Save the country
NOW!"
"Save The Country"
Laura Nyro
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I don't know whether to laugh or cry, whether to be freaked out or just let it pass.
But our long national nightmare will not be over even if a Democrat is elected President. You see there is gerrymandering, a Republican Supreme Court, and red states that are strictly red, in all branches of government.
Yet the Democrats are arguing amongst themselves, moderates rallying around a tired old man who will never be elected king when the truth is we need impassioned lefties to make our nation be aware of what's at stake.
What's at stake if you're rich?
Not much. You can buy your way inside. If you're smart, you're not on social media and no one knows who you are as you fly in your private jet and live behind the walls at your numerous residences. For every Koch brother, there are tons of wealthy people who believe they can never be touched.
But you call this class warfare.
Actually, I just went on foxnews.com, and they don't even mention Trump's shenanigans on the Fourth.
That's right, he's gonna speak. There are gonna be flybys. There are gonna be tanks. And if you're a VIP you sit right up front, to avoid hecklers getting close.
The "Wall Street Journal" told the story, but believe me, the rank and file Republicans don't read that paper behind a paywall. All they know is they want a return to what once was, even though it wasn't that good to begin with, when the truth is the future is being made every day and if you don't change, you're gonna be left behind.
But I get it. The elites changed the game and you didn't get a vote. They call it globalization. And now all you can do is work in an un-air conditioned Amazon warehouse so wankers can get their products immediately.
Bread and circuses. We've got smartphones, we've got YouTube and Netflix and the public is so deep into its respective rabbit holes that it doesn't know what's going on.
Meanwhile, Trump is the biggest rock star out there, making news every day, staying in the public eye. Maybe that's why rock stars are dead, you can't record a hit song every day, but somehow Trump manages to. Music is relegated to the background, it's so Balkanized that no one could sing the same song at a protest.
But that's what we need.
We've got to protest where they can see us. We've got to make news. We've got to have our story heard.
We did last week, at the debates. And what did we hear? The game is rigged, the little people need help, health care, and what was the blowback? The establishment saying it can't be done, scaring the populace into retreating, but is this so?
This is a music paradigm. The sound changes, it never stays static.
And neither does the world.
In the sixties, the military and the police were the enemy.
Today they're vaunted kings. Hell, you can't go to a public event without people paying fealty to the military, it's the new American flag pin. But do you think they do this around the world? Of course not, because of coups, because of military abuse. The military is one step away from taking power, just look at history.
And there's a canard that Democracy will survive. Why? it's not doing so well in the rest of the world. What we've got is isolationism and strongmen. Who promise to make it all right and then end up consolidating power and ruling. Can you say Putin? He just declared the age of liberalism was dead, and he's Trump's best friend, a guy who couldn't possibly have meddled in our election.
Up is down and down is up.
Maybe we need a draft. If your ass was on the line, where Trump keeps placing our troops, you'd be questioning these activities. No one wants to see their kid killed. But we keep lauding women in the military. Cool, a woman can do what a man does, but why would anybody want to be trained as a fighting machine? Especially in an era where the threat comes from technology, not brute force. If Trump really wanted to have a parade, he'd get all the denizens from Silicon Valley to come to D.C. and walk the streets, they're the ones who've delivered what the people want, what's making their lives so good.
Oh, that's right, the bros in San Francisco have run ragged over our nation. And I'll admit online abuse is an issue. Facebook and Instagram and Twitter have to set limits. But truly, are any of these outlets a bigger problem than Fox News? NO!
You've got to understand, we no longer have a national news source. Trump is the only person covered by both sides. It's all Trump all the time. And the right reports and its audience is hypnotized and the left calls out the faux pas and nothing changes. It'd be like being the parent of a child and noting their misbehavior and expecting them to change without taking action. At some point you've got to delve in and do the hard work.
But no one wants to, they're stars, on Instagram! Or, they're too busy playing Fortnite. It's the new American Dream, I'll post on social media, become an influencer and get rich! But the odds are about as good as Powerball. Then again, lotteries are a tax on the poor. The poor are ripped-off and taken advantage of in this country day in and day out. But their spending keeps the economy humming. That's right, everybody needs food and clothing and a roof over their head. Our country runs on public spending. But somehow it's the corporations, the rich, who are our benefactors. You can invent a brilliant video game, but if no one plays it, no one buys the virtual tchotchkes, you're screwed.
I know, I know, it's been the same story for two and a half years, you're used to it.
But that's just what they want. To numb you into inaction.
Trump acts unilaterally and the Democrats in the House move at the pace of a snail, via the legal system, protesting when things don't go their way, afraid of pissing anybody off. Trump doesn't roll that way. He does whatever he wants. The fear is if the Democrats impeach Trump, he'll win again. But this is just the behavior that is sealing the deal. In tech, no one wants a ten year old product, never mind one from the eighties or nineties. But somehow, the establishment believes Biden is the answer. That's right, let's all go back to Netscape, on AOL! On our big box computers, with their terrible color screens. That's anathema, so why is Joe so great?
But not only is the right selling fear, but so is the left. The left is paralyzed, but AOC showed that change can be instant. I don't care whether you like her or not, the truth is she came from nowhere on her own truth and is now one of the most powerful and famous people in America. Take that DNC, take that music industry!
And this is what entertainers don't understand. AOC ain't rich, she's only selling her brain, her ideas, her credibility. But everyone in entertainment is selling out, trying to to get rich, but believe me, they can never be as rich as the ruling class. You've missed the plot if you think it's about money.
So July Fourth will come and go, you'll forget about what happens in D.C. and move on. But ever hear of a cumulative effect?
All over the world, in Hong Kong, Istanbul, Prague, people are standing up against authoritarianism.
But we believe it can't happen here.
But it can.
"Save the people
Save the children
Save the country
NOW!"
"Save The Country"
Laura Nyro
--
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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Monday, 1 July 2019
Length
None of the innovation is in rock.
Today's big story is "Oasis," the collaboration between J Balvin and Bad Bunny. Actually, it was released on Friday, but mainstream media doesn't work that fast, it cannot be surprised. There's a reason politicians dump news on a weekend. But today, all the news outlets are writing about it.
"Oasis" is thirty minutes long. Actually, thirty minutes and thirty six seconds, i.e. 30:36. It contains eight tracks. By pre-CD standards, that's an album. But today they call it an EP.
Just like Lil Nas X's "7," released the previous Friday, it's an EP all of eighteen minutes and forty four seconds in length, 18:44, and it has eight cuts, not one of them even three minutes long. And Lil Nas X has got the biggest track of the year in "Old Town Road" which is 1:53. And the shorter the song, the more times it is streamed, assuming it's a hit, and the more money you make.
The format affects the music. The bloat of the seventies, the free format experimentation is gone.
And so is the bloat of the CD. We ended up with CDs with nearly eighty minutes of music, a triple album by old standards. Without multiple sides with opening and closing cuts you needed to pay attention to. On CDs, everybody puts their best material first, because listeners may never get to the end.
How come Latin and hip-hop artists are up-to-date, and everybody else is behind? You've got to roll with the changes.
So, if streaming is your game, if that's how you make coin, make it short. And if you've got a fan base, if you've got something interesting to say, say it often.
But there's more than that.
The big time music business is still running like a monoculture, when that's no longer the case. They're employing the 1980's MTV model, when today is more like the 1960's FM model.
That's right, in the sixties there were two radio bands. AM was for the evanescent hits, FM was for the real musicians.
That's what's happening today.
If you read the chart and have no idea what these records are, and when you spin them you don't care, join the club.
That's what the execs are missing. That the penumbra is bigger than the center. It's driven primarily by live as opposed to recordings, then again, in an era where everybody wants an experience, live is where it's at.
The big hit tracks are fodder for the body.
The penumbra tracks are fodder for the soul.
But those in the penumbra are unable to play the game. What broke those FM acts of yore into superstars? HITS!
A hit is not just something that gets played on radio, it's really something that you hear once, maybe twice, and cannot get out of your head, since it makes you feel so good, touches you so.
Yesterday you had to go out and buy it, or listen to the radio ad infinitum to hear it, but today tracks are just a click away.
But the audience is looking for entry points.
Too many of today's artists can get ink, but don't deliver hits.
"Dear Mr. Fantasy" was never played on AM, but it's more iconic than most of the stuff that was. Same deal with "Purple Haze."
Then again, "Sunshine of Your Love" crossed over, Cream became so big they disbanded. Only insiders talked to me about "Disraeli Gears." But once it came to "Goodbye," everybody was clued-in. That's the issue, how do you break out of the backwater into the mainstream?
Not by putting out endless CDs every couple of years and bitching about the system. Nothing sticks today unless it's a hit. So you're better off focusing on that one hit.
And Steve Winwood had a great voice. Jimi Hendrix's was serviceable, and he was one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Jack Bruce's vocals were iconic, and need we testify as to the talents of one Eric Clapton?
James Taylor had "Fire and Rain."
What does Wilco have?
I mention the band not because I have anything against it, but I've yet to find a single track since "Being There" that is a one listen smash, that you can play for anybody and they'll get it.
So much of what's promoted is just not good enough.
Furthermore, today no one likes everything. But you can grow your niche to where it's got a huge footprint, and is very profitable.
But you've got to embrace the new tools.
Used to be, when you bought music, you played it because you laid your cash down.
Today, if a track doesn't grab you in a matter of seconds, you're out. Don't blame short attention spans, you're competing against all entertainment media in history, you've got to be just that good.
And the rules are changed all the time. No one expected "Money" to dominate on AM and for "Dark Side of the Moon" to be one of the biggest sellers of all time, no one expected it to continue to sell!
And prog was a sideshow until Emerson, Lake and Palmer cut "Lucky Man" and Yes cut "Roundabout." The former was in the mold of traditional ballads, the latter was such a revelation you heard it and became instantly intrigued.
I know these are all old records. But that era was the last time music truly drove the culture, when it was the most important art form.
Since then it's oftentimes been about money.
But that's business, the greats talk about art.
So it's your call. Forget if the big boys don't want to play in your backwater. You can still make it. But you've got to embrace the new tools. With a constant parade of content. Not huge chunks, but bite-sized ones. Play to your fans, not the population at large, they'll spread the word if you deliver something worth spreading.
A
nd that's always the hit.
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Today's big story is "Oasis," the collaboration between J Balvin and Bad Bunny. Actually, it was released on Friday, but mainstream media doesn't work that fast, it cannot be surprised. There's a reason politicians dump news on a weekend. But today, all the news outlets are writing about it.
"Oasis" is thirty minutes long. Actually, thirty minutes and thirty six seconds, i.e. 30:36. It contains eight tracks. By pre-CD standards, that's an album. But today they call it an EP.
Just like Lil Nas X's "7," released the previous Friday, it's an EP all of eighteen minutes and forty four seconds in length, 18:44, and it has eight cuts, not one of them even three minutes long. And Lil Nas X has got the biggest track of the year in "Old Town Road" which is 1:53. And the shorter the song, the more times it is streamed, assuming it's a hit, and the more money you make.
The format affects the music. The bloat of the seventies, the free format experimentation is gone.
And so is the bloat of the CD. We ended up with CDs with nearly eighty minutes of music, a triple album by old standards. Without multiple sides with opening and closing cuts you needed to pay attention to. On CDs, everybody puts their best material first, because listeners may never get to the end.
How come Latin and hip-hop artists are up-to-date, and everybody else is behind? You've got to roll with the changes.
So, if streaming is your game, if that's how you make coin, make it short. And if you've got a fan base, if you've got something interesting to say, say it often.
But there's more than that.
The big time music business is still running like a monoculture, when that's no longer the case. They're employing the 1980's MTV model, when today is more like the 1960's FM model.
That's right, in the sixties there were two radio bands. AM was for the evanescent hits, FM was for the real musicians.
That's what's happening today.
If you read the chart and have no idea what these records are, and when you spin them you don't care, join the club.
That's what the execs are missing. That the penumbra is bigger than the center. It's driven primarily by live as opposed to recordings, then again, in an era where everybody wants an experience, live is where it's at.
The big hit tracks are fodder for the body.
The penumbra tracks are fodder for the soul.
But those in the penumbra are unable to play the game. What broke those FM acts of yore into superstars? HITS!
A hit is not just something that gets played on radio, it's really something that you hear once, maybe twice, and cannot get out of your head, since it makes you feel so good, touches you so.
Yesterday you had to go out and buy it, or listen to the radio ad infinitum to hear it, but today tracks are just a click away.
But the audience is looking for entry points.
Too many of today's artists can get ink, but don't deliver hits.
"Dear Mr. Fantasy" was never played on AM, but it's more iconic than most of the stuff that was. Same deal with "Purple Haze."
Then again, "Sunshine of Your Love" crossed over, Cream became so big they disbanded. Only insiders talked to me about "Disraeli Gears." But once it came to "Goodbye," everybody was clued-in. That's the issue, how do you break out of the backwater into the mainstream?
Not by putting out endless CDs every couple of years and bitching about the system. Nothing sticks today unless it's a hit. So you're better off focusing on that one hit.
And Steve Winwood had a great voice. Jimi Hendrix's was serviceable, and he was one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Jack Bruce's vocals were iconic, and need we testify as to the talents of one Eric Clapton?
James Taylor had "Fire and Rain."
What does Wilco have?
I mention the band not because I have anything against it, but I've yet to find a single track since "Being There" that is a one listen smash, that you can play for anybody and they'll get it.
So much of what's promoted is just not good enough.
Furthermore, today no one likes everything. But you can grow your niche to where it's got a huge footprint, and is very profitable.
But you've got to embrace the new tools.
Used to be, when you bought music, you played it because you laid your cash down.
Today, if a track doesn't grab you in a matter of seconds, you're out. Don't blame short attention spans, you're competing against all entertainment media in history, you've got to be just that good.
And the rules are changed all the time. No one expected "Money" to dominate on AM and for "Dark Side of the Moon" to be one of the biggest sellers of all time, no one expected it to continue to sell!
And prog was a sideshow until Emerson, Lake and Palmer cut "Lucky Man" and Yes cut "Roundabout." The former was in the mold of traditional ballads, the latter was such a revelation you heard it and became instantly intrigued.
I know these are all old records. But that era was the last time music truly drove the culture, when it was the most important art form.
Since then it's oftentimes been about money.
But that's business, the greats talk about art.
So it's your call. Forget if the big boys don't want to play in your backwater. You can still make it. But you've got to embrace the new tools. With a constant parade of content. Not huge chunks, but bite-sized ones. Play to your fans, not the population at large, they'll spread the word if you deliver something worth spreading.
A
nd that's always the hit.
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Best Album To Make Love To-SiriusXM This Week
Mine is Roxy Music's "Avalon."
"Lefsetz Live," Tuesday July 2nd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
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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"Lefsetz Live," Tuesday July 2nd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.
Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
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, 30 June 2019
Borchetta Responds
https://www.bigmachinelabelgroup.com/news/so-its-time-some-truth
And Justin Bieber too: https://www.thewrap.com/justin-bieber-taylor-swift-scooter-braun-criticism/
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
You've got to control the narrative.
Yokels don't care about Scott Borchetta or Scooter Braun. And fans get mad at athletes asking for more money even though the owners of the teams are usually billionaires, profiting quite handsomely.
In other words, Taylor should have thought twice before airing her dirty laundry in public.
But this is what she has done again and again, played the poor little rich girl and the tide has turned against her, only her true fans follow her into the wilderness, everybody else shrugs. It's kind of like Madonna, but no one ever said Madonna was unsophisticated when it comes to business.
Maybe that's what happens when you grow up on stage and don't go to college.
Word on the street is Taylor Swift makes all the decisions. So I don't think we can blame her attorney, but how about her father/management, were they asleep at the wheel? It looks like Taylor made a bad choice and now wants a do-over. But there's no crying in the music business. It's all about the cold hard cash.
And forget the cash, everybody thinks Taylor already has enough. And like Michael Jackson lost the plot when he started calling himself "The King of Pop," Taylor made a mistake by spreading the story how much she made via slow ticketing on her last tour. Hell, the audience felt ripped-off. Which is why acts that are fan dependent, as opposed to hit dependent, always try to keep prices low. Can you say Metallica? Can you say Bruce Springsteen? It's truly about your fans, they're the ones who keep you in business, the label will drop your ass as soon as you stop earning them coin.
Sure, Swift can now respond to Borchetta, but there's no upside, the tide has turned. What kind of bizarre world do we live in where fans take the side of the man instead of the artist? One in which you portray yourself as a victim when it's your own damn fault.
Of course more details will come out. Then again, if Taylor Swift were smart, she'd shut up, let this kerfuffle pass, as they all do. And in time no on will even remember. Do you really think that Metallica is hurt by its anti-Napster stance today? No way!
Then again, Lars was out of his depth. Sure, no one would want people to invade their house and steal their couch, but a couch is physical, not digital. Would you really mind if people came to steal your couch by the millions if it was replaceable for free? Of course not! Because this is how you build a fan base. Meanwhile, hip-hop acts put out free mixtapes, post to Soundcloud to drive interest for their projects when they're released on paid services, they're bonding their audience to them.
Taylor's missteps are legion. From the feuds and the songs about them, to the faux friends, to the overmarketing, to the sudden LGBTQ stance. You could say she's using people, but the truth is she's myopic, in her own bubble, she has no knowledge of the world outside her window. If she were smart, she'd do a mea culpa and travel like the hoi polloi for a year or two. Hell, isn't this how Joni Mitchell ended up writing "Blue"?
That's right, Taylor Swift has an album called "Red," and that would have never happened if we didn't have that phone conversation wherein I told her to listen to "Blue," which she'd never heard of.
Maybe Taylor's got a different take. Who cares?
But I did care about Taylor's first two albums, they were brilliant. They channeled the ethos and angst of teen life better than anybody, especially awkward teen life, with its anxieties and crushes and goofs and...
But then Swift needed to be the biggest act in the world. She canned Liz Rose and then worked with the hitmakers du jour and was vulnerable to the same blowback as any other pop act/celebrity. Carrie Underwood does not get excoriated to this degree, because she stays in country and is a nincompoop.
No one will argue with the fact that Taylor Swift is smart. But she just does not seem to be educated. The truth is, no one cares about the disses and the feuds, it's all about selling ads online. Isn't this how the Kardashians made all that money? Which they most certainly did, but unlike Swift they're completely vapid, there's no there there.
Meaning, no one cared about the knives thrown at Swift until she kept responding to them, then it became theatre of the absurd and we all couldn't stop watching the movie. Everybody knows that Kanye is certifiably insane, just let it roll off of you!
The truth is today people only care about themselves. Ergo Snapchat and Instagram. Everybody wants to be famous, everybody wants to be an influencer and rich. Meanwhile, musicians want to sell out the same way, tying up with the same corporations. Music used to be the other, that was its magic. Music was about soul, not cash. And the man who wrote "Mr. Soul" competes with no one. That's right, there's room for you if you're unique, like Neil Young, like Taylor Swift used to be.
And just before her new album comes out?
I'm sure it will be the biggest and baddest marketing plan of all time. But we know it will underperform. Because that's what happened with the last album. Today it's about evanescent crap like Lil Nas X, and pop has a hard time competing with hip-hop, which is why Katy Perry hasn't had a hit in a long while.
But Katy Perry is all flash. And, when she gets it right, Taylor Swift is all soul.
"Nebraska" didn't sell prodigiously when it was released, and there were no hits, but it burnished Bruce Springsteen's image, it still pays dividends today. Like Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds." An utter stiff upon release, it's a legend today, not only considered the Beach Boys' best work, but in the pantheon with "Sgt. Pepper."
You can recover from missteps. Maybe like all those actresses, Taylor Swift should go back to college. Sure, she'll need a bodyguard at first, but anybody who's hung with celebrities knows the stares wear off very quickly, people stop treating you as special.
But Taylor's too old, she's thirty.
But she must get out of her shell.
Joni Mitchell drove cross-country and came up with "Hejira," which may not have been a huge commercial success, but is loved by her fans.
Sure, Joni traveled in a Mercedes, but she did it.
You can't have it both ways. You can't be separate and then part of the fabric whenever you choose. You can be one or the other. But separate with mystery ended with the rise of the internet, everybody knows everybody's every move, their dirty laundry, assuming they care.
You don't want to be Madonna, getting plastic surgery to appear young, trying to appeal to teens and twentysomethings when they see her as their grandma. Did you notice that E. Jean Carroll got no plastic surgery, never mind an eyepatch, and it adds to her credibility?
So Taylor Swift stepped into it. And I'm telling her the world moves so fast she should just shut up and forget about it. But before she posts again, she'd better think twice. Who are you? A geek who's one of the people, or an untouchable superstar? You've got to choose.
Taylor, choose freedom, your own. It's a long game, don't get caught up in the minutiae. At this point you'd be better off to underplay, for the good of your career. Because your hit days may be over.
But people still want to hear what Neil Young has to say.
They don't want to hear from Young MC.
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And Justin Bieber too: https://www.thewrap.com/justin-bieber-taylor-swift-scooter-braun-criticism/
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
You've got to control the narrative.
Yokels don't care about Scott Borchetta or Scooter Braun. And fans get mad at athletes asking for more money even though the owners of the teams are usually billionaires, profiting quite handsomely.
In other words, Taylor should have thought twice before airing her dirty laundry in public.
But this is what she has done again and again, played the poor little rich girl and the tide has turned against her, only her true fans follow her into the wilderness, everybody else shrugs. It's kind of like Madonna, but no one ever said Madonna was unsophisticated when it comes to business.
Maybe that's what happens when you grow up on stage and don't go to college.
Word on the street is Taylor Swift makes all the decisions. So I don't think we can blame her attorney, but how about her father/management, were they asleep at the wheel? It looks like Taylor made a bad choice and now wants a do-over. But there's no crying in the music business. It's all about the cold hard cash.
And forget the cash, everybody thinks Taylor already has enough. And like Michael Jackson lost the plot when he started calling himself "The King of Pop," Taylor made a mistake by spreading the story how much she made via slow ticketing on her last tour. Hell, the audience felt ripped-off. Which is why acts that are fan dependent, as opposed to hit dependent, always try to keep prices low. Can you say Metallica? Can you say Bruce Springsteen? It's truly about your fans, they're the ones who keep you in business, the label will drop your ass as soon as you stop earning them coin.
Sure, Swift can now respond to Borchetta, but there's no upside, the tide has turned. What kind of bizarre world do we live in where fans take the side of the man instead of the artist? One in which you portray yourself as a victim when it's your own damn fault.
Of course more details will come out. Then again, if Taylor Swift were smart, she'd shut up, let this kerfuffle pass, as they all do. And in time no on will even remember. Do you really think that Metallica is hurt by its anti-Napster stance today? No way!
Then again, Lars was out of his depth. Sure, no one would want people to invade their house and steal their couch, but a couch is physical, not digital. Would you really mind if people came to steal your couch by the millions if it was replaceable for free? Of course not! Because this is how you build a fan base. Meanwhile, hip-hop acts put out free mixtapes, post to Soundcloud to drive interest for their projects when they're released on paid services, they're bonding their audience to them.
Taylor's missteps are legion. From the feuds and the songs about them, to the faux friends, to the overmarketing, to the sudden LGBTQ stance. You could say she's using people, but the truth is she's myopic, in her own bubble, she has no knowledge of the world outside her window. If she were smart, she'd do a mea culpa and travel like the hoi polloi for a year or two. Hell, isn't this how Joni Mitchell ended up writing "Blue"?
That's right, Taylor Swift has an album called "Red," and that would have never happened if we didn't have that phone conversation wherein I told her to listen to "Blue," which she'd never heard of.
Maybe Taylor's got a different take. Who cares?
But I did care about Taylor's first two albums, they were brilliant. They channeled the ethos and angst of teen life better than anybody, especially awkward teen life, with its anxieties and crushes and goofs and...
But then Swift needed to be the biggest act in the world. She canned Liz Rose and then worked with the hitmakers du jour and was vulnerable to the same blowback as any other pop act/celebrity. Carrie Underwood does not get excoriated to this degree, because she stays in country and is a nincompoop.
No one will argue with the fact that Taylor Swift is smart. But she just does not seem to be educated. The truth is, no one cares about the disses and the feuds, it's all about selling ads online. Isn't this how the Kardashians made all that money? Which they most certainly did, but unlike Swift they're completely vapid, there's no there there.
Meaning, no one cared about the knives thrown at Swift until she kept responding to them, then it became theatre of the absurd and we all couldn't stop watching the movie. Everybody knows that Kanye is certifiably insane, just let it roll off of you!
The truth is today people only care about themselves. Ergo Snapchat and Instagram. Everybody wants to be famous, everybody wants to be an influencer and rich. Meanwhile, musicians want to sell out the same way, tying up with the same corporations. Music used to be the other, that was its magic. Music was about soul, not cash. And the man who wrote "Mr. Soul" competes with no one. That's right, there's room for you if you're unique, like Neil Young, like Taylor Swift used to be.
And just before her new album comes out?
I'm sure it will be the biggest and baddest marketing plan of all time. But we know it will underperform. Because that's what happened with the last album. Today it's about evanescent crap like Lil Nas X, and pop has a hard time competing with hip-hop, which is why Katy Perry hasn't had a hit in a long while.
But Katy Perry is all flash. And, when she gets it right, Taylor Swift is all soul.
"Nebraska" didn't sell prodigiously when it was released, and there were no hits, but it burnished Bruce Springsteen's image, it still pays dividends today. Like Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds." An utter stiff upon release, it's a legend today, not only considered the Beach Boys' best work, but in the pantheon with "Sgt. Pepper."
You can recover from missteps. Maybe like all those actresses, Taylor Swift should go back to college. Sure, she'll need a bodyguard at first, but anybody who's hung with celebrities knows the stares wear off very quickly, people stop treating you as special.
But Taylor's too old, she's thirty.
But she must get out of her shell.
Joni Mitchell drove cross-country and came up with "Hejira," which may not have been a huge commercial success, but is loved by her fans.
Sure, Joni traveled in a Mercedes, but she did it.
You can't have it both ways. You can't be separate and then part of the fabric whenever you choose. You can be one or the other. But separate with mystery ended with the rise of the internet, everybody knows everybody's every move, their dirty laundry, assuming they care.
You don't want to be Madonna, getting plastic surgery to appear young, trying to appeal to teens and twentysomethings when they see her as their grandma. Did you notice that E. Jean Carroll got no plastic surgery, never mind an eyepatch, and it adds to her credibility?
So Taylor Swift stepped into it. And I'm telling her the world moves so fast she should just shut up and forget about it. But before she posts again, she'd better think twice. Who are you? A geek who's one of the people, or an untouchable superstar? You've got to choose.
Taylor, choose freedom, your own. It's a long game, don't get caught up in the minutiae. At this point you'd be better off to underplay, for the good of your career. Because your hit days may be over.
But people still want to hear what Neil Young has to say.
They don't want to hear from Young MC.
--
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--
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Taylor Swift/Scooter Braun
She should have bought the label.
My inbox is filling up with today's story about Scooter Braun's purchase of Big Machine and Taylor Swift's reaction thereto.
It's always dangerous commenting about Taylor Swift, after she wrote that song about me, but she's an iconic performer, arguably the biggest in the world, and therefore what happens to her is not only about her, but the business in general.
Which has got to change.
The artists should own their work, especially after they've paid for it. At least they should have reversion clauses, like deals used to contain because companies thought the old material would be worthless, which it turned out not to be.
Recoupment/going into profits more than pays for recording costs. And associated marketing. This is an ancient paradigm, like packaging costs and breakage, that have no place in today's digital world.
Which is why artists are incentivized to go outside the major label system. It's incidents like this, along with the success of Chance the Rapper, that direct acts in this direction, especially in today's streaming world. Hell, Lil Nas X got a big check from Columbia, but a one hit wonder this big will generate dollars forever… Ever heard of "The Monster Mash"? Then again, that plays every Halloween, but we also continue to hear "I'm Too Sexy" and "The Macarena" and so many of the hits of the sixties. But acts are advised by scoundrels wanting their percentage. The acts come and go, the labels and the managers and agents are forever! You are not necessary, it only matters that somebody hits, and there's always a lineup of others. George Michael fought Sony to his detriment, it ended his recording career. Meanwhile, the business did not go out of business.
And then there's the story of U2. Chris Blackwell gave the band a percentage of Island in exchange for them re-signing. Island was not considered the best label in the business, but by making this deal the band got a huge check when Island was sold.
What kind of advice did Taylor Swift get?
I get that she signed a bad deal, any deal, when she was starting out. That was the paradigm back then. Just getting into the arena was hard enough, today you can get into the arena but it sits millions and you're lost in the shuffle. Scott Borchetta made Taylor Swift into a superstar, no one else believed, no one else was willing to take a chance. So Scott deserves to be compensated. Furthermore, the one true asset of Big Machine, the dominating force in his catalog, was Taylor Swift's work. Therefore, unlike Chris Blackwell, he was wary of making a deal wherein he coughed up her catalog, ergo the offer to have Taylor earn back her albums one by one. But everything's a negotiation, and as referenced regarding Lil Nas X above, it's about long term vision as opposed to short term money. Taylor Swift could have afforded $300 million. And she could have sold off the other assets and signed with Monty at Republic anyway.
And there's more history than U2. None other than Paul McCartney, who wanted to buy the Beatles' songs but was beaten out by Michael Jackson after telling Jackson to invest in publishing. Hell, Jackson's estate was saved by this asset. Like I said, Swift should have bought her work.
As for it being purchased by Scooter Braun… The disses by Kim and Kanye, et al, are trifles, especially compared to the way Jackson ripped-off McCartney. She'll get over it.
Then again, where is Scooter Braun getting $300 million? Maybe Swift's letter will jawbone investors/bankers to put a kibosh on the deal, or carve out her work. It's possible, but unlikely. But that's how you fight back today, in the court of public opinion, isn't that how Trump does it?
As for the deal itself… Everyone knew Big Machine was for sale, and it's too expensive for Scooter to do it for spite. Furthermore, he's not that kind of guy, at least in my dealings with him.
I was shocked when Taylor signed with Republic. I knew she was leaving her masters behind, didn't she? She made a choice, to her detriment. And Borchetta and Big Machine not only made her a star, they continued to keep her in the public eye. Hell, the tracks released by Republic have been huge disappointments, there's no doubt Big Machine could have done as good a job. Meanwhile, despite not being on Warner or Columbia, Island continued to deliver for U2.
Maybe the last chapter has been written, maybe not. Taylor should try to kill the deal or buy her assets back, although she'll pay more than she would have in the beginning.
Meanwhile, despite her myopia, her lack of understanding of both the public and the business, Swift is doing a service for all artists. She stood up against free goods with Apple upon its launch, she stood up against Trump, and now she's standing up against an archaic business in which the artists are the grease, indispensable, but treated like chattel.
Change happens slowly, but it wins out. This is why if you've got some leverage, have shown your impact online and on the stage, you can make a better record deal than any new act ever. Those who fail to change are left behind. This is the problem with the major labels, and the rockers, and the alta kachers, they think the past will always rule, but the truth is it's just prologue. Meanwhile, doesn't this demonstrate the vision and power of Scooter Braun? One of the majors didn't make this deal. Independent outfits have bought publishing, but not masters, not masters of this significance.
In other words, this could be the first step in Braun unseating the majors. After all, indies are always hampered by having no catalog, now Braun possesses one.
Michael Cohl was trying to transform the recording landscape by making those huge all-encompassing deals at Artist Nation.
But then Cohl was killed by Rapino and it didn't happen. Rapino only wanted to be in the live business.
So Taylor Swift is a visionary and a rube. Furthermore, she thinks she's still a country artist and her fame and impact will be forever. But she's now pop. And pop lives and dies on the hit. And not even Madonna can ride all the change.
Swift's gotten a good ride. If she continues to follow this route of standing up for artists and fairness she could have a bigger impact than her recordings in the future.
Taylor Swift believes it's her world and we just live in it.
Today she learned she's just a cog in the big machine like the rest of us.
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My inbox is filling up with today's story about Scooter Braun's purchase of Big Machine and Taylor Swift's reaction thereto.
It's always dangerous commenting about Taylor Swift, after she wrote that song about me, but she's an iconic performer, arguably the biggest in the world, and therefore what happens to her is not only about her, but the business in general.
Which has got to change.
The artists should own their work, especially after they've paid for it. At least they should have reversion clauses, like deals used to contain because companies thought the old material would be worthless, which it turned out not to be.
Recoupment/going into profits more than pays for recording costs. And associated marketing. This is an ancient paradigm, like packaging costs and breakage, that have no place in today's digital world.
Which is why artists are incentivized to go outside the major label system. It's incidents like this, along with the success of Chance the Rapper, that direct acts in this direction, especially in today's streaming world. Hell, Lil Nas X got a big check from Columbia, but a one hit wonder this big will generate dollars forever… Ever heard of "The Monster Mash"? Then again, that plays every Halloween, but we also continue to hear "I'm Too Sexy" and "The Macarena" and so many of the hits of the sixties. But acts are advised by scoundrels wanting their percentage. The acts come and go, the labels and the managers and agents are forever! You are not necessary, it only matters that somebody hits, and there's always a lineup of others. George Michael fought Sony to his detriment, it ended his recording career. Meanwhile, the business did not go out of business.
And then there's the story of U2. Chris Blackwell gave the band a percentage of Island in exchange for them re-signing. Island was not considered the best label in the business, but by making this deal the band got a huge check when Island was sold.
What kind of advice did Taylor Swift get?
I get that she signed a bad deal, any deal, when she was starting out. That was the paradigm back then. Just getting into the arena was hard enough, today you can get into the arena but it sits millions and you're lost in the shuffle. Scott Borchetta made Taylor Swift into a superstar, no one else believed, no one else was willing to take a chance. So Scott deserves to be compensated. Furthermore, the one true asset of Big Machine, the dominating force in his catalog, was Taylor Swift's work. Therefore, unlike Chris Blackwell, he was wary of making a deal wherein he coughed up her catalog, ergo the offer to have Taylor earn back her albums one by one. But everything's a negotiation, and as referenced regarding Lil Nas X above, it's about long term vision as opposed to short term money. Taylor Swift could have afforded $300 million. And she could have sold off the other assets and signed with Monty at Republic anyway.
And there's more history than U2. None other than Paul McCartney, who wanted to buy the Beatles' songs but was beaten out by Michael Jackson after telling Jackson to invest in publishing. Hell, Jackson's estate was saved by this asset. Like I said, Swift should have bought her work.
As for it being purchased by Scooter Braun… The disses by Kim and Kanye, et al, are trifles, especially compared to the way Jackson ripped-off McCartney. She'll get over it.
Then again, where is Scooter Braun getting $300 million? Maybe Swift's letter will jawbone investors/bankers to put a kibosh on the deal, or carve out her work. It's possible, but unlikely. But that's how you fight back today, in the court of public opinion, isn't that how Trump does it?
As for the deal itself… Everyone knew Big Machine was for sale, and it's too expensive for Scooter to do it for spite. Furthermore, he's not that kind of guy, at least in my dealings with him.
I was shocked when Taylor signed with Republic. I knew she was leaving her masters behind, didn't she? She made a choice, to her detriment. And Borchetta and Big Machine not only made her a star, they continued to keep her in the public eye. Hell, the tracks released by Republic have been huge disappointments, there's no doubt Big Machine could have done as good a job. Meanwhile, despite not being on Warner or Columbia, Island continued to deliver for U2.
Maybe the last chapter has been written, maybe not. Taylor should try to kill the deal or buy her assets back, although she'll pay more than she would have in the beginning.
Meanwhile, despite her myopia, her lack of understanding of both the public and the business, Swift is doing a service for all artists. She stood up against free goods with Apple upon its launch, she stood up against Trump, and now she's standing up against an archaic business in which the artists are the grease, indispensable, but treated like chattel.
Change happens slowly, but it wins out. This is why if you've got some leverage, have shown your impact online and on the stage, you can make a better record deal than any new act ever. Those who fail to change are left behind. This is the problem with the major labels, and the rockers, and the alta kachers, they think the past will always rule, but the truth is it's just prologue. Meanwhile, doesn't this demonstrate the vision and power of Scooter Braun? One of the majors didn't make this deal. Independent outfits have bought publishing, but not masters, not masters of this significance.
In other words, this could be the first step in Braun unseating the majors. After all, indies are always hampered by having no catalog, now Braun possesses one.
Michael Cohl was trying to transform the recording landscape by making those huge all-encompassing deals at Artist Nation.
But then Cohl was killed by Rapino and it didn't happen. Rapino only wanted to be in the live business.
So Taylor Swift is a visionary and a rube. Furthermore, she thinks she's still a country artist and her fame and impact will be forever. But she's now pop. And pop lives and dies on the hit. And not even Madonna can ride all the change.
Swift's gotten a good ride. If she continues to follow this route of standing up for artists and fairness she could have a bigger impact than her recordings in the future.
Taylor Swift believes it's her world and we just live in it.
Today she learned she's just a cog in the big machine like the rest of us.
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