Pickleball

It's gonna kill tennis.

I was riding the lift last winter and my companion was a local. So I asked the usual questions, was she retired, how much does she ski...

You see people move to the mountains to ski and stop. It's classic. First you stop going on busy days, and then you stop going in bad weather, and then other activities supersede skiing, after all you have a life in town, and soon you may not even buy a pass, because you don't break even.

This woman was retired, and said she skied five to seven days a week, which I thought was very good, but only half-days, because every morning she played PICKLEBALL!

And then she invited me to play the game.

This astonished me. First and foremost because she wasn't that friendly. I didn't even think she'd say bye at the end of the ride. And what experienced racket sport acolyte invites a newbie to participate? NO ONE!

And she was waxing rhapsodic about the group, the social scene, and she said she hoped to see me on the court soon.

Needless to say, I'm not sacrificing any skiing time to do anything else athletic. Nor did I have transportation. But the conversation stuck with me. Once again, because she really wasn't that friendly.

And then all these stories started popping up in the news. Not that I was unaware of pickleball previously, but... First there were the stories about the noise. When the ball hits the paddle there's a slap. And neighbors want to ban the game, at least at night, it's driving them nuts.

Then there was the story about court conversion. How tennis courts were now becoming pickleball courts.

And then there was the story of the two competing professional leagues.

You see pickleball is a developing sport.

As was music from the Beatles until about twenty years thereafter. There was no infrastructure, it was built on the fly, via experimentation. The rollup of promoters into what eventually became Live Nation didn't happen until 1996.

As was tech from about 1995 until five or six years ago. A constant changing of the guard. Always a new hardware item, and then software... But now tech is pretty mature itself, with a handful of companies ruling.

So there's a vacuum, ready to be filled by something new.

In truth, for the past six years it's been politics, because there's so much at stake, and there are defined teams.

As for music... It's been static. Hip-hop and pop. Just as it was TWENTY YEARS AGO!

In the seventies there was a tennis boom. Courts were built that were ultimately torn down, the real estate being too valuable. Sure, we read about Serena Williams, but most people have no idea who today's tennis champions are and don't care.

Like golf. Golf courses have been going out of business for years. But there is some innovation, which oldsters, the usual suspects, those who take the game seriously, positively HATE! Bigger cups, so it's easier to sink your putt. And an emphasis on driving ranges that substitute for going to the movies, or dinner, it's a social experience, with food and alcohol, it's FUN! And most people don't consider golf to be fun. It takes up so much real estate, especially in cities, it's a hated sport. Give credit to these innovators, trying to save the sport.

Like Banana Ball. Creating new rules to make baseball faster and more enjoyable. There have been a lot of recent stories about the game, you can read one here: https://lat.ms/3T5tXON

As for music...

Music is hemorrhaging listeners. First and foremost because new music discovery is overwhelming. But even worse, what you're listening to today...is just a variation on what you were listening to yesterday, why not just play the hits of yore?

And if it's not hip-hop or pop, it gets very little attention, so it can't grow. Not that there's a specific scene that would triumph if it was amplified. But that's what we need, A NEW SOUND!

We used to get one every three to five years, we haven't gotten a new one in DECADES!

So what is going on?

First and foremost music doesn't represent what it once did, whether in the sixties and seventies or the heyday of MTV in the eighties. Don't expect those days to come back. But we don't have to have the dreary scene we have today.

So first, the present rules are about streams, even though the charts factor physical higher, which is like playing occasional pickleball points with a tennis ball instead of a plastic whiffle ball.

And the streams are where the money is. So, the major labels just produce what will get the most streams. It's business. Don't blame them, they've got no incentive to do otherwise. If they'd read Clayton Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma" they'd know that they need to disrupt themselves before someone else does, but the overpaid fat cats with no skin in the game don't care. The future past their term of employment is irrelevant.

And then there are the avenues of exposure. Terrestrial radio used to be uber-popular, that's where bands were broken. Now terrestrial radio is last, stations only play hits that were made online. And listening is tanking.

And then there's the club and theatre business. Previously supported by the record labels, who bought tickets and drinks to support their new bands in the hope that they'd grow. But Napster hit the labels' bottom line, and they cut back, and now they buy very few tickets to the gigs of their own acts at big venues, the acts that have already broken. And believe me, the promoters don't give labels the tickets for free, not for years! You see those in the business know that the labels are second-class citizens, that live rules, if for no other reason than that's where the money is.

But there is stuff happening online. Mostly by amateurs on TikTok, other social media. And the majors believe they can just hoover up those who gain traction with their infrastructure and bucks. But do you really need the major? Now less than ever. Then again, the majors need the billing so bad that they overpay and give the rights back, the deals are nearly impossible to turn down. But many don't pan out, this can't last forever.

And it's good that people everywhere are creating music. But this doesn't mean it's music that people would rather hear than the classics. Oftentimes it's just the soundtrack to a short clip.

And the best and the brightest are turned off, there's just not enough money in music, there is if you're a superstar, but for everybody else? And the odds are long that you can even quit your day job.

So where is the new music?

I'm not saying that it has to be played on traditional instruments, Kraftwerk proved that back in the seventies.

You see the public can only get excited if there's a new scene. Multiple scenes. And the irony is there are multiple scenes today, but unless you're making hip-hop or pop, they don't grow.

And new scenes don't happen overnight. It's not like pickleball was invented three years ago, as a matter of fact it was invented in 1965! Which means that the new scene may already be out there, it just needs to be amplified. But none of the usual suspects, no one in the music food chain, wants to do this because of the opportunity cost. Promoters want guaranteed sellouts in large venues. Labels want a quick payout. And streaming services are so busy being agnostic, neutral, Switzerland, nice to all comers, that they're a virtual Sargasso Sea, impenetrable.

So the metric can't only be streaming numbers.

Then again, streaming services could do a better job of promoting that which is not the product of major labels, or that sounds different.

As for gigs...

There are even artificial ways to get people experimenting. The best original music and then a live tour of the winners. A la "American Idol," but with those more talented.

So it's a case of incentive and exposure. And the present scene has neither. And there's no commissioner of music trying to build the business, there's only the RIAA, a lobbying outfit that advocates for the interests of the major labels.

Something will eventually happen. It always does. Music figured out distribution with streaming, but the music itself... It's dead in the water.

The new scene has to be a two listen smash. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" broke the Beatles, there's not an equivalent track in today's Spotify Top 50. For all the ink spilled over Beyonce, Drake and the Weeknd, the truth is they don't appeal to most people.

So we're probably waiting for spontaneous generation. Which will get started online. Remember the heyday of Napster? Agents marveled that acts could play far away states with no airplay... Students were spreading the word and then sharing the wares online. Today, there's just too much of everything.

So ultimately, the new music scene is out of our control. But in truth, the new music scene is hobbled by an unfriendly business. Sure, you can post your music to streaming services for almost nothing, but that does not mean anybody will listen to it. You can play live for free, but from there to a sustaining business is a very steep climb.

But the usual suspects keep telling us everything is hunky-dory.

Like tennis. Believe me, the game is upset about pickleball.

Pickleball wins because it's easy and fun. The learning curve for tennis is steep. The ladder to making it in music is unbelievably steep, to the degree it even exists.

There's got to be a better way.


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Taylor Momsen-This Week's Podcast

Taylor Momsen fronts the band The Pretty Reckless. Listen to how she quit "Gossip Girl" to become the lead singer and songwriter of an act that has charted five number one Mainstream Rock tracks.

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/taylor-momsen-101032162/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/taylor-momsen/id1316200737?i=1000576471152

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1jGaFyq9cm0jIBNzycNKMz?si=rnnqqZ-sQsuKWuU37J0n7w

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/540bf789-ba90-4756-8c19-f4d2e3b90f84/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-taylor-momsen

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/taylor-momsen-205894049


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LIV Golf

This is what happens when money supersedes morality, when money supersedes ethics, when money supersedes EVERYTHING!

This is not a golf story, this is the story of society, of everybody. When are we going to say no to the almighty dollar, when are we going to guard the integrity of our organizations. When are we going to stand up for what is right as opposed to looking the other way?

And it's not only golfers... Enough with the lionization of billionaires. Just because they have money, that doesn't make them moral, right, or better thinkers than the rest of us.

So in case you're out of the loop...

The LIV golf tour was started by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund. No, Saudi Arabia doesn't care about golf, and it's not even concerned with the money involved. It just wants to enhance its image. It's advertising. Like the oil companies on PBS. I had a professor in law school who called it the Petroleum Broadcasting Network. And that's certainly what it was back then.

As for Saudi Arabia...

In case you don't follow international news, and too many people in America don't follow national news, never mind accurate national news, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman took over Saudi Arabia in a power struggle wherein he detained, killed and disappeared family members. This is what happens when one person, seemingly always a man, runs an authoritarian state. His competitors for power, never mind the people, are subject to his whims. And this can mean death. Like Khashoggi.

You remember Khashoggi, right?

Or maybe your news network didn't focus on the story.

Khashoggi was a "Washington Post" reporter who was killed, dismembered, upon the order of Bin Salman. But that didn't bother Phil Mickelson.

Always seen as the runner-up to Tiger Woods, "good guy" Phil, in truth Mickelson has a gargantuan gambling habit. He always needs money.

As for having wealth... That's what the poor, the underclass, the middle class don't understand. YOU NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY! Money is status, money is power. And the people who have it want more, enough is never enough.

So, Phil Mickelson took two hundred million from Saudi Arabia, to play in its LIV golf tournament.

Dustin Johnson got around $125 million.

And they're not the only ones. Other name golfers got double digit millions to play in the LIV golf tournaments which are a farce.

It's only three days. 54 holes. And appearance money is guaranteed. So it really doesn't matter who wins. And so far, those who've taken the big money to sign haven't. I mean what difference does it make?

So that intense competition you see on television, not that the ratings are high... The game itself has been undermined.

It'd be like starting a new baseball league with the players making more than anyone ever did to play in six inning games with no consequences.

Not that the LIV golfers like the fact that they're now excluded from PGA events. They sued to be able to participate. The judge was told irreparable harm was done by excluding them. And what did the judge say? She couldn't see the economic harm, after all they'd taken all that money from the Saudis! There was no economic harm.

This is not the ABA. Or the WHL... Where demand exceeds supply. Where cities want teams and cannot get them. And despite certain names being led to these upstart leagues, mostly they're populated by those who couldn't make the big league. The AFL had better players, but once again, demand exceeded supply. Are people angry there are not enough golf tournaments? No! You can play in a major tournament around the world every weekend, sometimes two!

There's the European Tour and...

It costs a lot to play. Travel expenses are extremely high.

Then again, we're talking about an elite few. Not everybody can play sports at a major league level. And we can argue that the underlings, the wannabes, those in the farm team system, should be paid higher wages, but the issue in major sports leagues today is not that the pros, the stars, are not making enough money. LIV thought it could take the cream off the top and get the rest of the players and the PGA to cave.

So far it hasn't happened. Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have said no. As well as the PGA organization itself.

So I could blame Saudi Arabia for starting LIV... But it would have been nothing without the golfers. And it's not like they're unaware of LIV's sins. Phil Mickelson acknowledged them!

But all that money...

Then again, it used to be you couldn't make this much money. There weren't all these billionaires in America. Most people didn't even know the names of the rich, never mind admire them, never mind paying attention as their whims whipsawed America.

Yes, I'm talking about Elon. And Jeff Bezos. And Howard Schultz. The biggest pain in the rear end for Amazon and Starbucks is their employees, who want to unionize, for better pay and working conditions. These execs all have their billions, but the little people must suffer.

But most people admire these wankers.

And can't say no to the money.

And it's not only the lower class, but the middle class too. And it's not only about taking what's offered, but wanting ever lower taxes, no taxes at all. That's my money! The government is illegal! The government wastes money! When in truth everybody is sucking at the government tit 24/7. Driving on the road? Calling the police or the fire department? Asking for money in an environmental disaster? You rely on the government, EVERYBODY DOES!

And if you don't have money you get no respect.

And therefore, those with the most money win.

That's the world we now live in. An endless rat race. A greased pole that only a few can climb. The rest are told to play the lottery, which is all about money, the odds of winning are infinitesimal, it's a tax on the poor.

But the advantages are hyped, as opposed to the disadvantages.

And why do we have lotteries? To fill the government coffers that are reduced because people don't want to pay taxes. So the poor have to pay them. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz don't buy lottery tickets, believe me.

And Donald Trump hosted a LIV tournament at his course in New Jersey that the PGA stripped a major tournament from.

It's only corporations that have power these days. They're the only ones with enough money. They need to take a stand. As for the individual? You ain't got enough money to get your representatives' attention, they're all beholden to that big donor money. They just tell you to vote. But that doesn't usually work anyway. There's gerrymandering, lines at the ballot box, they're making it harder to vote so the minority can continue to rule. Meanwhile, the public shrugs. I mean I can't blame people for tuning out, the game is rigged against them. Like the corporations that insist you go to arbitration as opposed to court. All the attention is on trial lawyers, when in truth it's court cases, class actions, that keep the corporations in line. That's our tool.

But we can never win. The carried interest rule stays on the books, because Kyrsten Sinema took money from the fat cats and has to vote their way.

So the LIV golfers are just a symptom. And the PGA and Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are standing up for you!

Not that there's not enough money in golf anyway. The purses pale in comparison to the endorsement/sponsorship money.

So can I convince you to not take the money? To stop respecting the rich?

Balzac said that behind every great fortune lies a great crime. If you know any of the truly wealthy...you'll see this is often the case.

And just because people are smart in one vertical, their business, that does not mean they're smart in any other. And they say one thing and do another and...

Used to be you went to college to broaden your horizons, to learn how to analyze, to become a better citizen. Now? It's a value proposition that boils down to money. College is a glorified trade school. Parents want to know when kids graduate they'll get good jobs. What you learn? Who cares! Many of the jobs these graduates end up taking don't even require a college education. But that has become the ticket to entry. And everything is about the money.

And everybody wants their kid to go to an elite college for the relationships. But people think they're priced out, not realizing all the elite institutions are need blind, if you get in and don't have the cash, it's free!

Not that the rich want you to know this.

They just want to keep you down as they rape and pillage and gain ever more power.

Hell, unions have a bad name. Credit Ronald Reagan.

End result?

All the car companies moved to the south, to start over without unions. Foreign companies came to South Carolina, or Alabama, screw those who want better wages.

It all comes down to money, and someone has to blow the whistle.

It's not black and white, the PGA can be improved. But it must not be subsumed by a rich country trying to wash away its sins by supporting sports.

No way.

You should know. You should know so much more.

And you should think before you take that money. Because when you do, they own you. You can't say anything negative, you lose your freedom of speech. Oh, you can exercise it, but you're immediately excised.

The world is entrenched in a moral crisis. And it's all about money. That's how authoritarians gain power, it's always about the money. They demonize others, say they're taking your money...

But you can't even learn about the horror of authoritarians when "The Diary of Anne Frank" is banned from school shelves.

Someone has to stand up.

No, check that, to enact change, everybody has to stand up.

And it won't be the rich. Or those beholden to them. It will be about you, the rank and file. First be aware of what is going on. Second, stand up for truth, justice and the American way. Because we haven't had that spirit here since at least 1979, and our nation is worse for it.


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Ali Macofsky

I found her!

This is the woman I was writing about the other day, the one on TikTok.

I spent hours watching female comedians on the service and she never showed up. But scrolling today, while doing my back exercises, she appeared! Nearly instantly!

Her TikTok handle is: @notalimac I'm now following her. I don't want to lose her again.

So I'm watching her and usually when you come back to something that piqued your interest you're not in the same mood and it doesn't resonate. This happens all the time with music. You love a track, and then you come back and ask yourself WHAT WAS I THINKING? But in this case, Ali still resonated.

It's her voice.

I wrote that it was her deadpan delivery. But that doesn't accurately describe it. And the funny thing is people e-mailed me with suggestions, but none of them were her. I started to think she was a wannabe.

But she's a PRO!

Yes, she's appearing in comedy clubs, she's even traveling by bus! And that's a definitive threshold right there, whether you can go on the road. As for traveling by bus... You can't have a day job and do standup like this.

So I start looking at the statistics.

Ali has 108.4k followers on TikTok. Once you break 100k you're somebody. That's the threshold. Actually, I'd say it's a bit lower than that, around 65k. It's nearly impossible to get there. Used to be much easier, but today there's so much competition!

And Ali has 1.3 million likes. Pretty good.

But Ali only has 2,776 followers on Twitter. And that's better than your next door neighbor, but far from significant. And she hasn't given up like some do, she's still posting. And the dirty little secret of Twitter is almost no one sees what you tweet. So, if a tree falls in a forest...

Maybe Ali's generation is not on Twitter. After all, she's 26. And in truth, it's older people who inhabit Twitter.

And all those comedians who used to post on the short message service? They rarely do anymore. Some were funny, like Albert Brooks, but the return on investment was super-low.

Now Ali has 149k followers on Instagram. But most of the posts are static shots. Who wants to see pictures of a comedian? Talk about boring...

And Instagram gained traction long before TikTok.

But then I went to YouTube, where the rubber meets the road. And Ali's clip "Googling How to Orgasm" had 3,210,403 views. Now that's popular. That's for real. Once you hit seven figures you're way above the hoi polloi, you're established.

But then I saw it was on the Just For Laughs channel.

She's got a recent clip from Comedy Central that has 151,075 views. It's newer than the Just For Laughs one, but that's not great.

And then I went to Ali Macofsky's YouTube page and the first video was entitled "Farewell."

What?

Turns out Ali had a podcast. She's done 152. Most of the recent ones had around 2,000 views. Going back to the era of the pandemic, of lockdown, there were clips with bigger numbers, one with 6.4 thousand, about "Body Hair & Old Guys." Turns out those with erotic or dangerous topics, like cannibalism, did best. One even broke five figures (that's over 10,000 for the math-challenged). But the podcast is not building, numbers are actually a little worse now. So she gave up.

You think you want to start a podcast. The traction curve is near vertical. You ain't goin' nowhere, as Bob Dylan sang. I mean Ali's not starting from zero, and she couldn't make it happen.

There's just too much in the channel.

But her jokes, her standup?

Watch this one about body hair:

https://bit.ly/3pmkQvB

And this one about going to the pharmacy:

https://bit.ly/3Arwhsh

And this one about being a bald eagle:

https://bit.ly/3zUn3mI

And finally, one about her crazy mother:

https://bit.ly/3Aob6HA

I don't expect everybody to like the above clips. Hell, I don't expect everybody to watch them!

But many of those who do, will send back hate.

Ali addresses this:

https://bit.ly/3QRnJjV

It's demoralizing.

It's one thing to have talent, it's quite another to show it off, to get out there, to subject yourself to feedback.

So, Ali is a relative newbie on TikTok. And her standup clips are great, the ones just taken from life...are not as good.

And then Iliza Shlesinger is ranting about the Kardashians:

https://bit.ly/3QPPSYm

and:

https://bit.ly/3Arj96r

This is not comedy, this is anger. Iliza is standing up for the truth and she's so frustrated because she has little power, little effect against the tsunami of Kardashian B.S.

Yes, even with status, with specials, you're still not heard. You're still upset you don't reach more people.

This is what it's like trying to make it in show business today. And believe me, TikTok, as well as Instagram, are show business.

But I dig Ali Macofsky.

And I can own her.

Remember how it used to be in the sixties and seventies?

Maybe you don't. There was the mainstream and then the landscape was littered with the relatively unknown that you liked, paid attention to, bought, went to the show of, devoted yourself to...because they were good and you were part of a cult, not one of the mindless masses. However, if the act ever broke through to the big time you were happy, you knew everything about them, you'd helped them get there.

That's how I feel about Ali Macofsky.

There's definitely something there.

Is she the next Lenny Bruce? I don't even think she's the next Mrs. Maisel!

But if Ali hangs in there... She's got a point of view, and she's got the delivery down. You can see her development over the three years since that Just For Laughs clip.

I found Ali Macofsky on TikTok. No other outlet could have reached me with her. No other outlet even tried!

It's all about humanity. Feelings. Stuff too absent from music these days. But it's there in Ali Macofsky's standup, check it out!

https://www.tiktok.com/@notalimac


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Producers-This Week On SiriusXM

Who would you like to produce your record, living or dead.

Tune in today, August 16th, to Volume 106, 6 PM East, 3 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863 

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive  

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive 

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TikTok

You've got no choice.

That's what Prof G, i.e. Scott Galloway, said on his podcast.

There are two podcasts featuring Galloway. One is Pivot, with Kara Swisher, the other is The Prof G Pod, which is his alone. You can read about Galloway here: https://nyti.ms/3AoCZ2l

Scott is absent from the Pivot podcast this month, so don't tune in. The magic of Pivot is Scott's responses to Kara. Kara alone...she drop names and is so inside as to lose the plot too often. But Scott is on the ball. He called Elon/Twitter right.

In Galloway's Prof G podcast, which airs twice a week, just like Pivot, he answers questions. And a recent one was whether Twitter made a mistake shutting down Vine. Galloway thought so, but he ended up singing the praises, waxing rhapsodic about TikTok.

It's about the data points.

Scott said after a brief view Netflix only has a few. TikTok has hundreds! Watch just a little and the algorithm starts adjusting to serve you up what you want to see, even if you didn't know you wanted to see it. Like I keep getting golf shots on Instagram Reels, whose algorithm is nowhere near as good as TikTok's, and I've never ever liked a golf clip, don't follow any golfers, but I enjoy what is served up!

Now Scott said the average person takes ten minutes to choose what to watch on Netflix. Which kind of stunned me, since everybody I know seems to go by the algorithms, or what their friends say. I research much longer than ten minutes, because I don't want to waste any time watching lowbrow, boring, obvious television.

In other words, there's a barrier. What Scott calls a tax.

And there's none on TikTok. On TikTok you just launch the app and clips are served up. You get NO CHOICE!

This is exactly what we need in music. I've written about this before, and it got no traction then and it will get no traction now. There should be one track a week promoted by ALL streaming platforms. Or at least each platform should only have one. The Track of the Week. We'd all check it out. So we could talk about it! After all, everybody would be exposed to it. Would we like every track? OF COURSE NOT! But we'd check it out. Now many people don't check out new music whatsoever, it's too overwhelming.

Of course Spotify has Discover Weekly, a personalized algorithmic playlist, but I gave up on that, too many tuneouts. And Release Radar? The problem with algorithms is they can't see the facts. If it's a reissue, a remix, a remaster, IT'S NOT NEW! Sure, you want to make me aware, but it clutters up the flow and I don't listen.

Now you must know your TikTok thread is personalized to you, AND ONLY YOU!

And what that means is what you may be into, few others may be into.

Last night I got on a comedy jag. I was looking for this young, deadpan female comic who is really good. I hadn't followed her, which was a mistake, because I still haven't found her again.

And I found some good stuff, and then researched these comics, and some of their YouTube clips only had hundreds of views. A couple had thousands of views. And in terms of career traction, THAT'S NOWHERE!

I mean you've got to start somewhere. But the road to the top is longer than ever before. And concomitantly those at the top reach fewer people than ever before. So, if you're lucky you'll be able to give up your day job, AND MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE NOT!

And they don't understand the basic rules. QUALITY COUNTS! Do not post a TikTok clip with bad audio. Not only does the audience tune out, the algorithm sees you skipping their videos and...they're out of sight and out of mind! Quality is more important than frequency, remember that.

And the barrier to entry is NONEXISTENT!

This is music on steroids!

I mean it's simple to make a song and post it. You can buy the beats, Macs come with GarageBand... Whereas every other kind of entertainment on TikTok...requires much less history and much less talent. EVERYBODY knows how to talk, not everybody knows how to play an instrument, never mind write a song.

And in truth everybody knows crappy TikToks go nowhere. And TikTok is not about impressing your friends, but people in general. So why bother if you're not going to play for real?

And the level of innovation is mind-blowing. Sure, there are clichéd verticals, sex and beauty, but some people say the damndest things. You'll find more wisdom about relationships on TikTok than you will in a slew of self-help books, and they're BITE-SIZED!

And sure, special effects, trickery has an audience, but really it's just about the person/people in the clip. You may be good-looking, but do you have charisma? Are you wooden on screen? Can you connect with people?

TikTok is YouTube on steroids. Because there's no searching! Oh, you can search. But really, you just see what the algorithm delivers and go on your own personal hejira. There are very few tuneouts, and if you hit one and scroll past it, TIKTOK KNOWS!

TikTok is not pressuring you to watch anything. They just want you to watch period. Which means the same people on all the other social media platforms, the "winners," don't own all the airtime. They're competing with the nobodies for views, you can never rest on your laurels, and nobodies can go to the top with a single clip, even their first one!

As for the comedians...

I was stunned how many there are. I mean I lived through the comedy boom in the eighties. You'd think all these comedians on TikTok would be crummy, complete amateurs. But in reality, they're all professional. And some have hilarious jokes, that will get you chuckling even though you're alone. Whereas others will say stuff that you think is funny, but it doesn't stick with you.

Now I was mostly watching female comedians, looking for that one I'd seen previously. But there were some pros mixed in. Like Jimmy O. Yang, whose name I knew, I'd been exposed somewhere along the line, but I really didn't know his material.

It's the bit about the fortune cookie that kept me watching:

https://bit.ly/3Pi50g8

So I watched more Jimmy, he's a cut above. And he's got traction.

Not quite as good, from a relative nobody, who's funny, is Isabel Hagen:

https://bit.ly/3ph3Sib

I could post clip after clip, but I won't, I just want to say the more you watch the more you see who is a pro and who is close and needs better jokes. And then there are the ones who've carved out a career as actors, as voiceover artists, whose material is just not good enough to sustain them as a standup comic.

I don't even want to listen to the new music.

I mean mediocre music is intolerable, whereas mediocre jokes you can endure.

So you're now competing with the whole world. Not only those alive, but dead. And every individual only has a certain amount of attention. And multitasking has been proven to be a fraud, that's not how the brain works, either you're paying attention or you're not.

And you thought the road to success was hard before...it's so steep these days that four wheel drive won't get you there.

But at least you can expose your work for free and get started.

But when you hear all this crap about going viral on TikTok...

I'm beginning to think it's pure luck, you can't really make it happen. The company can push your track, but someone who is creative has to choose to use it and to make a great clip with it. Once again, only great works.

So if you're a musician...

Sure, the record companies can chase phenoms on TikTok...

But if you play music... Suddenly, you're not only competing against musicians, but seemingly everybody! They're all displaying their talent online. And most give up. But those who sustain...

This is not like the days of yore, where you could get by being mediocre in your own market because the big talent never came to town. No, now EVERYBODY comes to town. At least virtually.

The world is decomposing as we sit here. Becoming more and more individualized. We don't know where to turn, we don't know what to dedicate time to, and TikTok makes it all easy, IT CHOOSES FOR US!

As for the non-surfers, the non-users, pontificating negatively about TikTok, other than the Chinese data collection, I'm talking about the ones railing about misinformation...they don't realize there is no mainstream on TikTok, it's positively rural. A million hamlets and burgs, and there may not be a road from one to another.

But we all want to go on a journey.

If you haven't been hooked on TikTok, you just haven't used it.

You're interested in something. And however obscure that might be, there's someone talking about or doing it on TikTok. And all you need to do is surf. You don't need to do any looking, searching, contemplating...just live in the moment and entertainment will come your way.

This is the opposite of network TV.

TikTok is where the algorithm works.

But you can't beat the game like you can at Google or YouTube. It can't be wired. You can just dive in and create, or watch.

And the more you watch, the more depressed you will be if you're a creator. The competition is fierce, and winning the TikTok game, having a viral clip, does not mean you'll get a big, rich Hollywood contract.

Something is happening here.

And the more you use the platform the more it becomes clear.

But don't think clarity is just a few superstars at the top of the chart... NO WAY!


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