RE: Streaming Pays
You are absolutely right on this. My indie label has artists who we pay over a million dollars a year in streaming royalties. But more importantly, we have artists who we pay over $100,000 per year in streaming royalties....AS OPPOSED TO THE $5000 THAT I COULD PAY THEM ON CD SALES CAUSE THERE JUST WASN'T ROOM IN STORES FOR DEEP CATALOGUE.
That is a really important point because if the music resonates, despite the genre, streaming allows folks to find it, save it and share it. So artists whose music couldn't find an audience when limited to physical formats, now have a chance to find new fans! And some, but not all of the DSPs offer tools to allow us to build those audiences.
I sympathize with artists who can't get traction in the streaming world. But we spend every single day looking for and exploiting opportunities which we find at the DSPs (or in social media). It's really hard for folks (artists) who aren't following every single change at every DSP to keep up. And there will always be some indie artists whose music resonates quickly and get success. But for the most part, it comes down to what record companies/artist managers always did: artist development.
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Wednesday 8 May 2024
Tuesday 7 May 2024
Revival '69
Scroll down for trailer: http://www.chapmanproductions.ca/revival69
This is a fantastic movie. One that you will see if you were alive and conscious back in '69, and one you will see even if you were not. Because it contains John Lennon. When he took the stage my heart skipped a beat.
But it also shows how the music and the business used to be different. Two twentysomething concert promoters flying by the seat of their pants. They concoct an oldies festival and ticket sales tank but instead of canceling the show, they go to the head of the local motorcycle gang for the money, who appears all warm and fuzzy fifty five years later, and doesn't remember much, but he coughs up the dough.
And they're off to the races.
Only they're not. The 25k they got from the kingpin was for the Doors, but Jim Morrison got arrested for indecent exposure right after the deal was made and tickets still don't move.
So the local deejay said to fly in Rodney Bingenheimer and Kim Fowley to scare up business. But that doesn't work either.
This is not only the days before mobile phones, never mind smartphones, but faxes, everything was done by the landline. And the promoters are told the only way they can save the gig is by getting John Lennon.
Yeah, right.
Benefit shows are de rigueur these days. If you haven't been approached to play for free, you're not a star. But everybody on the inside knows the linchpin comes last, the superstar is not going to commit unless their fellow superstars are in. Then the dam falls.
But this Rock and Roll Revival is headlined by people playing clubs, they were stars once, but Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Gene Vincent and Little Richard are not a draw for the boomers now hooked on FM rock. Believe me, no one from that demo cared, these performers were oldsters who truly didn't get respect for at least another fifteen years. But John Lennon was older, these were his heroes.
So the promoter calls Apple.
Just imagine it, someone you don't know calling the Beatles' camp and his proffer being considered realistically, a pipe dream. Two nobodies from the Great White North are going to get John Lennon?
No one believes it, not CHUM radio, not even the outlaw biker.
But Lennon comes.
How do I know this? This was news back in '69. And ultimately there was an album, entitled "Live Peace in Toronto 1969," which was most notable for a version of "Cold Turkey," which got radio airplay. But in an era where you had to buy it to hear it, I didn't, but a friend did, and I listened. I can still see the cover in my mind's eye, the cloud in the sky.
But I had no idea there was footage.
Oh, they've combed the vaults for a zillion rock documentaries. Oftentimes giving them the imprimatur of life-changing when that's questionable at best, like "Summer of Soul," or even the recent "The Greatest Night in Pop." Both great flicks, worth seeing, but not the essence of rock and roll, they say they capture the zeitgeist, but they don't.
"Revival '69" does.
This is what young 'uns can't understand, how it used to be different. Not only were promoters young renegades, the acts were their contemporaries. Everybody was making it up as they went along. There was no VIP, food was hot dogs and popcorn. Hell, the music was enough. No production, just the act on stage. And watching this film you get it.
So there are two stories, the backstory, about putting on the concert, and the concert itself.
And the concert itself... Chuck Berry. This is not the bitter man of later years, sure, he's employing a pickup band, but he's smiling, he's into it. And up close and personal you can see how good-looking he is.
And there are no tape recorders on stage, never mind hard drives. Meaning the music is imperfect, which bothered no one back then, it was expected, we didn't want a movie, we wanted a one of a kind live experience, that lifted us into the stratosphere.
I saw Bo Diddley at a dance back in '66, with his square guitar, did not move me, I wanted to hear the cover band, which played a killer version of the Beatles' "I Want to Tell You."
Gene Vincent? He died in 1971. I don't think young 'uns even know who he is.
But Little Richard. Man, you get it. He won't go on stage until the lights are right. Because he understands it's showbiz, a performance, it's more than the music. As do all the performers. Their sheer will, along with the music, is employed to get the audience into the palm of their hands.
Little Richard has got his pompadour, and he hits the keys...
And I'll never get over that exposé on Jerry Lee Lewis in "Rolling Stone" back in the day, but people forgot the contents of that article and he was recast as being warm and fuzzy as opposed to a hothead who was dangerous. But this performance? Absolutely incredible. He comes on stage looking like he's ready for a golf tournament, he speaks with a Louisiana accent most attendees have never been exposed to, but when he tickles the ivories...
And then comes Lennon.
Oh, there's a bunch of fake gravitas at the end of the flick, saying Kim Fowley invented the tradition of holding up matches and lighters during a show, and that this is the gig that broke up the Beatles. Fowley had to get the idea from somewhere, then again if he were still here Kim would take credit, that's the kind of guy he was. And there was tension in the Beatles long before this gig. Then again, it's the first live gig for Lennon in so long, and it's solo. You get it, he doesn't have to worry about anybody else, he's the star, he's in control, and it's palpable how freeing that must have been.
But in any event, this was a Beatle on stage. Before "Abbey Road" was released. Before the band broke up. One cannot fathom how big the Beatles were unless you were there. Statistics don't tell the story. It was all about mind-set and mindshare. EVERYBODY knew the Beatles, and most everybody knew their songs. It was a phenomenon, it was mania, and to have a Beatle live and in person right in front of you on stage? That's equivalent to seeing God.
And this was back when we still believed. I must say, watching Mick Jagger on stage at Jazzfest... I mean come on, you're 80, can't you act your age? Instead of dieting down to nothing, working out and moving like you did fifty years ago? We aged, why can't you? Mick's frozen in time.
But he's not the only one. It's a rare musician who is not. Bowie tried, and let's be clear, not everything he did resonated with the audience. Do you remember Tin Machine? Did you even listen to Tin Machine?
People have success and they're afraid to change, and they end up becoming caricatures. I hate to say it, but Trump is a bigger rock star than anybody making music today. Because he does what he wants and thinks the rules don't apply to him, like all the stars of yore. They were beacons, against a hypocritical, moribund society. No, don't see this as an endorsement, but one can analyze and see truth. Kind of like Jon Stewart at the Greek Theatre on Friday night:
"'I know liberals say, "Don't say Joe Biden is old" — don't say what people see with their own eyes! You can say it, he can't hear us,' he joked. I know you know how f*cking old he is, and I know you don't want to say it because Trump is so scary, but he's so f*cking old,' Stewart said, adding, 'When you watch him on television, you're nervous, aren't ya? '"
"'I'm not saying that Biden can't contribute to society, he just shouldn't be president,' Stewart continued, acknowledging that Trump is just as old, but commenting that his supporters don't live in reality, and he can lie his way out of most things."
That's how bad it's gotten, you can't even speak truth. My inbox is going to go wild now, you can't go against the team. But that was the thing about the rockers of yore, each was an individual beholden to no one, they did what they felt, what they wanted to, and that's why we believed in them.
And the music.
Now how many times have you seen "Woodstock"?
Certainly more than once. And you're going to watch "Revival '69" more than once. At least once it hits the flat screen. It opens on June 28th. Will you go to the theatre to see it? People won't even go see "Fall Guy" in the theatre, and that's got Ryan Gosling and good reviews!
Yes, lockdown is in the rearview mirror. It killed magazines, "Rolling Stone" is monthly and marginal, behind a paywall. "Businessweek" went from weekly to monthly, "Entertainment Weekly" stopped publishing all together. I've stopped renewing my magazines, I've been burned too many times when they've gone out of business, or become digital only.
The theatre is passé, expensive appointment viewing of cartoons that don't move the culture? Hell, the roast of Tom Brady on Netflix had more cultural impact than "Fall Guy," than almost any recent picture, because it was raucous and real.
But it wasn't rock and roll.
And it certainly wasn't John Lennon. Who showed up in Toronto on a whim. Even Allen Klein his manager said he wasn't coming, after all, wouldn't he know?
The truth is we all knew back then. If you wanted to know which way the wind blew you turned on the radio and listened to a record. And if you wanted the ultimate visceral experience you went to see your favorite acts live.
And this film documents all that.
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This is a fantastic movie. One that you will see if you were alive and conscious back in '69, and one you will see even if you were not. Because it contains John Lennon. When he took the stage my heart skipped a beat.
But it also shows how the music and the business used to be different. Two twentysomething concert promoters flying by the seat of their pants. They concoct an oldies festival and ticket sales tank but instead of canceling the show, they go to the head of the local motorcycle gang for the money, who appears all warm and fuzzy fifty five years later, and doesn't remember much, but he coughs up the dough.
And they're off to the races.
Only they're not. The 25k they got from the kingpin was for the Doors, but Jim Morrison got arrested for indecent exposure right after the deal was made and tickets still don't move.
So the local deejay said to fly in Rodney Bingenheimer and Kim Fowley to scare up business. But that doesn't work either.
This is not only the days before mobile phones, never mind smartphones, but faxes, everything was done by the landline. And the promoters are told the only way they can save the gig is by getting John Lennon.
Yeah, right.
Benefit shows are de rigueur these days. If you haven't been approached to play for free, you're not a star. But everybody on the inside knows the linchpin comes last, the superstar is not going to commit unless their fellow superstars are in. Then the dam falls.
But this Rock and Roll Revival is headlined by people playing clubs, they were stars once, but Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Gene Vincent and Little Richard are not a draw for the boomers now hooked on FM rock. Believe me, no one from that demo cared, these performers were oldsters who truly didn't get respect for at least another fifteen years. But John Lennon was older, these were his heroes.
So the promoter calls Apple.
Just imagine it, someone you don't know calling the Beatles' camp and his proffer being considered realistically, a pipe dream. Two nobodies from the Great White North are going to get John Lennon?
No one believes it, not CHUM radio, not even the outlaw biker.
But Lennon comes.
How do I know this? This was news back in '69. And ultimately there was an album, entitled "Live Peace in Toronto 1969," which was most notable for a version of "Cold Turkey," which got radio airplay. But in an era where you had to buy it to hear it, I didn't, but a friend did, and I listened. I can still see the cover in my mind's eye, the cloud in the sky.
But I had no idea there was footage.
Oh, they've combed the vaults for a zillion rock documentaries. Oftentimes giving them the imprimatur of life-changing when that's questionable at best, like "Summer of Soul," or even the recent "The Greatest Night in Pop." Both great flicks, worth seeing, but not the essence of rock and roll, they say they capture the zeitgeist, but they don't.
"Revival '69" does.
This is what young 'uns can't understand, how it used to be different. Not only were promoters young renegades, the acts were their contemporaries. Everybody was making it up as they went along. There was no VIP, food was hot dogs and popcorn. Hell, the music was enough. No production, just the act on stage. And watching this film you get it.
So there are two stories, the backstory, about putting on the concert, and the concert itself.
And the concert itself... Chuck Berry. This is not the bitter man of later years, sure, he's employing a pickup band, but he's smiling, he's into it. And up close and personal you can see how good-looking he is.
And there are no tape recorders on stage, never mind hard drives. Meaning the music is imperfect, which bothered no one back then, it was expected, we didn't want a movie, we wanted a one of a kind live experience, that lifted us into the stratosphere.
I saw Bo Diddley at a dance back in '66, with his square guitar, did not move me, I wanted to hear the cover band, which played a killer version of the Beatles' "I Want to Tell You."
Gene Vincent? He died in 1971. I don't think young 'uns even know who he is.
But Little Richard. Man, you get it. He won't go on stage until the lights are right. Because he understands it's showbiz, a performance, it's more than the music. As do all the performers. Their sheer will, along with the music, is employed to get the audience into the palm of their hands.
Little Richard has got his pompadour, and he hits the keys...
And I'll never get over that exposé on Jerry Lee Lewis in "Rolling Stone" back in the day, but people forgot the contents of that article and he was recast as being warm and fuzzy as opposed to a hothead who was dangerous. But this performance? Absolutely incredible. He comes on stage looking like he's ready for a golf tournament, he speaks with a Louisiana accent most attendees have never been exposed to, but when he tickles the ivories...
And then comes Lennon.
Oh, there's a bunch of fake gravitas at the end of the flick, saying Kim Fowley invented the tradition of holding up matches and lighters during a show, and that this is the gig that broke up the Beatles. Fowley had to get the idea from somewhere, then again if he were still here Kim would take credit, that's the kind of guy he was. And there was tension in the Beatles long before this gig. Then again, it's the first live gig for Lennon in so long, and it's solo. You get it, he doesn't have to worry about anybody else, he's the star, he's in control, and it's palpable how freeing that must have been.
But in any event, this was a Beatle on stage. Before "Abbey Road" was released. Before the band broke up. One cannot fathom how big the Beatles were unless you were there. Statistics don't tell the story. It was all about mind-set and mindshare. EVERYBODY knew the Beatles, and most everybody knew their songs. It was a phenomenon, it was mania, and to have a Beatle live and in person right in front of you on stage? That's equivalent to seeing God.
And this was back when we still believed. I must say, watching Mick Jagger on stage at Jazzfest... I mean come on, you're 80, can't you act your age? Instead of dieting down to nothing, working out and moving like you did fifty years ago? We aged, why can't you? Mick's frozen in time.
But he's not the only one. It's a rare musician who is not. Bowie tried, and let's be clear, not everything he did resonated with the audience. Do you remember Tin Machine? Did you even listen to Tin Machine?
People have success and they're afraid to change, and they end up becoming caricatures. I hate to say it, but Trump is a bigger rock star than anybody making music today. Because he does what he wants and thinks the rules don't apply to him, like all the stars of yore. They were beacons, against a hypocritical, moribund society. No, don't see this as an endorsement, but one can analyze and see truth. Kind of like Jon Stewart at the Greek Theatre on Friday night:
"'I know liberals say, "Don't say Joe Biden is old" — don't say what people see with their own eyes! You can say it, he can't hear us,' he joked. I know you know how f*cking old he is, and I know you don't want to say it because Trump is so scary, but he's so f*cking old,' Stewart said, adding, 'When you watch him on television, you're nervous, aren't ya? '"
"'I'm not saying that Biden can't contribute to society, he just shouldn't be president,' Stewart continued, acknowledging that Trump is just as old, but commenting that his supporters don't live in reality, and he can lie his way out of most things."
That's how bad it's gotten, you can't even speak truth. My inbox is going to go wild now, you can't go against the team. But that was the thing about the rockers of yore, each was an individual beholden to no one, they did what they felt, what they wanted to, and that's why we believed in them.
And the music.
Now how many times have you seen "Woodstock"?
Certainly more than once. And you're going to watch "Revival '69" more than once. At least once it hits the flat screen. It opens on June 28th. Will you go to the theatre to see it? People won't even go see "Fall Guy" in the theatre, and that's got Ryan Gosling and good reviews!
Yes, lockdown is in the rearview mirror. It killed magazines, "Rolling Stone" is monthly and marginal, behind a paywall. "Businessweek" went from weekly to monthly, "Entertainment Weekly" stopped publishing all together. I've stopped renewing my magazines, I've been burned too many times when they've gone out of business, or become digital only.
The theatre is passé, expensive appointment viewing of cartoons that don't move the culture? Hell, the roast of Tom Brady on Netflix had more cultural impact than "Fall Guy," than almost any recent picture, because it was raucous and real.
But it wasn't rock and roll.
And it certainly wasn't John Lennon. Who showed up in Toronto on a whim. Even Allen Klein his manager said he wasn't coming, after all, wouldn't he know?
The truth is we all knew back then. If you wanted to know which way the wind blew you turned on the radio and listened to a record. And if you wanted the ultimate visceral experience you went to see your favorite acts live.
And this film documents all that.
--
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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Mailbag
From: Steve Hopkins
Subject: Re: Already Forgotten? Playlist
Hey Bob,
Did you create a Spotify playlist for these? Did I overlook it? Can't find a link on your blog or in Spotify search.
Thx!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lwOLJKFwbMulv00CinQza?si=c5441594844c4f3b
____________________________________________
From: Dan Stuart
Subject: RE: Streaming Pays
Hey Bob,
This has been happening for years. In August of 2020, Kobalt's founder/CEO Willard Ahdritz was quoted as saying "hundreds of AWAL artists have made this $100,000 annual revenue earning very quickly with us" in this MBW article: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/hundreds-of-artists-are-now-earning-100k-per-year-via-kobalts-awal/. (Kobalt owned AWAL in 2020.)
It should be no surprise to learn that there's a long and growing list of artists who own their sound recordings and generate 3,000,000+ streams per month (a rough benchmark to net $100k/year). I'm lucky enough to know the names of dozens of these artists and, guess what(?), most of their music is excellent!
For independent artists who are truly making high-quality music (capable of resonating with a reasonable chunk of the public), and who understand how to build and maintain connections with fans in the current world we live in, there are multiple paths to earning a good living (and more).
The renaissance of the music business is well underway, and has been for about ten years.
Dan Stuart
____________________________________________
From: CHRIS LONG MGMT
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays
The artists who get streams get paid. I managed one who - 20 years after their debut album- still has 4 million+ monthly listeners on streaming platforms. We had to do a forensic audit of their first album - the huge one- and since that lp has been considered re-couped for 17 years now the band earns several hundred thousand from publishing and a lot but less from the label each year.
I interact with 100's of unsigned/indie artists per month who just do not get that in order to earn people have to care enough to listen a lot more than 10k times to one song.
When you break it down to them- and compare the pool of money that goes to artists per stream to how radio stations pay a % of their advertising income to every song spin .... they start to rage about how radio is fixed-- something that is now a lot harder to argue with.
But a large % of these people who think that they should be making $.01-$.10 per stream from folks paying $11 a month- or listening for free with ads- from streaming services- make terrible music. The talented ones- for the most part- get it. Not all of them- but I rarely run across a really talented person who is "protesting" streaming services by only having a bandcamp page. Sure- great artists have them too but it seems only the whiners just use that platform.
Someone has to be the boogeyman that is preventing them from realizing their dreams. It used to be A&R guys and radio stations- now it is streaming platforms. And judging from the scuttlebutt in the circles where I meet these artists AI is lining up to be the next machine that they will rage against. Even though they can all get amazing looking AI videos made for $200- sometimes less- for each minute of the song.
Chris Long
Los Angeles
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays
Your article is 100% correct. It's supply and demand. If consumers want the artists' music, they will consume it. But at 60,000+ independent song uploads a day, we now seem to have more artists than fans. The artists who focus on marketing and promotion do far better than the artists who just throw their music out there and hope to become famous overnight. Someone somewhere must be lying to artists and telling them that their talent is enough. It ain't. Talent is very easy to find. Work ethic coupled with talent is much harder to find. That's who is making money in music.
--
Wendy Day
Rap Coalition
____________________________________________
From: Tim Halperin
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays
Bingo Bob. I'm one of the 2,000 (though not with the Orchard as they take way too high of a commission). I'm with Distrokid, who takes 0%. A decade ago while everyone was complaining about streaming, I had lunch with a friend who worked at Capitol and he informed me that they'd hired 2 full-time employees to solely focus on Spotify playlisting. So I decided it'd probably be worth my while to focus on connecting with users who had large playlists. Turned out that was the right move...I ended up in Spotify editorial playlists as a result. It seems to me that usually when tectonic shifts occur, opportunities are out there. Maybe I'm biased since I'm in this group, but I believe there's never been a larger middle class in music, and I kinda love flying just under the radar.
____________________________________________
From: Steve Lukather
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays/ personal mail
Streaming is the best thing to happen to our band!!
Africa is 2.2 Billion now and our other hits will get there. 66 Million a month with more to come.
I/We Love Spotify.
It pays to manage yourself if you are a classic rock bands. Period!
Luke
____________________________________________
From: Jim Griffin
Subject: RE: Universal/TikTok Settlement
As the Teamsters would tell the newspaper owners, "Them papers ain't gotly no wheels."
Shortly after a strike began, newsstands selling scab papers were firebombed. Soon no papers were getting out.
The wheels have the juice, the power. Same with music -- it ain't got no wheels.
Distribution is King. Universal once owned music distribution. No more.
The juice is gone. No power! No wheels! Cannot reach the audience ... TikTok owns the crowd.
Taylor knows it. Jim Urie knew it. Lucien has learned the lesson.
Jim
____________________________________________
From: ed harris
Subject: Re: Cigarettes After Sex (The Band's Manager)
Hi Bob,
I'm the band's manager and I've followed your letter since 2002 when my manager Gary Kurfirst used to send my band excerpts of your writings as one point of view on the crisis the music industry was experiencing at that time.
With Cigarettes After Sex the same thing that happened on Tik Tok during the pandemic also happened globally on You Tube in 2015. The fans made the music their own. The band is doing MSG level venues all over the world now. In many places where there's been very little a label can even do to market a record. There's a lot more that you've missed including the emails I sent you about them back in 2016 and 2018. But I figured I'd be seeing you do a piece on them eventually as they are your dream come true in terms of how their success has come about. And you're pretty spot on for the information you have. But it's much much deeper than what's happened since the Tik Tok explosion.
Ed
____________________________________________
From: Allison Moorer
Subject: Re: Michael Cuscuna
Dear Bob,
I have never written to you before, but felt compelled to shout an amen to your piece on "Give it Up."
I was about 15 when I first heard Ms. Raitt in 1988. I found out about her through my older sister, the singer and songwriter Shelby Lynne, who'd found her through a friend who'd discovered Bonnie in real time, in the early 1970s. When I heard her voice, her songs, and realized she was a player, some huge pieces of the musical puzzle fell into place for me. Without going into the minutiae of why, I discovered Bonnie Raitt as a vital missing link between my country music raising and what I was being drawn to as a questioning and tiny bit rebellious teenager — more confessional lyrics, more intimacy in the way the vocals were recorded, and a graceful rawness that was allowed to exist on albums that contained zero filler material. It wasn't entertainment, it was real expression. I woke up to the concept of a singer-songwriter because of Bonnie Raitt. Overestimating her importance to legions of female roots singers and musicians would be difficult. She has always been the coolest person in the room.
I can play "Give it Up" in my mind too. I can hear the earthy guitar tones and even the bass flub at about 3:04 on Nothing Seems to Matter right when she's singing about being out there on the road. I'm not one of those people who complains about forward movement in music, or believes that rawness equals goodness because it doesn't, but the details that you mention are the ones that make a record stick with you. It's the human element that always hooks us, because we're always looking for ourselves in art, and the best art helps us connect our pieces. "Give it Up" showed us there was a space in between Carole King and the blues.
Thanks for doing what you do.
Allison Moorer
Nashville, TN
____________________________________________
From: Paul Rappaport
Subject: Re: Re-Taylor Swift Backlash
Often I tell young artists there is "old school," and there is THE SCHOOL. Yes, the music business is different today and we all have to adjust. But, SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE, especially when it comes to human nature. During my days at Columbia we often talked about resting an artist to make sure there would always be a demand. When we didn't pay attention to our own words, i.e. THE SCHOOL, it came back to bite us in the ass.
Such was the case with Men at Work. They were huge, EVERYONE loved them—their music and their videos. But on the heels of their breakthrough album, videos, and tour we rushed release a second album. Before we knew it there were "No Men at Work" weekends on radio and it was downhill from there. We couldn't even get traction on Colin Hay's wonderful solo album Looking for Jack because of said backlash. And, Colin Hay is one of the best artists to arrive in the 80's. He still tours and is a blast to see.
Often when artists reach fame on the level of Taylor Swift they fire their managers, think they know it all, and live in a bubble full of YES men and woman. I suspect that Taylor manages whoever is pretending to manage her now.
THE SCHOOL dictates to all performers from years ago to the present. Whatever kind of show you are doing, edit it, make it crisp, and leave them wanting more. Perhaps in our new era artists down times can't be as long as back in the day, but downtimes are essential and I am not surprised at the backlash. And PS. What else does THE SCHOOL teach us? When you get to the top that's when everyone starts shooting at you. That means you have to be extra careful.
They say a sports manager has to manage different during the season, the playoffs, and for a championship. It's clear that NO ONE is managing Taylor to help her through these inevitable times. She would be wise to seek advice from someone from the "old school" who also knows THE SCHOOL.
Paul Rappaport
____________________________________________
From: Bradley Parker
Subject: Re: Soft Festivals?
Bob,
I always enjoy your perspective. Writing to you from my flight as I head to Charleston, SC for my second festival of the year for our busy C3 team before getting ready to spend a few weeks on The Farm in Manchester, TN for Bonnaroo.
Our industry is in a very interesting period at the moment. I was just discussing the other day the unique issues that brands like Lolla, Bonnaroo, Coachella and ACL face that most festivals never get the chance to, and that is they have successfully cycled through an entire if not multiple generations of fan. The list of 20+ year festivals these days is a short one. In order to survive these brands have had to adapt. Bonnaroo's name literally comes from a French-creole slang term meaning "the best in the streets". In 2004 the best in the streets was the likes of Phish, Dave Matthews, Radiohead, etc. We now have to pivot to service a new fan to which the definition of "the best in the streets" is much different. Not to say the artists I mentioned aren't still relevant but the fan that got us through the first 20 years is NOT the fan that will get us through the next 20 years. It's just the reality of aging and growing up.
What a unique and special problem to have.
I do agree with you that we've seen increasing success on our more "boutique" festivals with more narrowed and thematic programming. Next weekend our High Water festival is essentially sold out for the 5th time in its 6th iteration. Noah Kahan and Hozier are our headliners. A home run pitch right down the middle for a certain fan. When we "overserve" a fan in a certain lane it's proven to pay its dividends.
So what does that mean for these multigenre giants? Well , personally I sit on calls every day trying to figure that out.
Could you create one of these megafests in today's festival economy? Absolutely not.
But there is something to the legacy of these shows and the brand affinity that has seemingly passed on from fan to fan over the years.
For now;
Adapt. Survive. Advance.
Hope to cross paths soon!
Cheers,
Bradley Parker
Festival Director
C3 Presents
____________________________________________
From: Joseph Bongiovi
Subject: Re: Musicares
Hi Bob, (Love saying that re: Bob Newhart, who I manage),
Yes, the evening was amazing and gratifying and the performances where stellar to say the least.
One little known fact. 45 years ago an unknown kid named John Bongiovi was the front man for a band called Atlantic City Expressway, playing Springsteen and The Jukes songs for the New Jersey faithful. One Sunday evening at the Fastlane in Asbury Park, The Boss decided to come see them and jumped on stage to sing The Promised Land with Jon and the band. I was there and it was mind-blowing for us all. So they both decided 45 years was long enough to wait to do it again.
Thanks for always keeping it real.
Joseph Bongiovi?Monarch Entertainment Group?
____________________________________________
From: "Michael T. Strickland"
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Tribute At The Hollywood Bowl
Bob,
Sorry I missed you at the show. I didn't see you backstage, but it was crowded.This was the end of 38 years of working with Jimmy for me. I was at the Superdome with Garth on Labor Day when Jimmy passed. It left me breathless. I knew it was imminent, but simply didn't belive it.
A world without Jimmy was not possible. Until it was.
Most of us have been in denial since Labor Day. It was not real. Until last night.
It was indeed a great night and a wonderful celebration in the manner Jimmy wanted. He was smiling, I am sure.
Seeing Mac and the amazing Coral Reefer Band deliver the hits was pitch perfect. But there was a hole center stage. Jimmy.
Last night it became real for those of us that worked with Jimmy for years. He was simply beyond description, and now he is gone.
I was numb and silent all night. Slowly, song by song, the wave rolled over me. Jimmy is gone. But, he will never really be gone, as he lives on in his amazing music and lifestyle.
I spent four loney days in a brown LA haze, but come Monday, it'll be alright.
God Bless Jimmy Buffett.
Michael T Strickland
Bandit Lites
____________________________________________
From: Mike Ramos
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Tribute At The Hollywood Bowl
Thank you Bob for recognizing Mac McAnally, who was the musical director last night and really pulled everything together. Together with his co-daddy Mike Utley (their Coral Reefer children are married to each other), they ran Jimmy's band for many years and definitely deserve adulation for their commitment to Jimmy, his music and the Parrot Head community. I was lucky enough to ride the same wave with Jimmy Buffett for 35 years as his right hand man, travel companion, surf buddy and tour manager. After four months of piecing this show together, I'm pretty sure Jimmy has a big smile on his face looking down on us after last night's show. It was proof (not that anyone needed it) that Jimmy was loved by so many people from artists to actors to managers, agents and talent executives. Jimmy has left an indelible mark in the entertainment world and all of us, in memory of the way he lived, should strive to "keep the party going."
Mike Ramos
Jimmy Buffett Tribute Concert Producer
Coral Reefer Band Tour Manager
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Tribute At The Hollywood Bowl
I started working for Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman at Front Line Management in 1979. For the next four decades after 1982, Howard ran the ship. Throughout that time, Jimmy Buffett's day-to-day manager was Nina Avramides. She was there before me. She was invaluable to Jimmy's career. Anyone who knew HK Management, knew this to be true. Jimmy's death was an especially great loss to Nina. She passed away two months ago. The memorial service was last Friday.
In addition to Jimmy, she also handled the day-to-day management of Dan Fogelberg, Whitesnake, Coverdale/Page, The Cult and many others.
She was a rare and treasured executive and friend, very loved by all who knew and worked with her.
I'm sure she also would have loved last night's concert.
RIP Howard, Jimmy and Nina.
Laurie Gorman
____________________________________________
From: Jack Tempchin
Subject: Steve Poltz
Great interview.
A lot of the questions were trying to determine why he has such a gigantic fanatic worldwide audience without ever having a hit record.
Well, the answer is..his live show. It's who he is. The energy is unbelievable.
I've seen everybody and his solo show is so unique and amazing.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SOLO ACT ANYTHING LIKE STEVE POLTZ.
Nobody has.
You have to see it to believe it.
thanks
Jack Tempchin
____________________________________________
From: Steve Weiss
Subject: Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Holy crap weird Al's Albuquerque is based on one of this guys songs??? I paused the podcast to listen to Dicks automotive on Spotify and I'm laughing out loud on the sidewalk.
Made my day.
____________________________________________
Subject: Steve Poltz was fascinating!
Thanks for great interview. What a personality. Frankly I had never heard of him before.
Derek Morris
____________________________________________
From: Pharper24
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Loved it! What a character! Thanks to Steve for the laughs and the lessons.
____________________________________________
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
What a life, what a total dude and what an episode!!! Awesome stuff.
Ben Webster
____________________________________________
From: MARK LAFOND
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
I was a fan before hearing this interview but now my fandom ( if that's a word) is over the top.
I'm fortunate to be able to see him in a couple of weeks!
____________________________________________
From: Colleen Wainwright
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Yaaaaaaaaay, Steve Poltz!!!!
One of the top-10 live shows I've ever seen. Leaves NOTHING on that stage—nothing!
____________________________________________
From: Mike Vial
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
"National treasure."
Well said, Bob. Seeing Steve Poltz one time turns a music fan into a Poltz fan. A songwriter seeing him once—forever changed.
When I saw him live at Folk Alliance, maybe ten years ago, I had no idea how much the show, from story to song, could be done by one person.
I'm so excited to listen to finish your interview with him. "The stories are like tortillas you nail to a wall, mold grows on them—that's the stories." I'm chuckling. Then the "bath" story. I'm spitting out my pop, full belly laughs.
Thanks, Steve: I needed to laugh today after a long day at work.
Vial
____________________________________________
From: Regan Rath
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Bob!! You nailed it!! Poltz has been one of my favorite humans on this planet ever since the first time I saw him do his "thing" in San Diego back in 1997. He's a true one of a kind, and your interview style - giving him the space and room to run with his stories - proved to be the perfect catalyst for the gems you were able to uncover. Thank you for getting his Poltzian-goodness out to the masses! Everyone's life will be a little better once they experience the wonder of SJJP!
Regan Rath
____________________________________________
From: Mickey Quase
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
He IS the best entertainment experience out there---and he is Out There -- hope you know his spoken word piece about he and his sister bicycling to the airport and meeting Elvis.
In a league of his own.
Greetings from Nova Scotia where Poltz can sell out any number of shows he can squeeze into the Carleton every year.
cheers
Mickey Quase
____________________________________________
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Just saw Steve at the Kent stage. Riveting authentic performance. He will be playing Oregon country fair this summer the weekend after the high sierra festival. Country fair will eat him up like candy
Bliss,
Brento
____________________________________________
From: Tim Hallam
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
I have probably seen Steve Poltz in Australia on 15 of his 22 tours.
Absent music, your podcast captured the essence of a Steve poltz show, part stand up comedy, part story telling, part seeing a man spiral in and out of insanity.
I've seen him create songs from scratch on stage based on a line from the crows, ive seen him play answering machine messages from his phone, ive seen him call his father from the stage, you never know what you are going to get from one show to another, but you always know he will have the small crowd eating out of his hand in whatever club he is playing
Once i was travelling Sydney to Melbourne on a plane with my 4 yo daughter, whose favourite song was Kicking Distance (yes, I did and still buy CDs from his merch table). At the seat in front of us was Steve and his agent (Milan?). I said "Steve, i saw you last night at the Basement, this is my daughter, her favourite song is Kicking distance". The smile on his face was something to behold, and on his next tour he remembered me and called me "plane guy"
The world needs to be exposed to Steve Poltz, but I think he will remain the insiders wonderful little secret
Thanks for the interview, it was great!
Tim
____________________________________________
From: Mike Campbell
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Hey Bob,
I've been booking Steve Poltz for almost 20 years now. Just finished listening to your podcast with him and have to say it was great! You did an excellent job of getting the good stories out of him and I even heard a couple I hadn't heard before, and that's saying something! Thanks for sharing the Spotlight and one of the most criminally under-appreciated artists on this or any other planet.
Mike Campbell
Programming Director
The Carleton
____________________________________________
From: KC Turner Presents
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Loving your Steve Poltz episode.
Thank you for supporting him and getting him to really open up!
Cheers,
KC Turner
Founder | CEO
KC Turner Presents LLC
____________________________________________
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
My old band Ghoulspoon came up at the same time in the same San Diego music scene as Steve but we ran in different circles. We played with Jewel and all of the other bands he mentioned, but never got a chance to hang with Steve. I had always heard how talented and funny he was, but had no idea what I was missing until listening to this episode today!
He may be the most entertaining guest in history.
But how did you not ask follow up questions to the Elvis and Joe Strummer stories?!
Keep em comin'.
—
Zach Goode
Smash Mouth
____________________________________________
From: Ronald Hill
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Steve has been my favorite current artist for a long time. When I started getting into creating music seriously he was a great inspiration as his music is quirky like mine and I love the fact that he is still kicking ass and writing great songs at an older age. And he is in the top 1% of people that are so positive and great at bringing people together. One of the only acts where I have seen him twice in a week and he did entirely different songs.
You are right: a national treasure.
____________________________________________
From: Phil Einsohn
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
listening now
1:22 in and wishing it would never end
love hearing his stories
living legend!
____________________________________________
From: Milan Crncevic
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Hi Bob,
Listening to this at 6am from Australia.
I'm not even halfway through the episode and I don't want it to end.
Despite being insane, Steve's amazing!
(So far) your deep dive has been fantastic, the perfect questions to learn about a loveable madman like Steve
Can we get a weekly Lefsetz and Poltz podcast? This is addictive ??
Best,
Milan
____________________________________________
From: Dan Navarro
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Steve is the fricking bomb. My first encounter with him was at Folk Alliance maybe 2007. We met, and I said, "Female singers been bery bery good to us." He shot back, "Yeah, but I'll bet you didn't get to f*** yours on the beach in Rosarito!"
Mic drop.
____________________________________________
From: steve poltz
Subject: This might make ya smile
After I did your podcast I thought it would be cool to combine the magic mushrooms story with a John Prine story. Otis Gibbs filmed it for his YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LbBat-ILXA
Hope it makes Sir Lefsetz laugh.
Love you and you are my best friend.
Yer pal,
Steve p
Subject: Re: Already Forgotten? Playlist
Hey Bob,
Did you create a Spotify playlist for these? Did I overlook it? Can't find a link on your blog or in Spotify search.
Thx!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lwOLJKFwbMulv00CinQza?si=c5441594844c4f3b
____________________________________________
From: Dan Stuart
Subject: RE: Streaming Pays
Hey Bob,
This has been happening for years. In August of 2020, Kobalt's founder/CEO Willard Ahdritz was quoted as saying "hundreds of AWAL artists have made this $100,000 annual revenue earning very quickly with us" in this MBW article: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/hundreds-of-artists-are-now-earning-100k-per-year-via-kobalts-awal/. (Kobalt owned AWAL in 2020.)
It should be no surprise to learn that there's a long and growing list of artists who own their sound recordings and generate 3,000,000+ streams per month (a rough benchmark to net $100k/year). I'm lucky enough to know the names of dozens of these artists and, guess what(?), most of their music is excellent!
For independent artists who are truly making high-quality music (capable of resonating with a reasonable chunk of the public), and who understand how to build and maintain connections with fans in the current world we live in, there are multiple paths to earning a good living (and more).
The renaissance of the music business is well underway, and has been for about ten years.
Dan Stuart
____________________________________________
From: CHRIS LONG MGMT
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays
The artists who get streams get paid. I managed one who - 20 years after their debut album- still has 4 million+ monthly listeners on streaming platforms. We had to do a forensic audit of their first album - the huge one- and since that lp has been considered re-couped for 17 years now the band earns several hundred thousand from publishing and a lot but less from the label each year.
I interact with 100's of unsigned/indie artists per month who just do not get that in order to earn people have to care enough to listen a lot more than 10k times to one song.
When you break it down to them- and compare the pool of money that goes to artists per stream to how radio stations pay a % of their advertising income to every song spin .... they start to rage about how radio is fixed-- something that is now a lot harder to argue with.
But a large % of these people who think that they should be making $.01-$.10 per stream from folks paying $11 a month- or listening for free with ads- from streaming services- make terrible music. The talented ones- for the most part- get it. Not all of them- but I rarely run across a really talented person who is "protesting" streaming services by only having a bandcamp page. Sure- great artists have them too but it seems only the whiners just use that platform.
Someone has to be the boogeyman that is preventing them from realizing their dreams. It used to be A&R guys and radio stations- now it is streaming platforms. And judging from the scuttlebutt in the circles where I meet these artists AI is lining up to be the next machine that they will rage against. Even though they can all get amazing looking AI videos made for $200- sometimes less- for each minute of the song.
Chris Long
Los Angeles
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays
Your article is 100% correct. It's supply and demand. If consumers want the artists' music, they will consume it. But at 60,000+ independent song uploads a day, we now seem to have more artists than fans. The artists who focus on marketing and promotion do far better than the artists who just throw their music out there and hope to become famous overnight. Someone somewhere must be lying to artists and telling them that their talent is enough. It ain't. Talent is very easy to find. Work ethic coupled with talent is much harder to find. That's who is making money in music.
--
Wendy Day
Rap Coalition
____________________________________________
From: Tim Halperin
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays
Bingo Bob. I'm one of the 2,000 (though not with the Orchard as they take way too high of a commission). I'm with Distrokid, who takes 0%. A decade ago while everyone was complaining about streaming, I had lunch with a friend who worked at Capitol and he informed me that they'd hired 2 full-time employees to solely focus on Spotify playlisting. So I decided it'd probably be worth my while to focus on connecting with users who had large playlists. Turned out that was the right move...I ended up in Spotify editorial playlists as a result. It seems to me that usually when tectonic shifts occur, opportunities are out there. Maybe I'm biased since I'm in this group, but I believe there's never been a larger middle class in music, and I kinda love flying just under the radar.
____________________________________________
From: Steve Lukather
Subject: Re: Streaming Pays/ personal mail
Streaming is the best thing to happen to our band!!
Africa is 2.2 Billion now and our other hits will get there. 66 Million a month with more to come.
I/We Love Spotify.
It pays to manage yourself if you are a classic rock bands. Period!
Luke
____________________________________________
From: Jim Griffin
Subject: RE: Universal/TikTok Settlement
As the Teamsters would tell the newspaper owners, "Them papers ain't gotly no wheels."
Shortly after a strike began, newsstands selling scab papers were firebombed. Soon no papers were getting out.
The wheels have the juice, the power. Same with music -- it ain't got no wheels.
Distribution is King. Universal once owned music distribution. No more.
The juice is gone. No power! No wheels! Cannot reach the audience ... TikTok owns the crowd.
Taylor knows it. Jim Urie knew it. Lucien has learned the lesson.
Jim
____________________________________________
From: ed harris
Subject: Re: Cigarettes After Sex (The Band's Manager)
Hi Bob,
I'm the band's manager and I've followed your letter since 2002 when my manager Gary Kurfirst used to send my band excerpts of your writings as one point of view on the crisis the music industry was experiencing at that time.
With Cigarettes After Sex the same thing that happened on Tik Tok during the pandemic also happened globally on You Tube in 2015. The fans made the music their own. The band is doing MSG level venues all over the world now. In many places where there's been very little a label can even do to market a record. There's a lot more that you've missed including the emails I sent you about them back in 2016 and 2018. But I figured I'd be seeing you do a piece on them eventually as they are your dream come true in terms of how their success has come about. And you're pretty spot on for the information you have. But it's much much deeper than what's happened since the Tik Tok explosion.
Ed
____________________________________________
From: Allison Moorer
Subject: Re: Michael Cuscuna
Dear Bob,
I have never written to you before, but felt compelled to shout an amen to your piece on "Give it Up."
I was about 15 when I first heard Ms. Raitt in 1988. I found out about her through my older sister, the singer and songwriter Shelby Lynne, who'd found her through a friend who'd discovered Bonnie in real time, in the early 1970s. When I heard her voice, her songs, and realized she was a player, some huge pieces of the musical puzzle fell into place for me. Without going into the minutiae of why, I discovered Bonnie Raitt as a vital missing link between my country music raising and what I was being drawn to as a questioning and tiny bit rebellious teenager — more confessional lyrics, more intimacy in the way the vocals were recorded, and a graceful rawness that was allowed to exist on albums that contained zero filler material. It wasn't entertainment, it was real expression. I woke up to the concept of a singer-songwriter because of Bonnie Raitt. Overestimating her importance to legions of female roots singers and musicians would be difficult. She has always been the coolest person in the room.
I can play "Give it Up" in my mind too. I can hear the earthy guitar tones and even the bass flub at about 3:04 on Nothing Seems to Matter right when she's singing about being out there on the road. I'm not one of those people who complains about forward movement in music, or believes that rawness equals goodness because it doesn't, but the details that you mention are the ones that make a record stick with you. It's the human element that always hooks us, because we're always looking for ourselves in art, and the best art helps us connect our pieces. "Give it Up" showed us there was a space in between Carole King and the blues.
Thanks for doing what you do.
Allison Moorer
Nashville, TN
____________________________________________
From: Paul Rappaport
Subject: Re: Re-Taylor Swift Backlash
Often I tell young artists there is "old school," and there is THE SCHOOL. Yes, the music business is different today and we all have to adjust. But, SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE, especially when it comes to human nature. During my days at Columbia we often talked about resting an artist to make sure there would always be a demand. When we didn't pay attention to our own words, i.e. THE SCHOOL, it came back to bite us in the ass.
Such was the case with Men at Work. They were huge, EVERYONE loved them—their music and their videos. But on the heels of their breakthrough album, videos, and tour we rushed release a second album. Before we knew it there were "No Men at Work" weekends on radio and it was downhill from there. We couldn't even get traction on Colin Hay's wonderful solo album Looking for Jack because of said backlash. And, Colin Hay is one of the best artists to arrive in the 80's. He still tours and is a blast to see.
Often when artists reach fame on the level of Taylor Swift they fire their managers, think they know it all, and live in a bubble full of YES men and woman. I suspect that Taylor manages whoever is pretending to manage her now.
THE SCHOOL dictates to all performers from years ago to the present. Whatever kind of show you are doing, edit it, make it crisp, and leave them wanting more. Perhaps in our new era artists down times can't be as long as back in the day, but downtimes are essential and I am not surprised at the backlash. And PS. What else does THE SCHOOL teach us? When you get to the top that's when everyone starts shooting at you. That means you have to be extra careful.
They say a sports manager has to manage different during the season, the playoffs, and for a championship. It's clear that NO ONE is managing Taylor to help her through these inevitable times. She would be wise to seek advice from someone from the "old school" who also knows THE SCHOOL.
Paul Rappaport
____________________________________________
From: Bradley Parker
Subject: Re: Soft Festivals?
Bob,
I always enjoy your perspective. Writing to you from my flight as I head to Charleston, SC for my second festival of the year for our busy C3 team before getting ready to spend a few weeks on The Farm in Manchester, TN for Bonnaroo.
Our industry is in a very interesting period at the moment. I was just discussing the other day the unique issues that brands like Lolla, Bonnaroo, Coachella and ACL face that most festivals never get the chance to, and that is they have successfully cycled through an entire if not multiple generations of fan. The list of 20+ year festivals these days is a short one. In order to survive these brands have had to adapt. Bonnaroo's name literally comes from a French-creole slang term meaning "the best in the streets". In 2004 the best in the streets was the likes of Phish, Dave Matthews, Radiohead, etc. We now have to pivot to service a new fan to which the definition of "the best in the streets" is much different. Not to say the artists I mentioned aren't still relevant but the fan that got us through the first 20 years is NOT the fan that will get us through the next 20 years. It's just the reality of aging and growing up.
What a unique and special problem to have.
I do agree with you that we've seen increasing success on our more "boutique" festivals with more narrowed and thematic programming. Next weekend our High Water festival is essentially sold out for the 5th time in its 6th iteration. Noah Kahan and Hozier are our headliners. A home run pitch right down the middle for a certain fan. When we "overserve" a fan in a certain lane it's proven to pay its dividends.
So what does that mean for these multigenre giants? Well , personally I sit on calls every day trying to figure that out.
Could you create one of these megafests in today's festival economy? Absolutely not.
But there is something to the legacy of these shows and the brand affinity that has seemingly passed on from fan to fan over the years.
For now;
Adapt. Survive. Advance.
Hope to cross paths soon!
Cheers,
Bradley Parker
Festival Director
C3 Presents
____________________________________________
From: Joseph Bongiovi
Subject: Re: Musicares
Hi Bob, (Love saying that re: Bob Newhart, who I manage),
Yes, the evening was amazing and gratifying and the performances where stellar to say the least.
One little known fact. 45 years ago an unknown kid named John Bongiovi was the front man for a band called Atlantic City Expressway, playing Springsteen and The Jukes songs for the New Jersey faithful. One Sunday evening at the Fastlane in Asbury Park, The Boss decided to come see them and jumped on stage to sing The Promised Land with Jon and the band. I was there and it was mind-blowing for us all. So they both decided 45 years was long enough to wait to do it again.
Thanks for always keeping it real.
Joseph Bongiovi?Monarch Entertainment Group?
____________________________________________
From: "Michael T. Strickland"
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Tribute At The Hollywood Bowl
Bob,
Sorry I missed you at the show. I didn't see you backstage, but it was crowded.This was the end of 38 years of working with Jimmy for me. I was at the Superdome with Garth on Labor Day when Jimmy passed. It left me breathless. I knew it was imminent, but simply didn't belive it.
A world without Jimmy was not possible. Until it was.
Most of us have been in denial since Labor Day. It was not real. Until last night.
It was indeed a great night and a wonderful celebration in the manner Jimmy wanted. He was smiling, I am sure.
Seeing Mac and the amazing Coral Reefer Band deliver the hits was pitch perfect. But there was a hole center stage. Jimmy.
Last night it became real for those of us that worked with Jimmy for years. He was simply beyond description, and now he is gone.
I was numb and silent all night. Slowly, song by song, the wave rolled over me. Jimmy is gone. But, he will never really be gone, as he lives on in his amazing music and lifestyle.
I spent four loney days in a brown LA haze, but come Monday, it'll be alright.
God Bless Jimmy Buffett.
Michael T Strickland
Bandit Lites
____________________________________________
From: Mike Ramos
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Tribute At The Hollywood Bowl
Thank you Bob for recognizing Mac McAnally, who was the musical director last night and really pulled everything together. Together with his co-daddy Mike Utley (their Coral Reefer children are married to each other), they ran Jimmy's band for many years and definitely deserve adulation for their commitment to Jimmy, his music and the Parrot Head community. I was lucky enough to ride the same wave with Jimmy Buffett for 35 years as his right hand man, travel companion, surf buddy and tour manager. After four months of piecing this show together, I'm pretty sure Jimmy has a big smile on his face looking down on us after last night's show. It was proof (not that anyone needed it) that Jimmy was loved by so many people from artists to actors to managers, agents and talent executives. Jimmy has left an indelible mark in the entertainment world and all of us, in memory of the way he lived, should strive to "keep the party going."
Mike Ramos
Jimmy Buffett Tribute Concert Producer
Coral Reefer Band Tour Manager
____________________________________________
Subject: Re: The Jimmy Buffett Tribute At The Hollywood Bowl
I started working for Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman at Front Line Management in 1979. For the next four decades after 1982, Howard ran the ship. Throughout that time, Jimmy Buffett's day-to-day manager was Nina Avramides. She was there before me. She was invaluable to Jimmy's career. Anyone who knew HK Management, knew this to be true. Jimmy's death was an especially great loss to Nina. She passed away two months ago. The memorial service was last Friday.
In addition to Jimmy, she also handled the day-to-day management of Dan Fogelberg, Whitesnake, Coverdale/Page, The Cult and many others.
She was a rare and treasured executive and friend, very loved by all who knew and worked with her.
I'm sure she also would have loved last night's concert.
RIP Howard, Jimmy and Nina.
Laurie Gorman
____________________________________________
From: Jack Tempchin
Subject: Steve Poltz
Great interview.
A lot of the questions were trying to determine why he has such a gigantic fanatic worldwide audience without ever having a hit record.
Well, the answer is..his live show. It's who he is. The energy is unbelievable.
I've seen everybody and his solo show is so unique and amazing.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN A SOLO ACT ANYTHING LIKE STEVE POLTZ.
Nobody has.
You have to see it to believe it.
thanks
Jack Tempchin
____________________________________________
From: Steve Weiss
Subject: Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Holy crap weird Al's Albuquerque is based on one of this guys songs??? I paused the podcast to listen to Dicks automotive on Spotify and I'm laughing out loud on the sidewalk.
Made my day.
____________________________________________
Subject: Steve Poltz was fascinating!
Thanks for great interview. What a personality. Frankly I had never heard of him before.
Derek Morris
____________________________________________
From: Pharper24
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Loved it! What a character! Thanks to Steve for the laughs and the lessons.
____________________________________________
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
What a life, what a total dude and what an episode!!! Awesome stuff.
Ben Webster
____________________________________________
From: MARK LAFOND
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
I was a fan before hearing this interview but now my fandom ( if that's a word) is over the top.
I'm fortunate to be able to see him in a couple of weeks!
____________________________________________
From: Colleen Wainwright
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Yaaaaaaaaay, Steve Poltz!!!!
One of the top-10 live shows I've ever seen. Leaves NOTHING on that stage—nothing!
____________________________________________
From: Mike Vial
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
"National treasure."
Well said, Bob. Seeing Steve Poltz one time turns a music fan into a Poltz fan. A songwriter seeing him once—forever changed.
When I saw him live at Folk Alliance, maybe ten years ago, I had no idea how much the show, from story to song, could be done by one person.
I'm so excited to listen to finish your interview with him. "The stories are like tortillas you nail to a wall, mold grows on them—that's the stories." I'm chuckling. Then the "bath" story. I'm spitting out my pop, full belly laughs.
Thanks, Steve: I needed to laugh today after a long day at work.
Vial
____________________________________________
From: Regan Rath
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Bob!! You nailed it!! Poltz has been one of my favorite humans on this planet ever since the first time I saw him do his "thing" in San Diego back in 1997. He's a true one of a kind, and your interview style - giving him the space and room to run with his stories - proved to be the perfect catalyst for the gems you were able to uncover. Thank you for getting his Poltzian-goodness out to the masses! Everyone's life will be a little better once they experience the wonder of SJJP!
Regan Rath
____________________________________________
From: Mickey Quase
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
He IS the best entertainment experience out there---and he is Out There -- hope you know his spoken word piece about he and his sister bicycling to the airport and meeting Elvis.
In a league of his own.
Greetings from Nova Scotia where Poltz can sell out any number of shows he can squeeze into the Carleton every year.
cheers
Mickey Quase
____________________________________________
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Just saw Steve at the Kent stage. Riveting authentic performance. He will be playing Oregon country fair this summer the weekend after the high sierra festival. Country fair will eat him up like candy
Bliss,
Brento
____________________________________________
From: Tim Hallam
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
I have probably seen Steve Poltz in Australia on 15 of his 22 tours.
Absent music, your podcast captured the essence of a Steve poltz show, part stand up comedy, part story telling, part seeing a man spiral in and out of insanity.
I've seen him create songs from scratch on stage based on a line from the crows, ive seen him play answering machine messages from his phone, ive seen him call his father from the stage, you never know what you are going to get from one show to another, but you always know he will have the small crowd eating out of his hand in whatever club he is playing
Once i was travelling Sydney to Melbourne on a plane with my 4 yo daughter, whose favourite song was Kicking Distance (yes, I did and still buy CDs from his merch table). At the seat in front of us was Steve and his agent (Milan?). I said "Steve, i saw you last night at the Basement, this is my daughter, her favourite song is Kicking distance". The smile on his face was something to behold, and on his next tour he remembered me and called me "plane guy"
The world needs to be exposed to Steve Poltz, but I think he will remain the insiders wonderful little secret
Thanks for the interview, it was great!
Tim
____________________________________________
From: Mike Campbell
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Hey Bob,
I've been booking Steve Poltz for almost 20 years now. Just finished listening to your podcast with him and have to say it was great! You did an excellent job of getting the good stories out of him and I even heard a couple I hadn't heard before, and that's saying something! Thanks for sharing the Spotlight and one of the most criminally under-appreciated artists on this or any other planet.
Mike Campbell
Programming Director
The Carleton
____________________________________________
From: KC Turner Presents
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Loving your Steve Poltz episode.
Thank you for supporting him and getting him to really open up!
Cheers,
KC Turner
Founder | CEO
KC Turner Presents LLC
____________________________________________
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
My old band Ghoulspoon came up at the same time in the same San Diego music scene as Steve but we ran in different circles. We played with Jewel and all of the other bands he mentioned, but never got a chance to hang with Steve. I had always heard how talented and funny he was, but had no idea what I was missing until listening to this episode today!
He may be the most entertaining guest in history.
But how did you not ask follow up questions to the Elvis and Joe Strummer stories?!
Keep em comin'.
—
Zach Goode
Smash Mouth
____________________________________________
From: Ronald Hill
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Steve has been my favorite current artist for a long time. When I started getting into creating music seriously he was a great inspiration as his music is quirky like mine and I love the fact that he is still kicking ass and writing great songs at an older age. And he is in the top 1% of people that are so positive and great at bringing people together. One of the only acts where I have seen him twice in a week and he did entirely different songs.
You are right: a national treasure.
____________________________________________
From: Phil Einsohn
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
listening now
1:22 in and wishing it would never end
love hearing his stories
living legend!
____________________________________________
From: Milan Crncevic
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Hi Bob,
Listening to this at 6am from Australia.
I'm not even halfway through the episode and I don't want it to end.
Despite being insane, Steve's amazing!
(So far) your deep dive has been fantastic, the perfect questions to learn about a loveable madman like Steve
Can we get a weekly Lefsetz and Poltz podcast? This is addictive ??
Best,
Milan
____________________________________________
From: Dan Navarro
Re: Steve Poltz-This Week's Podcast
Steve is the fricking bomb. My first encounter with him was at Folk Alliance maybe 2007. We met, and I said, "Female singers been bery bery good to us." He shot back, "Yeah, but I'll bet you didn't get to f*** yours on the beach in Rosarito!"
Mic drop.
____________________________________________
From: steve poltz
Subject: This might make ya smile
After I did your podcast I thought it would be cool to combine the magic mushrooms story with a John Prine story. Otis Gibbs filmed it for his YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LbBat-ILXA
Hope it makes Sir Lefsetz laugh.
Love you and you are my best friend.
Yer pal,
Steve p
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Monday 6 May 2024
Already Forgotten? Playlist
Wendy Waldman - "Spring is Here"
Seatrain - "Willin'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBDc1-nFJ9A
Pousette-Dart Band - "Freezing Hot"
Charlie - "L.A. Dreamer"
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks - "I Scare Myself"
Fat Mattress - "Mr. Moonshine"
Be Bop Deluxe - "Modern Music"
Gary Myrick & the Figures - "She Talks in Stereo"
Quicksilver Messenger Service - "Pride of Man"
The Cretones - "Justine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmbvbBBnYBA
Badger - "Wheel of Fortune"
David & David - "Welcome to the Boomtown"
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise - "Once Upon a Time"
American Flyer - "Gamblin' Man"
Mountain - "Silver Paper"
Mink DeVille - "Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl"
Joan Armatrading - "Love and Affection"
The Silencers - "Painted Moon"
David Ackles - "Another Friday Night"
Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band - "Dare to Be Fat"
Donnie Iris - "Ah Leah"
Rhino Bucket - "One Night Stand"
Amanda Marshall - "Dark Horse"
Days of the New - "Shelf in the Room"
Flash and the Pan - "Walking in the Rain"
John Kilzer - "Memory in the Making"
Frankie Miller - "I Can't Breakaway"
David Blue "Outlaw Man"
Angel - "Tower"
Cactus "Parchman Farm"
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Seatrain - "Willin'"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBDc1-nFJ9A
Pousette-Dart Band - "Freezing Hot"
Charlie - "L.A. Dreamer"
Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks - "I Scare Myself"
Fat Mattress - "Mr. Moonshine"
Be Bop Deluxe - "Modern Music"
Gary Myrick & the Figures - "She Talks in Stereo"
Quicksilver Messenger Service - "Pride of Man"
The Cretones - "Justine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmbvbBBnYBA
Badger - "Wheel of Fortune"
David & David - "Welcome to the Boomtown"
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise - "Once Upon a Time"
American Flyer - "Gamblin' Man"
Mountain - "Silver Paper"
Mink DeVille - "Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl"
Joan Armatrading - "Love and Affection"
The Silencers - "Painted Moon"
David Ackles - "Another Friday Night"
Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band - "Dare to Be Fat"
Donnie Iris - "Ah Leah"
Rhino Bucket - "One Night Stand"
Amanda Marshall - "Dark Horse"
Days of the New - "Shelf in the Room"
Flash and the Pan - "Walking in the Rain"
John Kilzer - "Memory in the Making"
Frankie Miller - "I Can't Breakaway"
David Blue "Outlaw Man"
Angel - "Tower"
Cactus "Parchman Farm"
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Streaming Pays
"She says The Orchard model is working for acts of all sizes and quotes numbers to support this. Their five biggest artists 'are making eight figures' and 127 are 'making over seven figures.' Around 2,000 acts distributed via The Orchard made over $100,000 in the past 12 months."
The "She" is Colleen Theis, President and COO of The Orchard. Who also says:
"Streaming is not, she asserts, broken ("streaming, by nature, is inherently democratic"); but she feels the narrative around streaming is."
https://t.ly/LPcot
2,000 acts distributed by the Orchard, the independent company now wholly owned by Sony, made in excess of a hundred grand on streaming alone? I haven't been able to get this statistic out of my head. Never mind the 127 making single digit millions and five making double digit millions (for those who have trouble with the math).
This is contrary to the narrative. Isn't streaming unfair? Isn't it breaking the back of independent artists everywhere? Doesn't the game need to be fixed? Don't we need legislation making sure independents can earn a living wage?
Hell, if you can't live on 100k... You're already a star, making money from verticals other than streaming, actually, if you're making a 100k from streaming the opportunities for further compensation are rampant.
This is just one company. If you ask me, if 2,000 acts are making all this money I don't think there's a problem in the streaming world. You probably can't even name 2,000 acts, and isn't that exactly the point? How many musical artists can one person support, how many can the world support?
Of course the devil is in the details, who exactly is signed to the Orchard, if it's a label how much money ends up in the hands of the artist themselves, but still...
I read this in an article from Music:)ally, I get an e-mail every day. You probably don't, it's behind a paywall. You probably get your information from friends, or frustrated musicians who aren't good with math, never mind the business.
As a live exec once told me, it's a small minority who bitch loudly about ticket prices, and they believe they're entitled to sit in the first row for fifty bucks. In other words, they're delusional. Just like so many artists who put their music up on Spotify, et al, and expect to get rich, or at least pay the rent. This doesn't happen in any other sphere, there's no guaranteed income for someone who gets a product in a grocery store. As a matter of fact you have to pay a slotting fee just to get on the shelf, and if your product doesn't sell, they remove it.
In every other walk of life, if there's no demand you make no money, or very little. Why is it in music those with little demand expect to earn a living? Yes, it's all about demand. Doesn't matter what you think about your music, it comes down to what the public thinks about your music. Do they like it enough to continue to stream it?
Music is now no different from politics. Truth no longer matters. Never mind the truth that most acts of yore never even earned royalties. Sure, they got advances, but most of the money was eaten up in recording. Why is it everybody wants to go back to a past which wasn't so good to begin with?
People don't like the truth. Facts don't matter. Emotion rules.
Believe me, my inbox will be filled with people complaining they just can't get paid, or not enough. They will completely ignore the above. Because it doesn't fit with their narrative.
Music is a hard game. No one needs your music, they can exist just fine without it. How do you make it a necessary part of people's lives, that's the question. And no one wants to listen over and over again to bad music, even mediocre music, you've got to WANT to listen to music. That's the challenge. And if you don't rise to it and succeed...
Better keep your day job.
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The "She" is Colleen Theis, President and COO of The Orchard. Who also says:
"Streaming is not, she asserts, broken ("streaming, by nature, is inherently democratic"); but she feels the narrative around streaming is."
https://t.ly/LPcot
2,000 acts distributed by the Orchard, the independent company now wholly owned by Sony, made in excess of a hundred grand on streaming alone? I haven't been able to get this statistic out of my head. Never mind the 127 making single digit millions and five making double digit millions (for those who have trouble with the math).
This is contrary to the narrative. Isn't streaming unfair? Isn't it breaking the back of independent artists everywhere? Doesn't the game need to be fixed? Don't we need legislation making sure independents can earn a living wage?
Hell, if you can't live on 100k... You're already a star, making money from verticals other than streaming, actually, if you're making a 100k from streaming the opportunities for further compensation are rampant.
This is just one company. If you ask me, if 2,000 acts are making all this money I don't think there's a problem in the streaming world. You probably can't even name 2,000 acts, and isn't that exactly the point? How many musical artists can one person support, how many can the world support?
Of course the devil is in the details, who exactly is signed to the Orchard, if it's a label how much money ends up in the hands of the artist themselves, but still...
I read this in an article from Music:)ally, I get an e-mail every day. You probably don't, it's behind a paywall. You probably get your information from friends, or frustrated musicians who aren't good with math, never mind the business.
As a live exec once told me, it's a small minority who bitch loudly about ticket prices, and they believe they're entitled to sit in the first row for fifty bucks. In other words, they're delusional. Just like so many artists who put their music up on Spotify, et al, and expect to get rich, or at least pay the rent. This doesn't happen in any other sphere, there's no guaranteed income for someone who gets a product in a grocery store. As a matter of fact you have to pay a slotting fee just to get on the shelf, and if your product doesn't sell, they remove it.
In every other walk of life, if there's no demand you make no money, or very little. Why is it in music those with little demand expect to earn a living? Yes, it's all about demand. Doesn't matter what you think about your music, it comes down to what the public thinks about your music. Do they like it enough to continue to stream it?
Music is now no different from politics. Truth no longer matters. Never mind the truth that most acts of yore never even earned royalties. Sure, they got advances, but most of the money was eaten up in recording. Why is it everybody wants to go back to a past which wasn't so good to begin with?
People don't like the truth. Facts don't matter. Emotion rules.
Believe me, my inbox will be filled with people complaining they just can't get paid, or not enough. They will completely ignore the above. Because it doesn't fit with their narrative.
Music is a hard game. No one needs your music, they can exist just fine without it. How do you make it a necessary part of people's lives, that's the question. And no one wants to listen over and over again to bad music, even mediocre music, you've got to WANT to listen to music. That's the challenge. And if you don't rise to it and succeed...
Better keep your day job.
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Sunday 5 May 2024
Victim
https://t.ly/sNkhX
It doesn't mean anything unless it goes viral. So the question for the creator is whether to do what they want to or try and game the system.
Actually, last night we finally watched "American Fiction," which is all about this. But this screed is about a new book by Andrew Boryga, which has gotten rave reviews but most people won't read because it's a book, and if they do bother to read they want self-help, or romance, or Dan Brown... Stray from the formula and the odds of you having a hit are extremely low, close to nil.
Now one of the advantages of TikTok is the company boosts that which has not had success previously. This is an impossibility in other worlds, if you don't have a base, it's nearly impossible to compete against those who do. And those who don't... They're just trying to go viral. Hell, look at the clickbait headlines even in Apple News+, makes me hate writers, it's a come-on, oftentimes there's no there there, which is not the case with Andrew Boryga's book.
Thank god Mr. Boryga is a person of color himself, otherwise there would be a national outcry, but he asks the question how downtrodden people truly are, and to what degree hoity-toity theorists, especially those on college campuses, are placing their paradigm upon those who don't recognize it and don't need it.
That's the crazy world we now live in, where even if you're a dyed-in-the-wool lefty, you've got to admit that sometimes the right has it right. Many protesters see the Gaza conflict as one between the white oppressor and the brown oppressed. That's what they teach on many college campuses these days, that's the lens everything is seen through, oppressor and oppressed. But what if the oppressed don't see it that way?
Javi grows up in the Bronx. He lives alone with his mother, who has a full time job. But he's not starving, he doesn't think he's poor and underprivileged until people keep telling him he is. And then he decides to trade on it. Yes, he's got the right skin color, the right name, the right heritage and the right domicile. The upper classes are flagellating themselves over their historic oppression of the underclass and now they want to make up for it, under the dreaded "D"-word, i.e. diversity. And they're bending over backwards to let the oppressed through the door. But, once again, are they truly oppressed?
You can play the race card to get into college, to get a job. You can see everything through the lens of race. Which is what bleeding heart liberals do, whilst many on the right feel that it's they who are being punished, when the immigrants are not coming for their jobs. Where is the truth? Well, in a world where it has to be divined, where you've got to dig deeper, no one wants to. Kristi Noem doubled-down on killing her dog today on TV, even said Biden's dog should have been put down. Talk about tone-deaf, can't she realize that public sentiment is vastly against her and apologize? Can't she learn something instead of holding to her opinion? That's what's wrong with not only politics, but society today, no one can change their opinion, no one can learn a lesson, no one can admit they're wrong. They believe they're playing a giant game where weakness is death, whether it be in career or life.
Now after all the above, "Victim" sounds like an absolute bore, you're burned out on these topics. But "Victim" is an easy read, only 281 pages, I finished it in twenty four hours. It's a book right out of the sixties, because it's a SATIRE! No one has a sense of humor anymore, everyone is dead serious, sticking to their guns in a war... That's another point in this book, are you really at risk? Is what is going on online real? The people who excoriate you on the internet, are they going to come to your house and beat you up? No, they just don't care about you that much.
Javi lives for clicks. The more notifications he gets on his phone, the better he feels. But he doesn't know any of these people, and online people switch on a dime, you're God and if you say or do something they don't like, you're immediately the devil.
We used to have satire in music. That ship sailed with the last century, there's not enough money in it, and most people don't get the joke. What people want is train-wreck, something so odd and innovative or different that not only do they have to clue in and partake, they have to tell all their friends about it. Which results in virality.
Everybody plays. Boasting that you're not on social media is akin to saying you didn't go to the movies in the sixties and seventies. Or didn't listen to rock music. Sure, that was your choice, but you were completely out of touch with the mainstream, what was really going on. The Business section of today's "New York Times" is all about TikTok, and I'd tell you to check it out, but that's another characteristic of modern society, you can't change anybody's mind, they just dig in deeper, they don't even want to be exposed to a contrary opinion. There are authorized news sources and if you get your information elsewhere, you're not a team player.
Now Javi says right up front he's going to pay for playing the victim card, it's going to come back and bite him in the ass. But you'd be stunned how long you can get away with it.
Yes, there is one false note in the book, the average person would have backed away sooner, but other than that, "Victim" rings completely true, asking all the questions of modern society, skewering the stereotypes. You're down with the oppressed. but really you want to live in Brooklyn and have a fabulous lifestyle.
Now most people don't read books, period. And women are voracious readers, but "Victim" is not the kind of book my female friends recommend. As for males... All they do is read nonfiction. Of course there are exceptions, but I'd posit I hear from more people than you do.
So where does this leave "Victim"?
Well, in the old days, the really old days, of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," books would percolate in the marketplace, and to be hip, to be in the know, you had to read them. After all, the Grateful Dead named their publishing company Ice Nine.
And then there was Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Which was referenced in Peggy Mellon Hitchcock's obituary this past week:
"Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, Who Helped Timothy Leary Turn On, Dies at 90 - She was an enthusiastic supporter of the counterculture. And when she suggested that her brothers rent Mr. Leary a mansion, she made psychedelic history."
Free link: https://t.ly/4sDAR
It talks about the meeting between Kesey and Leary that didn't happen because... Because in truth Leary had a cold, even though the Pranksters were told he was on a three day acid trip.
"Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" was a cultural signpost, it has paid dividends for decades, whenever I see the Pranksters' bus's name spelled "Further," I know the writer has no clue. No, they were going FURTHUR!
But today it's all about winners and losers. Either you're viral or you're not, either you're satisfied with your status and playing to the limited audience you've got, or you're constantly lighting the match on moonshots, trying to get lucky, get not only those clicks, but cash, even a record deal.
But just because it goes viral does not mean it's worth paying attention to.
Now if you read "Victim" we could have a lengthy discussion about the themes contained therein. This is not a Hollywood movie, wherein you walk out into the sunshine and immediately forget it. Hell, they might even make a movie of "Victim," and you'll think a viewing is enough, that the book is superfluous. But chances are they won't nail it, and you won't go at all. Which leaves us with the book.
Some books are slam dunks, and I therefore wholeheartedly recommend them. But I'm not sure everybody is ready for "Victim." It's fiction and once again it's satire, there's a story, but so much more.
People want fantasy, like "Game of Thrones." Real life is too much, even though we live in real life 24/7.
I think everybody should read "Victim." A national discussion would follow. But that won't happen, because people don't read and don't want to question their beliefs.
But maybe you do.
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It doesn't mean anything unless it goes viral. So the question for the creator is whether to do what they want to or try and game the system.
Actually, last night we finally watched "American Fiction," which is all about this. But this screed is about a new book by Andrew Boryga, which has gotten rave reviews but most people won't read because it's a book, and if they do bother to read they want self-help, or romance, or Dan Brown... Stray from the formula and the odds of you having a hit are extremely low, close to nil.
Now one of the advantages of TikTok is the company boosts that which has not had success previously. This is an impossibility in other worlds, if you don't have a base, it's nearly impossible to compete against those who do. And those who don't... They're just trying to go viral. Hell, look at the clickbait headlines even in Apple News+, makes me hate writers, it's a come-on, oftentimes there's no there there, which is not the case with Andrew Boryga's book.
Thank god Mr. Boryga is a person of color himself, otherwise there would be a national outcry, but he asks the question how downtrodden people truly are, and to what degree hoity-toity theorists, especially those on college campuses, are placing their paradigm upon those who don't recognize it and don't need it.
That's the crazy world we now live in, where even if you're a dyed-in-the-wool lefty, you've got to admit that sometimes the right has it right. Many protesters see the Gaza conflict as one between the white oppressor and the brown oppressed. That's what they teach on many college campuses these days, that's the lens everything is seen through, oppressor and oppressed. But what if the oppressed don't see it that way?
Javi grows up in the Bronx. He lives alone with his mother, who has a full time job. But he's not starving, he doesn't think he's poor and underprivileged until people keep telling him he is. And then he decides to trade on it. Yes, he's got the right skin color, the right name, the right heritage and the right domicile. The upper classes are flagellating themselves over their historic oppression of the underclass and now they want to make up for it, under the dreaded "D"-word, i.e. diversity. And they're bending over backwards to let the oppressed through the door. But, once again, are they truly oppressed?
You can play the race card to get into college, to get a job. You can see everything through the lens of race. Which is what bleeding heart liberals do, whilst many on the right feel that it's they who are being punished, when the immigrants are not coming for their jobs. Where is the truth? Well, in a world where it has to be divined, where you've got to dig deeper, no one wants to. Kristi Noem doubled-down on killing her dog today on TV, even said Biden's dog should have been put down. Talk about tone-deaf, can't she realize that public sentiment is vastly against her and apologize? Can't she learn something instead of holding to her opinion? That's what's wrong with not only politics, but society today, no one can change their opinion, no one can learn a lesson, no one can admit they're wrong. They believe they're playing a giant game where weakness is death, whether it be in career or life.
Now after all the above, "Victim" sounds like an absolute bore, you're burned out on these topics. But "Victim" is an easy read, only 281 pages, I finished it in twenty four hours. It's a book right out of the sixties, because it's a SATIRE! No one has a sense of humor anymore, everyone is dead serious, sticking to their guns in a war... That's another point in this book, are you really at risk? Is what is going on online real? The people who excoriate you on the internet, are they going to come to your house and beat you up? No, they just don't care about you that much.
Javi lives for clicks. The more notifications he gets on his phone, the better he feels. But he doesn't know any of these people, and online people switch on a dime, you're God and if you say or do something they don't like, you're immediately the devil.
We used to have satire in music. That ship sailed with the last century, there's not enough money in it, and most people don't get the joke. What people want is train-wreck, something so odd and innovative or different that not only do they have to clue in and partake, they have to tell all their friends about it. Which results in virality.
Everybody plays. Boasting that you're not on social media is akin to saying you didn't go to the movies in the sixties and seventies. Or didn't listen to rock music. Sure, that was your choice, but you were completely out of touch with the mainstream, what was really going on. The Business section of today's "New York Times" is all about TikTok, and I'd tell you to check it out, but that's another characteristic of modern society, you can't change anybody's mind, they just dig in deeper, they don't even want to be exposed to a contrary opinion. There are authorized news sources and if you get your information elsewhere, you're not a team player.
Now Javi says right up front he's going to pay for playing the victim card, it's going to come back and bite him in the ass. But you'd be stunned how long you can get away with it.
Yes, there is one false note in the book, the average person would have backed away sooner, but other than that, "Victim" rings completely true, asking all the questions of modern society, skewering the stereotypes. You're down with the oppressed. but really you want to live in Brooklyn and have a fabulous lifestyle.
Now most people don't read books, period. And women are voracious readers, but "Victim" is not the kind of book my female friends recommend. As for males... All they do is read nonfiction. Of course there are exceptions, but I'd posit I hear from more people than you do.
So where does this leave "Victim"?
Well, in the old days, the really old days, of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," books would percolate in the marketplace, and to be hip, to be in the know, you had to read them. After all, the Grateful Dead named their publishing company Ice Nine.
And then there was Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Which was referenced in Peggy Mellon Hitchcock's obituary this past week:
"Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, Who Helped Timothy Leary Turn On, Dies at 90 - She was an enthusiastic supporter of the counterculture. And when she suggested that her brothers rent Mr. Leary a mansion, she made psychedelic history."
Free link: https://t.ly/4sDAR
It talks about the meeting between Kesey and Leary that didn't happen because... Because in truth Leary had a cold, even though the Pranksters were told he was on a three day acid trip.
"Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" was a cultural signpost, it has paid dividends for decades, whenever I see the Pranksters' bus's name spelled "Further," I know the writer has no clue. No, they were going FURTHUR!
But today it's all about winners and losers. Either you're viral or you're not, either you're satisfied with your status and playing to the limited audience you've got, or you're constantly lighting the match on moonshots, trying to get lucky, get not only those clicks, but cash, even a record deal.
But just because it goes viral does not mean it's worth paying attention to.
Now if you read "Victim" we could have a lengthy discussion about the themes contained therein. This is not a Hollywood movie, wherein you walk out into the sunshine and immediately forget it. Hell, they might even make a movie of "Victim," and you'll think a viewing is enough, that the book is superfluous. But chances are they won't nail it, and you won't go at all. Which leaves us with the book.
Some books are slam dunks, and I therefore wholeheartedly recommend them. But I'm not sure everybody is ready for "Victim." It's fiction and once again it's satire, there's a story, but so much more.
People want fantasy, like "Game of Thrones." Real life is too much, even though we live in real life 24/7.
I think everybody should read "Victim." A national discussion would follow. But that won't happen, because people don't read and don't want to question their beliefs.
But maybe you do.
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Friday 3 May 2024
Already Forgotten?-3-SiriusXM This Week
Tune in Saturday May 4th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Baby Reindeer
It's a cultural phenomenon. And it wasn't built by the press, but word of mouth. And it was dropped all at once, it wasn't about marketing, maintaining subscriptions over months, the work stood alone. And it wasn't a trifle, like "Ted Lasso." "Baby Reindeer" fits no preordained slot. But it's the biggest thing in media today. Bigger than Taylor Swift. Bigger than any record. Bigger than any movie. And you've got to see it.
That's why I watched, word of mouth. I follow the new streaming releases, I was aware it came out, but I wasn't titillated to the point I needed to see it. But then my inbox... I started hearing from people I never hear from, testifying. And the quality of the e-mails was different, not just this is good, watch it. To the point where I had to partake.
Now the image of this series is contrary to its content. What I mean is many believe it is grisly, and they don't watch horror movies. But that's not what it is. Yes, "Baby Reindeer" is intense. But what makes it so interesting is it's more than a stalker series, it's about the interior life of a Scot trying to make it as a comedian and failing. And his ups and downs along the way.
Donny has compassion for Martha. We live in a world where compassion is absent from the winners in the world, as Steely Dan would put it. We're told to be like Elon or Diddy, blaze our path to billions and forget about collateral damage. The goal is to be above the law as opposed to being a part of society. Actually, despite making their money from society, these titans want nothing to do with the great unwashed masses. They live behind gates, fly private and vacation on islands most people have never heard of, when they're not cruising on yachts. They compete with each other in a contest of accumulation that has no real value, that no one really cares about, and then they die. He who passes with the most money and toys does not win, believe me. As a matter of fact, the richer you are the fewer friends you've got. You might have sycophants, yes-people on the payroll, but friends? You're too suspicious to have friends. But the rank and file?
Donny has a dream. Is it achievable?
My inbox is filled with believers. Yes, they believe they can make it in music via sheer will. If they want it enough, if they believe in themselves enough, they can break through. They DESERVE to break through! But this isn't how life works. This is naive. And ultimately Donnay realizes this.
Now when you enter the competition, when you get into the arena of major league of entertainment, you'll be confronted with hustlers, liars and those who will take advantage of you. Generally speaking, trust no one other than yourself. If you don't have portfolio and someone takes an interest in you, beware, they want something from you. But oftentimes you're blinded by the access and supposed opportunity, and you succumb. After all, your buddies back in the hinterlands wouldn't believe it, here you are in Tinseltown, making it, only you won't, almost nobody does.
Meanwhile, you're falling behind financially. Donny works in a bar. He's going nowhere fast. You can't be working on Wall Street and simultaneously try to make it in entertainment, entertainment takes all your efforts, and that usually isn't enough.
So it all begins with compassion. Donny feels sorry for Martha. But the thing about life is a certain portion of the population is positively insane, and you don't know exactly who is.
And despite influencers parading their lives all over social media, in truth most people are closeted, not only sexually, but personally. You've got to hang with a guy for months, usually years for them to feel comfortable enough to reveal their inner truth. They're afraid of being judged.
Now what makes "Baby Reindeer" so riveting, so interesting, is it's a true story. Once again, the stalking is just the come-on, Donny's interior life, his choices, his shame, his worry about being found out are the essence. But you won't know this unless you see it.
So I'm watching "Baby Reindeer" and asking myself if this is "Tiger King," you know, the docuseries we all watched at the beginning of lockdown that most people pooh-pooh today. But lockdown is in the rearview mirror, and the days are getting longer, it's warming up, "Baby Reindeer" is not just a trifle for winter viewing. "Baby Reindeer" would be successful no matter what time of the year it was released.
This is what we're looking for. Something visceral, something real. In a world where big media believes we want cartoons. Where we're fed a constant diet of entertainment fluff about people we don't know about or don't care about. Feel good if you get ink, but it's got very little influence. How many people who are not Swifties checked out her new album? I'd posit very few. Whereas media would have you believe everyone in America is salivating over 'The Tortured Poets Department."
Press doesn't matter anymore in an America that is hyped-out. So you hired people who got you into a publication that most people don't read anyway. We're subjected to your punim all over the internet, we're angered by the onslaught as opposed to enticed. We're looking for something new and different, something that pushes the envelope, that pierces the veil. We don't want to hear about the shenanigans of celebrities, we want something meatier, that makes us reflect upon ourselves, that makes us feel part of overall society.
Think about this. The only universal thing we've got is politics, Trump and Gaza, and many are burned out on them to boot. But along comes a TV series, in a world where media still believes movies in theatres is the highest art form, despite the words of Jerry Seinfeld, and it penetrates the national psyche, to the point where so many people are talking about it you've got to check it out too.
We're looking for something so personal that it becomes universal. The actions and questions of Donny? We have those too. Do we chuck the dream? Do we employ sharp elbows? Do we question our sexuality?
If someone came up with "Baby Reindeer" out of thin air, no one would believe it. Truth is stranger than fiction. And that's what makes "Baby Reindeer" so intriguing. You keep self-checking, thinking something is ridiculous, just an obtuse plot point, and then you realize it truly happened.
And Donny is worried about his image at the bar, but the question is can you cast aside your image and be the real you?
Most people never can. But that's the goal.
If you haven't seen "Baby Reindeer" watch it. First and foremost to be part of the discussion. In truth, we all want to be a member of the group, we wall want commonality, something which is extremely rare these days. But "Baby Reindeer" has provided it.
It's always the left field and different that we're interested in, that brings us together.
That's the power of art. Something which has been capitulated in music and movies today, playing to a market.
"Baby Reindeer" doesn't play to a market. It's sui generis, you've never seen anything exactly like it.
And either you know what I mean...
Or you haven't seen it yet.
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That's why I watched, word of mouth. I follow the new streaming releases, I was aware it came out, but I wasn't titillated to the point I needed to see it. But then my inbox... I started hearing from people I never hear from, testifying. And the quality of the e-mails was different, not just this is good, watch it. To the point where I had to partake.
Now the image of this series is contrary to its content. What I mean is many believe it is grisly, and they don't watch horror movies. But that's not what it is. Yes, "Baby Reindeer" is intense. But what makes it so interesting is it's more than a stalker series, it's about the interior life of a Scot trying to make it as a comedian and failing. And his ups and downs along the way.
Donny has compassion for Martha. We live in a world where compassion is absent from the winners in the world, as Steely Dan would put it. We're told to be like Elon or Diddy, blaze our path to billions and forget about collateral damage. The goal is to be above the law as opposed to being a part of society. Actually, despite making their money from society, these titans want nothing to do with the great unwashed masses. They live behind gates, fly private and vacation on islands most people have never heard of, when they're not cruising on yachts. They compete with each other in a contest of accumulation that has no real value, that no one really cares about, and then they die. He who passes with the most money and toys does not win, believe me. As a matter of fact, the richer you are the fewer friends you've got. You might have sycophants, yes-people on the payroll, but friends? You're too suspicious to have friends. But the rank and file?
Donny has a dream. Is it achievable?
My inbox is filled with believers. Yes, they believe they can make it in music via sheer will. If they want it enough, if they believe in themselves enough, they can break through. They DESERVE to break through! But this isn't how life works. This is naive. And ultimately Donnay realizes this.
Now when you enter the competition, when you get into the arena of major league of entertainment, you'll be confronted with hustlers, liars and those who will take advantage of you. Generally speaking, trust no one other than yourself. If you don't have portfolio and someone takes an interest in you, beware, they want something from you. But oftentimes you're blinded by the access and supposed opportunity, and you succumb. After all, your buddies back in the hinterlands wouldn't believe it, here you are in Tinseltown, making it, only you won't, almost nobody does.
Meanwhile, you're falling behind financially. Donny works in a bar. He's going nowhere fast. You can't be working on Wall Street and simultaneously try to make it in entertainment, entertainment takes all your efforts, and that usually isn't enough.
So it all begins with compassion. Donny feels sorry for Martha. But the thing about life is a certain portion of the population is positively insane, and you don't know exactly who is.
And despite influencers parading their lives all over social media, in truth most people are closeted, not only sexually, but personally. You've got to hang with a guy for months, usually years for them to feel comfortable enough to reveal their inner truth. They're afraid of being judged.
Now what makes "Baby Reindeer" so riveting, so interesting, is it's a true story. Once again, the stalking is just the come-on, Donny's interior life, his choices, his shame, his worry about being found out are the essence. But you won't know this unless you see it.
So I'm watching "Baby Reindeer" and asking myself if this is "Tiger King," you know, the docuseries we all watched at the beginning of lockdown that most people pooh-pooh today. But lockdown is in the rearview mirror, and the days are getting longer, it's warming up, "Baby Reindeer" is not just a trifle for winter viewing. "Baby Reindeer" would be successful no matter what time of the year it was released.
This is what we're looking for. Something visceral, something real. In a world where big media believes we want cartoons. Where we're fed a constant diet of entertainment fluff about people we don't know about or don't care about. Feel good if you get ink, but it's got very little influence. How many people who are not Swifties checked out her new album? I'd posit very few. Whereas media would have you believe everyone in America is salivating over 'The Tortured Poets Department."
Press doesn't matter anymore in an America that is hyped-out. So you hired people who got you into a publication that most people don't read anyway. We're subjected to your punim all over the internet, we're angered by the onslaught as opposed to enticed. We're looking for something new and different, something that pushes the envelope, that pierces the veil. We don't want to hear about the shenanigans of celebrities, we want something meatier, that makes us reflect upon ourselves, that makes us feel part of overall society.
Think about this. The only universal thing we've got is politics, Trump and Gaza, and many are burned out on them to boot. But along comes a TV series, in a world where media still believes movies in theatres is the highest art form, despite the words of Jerry Seinfeld, and it penetrates the national psyche, to the point where so many people are talking about it you've got to check it out too.
We're looking for something so personal that it becomes universal. The actions and questions of Donny? We have those too. Do we chuck the dream? Do we employ sharp elbows? Do we question our sexuality?
If someone came up with "Baby Reindeer" out of thin air, no one would believe it. Truth is stranger than fiction. And that's what makes "Baby Reindeer" so intriguing. You keep self-checking, thinking something is ridiculous, just an obtuse plot point, and then you realize it truly happened.
And Donny is worried about his image at the bar, but the question is can you cast aside your image and be the real you?
Most people never can. But that's the goal.
If you haven't seen "Baby Reindeer" watch it. First and foremost to be part of the discussion. In truth, we all want to be a member of the group, we wall want commonality, something which is extremely rare these days. But "Baby Reindeer" has provided it.
It's always the left field and different that we're interested in, that brings us together.
That's the power of art. Something which has been capitulated in music and movies today, playing to a market.
"Baby Reindeer" doesn't play to a market. It's sui generis, you've never seen anything exactly like it.
And either you know what I mean...
Or you haven't seen it yet.
--
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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Thursday 2 May 2024
Graham Gouldman-This Week's Podcast
10cc is touring the U.S. this summer for the first time in decades. We discuss not only that band, we go deep into Graham's songwriting for the Yardbirds and Hollies and...
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/graham-gouldman-172781664/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/graham-gouldman/id1316200737?i=1000654303520
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4oHY5AqlGs3R67E0v4LkTP?si=6s3ASxlkTe2YkN9fx8ATKA
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/5d50962c-d58d-49bb-8791-b4c3e0f5b769/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-graham-gouldman
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/graham-gouldman-172781664/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/graham-gouldman/id1316200737?i=1000654303520
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4oHY5AqlGs3R67E0v4LkTP?si=6s3ASxlkTe2YkN9fx8ATKA
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/5d50962c-d58d-49bb-8791-b4c3e0f5b769/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-graham-gouldman
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Universal/TikTok Settlement
Universal lost. We know this because no terms were announced. A deal was struck, and Lucian Grainge walked away with his tail between his legs while declaring victory.
I'm not saying Universal got nothing, but compared to what it wanted...
This was a gross miscalculation. Grainge thought TikTok was MTV, whose lifeblood was music, or Spotify, which wouldn't even launch in America without the content of all the major label groups.
In other words, TikTok is bigger than Universal. It taught the music industry a lesson, one it did not want to learn, that will negatively affect the business for years to come.
The music industry is under the illusion that the world can't run without it. And/or Universal is under the illusion that the world can't run without its catalog. However this is untrue. People need food and shelter, they don't need music. And if they do want music, they can sing, they can play, they don't have to get it from big companies concerned with their stock price and a CEO auguring for even greater compensation.
Furthermore, Taylor Swift put a stake in Universal's heart, undercut the entire effort, by saying that she couldn't launch a new album without TikTok, that it was integral to her marketing efforts. Once again, Swift is not a team player, she only cares about herself and her minions, the all-adoring Swifties.
Then again, an uninformed blind eye is the name of the game these days. You can be anti-Israel, you can be pro-Palestinian, but over and over again protesters are interviewed about the underlying situation and proven to be ignorant, even at Harvard:
"Harvard's Protesters Aren't as Obstinate as You Might Expect"
Free link: https://t.ly/HkBkD
So what happens in the future?
Well, if your company is not solely music dependent... It's now been proven that you have more leverage than you thought, that you can stand up to Big Music. Yes, the music industry is hated just like Big Pharma. Do you think TikTok users were enamored of Universal's artists and music by this pullback? And the ball keeps moving. Let's look at the cable industry. Cable systems stood up to content providers' desire for more money, sometimes taking the channels off the platform. The content providers thought they held all the power. But now ESPN, the overcharging behemoth that goes unwatched by many who pay for it, has floundered and cable companies are reorienting themselves as internet providers. As for the rest of the channels up the dial... Does anybody even watch the aforementioned MTV? The value of its owner, Paramount+, has crashed, because there was no strategy for when cable declined. As for the consumer, angry about the escalating price of cable, they cut the cord. Used to be viewers had no option, but now they do.
Universal is losing leverage. It's got a decreasing percentage of overall mindshare. It is no longer a controlled market, today anybody can play. Physical is a de mimimis element of the business, despite all the hoopla about vinyl, CDs are moribund and the active audience that breaks acts does not listen to controlled terrestrial radio, but the open playing field of TikTok. Anybody can get their wares on streaming services, and the production of music has never been cheaper. In addition, although it took twenty years to prove it, the bottom line is there are a lot of overlooked quality creators out there. And they're doing it on their own. While Universal consolidates, lays off people and puts out fewer and fewer records. In an expanding market you grow, but Universal is doing just the opposite?
The game has changed and Universal is playing the same one it did in the last century. Spending a fortune to break a limited number of acts. But now Spotify tells us the hitmakers have a decreasing share of the market. And the three major label groups can't even break a new act. It's not like the public isn't embracing new music, but it's the niche acts that major labels used to sign and develop that they started to overlook in the MTV moonshot era and now have no interest in. The majors are lighting rockets trying to light up the sky with new acts and the public is ignoring most of them while it forages on earth for ground-level acts.
It's almost like the newspapers. Turned out they were not the only place you could get the news, never mind Craigslist undermining their classifieds business. Sure, Universal has its catalog, and that will always have value, but when it comes to new music production their model is out of date.
This is Napster come to haunt the industry. Once again, Big Music did not see what was coming down the pike, and then thought it could quash it. Daniel Ek saved the labels, but Spotify needed the labels.
If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, don't expect it to win. Everything new and innovative comes from the outside, from independents. The majors believe they can hoover up anything successful. But now, you can go it alone. Not all do, but you can create a business without major label help, which is not even offered unless you make music that fits into a narrow paradigm, hip-hop and pop.
Also, you wonder whether the label is really on your side. So Universal's artists were hurt when Grainge pulled their music from TikTok and that loss can never be completely recouped. Acts lost momentum. The compensation was secondary to the promotion. This is Internet 101, exposure trumps getting paid every day of the week. If you're not in the marketplace, you're done, because there are so many other options. I'm not saying that Universal and its artists should not get paid more by TikTok, I'm not saying I completely agree with TikTok that promotion on the service is equal to compensation, but I am saying Lucian Grainge misread the situation, saw it through an antique lens and didn't realize the game was different this time.
So the end result is consumers, to the degree they remember, and who knows how many will, will have a bad taste in their mouth about Big Music, at a time when its image had recovered from all the fighting of technology of the past. Artists will be skeptical of their labels' efforts. And most people just won't care.
The name of the game is attention. Money comes after. You don't undercut attention, never. Just ask Taylor Swift.
I'm not saying Universal got nothing, but compared to what it wanted...
This was a gross miscalculation. Grainge thought TikTok was MTV, whose lifeblood was music, or Spotify, which wouldn't even launch in America without the content of all the major label groups.
In other words, TikTok is bigger than Universal. It taught the music industry a lesson, one it did not want to learn, that will negatively affect the business for years to come.
The music industry is under the illusion that the world can't run without it. And/or Universal is under the illusion that the world can't run without its catalog. However this is untrue. People need food and shelter, they don't need music. And if they do want music, they can sing, they can play, they don't have to get it from big companies concerned with their stock price and a CEO auguring for even greater compensation.
Furthermore, Taylor Swift put a stake in Universal's heart, undercut the entire effort, by saying that she couldn't launch a new album without TikTok, that it was integral to her marketing efforts. Once again, Swift is not a team player, she only cares about herself and her minions, the all-adoring Swifties.
Then again, an uninformed blind eye is the name of the game these days. You can be anti-Israel, you can be pro-Palestinian, but over and over again protesters are interviewed about the underlying situation and proven to be ignorant, even at Harvard:
"Harvard's Protesters Aren't as Obstinate as You Might Expect"
Free link: https://t.ly/HkBkD
So what happens in the future?
Well, if your company is not solely music dependent... It's now been proven that you have more leverage than you thought, that you can stand up to Big Music. Yes, the music industry is hated just like Big Pharma. Do you think TikTok users were enamored of Universal's artists and music by this pullback? And the ball keeps moving. Let's look at the cable industry. Cable systems stood up to content providers' desire for more money, sometimes taking the channels off the platform. The content providers thought they held all the power. But now ESPN, the overcharging behemoth that goes unwatched by many who pay for it, has floundered and cable companies are reorienting themselves as internet providers. As for the rest of the channels up the dial... Does anybody even watch the aforementioned MTV? The value of its owner, Paramount+, has crashed, because there was no strategy for when cable declined. As for the consumer, angry about the escalating price of cable, they cut the cord. Used to be viewers had no option, but now they do.
Universal is losing leverage. It's got a decreasing percentage of overall mindshare. It is no longer a controlled market, today anybody can play. Physical is a de mimimis element of the business, despite all the hoopla about vinyl, CDs are moribund and the active audience that breaks acts does not listen to controlled terrestrial radio, but the open playing field of TikTok. Anybody can get their wares on streaming services, and the production of music has never been cheaper. In addition, although it took twenty years to prove it, the bottom line is there are a lot of overlooked quality creators out there. And they're doing it on their own. While Universal consolidates, lays off people and puts out fewer and fewer records. In an expanding market you grow, but Universal is doing just the opposite?
The game has changed and Universal is playing the same one it did in the last century. Spending a fortune to break a limited number of acts. But now Spotify tells us the hitmakers have a decreasing share of the market. And the three major label groups can't even break a new act. It's not like the public isn't embracing new music, but it's the niche acts that major labels used to sign and develop that they started to overlook in the MTV moonshot era and now have no interest in. The majors are lighting rockets trying to light up the sky with new acts and the public is ignoring most of them while it forages on earth for ground-level acts.
It's almost like the newspapers. Turned out they were not the only place you could get the news, never mind Craigslist undermining their classifieds business. Sure, Universal has its catalog, and that will always have value, but when it comes to new music production their model is out of date.
This is Napster come to haunt the industry. Once again, Big Music did not see what was coming down the pike, and then thought it could quash it. Daniel Ek saved the labels, but Spotify needed the labels.
If you keep doing the same thing over and over again, don't expect it to win. Everything new and innovative comes from the outside, from independents. The majors believe they can hoover up anything successful. But now, you can go it alone. Not all do, but you can create a business without major label help, which is not even offered unless you make music that fits into a narrow paradigm, hip-hop and pop.
Also, you wonder whether the label is really on your side. So Universal's artists were hurt when Grainge pulled their music from TikTok and that loss can never be completely recouped. Acts lost momentum. The compensation was secondary to the promotion. This is Internet 101, exposure trumps getting paid every day of the week. If you're not in the marketplace, you're done, because there are so many other options. I'm not saying that Universal and its artists should not get paid more by TikTok, I'm not saying I completely agree with TikTok that promotion on the service is equal to compensation, but I am saying Lucian Grainge misread the situation, saw it through an antique lens and didn't realize the game was different this time.
So the end result is consumers, to the degree they remember, and who knows how many will, will have a bad taste in their mouth about Big Music, at a time when its image had recovered from all the fighting of technology of the past. Artists will be skeptical of their labels' efforts. And most people just won't care.
The name of the game is attention. Money comes after. You don't undercut attention, never. Just ask Taylor Swift.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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Wednesday 1 May 2024
Ripley
Netflix trailer: https://t.ly/kpQ5k
It's creepy. And slow. And in black and white. And if this bothers you, stay away. But if in college you watched foreign films from the sixties, this will feel totally familiar.
The first thing you'll notice is the black and white. Honestly, I thought it would be like "The Wizard of Oz," turning into color at some relatively early point, but that proves to be untrue.
And the pacing... If you're used to American television it will be interminable. When "x" is killed...they'd immediately cut away in America, but the camera stays on the scene, it plays out, you feel the slowness of time, which ultimately has you inside the mind of the killer and...
I had to look up the girlfriend, Marge, an antique name if there ever was one, placing the series in time, which is the early sixties. She's attractive, but not drop-dead gorgeous, and she's not dressed to show off her assets, but the performance is so spot on that you're enamored of her character. Turns out she's played by Dakota Fanning, whose name I know, but I could not pick her out of a lineup. There was a time in the seventies when I knew every actor, followed them up the ladder, watched their career blossom, back when the world of visual entertainment was comprehensible. This was before movie actors shifted to the small screen, before the small screen got bigger. When you could be comprehensive. When films were still sometimes highbrow, before they all became cartoons, lowbrow. I think Hollywood would be stunned by the size of the audience looking for something more. Generally speaking, today's films wash over me. But I've been reading about "Civil War" to the point where I'm debating going to the theatre to see it, something I haven't done in eons.
Then again, when will it be on the small screen?
As for what you lose in screen size, environment, with sixty plus inches now the TV standard at home, that's no longer true. You don't have to see it on the big screen, never mind share it with an audience. Yes, horror movies are great with an audience, but I always loved going to the movies in the afternoon, when oftentimes there were fewer than ten people in the theatre.
Now the great thing about movies, when done right, is you get involved, you leave the rest of your life behind, it's a trip, you're transported to another world. And you'll get this same experience watching "Ripley."
However, "Ripley" is a great advertisement for upgrading your television to OLED, the image is so sharp, you forget the power of black and white, which Peter Bogdanovich used so effectively back in the day. Do today's kids even know who Bogdanovich was?
I may be the only person who is not completely thumbs-up on Andrew Scott's lead performance. He's kind of smug and at times obsequious and I didn't always find his portrayal truthful, I can't see a person acting exactly that way, unlike Dakota Fanning as Marge.
As for Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf. I expected him to be a perfect hunk, whereas he, like Ms. Fanning, is not drop-dead gorgeous, adding believability. The truth is very few people in life are so good-looking, and by casting them in films you separate the production from reality. Dickie is an intelligent rich kid, trying to separate himself from his family, that's why he's moved to Italy. Dickie is not a complete playboy, he's not a doofus, he's just too rich to have direction, a purpose in life. He's not a bad guy, he's not evil, unlike...
I retain only a few images of the 1999 film "The Talented Mr. Ripley," yet I remember that Ripley was a duplicitous scoundrel, but not much more. So the series was somewhat fresh. Then again, it's predictable. Then it's not. The pacing can make it excruciating, just like life, which is alternately boring or moving so fast you want to slow it down.
Eliot Sumner is great as Freddie, I didn't realize until just now, looking at his Wikipedia page, that he's Sting's son. Eliot can act. And he radiates a certain intelligence. And suffers no fools. He's suspicious and then his suspicions are confirmed.
As for the detective, Maurizio Lombardi as Pietro Ravini... At times he seems all-knowing, at other times out in the wilderness, and the way he always fires up a cigarette... Ravini radiates control, he doesn't care about you, just solving the crime.
And the hotel clerks... Every interaction is laden with meaning. Are they just evidencing their personality, are they suspicious, are they in cahoots with the police? Every interaction heightens your anxiety.
Maybe you don't know creeps, maybe you don't know sleaze. Maybe that's what today's elite college students are missing, having been coddled from birth. But the boomers... We've had contact with this type. Maybe hitchhiking, hanging at the bar with friends, people who you get a sixth sense about, want to stay away from. I lived with some guys who'd meet skiers on the hill and invite them to stay over, which I'd never do, I was always wary in the house when they were inside. Then again, the more open you are, the more opportunities you get. Whereas today everybody is suspicious, you can't even walk to school. You've got to be street smart to survive, and too many kids today are kept from the street.
So watching "Ripley" is going down a rabbit hole. It's not just another series to check off your list before you get to "Baby Reindeer" or another documentary about a subject you know all about anyway. "Ripley" stands alone, it's got no context, it doesn't fit in on the Netflix homepage, it's an art film.
But a series.
Yes, in Italian films of yore they could employ this slow pacing, but that's because not much really happened. But in ninety minutes, you can't slow down like this, like you can in a series. This is the right pacing for the story.
"Ripley" plays just like a foreign film of the past, it sets a mood, makes you think, engenders conversation. It's a starting point as opposed to an end point. You'll get into it and then not want to shut it off. It's both modern and of the past. Then again, people don't change.
More like this please.
It's creepy. And slow. And in black and white. And if this bothers you, stay away. But if in college you watched foreign films from the sixties, this will feel totally familiar.
The first thing you'll notice is the black and white. Honestly, I thought it would be like "The Wizard of Oz," turning into color at some relatively early point, but that proves to be untrue.
And the pacing... If you're used to American television it will be interminable. When "x" is killed...they'd immediately cut away in America, but the camera stays on the scene, it plays out, you feel the slowness of time, which ultimately has you inside the mind of the killer and...
I had to look up the girlfriend, Marge, an antique name if there ever was one, placing the series in time, which is the early sixties. She's attractive, but not drop-dead gorgeous, and she's not dressed to show off her assets, but the performance is so spot on that you're enamored of her character. Turns out she's played by Dakota Fanning, whose name I know, but I could not pick her out of a lineup. There was a time in the seventies when I knew every actor, followed them up the ladder, watched their career blossom, back when the world of visual entertainment was comprehensible. This was before movie actors shifted to the small screen, before the small screen got bigger. When you could be comprehensive. When films were still sometimes highbrow, before they all became cartoons, lowbrow. I think Hollywood would be stunned by the size of the audience looking for something more. Generally speaking, today's films wash over me. But I've been reading about "Civil War" to the point where I'm debating going to the theatre to see it, something I haven't done in eons.
Then again, when will it be on the small screen?
As for what you lose in screen size, environment, with sixty plus inches now the TV standard at home, that's no longer true. You don't have to see it on the big screen, never mind share it with an audience. Yes, horror movies are great with an audience, but I always loved going to the movies in the afternoon, when oftentimes there were fewer than ten people in the theatre.
Now the great thing about movies, when done right, is you get involved, you leave the rest of your life behind, it's a trip, you're transported to another world. And you'll get this same experience watching "Ripley."
However, "Ripley" is a great advertisement for upgrading your television to OLED, the image is so sharp, you forget the power of black and white, which Peter Bogdanovich used so effectively back in the day. Do today's kids even know who Bogdanovich was?
I may be the only person who is not completely thumbs-up on Andrew Scott's lead performance. He's kind of smug and at times obsequious and I didn't always find his portrayal truthful, I can't see a person acting exactly that way, unlike Dakota Fanning as Marge.
As for Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf. I expected him to be a perfect hunk, whereas he, like Ms. Fanning, is not drop-dead gorgeous, adding believability. The truth is very few people in life are so good-looking, and by casting them in films you separate the production from reality. Dickie is an intelligent rich kid, trying to separate himself from his family, that's why he's moved to Italy. Dickie is not a complete playboy, he's not a doofus, he's just too rich to have direction, a purpose in life. He's not a bad guy, he's not evil, unlike...
I retain only a few images of the 1999 film "The Talented Mr. Ripley," yet I remember that Ripley was a duplicitous scoundrel, but not much more. So the series was somewhat fresh. Then again, it's predictable. Then it's not. The pacing can make it excruciating, just like life, which is alternately boring or moving so fast you want to slow it down.
Eliot Sumner is great as Freddie, I didn't realize until just now, looking at his Wikipedia page, that he's Sting's son. Eliot can act. And he radiates a certain intelligence. And suffers no fools. He's suspicious and then his suspicions are confirmed.
As for the detective, Maurizio Lombardi as Pietro Ravini... At times he seems all-knowing, at other times out in the wilderness, and the way he always fires up a cigarette... Ravini radiates control, he doesn't care about you, just solving the crime.
And the hotel clerks... Every interaction is laden with meaning. Are they just evidencing their personality, are they suspicious, are they in cahoots with the police? Every interaction heightens your anxiety.
Maybe you don't know creeps, maybe you don't know sleaze. Maybe that's what today's elite college students are missing, having been coddled from birth. But the boomers... We've had contact with this type. Maybe hitchhiking, hanging at the bar with friends, people who you get a sixth sense about, want to stay away from. I lived with some guys who'd meet skiers on the hill and invite them to stay over, which I'd never do, I was always wary in the house when they were inside. Then again, the more open you are, the more opportunities you get. Whereas today everybody is suspicious, you can't even walk to school. You've got to be street smart to survive, and too many kids today are kept from the street.
So watching "Ripley" is going down a rabbit hole. It's not just another series to check off your list before you get to "Baby Reindeer" or another documentary about a subject you know all about anyway. "Ripley" stands alone, it's got no context, it doesn't fit in on the Netflix homepage, it's an art film.
But a series.
Yes, in Italian films of yore they could employ this slow pacing, but that's because not much really happened. But in ninety minutes, you can't slow down like this, like you can in a series. This is the right pacing for the story.
"Ripley" plays just like a foreign film of the past, it sets a mood, makes you think, engenders conversation. It's a starting point as opposed to an end point. You'll get into it and then not want to shut it off. It's both modern and of the past. Then again, people don't change.
More like this please.
--
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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Saturday 27 April 2024
Stagecoach-Day Two
It was all about Post Malone.
People say they wish they were young again, not me. Maybe I wasn't good-looking enough, maybe I didn't have game, but when I think of all the time I spent at shows and bars alone, wishing I could connect with others, I cringe.
But now I have status. Not on Wall Street, but in the small world they call the music business. I saw Michael Chugg backstage and the night before I connected with Lana Del Rey over a favor she did for a friend of mine, I was the intermediary (yes, that sounds like a name-drop, but there's no way to tell the story without her name).
So I feel pretty good about myself, except when I feel bad about myself. And my social anxiety has me running away from encounters as opposed to leaning into them, but the people in attendance...
They're young, they're not famous, so they're flaunting what they've got, their bodies and their outfits, hoping they will impress others, and that's a game I'm glad I'm past.
Now at least half of the attendees were women, I'd say more. And like that old song by the Marvelettes which the Young Rascals did a great cover of, there were short ones, tall ones, find ones, kind ones...
As well as overweight ones. And those who did poorly in the genetic lottery. No one could see their bank account, without talking to them you couldn't perceive their personality, it was all about their look and that's a tough game to play.
There wasn't a lot of interaction amongst the groups, there never is. So you're alone, until you're together. You spend your whole life trying to find a significant other, certainly if you're a man, women support each other, converse, whereas men will talk sports and not much more, most won't even reveal major problems, never mind give support to others who are experiencing them.
So the people watching was nonpareil.
There are just so many people in the world. You realize it when you walk amongst the assembled multitude. This is not like a sporting event, where you go to your seat and stay there, you wander and see thousands of people and wonder what their story is, what made them come.
I spoke with four twentysomething Asian women from Pasadena who love country music.
I talked to a group of SMU graduates who told me they don't like the Coachella people.
Yes, I sat at a picnic table eating an overpriced and substandard lobster roll which was sold to me by a woman who was the picture of "carny" and I saw an empty space and I engaged the others in conversation. Other than that, I didn't speak to a single person out on the field all day, for hours. There were tons there, but I was alone. And I'll be honest, for a minute there, longer, it was kind of depressing. We all need context. At least I had some backstage.
Once again, at Stagecoach it's all about the headliners. They had a drone shot of the crowd in front of the Mane Stage on the screen and it was overwhelming, huge.
And the country headliners have broader support than the pop headliners, despite getting less publicity and respect. And although the absolute headliner was Miranda Lambert, the performance by Post Malone on the Mane Stage right before was the hit of the night.
Now if you're a baby boomer, you can't get over the face tattoos. And the thing about tattoos is once you get one or two, many cover their bodies with more. It's not only his face that Post has inked.
And he seemed to come from nowhere, and had success in the hip-hop world, and I didn't give him much respect until I saw a YouTube video of him playing some Hendrix material. First, he could really play. Second, the group's performance gelled, it was a good facsimile of Jimi, with the forceful energy of "Are You Experienced."
And Post got a ton of press, he was everywhere. But then he was living in Utah and despite the hype, his last two albums haven't had anywhere near the amount of commercial success of the hits before them.
But the guy didn't fade away. That's the strange thing about the new era, for all the one hit wonders who can't sell a ticket and disappear, there are others who have anemic recording careers who continue to do good live business and sustain in the marketplace.
And now, suddenly, Post Malone is everywhere. He's on the Taylor Swift single and he's at Stagecoach doing a "Country Covers" set.
Now my knowledge of country is an inch deep and not even two inches wide so if you play classics, I don't know them. And I didn't know almost any of the songs Post Malone played tonight, you can check the set list and see how you do here: https://t.ly/N-p6m
But the performance was so engaging that it didn't matter. There was the energy of the band. And Post's personality and delivery. He related like a friend without pandering. There was no "Hello Cleveland!," but quieter conversation, in many cases with a humble character, other than when he was praising the special guests, Dwight Yoakam, Brad Paisley and Sara Evans. He praised them like a fan, it was not perfunctory, there was emotion.
The whole set had emotion. And I'm standing there thinking this guy has got a career, he's never going to be broke down and busted, apply for a straight job and not get it because of his face tattoos.
And Post looked scraggly, he had an untrimmed beard, was wearing regular clothes, it was akin to the rock stars of fifty years ago as opposed to the spandex of the eighties and the sparkles seen on stages at Stagecoach.
In other words, Post Malone has a strange charisma, he's likable, he's a star.
Today all the press is about the recording industry. Sure, there are stories about Taylor Swift's grosses, but most of the conversation is about Spotify Top 50 hits, what AI will do to the business, there's a lot of doom and gloom.
But not in the live business. Yes, it's hard to sustain yourself on the road, but I'd wager more acts than ever are doing so. It's hard to build an audience. Think about it, you're starting from zero and the goal is for people to notice you and pay you money? That's a heavy lift.
But in the live business there's big money. Headline in the desert and you could be paid eight figures. And ever since Beyoncé, one special show can pay endless dividends, boosting your career. And when you see someone live a bond is created that can never be achieved with a recording. And the promoters...are keeping you alive.
So in the end it's a matter of whether you can sell tickets and whether you can deliver on stage, whether you're a PERFORMER or not.
Performance is a skill. I saw Miranda Lambert back in 2010 in a club. Believe me, she delivers a far superior show today. And you can learn how to perform, but some people are naturals.
Like Post Malone.
So you can graze and catch the undercard at Stagecoach, but really it's about the big names. It's less about discovery than a victory lap.
And when these stars take the Mane Stage there are so many people there that you can feel the energy, it's palpable, you're thrilled to be there, to be included, that feeling is why you pay to go. When the act is on stage and the music surrounds you and you see them on the big screen...there's a lot of technology involved, but the essence is humanity.
So the reason you live life is the surprises, the unknowns. If you walk out the front door you never know what will happen. And my mood completely changed when I encountered Post Malone's performance tonight. Didn't matter whether you were short or tall, good-looking or less attractive, even what you were wearing, it was about a bond between your brain and what was on stage, and if it worked...you can't get that hit anywhere else.
What we're selling is music. But it's more than that. We're selling life, dreams. When done right a performance is unforgettable. The only thing better is sex. We search for these peak moments. And Post Malone surprised me and delivered one tonight.
--
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--
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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People say they wish they were young again, not me. Maybe I wasn't good-looking enough, maybe I didn't have game, but when I think of all the time I spent at shows and bars alone, wishing I could connect with others, I cringe.
But now I have status. Not on Wall Street, but in the small world they call the music business. I saw Michael Chugg backstage and the night before I connected with Lana Del Rey over a favor she did for a friend of mine, I was the intermediary (yes, that sounds like a name-drop, but there's no way to tell the story without her name).
So I feel pretty good about myself, except when I feel bad about myself. And my social anxiety has me running away from encounters as opposed to leaning into them, but the people in attendance...
They're young, they're not famous, so they're flaunting what they've got, their bodies and their outfits, hoping they will impress others, and that's a game I'm glad I'm past.
Now at least half of the attendees were women, I'd say more. And like that old song by the Marvelettes which the Young Rascals did a great cover of, there were short ones, tall ones, find ones, kind ones...
As well as overweight ones. And those who did poorly in the genetic lottery. No one could see their bank account, without talking to them you couldn't perceive their personality, it was all about their look and that's a tough game to play.
There wasn't a lot of interaction amongst the groups, there never is. So you're alone, until you're together. You spend your whole life trying to find a significant other, certainly if you're a man, women support each other, converse, whereas men will talk sports and not much more, most won't even reveal major problems, never mind give support to others who are experiencing them.
So the people watching was nonpareil.
There are just so many people in the world. You realize it when you walk amongst the assembled multitude. This is not like a sporting event, where you go to your seat and stay there, you wander and see thousands of people and wonder what their story is, what made them come.
I spoke with four twentysomething Asian women from Pasadena who love country music.
I talked to a group of SMU graduates who told me they don't like the Coachella people.
Yes, I sat at a picnic table eating an overpriced and substandard lobster roll which was sold to me by a woman who was the picture of "carny" and I saw an empty space and I engaged the others in conversation. Other than that, I didn't speak to a single person out on the field all day, for hours. There were tons there, but I was alone. And I'll be honest, for a minute there, longer, it was kind of depressing. We all need context. At least I had some backstage.
Once again, at Stagecoach it's all about the headliners. They had a drone shot of the crowd in front of the Mane Stage on the screen and it was overwhelming, huge.
And the country headliners have broader support than the pop headliners, despite getting less publicity and respect. And although the absolute headliner was Miranda Lambert, the performance by Post Malone on the Mane Stage right before was the hit of the night.
Now if you're a baby boomer, you can't get over the face tattoos. And the thing about tattoos is once you get one or two, many cover their bodies with more. It's not only his face that Post has inked.
And he seemed to come from nowhere, and had success in the hip-hop world, and I didn't give him much respect until I saw a YouTube video of him playing some Hendrix material. First, he could really play. Second, the group's performance gelled, it was a good facsimile of Jimi, with the forceful energy of "Are You Experienced."
And Post got a ton of press, he was everywhere. But then he was living in Utah and despite the hype, his last two albums haven't had anywhere near the amount of commercial success of the hits before them.
But the guy didn't fade away. That's the strange thing about the new era, for all the one hit wonders who can't sell a ticket and disappear, there are others who have anemic recording careers who continue to do good live business and sustain in the marketplace.
And now, suddenly, Post Malone is everywhere. He's on the Taylor Swift single and he's at Stagecoach doing a "Country Covers" set.
Now my knowledge of country is an inch deep and not even two inches wide so if you play classics, I don't know them. And I didn't know almost any of the songs Post Malone played tonight, you can check the set list and see how you do here: https://t.ly/N-p6m
But the performance was so engaging that it didn't matter. There was the energy of the band. And Post's personality and delivery. He related like a friend without pandering. There was no "Hello Cleveland!," but quieter conversation, in many cases with a humble character, other than when he was praising the special guests, Dwight Yoakam, Brad Paisley and Sara Evans. He praised them like a fan, it was not perfunctory, there was emotion.
The whole set had emotion. And I'm standing there thinking this guy has got a career, he's never going to be broke down and busted, apply for a straight job and not get it because of his face tattoos.
And Post looked scraggly, he had an untrimmed beard, was wearing regular clothes, it was akin to the rock stars of fifty years ago as opposed to the spandex of the eighties and the sparkles seen on stages at Stagecoach.
In other words, Post Malone has a strange charisma, he's likable, he's a star.
Today all the press is about the recording industry. Sure, there are stories about Taylor Swift's grosses, but most of the conversation is about Spotify Top 50 hits, what AI will do to the business, there's a lot of doom and gloom.
But not in the live business. Yes, it's hard to sustain yourself on the road, but I'd wager more acts than ever are doing so. It's hard to build an audience. Think about it, you're starting from zero and the goal is for people to notice you and pay you money? That's a heavy lift.
But in the live business there's big money. Headline in the desert and you could be paid eight figures. And ever since Beyoncé, one special show can pay endless dividends, boosting your career. And when you see someone live a bond is created that can never be achieved with a recording. And the promoters...are keeping you alive.
So in the end it's a matter of whether you can sell tickets and whether you can deliver on stage, whether you're a PERFORMER or not.
Performance is a skill. I saw Miranda Lambert back in 2010 in a club. Believe me, she delivers a far superior show today. And you can learn how to perform, but some people are naturals.
Like Post Malone.
So you can graze and catch the undercard at Stagecoach, but really it's about the big names. It's less about discovery than a victory lap.
And when these stars take the Mane Stage there are so many people there that you can feel the energy, it's palpable, you're thrilled to be there, to be included, that feeling is why you pay to go. When the act is on stage and the music surrounds you and you see them on the big screen...there's a lot of technology involved, but the essence is humanity.
So the reason you live life is the surprises, the unknowns. If you walk out the front door you never know what will happen. And my mood completely changed when I encountered Post Malone's performance tonight. Didn't matter whether you were short or tall, good-looking or less attractive, even what you were wearing, it was about a bond between your brain and what was on stage, and if it worked...you can't get that hit anywhere else.
What we're selling is music. But it's more than that. We're selling life, dreams. When done right a performance is unforgettable. The only thing better is sex. We search for these peak moments. And Post Malone surprised me and delivered one tonight.
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Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
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-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Stagecoach-Day One
That's rock and roll.
This is not an arena show, this is not a stadium show, this is not Coachella, when you headline the Stagecoach Mane (Main) Stage you're playing to NINETY THOUSAND PEOPLE!
Now I wish every American could come to Stagecoach, because then they could see how we're more alike than different. Everything is perceived to be tribal in the U.S. today, but when we forget about politics what you get is...
Boobage.
That's what you notice immediately. Which is kind of astounding if you grew up in the relatively prudish sixties. Yes, we skinny-dipped, but we didn't exhibit our bodies quite the same way. The women are dressed to kill, but not like influencers, not like the Coachella crowd, they're more...normal. They may be showing off their assets, but above the cowboy boots they're all wearing jeans. Most people wouldn't look out of place anywhere in America, other than in the major metropolis. There were no brand names, it was not about posting as a fashionista online, then again people were shooting photos, but almost always in groups, you don't come to Stagecoach alone, you come with your posse, and you come to hear country music.
Now I was watching Elle King play the Mane Stage and... You don't see screens that big anywhere else. They've got to be visible all the way to the back row. And on stage it's all human, there are no hard drives, which is extremely refreshing.
No dance steps, no perfection, just guitars and drums and...
It's not a whole hell of a lot different than it was in the aforementioned sixties. When you watched the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan" and were inspired to form a band. The songs were not syncopated to a beat, there were no drum machines, the music was organic, human, it didn't slide off of you, it was far from disposable. And every song had a chorus.
In other words, Stagecoach/country music is the antithesis of Top Forty, and the biggest recording act in America will be headlining Sunday night, Morgan Wallen.
I was listening to Buzz Brainard on the satellite on the drive in, he was interviewing Stagecoach attendees, asking them where they were from and who they wanted to see. They all wanted to see Wallen.
We don't have this kind of ubiquitous star in traditional pop, nobody everybody loves. As big as Drake, Kendrick, Taylor and Beyoncé are, not everybody likes them. But everybody in the country sphere likes Wallen. And if you listen to the record... You don't need a comprehensive course in country music to understand it. Listen to today's metal and if you haven't been paying attention for decades, it's incomprehensible. Fast and noisy. Hip-hop... It has haters. But the country songs are traditional, the singer may twang, there might be a pedal steel guitar, but the essence is rooted in the Great American Songbook. You can sing the songs at home, never mind relate to so many of the lyrics.
Now watching Dwight Yoakam in the Palomino tent I wasn't sure if the packed audience knew his material or not. You've got to know, at these giant festivals, it's more akin to a sporting event than a concert, in that the assembled multitude is never completely quiet, there's always an undercurrent of conversation. But then I moved back up front and the twenty and thirtysomethings knew every word, they were singing along. This man of color was slapping me on the back as he sang to the heavens.
But really what blew my mind was the Mane Stage.
Now at Coachella there are ten stages. There are essentially fewer than half of those at Stagecoach, because everybody wants to see the same acts.
At Coachella, the area in front of the main stage can accommodate forty thousand people. But everybody, all ninety thousand attendees, can sit or stand and watch the headliner on the Mane Stage.
And that's power.
I'm standing there contemplating what it must feel like to be performing to such a vast audience.
And then it occurs to me, you can't get this many people to see either Biden or Trump, no political figure. Only music can draw this many enthralled customers at once.
This was not a show that comes through town on its way to somewhere else. These are all one-off gigs, you stand there on stage and the audience is READY! They want to engage, they're waiting for you to play, they want you to light the fire.
Now Eric Church performed a confounding set. On acoustic guitar with a gospel choir and even a trumpet, this is not what people came for. And according to the press, many only stayed for fifteen minutes. I couldn't quite figure it out, I thought that Church was trying to pull a Beyoncé, do something special for this one-off, I thought the acoustic number would end, the gospel singers would leave the stage, but...
That's not what happened.
Honestly, it was more like an Andy Kaufman performance than a traditional Eric Church show, which rocks pretty hard. Then again, that's the thing about live, it is. As in it's one shot, you go out and perform and the audience resonates...
Or it does not.
So I'm looking at the crowd, mostly smiling, digging the music, and I'm wondering whether they're Republicans or Democrats. Used to be country music was a bastion of the right, but many Dems are fans today. And a certain percentage of the audience was working class, or close to it. In other words, they're working for a living. This contingent used to be Democrats, but now many are Republicans. If you're struggling, you resent those who think they're better than you.
But there was absolutely no tension. I've been to indoor shows and experienced more fear than I did last night, outdoors, mostly in the dark. It was weird, but I felt safe.
Once again, is this the America we read about in the press?
So what we've got here is genuine stars playing to people who need to hear their music, in many cases parking their rear ends in front of the Mane Stage from the moment they get there.
We haven't had this power since...
At least the eighties.
Where everybody's on the same page, everybody knows the music, everybody's all together as one.
And the draw is music. Not made by machines. Believe me, you couldn't even get a thousand, or even a hundred to listen to a concert of AI generated music. But real people, who've built careers over time...
You can't headline having started yesterday. Jelly Roll was the pre-headliner, and got vast applause, but this guy has been around forever, he's pushing forty, whereas in pop music we listen to the songs of adolescents who've experienced almost nothing.
So the performers seemed relaxed. They were out there naked, sans production. But when they started to play...
It was the same as it ever was. Akin to the past as opposed to the present. Madonna and Mariah Carey were a diversion, the latter engendered the singing TV contestants, Madonna made people want to be ubiquitous, in-your-face, known by everybody. But today's country music is more laid back, it's not about the penumbra, the brand extensions and the corporate endorsements, it's about the music. And every performer has an identity, and they're all different. Sure, you can listen to country radio and hear imitation, sameness, but out in the field, live, that's not how it plays.
So if you were young and there last night, your greatest desire would be to take the stage yourself, to be a music star.
For decades people wanted to be billionaire techies, conversation was about stock options and trigger points. But you won't get ninety thousand to show up for Elon Musk, maybe if Steve Jobs came back from the dead, but still, most people would stay at home and watch the stream. But for music, you have to be there. And believe me, with ninety thousand, you're not up close and personal.
And the reason people need to be there is because the music speaks to them in a way nothing else does, no politician, no television show...
It was palpable. I'm standing in front of the Mane Stage and I heard and felt the music, I perceived the power of the performers, and we were all there together, as Americans.
This is not Glastonbury, this is not an EDM show, this is not a slice of the public, Stagecoach attendees cut across all demos and walks of life.
This is the world I grew up in. And if you don't agree...
You weren't there.
--
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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This is not an arena show, this is not a stadium show, this is not Coachella, when you headline the Stagecoach Mane (Main) Stage you're playing to NINETY THOUSAND PEOPLE!
Now I wish every American could come to Stagecoach, because then they could see how we're more alike than different. Everything is perceived to be tribal in the U.S. today, but when we forget about politics what you get is...
Boobage.
That's what you notice immediately. Which is kind of astounding if you grew up in the relatively prudish sixties. Yes, we skinny-dipped, but we didn't exhibit our bodies quite the same way. The women are dressed to kill, but not like influencers, not like the Coachella crowd, they're more...normal. They may be showing off their assets, but above the cowboy boots they're all wearing jeans. Most people wouldn't look out of place anywhere in America, other than in the major metropolis. There were no brand names, it was not about posting as a fashionista online, then again people were shooting photos, but almost always in groups, you don't come to Stagecoach alone, you come with your posse, and you come to hear country music.
Now I was watching Elle King play the Mane Stage and... You don't see screens that big anywhere else. They've got to be visible all the way to the back row. And on stage it's all human, there are no hard drives, which is extremely refreshing.
No dance steps, no perfection, just guitars and drums and...
It's not a whole hell of a lot different than it was in the aforementioned sixties. When you watched the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan" and were inspired to form a band. The songs were not syncopated to a beat, there were no drum machines, the music was organic, human, it didn't slide off of you, it was far from disposable. And every song had a chorus.
In other words, Stagecoach/country music is the antithesis of Top Forty, and the biggest recording act in America will be headlining Sunday night, Morgan Wallen.
I was listening to Buzz Brainard on the satellite on the drive in, he was interviewing Stagecoach attendees, asking them where they were from and who they wanted to see. They all wanted to see Wallen.
We don't have this kind of ubiquitous star in traditional pop, nobody everybody loves. As big as Drake, Kendrick, Taylor and Beyoncé are, not everybody likes them. But everybody in the country sphere likes Wallen. And if you listen to the record... You don't need a comprehensive course in country music to understand it. Listen to today's metal and if you haven't been paying attention for decades, it's incomprehensible. Fast and noisy. Hip-hop... It has haters. But the country songs are traditional, the singer may twang, there might be a pedal steel guitar, but the essence is rooted in the Great American Songbook. You can sing the songs at home, never mind relate to so many of the lyrics.
Now watching Dwight Yoakam in the Palomino tent I wasn't sure if the packed audience knew his material or not. You've got to know, at these giant festivals, it's more akin to a sporting event than a concert, in that the assembled multitude is never completely quiet, there's always an undercurrent of conversation. But then I moved back up front and the twenty and thirtysomethings knew every word, they were singing along. This man of color was slapping me on the back as he sang to the heavens.
But really what blew my mind was the Mane Stage.
Now at Coachella there are ten stages. There are essentially fewer than half of those at Stagecoach, because everybody wants to see the same acts.
At Coachella, the area in front of the main stage can accommodate forty thousand people. But everybody, all ninety thousand attendees, can sit or stand and watch the headliner on the Mane Stage.
And that's power.
I'm standing there contemplating what it must feel like to be performing to such a vast audience.
And then it occurs to me, you can't get this many people to see either Biden or Trump, no political figure. Only music can draw this many enthralled customers at once.
This was not a show that comes through town on its way to somewhere else. These are all one-off gigs, you stand there on stage and the audience is READY! They want to engage, they're waiting for you to play, they want you to light the fire.
Now Eric Church performed a confounding set. On acoustic guitar with a gospel choir and even a trumpet, this is not what people came for. And according to the press, many only stayed for fifteen minutes. I couldn't quite figure it out, I thought that Church was trying to pull a Beyoncé, do something special for this one-off, I thought the acoustic number would end, the gospel singers would leave the stage, but...
That's not what happened.
Honestly, it was more like an Andy Kaufman performance than a traditional Eric Church show, which rocks pretty hard. Then again, that's the thing about live, it is. As in it's one shot, you go out and perform and the audience resonates...
Or it does not.
So I'm looking at the crowd, mostly smiling, digging the music, and I'm wondering whether they're Republicans or Democrats. Used to be country music was a bastion of the right, but many Dems are fans today. And a certain percentage of the audience was working class, or close to it. In other words, they're working for a living. This contingent used to be Democrats, but now many are Republicans. If you're struggling, you resent those who think they're better than you.
But there was absolutely no tension. I've been to indoor shows and experienced more fear than I did last night, outdoors, mostly in the dark. It was weird, but I felt safe.
Once again, is this the America we read about in the press?
So what we've got here is genuine stars playing to people who need to hear their music, in many cases parking their rear ends in front of the Mane Stage from the moment they get there.
We haven't had this power since...
At least the eighties.
Where everybody's on the same page, everybody knows the music, everybody's all together as one.
And the draw is music. Not made by machines. Believe me, you couldn't even get a thousand, or even a hundred to listen to a concert of AI generated music. But real people, who've built careers over time...
You can't headline having started yesterday. Jelly Roll was the pre-headliner, and got vast applause, but this guy has been around forever, he's pushing forty, whereas in pop music we listen to the songs of adolescents who've experienced almost nothing.
So the performers seemed relaxed. They were out there naked, sans production. But when they started to play...
It was the same as it ever was. Akin to the past as opposed to the present. Madonna and Mariah Carey were a diversion, the latter engendered the singing TV contestants, Madonna made people want to be ubiquitous, in-your-face, known by everybody. But today's country music is more laid back, it's not about the penumbra, the brand extensions and the corporate endorsements, it's about the music. And every performer has an identity, and they're all different. Sure, you can listen to country radio and hear imitation, sameness, but out in the field, live, that's not how it plays.
So if you were young and there last night, your greatest desire would be to take the stage yourself, to be a music star.
For decades people wanted to be billionaire techies, conversation was about stock options and trigger points. But you won't get ninety thousand to show up for Elon Musk, maybe if Steve Jobs came back from the dead, but still, most people would stay at home and watch the stream. But for music, you have to be there. And believe me, with ninety thousand, you're not up close and personal.
And the reason people need to be there is because the music speaks to them in a way nothing else does, no politician, no television show...
It was palpable. I'm standing in front of the Mane Stage and I heard and felt the music, I perceived the power of the performers, and we were all there together, as Americans.
This is not Glastonbury, this is not an EDM show, this is not a slice of the public, Stagecoach attendees cut across all demos and walks of life.
This is the world I grew up in. And if you don't agree...
You weren't there.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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