Tickets Not Streams

All the focus is on streaming numbers when it should be on how many tickets you can sell. Pop music is a highly-promoted arena based on a single song, which may stream prodigiously, but that does not mean the act has any fans. Fans are made live. That's where the bond is sealed. For nearly two decades acts have been complaining that they have to go on the road to make their bread, as if this is a bad thing. The paradigm has shifted completely, if you're not willing to work live, the odds of you having a lengthy career are not good. Furthermore, what works on the road is oftentimes completely different from what's in the Spotify Top 50. See streaming as promotion. In truth, many artists are making a fortune as a result of streaming. But then there are the artists complaining that despite even six digits of plays, they're not making any real money. Now the dirty little secret is very few of the acts in the so-called golden years ever got royalties. You may have heard them on the radio, and money was generated by airplay and sales, but this cash was eaten up by expenses and bad deals. The label would charge everything to your account, from limos to videos. It was very hard to get ahead unless you had a slew of hits/success and you had a manager who renegotiated. So, this fantasy that you're being screwed by streaming is a falsehood. And the sooner you accept this, the sooner you can focus on building your career. Streaming is the best thing that ever happened to you. Whether it be the DSPs like Spotify or social media. Your music is exposed. In the pre-internet era, very little music got exposure. But now, if people want to hear your music, it's just a click away. The audience doesn't have to buy it to hear it. Then again, there's a plethora of material in the food chain and it's harder than ever to gain attention. So don't focus on boosting your streams, focus on building your audience, which starts live and is goosed utilizing social media. See your recordings as an afterthought. Look at Billy Strings... He plays arenas, seen as one of the biggest breakthroughs of the last five years, with tons of media attention, never mind fans. But his streaming numbers? Positively anemic for an act of this caliber. Not a single track of his breaks a hundred million streams. Sure, he's got stuff in the low eight figures, 18 or 22 million, but only two cuts even break 50 million. Now these numbers are nothing to sneeze at, but compared to the acts in the Spotify Top 50, they're a joke. And it's not like there's a hit that's waiting to go stratospheric. The material is secondary with Billy Strings. It's about his playing ability and the music made live. Yes, you can check in with the cuts on a DSP, but you're probably more interested in a live video on YouTube or recordings from Nugs.net or the Internet Archive. Sure, you can call this Grateful Dead model, but don't take that too far. Yes, the recordings were a secondary revenue source for the Dead, but they were progenitors, from a different era. Jam band music survives on the fumes of the Dead, and its live business is nothing to sneer at, but that's not the only kind of music that works live. But one thing that doesn't work live on the way up is production. The Spotify Top 50 play big buildings and charge a lot for tickets and therefore believe they have to provide a ton of production, oftentimes with a lot of the music on hard drive. That's more like a Broadway show than music. And interestingly, what works live is oftentimes not in the genres featured in the Spotify Top 50. If you're a starting pop singer, who doesn't write, or only gets credits in collaboration, good luck. No, live, first and foremost you must have the chops, you must have the ability to play and sing. Writing is important too, but not as critical as it is with the Spotify Top 50. Rather you're selling more than music, you're selling a performance, an experience. A live, human experience in a computerized/mechanized world. Audiences are not looking for perfection, they're looking to feel connected, to be moved. And once you make a fan live, usually they're a fan forever, if for no other reason than they paid for the ticket, they're invested, it's a sunk cost! Guitars? They rule live, even though they may be hard to find in the Spotify Top 50. Rock is not dead live, it's fully alive! So if you're an up and comer, focus on gigs, whether they pay or not. Get yourself in front of people, learn the ropes, hone your act. If you've got it, people will respond. And this does not mean you can never have a hit. And you never know when the Spotify Top 50 might flip, to career artists who are individuals who have something to say. Also, live, bands rule. On recordings... It's easier to focus on a single person, and no one wants to share the wealth, and managers don't want to have to deal with four or five people or more. All this focus on streams is skewing perception. The media constantly publicizes the record charts, but ticket sales and grosses might as well be locked up in a black box. Then again, everybody lies about ticket sales on the way up, it's part of the hype. It's amorphous as opposed to clear-cut. This is why the label groups are in trouble. They're in the wrong business. The focus now is on live. There's a much broader audience for live. Talk to people...it seems that everybody is going to multiple shows, acts don't only play the metropolis anymore, people are hungry for live music. Provide it. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Do You Play A Musical Instrument?-SiriusXM This Week

Tune in August 22nd to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West. Phone #: 844-686-5863  If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Think Small

Don't sign with a major label. Unless you make broad-based pop or mainstream hip-hop (country is a world unto itself, with its own rules). That's all they're interested in. They're equivalent to NASA. They plot endlessly for rare moonshots, they're not interested in suborbital journeys, they want to bet it all, play for keeps. And isn't it interesting that rocketry has been taken over by outsiders like SpaceX. Amazing what one man with a vision and a checkbook can achieve (got to give Elon props here). If you don't make music in the designated genres, the majors probably don't want you anyway. But if they do...what exactly are they going to do for you? The majors are about money and business relationships, and those mean less than ever before. The majors' relationships are with gatekeepers: radio, TV, DSPs. They curry favor. But everybody knows that other than SNL and CBS "Sunday Morning," TV doesn't move the needle at all. It's the modern equivalent of seeing your name in the paper. Cool, but meaningless. As for terrestrial radio... The active demo, which skews young, doesn't listen. They grew up in an on demand world, they don't want to be told what to consume, never mind wait for it. And then there's press... If you think youngsters are getting their info from traditional outlets, you're wrong. They don't trust them. The writers have no credibility in their world, they only listen to their friends. BINGO! Did you read the story about Angie Nixon's victory in Florida? Leave the politics out, that's not the point... Other than the fact that what she was selling, a progressive viewpoint, was not served by the mainstream. This is anathema to insiders, they want to exert control over the process, but the bottom line is the public is alienated, doesn't feel it's being listened to. And it's the same case with music. We're in a Lou Pearlman moment. You remember Lou, right? Who had an idea which ultimately turned into a juggernaut. He formed Backstreet Boys and NSYNC when boy bands were seen as a novelty/joke, took them to Europe to break and hooked them up with Max Martin, a hungry Swede, to make these two acts the biggest in the world. And he did this right under the majors' noses. The people who worked at the major labels were too hip for the room, they not only weren't interested, they didn't want their images tarred by association. However, by signing both of these artists, Clive Calder ended up with a multi-billion dollar buyout, the largest of its kind, ever. The money always comes from thinking outside the box. Now let's be clear, Nixon was not a nincompoop with no history. She had experience, a record, she was seen as a legitimate candidate, by the people, if not the establishment. But rather than listen to the words of the high-priced consultants, Nixon employed word of mouth, direct contact with the public to ensure success. More than ever, everyone is an individual these days. They want to be seen as such, not taken for granted, not spoken down to, and if you close them...THEY'LL SPREAD THE WORD TO EVERYBODY! You're selling passion. And no one is more passionate than a fan of an act on the way up, they feel that they own them, as long as the act hasn't been forced down their throat. Nixon's opponent Alex Vindman raised $16.3 million dollars. Nixon raised $975,000. Nixon couldn't even afford one television ad. But she won by twelve percentage points. Now let me be clear, not everybody can win. Not everybody has the talent. Dunning someone to pay attention when the music is not worth it will never work. But instead of banging your head against the major labels' door, bang on the door of your ultimate customers. They are the definitive test. If they don't want to spread the word, change what you're doing or make peace with your obscurity. You need to start off the radar screen. You need no PR. And you must superserve your audience. Fans want more. They don't care if it's covers on YouTube...forget official releases. Everyone in social media knows that sans frequency, you've got nothing. You've got to release clips, you've got to make people feel that you care about them...not some radio programmer or some other gatekeeper. It's one on one. That's how you build it. Via direct connection, one by one. And if you're thinking about that big break, that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, stop before you start. The process is incredibly slow. You may be on the verge of giving up multiple times. But if you stick with it... Once again, it's 10,000 hours of HARD WORK! That's the science, left out of Malcolm Gladwell's book but in the definitive work "The Talent Code." If you're not challenging yourself constantly, it doesn't matter how many hours you put in. It's not about writing three songs and then spamming them across the internet. It's about writing hundreds of songs, so it becomes reflex. Learning how to play the guitar or piano at a professional level. You pay your dues so when the spotlight is upon you, it's natural. And speaking of natural, that's what sells. Humanity. Honesty. People may go to see the dancing fools in arenas, performing to hard drive, there is a business in that, but not as much as someone who connects directly. The majors could employ this strategy, but then they'd be in the artist development business, which they left behind decades ago. The majors are just hoping they can sign you if you're successful. But the truth is there's a good chance your music might never stream in prodigious numbers. So what exactly can the label do for you? As for signing with an indie... If you're not willing to do the work yourself, don't even start. There's no black box, no magic, and no shortcuts. It's you that have to be dedicated, you that have to work to make the connection, which all starts ONLINE! If you're not willing to live online, you're living in the last century and have almost no chance of success. Young people know all this. But not all young people are infatuated with music. They are looking for something different, something honest, and when they find it, they tell everybody they know about it. Look at Noah Kahan. He had one hit, "Stick Season," which was a cult favorite, spread by word of mouth, before it broke bigger. Sure, Kahan is signed to a major, but you can't point to another act in his genre having the same success on a major. If you break it, people will be beating down your door to get in business with you. It's these axioms no one wants to hear, because it might be a reflection on the quality and marketability of their work. The truth is Hollywood, the media-industrial complex, is peopled by sharks looking for prey 24/7, and there's very little stuff worth biting. But if you create it... -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Ketch Secor-This Week's Podcast

Mr. Old Crow Medicine Show. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ketch-secor/id1316200737?i=1000784556039 https://open.spotify.com/episode/7M4ztOAGKifvOZ8XuAmS74?si=RT6UpSZHT7yq5I3OaUajuA https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/ketch-secor-341773222 https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/9bcdc303-3f23-406f-8b02-a53d831acf3d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-ketch-secor -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Dark Star

https://open.spotify.com/album/63AF6wD9Mt1vQgKPNZaAXx?si=bVedbm7EQMeopKG8fTOMDQ 1 This was not the best song on the album, but it's the one that hit the radio first. This was unexpected. We never thought we'd get another Crosby, Stills & Nash album. And here it was. In June 1977. 1977... The late seventies were about hedonism. Not as bad as the eighties, when greed was legitimized by Ronald Reagan, but Nixon was finally gone, Jimmy Carter was in office and the Vietnam war was over, a conflict that hung especially heavy over the heads of boomers, who were always looking over their shoulders to see if Uncle Sam was going to call for them. Now if you read history, you'll see that the late seventies were also the disco era. Funny how the acts blinked. Not only did the Beach Boys go disco, but Rod Stewart and the Stones too. People went with the flow. Credibility was out the window. It was about cocaine and partying, having a good time, finally relieved of the burdens of the past. And then comes "CSN." Interestingly, it was 1977 that portended great changes in the landscape. The Ramones might have released their first album a year earlier, but what was then called "New Wave" broke with the release of Elvis Costello's "My Aim Is True." But that didn't come out in the U.S. until November 1st. It was also the year of Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express." We thought that "Autobahn" was a curio, that they were a one hit wonder. Little did we know their influence... But this was also the year of Billy Joel's true breakthrough, "The Stranger," with "Just the Way You Are." And James Taylor's "JT." Mostly, it was more of the same. Which was fine by us. This was the aftermath of Woodstock. The festival hipped the rest of the world to the music's power, how it drove the younger generation, the seventies were just a victory lap. So what do you do in an era where everything is up front and center, imbued with sunniness, and the biggest band from the turn of the decade returns with a new album, an evolution of the old, but still introspective? Well, radio went on it immediately. It was like they never left. Then again, we never expected them to return. 2 Now, as was the case with the debut, there was a radio hit written by Graham Nash. In this instance, it was "Just a Song Before I Go." Good, not revolutionary, but it has sustained. You hear this and "Southern Cross" on SiriusXM's the Bridge, they're in regular rotation. But not the rest of "CSN," because there was a darkness. Not the darkness of a long-haired, tattooed metal band, but an introspection. That was another feature of the late seventies, although forgotten today, EST was a household word back then. Now staying with Nash, who'd proved his chops on his exquisite solo debut "Songs for Beginners," his "Cathedral" closed the first side. This was not a poppy hit, but more of an emotional cry, intimate...rarely heard on the radio, it was a standout on your turntable. But as usual, the most popular tracks were written by Stephen Stills. Neil Young is sui generis, he carves his own path outside the mainstream. But the thing about Stills...he evidences his roots, he just lifts the bar that much higher, with his writing, singing and playing. The final song on the LP, "I Give You Give Blind" was a tear. An evolution from his work on the Manassas double album, enhanced by the background vocals by Crosby and Nash. And "I Give You Give Blind" got radio play, but not as much as "Fair Game." This was all over the radio. But the best song on the album is Stills's "See the Changes," which comes right after the opening awakening, Crosby/Doerge "Shadow Captain," which was proof the act was back, with the three part harmonies. Furthermore, it was energetic. A very good opener, if not in the league of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Carry On," but what could be. And then the album got quiet. On "Déjà Vu" Stills reflected about where he'd been and what he'd seen in "4+20." "He was tired of being poor And he wasn't into selling door to door And he worked like the devil to be more" It took hard work. There was no established path. The Beatles illustrated the possibilities, the Byrds opened the door for American acts, but still...you needed the chops, you needed to know how to sing, write and play. Otherwise the odds of success were low. "Why am I so alone Where is my woman, can I bring her home Have I driven her away Is she gone" Self-reflection, this is what is absent in today's world. Everyone's a winner, 24/7, you don't want to show any weakness, any chinks in the armor. And this is exactly why we were drawn to our musical heroes. They spoke our truth, they were leaders. There had started to be t-shirts, but really your career was all about the music, what you had to say, what you stood for. "I embrace the many-colored beast I grow weary of the torment Can there be no peace And I find myself just wishing That my life would simply cease" It's hard to convey to a youngster the power of this song and these words to teenagers across America, lying on their beds, listening to this song on the record player. Alienation was a feature of society. The music spoke to those who felt they didn't fit in, who had more questions than answers, it was a relief to find someone on your own page, especially someone who'd been there and done that. Learning that we were all on our own journeys, encountering the same hurdles, roadblocks, and even acclaim and monetary success didn't necessarily solve all your problems. And the first two albums ushered in an era of introspective singer-songwriters, but by time we hit the late seventies, Cat Stevens seemed to have gone pop, James Taylor was singing covers, but Stephen Stills... "She has seen me changing It ain't easy rearranging And it gets harder as you get older Farther away as you get closer" The boomers were out of school, in the work world, having their first serious relationships. The old friends faded away, replaced by new ones from different backgrounds, with different viewpoints. In your early twenties you thought you knew everything, now you're not quite so sure. "Ten years singing right out loud I never looked, was anybody listening Then I fell out of cloud I hit the ground and noticed something missing" Our priorities were being rewritten by our heroes. What made life work... Career success was not enough, you needed something more, people, relationships. "Now I have someone" That's all you've got to know, she's seen him changing, but she's still standing by him. Evolution, acceptance, keys to a relationship. The only instrumentation is Stills's guitar. From an era when we were still infatuated by skill. We'd all bought our guitars, tried to play these songs. As for the three of them singing together, it was angelic, from the heavens above. We knew we couldn't do this, but we were thrilled it existed and we could be exposed to it. 3 Now through the magic of the internet, it's easily learned that "Dark Star" is about Stills's relationship with Joan Baez, back in 1967, something no one knew until Graham Nash's biography "Wild Tales" was published in 2013. Today we know everything about our heroes, there's no mystery, but we fought for crumbs back in the pre-internet era, built fantasies on very little information. The musicians were truly our heroes, they lived in a rarefied air, mostly in Los Angeles or London, which caused so many to move to these locations. Something was happening there, it wasn't exactly clear, but we definitely wanted to be there. And at this point, FM radio was everything, the heartbeat of America. If you didn't listen I wouldn't quite say you were a pariah, just that you were out of the loop, irrelevant. You went to someone's house and checked out their albums, you quoted lyrics to each other, there was a royal class living above us, focused on self-expression, we were exposed to their wisdom on wax and we went to the show to revel in the connection. "I met you several years ago The times they were so strange, but I had a feeling You looked into my eyes just once An instant flashing by that we were stealing" That's all it takes, just one look. But we were no longer wet behind the ears, we were adults, not children. We were learning about life, society, the power of connection between two people. It was rarely obvious, oftentimes it was a stolen moment. "We touched, we did, you know we did No more teasing now" He's beyond smitten, he's hooked. To the point where he can't hold his emotions back, he expresses them in words. Is she going to play or not, send a message, a clear message, do you want to do this? "Dark star, let the memory of the evening Be the first thing that you think of When you open up your smile and see me, dark star" Isn't this what we all want? Then again, how many times have we been frustrated. So what song is radio gonna play? Not something too dirgey, not something too dark... This was no longer the free-format days, radio was a business, a very lucrative one, and you couldn't risk someone pushing the button. So if something was driving, something you could get in the groove and nod your head to while in your car, that was the number the radio played. And played. "Dark Star" was a constant. It was no longer 1970, never mind 1969, every hamlet had an FM rock station. And the business was burgeoning, there were more acts in more styles featured than ever before. There was even cynical corporate rock, made for commerce. And then an act returns subtly to prominence once again. Crosby, Stills & Nash were not banging you over the head, were not begging for attention. The album was not in your face, anything but. It was dark and although appealing, you had to penetrate it to truly understand it. But this sound. The guitars, the sweet, three-part harmony... It was like a lost art. Only in this case it returned. 4 Crosby, Stills & Nash never reached this peak again. More albums were made, they even reunited with Young. There was one more radio track, the aforementioned "Southern Cross," but the band wasn't quite spent so much as lost. The decades turned and the eighties were the era of flash, the exact opposite of the intimacy the band specialized in. Then again, once you've been to the mountaintop, and returned... Outsiders don't understand the emotions. This is your job, this is your life, this is how you gain attention, earn your living, but what does it all mean? Will one more hit make a difference? What's the motivation? You're not ready to retire, but you're no longer hungry. Meanwhile, the game keeps changing and you're labeled a has-been even though you're no different. As for the audience... It understands none of this. As much as people think they know you, they don't. They think the music tells everything, but it doesn't. Can you even risk messing with your image? You're more alone than ever. But your music, it still keeps your fans warm at night, connected. Those songs are set in amber, they are not ditties, but life lessons, to be learned and reminded of forever. Which is why people keep coming to see you perform. But are you a jukebox or an artist? What does it all mean? That is still the question. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Acting With Impunity

And I thought no one was supposed to be above the law. That's how society works. Cross the line and you might get fined, assuming you're caught and someone has enough money, power and wherewithal to hold you to account. But what if you act in plain sight? Thumb your nose at the system, believe you're untouchable? That's what we're confronted with today. Did Meta, et al, target tweens? That's being debated in court as I write this. Does Donald Trump have the right to tear down the East Wing and build a ballroom? Well, he doesn't seem to care what anybody thinks. Irrelevant of starting a "brief" war sans approval that appears to be endless with no good exit, the U.S. being lucky to walk away with its tail between its legs, worse off than it started. We can debate welfare. We can debate health care. You might have an opinion on either side of the issue. But we were never asked our opinion on the ballroom, or the arch. They weren't even on our radar screen. Rather, we woke up one day and the White House was being torn apart and a hole was being dug... Sure, presidents have changed the interior of the building, but the exterior? What next? A lengthening of the Washington Monument? A closing down of Arlington National Cemetery? Now I know that in tech you act first and ask for permission later. However, in many cases this is done off the radar screen and the system is not equipped to address these breakthroughs. Actually, that's a big problem in Congress. How can you ask people to legislate about that which they have no knowledge? This is why we need a digitally-savvy body, to meet the problems of the twenty first century head-on. But when Trump acts with impunity, doing whatever he wants, what the hell am I supposed to do? I don't drive a hundred miles an hour and then rip up the ticket after being cited by police. I don't refuse to show up to court. And if I do, I don't blame the police person. And, if the judge renders a verdict, I obey it. Otherwise the penalties are too heinous. But the Supreme Court decided that Trump is not liable for any crimes while in office. So, what's to stop him? Once again, this isn't about left and right, this is about a changing of the rules. Imagine if one team had to gain ten yards for a first down, but the other never had to move the ball an inch in order to garner four more plays. How would that work? How could the other team win? Sure, people bend the rules in sports, and even in business. But at least there are rules, and they always do it surreptitiously, they hide their actions, hoping not to be found out. But Trump? He rubs the dirt in our eye. So what do we know... No one is going to stop him from building his ballroom. If for no other reason than he's got teams working 20 hours a day and... "Trump’s Ballroom Is Rising at Breakneck Speed: 20 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week - Although the fate of the ballroom is tied up in court, the Trump administration argues that the project is too far along to be stopped now." Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/us/politics/trump-ballroom-construction.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6lA.hjeC.9lmaMbE2jKp_&smid=url-share That's the nature of life. Getting started is the hardest part. And once you have, you're rarely impeded. Especially when you've got a rubber-stamp Congress. That's right, we're going to spend nearly a billion dollars on the ballroom and then tear it down? Not gonna happen. Now when a kid gets caught red-handed he lies, but the parent knows the cookies didn't disappear all by themselves, and the child is punished. Trump lies and is not punished. And in some cases, lives are at stake. Once again, this is not a Republican/Democrat issue. There are not two sides. There is only the law. We have to obey it, why doesn't he? And if you blindly pay fealty to Trump, support everything he does... Is it the substance or the fact that he's the leader of your team? Americans are uninformed. This is what you learn on TikTok. Political questions are asked and true believers come up with such cockamamie stuff. But the ballroom. This is binary, black and white, built or not. You can see it with your own two eyes. Now the interesting thing is that all those protesting in the street, the No Kings people, have crawled back into the holes they came from and are now silent. In truth, many are waiting for the results of the midterm elections. We'll see how that goes down. Then again, you've got Trump saying mail-in voting must go, yet he just used it in Florida. Talk about cognitive dissonance. "Trump Votes by Mail Again in Florida - The president also voted by mail in 2020 and in a Florida special election in March, even as he has railed against the practice and equated it to cheating." Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/us/politics/trump-mail-vote-florida-election.html But the No Kings protesters... They see that their efforts made no difference. Trump ignored them or doubled-down. As for elected officials on the left, wimps you'd never bring to a bar fight. Honestly, I feel powerless, and I'm not the only one. But this is unlike anything I've seen in my lifetime. We hated Nixon, but he ultimately paid the price, he had to resign. There have been a lot of politicians' whose policies I've disagreed with. But dem's the breaks. They were duly elected. But this? Trump acting willy-nilly, doing whatever he wants, even ignoring legal rulings? This is new. This is demoralizing. This is indefensible. But this is what happening. There's a moral rot in America, and the nation stinks from the top. And until we rein in Trump, we're barely different from Venezuela, all these nations whose governments we want to change. If we're not a democracy, how do we expect those outside our borders to take our efforts seriously? They don't. Just know that you are not alone in your frustration. And the next time you see a member of society breaking the rules, ask yourself why they should obey them, when the President doesn't. Morning in America? The sun sank long ago. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Eve Myles

Have you watched "Keeping Faith"? I'll watch anything with Eve Myles in it. She's not a movie star, she's an ACTRESS! That's the change we've been experiencing in the modern era. You hear about all these movie stars dipping into TV... It's really about those who've been working on both the small and big screens, even on stage, for years, building a résumé. Movie stars pass on scripts, work infrequently, actors work on a regular basis, knowing that image is subsidiary to the performance. But that does not mean these new talented actors are unknown. We just finished watching "Gone" on BritBox. It's got a 100/68 rating on RottenTomatoes. You probably know David Morrissey from "Sherwood," which has a 96/63 RT rating (but I always take the audience rating with a grain of salt). In "Gone" he plays a different role, he's completely internalized, he's anything but warm and huggable. And if you're a regular viewer of the small screen, which isn't so small, you'll know others from the cast, this is especially true in English projects, actors tend to appear regularly. But what put me over the top, what sealed the deal, made me pick up the remote and watch "Gone," was Eve Myles. First and foremost, she's not an ingénue... The media keeps telling us to pay attention to wet behind the ears actors based on their physicality. Skills, chops, are irrelevant. A pretty face is key. Never mind most of these youngsters end up fading away anyway. Eve Myles is not unattractive, but she's not stop you in your tracks beautiful. And she's got that space between her teeth... What is appealing is not her looks, but her personality in these roles. The way she encompasses so many characteristics and moods. In "Gone" she plays Detective Annie Cassidy. She isn't in charge, but she'd like to be. She's constantly bumping up against authority. And she's dipping her toe into reconnection with her husband, who left Annie for a younger woman. All her friends tell her not to go back, but the force keeps pulling her in. We live in a world of billions of people, but the attraction to ones we've been involved with is almost unbreakable, it's hard to resist. But Annie can be manipulative. She wants to do her job, succeed, solve the crime. But she doesn't always know what is going on. Eve as Annie does not always react in the same way, she employs different facial expressions, you marvel at her ability to do so, but it's not like Meryl Streep, she doesn't supersede the role and draw attention to her skill...no, it all seems natural. To tell you the truth, I ultimately found "Gone" a little disappointing, the buildup was fantastic, the tension was palpable, but the ending just didn't live up to what came before. But Eve Myles? She was a 10! -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Correction-Movie Grosses

Those are Domestic numbers, not Worldwide grosses. You can see Domestic grosses here: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/date/?ref_=bo_nb_ydw_tab And Worldwide grosses here: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/?ref_=bo_nb_di_tab But the song remains the same. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

Movie Grosses

If I read one more story that the movies are back... You might be surprised to discover that "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has grossed 50% more than "The Odyssey," the supposed talk of the summer. That's right, "Spider-Man" has a world-wide gross of $785,831,670 compared to "The Odyssey"'s $504,680,370, and "Spider-Man" has been in release two weeks less! Furthermore, "The Odyssey" gross has been boosted by IMAX screenings/attendance, which cost 20-60% more per ticket and represent 30% of the film's overall gross. So why are we subjected to endless reams of hype celebrating the success of "The Odyssey" and at this point barely hear crickets re "Spider-Man"? Because the press likes the story. Another "Spider-Man?" Meh. But some big, new extravaganza from one of the few directors who can sell a picture by name alone? Based on a Greek classic that the great unwashed have never read? What is sold as mass is not. And what have we learned from the above two successes? That movies have become an event business, a land of a couple of successful moonshots, this is not evidence of a healthy business, this is representative of a business that has lost its soul and has no time for that which is not a mega-success, if for no other reason than marketing for the cheap movie costs as much as that for the expensive film. Looking at the year-to-date chart... There are only 18 films that exceed $100 million in worldwide gross. And only eight of those flicks are originals. And in the top ten, besides "The Odyssey," one of the originals is "Michael," which grossed far more than expected, but still was akin to a sequel, the studio was not starting from scratch with an unknown quantity. As for the other originals in the top ten... You've got "Obsession" and "Backrooms," which are definitely hits, but from outsiders. This is where a renaissance in the health of the business could grow from. But other than horror, no one wants to distribute a low budget movie. Hell, film festival sales are down. In order for the movie business to recover, people have to get into the habit of going to the theatre on a regular basis, knowing that something good will be playing every weekend. But this is not the case, we've got a few hits and a bunch of dreck. But the somnambulant movie press refuses to address the fact that its cheese has been moved, that the audience has moved online, to streaming, and that the theatrical business is moribund with less of a future than ever. Yes, the film business depends on new product, out of the box, risky stuff that titillates the audience. Despite the success of "Spider-Man," superhero sequels are no longer doing boffo at the b.o.... As for something new and different... Streaming is where you get it. Netflix is derided because it doesn't release almost any of its movies in theatres, but Netflix makes 25-50 films a year, and viewership is through the roof, because friction is nearly nonexistent. You've already paid, you don't have to pay attention to press, you just log on and see the new product that appeals to you on the homepage. But this isn't sexy enough for the so-called auteurs, who believe that every film must be seen in a theatre. But the truth is the number one platform is YouTube. Because it's cutting edge and innovative. Meanwhile, Hollywood has its knickers in a twist, fearful that the Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery will result in fewer productions. Theatrical business is like Vegas. There are no DVD sales to prop up grosses, never mind video stores. A film either opens big or does not, almost nothing grows. And the marketing cycle is all off. Windows make no sense to the audience in an on demand world where if you're aware of it now, you want to consume it now. You mean I've got to wait weeks for VOD and then months for it to trickle down to a service I pay for? By that time, with the tsunami of product, I no longer remember the movies of even a few months ago. But, but, BUT! If Netflix drops a movie or a complete series... It's out of cycle with the press. The press likes something dripped out week by week so they can write about it. Otherwise, it's one and done. But the press is out of touch with the public. The public doesn't care about the endless stories, the updates in the paper, they want it all now, they binge it and move on to something new. You don't try to artificially slow down the cycle... Meanwhile, Netflix is adding games and podcasts trying to catch up with YouTube and Hollywood is arguing over how many films Ellison is going to make when people have gotten out of the habit of going to the movies on a regular basis. You can't stop progress. Then again, if I read one more fakokta article about the return of physical product in the music business... How about those inane articles about cassettes coming back? Bottom line, the true bottom line, is that streaming accounts for 84% of revenue. And, physical sales are usually accounted for on a retail basis, whereas streaming is inherently wholesale. And people buy vinyl who don't even have turntables. Buy all the discs you want, but if you think physical is coming back, you've probably still got a CD player in the dashboard of your car, never mind a cassette deck! So until we can agree on a narrative, we cannot march forward. Then again, disruptors have eaten the lunch of the establishment over and over again. Netflix succeeded in plain sight. Meanwhile, we keep hearing that more films need to be made for theatrical release. Why not release the album exclusively on vinyl first? And make it so it doesn't hit streaming services for month. Those records would be dead on arrival, because access is everything. The audience will show up for an event picture. But they will not show up for more pictures on a regular basis and they are never going to again. But all the talk is about the Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery merger and the theatrical business. The general public doesn't care. Even Zaslav wants out, so he can get his big paycheck before the entire enterprise sinks. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. -- Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/ -- Listen to the podcast: -iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp -- http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25 To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25