Did you watch this fakokta show?

I have a policy. If Felice wants to watch something, I will give it a shot, assuming the show has high Rotten Tomatoes ratings and is fully available.

“Widow’s Bay” has EXCELLENT Rotten Tomatoes ratings, 98/93, and you know I’ll watch anything that exceeds 80. And, it finished last night, the tenth episode aired June 17th.

God help you if you took two months to watch this show week by week. I’d be tearing my hair out, waiting for a big reveal… There is a bit of a buildup, but then, in classic non-American streaming style, there’s not complete resolution because they’re setting it up for a second season!

So what we’ve got here is Keri Russell’s husband, Matthew Rhys, as mayor of an island off the Maine coast, Widow’s Bay. Who would’a thunk that Felicity would turn into one of our finest actresses, starring in A-level product like “The Diplomat”? And she met Rhys doing another great series, “The Americans,” and now I pay attention to him too.

So the bottom line is Widow’s Bay is haunted.

So this is a horror show, right?

Well, that’s something you’re debating from square one, you’re flummoxed by the tone. Am I supposed to be scared or should I be laughing? Should I take this seriously?

Rhys wants to increase tourism, but many residents believe the island is haunted. Is it?

Well, it appears that it is. And they even go back hundreds of years, they spend an entire episode delineating the curse, with Betty Gilpin as a mail order bride and… It’s so whacked. Just coming up with this. I give the producers credit, but I’m not exactly sure how it all fits together.

And in many ways it doesn’t. But there are episodes.

Actually, there are two…

One involves Kate O’Flynn as Patricia Moyer, Rhys’s assistant. O’Flynn looks like a cross between Illeana Douglas and Shelley Duvall. She’s got a bit of a weak chin, and she’s not classically beautiful, but she’s dedicated to her job, you can count on her…

But she’s an outcast. The hip group of girls she grew up with on the island want nothing to do with her. This is such a great demonstration of this paradigm…

That’s how the world works. There are insiders and outsiders. And some of these outsiders are happy in their backwaters, but a lot of these outsiders just wish they could be in the inside group.

But they don’t understand the inside group dynamics. Which are based on groupthink, usually signaled by a leader. You fawn and get along, color outside the lines and you’re ostracized.

And then there are those who are aware they’re not in the hip group, but they just can’t understand why, like Patricia.

So she stumbles on a book that says if you throw a party you’ll be popular and… If you ever went to high school, you’ll wince. Assuming you were not one of the insiders.

And then there’s the episode with the shaman. This is utterly hysterical. I mean I couldn’t stop laughing (and at certain other times in this show too, when it wasn’t flat or I wasn’t scared or…) The mayor and Patricia and Wyck go to see Chris Fleming as Todd O’Connor, because they want to know about the mushrooms the pastor ate…

Oh, you’ve been there. But this is on an island! The guy with the long hair, with a drawer full of drugs, and the jargon…

This isn’t dark drug dealer. This guy isn’t about earning millions, but enlightenment. Just talk to someone who’s done ayahuasca. They describe a religious experience. And it’s all led by a shaman, like this guy. They take it so seriously, as if they have the answer and you don’t. But this is played for laughs, and I was more than chuckling, tears were nearly coming to my eyes.

And those episodes, #4 and #5, “Beach Reads” and “What to Expect on Your Trip,” are worth the price of your time. I thought they were a turn in the arc, that the series had hit its stride, sometimes it takes a few episodes to find the groove. But this was not the case.

So, if you start this show and it feels a bit dry, if it doesn’t strike your funny bone or maintain your interest or…

STOP!

I do not even recommend you start. Despite the hype, stay away from this show, you will want your time back.

And I’m scratching my head… Does everything on Apple get a pass? Is this the Emperor’s New Clothes? I mean the creators were taking some risks, but that does not mean the end result is worth it.

What did you think?

Universal and Warner are public companies. Sony is too, but it’s part of a larger enterprise and it’s hard to parse out the financial details, and stockholders judge the overall performance of the conglomerate, not just the music division, but…

Wall Street evaluates Universal and Sony and what they see is a huge expenditure on new music for very little return. All the money today is in catalog.

Now let’s be clear, it’s not all deep catalog, sometimes the tracks are not that old, but the truth is new music keeps declining in market share. But the majors keep investing in it.

Obviously they’re doing something wrong.

And Wall Street is all about the numbers, they see the red ink and want to stanch it, they want to separate new from old, they want to be more like Primary Wave, which is only built on hits.

But the three traditional majors are set in amber, they keep wanting to do it the same way. Albeit on a narrower basis.

You see the majors are in the hit business. But not just any hit, but moonshots. They want something mega-successful, because of the opportunity cost. They don’t want bunts, they don’t even want singles, they want grand slams!

Well, the way you do this is to find an act in a popular genre…

This is the problem. Which doesn’t occur to those who only became aware in the last few decades. Sure, there was a pop hit business prior to the Beatles, but starting in the late sixties and into the seventies it was all about the outside, innovation, album rock. Never forget, “Stairway to Heaven” was never a single, and it’s the most popular rock song of all time, at least according to radio.

Then again, radio is nearly meaningless in terms of breaking records today, but the labels are still fully staffed, working stations, should this line item be cut?

If it’s not working in tech, you eliminate it. In tech it’s always about pushing the envelope, in music it’s about looking backwards, doing it the same way as always.

So, in a pop world it’s all about the track as opposed to the album/body of work/career. And most of the classic acts took a while to develop, to gain traction. Yes had three albums before “Roundabout.” Joni Mitchell had three before “Blue.” This was the paradigm. Find someone with innate talent and nurture them.

But today there’s no nurturing, never mind looking.

Today labels are not looking for talent, they’re looking for success. Someone with more than a blip on the radar screen. Someone with followers… The label says they can blow up, amplify what the act has already achieved. But what underlies that success is irrelevant.

And if you enter our system, i.e. the major label system, we’ll plug you in to writers and producers and mixers, we’ll make your music palatable to the masses, we’re experts.

But this formula is the antithesis to what blew up this business. Which is left field auteurs doing it their way.

So if the major labels want to stay in the new music business, they should have longer term plans. They should get ahead of the marketplace. They should sign acts that are unique, that have something to say, that are self-contained, that they can be nurtured and developed over a period of years.

But that’s too heavy a lift, they want to do it the old way, their way.

Which is why new music should be separated from old music. Literally split up into two companies. Unless the three majors totally rejigger music and artist development.

Fire almost all of the radio staff. Yup, bite the bullet. Even if a track succeeds on radio… That’s no longer where the active listeners are. And it’s active listeners who sustain this business.

Look for self-contained acts. Period. Don’t look for acts you can mold.

And then you can do press, but really, it’s about capturing hearts and minds.

HOW DO YOU DO THIS?

Not the usual way. There’s no innovation. If an act is so good, do a pop-up. It’s about alternative marketing. If you’ve got something worth attention you popularize it on YouTube/TikTok and Instagram Reels, all of which are free.

You must take an holistic approach. The music is only part of it, there’s the act’s identity and how they connect with the public. Furthermore, what works more than ever is honesty and credibility, which is one of the reasons that hip-hop is fading in the marketplace. It owned honesty and credibility, it eclipsed rock which forfeited it, but now hip-hop has become a cartoon and the audience wants Noah Kahan.

Flash is passé. TMZ is passé. Music is the other. If it’s competing for attention with the rest of media, it’s screwed.

This only works if the acts do a 180. If they can say no instead of yes to so much…endorsements/sponsorships and fashion and… The music must be paramount, the more the creator is seen as a regular person, the better. And in today’s marketplace, you must not have airs, you must not think you’re better than the hoi polloi. Also, momentary is not worth much. Too much of today’s music is memes. Which are literally here today and gone tomorrow. No, we need music that speaks truth and lasts.

But what we’ve got is divas and wankers as the major labels drive their enterprises over a cliff and indies slowly gobble up market share.

New music must be self-sustaining, and this requires huge cost cuts and reimagination of the model. Today you start very small and employ kindling to grow. It’s the antithesis of the MTV era, where if you got on the service you were known by seemingly everybody around the world. Today you can be a hit artist and not be known by the majority of the public, this is not going to change, this is now.

Stop telling the public that they must love two-dimensional stars like Ariana Grande. And for all the people who love Taylor Swift, there’s a larger cadre who want nothing to do with her. But the industry keeps pounding these pop acts down the public’s throat, to the detriment of the overall industry.

Think of records as statements, as exploratory work, building the story over time. Don’t think of records as instant hits. Most of what is instant is not worth remembering.

So either the majordomos at the three majors wake up and make changes in new music, or their owners, the public, will break them up for value. Which would be better than the existing system. Because then new music companies, without catalog to sustain them, would be more nimble, cost-effecient and innovative.

The Street is right. Universal’s stock will continue to be depressed until the new music problem is solved. And it won’t be by trying to convince investors that the company’s present strategy is correct, but by changing it.

Over the last two decades, music has abdicated its cultural power to streaming television. That’s where the innovation is. That’s where you’re surprised. But not in music.

There needs to be planning. Long term thinking. Investment in projects that will pay dividends for decades.

Or Wall Street is going to break these companies up, deservedly so.

Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller are documentarians whose most recent film is “Peter Asher: Everywhereman.”

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dayna-goldfine-dan-geller/id1316200737?i=1000773284830

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/9b1c0388-de26-4bbe-b166-42b83a85df0b/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-dayna-goldfine-dan-geller

The safety net has been hobbled. Despite being in your business in an untold number of ways, from abortion to drug rights, never mind licensing requirements, now, more than ever, you’re responsible for paying your own bills.

But it gets worse. Because so many jobs don’t pay enough to put a roof over your head and food on the table, never mind deliver health care and an automobile to get to and fro, and the gas and insurance for it.

Now you don’t have to go to college, but if you do not, you must be a self-starter, someone who can create something out of thin air that people will pay you for, sooner rather than much later. You might be a tech genius, but very few are. It’s kind of like being a musician, many can play the guitar, but not may can earn a living at it.

So…

College is b.s. But without it, you’re starting behind the 8-ball. Most of what you learn happens outside the classroom, which is why you should do your best to go to a residential institution. You need to widen your perspective by meeting others from different backgrounds and social strata. You may think you know it all, but when you go to college you will find out you do not. And you want to go to the best college you can afford. Here’s a hint… Most of the best colleges are need-blind, meaning if you can get in they’ll foot the bill if you can’t afford it. So don’t be afraid to reach for the stars, you never know. Assuming you’ve got the goods.

Life is all about the people you know and the goods you possess. And almost always, the goods are between your ears. And it’s not facts, but analysis, can you appraise the landscape and come to conclusions, gain insight.

But even if you’ve got that college degree, you must still ask yourself whether you’re a follower or an innovator. Working for yourself is a license to starve. But it’s also a license to make a living unfettered by a boss.

So…

If you’re an entrepreneur and it’s just about making a living, making bank to foot your bills, there are trades, i.e. plumbers, electricians, etc., and numerous opportunities providing services. These may not be glamorous gigs, but they are low hanging fruit. Yet they require intense dedication and long hours.

So, if you’re not an entrepreneur, go get a job at a corporation. Or maybe the store down the street. But just know unless you own the enterprise, you’re expendable. Now, more than ever, it’s when you’re going to get fired, not if. And if you are fired…forget the want ads, it’s all about networking.

So… If you want to play the corporate game, soft skills are the most important. You’ve got to be a good hang. Socialize ad infinitum. Do favors. Because you’re going to need one, it’s just a matter of when. But know other than family, you are not assured that those in your network will be reliable, will deliver the quid pro quo, especially if you’re lower on the totem pole than they are. That’s just reality. If you confront them regarding their lack of delivery, they’ll just say “it’s business,” and it is.

So that’s a path you can take. Working for one company or another and trading yourself up to a better gig utilizing your network until you die. You might get enough money to buy a house, drive a foreign car, but your spouse will probably have to work too. And you will constantly be on call. When the phone rings on the weekend, you’d better answer it, doesn’t matter if you’re having a baby or there’s a death in the family…

You can never sleep working for someone, you must always have one eye open to the politics, the gossip, to making sure you’re super-serving your boss, even if they’re an a-hole.

But if you want to go the entrepreneurial route in the arts…

You must know that you are not needed. No one needs your music, movie or book. There are plenty out there. And you might create something better than what’s successful, but that does not mean you’ll get rich.

If you go the artistic route you must have no bills, no obligations, be willing to walk into the wilderness unfettered, possibly for years! If you don’t have the stomach for this, don’t start and don’t complain. Just go to graduate school, which is a glorified trade school. But know, unless you’re an MD, graduate school does not mean you’ll make a great living. Just that you will make a living. Should you borrow for your education? That’s a tough one. I’d do your best not to. Certainly don’t borrow expecting riches at the end, there are a ton of starving lawyers.

But if you go down the artistic path, you must accept that you are an entrepreneur, you are running a business, that you’re responsible for your career.

This is the exact opposite of the pre-internet era. Then it was about attaching yourself to someone who could push the button. Distribution was controlled, and you needed access to it, which intermediaries like record labels provided. Now distribution is open to everyone and it’s almost free. That challenge has been decimated.

But the end result is the channel is clogged. With both the great and the terrible. How do you rise above?

I’d say by being great, but that’s not enough and that’s not always definitive. It’s all about gaining fans. Period. Don’t try to impress intermediaries, go directly for people who will support you, buy your work, come to shows, tell all their  friends about you. If you are not willing to dun everybody you know, don’t start. This is where the rubber meets the road. Once again, don’t even bother sending your material to an intermediary, expecting to be jetted into the stratosphere. They’re already too busy and even if they want you, chances are they can’t do much for you that you cannot do yourself. I know this is disillusioning, but it’s the truth.

So, can your art deliver a living, based solely on your own efforts?

Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself that question. If the answer is no, stop. Forget the false encouragement, mostly from people who want to charge you or are afraid to tell you the truth.

Careers are about attention and reaction. Period. If you can’t deliver both…

Don’t shoot for the stars. Today no one has universal purchase. Those acts paraded in the mainstream press? Most of America, never mind the world, doesn’t know the material. Accept this. Everything is cottage industry today. Can you build your own cottage industry?

Now you must separate desire from truth. The truth is we’re all great at something, but it may not be what you’re emotionally attached to.

Let me put it this way, if you’re a great salesman you’ll never starve. But if you’re a great musician, you might.