Brand New Day
How many of you people out there
Been hurt in some kind of love affair
And how many times do you swear that you’ll never love again?
I used to spend all my money on records. I built a collection I felt worthy of the Smithsonian. If it was free and it sucked, I threw it out. What if someone came to my house and saw it?
But in 1988 I bought a Michael Monroe CD with one good track. Used to be the single was just the invitation, to a well-developed world worth visiting. Suddenly, albums were overpriced theme parks with only one roller coaster and a bunch of kiddie rides. It took a little more than a decade, but Napster unbundled the track from the album and we were DELIVERED!
No longer were we at the mercy of the man, no longer were we pawns in the act’s game, suddenly we could have exactly what we wanted, FOR FREE! Not only the tracks we wouldn’t buy an album for, but songs that had never seen the light of day, rarities that thrilled us.
Then, we downloaded everything we needed. Suddenly, we no longer wanted the new stuff. It had a vocal audience of purveyors, but we thought it paled next to the classics.
How many lonely, sleepless nights
How many lies, how many fights
And why would you want to put yourself through all that again?
Play Grand Theft Auto if you want to see creativity and innovation. The wii is cooler than CDs ever were. And it comes WITH the crucial games. We’re tempted to move on.
‘Love is pain,’ I hear you say
Love has a cruel and bitter way
Of paying you back for all the faith you ever had in your brain
We hate the major labels, TicketMaster and the overexposed acts. Is there no one who won’t sell out, who won’t take the corporate money, who won’t see that we’re enough to support them, that if you’ve got the fans, you’ve got everything you need?
How could it be that what you need the most
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?
You never want to feel so sad and lost again
It’s been painful, being subjected to the prepubescent wannabes, being afraid of getting sued by the RIAA. You may want to give up, but like that old classic song says, the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
One day you could be looking
Through an old book in rainy weather
You see a picture of her smiling at you
When you were still together
You could be walking down the street
And who should you chance to meet
But that same old smile that you’ve been thinking of all day
Last night I fired up a 60’s playlist on Napster. Not the old Shawn Fanning P2P service, but the licensed streaming service. I needed to hear "Lightning Strikes", Len Barry’s "1-2-3". But what pushed me over the edge, what made me insist Felice and I get up and dance, was the Buckinghams’ "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy".
Just a band from too far north playing soul music forty years ago. Conceptually. But the listening experience was better than any TV show, better than any movie, better than not only Grand Theft Auto, but Rock Band.
The track was cranked to the max via the Sonos system.
Maybe you think Sonos is overpriced. But the most important thing is the technology WORKS! You can stream the history of recorded music on IMPULSE! It comes straight from the pipe, no computer necessary, just an iPhone or iPod Touch.
What amazing technology.
Cell phones were once expensive. HD flat screens too. But in seemingly no time, they’ve become affordable, they’re plentiful throughout the landscape. In other words, not long from now, you’ll be able to stream the history of recorded music in your house for next to nothing. You won’t even bother to steal, the experience will be too damn good. It’s just a matter of time. And for under a grand and $15 a month, you can have it all today.
And you can buy an iPod Touch for $229. And download creative apps as well as control Sonos and eventually stream music directly. We’ve come so far, and are just inches from nirvana.
You can turn the clock to zero, honey
I’ll sell the stock, we’ll spend all the money
We’re starting up a brand new day
The RIAA said they would no longer sue file traders. The story from MIDEM is the rights holders have finally caught on, they’re going to stop beating up their customers and give them what they want, all the music at a very low price.
We’ve been fighting for this for a decade. It seemed like we’d never win. But with their bottom lines decimated, labels and publishers have finally capitulated.
But it’s about more than money. It’s about LIFE ENRICHMENT! Used to be you had to buy a record for an exorbitant price to hear it. Now, you can check it out for next to nothing online, on MySpace, iMeem or the band’s Website. Think about this. You don’t have to wait for the radio to play your song. You don’t even have to drive down to the store to buy it. You can experience greatness INSTANTLY! You don’t have to go to a friend’s house to hear their records, they’ve just got to make a suggestion and you can dial it up.
An act no longer needs to go through radio’s filter. Get enough fans spreading the word and you can give up your day job.
Turn the clock all the way back
I wonder if she’ll take me back
I’m thinking in a brand new way
Driving to Brentwood today I heard a new country song I liked on XM, Andy Griggs’ "How Cool Is That". I discovered country music via satellite radio. Hell, there isn’t even always a terrestrial country station broadcasting in L.A! I wrote about tracks I liked and this guy Henry e-mailed me about Keith Urban’s "Stupid Boy". It came on my iPod and I was blown away by the guitar solo. I didn’t even know who it was. But I knew this was the same magic that entranced me in the seventies. Having written about it, Gary Borman invited me to the gig. It was stunning. This wasn’t fake like the Top Forty wonders. There were FIVE GUITAR PLAYERS!
Flabbergasted, I wrote about the experience and when I ran into Keith Urban upstairs at the Roxy, he knew who I was. This could never have happened in the pre-Internet era. Word didn’t spread that easily, you hit dead ends. Now we’re all networked, if you love something you can tell EVERYBODY about it!
Turn the clock to zero, sister
You’ll never know how much I missed her
Starting up a brand new day
It wasn’t only that Buckinghams track. When "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" streamed last night I was brought right back to the sixties, when the Mamas & the Papas were not the exception. Today an act like this would be the biggest in the land, overnight. Two girls and two boys and a resident genius songwriter. And a brilliant producer, who started off in surf music.
But the Mamas & Papas faded out. Mama Cass died and John Phillips lost his inspiration.
But inspiration did not die with the sixties. It’s just been channeled toward fame and riches, music has taken a back seat. But now that anyone can be famous and almost no one can be rich, there’s going to be a focus on music once again. We can have hope. That we’ll have these great listening experiences once again.
Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river’s wide, we’ll swim across
Started up a brand new day
You don’t have to wait for permission, you don’t have to be rich. You can just buy a MacBook and create your opus with the free GarageBand software. And post the result online instantly! You keep telling everybody how great you are, now you can prove it!
It could happen to you – just like it happened to me
There’s simply no immunity – there’s no guarantee
I say love is such a force – if you find yourself in it
And sometimes no reflection is there
The Web allows the word to be spread instantly, far and wide, to essentially everybody. Like that skier hanging naked, upside down on the chairlift in Vail’s Blue Sky Basin. First, it was just a story in the "Vail Daily". Then I was e-mailed the picture from readers around the world. It was on the HuffPo and Drudge. On the "Today Show". That’s the power of train-wreck value. But maybe, just maybe, if an incredibly great record is cut, word could spread that wide just that fast. If Neil Young cut a new "Ohio" after the next international crisis, maybe it could be number one in the public consciousness overnight.
Maybe not. Maybe cable TV has taught us nothing can dominate anymore. There’s too much choice. Everybody doesn’t want to listen to the same damn thing.
But that’s not so bad. You’ve now got a direct connection to your fans. They’ll buy the $100 package, with the book and vinyl record. And they won’t bitch about being ripped off! You don’t have to run the gauntlet to try and have a dominant hit, you can build slowly and generate an audience that supports you.
Baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Are you willing to be positive, are you willing to have hope?
Sure, you hated the big labels. But they have less control than ever before. The most powerful person in the music business is not Doug Morris, but Irving Azoff. And Irving’s number one priority is the act, always has been. Which is why there’s never been a "Hotel California" movie, no "Lyin’ Eyes" bathroom spray. He’s protected the Eagles’ legacy and it’s paid dividends DECADES after the band’s heyday.
Yes, Eagles tickets are expensive. Maybe they’ll still sell during the recession. But no one’s going to pay $45 plus fees to hear the music of the one hit wonder. Live music is going to be reinvented, be cheaper at least. It’s gonna take a while, but this is going to happen. And, with music easily available online, it’ll be easier than ever to build up your fan base, generating ticket sales.
Turn the clock to zero, honey
I’ll sell the stock, we’ll spend all the money
We’re starting up a brand new day
Music is cheap to make and cheap to acquire. Relative to the products of GM and so many faltering behemoths. We don’t have to go down any further, we’ve hit the bottom, we’re ripe for reinvention. Give us your great new tracks, your infectious new acts. But not if you promote them the usual way, we’re not going to pay attention. We don’t want our e-mail addresses harvested, we don’t want to be spammed by our mobile phone providers, we want to discover you honestly, primarily via our friends. Quality is king.
Turn the clock to zero, Mac
I’m begging her to take me back
I’m thinking in a brand new way
That’s what Steve Jobs said he was inventing, TOOLS! Fire up your Mac, create, spread the word, connect with your friends via iChat! Apple is not the enemy, only the enabler of a brand new day.
Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river’s wide, we’ll swim across
Started up a brand new day
That’s right, YOU’RE the boss. The oppressors have fallen, they’ve been neutered. It may only be symbolic, but the Berlin Wall of the music industry has fallen, it’s been smashed to bits by angry fans. You can’t wait for the usual suspects to break you, you’ve got to do so YOURSELF!
Turn the clock to zero buddy
Don’t wanna be no fuddy duddy
Started up a brand new day
I’m on your page. Don’t wince when I quote the oldies. Just create something BETTER! Believe me, I’m looking for a new Joni Mitchell, a brand new Jackson Browne. Give me someone with a voice as pure as Elton’s, who can bang the piano like he truly has the music in him.
I’m the rhythm in your tune
I’m the sun and you’re the moon
I’m a bat and you’re the cave
You’re the beach and I’m the wave
I’m the plow and you’re the land
You’re the glove and I’m the hand
I’m the train and you’re the station
I’m a flagpole to your nation – yeah
I’m just trying to be honest, calling fouls when I see them committed. In a phony world where every record is supposedly great and being friends, not crossing people, is more important than how good the music is. I want you to trust me, I want to trust you.
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day
That’s why everybody came to D.C. They wanted to believe, they wanted to have hope. If only we could demonstrate our power. But we have! We built the iPod! We paid a fortune for these devices, just to hear our music! The device was useless without the tunes. Sure, it would have been great if rights holders had been compensated, but we demonstrated that we cared. ABOUT MUSIC!
I’m the present to your future
You’re the wound and I’m the suture
You’re the magnet to my pole
I’m the devil in your soul
You’re the pupil I’m the teacher
You’re the church and I’m the preacher
You’re the flower I’m the rain
You’re the tunnel I’m the train
Don’t work me. I’m not as powerful as you think. And I only write about what I truly believe in. What truly excites me is serendipity, hearing a random song on satellite radio, having someone not in the music business testify about a track. If I believe, I’ll tell everybody, not for compensation, but because I want to share the joy!
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day
We know what’s great. And we love to support the left field creation, like "Slumdog Millionaire". We want to testify against the cookie-cutter product, we’re dying to support something that tests the limits, that’s truly real. Like Gnarls Barkley’s "Crazy". Now THAT’S a hit record. I had to tell everybody I knew about it. Haven’t heard a track quite that good since, but that one Danger Mouse creation gives me hope. An outsider, making music on his own terms, delivered this track, not a usual suspect. It’s not about who you know, but how good you are.
You’re the crop to my rotation
You’re the sum of my equation
I’m the answer to your question
If you follow my suggestion
We can turn this ship around
We’ll go up instead of down
You’re the pan and I’m the handle
You’re the flame and I’m the candle
George Bush is no longer President. It was a long national nightmare, but people came together and elected the unelectable, a black man. You see you can’t give up. The public is smarter than you think, people are not as prejudiced as the pundits say. Most people are honest, and want to reason to a good conclusion. Sure, they’re motivated by self-interest, but they’ll take a chance. They don’t need to hear the same old "American Idol" wannabe, they’re ready to give you a chance.
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up all you lovers in the world
We’re starting up a brand new day
Why has music been so stagnant? Was timing key to the alchemy of the sixties and seventies? Was there too much money involved? Did Tommy Mottola and Clive Davis just get too much power?
Tommy and Clive have been neutered. If you’re fighting the man, I hate to tell you, he doesn’t exist.
It’s not only our country, it’s our music industry. It’s not business as usual. An infrastructure has been built. Acts have been freed from slavery. You can now do it on your own.
Sure, the plantation owners want 360 deals, some people are afraid to give up slavery. But that will change. Artists have been SHORTCHANGED for far too long.
As have listeners. Subjected to third rate dreck.
But now you don’t have to listen to it. You don’t have to tune into Top Forty radio. You don’t have to buy overpriced CDs. You’re in charge of your ears. There’s a cornucopia of music easily sampled. A veritable buffet.
Is it confusing? Have we overeaten, stockpiling songs in our iTunes library and ended up with indigestion? Sure! But, sample enough buffets and you desire better quality food, portions don’t mean that much. You’d rather have a 35 minute album of quality than a 75 minute extended masturbatory workout.
We’re trying to figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff. That’s the next big battle. And it will be won not by someone looking to strike it rich, but an individual with a team that wants to spread the word more than get rich.
George Bush was sworn in twice. We entered a war on trumped up evidence. A whole city was almost lost. It looked like things would never turn around. Now we’ve got a chance.
The country was mad as hell, and wasn’t going to take it anymore.
That describes the music business in 1999.
But it’s 2009 now. The war is almost over. We’re at the start of a brand new day.
