http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz

My inbox is going berserk!  With Twitter fanatics bringing me up to speed.

I hate being behind the curve.  I could make like the major labels in 2000 and just ignore the future, or admit that, shit, not only do I not know everything, but that by dipping my toes in the water I’m going to learn stuff that I didn’t anticipate.

I’ve got this friend, Michael McCarty.  He runs EMI Music Publishing Canada.  He believes in collaboration, he believes great results come from working together.  I believe more in the independent spirit, that too often collaboration results in compromise.  Seen a studio movie recently?

But I’m beginning to reevaluate.  Because not only do others push you to do your best work, they add in elements that you didn’t know, could possibly never perceive.

I was searching on my name in Twitter to see what people were saying about me on a regular basis.  You do not need an account to do this. And I wasn’t going to start tweeting, because I’m fearful of overloading my readers.  Didn’t Mo Ostin famously say this to Prince?  Enough already?

Then again, am I playing to everyone, or the hard core?

To tell you the truth, I don’t know.

But what I do know is the power of those who read me.  They’re bringing me up to speed on Twitter.  As I wade in deeper, they’re delineating both the pitfalls and the advantages.  It’s like venturing in blind, without a map, but having no fear, because you’ve got trusted advisors.

There’s something going on here, and it’s becoming clear.  If you want to succeed in the new world, you’ve got to jump off the diving board, into the pool, with everybody else.  Of course, there will be those who hassle you, attack you for no reason other than to further a private warped agenda, but most people will embrace you, they want to help!

In other words, record executives are losing out by sitting in the ivory tower.  New acts know this.  The action is in the pit.  Jessica Simpson can’t sell a record and there are bands you’ve never heard of making a living playing music.  Ain’t that fantastic!

Same deal with the newspapers.  As they try to figure out how to survive, contemplating micropayments, the mob will supersede them, collecting information not one reporter at a time, but wiki-style, the truth being revealed via collaboration.

I love a lot of Paul McCartney’s solo work.  And a great bit of John Lennon’s.  But they were best together.  Because they fed off of each other.

I’m feeding off my readers right now, and it feels FANTASTIC!