Heard Frank Ocean’s name recently? “Blonde” is absent from the Spotify “United States Top 50.” Talk of the town for two weeks, his album is already in the rearview mirror. Which is why exclusives are bad for artists, you’ve got to get them while it’s hot, hit ’em with the Hein, otherwise they’re on to […]

He was everywhere and then he was nowhere. He’s the only classic rock act that hasn’t burned it out on an endless dash for cash, making me squirm. I bought “Tea For The Tillerman” and “Mona Bone Jakon” simultaneously in April 1971, I’d never heard either on the radio but the positive reviews were deafening. […]

He not busy being born is busy dying. Bob Dylan wrote that. It’s a line from “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding,” a track on the 1965 album “Bringing It All Back Home.” That’s right, while you were listening to Herman’s Hermits Bob Dylan was revolutionizing songwriting. By the end of the year he triumphed […]

It used to be about fighting piracy. Now it’s about getting attention. That’s the story of today, media matters, the world has flip-flopped back to the way it used to be, but it’s even worse, because there are so many messages. In other words, publicity counts. Going viral is a near-impossibility. If you’re depending on […]