Here’s To The Farmer – Spotify

I discovered this on Release Radar.

Once again, this is PERSONALIZED! I say that because I got e-mail asking me to send last week’s to a reader, he forgot to save it, which I find pretty hysterical, not only that he thought we all have the same songs but that he feels it’s my obligation to aid him, maybe that’s not the best example, it’s just that people always ask me questions that are easily answerable on Google, we’re all in it together but we’re all in it alone, there’s no tech help, if you don’t know how to find the answers you’re lost in today’s world.

Anyway, the biggest challenge today is awareness, letting people know you’re out there, have a new record, in a nation where we can’t keep our facts straight re the Presidential election…what are the odds people can keep up with a popular culture overwhelmed with options, even hard core fans are out of the loop.

Luke Bryan is the biggest star in country music. Or, at least in the top three, with Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean, and let’s include Carrie Underwood, but I’m not sure she can sell out stadia, and Miranda Lambert is a giant, but…we live in a hip-hop nation. That’s one thing streaming has told us, hip-hop is even bigger than we thought, it’s got a larger piece of the pie than it has in the sales world, whereas country is nowhere in streaming, proven by the fact that “Here’s To The Farmer” only has 112,321 streams on Spotify, and it’s not much bigger on YouTube, where there are 450,659 views as of this writing, think about this, a superstar is nowhere online, what are the chances you can get traction, bupkes.

Unless you’re in my Release Radar playlist.

Did you know Tori Amos had a new song? I certainly didn’t, but it led off my Release Radar playlist which I live for every Friday, I’ve given up on Discover Weekly, it tells me where we’ve been, not where we’re going, and the last I checked, the past is history.

Now, last I checked, the farmer was not challenged, he was supported by the government, and no one ever lost their family farm despite all this hogwash about estate taxes, we live in a world of factory farming by big corporations and the indie growers are challenged, but they’re a small piece of the pie but no one ever lost in the U.S.A. by lining themselves up with old time values. That’s one of the things I hate about country music, all the fealty to what once was. Appalachia is a hotbed of drug use, Florida Georgia Line rap in their songs, but no one can come out against Trump and spew anything but redneck b.s. There’s a disconnect.

But at least this song isn’t about church.

And it’s a great cut, with excellent playing, good changes, with pandering lyrics that make the track hard to listen to, but…I do enjoy listening to “Here’s To The Farmer,” because it’s catchier than most of what was on Luke’s last album, which was a step down from what came before, it’s hard to deliver when all eyes are upon you.

But I do applaud Luke for releasing new music, “Here’s To The Farmer” is part of an EP, just a year after an LP sporting hit singles is still in the marketplace. This is the new era, you don’t rest on your laurels, you keep creating, delivering, your core audience is much more important than the looky-loos.

Luke used to do spring break EPs. But then that no longer felt good, he’d grown up, he turned forty, unlike the classic rockers getting plastic surgery and dying their hair to look younger than their audience, Luke Bryan decided to act his age. And not only is this EP coming soon on the heels of the last album, it’s part of a special tour, because it’s all about micro specialization these days, even if you’re huge. You may not be able to make it to one of the Farm Tour dates, but if you do…you were at something unique.

So, what have we learned?

We all know different stuff and we don’t know much. And despite grazing from hit to hit we need to believe in certain acts, it’s the natural way, and I’m a Luke Bryan fan, which makes me laughable in the eyes of the hipsters. I’m supposed to know the rapper du jour… As a matter of fact, I feel as misunderstood as those Kentuckians for Trump featured in yesterday’s “New York Times”:

We Need ‘Somebody Spectacular’: Views From Trump Country

That’s how it is in popular culture, if you don’t bleed Jay-Z green, if you don’t think “Lemonade” was the biggest cultural event of the year, if you didn’t go see Drake…YOU DON’T COUNT!

Can’t say that I really care, but so many feel put down, when the truth is today’s country music may be behind technologically, but in terms of selling tickets, in terms of radio formats, it’s DOMINANT!

Think about that, while pop is all in the box, it’s Nashville keeping Gibson alive, it’s where how you play makes a difference. And too many of the songs are written by committee, but NashVegas is where the bleeding edge resides, in the studio of one Dave Cobb, who made Chris Stapleton a star, deservedly, not by bringing in cowriters but by letting Chris be his best self.

The truth is there’s no center left. The VMAs were a sideshow. Music has become Balkanized. And it’s hard to keep up, but Release Radar makes sense of it.

So, it’s a brand new world, where what you did yesterday doesn’t count unless you build upon it today. And you can choose to become a clothing designer, focus on being a brand, or you can build a body of work, constantly release new material, which fans will embrace, if you can just make them aware of it.

P.S. If you think country music doesn’t rock harder than most rock and roll, listen to Eric Church’s “Before She Does” from his live album, “Caught In The Act”:

Caught In The Act – Spotify

P.P.S. If you think no one knows how to play anymore, listen to Keith Urban work out on “Stupid Boy,” start off at the four minute mark if you doubt me:

Stupid Boy – Spotify

P.P.P.S And if you still think Luke Bryan is just a pretty boy who keeps his catch in his Yeti… Check the emotion, the boy meets girl and tries to keep her story of “Play It Again,” my favorite track of the decade, I keep playing it again:

Play It Again – Spotify

 

YouTube is a transitional product.

You’d think the music business would learn. That if you don’t like today’s business model, just wait for tomorrow’s. You’re gonna get another bite at the apple, the game is to acquire knowledge and enter the future with an agenda. Which is how the major labels ended up controlling streaming music, demanding ownership, never mind good rates.

One nincompoop crashed his Tesla in Florida and the know-nothing commentators and the behind the times government insisted we jet back to the twentieth century, when everybody drove his or her own car and we were free to get into crippling accidents.

But Elon Musk said NO!

That’s all it takes to stand up to the bullies, just say no. And that’s what Robert Kyncl is doing to the record labels with YouTube. YouTube is a challenged business. It tried to create series but it turned out Amazon and Netflix were better at that. And now youngsters are moving on to Snapchat for content. What has YouTube got? Endless hosting and bandwidth costs. YouTube invested in the wrong players. When you want a revolution you bank on those who’ve been there before to get you there. In other words, you can reinvent distribution, but as far as what goes through the pipes…you need people with experience. And despite some YouTubers getting traction, they’re not the ones dominating, it’s the old wave music stars who do this. Some newbies crossover, those specializing in makeup and fashion, but the truth is they’re transitional objects, just like YouTube itself.

You see there was no solution. Nowhere to get all the music for one low price a month. And when Warner wouldn’t license Spotify, YouTube came in and filled the hole. Sure, we had Rhapsody, but first we had to kill piracy, which was and is the goal of the Spotify free tier.

YouTube is a bad place to watch music. And it’s a miserable experience on the mobile hand-set. As for YouTube Red… That’s one thing you know for sure, when they release no numbers, the numbers are bad.

So Robert Kyncl can’t change the split because it makes bad business sense. He can’t give up the action.

But the recording industry can wait for time to pass YouTube by, which it nearly has.

Then again, nitwits want to eradicate the free tier on Spotify, which eviscerates piracy and causes paid-for conversion.

But Spotify might be eclipsed by Amazon.

You see we’re in a period of evolution. From ownership to access. And the model has now been figured out, all the music for one low price a month. We just don’t know who’s going to provide it and at what price.

Apple and Spotify are jockeying to be the provider. But they’re selling the same price point. Amazon wants to lower it.

And Amazon is baking music into a larger offering, Prime, which includes shipping.

Meanwhile, the music industry wants the government to step in and right the ship when the truth is business will figure it all out.

Remember when Pandora was the problem? Well, it turns out Pandora’s radio product is being eclipsed by the playlist, and Pandora itself screwed up by not expanding throughout the world. You think Spotify’s numbers are bad? That’s because you don’t know the company is reinvesting around the globe. Ain’t that America, where everybody thinks it’s about them, and just them, where few venture beyond the nation’s borders. No wonder all the innovation comes from Europe, those people have BEEN SOMEWHERE!

So you take a bite out of the NEXT apple!

You forget about YouTube.

You worry about Amazon.

When the government gets involved it kills innovation, cripples companies, like Microsoft. And it doesn’t save those who were eaten alive, like Netscape. Business moves too fast for the government, and the government doesn’t understand.

The music industry should be focused on streaming service adoption. Instead of decrying the new offerings, they should be encouraging people to check them out, the same way they sell a new band. Spotify is great, not the enemy. As for the naysayers… Does anybody want to listen to a David Lowery record anyway?

There, I said it. There are winners and losers in a new world. And once you start protecting the losers you’re living in the land of “Atlas Shrugged.” The revolution was built on tech, is all about the end of the old and the beginning of the new. Remember Sun? How about Osborne? Never mind Commodore and all those websites and apps that disappeared.

YouTube is not the enemy. It got the public to stop stealing.

You want the barrier to access to be low. Otherwise people will go somewhere else, there are so many offerings today. And maybe ten bucks a month, one hundred twenty a year, is too expensive. Most people never spent that much on music before. We’re figuring out the compensation model, but be sure to face forward as opposed to looking to the past.

It’s tech that allowed everybody to get a ticket to the show.

It’s the music industry that refuses to charge what the tickets are worth, or go to paperless.

Stop complaining about the bots. Stop complaining about StubHub. Certainly stop trying to get the government involved. Tweak your assets to get the desired result, the power is with you!

P.S. Napster was killed and KaZaA sprouted up to replace it. Lawsuits didn’t end P2P acquisition, legal offerings like the ITunes Store and Spotify did.

The Nix: A novel

This book is fantastic.

The Kindle rekindled my interest in reading books. Before that I was purely a magazine guy, I needed the immediacy, the truth, books were a backwater I’d abandoned way back when.

And now readers have their knickers in a twist.

That’s exactly the point. These holier-than-thou supposed intellectuals crippled the e-book. By saying paper was better. By overcharging for digital editions. Now if there’s no printing and no shipping, never mind returns, why should an e-book cost as much as a physical book, or close to it, which is now the case? Used to be they were a bargain, every one under ten bucks, Amazon ate the difference, paid pure wholesale to build a business. Why is it we hate that which we love? Like Wal-Mart. No, don’t get me wrong, I never frequent the joint. But I do know people love the low prices. If Main Street sold goods for the same amount it would survive. We live in a hypocritical culture. It’s those who love cheap electronics who deplore the disappearance of manufacturing in America. The ones who want to halt climate change fly around in private jets. And vinyl is trotted out as the future when the truth is it doesn’t make more money than YouTube, but in today’s world facts are irrelevant, emotion is everything. So why is our art absent emotion?

The Kindle got me reading books. I’ve purchased a triple digit number. But I’m part of the problem, not the solution, go figure.

So now I read the book reviews. I triangulate. Try to see what’s worth reading. And I’d delineate my criteria, but the truth is it’s a gut reaction, I know when a book is for me.

And the reviews are usually worthless. Sans analysis, they just repeat the plot. Which eviscerates the need to read the damn book. So, if something seems appealing, I stop reading, and download the sample chapter. Assuming the book is available. Which usually it’s not. Hype always comes in advance. And the urge to check something out evaporates, we’re on to something new in our fast-happening, ever-changing culture.

But this is where the usual suspects react again. I can PRE-ORDER! But I don’t know if I want to. What sounds good is often not good. I buy and read about a tenth of what I download the sample chapter of. Because most people are bad writers. They think writing is intellectual, when the truth is it’s all about soul.

So, the best character in “The Nix” is Periwinkle, a former publisher who gave Samuel his book deal, his business card now says “Interest Maker.”

“‘I’m in the manufacturing business now,’ Periwinkle says, ‘I build things.'”

Sound familiar? In an era where everybody’s a brand, selling tchotchkes at their pop-up shop?

“‘…Mostly I build interest. Attention. Allure. A book is just packaging, just a container. This is what I’ve realized. The mistake people in the book business make is they think their job is to build good containers. Saying you’re in the book business is like a winemaker saying he’s in the bottle business. What we’re actually building is interest. A book is simply one shape that interest can take when we scale and leverage it.'”

Voila! Truth! Which is nowhere in the “New York Times” but is known to me, it’s the view I’ve been preaching. Kind of like the death of Apple. Have you noticed all the stories trashing Apple since the launch of the iPhone 7? I’ve been saying the company is toast for years. And every time I write this my inbox fills up with venom. Because you just don’t challenge the status quo. Because we’re selling optimism. All sunniness and blue skies as the culture tanks.

“‘What’s the big life lesson in Molly Miller’s book?'”

“‘Simple: Life Is Great!'”

Hear me ROAR! Isn’t that what Katy Perry sang, despite the song being about a breakup? It’s a sports anthem, a feel-good ditty, inspiring! Whatever happened to the seamy underbelly, the defeatism and insecurity that art once illuminated?

“‘Well, that’s pretty easy for her to say. Born into money. Prep schools on the Upper East Side. Billionaire at twenty-two.'”

“‘You’d be amazed at the facts people are willing to set aside to believe that life is, indeed, great.'”

Kinda like believing in Gigi Hadid. We don’t care if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, as long as you win. Can you say “Donald Trump”?

Now if I hid behind a pseudonym, if I fictionalized this, you could accept it. But the messenger becomes the enemy so most of America is unwilling to testify. Which is why our greatest truth is in cartoons, from “The Simpsons” to “South Park.” And Pixar’s “Wall-E” told us more about the human condition than any live action film. You see we’re all posing.

Molly Miller is a young singer manipulating the public into making her rich.

That’s the American story, how we’re all faking it to get ahead. It’s everywhere, from entertainment to everyday life. Everybody lies, everybody tells people what they want to hear. Rather than songs written from the heart, we have concoctions created by an old guy from Sweden and twenty assembly-line drones. Get that many people involved and no one is responsible. Volkswagen and Wells Fargo are guilty, those who actually made the decisions skate.

So “The Nix” is a story of a mother and a son. A first novel that is overwritten, with too much unnecessary description. But then come the insights and you sit there and smile, you tingle, BECAUSE SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS YOU!

We all want to be understood, made to feel so not alone. But today art makes you feel inadequate. You’re just not connected enough, not rich enough, you can buy some merch but you can never get close.

“This was the price of hope, he realized, this shattering disappointment.”

That’s life in a nutshell. If you risk, you could lose. All the winners say you need to fail to succeed. But they won, we don’t hear from those who risked everything and now have nothing, whose names we don’t know, who owe a hundred grand on their credit cards and no longer have a roof over their heads. We’re taught to play it safe. Because there is no safety net! Everybody who requires one is a wanker! Get a job, pay for your own health insurance. And while you’re at it, be an entrepreneur, build a business. Huh? At least in Canada you can pursue your passion, switch jobs without worrying about losing your health insurance. Whereas in America… You can’ take that risk.

“He wondered why adults felt they needed to be at their most uncomfortable for their most cherished events.”

You put on the tux, pull up the Spanx, all to look good at the important life events. Shouldn’t you be the most relaxed then, instead of angsting that your shoes have set your feet on fire?

“In his imagination of her, Bethany seemed elevated beyond stupid earthly concerns.”

My mother always told us there was someone better, someone smarter, more capable, who deserved the job. Forget that this leaves me feeling inadequate, the truth is I put everybody on a pedestal. It’s only recently that I’ve become aware of their foibles, realized they’re no different from me. And you.

“‘You know, there used to be a difference between authentic music and sellout music. I’m talking about when I was young, in the sixties? Back then we knew there was a soullessness to the sellouts, and we wanted to be on the side of the artists. But now? BEING A SELLOUT IS THE MOST AUTHENTIC THING.”

BINGO! You brag about your endorsements, you list your cowriters, it’s all about hoovering up cash, no matter how you do it. How come this writer far from the music business has nailed it in a way that a decade worth of “Billboard” magazines has not?

“At Willow Glen, all life aimed at avoiding litigation.”

“She cared more about documenting the injury than the injury itself.”

This is the nursing home ethos. It’s America. There’s a deep pocket for every infraction, anybody scathed must be compensated, even if it’s their own damn fault! Forget the right wing anti-tort blathering, that’s just about fattening the wallet of corporations. The truth is in America today, everybody’s playing the lottery. A car accident is a way of making money! So, those with anything to lose play it safe, take less risk, because they’re a target.

“Because she loves the clarity that school brings: the single-minded purpose, the obvious expectations, how everyone knows you’re a good person if you study hard and score well on exams. The rest of your life, however, is not judged in this manner.”

I went to a college of grinds. People who could jump through hoops but could not think for themselves. I peruse the alumni magazine, do I see ground-breaking winners? OF COURSE NOT! These students don’t know how to play the game of life, they just know how to get an “A” in the class. Whereas real life is more amorphous. Which is why oftentimes it’s the uneducated who win, the college dropouts, like David Geffen and Irving Azoff, while those with degrees sit at home in judgment, feeling superior.

“It’s no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it’s sanctimony.”

I’ve never seen this in the mainstream media. Never a comment about where people are coming from, how they’re offended. That’s one place Trump won, he showed us that the unsayable is not. That we can no longer pretend we don’t swear and don’t have prejudices. I’m far to the left of Hillary Clinton, but when I read about trigger warnings on campus my head explodes. What next, your mommy holding your hand through life? Actually, this happens. If one more baby boomer Facetimes with their adult child instead of talking to me after I’ve come to their house… Life is tough, you have to solve your own damn problems. I didn’t call my mother to find out how to use the washing machine on campus, I figured it out!

“Somewhere along the way, you missed your chance.”

There’s life in a nutshell, no one wants to miss their chance. But if you’re not paying attention, if you’re not working real hard, you’re gonna. Are you gonna have regrets?

I’ve got more than a few.

But when I read “The Nix” I feel that someone understands me, comes from the same place. If it was a memoir, the author would be excoriated for being too dark, only by speaking through characters can he evidence the truth.

And despite the hype, right now “The Nix” only has 33 reviews on Amazon. Because it’s 640 pages long, and you’re not entitled to an opinion unless you’ve read it. And right now, most have not.

They review a zillion records every week. Most are never listened to. But they’re available online for free. The fiction is they count, when they don’t.

And it’s easy to watch a half hour TV show. As many as there are, there are many fewer than records, and if you actually make it to the tube, your show has something going for it, someone believed in it besides your parents. Whereas the barrier to entry in music is nonexistent.

So, I don’t expect you to buy this book.

After all, you only read hardcovers, and that would require a trip to the bookstore. Because you support your local indie because Amazon is the enemy even though you’ve got a Prime membership for the free shipping of your vitamins and toilet paper.

But it’s too expensive at the indie store, and it’s a pain in the ass to get there, so despite the lip service you’re helping no one, you’ve just been distracted by that link-bait online, my story of “The Nix” is in the rearview mirror.

But the world we live in is one where everything’s instantly available, just a click away.

Assuming you can slow down your life enough to immerse yourself in art.

But you can’t. We’ve all got this problem. It’s not only fear of missing out, but fear of being left behind. Like if we’re not paying attention 24/7, the joke will be on us.

Unless you’re one of those people who e-mail me that they don’t have a smartphone, Uber is an abomination and Spotify ruined the record business. Tell me how you feel when transportation is suddenly on demand, are you gonna sit at home and not go anywhere? Then you’re gonna get your iPhone, to have the app… The naysayers are just stuck in the mud Luddites who will eventually catch up, or die. Because the future is here.

And in some ways it’s really good.

And in others, it’s totally screwed up.

We’ve got the tools, but we’ve buried our personalities, despite all the social media posts. Those are just our best selves, in arenas full of bragging. Where can you write “I’m at wits’ end and can you come over and talk to me?” I’m talking about the human condition, your hopes, your desires, it’s too risky to admit them.

We used to turn to art, to show us we were not the only one, but part of a giant continuum.

That’s what “The Nix” does, it makes us feel like we belong.

I’m not yet finished. At times it’s boring. But when it nails it you feel like you’re listening to “Gimmie Shelter” the first time through in your pitch-black bedroom.

But maybe you don’t remember that.

Someone always thinks the rules don’t apply to them. That’s the hardest part of being a leader, keeping everybody in line. You think you want to run a large organization, that manpower is appealing, as is the money raised when your company goes public, but I’m of the one man band variety, I want to be in charge of my own destiny, because I’m sick and tired of people who know little telling me what to do.

Isn’t that the ethos of Silicon Valley? Misfits doing it their way?

That certainly used to be music, before the goal was to become a brand and sell out to the corporation, play by the rules and reduce innovation for fear you’ll be left off the playlist.

But I’d rather watch “Narcos” than listen to most new music. Because it takes me away, removes me from this fast-paced world where you’ve always got to be available and are in fear of missing out, and shows me what life is really about…living.

Pablo Escobar died.

But you knew that. I didn’t ruin anything for you. That’s what the second season was all about, his escape from prison and eventual decline and ultimate demise.

We finished it last night. I just spent ten hours dedicated to a TV show when I complain that I’ve got no time. Guess I just have time for what is truly great, for what I think is primary.

And the second season of “Narcos” is not as good as the first. The first was a lark, no one had any expectations. Whereas the second… That’s what success will yield, eyeballs, attention, can you succeed under the glare? The filmmakers did, but they added too many arty angles, overreaching, Shakespearean metaphors, whereas the initial season was down and dirty.

My number one takeaway?

I want to go back to Colombia. In a world where everybody wants to be more comfortable, I’m looking for danger, for excitement. Somewhere they don’t speak English and the values are different. Like St. Petersburg or Bogota. Those are the two best places I’ve gone to recently. Because they kept me on edge. I felt that something was going on that I couldn’t completely grasp. I didn’t feel totally safe. The people weren’t playing by my rules, in St. Petersburg it was all about coping with corruption, in Bogota it was all about not getting shot. And…I felt fully alive.

Of course Pablo Escobar was a murderer. Of course he deserved to die.

But he did it his way. Came from nothing and built something. Went against the grain, did it via his own smarts. Today we venerate those with chips, education, parentage. But the world is really changed by thinkers. Those who see things differently.

It is all about being wise. Something we don’t revere. We think being rich makes you smart, but that is not true, although sometimes they go hand in hand.

And it’s about having insight. Something we pay fealty to but no longer teach. Yes, we quote the great Gretzky, about skating to where the puck will be, but we don’t teach kids how to see where the puck is going, how to unpack the facts and reassemble them in a way that makes sense.

Kinda like income inequality and climate change. You can deny them or go deep, try to see what’s going on.

But no one wants to go deep anymore. They’re too busy building out their identity online.

Pablo Escobar believed the rules didn’t apply to him, that institutions were to be manipulated.

That’s one thing that’s opened my eyes in my ascension up the food chain. Leaders see the press as something to be manipulated, to their advantage. And the press is not as omniscient as it appears. I’m stunned how much doesn’t make the news, and how often reporters get it wrong. No, I’m not talking about Sarah Palin’s “Lamestream Media,” she’s clueless, publicly decrying a world where idiots don’t reign. Whereas true players…work behind the scenes and their fingerprints are undetectable.

As for taxes… Have you noticed the big corporations don’t pay them? That their effective rate is near zero? How can you complain they’re too high when they only exist on paper? But, once again, the rank and file have no understanding of what’s truly going on. While those with power wield it to their advantage.

This is the world we’ve arrived in. One of drudgery. Where a few have exciting gigs that stimulate them and the rest of us live for entertainment. We’re dying for entertainment. Hollywood has never been more powerful. There’s all this hogwash about haunted models, the techies taking over. But the techies don’t know how to tell a story, how to take us away and fulfill us. As Steve Jobs famously said, Apple made tools, he was an industrialist. Whereas those in Hollywood are capitalists of the mind.

My problem is I’m left empty. With nothing to watch.

Oh, the papers are full of hype, there are a zillion channels and services. But nothing that titillates me the same way as “Narcos.”

Life is a struggle. Where you can’t survive without family. Where some are out to get you and you must follow your own counsel.

It’s all right there on the screen.

Take the time.

This is the story of a notorious drug lord.

But it’s simultaneously the story of today’s world. Where government has its own agenda while business people tie it in a knot while nitwits think owning a gun protects them from the establishment.

Life is fluid. We get to make choices every day. What would you do for a buck? Are you willing to bend the truth? Does longevity supersede quality?

The renegades run this world. Whether it be outsiders like Pablo Escobar or insiders like Vladimir Putin. We’re just pawns in their game.

Unless we decide to play.

Are you willing to play?