Greta Van Fleet- Spotify

It’s a Led Zeppelin rip-off.

But didn’t Led Zeppelin rip off Willie Dixon and the rest of the bluesmeisters?

If you lived through that era, you will instantly hear mid-period Zeppelin, complete with Robert Plant screams. Then you remember that was 45 years ago! About the same distance, if not longer, that Zeppelin was removed from the classic delta blues artists.

It starts off as homage. Then you take off from there. Think about all the covers on the initial Beatle albums!

If this was released in 1972, it would be immediately dismissed as a pale imitation, like Klaatu.

But it’s 2017.

And rock is nowhere to be heard on the chart. It’s an ancient sound that appeals mostly to aficionados. We’ve been waiting for someone young to jump off of classic rock, could Great Van Fleet be that band?

The thing is, if you listen, and you should, you’ll be astounded that the songs are good. Full of hooks that make you want to listen to them again. And again. And that’s the essence of music, not radically different from Boston’s debut, which was a distillation of all that had come before, even Zeppelin’s dynamics, the shift from electric to acoustic and then back again. And I’ll argue that Boston was more innovative than Greta Van Fleet, but the guys in Greta Van Fleet are younger, and there’s that multi-decade distance.

Now it’s not like Greta Van Fleet is completely unknown, it’s just that they haven’t broken through. Their EP was released back in April, the day before my birthday, and they were even Apple Music’s new artist of the week, but the band hasn’t penetrated the public consciousness, they’re just playing clubs, they’re readily available, but most of the potential audience is clueless.

But how big is that audience?

We certainly know being the artist of the week at Apple Music is worthless. I’d say that every little bit helps, but the truth is Greta Van Fleet is gonna break on word of mouth, but how big will that word of mouth be?

Now Led Zeppelin’s debut came out in January ’69 and was not an instant smash. It wasn’t until late spring that there even started to be a buzz. And they were still an underground thing until the end of October of that same year, 1969, when “Whole Lotta Love” emerged on the AM airwaves and Led Zeppelin instantly became the biggest band in the land, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing “II.”

But “Whole Lotta Love” nicked from the aforementioned Willie Dixon’s “You Need Love.”

Now I’m not one of those people who denigrate Zeppelin because of their appropriations, I might decry the lack of credit they gave to the writers, but I’ll argue some of their best material was wholly original, like “Kashmir” and “Ten Years Gone” from “Physical Graffiti,” and the truth is there’s very little truly original stuff out there, and we’ve become too lawsuit happy, come on, giving Tom Petty credit on that Sam Smith song, that’s a bridge too far.

So who knows what Greta Van Fleet will develop into.

But what we’ve got so far…

Works.

First and foremost it’s a four song EP. Which is just perfect. There’s not a loser in the collection, you only want to hear MORE in an era where you’re overwhelmed and want to hear LESS. The music is instantly comprehensible.

But the problem is today when you check out a band you listen to the initial track and if that doesn’t reach you, you abandon it, I did, but the heart of the EP is the middle, the two tracks sandwiched in the center.

The opener, “Highway Tune” has got no melody, it’s got the building blocks of Zeppelin, but it’s sans the obvious hooks in…

“Safari Song,” which grabs you by the throat from the beginning and won’t let go, with the riff and the scream and the drums, you cannot sit still as it plays, your head starts banging to the groove, if you’re an oldster you start to smile, this is a sound you’ve been hankering for. Hard rock is thrash, it’s moved to far from the essence, but “Safari Song”…that riff, it’s enough, but there’s so much more. Really. Check this out.

And I’ll argue the follow-up, “Flower Power,” is even better. It’s more hypnotic, more melodic, something that even non-hard rock fans can appreciate, not quite “Thank You,” but still… It would sound perfect on the radio…

If radio still played this stuff. If we lived in 1973 instead of 2017.

There’s nowhere for Greta Van Fleet to fit.

And there was nowhere for Led Zeppelin I to fit in ’69. Sure, some free-format stations aired the album, but most markets did not have such outlets. It wasn’t until the seventies that you got alternative stuff on the FM in the secondaries.

Today, we live in a land dominated by hip-hop and pop. It’d be like playing Jimi Hendrix in between Tony Orlando and the Osmonds. No way.

But it’s “Purple Haze” we remember most.

Because some sounds are undeniable.

If you listen to Greta Van Fleet’s EP “Black Smoke Rising,” you’ll either immediately turn it off or be hooked. And if you’re hooked, you won’t stop playing it and you won’t stop talking about it, telling others.

Happened to me.

I was worked a couple of months back, not by Jason Flom, whose label it’s on, but by listeners. But I couldn’t get past the initial track. But I got an e-mail from Jeff Laufer testifying about the EP, and he listens to everything new and I trust his taste, so I pulled it up again last night and it took everything in my power to not crack my laptop and tell you about it then.

And the funny thing is, it sounds just as good today, I’ve got no remorse.

So what happens now?

It takes longer than ever for a track to break through the clutter, which is so deep that anybody who tells you they know what’s going on is lying.

And you’ve got to start with tracks like the ones on “Black Smoke Rising,” those that are undeniable.

And then you have to wait.

I’m not saying that a label push is irrelevant, it just has little effect. It’s gonna be a long hard road to supernova.

But I think it’s gonna come.

They’ve been at it for five years. This is not a record made by amateurs.

And the producers are unknown to me. It’s everything it should be. New music made by a new generation, completely free from the constraints of the legacy players.

So…

If you’ve still got a big rig… Stream the tracks through those two or three way speakers, crank it up, and you’ll know what it was like in the seventies. When music was everything, when it clouded out everything else, when it existed in its own private vacuum, completely separate from the rest of the world, which is one of the reasons we were drawn to it.

There’s no place for Greta Van Fleet in today’s world, which is part of what makes their EP so magical.

Active Rock rocks harder and is irrelevant. It’s noise for a club if you’re not a member you don’t want to be in.

Classic Rock stations are just that, Greta Van Fleet is too young.

As for Top Forty, forget it.

But that could all change. Because you play Greta Van Fleet and it reacts. Come on, can you imagine hearing “Safari Song” come out of the car speaker, YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO TURN IT OFF! You’d be pissed it ended. You’d drive straight to the record store to buy it!

But that’s not the way it is anymore.

Today you go directly to streaming services, and that’s where you hear it first.

Now I’m hipping you at the absolute beginning. “Highway Tune” has 2.6 million streams on Spotify, which is a pittance. The other four tracks haven’t even cracked a million. And on YouTube, the numbers are even less. All those people fighting Google’s video service are missing the point, music doesn’t live there, it’s dying there, it’s all about music-only streaming services.

As for the numbers on Apple Music…who knows, they don’t release them.

But the truth is the button is just waiting to be pushed.

And you’ve got your finger on it.

Just listen.

If you get it, and many of you will, you’ll tell everybody you know.

And who knows, going to a Greta Van Fleet show could be like the old days, no dancing, no special effects, only music.

And remember, rock went stratospheric as a result of Englishmen addicted to old, forgotten blues records.

Now rock has been forgotten.

Maybe Greta Van Fleet can bring it back!

Aren’t we supposed to be bitching?

No, the future’s so bright you’ve gotta wear shades.

It’s hard to change the mantra. How the internet ruined the music business, how streaming is the devil, but you can’t argue with the numbers.

Revenue was up 13.3% year over year. Recorded music was up 13.2% to $770 million.

Downloads fell by 27.3%, to $88 million from $121 million. So all you people counting on the iTunes Store to save you, you’re headed in the wrong direction. Files are passe. As for those saying they want to own their music, what if streaming services crater, I must tell you that as the future ensues, you will lose the ability to play your files, just try opening a Word 1.5 document from ’86 today, it’s loaded with gibberish. As for the vaunted cassette revival, what a bunch of PR hogwash, does anybody even have a cassette player in an era where new cars don’t even come with CD players?

Meanwhile, streaming grew 58.6%, up to $360 million from $227 million.

And who says Spotify doesn’t pay.

And streaming was 46.8% of revenue, with downloads 11.4% and physical, which dropped 8.4%, 21.2%.

So it’s over folks. Streaming has won.

As for vinyl, it’s already peaked. Just read the WSJ story:

Why Vinyl’s Boom Is Over

So, Time Warner never should have sold the record company. It was offloaded at a bargain basement price, by a corporation with no vision of the future. Richard Parsons is long gone, with his millions in pay intact, and the company is a shadow of its former self.

But maybe music should stand alone, after all, Universal is the driver of Vivendi.

So what this means is…

1. You’ve got to stop your complaining.

2. Rights holders make tons on streaming. Either go it alone or make the best deal you can with a label.

3. Convince your audience to stream. The sooner they sign up, the sooner you get paid and your scene burgeons. By feeding false facts to your fans, you’re only hurting yourself. And your genre. Oldster music especially. Imagine if all the fans of Jason Isbell streamed instead of purchased, just maybe his music would hit the top lists and not only would Isbell get paid, but more people would find out about him and the whole Americana scene, of which he’s the poster boy, would lift. But too many AAA acolytes and rockers would rather live in their niche and bitch.

4. Consumption rules. It’s about listening as opposed to selling. You’ve got to make music people want to listen to.

5. Album tracks oftentimes do poorly on streaming services, people play the hit and… So make a few great tracks instead of a couple of good ones and a bunch of mediocre ones.

6. Free listening converts to paying customers. When will Apple bite the bullet and join the fun? Amazon has a free tier for Prime members and Spotify is growing at a faster pace than Apple.

7. Online is a winner take all marketplace, one company ends up with approximately 70% of the market. We already know Apple is stumbling, it looks like an Amazon/Spotify competition, although it’s still early, the final chapter has yet to be written.

Yes, songwriter compensation should go up. As for writers complaining that they’re not making money on album cuts, give up, close your flip-phone and join the present.

Just think of the future revenue. Most people don’t have a streaming subscription.

But more will.

Because of the convenience. Because of the business proposition. The history of recorded music for one low price, it’s a NO-BRAINER!

I know it’s been a war, ever since the turn of the century, but it’s time to put down your guns and enjoy the peacetime bump.

Spotify was first. Then came the consumers. The artists have been last.

But the early artists, the hip-hop and pop acts who followed their customers to streaming, have been reaping the rewards so far.

Time for you holdouts to get in on the action.

I was astounded by the reaction. Audience members who knew every word, who whooped upon hearing the introductions. Who had to run down front and dance… HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

I didn’t expect much of a crowd. There were continuing advertisements in the “Vail Daily,” which had me thinking business would be soft. But that was not the case. The place was about 85% full. And it was a much younger demo than Frampton. Although not that young. A lot of thirtysomethings. As well as people older and younger, and they were there to have a good time.

I guess I’ve been to too many arena shows. I just read the review of Gaga’s opening night in Tacoma in the NYT. She had a dozen dancers.

There were no dancers at the Vilar. Almost nothing distracted from the music. And that’s a revelatory experience.

We’ve been selling music as background ever since the advent of the internet. That’s what Pandora is, background music. There’s music in video games, commercials, syncs in TV programs, the tracks are never foreground, and when you go to the show they razzle dazzle you with elements that have nothing to do with the tunes, which are often enhanced by hard drives, it’s more akin to a circus than a concert, a worshiping of stars as opposed to an experience where the music washes over you and sets your mind free, makes you feel good.

Clarence Greenwood, aka “Citizen Cope,” is 49. You’re supposed to be done at that age.

But he didn’t get any traction until his thirties. And this audience, detached from the hit parade, doesn’t care about age, just music.

He led a peripatetic life. Becoming an artist by accident. A year of college got him interested in poetry. He moved to Austin and thought he’d be behind the scenes, as a producer, and then he went back to D.C. and went out as a DJ, even though he had no experience previously, but his friends in Basehead wanted him to do it.

Then he made demos. And sent them to people and got no response. Because labels are afraid of lawsuits, so they don’t listen at all.

But he got lucky, a scout at Capitol found his cassette at the bottom of a pile and called him up and he was offered a demo deal, 5k, and then an album, which he recorded and it didn’t come out, which confounded Clarence, after all, Capitol had PAID FOR IT!

So it was back to square one. He wrote and recorded new tracks. Cold-called Lenny Waronker, since he was such a fan of Randy Newman. And Lenny’s assistant said he did not take unsolicited calls. But Clarence explained his situation, with Capitol, and he was so nice and so convincing that the assistant told Lenny he had to take the call. Wherein ensued an hour-long conversation about music, not FAME, but music.

But still no deal. Lenny wanted to hear more. And then after hearing more he said he didn’t know what to do with it.

But then the action heated up. Jimmy was interested, over at Interscope, and suddenly Lyor over at IDJ. But Clarence felt best about DreamWorks, even though Jimmy told him he was making a bit mistake.

Turns out he was, or did. There was a DreamWorks album that landed with a thud, but Arista was very interested so DreamWorks let him go for a hundred grand and then Clarence made an album for Arista which was promptly folded into RCA where he was not a priority.

Now I would have given up long before. There was no radio action, nothing other than Cope’s belief.

So he told RCA to give him 5,000 CDs. He believed in the record, didn’t want to tell interested parties to buy it to hear it. He just gave them away, at gigs, to those who were interested, even bodega owners, he got RCA to give him more…

And then word started to spread.

RCA did a good job with licenses, there were a bunch of synchs.

And Santana covered one of his songs.

But there were none of the usual indicators. A few non-comms played the record, but he’d visit stations, like XRT and KFOG, and they wouldn’t add it, he was on his own.

And he’s been on his own ever since.

I asked Clarence if he got this reaction every night.

He said this was tame. He wasn’t sure if it was Vail or because it was a seated venue, but usually the audience is hysterical.

I couldn’t imagine attendees being much more hysterical.

Now I’ve been around. You judge success by the reaction. Anybody would sit there and say there’s something happening here.

And it’s all a result of word of mouth. And Clarence can sell tickets anywhere.

Household names barely break a million on Spotify. Clarence has got one track over 20 million, another at over 15, another over 14, one almost at 7, another almost at 6, and this guy gets no press, you’re not reading stories about him in the media, he’s just plugging along in an alternative universe, where the fans know.

Now he put out his last two projects himself. He was tired of working with the machine, beholden to their schedules. But this time he’s wading back in, he’s got a deal, he wants some of the help.

And he’s been checking out managers, after managing himself.

He’s come full circle.

But the amazing thing is he’s not running on fumes. His music and his career are alive and vital. He’s still creating. He’s an artist.

That’s what the business used to be based upon.

“Driving Tesla’s Model 3 Changes Everything”

If you don’t want a Model 3 after reading the above review, you’re probably one of the Luddites who decried Napster, insisting that CDs were better.

I get CD quality on Deezer, in my pocket, around the world, at the touch of my screen. You want the discs why?

And on Spotify, the cover image fits the vertical screen, like on Snapchat, only Luddites are still into horizontal. And if you don’t have a large screen phone, you probably still use your mobile for talking. My goal is to never speak on the phone. And most people don’t. Data usage has gone sky high while audio has plummeted. Your mobile device is now a computer. Just like PCs demolished minis and mainframes, the mobile is already putting a dent in PCs. In a mobile world, why would someone want an immobile device? That’s how cassettes killed vinyl, mobility. As for streaming…

But the music business was led into the abyss, and ultimately its future, by its customers.

Automakers are not quite that stupid.

Or are they?

Reading the above article you’ll see that the Model 3 competes directly with the BMW 3 series and the Mercedes-Benz C series. And in many ways you get more bang for the buck. The Germans have dipped their toe in the water, MBZ is investing more than BMW, but when the tipping point comes…

The tipping point always comes. The best example is digital photography. For ten years we heard it was going to replace film. Didn’t happen. Then, within twelve months the worm turned and Kodak went into bankruptcy. The same way smartphones have killed standalone cameras. And you’ll get hobbyists who’ll go on about DSLRS, but even pros shoot on iPhones these days. I’m not much of a photographer, I don’t shoot many pictures, but when I blew up my 7 Plus snaps on my desktop (yes, I still have one, I’ve got EVERYTHING, I hate people reviewing and analyzing what they do not have or have not seen), I was stunned. As for the camera comparison between Apple and Samsung, I refer you to the article below.

And I want to let you in on a little secret… Typing with two hands on a large phone is just as easy as typing on a BlackBerry, so if you’re still using the latter device, it’s now time to switch.

Anyway, the above review convinced me that Tesla is gonna make it and change the industry. They’re burning cash, they can’t build the cars fast enough, but people said the same thing about Spotify and now it dominates.

But in any event, Tesla will be influencing competitors.

And Elon Musk has naysayers. Anybody with a profile today does. But he’s triumphing on his products as opposed to hot air.

The entertainment industry is built on hot air.

Used to be you could put out a lame product and through publicity and payments make it successful.

No longer.

I watch no visual entertainment, whether it be in the theatre or at home, without going to Rotten Tomatoes first.

Same deal with buying a product. I go to Amazon. I Google for further reviews.

All this talk about critics being irrelevant… They’re more relevant than ever before, it’s just that now EVERYBODY is a critic! But we trust certain sources more than others.

So, if you create something and the reviews are bad, don’t fight them, it’s futile, you have to start over.

People know your product is a stiff within minutes. Doesn’t even take a weekend. The opinion and the data doesn’t lie.

Which makes the same people who hated Napster angry.

And you can’t stop reading that Hollywood hates Rotten Tomatoes.

We’re moving to an era of excellence, good is not good enough. One star after another has failed in the marketplace. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry… No one is review-proof. They puff up these acts with endless publicity, but the word gets out and they fail.

As for radio…its power is greatly diminished. It plays what is reacting online.

And the younger generation is not listening. In an on demand world, music radio is an antique. Sure, radio still has power, but it has declined and will decline further.

And now my inbox will fill up with those who believe electric cars are propped up by subsidies, Samsung is better than Apple, radio is burgeoning…

But it doesn’t matter.

They’re all losing the war of data and reviews.

You can fund a study that says otherwise…

But the reviews and data don’t lie.

Heard anybody talk about Beats 1 Radio recently?

Case closed.

“Former Google SR. VP: ‘If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don’t mind being a few years behind, buy an Android”