Once she praised me
Now she hates me
I can’t see how I have changed

It seems that what they loved about you is the same thing that ultimately gets them to leave, which is quite a conundrum if you’re the one left standing there. You’re just being yourself, everything’s hunky-dory, and then she does a one-eighty, you go from hero to zero and you just can’t understand why.

“Rainbow Ends” is my go-to LP. The one I play when I’m at loose ends. The one that makes me feel like someone understands me. The one that gives me hope.

Used to be you paid for albums, and you didn’t own many, and therefore what you purchased you played until you knew. But that paradigm is history, even with your favorite acts, everything’s on the streaming service, you listen once and if it doesn’t grab you…

You may never listen again.

But that’s not the way it was with “Rainbow Ends.” I liked the opening cut and then was overwhelmed by track five and then knew I had to listen again and as I have other tracks have emerged as favorites, this is the way it used to be, a satisfying listening experience, of someone who’s got something to say that I can relate to.

Don’t think I could write these lyrics right now, but boy have I lived them, especially “Isn’t It So.”

Whenever I’m worried and I’m feeling low
When problems are many and I’m all alone
When all the world’s troubles are too much to bear
That’s when I break down and wish you were here

“Break down” is the essence. You put on a brave face, you believe you’ve turned the corner, and then you have a bad day and you just wish she was here, whether you left her or she left you, she knows you, unlike someone else, someone new, you want that glove-like fit.

I’m still trying to please you even though you’re not here
Still talking to you even though you can’t hear

Whew! I don’t remember this truth being revealed in a song before, changing your behavior even though she’s not there, believing if you’re just your best self, doing what she wants, she’ll come back.

But the more I deny it the more that it’s true
There’s hardly a moment I’m not thinking of you

I don’t know how some people crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. How they say they’re over a relationship mere moments after it’s done. For me it’s a long fade, I’m not sure if the feeling’s ever completely gone, I still feel something for everyone I’m involved with, I don’t truly get over anyone until I’m involved with the next person, and I don’t truly appreciate what we had until it’s gone, I’ll bitch and moan when we’re involved, but when it’s in the rearview mirror I’m crying in my beer, testifying to friends to the point they no longer want to listen, I can’t get over you.

But “Isn’t It So” isn’t the first song that enraptured me on “Rainbow Ends,” that was “Someone Else.”

Then came “Dog On A Chain,” which I haven’t written about because it’s the most obvious, the opening cut, the single.

You ain’t no good I hear her say
Under her breath as she turns away

Women are specialists in this, hating you after loving you, while you’re still involved. Men eventually get there, but it takes much longer, usually after you’ve broken up. And it’s especially bad when you’re trying to please them, it almost works against you, you evidence weakness and they pounce all over it.

She berates me, calls me crazy
Certifiably insane

No one likes to be berated, it’s one thing not to get along, it’s another for your significant other to put you down and rub their heel in your face.

Emitt Rhodes has obviously had some bad luck at love, but he’s also learned some lessons.

Love’s not easy, love’s not kind
It only works when you’re half-blind
Don’t be the only one to sacrifice
Don’t be the only one to compromise

The newness wears off. Then you’re just two people trying to make it work, or not. That’s your goal, to find someone who still likes you after the thrill is gone, who’s willing to stick it out for the dividends that are rarely depicted in movies but are true in real life, the longer you stay together the better it gets, assuming it’s not only one person giving, one person understanding, both of you have to sacrifice and both of you have to compromise.

And I’m listening to this LP and loving that it’s only me who seems to be clued in, it’s a private experience. But in the seventies you went to the show and found out that truly wasn’t the case, in reality there were scores, sometimes thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, sometimes a hundred thousand who felt just like you and when you were all there at the concert mesmerized by the songs you knew by heart it felt so good.

But unless you’re a mega pop star, that rarely happens anymore. Sure, there are mid-level acts, and there are always people testifying they listen to every album from start to finish over and over again as if anybody had that much time, but most people are out of the loop, clueless.

And there’s no room for “Rainbow Ends” on pop radio, it rocks too much. Maybe a song could be reworked and covered, there’s so much wisdom, so many changes, then again, melody now takes a back seat to beats and few are interested in middle aged wisdom, few are interested in wisdom at all, boasting rules, and one can see why, life is so hard, it’s so hard to make it, that we look for beacons to follow and if you’re not saying you’re great you’ll probably get no notice at all.

So where does that leave a guy who’s just speaking his truth?

There are so many records, so few radio outlets that mean anything. And today going on the road is not about spreading the word, but preaching to the converted, making the money you cannot with records.

So it’s almost like “Rainbow Ends” did not come out. And shy of Justin Bieber tweeting about it, it’s already in the dumper, already in the rearview mirror, which troubles me. Has marketing become that important that even if something is great it gets no traction?

Seems like it.

 

“Dog On A Chain” – YouTube

“Dog On A Chain” – Spotify

 

“Isn’t It So” – YouTube

“Isn’t It So” – Spotify

START SMALL

Big time publicity is for big time acts. Not only will most major outlets not cover you, if they do, people will think you’re a hype. Better to start small and hit singles rather than home runs, better to activate a core fan base than try to reach everybody, better to take risks and fix your mistakes when fewer are paying attention. People forgive you when you’re starting out.

DIFFERENCE DIFFERENTIATES

You can imitate what everybody else is doing, but chances are someone much better funded with more tools at their disposal is doing the same thing. Your best hope of getting noticed is to be unlike everybody else. Like them, but with a twist, not a complete revolutionary. There’s room for revolution, just know it’s a long hard slog and it rarely happens. Better to do it like the successes, but change it up in unexpected ways. This is where your creativity shines. Execution is important, but inspiration is key, ideas are truly everything. When the light bulb in your head goes off and you smile, then you know you’re on the right track, especially when others share your enthusiasm when you tell them your idea or expose them to your work.

YOU’RE GONNA FEEL LOST

That’s the world we live in, no one dominates and in the sea of wannabes you’re not sure whether you’re winning or losing. Oftentimes it feels like you’re standing still, treading water, despite working so hard. Keep working, but don’t move forward on sheer will and determination, letting your underlying optimism rule. When things are stagnant that’s when you must set aside time to think, to ask if the issue is your product or the marketing or whether people just haven’t been exposed to what you’re doing yet.

TEN YEAR OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

The first win feels great, but it usually isn’t even close to first base. When the high wears off you’ll have to ponder new questions that you previously could not foresee. Did you expose on the right platform properly? Do you have the right team? Was your product as professional as it could be?

ONE STEP AT A TIME

Keep your eye on the ultimate prize, but know that you’ll probably never get there and might end up somewhere else much more satisfying. This is the personal pivot. You think you know what you want, but you probably don’t. Success breeds opportunity, as does failure. You get into new situations and find out what you truly want to do. Don’t be afraid to give up the original dream.

KEEP LEARNING

It can be in school, through reading or just by hanging out with people, running ideas and listening, but the truth is there’s a wealth of mentorship at your fingertips. Sure, it’s important to stay in contact with your fans, especially via social media, but there must be balance, if all you’re doing is tweeting you’ll run out of things to say. One of the great thrills of life is learning and discovery. And in the process you’ll find out there are those who are helpful and those who are not, those who know what’s going on and those who do not. One pearl of wisdom from a heavyweight can pay dividends for years, whereas a week with a second-rate wannabe can end up with no result, even taking you in the wrong direction. Feed off of others’ experiences, but know that you cannot walk in their footsteps, you must tailor what you’ve learned for yourself.

QUALITY

Your only chance of getting traction is greatness. That’s not slickness, but usually something more intellectual, that titillates people. Good is no longer good enough, not if you want to get ahead. Feel free to woodshed, even in public, but know the rocket ship will never leave the launch pad until you deliver your 10. That’s right, 10, not 9, never mind 8. A pro knows when he delivers a 10, hits the sweet spot, bangs one over the fence. You learn this through experience, anybody can get lucky once, but to replicate your success… Pay attention to your inner tuning fork, when you’re excited about something that’s the time to push the button, to make your network aware. Beware of being the boy who cried wolf. In the internet world most people only give one look, it’s hard to get them to come back. And there’s the conundrum, you work in the wilderness trying new things worried that you’re alienating others but if a tastemaker stumbles on something substandard it could hurt you.
Better to play than to hold back, best to satisfy your creative urges than to worry if others care.

CHAOS

That’s the world we live in now. Some of the biggest names get less traction than indie players, there’s no worldwide ranking that shows us what’s truly important. So, everybody is foraging, looking for greatness and eager to spread the word. And everybody is overwhelmed with content. So if you’re in the content creation business…you can amp yourself up, tell yourself you’re a winner, but that is not enough. In the old days that might work after you got through the golden door, got a record deal. But today everybody can play. The field is flattened. And creativity must be in your blood, just like entrepreneurship. Not everybody can start a company, not everybody can be a star. But we do need companies and stars, and there’s a chance you could be it. A very long chance.

CREATION

They call them the “creative arts.” Don’t lose sight of this. You can go to school and learn how to market, how to write a business plan. But no one can teach you how to be inspired. Look for inspiration. Create when you’re elated, catch lightning in a bottle, it’s when you’re the least inhibited, the most free, that your soul will emanate in your work and you have the best chance of connecting with others.

Maybe YouTube is not king.

As of this moment, Mike Posner’s “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” has 200,912,604 streams on Spotify. But nowhere near this count on YouTube.

The Vevo/YouTube clip has 37,303,201 views.

The next most watched YouTube clip of the SeeB remix, which is the track we’re talking about here, has 1,697,208 views.

The one after that, 1,399,712 views.

Then there are seventeen clips with views between 100,000 and a million, almost all of them covers. Proving, once again, that fan-created clips are your friend, you get paid on them too, don’t take them down.

But the cumulative number on YouTube is nowhere close to the 200 million streams on Spotify.

Now let’s go to Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself. It’s got 470,378,996 streams on Spotify.

On YouTube, the Vevo clip has 473,103,375 views.

Lukas Graham has 252,848,507 streams of “7 Years” on Spotify, but only 56,907,403 views of the official music video on YouTube and 42,217,563 of the lyric video, together nowhere close to 252 million.

So…

Maybe there’s an explanation, maybe there’s something I’m not seeing.

And there’s the issue of YouTube adoption in the rest of the world, it’s not as big for music overseas, and I’m giving you international numbers here, it’s a worldwide business.

Then there are the issues of genre and audience. Adele’s “Hello” YouTube views far outpace the Spotify streams. The clip has 1,389,801,721 views, there are only 464,430,885 streams of the songs on Spotify. Then again, the entire album isn’t on Spotify. And who knows how many playlists it was on. (However, YouTube is free to all, there’s no sign-up necessary, it’s a larger pool of people.)

But it certainly appears if you’re a pop act, appealing to youngsters, you’re doing a disservice to your career by not being on Spotify. Where not only your hard core fans can find you, but others experience you via playlists. Furthermore, could it be that Spotify subscribers utilize the service like a CD player/turntable, listening to the tracks over and over, more than those do on YouTube?

The Apple Music numbers are not public.

Never mind Tidal or Rhapsody.

Then again, Spotify has the most subscribers.

If you keep your music off the service you’re leaving your fans unsatisfied.

Then again, you might be into cash more than exposure.

Gwen Stefani’s new album debuted at number one with 84,000 units sold, supposedly 90% of them pure sales. So, you’ve got some serious billing there.

But the official video of “Make Me Love You” has only got 6,413,194 views on YouTube in a month. The audio only video has got another 2,937,596 views. Still, these numbers are paltry compared to those of the acts above, even if they’ve had a longer chart history.

Maybe “Make Me Like You” is a stiff, maybe being on Spotify wouldn’t help, but by searching for dollars has Stefani hurt her career? After all, the recorded music is a loss leader for the tour, the merch, the sponsorships. And let’s not forget, the revenue for Spotify streams is going up, up, up. Needless to say, Posner, Bieber and Graham will be getting big checks.

If you’re interested in mass audience, if you’re interested in discovery, you’ve got to be on all the services day and date, especially Spotify.

This is the video that sold me:

Mike Posner, “I Took a Pill In Ibiza” Live at The Roxy – Los Angeles, March 8th 2016

Just when you think we’ve hit the end of the line, that music has got no future, you encounter something like this.

Everybody didn’t sing along like this back in 1972, everybody didn’t know all the words, we were all uptight, we were all too stoned, but I first noticed this at Taylor Swift shows, before she went pop, when she was still country, when the lyrics were everything and the music served the words…everybody knew them by heart and sang along with them. That’s the change today, acts have been pulled down from the stage, into the crowd, that’s how you know you’ve really made it, when your fans see you as a regular person, one who has a moment of genius that makes them feel good.

And “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” makes people feel good.

I’d been tracking the song, figuring it was another EDM number with a hooky sound, but little meaning.

But that is untrue.

The truth is Mike Posner released it last summer and if you hear it you’ll be hard-pressed to believe it’s the same song, the original’s a slowed-down acoustic number, that’s heartfelt and suffers from going nowhere musically, but lyrically…it’s the opposite of today’s I’m a driver, I’m a winner, all positivity, all optimism all the time world. The lyrics stick out…

I took a pill in Ibiza

Now there’s nothing uncommon about that, that’s what you’re supposed to do in the Balearics.

But then…

To show Avicii I was cool

How much do we do to look cool? We’re afraid to be ourselves, we put ourselves at risk, image is everything, if they knew who we truly were they wouldn’t include us.

And I barely knew who Mike Posner was, other than he’d had some success before.

But he hadn’t had any since, which is what inspired him to write this song.

And when I finally got sober, felt ten years older
But fuck it, it was something to do

You can’t say anything negative about drugs in our culture, they’re the coolest thing going. And I’m not saying users should be put in jail, but I’ve never had a trip as good as a live experience, I’ve got more regrets than good times, and I think of all the burned out people I know who smoke ad infinitum, the dope of today, not the mild stuff of yesteryear, which will check you out and remove you from your pain, as well as society.

I’m living out in L.A.
I drive a sports car just to prove
I’m a real big baller ’cause I made a million dollars
And I spend it on girls and shoes

L.A. is all about image, what you drive, where you live, you show your wealth, it’s the opposite of the east coast, the east coast of yesteryear, when artists could still live in Manhattan. What are all these people gonna do when we go to driverless cars, owned by the man called up by an app? Youngsters know it’s your identity that counts, the rest can be summoned on demand.

You don’t ever wanna step off that roller coaster and be all alone

No, you don’t. Guys become stars, strive for achievement, for acceptance, for the perks because they want to get laid. But when they find out stardom doesn’t solve their internal problems they can’t write hits anymore, they find out their only hope is to be honest with themselves, find out who they truly are and change.

You don’t wanna ride the bus like this
Never knowing who to trust like this

Trust is everything in this world, if you’ve got no one to trust, if you’re not trustworthy, you’re gonna be uber-lonely.

And there’s nothing like being broke, losing your wheels, no one wants to hit you up on the bus because they know you’re a loser.

I’m just a singer who already blew his shot

Posner had a top ten single, but he couldn’t replicate it.

I get along with old timers
‘Cause my name’s a reminder of a pop song people forgot

Whew! You can get in the building, people know your name, but you’re a has-been.

And I can’t keep a girl, no
‘Cause as soon as the sun comes up
I cut ’em all loose and work’s my excuse

That’s the truth of being a musician, it’s hard work. It’s not like Vince and his buds on “Entourage,” there’s little time off, those are actors playing roles, whereas a musician has to create all the time and then sell it, doing publicity, going on tour, assuming anybody cares, and in today’s world it’s hard to get attention, never mind keep it.

But the truth is I can’t open up

Whew! This is a guy, being vulnerable! Do you know how hard this is to do?

I met some fans on Lafayette
They said tell us how to make it ’cause we’re getting real impatient

Everybody believes they’re a star, worthy of attention, even though this is patently untrue. The delusional ultimately have their eyes opened, but this comes some time after their impatience, they’re hanging on Posner’s words, he got there, how do they trample him and get the brass ring themselves?

But you don’t wanna be high like me

Sounds like sour grapes, but Posner’s just saying…be wary of getting what you want and finding it doesn’t make you happy, crying in your beer.

And if you listen to the original studio acoustic take, not only is it not a hit you don’t need to hear it more than once.

Until you hear the remix.

Then your head spins, the song flips, the lyrics are nearly irrelevant, they go by so fast you don’t catch them, it’s all about the sound. And just like a “Hamilton”-goer who hates rap suddenly realizes he was wrong, EDM-haters are enraptured by this sound.

This is the future the oldsters and record companies are trying to hold down. The truth is fans want to remix your work, want to make it their own, and sometimes fresh eyes and ears make all the difference, the SeeB remix made “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” a worldwide hit, embraced, ironically, by those who want to go to the island, drop a drug and cut loose.

BUT THE SOUND IS SO INFECTIOUS!

The remix would be a hit with completely different lyrics.

But they’re not.

So what’s a boy to do? Posner bears his soul, reflects how he’s down and out, and he ends up with the party anthem of the year.

Which everybody knows.

That’s the amazing thing today, how people know at all. How do all those people at the Roxy…how were they clued in?

We all want to be clued in. But the scene is overwhelming.

But then you get an email, something catches your ear or eye, and you’re a member, you’re a believer!

And that Roxy video shot from the audience closed me.

That’s the power of YouTube, that’s the power of having a camera in every fan’s hand.

Suddenly a track comes alive, an experience is created.

This is the modern future, not a canned performance, one hermetically sealed that the audience can only watch but not embrace.

Posner has sped up his acoustic number. It’s not EDM, but it’s still the same song, it’s all about the song, he who writes the changes wins.

He who creates the changes and lays down truth goes to the top, is not forgotten, that’s the essence of Lorde’s “Royals” and “I Took A Pill In Ibiza.”

It’d be easy to dismiss the modern pop scene, EDM, say everything today sucks.

But the truth is it’s hard to find.

But when you uncover gems you’re touched, feel as you always did, it’s the same as it ever was.

AND THAT’S SO FUCKING GREAT!

SeeB remix on YouTube

SeeB remix on Spotify

“The Tonight Show” (Posner does the same take as he does at the Roxy, but with not quite the same magic, but magic nonetheless)

P.S. Posner’s number 5 on today’s U.S. Spotify chart, with 726,776 streams. The SeeB remix has been streamed 197,882,428 times so far on the service. It’s a top ten digital download. The track went to number one in the UK, it’s a hit all over the world.

P.P.S. In the old days the TV appearances would be about breaking the act, now it’s about the victory lap. A hit track today is owned by the audience, and people don’t need you unless you can do it again and again and again. Hits give you a start, but a career’s so hard to achieve, just ask Mike Posner!