“Jimmy Iovine: ‘Women Find It Very Difficult At Times To Find Music'”

Wherein Jimmy Iovine has his Al Campanis moment.

Tim Cook comes out and advocates for gender equality but his lieutenant sets back the cause of women to the Stone Age.

Where’s Gloria Steinem when you need her? Or Naomi Klein, never mind Naomi Wolf.

Or how about Sheryl Sandberg, are you gonna take a stand on this? Are you gonna push back? Or are you just gonna stay quiet, a member of the tech elite, protecting your brethren while they act and behave heinously.

Sure, someone can make a mistake.

But we don’t tolerate these kinds of mistakes elsewhere. And this demonstrates roots, core beliefs, this wasn’t a slip of the tongue, this is who Jimmy Iovine is. A member of a boys club who doesn’t give a hoot about keeping women down. Hell, his best buddy Dr. Dre…check out his “relationships” with women. He apologized for his transgressions, but decades too late.

This is what happens when people live in the bubble too long, when they’re not in touch with the street, when they’ve got no idea how people really think or behave. Thank god the younger generation is so much better informed and more advanced. I credit MTV for making America less racist, sexist and homophobic. Once you see people like yourself on television, once you realize the denigrated are as good as you are, once you see intelligent women lighting up the screen, your beliefs are changed.

But mainstream media is so behind the times. Why didn’t one of the CBS hosts call Jimmy out? Thank god the traditional media is being eviscerated by the online sphere. Beautiful nitwits paying fealty to the rich and powerful is passe, just like the aged people watching network shenanigans.

So now you know who Jimmy is. The same guy who ranted about file-traders during the early part of this century and the same guy who came out against freemium, because it’s not good for HIM! What about the customers, what about the listeners, what about those who keep musicians alive?

No, Jimmy’s just as self-centered as the rest of the rich in our society. Hell, at least Bernie Sanders is a man of the people, even if he’s got no chance. Bernie would never say such a thing, because those subjected to scrutiny learn what they say counts, and do their best not to commit faux pas.

But Jimmy Iovine thinks he’s better than us, knows more than us, even though Eric Schmidt, a technology majordomo, says machines will predict music better than people. Just like Amazon’s computers predict books you want to read better than people.

Not that people are superfluous. It’s just that machines don’t make dumb mistakes. And can aid us when we let them serve us.

Apple Music is challenged. Spotify is the frontrunner. And the more I see Iovine make proclamations about what’s going on, the less I have confidence in Apple’s success.

Your move Tim Cook.

“Jimmy Iovine, Mary J. Blige talk Apple Music’s new ad”

How the hell can we solve the world’s problems if the music business itself can’t do what’s right for the populace?

Sixteen years after Napster, after living through P2P, track sales and now streaming, blind greed continues to reign in the music business. People do what’s right for themselves, never mind what’s good for the customer, never mind what’s good for the business.

Adele?

You’re not that fucking good. You’re not the Beatles. We can live without your music. We just focus on you because everybody else is so bad, everybody else is whored out to the corporation and bitching they can’t make the money people do in the tech sphere. Even Bono’s off the rails, forcing an LP upon those who don’t care and then going on the road and not even going clean in arenas. That’s right, after selling out stadia, U2 can’t sell every ticket indoors. Because the music just ain’t that good. And it’s all driven by the music. And we’ll find out what the people think, a year from now, when we see if they’re still listening, on streaming services, which is where “25” will be after this dash for cash is done.

Hell, we’re not even going to have this fourth quarter madness a year from now. Because physical will be dead and track sales de minimis. I’d say this is the last gasp of a dying industry but the truth is music will survive, as it has the past sixteen years, because people love to play it and the public loves to hear it.

Who needs this money? Adele, you played small venues last time around, you didn’t take all the money from the corporations. Why this turnaround? Are you that ignorant? Even car companies are hipper than you, they’re leaving CD drives out of their vehicles. My new computer has no disk drive, even though I bought it a year ago and it’s state of the art. But forget my iMac 5k, did you ever try to play a CD on a tablet? Never mind a mobile?

We live in a mobile world where few have a ton of storage, but I’ve got to make room for your album?

Screw you.

Oh, the truth is I already have your record! It’s been flying around the internet. And I didn’t listen to the whole damn thing because it didn’t immediately grab me and I was more interested in hearing Amy Schumer on Alec Baldwin’s podcast. That’s the world we live in, where you compete with all entertainment, which is accessible at the touch of an icon. There’s plenty of money if you get mindshare. But you want to give up mindshare?

But you’re dumb and uneducated, living in the bubble. Give Taylor Swift some credit, at least she thinks for herself, however wrong she might sometimes be. And the truth is Apple was about to cave, Swift had almost nothing to do with getting acts paid during the trial period. But an ignorant press that says “Billboard” sold out their Jones Beach gig when they gave away thousands of tickets doesn’t know the inside story. And therefore people have no idea that acts scalp their own tickets and Ticketmaster is a front for performers’ greed.

That’s right, in an era of transparency, in the music business there is none. You want to be paid better by the labels? Why should they come to the table and be fair, they’re greedy just like you! When the biggest act in the business sees the world through her own eyes only, why do you expect anybody else to act differently?

Tom Petty agitates for a lower vinyl price. That’s right, he didn’t want MCA to use his new album, which people were salivating for, to rip off customers. And now Adele leaves the customer behind.

Oh, what a long strange trip it’s been. One in which the Beatles enraptured a generation, got everybody to pick up a guitar, where music changed the world, into an era where tech changes the world.

Because the techies are educated and smart and are all about disruption and the future.

Your album comes out tomorrow. You waited to this late date to reveal this info? Why? You knew forever. But you employ duplicity, smoke and mirrors, manipulation as opposed to forthright honesty. How can we believe in your music if we don’t believe in you?

Adele, you could have done good here. You could have driven listeners to streaming services, you could have bumped up subscriptions. Instead, you’re just muddying the water. Keeping people in the past. Where the media is, which will say how much product you sold as opposed to how much people accessed.

If you think sales are where it’s at, you don’t know Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On” is the most played track in Spotify history, with 526 million streams in eight months. Not only is there money in that, there’s cultural impact. “Lean On” gets little press, but actual listeners know it’s genius and can’t get enough. Whereas you’re appealing to doofuses who don’t listen, just blindly buy because the oldsters tell them to.

Listens, not purchases.

Impact, not cash.

Careers, not short-term thinking.

Do the right thing, don’t selfishly stand up for yourself only.

How can we move forward, how can the music business be healthy if the leaders don’t agitate for the right thing?

Damned if I know.

When you got nothing
You got nothing to lose

“Like A Rolling Stone”
Bob Dylan

I’ve been a victim of internet hate. Sometimes private, sometime public. Sometimes e-mail, sometimes on Twitter and other social networks, as well as nooks and crannies all over the web.

My crime?

Having an opinion and a status those complaining do not.

I’ve learned to ignore it. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t inhibit me. Say the wrong thing and my enemies will express their vitriol. Hell, I said that Taylor Swift couldn’t sing and her minions are still lambasting me online.

Now if this happened in the newspaper, in traditional media, I’d call a high-priced publicity person to get the story quashed. You see unless what’s happening is truly news, the media can always forgo coverage. If you provide something in return. It’s all about the trade. I’ll hold back from doing this if you give me access to that.

But this bartering is meaningless online. Because those perpetrating the hate have got nothing to lose, they thrive on attention, if you attack you can make them famous. And every little guy sticking it to the man gets the benefit of the doubt from their brethren on the bottom.

And no one playing the professional game seems to understand all this.

The rich and famous, the powerful, believe they’re in control.

And then someone unknown comes out of the woodwork to piss on their parade. Sometimes justifiably, frequently not.

And there you have the internet today, where everybody with power is gun-shy, for fear of rattling the cages of the great unwashed, who want what they’ve got.

There’s an element of income inequality. And lack of upward mobility. Live in the U.S. long enough and you believe you deserve ascension, you deserve a better life. But as you get older and this does not happen you get angry and someone has to pay…the person who has your theoretical job.

I wish I knew the solution. I know that jobs and a social safety net help. But some are mentally ill. Some feel they must defend those they’ve pledged fealty too. Never mind criticize Taylor Swift, come down on Dave Grohl and you start a shitstorm. Which is why so many play it safe. And the terrorists win.

I won’t say I’m powerless against the online terrorists. I’ve learned you can conquer them. By attacking them individually. By hitting them where they live. Criticizing their little lives, getting personal. They don’t like the light shined upon them. If you make it about them, as opposed to the content, they freak.

Which is why I’m all in favor of striking in the middle of the night, when the enemy is unprepared. That’s what the Israelis do. They don’t get mad, they get even. And the world hates them for it. But the Israelis know they’re one loss away from the extinction of their country, they can’t let their guard down. And we can discuss the settlements and other choices the country has made that seem questionable. Furthermore, there are inequities towards the Palestinians in the past, nothing is black and white, but when it’s about your survival, you do what is necessary.

And those not involved criticize you for your behavior.

But they’re not standing in your shoes.

I’m not sure what motivates ISIS. Is it pure religious zealotry, or is it a lack of economic security? Zarqawi was a thief, who was brought up with seven sisters and two brothers. Did this make him a terrorist? Or like a school shooter, was he just nuts?

All I know is fighting terrorism isn’t like the battles of yore, where you puff up your chest and blast ’em back to the Stone Age. It’s a new game. Where intelligence is more important than might. Where strategy is more important than bluster. Where one false move can generate legions of heat you did not foresee. Cheney and Rumsfeld got rid of Saddam Hussein and they destabilized the whole region. And if you believe firepower and boots on the ground can effectuate peace, you believe that online spam can be eradicated.

It hasn’t been, although strides have been made.

And the biggest spammers come from disadvantaged economies, whether it be Russia or Nigeria. Their success rate is minimal relative to the missives they send out, but it still pays, much better than the job that doesn’t exist.

We live in a new world. Where the old knee-jerk responses just don’t work. You can give up your privacy, insist Apple decrypt its phones, but today’s terrorists are sophisticated enough to use secure channels. We’re looking for easy solutions, but there are none.

We used to live in relative anonymity with a belief our world ended at the county line. But not only can you make a crystal clear phone call around the globe, not only can you surf sites around the world, but today the people on the other end can instill fear in your heart and change your way of life.

If you let them.

Sure, you’re scared. Who wouldn’t be. But when you sacrifice your privacy and lifestyle to create a false sense of security you’re the loser.

We need a stronger safety net in the U.S. To head off class warfare if nothing else.

We need to lift up our brothers and give them opportunities, instead of believing what I’ve got is mine and you’re on your own.

We need to realize we’re all just people. And we’re in this together. And solutions come from those who are educated and experienced, as opposed to blowhards with a megaphone.

We’ve got to go on living our lives, we’ve got to take chances, we’ve got to stand up to bullies, we’ve got to be unafraid to express our opinions. That’s our way of life, in a nation built by immigrants where freedom is paramount.

More guns won’t eliminate school shootings.

And more bombings won’t decimate ISIS.

But everybody’s got a family. The Mafia learned there was power in threatening it.

Today everything’s personal. If we go on the offensive we must attack the individual. We must operate like the Don at the end of the “Godfather.”

How can it be that we were so together after 9/11, but so divided today? How did society become so coarse? How did we stop loving our brother?

I’ll argue it’s when the rank and file realized the jig was up, that they were economically screwed.

That’s what’s happening in the Middle East. With a huge dollop of religion thrown in. And we should understand this focus on belief, since we’ve got nincompoops in this country protesting a false war on Christmas and the denigration of everyone who does not believe like they do.

We’re all different.

But we’re all together.

We’ve got the power to communicate, but too often all we get is cacophony.

Root out ISIS. And root out spam and online hate while you’re at it. I’m all for it.

But it’s gonna take a long time. And it’s gonna be tough.

Because the old rules just don’t apply.

You’re just a pawn in their game. You think by protesting freemium you’re saving the world from broke musicians. But Wall Street talks and you walk, and it all comes down to money. And those with the deep pockets are playing for high stakes and they don’t care about what’s happening in your bedroom, the only thing that matters is the boardroom.

The music industry is stupid. But how would you expect otherwise, it’s run by uneducated street hustlers who believe they can win through intimidation and subterfuge. But as skilled as the Mafia might be it’s ultimately no match for not only the government, but the true business titans.

Rdio was doomed to fail because its market share was too small. This is what you don’t understand as you wave your liberal flag and agitate for manufacturing to come back onshore and bleed your heart over the local establishment that’s threatened by the national big box. The people love low prices and they go where everybody else does, and if you haven’t got critical mass you might as well close up shop, because the times they are ‘a changin’. We only want the biggest and the best, the rest are history. Not only in music services, but musicians. We’ve got all the time in the world for the titans, both new and classic, but if you’re not world class, you’re HISTORY!

Like Rdio. Some say its interface was the best. But that’d be like arguing for Beta instead of VHS. Critical mass is more important than quality, as long as quality doesn’t really matter. That’s right, the average punter couldn’t tell the difference between Beta and VHS, even though the former was technically better, all they knew was the latter was cheaper and was what everybody else was using!

YouTube and Spotify freemium are cheaper. And no one’s using Rdio, not to mention Rhapsody and Apple Music… HA!

You play the long game, something the music industry gave up on in the seventies. It’s about establishing careers and then milking them FOREVER! But in a short term economy it’s all about today’s hits and tomorrow’s irrelevant, the CEO’s moved on and his bonus is in the rearview mirror. How can it be that Daniel Ek knows more about business than the record company titans? He knows it’s all about the LONG TERM! And in the process not only has he kicked the ass of Rdio, he’s stymied Jimmy Iovine, who thought music rules transferred to tech, BUT THEY DON’T! How much money has Uber raised? The rest of the unicorns? In tech you spend until you’ve got enough users and market share to turn on the spigot, to make money. Even Evan Spiegel of Snapchat knows this, but not Lucian Grainge.

Spotify’s the best thing to ever happen to twenty first century music industry. Because it killed piracy and spent up the yin-yang on freemium. Most people will pay…BUT NOT YET!

Like I said, it’s a long game.

Something that not only those who ran Pandora but their investors didn’t realize. A famous name goes public and it takes eons for investors to wake up to bad margins and no future. The sucky radio service only operates in a few territories and has got no future, what to do?

BUY BUY BUY!

As for Ticketfly… Welcome to the great consolidation. In an era where Spotify is valued at a greater number than Live Nation you don’t think someone’s gonna roll up the assets, you don’t see the advantage of owning Universal if you’ve got a deep pocket, leveraging all that music?

The power does lie with the musicians, if only they had some self-respect and realized they possess the juice, the electricity that powers the whole enterprise. Create hits, build an audience, and not only will you get rich you will dictate. Isn’t that what Taylor Swift did? Isn’t that what everybody’s debating about Adele’s “25” release? Forget the rabble-rousing of the has and never-beens. If you’re generating cash you’ve got the business titans over a barrel.

So Pandora’s got to make a move. They’ve got to go to on demand. But their launch is gonna be too late and they’re not willing to lose money on freemium, never mind getting the right to do so, and therefore I’m not betting on Westergren’s company, but at least we’ve got a horse race. And it’s a duel to the finish. When we get to the finish line there’ll be a big winner and a couple of also-rans. Quick, who came in second at the Kentucky Derby? You’ve got no idea, and he who comes in second in the streaming race will be a marginal player. The winner will have 70+% market share. And in tech it’s not about profitability but market share. Get enough eyeballs and you can leverage your way to profitability.

Tim Westergren’s already history, he’s no different from the music execs, a short termer who’s gotten rich and is now nearly forgotten. A tireless promoter he got his audience to agitate for low streaming rates so the company could continue and the end result is the artists have been screwed. That’s right, radio pays differently from on demand. But if even the musicians can’t figure this out, don’t expect the great unwashed to. But now that Spotify and Apple have radio as well as playlists, what is Pandora to do?

What did Amazon tell us to do? Get ahead of the market and keep spending until there’s no one left in the landscape. Now no one can compete, Jet.com is a failure, Amazon owns the retail world, and has leveraged its assets to become a huge player in cloud computing/storage. Daniel Ek and Spotify have repeated this formula in plain sight and the only ones who seem to believe are the investors/Wall Street, you don’t hear them complaining, it’s only the musicians, labels and writers, saying the company is unprofitable. But the truth is one service is gonna win and make money and then may end up as a feature, a small part of a larger conglomerate. Hell, Amazon gives music away free as part of its Prime plan. Amazon is the sleeping giant here, not Apple. Not that Bezos always wins, but at least he understands the game. Music is a feature, a way to get people in the door. Because it’s the second most exciting thing next to sex. Have some self-respect, you’ve got the key in your hand, turn on the engine.

Sure, we’re switching to electric vehicles. But you still get there just the same, the music doesn’t change, just the delivery system. But just like Volkswagen owns more car brands than you can count, consolidation is the way of the world. There are only three major labels, two big promoters and if you think Spotify, Apple and Pandora can all win you’re clueless.

Once again, the music business is more interesting than the music itself. Because everybody making it wants to be a tech titan, or have the riches thereof. Years from now no one will remember Rdio. Will they remember your band?

That’s your challenge.

Look inward, not outward.

You speak with your tunes, not your social media footprint. Hunker down in your home studio and change the world. Your manager and agent will run interference. Where your music is exhibited, where you play live…that’s irrelevant, that can change, the only important thing is bonding an audience to you.

Rdio didn’t do that. Therefore it’s history. Like so many of the bands of yore, even the ones who had hits!