Ze Frank is educated and smart.

I’ve never come across that combination in the music business.

No, that’s wrong. There’s Cliff Burnstein, who’s a few credits shy of a Ph.D. in math. What do they say at Q Prime? To do all the superfluous work and allow Cliff time to think, because when Cliff thinks Q Prime makes money.

Hmm…

I’m not saying I don’t know a lot of intelligent people in the music business. But they’re street smart. They know how to intimidate, negotiate. Theorize? That’s absent. Which is why music’s lunch has been eaten by tech. And speaking of tech victories, the big story in today’s financial world is the “Forbes” cover story on Chris Sacca, the investor billionaire. You should read it. Chris has never given press access before. And this article proves why. Because you don’t look totally positive. Chris has made some choices and behaved in ways that I would not have chosen to. But he’s made the money. And that’s the only scorecard people seem to keep these days. And by those standards, Chris is winning.

And it’s not only money, unlike the Wall Street titans at Goldman Sachs, Chris has invested in companies you love and use. At least some of you. Like Uber, Twitter and Kickstarter. Chris is building things. Got to give him kudos for that.

But back to Ze.

Ze went to Brown.

But then he was a musician.

And I could delineate all of his history, but the point is Ze made it via his creativity, his art, which puts him in the same wheelhouse as musicians.

Only Ze was on the cutting edge.

Talk to anybody in social media. They all know Ze. Primarily for his 2006 web series “the show with ze frank.” Early adopters win. If they continue to stay the course. If you’re planning on being a YouTube star today, forget it. Same deal with imitating Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus. You’re too far behind the curve. You’ve got to catch the NEXT wave.

So now Ze runs BuzzFeed Motion Pictures.

I get it, I get it, you HATE BuzzFeed! All that listicle crap. But they’re two separate entities. Not all BuzzFeed Motion Pictures live on the BuzzFeed site.

Anyway, two years ago there were 2 people working there.

Now there are 170.

So you walk inside and everybody’s happy and there’s a lot going on.

This is contrary to the record label, where you see a sea of empty desks and everybody’s depressed.

First you see the intern stations. PAID interns, that is. 30% graduate to fellowships. And then some become full time BuzzFeeders.

And what do full time BuzzFeeders do?

MAKE MOVIES!

Think about that. They’re creating. With very little supervision. They have to meet the metrics, which they can see on a personal dashboard, but responsibility lies with them.

Everybody in music is shirking responsibility.

But music is cheap to make.

And now movies are too.

Ze commented on the fall of cable TV.

Are you watching this? It’s kind of like digital photography. We heard about it for a decade and then it happened overnight. We heard about internet delivery of television programs and in the last two weeks, it’s arrived.

And what do people want to see?

That’s BuzzFeed’s mission. To capture eyeballs. And to replace the cable TV producers.

Ze thinks their model stinks. Thinks the music labels’ model stinks. Wherein you throw a ton of money at the wall and hope something sticks to pay for it all.

Ze believes you’ve got to pay as you go. Everything’s got to win.

And what do you win with?

Ze thinks long form story, the cable television you’re addicted to, may be history as much as the Russian novel.

The key is to create content people can identify with, see themselves in, that they can access at any time. Length, story? Irrelevant.

Mmm… Sounds like the music business, right? Where the creators want to make albums and the consumers want singles. And now we’re entering this ridiculous era of exclusives, with Beats and Tidal. Once we start Balkanizing content, we’re lost. But don’t tell that to the greedy acts and labels, who don’t comprehend the landscape and just want to line their pockets. The public HATES exclusives, they either tune out or steal.

So Ze’s mission is to get people to BuzzFeed films. To not reinvent the wheel every time. To get people inured to, addicted to, their content. He’s got people working on this mission. He just doesn’t want to open doors and let everyone else in, he wants to plant a flag the consumer rallies around.

Meanwhile, they keep expanding.

They decided they wanted to crack the foreign market. They started making clips. And then someone stumbled upon making clips of foreigners eating American food and vice versa. Bingo, success!

Where is the risk in music?

Not there. Tracks are honed to the point of irrelevance. New is anathema. It’s usually the same old thing over and over again.

But don’t tell this to the inner circle.

That’s what’s wrong with music. You work in it or you live for it and you have no perspective…that the average person has tuned out, because it’s incomprehensible or not good enough.

BuzzFeed is going for everyone.

Everybody makes about a clip a week.

They’re building inventory.

You know their work, even if you don’t know it’s theirs. Like that clip comparing women’s bodies over the ages, that’s one of theirs.

They got a $50 million infusion from Andreessen Horowitz.

When did anybody last put this kind of money in music?

They don’t, because it doesn’t scale. It’s not made for everyone. And people are closed off to reinventing the wheel.

Which is why you’d rather work at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures. Where you get to put your hands on the wheel. Where you’re the master of your own domain. Where you can become a star.

“How Super Angel Chris Sacca Made Billions, Burned Bridges And Crafted The Best Seed Portfolio Ever”

“Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History”

BuzzFeedVideo YouTube channel

1. CHECK YOUR GRAMMAR

No one’s going to take you seriously if you use “there” instead of “their” or “your” instead of “you’re.” Maybe you should write your missives in Word first, where there’s a grammar checker. Or maybe run your prospective words by your mother, since you want her to be proud of you. I’d say to get a review by your significant other, but I’ve yet to find a hater with a spouse.

2. SPELLCHECK

This is built into so many of today’s programs, especially e-mail. How much effort does it take to scroll up to the menu and give it a go?

Then again, you’re probably hating from your smartphone, and you don’t want to risk waiting and having your anger subside. Otherwise you won’t have the desired effect of pissing off your target. Hating must be done right away, when you’re irate, when it’s still the most important thing in the world. However, those worth hating judge you by your spelling mistakes. They’re evidence of education. And if you haven’t got any, the target will not take you seriously.

3. SCRUB SEARCH ENGINES

The problem with today’s world is everybody is identifiable, researchable. Especially in this challenged economy where everybody is looking for a job and posts his curriculum vitae on LinkedIn. You don’t want the recipient of your hatred to know you don’t have a job, or a bad one. You’re embarrassed about your situation enough! So hire a reputation company to get rid of stuff you don’t want people to see. As for victims checking out your resume… You might think you’ve won, but the truth is victims like to laugh too!

4. DON’T HATE IN YOUR FIELD/BACKYARD

Otherwise it just evidences jealousy.

If you’re in music, hate in sports or TV. Because if you hate in your preferred area it just shows that you’re frustrated, you believe that the recipient has your job. Then again, haters hate because they don’t know how to climb the business ladder, wherein social skills are key to advancement. However, this is not just a hater problem. With so few good jobs available, the populace is defeated. So, for this we must have sympathy for the hater.

5. CONTENT PEOPLE!

A reasoned argument has impact. Assuming the hate reaches the target, and you must assume this, being the head of a military operation with many strikes, you never know when you’ll succeed, don’t just say STOP, or YOU’RE A JERK! That stuff works on the schoolyard, when it’s accompanied by physical intimidation and social status. But not online. Then again, you’re lucky you have online as your sandbox, because haters tend to be wimpy loners who’ve found this one way to vent their anger that their lives are not working out. So, if you’re hating on someone, delineate your complaint thoroughly. Point out not only the mistake, but the path of correction. This is your true mission, helping others. Why else would someone reach down in the pit and rescue you from your misery, acknowledge you and give you a job, if you’re not helpful?

6. PUNCH UP, NOT DOWN

Only hate on those higher up the food chain than yourself. Nothing undercuts your status more than posing as popular and successful and then hating someone you keep saying is beneath you. It makes you look small and petty. Which is why when someone receives hate e-mail from an attorney or public figure, that contains no analysis (see #5 above), it changes the recipient’s viewpoint of the hater. I’ll give you the opposite example. Obama is President, that’s why he does not hate, there’s no one above him. He just experiences the vitriol and smiles. Whereas Republican Congresspeople and Fox News excoriate him, because they want his job.

7. ANONYMITY

Shows cowardice. It radiates fear. If you’re not willing to put your name to your hate your hate will not be taken seriously.

8. CABAL

Some haters have friends, who they rally to pile on. Is the lone gunman more powerful than the army? It’s debatable. But if you enlist your minions have a goal. And make sure you can win. Because if you rally everybody and don’t get the desired response, which is usually a response at all, then you’ll have a hard time getting everybody to hate together in the future.

9. SOCIAL NETWORKS

Twitter is on to your game. It’s banning hate accounts based on phone number. How many phone numbers do you have? Not many, therefore you won’t be able to keep creating new accounts for strategic attacks. Which is why you’re best off hating in your own name.

10. TAKE HATING SERIOUSLY

One hate mail is dismissible. Could have been a missend, meant for someone else, and will be ignored. Then again, so much hate is ignored. Which is why you must send hundreds of e-mails even if you get no response. Because hating is the most important thing to you. If you stop hating, the terrorists win.

“Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader”

You are not Steve Jobs.

If you’re reading this book for tips, to model yourself in his image, you’re making a big mistake. Because Steve Jobs was sui generis.

And so are you.

That’s one of the things wrong with America. The conformity. Want to know one thing Steve hated? That’s it. He was about reaching into the future and bringing the unknown, what could only be imagined, into the present.

And sometimes he hit it out of the park…

And sometimes he whiffed.

Like selecting Walter Isaacson to write his biography.

This was the second time Steve’s best efforts were thwarted.

The first was when he selected John Sculley as head of Apple.

Sculley put the dagger in Steve’s back. Because what Sculley did best was play the politics.

That’s not who Steve Jobs was.

Who was Steve Jobs?

A brilliant guy who was brought up in a blue collar family.

Mmm… Do you think that’s why he was such a good businessman, such a fantastic negotiator?

I certainly do. Discomfort breeds restlessness. And aspiration.

It’s the nobodies that change the world. And that’s why our world today is stagnant. It’s peopled by the scions of the rich, the poor have very few opportunities. But when everybody gets an even, fresh start… That’s what the California educational system was about. College was cheap, everybody could go. And this is good, because you never know where revolution will come from.

My father paid for me to go to college.

Otherwise I never would have gone.

College is a joke. At least the classes are. Everything worth learning happens outside the classroom. Except maybe if you’re in math or science. But if you only learn math or science you’re an automaton. Jobs was right, the world runs on the humanities. And that’s one of the reasons Apple eclipsed Microsoft. It wasn’t only about the code, but usability, the focus on the end user was constant.

The press is calling “Becoming Steve Jobs” a rehabilitation of his image.

But the truth is Malcolm Gladwell got it right. Fifty years from now, Steve Jobs will be forgotten, just a blip on the radar screen. Whereas kids will still be singing Beatles songs. And the truth of Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa may live on. We never really know who will last, but isn’t it funny that there was a Doors revival and a Zeppelin revival and no one from the eighties or nineties has ever come back?

Because some are superior.

And some are not.

So Steve is hungry. For knowledge and success.

He lived to work.

And it’s true, Americans work too much, we need more leisure time, it recharges the batteries. But when done right, work is passion, it’s what you live for, you can’t wait to get into the office, to sit down in front of the computer. The crisis in our country is too much unfulfilling work, more than too much work.

Steve was cunning because he needed to be. It takes all your wits to live on no money.

And he soaked up knowledge. He sidled up to tech legends, cold-called them when he was nobody and they were only stars in their own backyard. It wasn’t like calling Kanye, but the engineer whom only those who read the credits know.

And then Steve got booted from his own company.

That’s what happens with geniuses. They’re not good with people. They’re intolerant, they want it their way. Which is in contrast to so many millennials, who were taught to get along, to be a member of the group. Steve Job had no group other than himself and maybe his family. His work kept him warm at night, he was lost when it wasn’t going well. He was frustrated that others didn’t see what he did and he did his best to bend their will/vision to his. Can you handle this much rejection? Most can’t.

But Steve believed.

And he had a track record.

Supposedly there are no second acts in America.

But Steve defied the odds.

But he was no match for the Big C, none of us are.

So should you read this book?

If you’re an Apple devotee. It delivers info heretofore unknown. About Steve’s illness, his time in exile. Isaacson’s book sucked because it was boring. Kind of like Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” or Thomas Piketty’s “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” many people bought it, few finished it.

But the problem really was Isaacson was not a member of the club, he was not a believer, he didn’t get excited by tech to the point he moved to the Valley and it changed his life. Reading Isaacson about Jobs is like reading a newspaper review of an act the writer is not a fan of. Who cares what that person thinks? The only people going are fans. What would a fan think?

Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli are fans.

They were there for the breakthroughs. Not only the Mac, but the internet and the iPhone.

Oh, what a different world we live in.

And is Steve Jobs a tyrant?

Kinda.

But he softened over the years. He changed. We all do. And those who are willing to adjust win. That’s one of the reasons we have so little confidence in our politicians, their rigid adherence to dogma. He not willing to learn and be open to changing his opinions is already dead, even if he’s walking the earth.

And reading the book you can see that Steve Jobs’s death was inevitable. Maybe if he’d gotten surgery earlier, he might have pulled through. The experts I’ve spoken with said no. But the point is we’re all vulnerable, and life is too short to follow in another person’s footsteps, you’ve got to take your own.

So, Steve Jobs, inspired by Bob Dylan and the Beatles and bitten by tech changed the world. It’s all in this book.

Now it’s your turn.

Don’t do it his way.

You can’t do it his way.

You can only do it your way.

Blow our minds, amaze us.

Steve would expect nothing less.

You’ve got to watch this video.

That’s right, scroll down this page and click on the Rolls-Royce.

A $35-million tear-down: L.A.’s unreal estate has plenty of buyers

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where a real estate AGENT flaunts his wealth, not understanding it makes him a target?

One in which the populace believes if it just works hard, it too can make it. And one in which the rich operate behind gates and fly private and most people have no idea what their lifestyle, never mind their wealth, is like.

Is this how far we’ve come? Where we’re all aspirational assholes? Droning on in our deadbeat jobs, watching “Shark Tank,” thinking we too can invent a product and get rich? Or have we given up and are drinking and drugging because it’s all useless.

And today Ted Cruz says he wants to be President. Have you watched “House of Cards”? Frank Underwood can’t run for re-election because he can’t find the money! You just don’t decide you want the highest political office, you’ve got to purchase a ticket. And you get one by being beholden to the same people who are buying the houses in this video. And their interests do not align with those of the underclass. And believe me, you’re a member of the underclass.

Do we blame the education system? One that has been underfunded to the point where art is not a part of the curriculum? When I went to public school, back in the sixties, a decade today’s rich pooh-pooh and want to eliminate from memory, every student had art and music classes every week. And I’m not saying everybody became an artist, but some were inspired and everybody was exposed.

In these same sixties the motto was “Question Authority.”

Now everybody bends to authority. And I’m not talking the police, I’m talking the money game. You go to work for the bank, for the institution. And sure, individuals come up with tech inventions, but those don’t stimulate your mind, they’re inert without human input.

Humanity. If Steve Jobs can get sick and die, so can you. No one lives forever and we all live in a society where if we don’t help our brother, we’re screwed. Want to get rich? Someone’s going to have to buy your product. And if people don’t have money, they won’t be able to.

But the poor have been demonized. They don’t pay taxes!

OF COURSE THEY DO! Maybe not income taxes, but sales taxes all day long. On food and gasoline, assuming they’ve got a car.

But no one wants to be a member of a loser group. And no one wants to hear from a loser group.

And you want to know a loser group?

ARTISTS!

Jeff Koons ain’t changing the world, he’s preying on rich people. That’s what Art Basel is all about. Art fairs for the rich.

And it’s not only rappers writing about lifestyle, it’s also teens, marionettes controlled by old men, who will do anything to get rich. I’d blame them for not addressing the real issues, but they’re too young and uneducated to know what they are, never mind analyze them.

And what’s the main bitch in the music business?

MONEY!

That’s right, this is an industry that sued its own customers.

The power of music? To change not only lives and society? I never see that mentioned. I just hear again and again about some act getting a sponsorship deal. And the handlers won’t put the kibosh on this, they get a commission!

So we don’t have a world in which artists will stand up for truth.

And believe me, an artist can, especially a musician, because it doesn’t take a village to make a record, one person can do it by their lonesome.

Then again, HBO brings down a criminal and in music we mint criminals!

Music rode shotgun in the revolution of the sixties. Because middle class musicians were educated and had not only morals, but values. And sure, some got rich along the way, but that wasn’t the only goal.

Neil Young wrote about the Kent State shootings and everybody questioned the actions of the National Guard.

Today no one questions anything. They just stare somnambulantly at their smartphone.

So we end up with a video like this. Where the lackey of the rich is too stupid to realize he’s part of the problem. That he’s wearing no clothes. That his Rolls-Royce was purchased on the backs of people who often barely inhabit the estates he sells. He should give up and become a social worker, he should give back.

But people stopped giving back when you could no longer make it as a teacher or social worker, when the bills were too high and you became a laughingstock. Remember Obama being criticized for being a community organizer? What kind of lame job is that? What does that prepare you for?

A red-blooded American inherits his wealth. Or starts a company like Walmart that double-dips in the safety net. Its employees require government aid because the company doesn’t pay them enough and then they turn around and spend this cash at the store! And “House of Cards” made that point. I don’t see that point in a hit record.

And I’m not going to tell you things are gonna change.

But I am gonna tell you we’re living in a fucked up country.

Where we’re all trying to climb a greased pole, assuming you can find it, assuming the richies haven’t cut it down to build a new mansion.