They all want to be rock stars.

Who?

You know, the guy who ran Bertelsmann, before he was forced out and they sold RCA to Sony, the guy who embraced Napster and was then squeezed out by the controlling Mohn family when he wanted to take Bertelsmann public and utilize the proceeds to further expand.

Financial shenanigans.

That’s right, be glad you’re a musician. Who creates something of worth, that can pay dividends for decades to come. Everybody knows your name, well, at least some people do, and you can appear live, even open grocery stores if you choose.

But these businessmen… They’ve got nothing other than their gig.

In other words, are you gonna hate on Daniel Ek and Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the tech titans who created something out of whole cloth, or the people who run today’s music business who never had any skin in the game, who believe they’re the stars, not the acts.

Transparency. Bono brought it up and Daniel Ek echoed it. This is the labels’ worst nightmare, letting royalty partners know how much came in and how much they’re entitled to, never mind do so honestly. That’s anathema in the entertainment business, not only in music, but in films. But those involved always blame someone else, the techies, the public, no one likes to look at their own dirty laundry.

And the truth is music is a mature business. It long ago shed its wild west entrepreneurial phase, when Bill Graham built live and Ahmet Ertegun built recording, each screwing artists along the way. Scott Borchetta would like to pull Florida Georgia Line from Spotify but he can’t, because they’re part of his venture with Universal, he doesn’t have the right.

And you sit at home saying that you’re screwed.

You bitch that the label doesn’t have the deep pockets to pay you a huge advance and then market your record to success. You’re pissed that the barriers to entry are no longer high, and untalented nitwits can play. You laud iTunes when you bitched for half a decade that it was decimating the album and CDs.

Because you have a short memory.

But history does not.

Everybody wants to be a rock star. You know, rich people who can do whatever they want, get laid whenever they desire. But most don’t have the talent, never mind the looks. So they find a way to snooker those who do, so they can personally triumph.

Like Tommy Mottola.

Well, at least Tommy started independently, give him credit. But when he took over Sony it was all about him, and his team. Increase royalty rates on CDs, are you kidding me?

And then Thomas Middelhoff.

In case you missed the memo, after getting squeezed out of Bertelsmann, he started his own fund and then took over a German retailer whose stock he decimated with his financial planning and maneuvering. Because that’s what these guys do, reallocate the value so someone can get rich, including themselves. When you hear about a company dividing, doing a spin-off, it’s never about improving the entity but someone getting rich.

Hell, Thomas Middelhoff was even on the board of the “New York Times.” And you may hate the Grey Lady, but the truth is it sets the agenda for the nation, it’s the only outlet with boots on the ground. And even they were snookered by this wannabe fat cat.

And the funny thing is all the musicians want to be businessmen. They invest in tech, as if you need know nothing to succeed. I ask you, can you be a successful musician without training?

And the acts no longer go their own way, but shine themselves up to sell to the corporation, a disillusioning process wherein the acts who pay lip service to being beholden to their fans are anything but.

They want to be like Thomas Middelhoff.

And Thomas Middelhoff wanted to be like them.

Commuting by helicopter, flying private to Cannes for a meeting. Who cared if the company was doing poorly, he was entitled.

Do you really think the execs sacrificed when the CD business cratered? No, the acts did.

And now Thomas Middelhoff is in jail. They stripped him of his gold watch and sold it for debts, truly.

And this is who you want to be?

Dave Grohl might make me-too music, but he had it right. Your main goal is to get someone to listen, it’s all about the music, but it hasn’t been about the music in such a long time.

That’s the problem with the industry. Not Spotify, not piracy. Hell, we talk about YouTube because there’s nothing to say about music. It’s just endlessly repetitive crap. Tell me how Taylor Swift pushed the envelope…by telling the unwashed poor how great New York City is, a place they can visit but never afford to inhabit?

So, it’s our whole get-rich culture. Where everyone feels entitled and no one wants to sacrifice. Where everybody believes they’re entitled to be a rock star.

Is everybody entitled to play in the NBA?

Thomas Middelhoff was once one of the most important people in the music business, certainly one of the most powerful. And what he did had consequences.

But you’d rather bitch and moan that Spotify is lying, that they don’t really pay 70%, and you’re entitled to be rich.

But the truth is you’re part of the problem. You’re no different from Thomas Middelhoff. Cutting corners, believing he’s entitled.

You’re entitled to nothing.

Deliver something worth paying attention to, that is not propped up by marketing.

Then we’ll care.

“Thomas Middelhoff, Ex-Chief of Bertelsmann, Gets 3-Year Prison Term Over Misuse of Funds”

“Former Bertelsmann Chief Gets Three-Year Prison Sentence – Thomas Middelhoff Found Guilty of Misusing Funds While Heading Retailer Arcandor”

“Dave Grohl on Taylor Swift Spotify debate: ‘I don’t f**king care'”

It’s my favorite Chicago track.

That’s right, I got on the bandwagon early, with the initial double album, which is still the best, which sold for $3.44 at Korvette’s. I played that thing incessantly, bought the second double album and gave up thereafter, the band went too pop, they seemed to go where the hits were, credibility was sacrificed.

And hits there were. All enjoyable, all too light, until this masterpiece was released in 1974.

I’ve got to give the track credit, it starts somewhere completely different from where it ends up, hell, it starts somewhere completely different from where it goes twenty seconds into the song, which is an eternity in pop music. But this intro could not be cut off, the same way that of “California Girls” could not be excised.

And that’s just the point, the reason “I’ve Been Searchin’ So Long” is so magical is because of the Beach Boys, their harmonies, the Southern California band was coming under the wing of Chicago’s producer James William Guercio.

And the song ambles along, a walk in a Midwestern park on an early summer day, and then, when you think it’s going nowhere, just drifting along, at nearly three minutes in, it EXPLODES!

It starts to accelerate at the two and a half minute mark, but then thirty seconds later, the horns start to flourish and then…

Searchin’
For an answer

Aren’t we all!

But now there’s a plethora of vocalists in the studio, the men of Chicago the boys of the Beach…

Baby
It’s only natural
Good things
In life take a long time

Meanwhile, Peter Cetera is singing in counterpoint. There’s an entire choir wailing. You’re woken up in your seat, you cannot help but pay attention.

And at this point, Terry Kath is still alive. And he whips out his guitar and starts slashing and burning whilst the horns continue to wail and then it all comes to a halt, stops on a dime, it’s done, and you’re sitting there wondering what you experienced, with only one desire, TO HEAR IT AGAIN!

So you push the radio buttons trying to find it. And when you do, you think it’s just another lame Chicago song, one you’ve tired of, but then you realize it’s “”I’ve Been Searchin’ So Long” and you’re waiting…for that incredible climax, for that moment of release.

Now I know my life has meaning

The singer is talking about finding his love, but you’ve found yours too, this song.

We’ve been searchin’ so long, and still are, for hit songs that break the formula and titillate us.

It’s only natural

It’s as in the pocket as any Beach Boys song, it resonates so, it truly is only natural.

And I love it!

Rhinofy-I’ve Been Searchin’ So Long

Name two songs from “1989.”

Even better, have you heard anything other than “Shake It Off”? The perfect twenty first century anthem wherein it’s all about me, I’m my own brand and will tolerate no haters song?

Once upon a time artists led with their music.

Today they lead with their marketing.

And alongside their music was a desire to have an impact, to change the world. Actually, that’s what appealed to me about Taylor Swift to begin with, she was channeling teen angst and feeding it back to those who experienced it, with hooks and changes along the way. But then her development became stunted by the spotlight and she went on react and when you compare her work with that of Joni Mitchell at the same age one can see the divergence, Joni was concerned with art, hits were secondary, Taylor is all about the hits.

But a hit ain’t what it used to be. Music exists in an echo chamber. What’s important to you is unheard by others. Yet in the past two weeks Taylor Swift has demonstrated that no one has the power of a musician.

Taylor Swift is most certainly a child of her generation. A greedy, thoughtless person who’s only about the bucks. And you can blame the parents while you’re at it, the baby boomers who sold out the country during the Reagan era, eviscerating the safety net and rewarding the so-called “job creators” who stopped paying taxes and living amongst the rest of us. How do we expect our artists’ work to resonate when they don’t have our lifestyle? Trying to make ends meet, herded in the back of the plane like cattle.

Oh, there are a ton of wannabes doing this, and their main complaint is they too can’t get rich.

That’s right, Taylor Swift single-handedly ignited the Spotify debate, brought it to the front page, into nooks and crannies her music will never penetrate. She spread ignorance throughout the land. To the point where Daniel Ek came down from the mountaintop to respond, but his words will get a smidgen of the traction, because he’s a techie, not a musician. And you might say he’s rich, but if money were everything Oprah wouldn’t be doing live appearances, you see there’s nothing like that hit of love from the audience.

How did our society get so screwed up?

Taylor Swift is just the poster girl, this is not about her. She’s just employed the new systems to become the most powerful, shedding all her edge along the way. Just imagine if John Lennon and Paul McCartney called Paul Anka to help them write songs. Or Irving Berlin for that matter. Just imagine if the band were so desperate they needed to buy insurance.

Instead, John Lennon was busy speaking his mind, getting in trouble with religiosos, stating the obvious, that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. And then in his spare time he agitated for peace, even commented on the social situation with “Revolution.”

And he was loved even more for it. Sure, he’s dead, but the reason fans love John more than Paul is he was sui generis, he went his own way, he had rough edges, he spoke his mind, he was an artist.

Not that Paul isn’t uber-talented, that’s not the point I’m making. Paul’s music pushed the envelope too, and he was the one pushing “Sgt. Pepper,” which cemented the album format seemingly every music-maker does not want to let go of.

But in this financially challenging world, money is paramount. if you’re rich, you cannot be criticized. And if you’re not, coin is the only goal.

Call me a child of the sixties, but I remember music being so much more. Actually, we swept aside the mindless ditties of the early sixties on a road of exploration, the entire youth pulled away from its elders greased on the skids of the tunes. We changed society.

But today kids are best friends with their parents. Your image is as important as what you have to say. And it’s all about the Benjamins. The best and the brightest go into banking and tech and the underclass entertains us on reality television and MP3. Mindless nitwits whose only goal is to get rich. Who sidle up to corporations like wet nurses, believing they’ll die if they leave any money on the table.

At least Eminem was challenging.

At least Ice-T was singing the truth of the streets.

It’s like our entire nation needs a reset. To get away from this money culture. Taylor Swift wasn’t bitching that Spotify wasn’t getting her music to more fans, but that it was making her less cash. And her label head Scott Borchetta emphasized this point. And their voices are so loud and powerful that they pulled the ignorant into their net, creating chaos where none existed before.

That’s the power of art.

If only it could be used for good.

Daniel Ek on Spotify

Listen Up Philip

That was depressing.

Sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore. You live long enough and the dreams you had fade into darkness, replaced by life, and then you realize you’re just living, you’ve got no idea where you’re going, time is running out of the hourglass and you want to hold back the sand, you want time to think, you want to revisit every relationship, every choice, you want to figure it all out. But then you realize it’s impossible.

But it’s not impossible for Philip and Ike, they want to be great writers.

I hadn’t even heard of this film until yesterday, when I was reading the movie blurbs in the “New Yorker” whilst waiting for the microwave to heat up some soup. It was my kind of movie. I’ve got a good track record with this kind of thing. When a movie or a book review resonates, when I feel it’s in my wheelhouse, I dive in. And what gets me going most is relationships.

They’re an enigma.

Philip has a relationship with Elizabeth Moss. I no longer watch “Mad Men,” I find it equivalent to watching paint dry. But I did give it a season plus and I never found the appeal of Ms. Moss. But in this film she shines. She’s both alive and insecure. That’s what mama never told me, how everybody is screwed up, how everybody feels lonely, how everybody has more questions than answers. When Philip abandons her after she’s been a supportive girlfriend she’s completely flummoxed. No conversation appeals. She’s surrounded by people all day, but feels so alone. And she just can’t stop thinking about him. She even reads his old college stories.

Truth. We rarely see it in art. We rarely talk about it. Because it’s just too painful. We’re all trying to connect and after numerous failures some just give up. You know them, over fifty and single, burned too many times, their optimism is gone. They don’t want to be fixed up, they fantasize about someone perfect, but they’re unwilling to compromise.

Philip is unwilling to compromise. He sacrifices for his art. But in the process can you sacrifice your whole life?

Ike did.

Television is the art form of choice. But even TV doesn’t go this deep. Because it doesn’t get ratings. People don’t want to be reminded of loneliness and pain, they’re glad they’ve emerged from it, that it’s in their past.

And it’s in my past. Psychotherapy taught me how not to be the person Philip is. Getting angry, speaking his mind, alienating those he truly wants to be close to. The reward of life is being close to others. But too many can’t get out of their own way.

I live in California. Which is sunny in weather and disposition. People are optimistic. If you’re not smiling, no one has time for you, no one wants to hear your pain. Everything not new and shiny is eventually replaced. We’ve got no time for losers. It’s very different from the east coast, where the dilapidated buildings stand and you wander in bad weather just wishing you could escape, mentally even more than physically.

So the story is Jason Schwartzman is Philip Lewis Friedman, who’s just finished his second novel and believes authenticity is key. He refuses to go on a book tour, he refuses to pose with props. But does his authenticity leave him not only out of the game, but out of life?

Elizabeth Moss is a successful photographer who adores Philip even though he wants nothing to do with her friends who can’t understand why she is with him.

Jonathan Pryce is a lonely old superstar writer who can’t write anymore so he adopts Philip, to have someone to talk to.

And Josephine de la Baume is a professor at the college where Philip gets a temporary teaching gig who conspires against him, forces Philip into existential loneliness, because she’s pissed he got his job without paying his dues.

That’s real life.

Real life is not Kardashians flaunting their wealth.

Real life is not Taylor Swift dating every famous man she comes in contact with.

Real life is not Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the Ivy dropouts moving to Silicon Valley and revolutionizing the world.

Real life is fraught with choices and challenges, more losses than victories, it’s all angst and loneliness with a few exquisite moments amidst the despair and the desire.

“Listen Up Philip” captures this.

P.S. I watched it On Demand on Time Warner Cable. It’s already left the Los Angeles theatres. I wish everything went to multi-format same day release. Going to the multiplex can be such a hassle.

P.P.S. I don’t recommend this movie. If what I’ve written resonates and you want to see it, if you want to explore the dark side of life, go for it, but you’re on your own.

P.P.P.S. The film is not great, but it captures a mood, a feeling, the mystery of life, and for that I have to applaud it. It both resonated and creeped me out.

P.P.P.P.S. I don’t know how a movie like this gets made, who finances it. We live in a world where everybody wants to state their truth, but we’ve got no time to listen, certainly not to that which is not considered a blockbuster. This is the anti-comic book movie. But we live in a comic book world, where the President is hated and the contrarians conspire to thwart him. If only life and entertainment went deeper, if only art could capture the reality of living on this planet, if only people could handle the truth.