We’re all fighting for it.

Welcome to 2014. The Internet is two decades old, at least in the mind of the consumer, we’re all wired 24/7 and the primary feeling is one of exhaustion. We’re at an endless buffet and we can’t stop grazing even though we’re full and after a while everything looks the same, nothing tastes that good.

Contrast this to the eighties, when music was expensive, everybody was watching MTV and we knew what was a hit and were familiar with it.

Now not only is SoundScan irrelevant, it’s a chart we might see in the paper within which the records change seemingly every week and we’re unfamiliar with most of them. Kind of like the movies. Don’t like this week’s offerings? Wait until next week!

So how do you capture my attention and keep it.

Old schoolers believe it’s about a publicity campaign. But I hate to tell them it took years for “Breaking Bad” to break, despite so many testifying it was the best television show ever. Because it takes a lot to get us out of our comfort zones, to partake of something new, because so much disappoints and we’ve got no time and because of the opportunity cost…if I sample this, I’ll have no time to sample that.

It’s why people drop out of social media. They believe people are listening. That if they keep doing it their audience, their personal brand, will grow. But seemingly everybody I follow on Twitter rarely tweets anymore. Albert Brooks used to be a constant. Michael Moore had a presence. Now it’s more like beating your head against the wall and so many huge players have given up because they don’t believe it pays career dividends.

They’re worn out.

I’m worn out too.

And so are you.

Which is why we turn to filters. Which is why radio is still the most powerful medium to break music. Despite Pandora and Spotify and YouTube and the ability to pick and choose exactly what you want to hear the greatest mass flocks to the oldest medium, because it’s comprehensible. You only play a few tracks over and over again, you believe these are the ones I want to hear, so I listen.

And those not on radio hate this. Because they believe they’re entitled to equal attention, they actually believe they’re entitled to radio airplay. So we’ve got people yelling louder and the rest of us just tune out, we can’t stand the noise.

Where are we going?

To greater concentration. That’s what the future looks like. Sure, you’re going to drive down deep into the niches that stimulate you, but in most categories you only want the guaranteed hits. Not only do you only want Google and Amazon, you only want a few tracks, a few outlets, you want your world to be made comprehensible.

So you’ve got techies looking to make coin shoving endless websites and apps down our throat. Many just a me-too variation on what’s come before.

And we’ve got old wave media producers lamenting that the old days are gone. They acknowledge the game has changed, ironically they continue to play in the same damn way.

So don’t invade my yard if I don’t ask you to. I don’t want anything that looks like spam. Because cleaning the crap out of my digital life is already taking too much time. This is how it is for everybody.

So the question is how do you get my attention and keep it?

Either very quickly or very slowly, usually the latter.

That’s how you get it.

Keeping it?

It’s all about the relationship. The friendship. This is how FM radio blew up, each station had a culture. It’s one of the reasons radio is faltering today, there is no culture, in a world where honesty is king, they’re positively false.

My friends respect me. My friends keep in touch. My friends don’t overload me. My friends don’t abuse the connection, asking for too much too soon, never mind all the time. My friends are there for me through thick and thin. I trust my friends. The bond runs deep.

Do you have a relationship with those who you are selling to? Do they even know who you are?

It’s a complicated process, but it’s today’s reality.

Yup, everybody purveying must maintain a relationship with those who are consuming, continually. It’s maintenance no different from making your art.

Sure, there are phenomena, that sell themselves.

But now, in an era where you can reach everybody with a click, it’s even harder to get their attention and to keep them focused.

That’s your challenge.

NEWS FOR A DAY

No different from a rape or a murder, but with even less legs. In today’s world it’s not about making an impact, but sustaining. Could it be that Bono’s been living too long in the echo chamber, hanging with forty and fiftysomethings who think they rule the world but truly don’t? Yes, older people build the tools, but it’s young people who utilize them. The older bloke will lament the loss of the record shop, the younger person has never been. If you want to make it in today’s marketing culture you must be online 24/7, picking up the nuances. Because it is about cred and it is about cool but if you think the old rules apply, you probably can’t name a YouTube star.

EVANESCENCE

This is an analog of the above. Here today, gone tomorrow. How could the band be so stupid as to believe anybody would actually play their music, especially the 500 million it was pushed to. Where’s the afterplan? Nonexistent.

PUSH

We live in a pull economy. Nothing pisses off the audience more than pushing something they don’t want and didn’t ask for to their devices. Even if you don’t download the album, it’s sitting there in your purchases, pissing you off.

HOW TO

Did you have iCloud turned on in iTunes? Even those who wanted the album weren’t quite sure how to get it.

ALBUM

How many tracks did PSY have? One!

OVERLOAD

No one’s got time to listen to a complete album, especially when it’s pushed upon them, that’s just too much material. Yes, a nascent artist on his way up might have people check out more tracks on his album out of curiosity, but no one’s curious about U2, they already know everything about them. One must factor in that we’re all overloaded with stimuli and you must point us to the paramount item and make it digestible in a matter of moments. If we love it, we’ll want more. If we don’t, we’re never going to get to the rest of your opus that you spent years creating.

ALBUM TWO

Make it an EP. Four tracks. People haven’t finished Piketty’s tome. It would have been better off as a magazine article. People bought it, they just didn’t read it, who’s got the time?

ENGAGEMENT

Now what. Where’s the game, where’s the jaw-dropping viral video? Where’s the element we can all point to and talk about. If anything, we’re talking about the stunt, not the music.

WRONG SERVICE

They’d have been better off releasing it on YouTube, that’s where the digital generation goes for music. iTunes is a backwater. It may be the number one sales outlet, but it’s not the number one music platform, not even close.

UNHIP

Put it on Spotify. Try to look cutting edge. Meanwhile, having the quality of your music trumpeted by Tim Cook is like having Ed Sullivan say your tunes are good.

CLOSED DOORS

This is the problem vexing filmed entertainment/video, there’s not one platform with everything. But in music we’ve solved this problem, Spotify and YouTube have all the tracks and you can access them for free, but putting hype over practicality, U2 failed to see they were playing in a walled garden, to their detriment.

This was a stunt, poorly executed. Everybody forgets that despite all the hoopla about naming your own price, “In Rainbows” was a disaster, with only hard core fans familiar with the material. Yup, Radiohead may be independent, but they’ve done a good job of marginalizing themselves.

And at least Beyonce had the videos, somewhere to click to.

And Weird Al had videos too, but after a week, few cared.

Because at the end of the day we only care about the music. And U2 didn’t cut that one indelible track that stops us in our tracks, that we want to listen to again and again and pass on. Sure, the song they played at the Apple soiree was good, but good is no longer good enough.

Furthermore, when Bono talked he lost all charisma.

This looked like nothing so much as what it was, old farts using their connections to shove material down the throats of those who don’t want it. It’s what we hate so much about today’s environment, rich people who think they know better and our entitled to their behavior.

Don’t listen to the press. Rock writers are antiques who are underpaid who are in it for access and free tickets.

And the business press doesn’t care about the music.

And the old fart fortysomethings who talk about this music should be ignored. It’s no different from a Jason Isbell fan testifying about his tracks. No offense, but it’s a tiny world. Sure, U2’s is bigger, but until U2 cuts a track that makes the rest of us care, we don’t.

Meanwhile, Jason Isbell had a hit today, he tweeted: “U2 PHONES IT IN.”

“U2 PHONES IT IN.” That one’s free, Lefsetz.

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) September 10, 2014

Yup, that’s Internet culture, where someone who raises their head above is fodder for criticism.

But it gets worse.

Cultofmac said:

“But trotting out aging Irish rockers after you’ve wowed the world with the first glimpse of the glorious Apple Watch? That’s not thinking different. That’s a pity-f__k for a band that’s lost its edge, and an unfortunate bum note for a company that’s rarely perceived as tone-deaf.”

U2’s sad show was a swan song for iTunes

Whew!

All over the web people are criticizing U2. And that’s where music now lives, online.

So, so long Bono and crew. You’ll continue to sell tickets, but you’re no longer au courant.

So long rock that does not break through on Top Forty. U2 would have been better off cutting a country track, that would have been a better fit with a fighting chance of airplay.

So long albums. If you’ve got an hour to listen to once that which must be listened to ten times to get you’ve got no life, but everyone does, and they’re the center of it, glued to their devices, and to distract them you’ve got to be pretty damn good and the talk of the town for an extended period of time, U2’s new music is not.

So long stunts with no aftermath. If you’re not in the news every damn day, you’re getting it wrong. The biggest pop stars are the Kardashians. Ever notice not a day goes by without them in the news? Bono, et al, would be better off hanging with the sisters than heads of state, at least if they want to have a hit.

And so long the fiction that Guy Oseary would do a better job than Paul McGuinness. There might be a patina of new school, but this album release is positively old school.

Here’s how it goes:

Make everyone aware.

Put tickets on sale.

Make it an event, a la the Stones, i.e. if you don’t come now, you may never be able to experience it again.

Trump up traditional press so wankers believe there’s something happening.

But there’s not.

Because “I Will Follow” was inspired. It sounded like nothing else. It had urgency. It had attitude. You needed to hear it again. It was so good you wanted to hear what else the band was up to.

The new album is paint-by-numbers disposable.

Today we have to pull you into our world. And we only hold you in our bosom if we believe your music is repeatable and deserves our time.

Bono’s on top of the world, he’ll reject everything I say.

Rapino and Oseary will keep shoveling, hoping to keep this alive.

And you and me?

WE’RE ALREADY OVER IT!

My tires are falling apart.

This is not how it was supposed to be, I was supposed to be having lunch with Steve Barnett, but he canceled, he was going out of town. So I figured I’d use the free time to get my oil changed.

I’m a dealer guy. Save me the feedback. Yes, I know it’s expensive, but they see my car every damn day, and therefore they can diagnose the problems, and I want my automobile in tippity-top shape. Hell, Daryl even diagnosed the whine, which the car stereo shop could not, even though I’d dropped a grand on a new amplifier. Yes, you can hear the sound even though the stereo is off, it’s a grounding problem.

And surveying my car in toto, they said I had an unrepairable flat.

Oh god, I’ve been through this. You don’t want to put a brand new tire on a car with three at the end of their lifespan. I figured the nail was in the outer wall. But it turns out in the wake of the Explorer explosions, Subaru and other manufacturers are afraid to repair tires, even if the nail is in the tread, they consider the tire history unless the puncture’s dead center, Darryl told me it could be fixed.

So I went to Pep Boys. It didn’t used to be Pep Boys. It was Discount Tire, and I frequented it because it’s convenient, I can walk home while they’re rotating and aligning, which are free under my contract.

But I couldn’t walk home today, I sprained my ankle.

Did I tell you that? I was at the beach, wearing my shoes, and someone yelled that the tide was coming in and my body twisted and my foot did not and I heard a pop and the only good thing is the ER doctor said the bone was not broken, I’ve been hobbling ever since, actually, for a couple of days I could barely do that.

So I can’t walk home from Pep Boys. So I go to lunch across the street, where I can see my car untouched for hours. And I’m just about to e-mail Pep Boys HQ to complain when they finally decide to take a look.

Yes, there’s a nail in the left rear. But what they can’t get over is the way the tires are chipping away, falling apart, Michelins are not supposed to do this!

You’re telling me. I mean a thousand dollars and twenty thousand miles? That’s no deal.

And they agreed. They said they’d give me 25% off a new set. But, since the warranty is 45,000, why not half off? I don’t want to be a schnorrer, but if you’re admitting fault.

And that’s when they tell me I’ve got to call the manufacturer if I want more. No, I don’t want to spend my life getting a deal, I already spent most of the day addressing minor b.s. with my automobile.

And that’s when my service writer told me he needed a new kidney. Yup, in response to when he’d be working, well, not next Tuesday, you see he can’t pee and he sees this specialist in Glendale and they’re lining up surgery.

Suddenly we’re bonding.

And then there’s the white-haired guy chatting up the young Asian woman with the nice ass. Dirty old man. Now I’m back in the waiting room waiting to see what the problem is with the nail in the front tire, flipping out, reading the “New Yorker” after downloading it on the free wi-fi, and then this guy stumbles over to me.

Oh-no. Not quite like being next to a talker on a plane, but how am I gonna get out of this one?

Well, he’s 66. He’s got one more year teaching English as a second language and then he’s retiring, he needs the health care, for himself and his 43 year old Korean wife he met teaching ESL.

And now the conversation segues to income inequality and immigration and here’s a guy who’s not famous but he’s compassionate and knows what’s going on and why is it we only listen to rich people? As if rich people knew more about life than the rest of us.

And it’s after 7, and even this dude is marveling that it’s taking so long to repair my tire, when the service writer from West Africa comes in and tells me that the nail didn’t go all the way through, they pulled it out and the tire was fine.

Voila! Victory!

I reached over to shake his hand and asked him his name.

Monday!

How do you spell that?

Like the day of the week.

He’s eager to go back to Nigeria. He came to America for an education.

And now I’m completely confused. I was hating on Pep Boys but the guys were so nice and helpful, however slow.

And I can’t believe I wasted the whole day futzing with my car. I mean I got to watch the Apple presentation on Subaru’s free wi-fi, but don’t I have more important things to do?

Maybe not.

Maybe life is lived best when you slow down and do what you shouldn’t. When you cast aside plans and converse with the people. When you realize we’re only here for a short time, everybody’s reasonable, everybody’s struggling, and we’re all trying to get along.

When you realize life is not like TV. And Washington, D.C. is disconnected from us.

And what life is really about is warmth and conversation.

Loyalty counts.

Jimmy Iovine delivered. For U2 that is. Some things never change, it all depends on who you know and establishing long term relationships.

But that will not make U2’s new album a hit.

Why weren’t tour tickets on sale today too? Why didn’t Guy O. harness the momentum? Because the music business is always a couple of changes behind tech.

And in tech, nerds are cool.

Come on, did you see that guy Kevin Lynch demonstrating the watch? They let that guy out of the back room?

But the truth is most of us are uncool, so many of us are nerds, and today we inherited the earth. Apple’s nerds blew away U2.

Not only were the nerds themselves cooler, without dyed hair and backup recordings, they realized it all came down to the product. U2’s song was very good, but not good enough for more than fans.

The Apple Watch is for EVERYBODY!

Yup, analysts say Switzerland is in trouble, that no one needs a wristwatch anymore, and Apple recreates the category instantly!

If you don’t want one you’re blind.

And to use one you’ve got to have an iPhone.

Mmm…

Talk Samsung, talk Android all you want, but you’re now left out of the coolest device on the planet, and will be locked out for years, until Google and Samsung and the rest of the competitors catch up.

I’ve seen too many of these Apple presentations. I’m waiting for a new art form to steal the mantle from tech the way tech stole it from music. But at least these guys in Cupertino listened to Bob Dylan, they know that he not busy being born is busy dying.

U2 still couldn’t write a hit, after all those years. I feel sorry for them.

But at least they got maximum publicity. But that Super Bowl giveaway faded overnight.

But this is the new world. I want it now, today. The publicity run-up is so antique. Either you’ve got to be new and great, like Sam Smith, with your music selling itself, or you’ve got to play the Beyonce/U2 card, put out all your new music in one day, and ride the impressive tsunami of publicity.

As for physical product, as for $10 plus CDs…once U2 jumps ship, it’s over.

Not that is not a stunt, not that it can be replicated, but…

We’re finally living in a new era. Not only are CDs behind us, but Napster too. This new U2 album may be given away as files, but it’s the last one, you can stream it on Beats.

So what did we learn today?

Despite years of rumors, despite tons of leaks in the last week, Tim Cook and his troops managed to wow us nonetheless. Sure, I want a watch, but I’m also eager to pay with my phone.

And that now Apple Stores will become jewelry stores. You think they were crowded before…

And that the watch was reasonably priced.

And that as good as the hardware is, it always comes down to software.

Yup, that’s what U2 should be selling.

Unfortunately, Apple’s software is better than Bono’s.

So once again, the techies, the nerds, the people we made fun of in high school, have proven that popularity is for pussies, that being a BMOC is secondary to studying, that ultimately we’re gonna live in their world.

Yup, today it’s all bout being SMART!

And smart takes education, and vision, and execution.

And you may use their tools, their mobile phones, and Facebook and so many apps, but there’s a huge line between the purveyors and the hoi polloi.

And if you want to cross over you’ve got to not only be good, but great.

So, despite it being tiny, despite it being unnecessary, Apple convinced me I need one of their watches. Not as a fashion item, that’s what music has been selling for far too long, but because of its utility.

And I say to myself one more time what a wonderful world we live in, where people truly want to change the world and they do.