You don’t succeed by doing what’s been done before. Poorly.

This is why labels should not be worried about monoliths stealing their business. Google can’t get any traction with All Access, no one seems to be aware that Microsoft’s OS comes with music. Disruption may happen, but it’ll come from left field, from nobodies. That’s the way it always works. Like with Napster. The music business should be more afraid and inspired by college dropouts than behemoths who look at the game the usual way.

Like one continuous show.

Maybe it should have been one clip a day?

And YouTube got bit on the ass by its counter, something that screws bands all day long. With only 200,000 people watching when I tuned in, it already felt like a non-happening. And if the true number was higher, isn’t that the case the day your video gets traction, it takes a long time for the count to catch up?

But first and foremost the YouTube Music Awards prove that hype is everything.

MTV has a moribund channel with no music yet it overloads us every summer with information regarding its upcoming VMAs, which haven’t been watchable in years. But people do. Because in this disconnected environment we gravitate to the established. And the new with traction. And the YouTube Music Awards had no traction. Like a new band they could stay in the market for ten years to find out if they’ve got anything, but Google is famous for losing focus.

Have you heard Sky Ferreira’s music?

I certainly haven’t. But there have been articles in every publication known to man hyping her album. I know who she is. I’m tempted to check out her tracks on Spotify, just so I can speak intelligently about her. That’s the game today, be knowledgeable about something so you can testify in front of your friends.

Before that it was Haim.

And the funny thing is the band already seems dead. And if you think it’s reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac, you never heard the original band (in any of its incarnations!) The modern effects thrown in…ruin the effect!

I’m not saying Haim is bad, it’s listenable, try “The Wire,” but I am saying it doesn’t live up to the hype. But the hype made me aware.

There was no hype about the YouTube Music Awards. Sure, there were some newspaper articles, but that shows you how much the target audience reads the paper.

As for the site’s own real estate… The truth is most people don’t use YouTube’s home page as a portal, the real estate’s not super-valuable.

As for pre-roll ads, which we all hate, I didn’t see one for the YouTube Music Awards.

This is the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, are they really that inept?

As for Spike Jonze and Jason Schwartzman…they’re the heroes of those who run Google, the late thirtysomethings. Those two guys mean almost nothing to the target audience. They should have skewed younger, much younger. At least find people with youngster cred, like Tavi Gevinson, the famous fashion blogger. Sure, many are unaware of her, but at least she evidences some cool. And speaking of hype…I found out about her first in the “New Yorker” and in numerous articles thereafter.

If you’re a big player who wants big success, you’ve got to do a saturation campaign. There’s no bubbling up from the bottom. If you’re not annoying the target audience with a plethora of messages, you’re not gonna succeed.

Kind of like Arcade Fire. Whose brilliant PR campaign executed over a period of months, even including the vaunted SNL and special shows, resulted in an album sale of…140,000 copies.

Ugh.

Because either you’re a household name band/brand, like Eminem, or a generational favorite, like Drake, or…most people just don’t care.

Doesn’t matter if Arcade Fire won a Grammy. Their music has not been mainstream so the mainstream doesn’t care about them. They occupy a large niche.

So don’t have outsized expectations.

And please innovate.

YouTube should have tied in with…CHROMECAST! Oops, they own that product. They should have gotten everybody to throw the show up on their flat screen. They should have gotten someone to pay, Apple TV or Xbox or PlayStation… But competitors hate to help you out, not in the holy war that is Silicon Valley tech.

And there should have been a contest, and gamification.

And maybe, they should have printed a schedule, via an app, like every festival known to man. That’s right, they should have told us when the acts were going to appear, that would have switched things up.

And there should have been an after plan. To get people to watch. Because without buzz, and no follow-up story, no one was interested in seeing these clips.

What if they gave an awards show and no one came?

We found out.

P.S. Twitter doesn’t build shows, it enhances those with significant traction. People only want to tweet about an event if everybody else is.

P.P.S. Google is so inept, they didn’t even put out the self-congratulatory press release. In a world where every candidate for office spins, Google stayed out of the game. Nerds can invent, but they’ll never be properly socialized.

You fire your manager AFTER your album stiffs, not before.

And that’s where Lady Gaga’s long player is headed, straight for the dumper.

Once upon a time, in the midnineties, the label could function as the manager. But that was back when most of your revenue came from recorded music, when overpriced CDs were flying out of the store. Once the Internet took hold and Napster eviscerated recording revenues, the manager became king, if he wasn’t before, and right behind him came the agent, because that’s where so much of the money is, on the road.

And in endorsements and private appearances and everywhere but the nonexistent record shops that alta kachers are lamenting have disappeared.

That’s what I want to do… Get in my car, fight traffic, pay to park and then sift through a limited selection of product all so I can “learn” from the clerk and keep the store in business. What a load of crap that was. I love the Internet, with everything available at my fingertips. As do labels…because when a superstar dies, product is immediately available, you don’t have to worry about manufacturing and shipping before the public moves on, which is especially true in the fast-moving world of today. What, we’re gonna reminisce about Lou Reed for another week and then forget about him?

I think so.

As for those ridiculous figures quoting the jump in sales of Mr. Reed’s music… A 600% increase means nothing if it’s a multiple of bupkes.

But Mr. Reed was always more influential than commercial.

But Gaga was both.

But when your dreams come true, your identity fractures, you’re not sure who to be anymore.

Was she a homely girl with a nose job singing from the depths of her soul?

Or a gay icon?

Or the individual responsible for bringing dance music to Top Forty?

Or the manipulator of the Internet?

Or the last credible artist in a sea of sellouts?

All of these.

Let’s recount history. Her album is jumping up the chart, she’s got a gig opening for Kanye West, he drops out and she goes on the road anyway, underplaying and undercharging, losing money all the while. Want to endear people to you? What a great paradigm.

But then she raises her prices and releases a turkey.

It’s tough to follow up an unexpected hit. Just ask Alanis Morissette. She’s been unable to do it for twenty years. It’s all “Jagged Little Pill” and nothing else.

But didn’t anybody in Gaga’s camp tell her her new single was a remake of Madonna’s “Express Yourself”?

Madge did. It was a moment for the unrecognizable as her self as a result of too much plastic surgery has-been to come down from the perceived mountain top to give Gaga crap.

Then again, remakes of old classics seem to be de rigueur, just ask Robin Thicke and Pharrell, the former of whom now appears to be a one hit wonder.

And is Gaga next? One gigantic album and then toast?

Maybe.

And the only person who could have helped her was Carter.

Someone who knew her well and protected her and navigated the waters for her.

Could someone do as good a job? Possibly. But loyalty matters when it comes to management, because without trust life is truly lonely at the top.

And we know what happened here, because it’s always the same story. Carter said something Gaga didn’t like. And her lover took issue with it.

You want to keep your charges single. Beware of significant others. They rule the stars, they become their sounding boards and confidantes. They’ve got their ear 24/7. But if a lover were such a great manager they’d be one. But they never are. Just hangers-on who suddenly have an opinion the star is listening to.

Were mistakes made?

Of course. Not only the stiff follow-up album, but the endless world tour.

The music business lives online. Period. If you’re not online creating and talking and being the subject of news items, you’re fading away. Meantime, others are vying for your spot on top and the audience is aging every single day. Your devoted teen fan now has a baby and a job and can’t spend all her time mooning over you, looking at your punim plastered all over her wall.

Furthermore, at the end of the day it’s about music.

Gaga became about fashion. Unwalkable shoes. The meat dress. Your best bet is to strip it down and show you have chops. But Gaga kept looking in the rearview mirror at Madonna, needing to top herself. But all Madge had was her marketing skills, she’s not much of a singer or writer, and she slings a Les Paul over her shoulder but she truly cannot play. Gaga’s the opposite. She can write, play and sing, but she became overwhelmed by her trappings.

Could she have found her way out of this quagmire?

Maybe. With Troy Carter by her side.

Alone?

Of course not.

And anybody new is only about the money. That’s the dirty little secret of the famous managers, they don’t take on starving clients. They want commissions. Whereas the person you grew up with is more three-dimensional.

In other words, Gaga can hire someone to grab cash, but she’s gonna have a hell of a time finding someone who can strategize.

And maybe it’s all untrue.

The story broke a few hours ago, and it’s an echo chamber of the original post. But now even “Us” has gone on it:

Lady Gaga Splits From Manager Troy Carter Due to Creative Differences

And I’d say that makes it true, but today’s news outlets are so worried about being left out of the click-through advertising tsunami, fact-checking is out the window.

I could e-mail Troy and find out the truth.

But I’m not gonna do that. I’m not one of those vultures who swoops down to rape the injured for information.

But Troy, I know you’re out there, know it’s her, not you!

And it’s hard to find another hit artist, but you’re a king of tech.

And there’s a whole hell of a lot more money in that.

HATERS

It hurts, but the truth is hating is done by an underclass of people pissed that their dreams have not come true. Instead of looking inside, instead of working harder, instead of figuring out the problem is the system and not them, they needle those who are successful in an effort to make them feel bad.

I’m not saying everybody who hates is responsible for their losing. And I’m not saying every winner deserves to win. But I am saying that the true winners, the faceless who realize publicity is anathema, enjoy this game between the wannabe and the highly promoted/successful.

Is Lady Gaga without talent? Is Katy Perry a worthless hack?

ON THE INTERNET!

Do you know how hard it is to make it? That you can’t do so on pure desire? That not only do you need luck, but a modicum of talent and incredible people skills, something the haters do not possess.

But no, anybody who rises above is now a target. And too many don’t realize this and back down and capitulate to the haters.

We need a hater re-education camp. We’ve got to give them all jobs. Devise exams to show that no, they’re not entitled to be worldwide superstars.

Life is hard. And sure, I’d like to be further up the totem pole than I am, and it’s hard not to be frustrated that those on top are not you. But if you truly want to make it, you’ve got to work and adjust…and then you still probably won’t make it.

But you can sit at home and complain.

But what does this buy you?

HATERS 2

Everybody wants to fit in. As a result, instead of brushing haters off, they look inside for fault and wonder what they’re doing wrong. It’s like musical acts who read reviews and adjust accordingly. I’m not saying I don’t read my hate e-mail/tweets/Internet posts and evaluate if the writer is correct, I bend over backwards to see if I’ve made a mistake, it’s a flaw in my personality, but what I get is almost never helpful, at most 1%. Because first and foremost those people don’t live inside my head. They don’t know how I got here in the first place. If I adjust for them, I’ll lose my essence.

And that’s what haters want most, for you to self-check and disintegrate, so they can take your place.

We see it all the time with musical artists. They become who the audience wants them to be, and as a result lose everything they’ve got.

So read the hate if you must. It counterbalances the love.

The truth?

Only inside yourself. Only you can decide if you’re on the path you desire.

But do not flinch. Do not change course.

HATERS 3

Check the statistics. That’s what I love about Twitter. The people who say awful things have so few followers it’s hilarious. The vitriol isn’t any lower in volume, the words are just as intense, it’s just that there’s no virality. By answering haters you’re amplifying their message, don’t succumb to the temptation.

IGNORANCE

Is the scourge of modern life. It’s evidenced not only in politics, but in tech, in everyday life.

If you’re going to weigh in, be informed.

I got an e-mail from a household name star ranting about when the labels bought Napster. But they didn’t. Bertelsmann made an investment, the labels sued and got damages as a result.

This same person talked about Spotify not paying any money to artists. Truth is most artists don’t own their own copyrights, they make a deal with a label, the label gets paid by Spotify, how much the artist makes is a result of their deal.

You speak like you don’t know and nobody pays attention to you anymore.

That does not mean you need to know everything. But it does mean if you’re going to go on record, do your homework.

But don’t be afraid to play if you’ve done so, everybody makes mistakes.

IGNORANCE 2

The latest research says you can’t change someone’s political opinion. It’s not as simple as they’re reading or listening to a biased news outlet. It goes deeper.

So when someone has a contrary opinion, don’t waste too much time arguing, unless their facts are wrong.

Meanwhile, the mark of a winner, someone who will climb the ladder, is the ability to admit you were ignorant or wrong in the past and change course. Just because politicians can’t do it, don’t think it’s not a winning strategy in real life.

THE FUTURE

No one can predict it. And it only makes sense in hindsight.

Ten years ago, the major labels looked like toast. Incredibly backward, holding on to their old model, you could do it yourself online. But what we found out was the Internet was so successful cacophony ensued, and only he with the deepest pocket could get his message across, so the majors have emerged triumphant again.

LIES

Don’t lie when the information is easily available to all on the Internet. People constantly e-mail me that their track is at a certain place on iTunes, then I just pull up the chart and find out this is not true.

As for being number one or two on a sliced up chart…that’s irrelevant. I don’t care that the Midwest Mommies With Teens chart has you bubbling up, it’s meaningless.

YOUTUBE

Ditto. Don’t tell me how successful your video is when I can go to the site and find out it’s not.

At this point in time, no one’s interested unless you’ve got six digits in a matter of days.

After a month, if you don’t have over 500,000 views, it’s no big deal. Feel good about yourself, but you missed out on the virality train.

As for true virality, insiders are only titillated by those with eight figure views. Yes, unless you’ve got 10 million plays, it’s no big deal.

Yes, they moved the goalpost when you weren’t looking.

But music is not football. The rules change all the time. Don’t play by outdated ones.

TO FEEL A MEMBER OF THE GROUP

All this focus on social networks has been about money, i.e. ads, going public, but there’s been very little focus on what it feels like to be a member of society today.

Or not.

There’s this illusion since every rapper has a posse and every person has a social media presence that we’ve all got a large group of friends, but the truth is many are still lonely.

This is not an anti-Internet screed. I believe technology has been a godsend for the isolated, you can pursue your interests without leaving the house. But as we journey into the teens, I’m completely flummoxed as to my place in society.

I am not one of the rich.

And forget about the lifestyle, I’m locked out of the loop regarding power. That’s what money brings today. The ability to influence, to change or reinforce the rules of the game. I.e. hedge funds’ perpetuation of the carried interest rule. The fact that many readers have no idea what I’m talking about is exactly the point. Let’s just say the rich are getting richer.

And there’s this fantasy that the poor can get rich too. Statistics tell us otherwise, the American Dream looms larger in Europe, but many have now become disenchanted. It’s not only college students who cannot get a job, but Gen-X’ers and baby boomers who are scratching their heads also. Media has been influenced by the 1%. Everybody’s a winner. So why am I not? And what can I do about it?

And despite all the so-called disruption, the reinforcement of old models is a roadblock I did not see coming. You were supposed to be truly innovative and then the democratic web would rise you above via virality and you’d be a newly-minted star. But the truth is with everybody attempting this, those backed by cash and publicity are triumphing, it’s even worse than it was in the nineties. Wannabes were excluded then, but there were more stars, and a middle class not on MTV. Today we’ve got a thin layer of superstars and then a plethora of unknowns.

Which brings me back to my original premise. When there was a limited pool, we embraced the “unknowns.” But the truth was these unknowns were already on major labels, they had a leg up, and there weren’t that many of them, at least compared to today. No one was going around telling everybody about their local bar band, pressing cassettes into the hands of potential fans. No, either you had a deal or you didn’t.

And the end result was we were not the only people following the unknowns. They may have not been profitable, but their cult was already large.

And what we learned with Twitter was we all wanted to get a say, to feel like we belonged. But the focus was on the ratings of live events, all the writing was about the comeback of awards shows, as if they were somehow better. But they were the only things we could all talk about.

So Twitter is lionized, but this incomprehensible service really just told us that we’re all alone and want to belong.

And we’re sold false gods like Sheryl Sandberg. Who taught us that a smart, aggressive woman could leverage her assets and work at the flavor of the moment, i.e. Facebook. But if Facebook craters, or at least stalls, is her opinion still worth paying attention to?

I’d say not. I’d say it was not worth paying attention to in the first place.

We paid attention to Steve Jobs because he came back, he was not a one trick pony. It’d be like Neil Diamond reinventing himself as a deejay, and challenging Tiesto for worldwide domination.

Instead we’re just proffered false gods. An endless supply of them. Especially money-grubbing techies who claim to be changing the world, but just want to get rich.

Meanwhile, we’re getting poorer and poorer.

We don’t want endless music services providing the history of recordings so much as we want to be told what to listen to, and also informed that a huge chunk of the public is listening too. Not only do we want to know the tastemaker/star is into it, but the guy down the street, the girl at the supermarket, we want to be able to have a conversation, we want to belong.

Which is why big gigs get bigger and small ones disappear in the rearview mirror. And festivals are more about the experience than the music. At least we’re all there in the same limited environment, we can talk about what we ate and saw and feel a member of the tribe.

So I’m frustrated, overwhelmed, and might I even say a tad bit depressed.

Because I just don’t see my own personal path.

I’m not a cutthroat businessman. I could never be Jeff Bezos, I couldn’t screw that many people.

And as much as I decry the hype, the placed stories even in the “New York Times,” I see they’re having their desired effect, they’re making the masses, albeit smaller than before the Internet, aware of the new products.

But there’s little criticism involved. Everybody’s selling. And when everybody is doing this, we give up buying, never mind not having enough money to spend.

So let me just say we’re all in the same boat. We all want to be rich, we all want a plethora of friends. But we realize what we’ve been sold is a bill of goods. Facebook didn’t make us any happier, didn’t make us feel we belonged, certainly not after a couple of years of posting. And Twitter gave us the illusion of being heard, but then we found out no one was listening. And musicians decrying the evisceration of their business model didn’t realize the true problem was not monetization, but the inability to pierce the public consciousness, to break through all the marketing messages.

And I could tell you where it’s going, but I’m not exactly sure, other than it’s going to get worse, winners and losers in all walks of life. First it was the CEOs versus the workers. Then the bankers versus the workers. Then the techies versus the workers. One group got rich, and was venerated in the press, and the other group was pushed down and forgotten, given social media as a way to make them feel empowered when the truth was nothing of the sort.

And now I’m rambling.

But am I the only one confused?

The only one who believed in the possibility of the Internet but is now frustrated that I’m left even further behind, and that the winners are the usual suspects and the hucksters and a thin layer of innovators?

I’m stuck in the middle with you.

And we have power.

But mostly, I just want to communicate.