MOBILE PROVIDER

Verizon.

You live by your connection. It’s the key to your life. We live in an era of communication and information, and if you don’t have a signal, you’re out of the loop. Verizon has more service in more locations and more LTE than any other provider.

Sprint is LTE challenged.

AT&T is a bit better, but still sucks.

T-Mobile is so lame, they had to reinvent their business model.

Don’t be afraid to change. Just because tens of millions of people are on AT&T, that does not mean it doesn’t suck.

You can either live in nirvana or nowheresville.

Switch to Verizon immediately.

(And don’t trust me, trust “Consumer Reports,” where Verizon is at the top and AT&T at the bottom in every survey. And, of course, Verizon is not perfect, it doesn’t work at your house, get the service that does.)

MOBILE PHONE

iPhone 5.

I’m not going to get into an Android versus iPhone debate. If you are a power user and happy with your Android, that’s fine by me. But the reason you use the iPhone is because of uniformity, they all work the same, support, you can just walk into the Genius Bar, the curated app store and its lack of malware, and the ability to upgrade the software easily.

iPHONE TO BUY

The iPhone 5.

Do not cheap out and buy a 4S or a 4. That’s just plain ignorant. You think you’re saving $100 or $200, but the real story is you’re paying for these phones over two years, the life of the contract, so you should get the best. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.

And the reason you want the iPhone 5 is not the faster chip or the extra row of icons, but LTE. Surfing on LTE on Verizon is faster than many people’s home connection. The 4S and 4 are 3G devices only. LTE is to 3G as cycling is to walking.

COMPUTER

The one you’ve got.

Don’t buy a new computer unless yours is broken or doesn’t do something. Yes, if you upgrade you’ll get something faster, but you’re mainly surfing the web, and that’s more a function of your Internet connection than your chip/hardware.

IF YOU BUY A NEW COMPUTER

Get a Mac. Because Windows 8 sucks. Trying to be everything, it’s nothing.

INTERNET CONNECTION

Cable or FiOS, that’s it. Absolutely do not buy home DSL, it’s positively glacial in speed. You think you’re saving money on the triple-play, but the joke is on you. You want at least 15 down and 1 up. Go to speedtest.net and check your speed. If it does not reach these numbers, upgrade.

AUTOMOBILE

Japanese.

German cars are better engineered and provide a better driving experience.

Despite the hype, American autos still aren’t as problem free.

Just buy a Toyota and forget about it. If you need European status, know that you’re gonna pay for it.

California leads in automobiles. The best-selling model? The Toyota Prius.

Yes, the Tesla Model S is a dream, but if you don’t think there’s a penalty in being an early adopter, you’ve never been one.

STREAMING MUSIC SERVICE

Unclear.

Spotify is the leader, but its search sucks and there are too many pauses. MOG, soon to be Daisy, has high quality streams, but a bad interface. The problem with Rdio is no one else is on it. And first and foremost, music is social.

You must have a streaming service subscription. Otherwise, you’re out of the loop. You need to be able to check out new music instantly. There are no long term contracts. Sign up for Spotify today and be prepared to switch if something else is better and that’s where all the people end up going.

DOWNLOADS

Don’t buy ’em. A waste of money. They sound bad and are not forever. Oh, they’ll last forever, it’s just that technology marches on and today’s formats are left in the dust. Just try opening a Word 1.5 document in today’s program.

Streaming wins.

Just about everything available on iTunes is available for streaming. And when new, higher quality formats come online, you won’t have to upgrade your collection.

CDs

For the ignorant. Vinyl sounds better. But they’re both impractical, and we live in an era of convenience.

ONLINE VIDEO SERVICE

Forget Vimeo, DailyMotion is only good for porn, YouTube wins. That’s what the old guard doesn’t understand about the Internet. There’s one winner. One iTunes, one Amazon, one YouTube…

TELEVISION

Samsung.

Everything’s good, but Samsung is the best, and no more expensive than its direct competition. Of course you can buy a plasma with better blacks, but that format is not forever, just ask Pioneer.

BEST HOME COFFEE MACHINE

Technivorm Moccamaster.

It’s about the water, getting it hot enough.

Don’t cheap out. You drink coffee every day, you spend so much on beans, lay out the almost three hundred dollars, you’ll thank me.

BEST PRINTER

HP.

Because they own the market. Competitors are good, but HP will update drivers first. In tech, you want to go where the swarm does.

BEST COLLEGE

The best one you get into. You can employ the ratings at the “U.S. News & World Report” to guide you. I’m not saying they’re accurate, but they reflect perception. And you don’t go to college to learn in the classroom, but outside of it, by interaction with the students. You’ll upgrade your game by hanging with smarter, sharper, more worldly students. If you need training, go to graduate school. If you’re worried about the money… Top tier colleges are worth it. They’re worth borrowing for. If you don’t get into one and are worried about cash, go for the cheaper option, save money, your mileage will be the same at the second or third tier liberal arts school as it will be at the state university.

BEST NEWS SOURCE

“New York Times” or “Wall Street Journal.”

Because they both still have reporters. The locals have cut back too far and there’s no depth in TV coverage, all they’ve got is the reporters you see on screen. Forget the financials, forget the supposed liberal bias, the “New York Times” sets the agenda for both parties, because it provides the most comprehensive coverage.

BEST PREMIUM CABLE CHANNEL

Showtime.

You really need both Showtime and HBO, but even though HBO shows get most of the press, there’s more risk and more depth on Showtime.

BEST CABLES

Monoprice.

Don’t waste your money on anything more expensive.

BEST E-MAIL PROVIDER

Gmail.

Get off of AOL, it’s too slow. You could receive e-mail days late. Gmail’s got all the features you want and Google keeps investing in it, everybody’s there for a reason.

“Listen, when I’m competin’ I’m suicidal… This is my only moment to show the world who I am ’cause my self-esteem is so low I never…they’re gonna know my name now!”

Mike Tyson

Successful people are not normal people.

They’ve got something to prove.

I don’t care if you’re CEO of a Fortune 500 company or Elton John, if you’re at the top of the heap you’re just not regular folk, you’re warped, you didn’t get enough love from your mother, you were abandoned by your father, you’re so anxious and angry you believe the only way your life will be complete is if you win the trophy and get the adulation of those beneath you.

But that doesn’t work.

That’s why the superrich buy all those cars and houses, they’re tying to fill a hole inside so big and empty that it’ll swallow everything you put in it, and more.

You see it’s just too hard. To be that rejected, that broke, that duplicitous, that single-minded. If you think artists are fun people, you haven’t hung around any, or they’re not successful. Yup, we all know someone with an amazing voice, great guitar talent, we say they could have made it. But they didn’t, because they just didn’t have that killer instinct.

Oh, the greats learn how to be nice. But if you haven’t read a rider wherein the act’s demands are out of control, if you haven’t listened to the audio clip where Art Garfunkel or whomever is so particular and so warped, you don’t have an Internet connection.

My friend Seth Godin wrote a post yesterday about waiting to be picked:

Getting picked (need to vs. want to)

I found that less interesting than his follow-up today, which dealt with the blowback.

But I don’t want to do that, I want to do this

People have been exposed to so much self-help crap that they believe they’re entitled to be successful. They think it’s a math problem. If I rehearse this much and have this many Twitter followers, I should be rich and famous. Hogwash. Not only is there luck involved, there’s a killer instinct, a monomania, that those who’ve never made it have never been exposed to.

Kind of like at the corporation…

If you think the best and the brightest make it to the top, you work at home, alone. No, making it within the Fortune 500 is all about the politics, the ass-kissing, the gifts, the sucking up. Oh, you’ve got to have the goods, that’s a given.

In other words, the Harvard degree and the powerful parents will get you in the door, but they won’t move you up the ladder.

It’s even worse in entertainment, because education and family lineage have almost nothing to do with it. Everybody’s beginning from the same starting line. And those who don’t make it always have excuses.

Ever notice that careers have an arc?

The press says it’s because the entertainers age out.

No, usually they burn out, they lose their motivation. Because once they get what they thought they wanted, and discover it doesn’t fill the hole, doesn’t answer all their problems, they can’t do it anymore.

You rail against the President, make fun of those atop the pop chart. And that’s a fun game to play at home, but you’ve got no idea what it took to get there, in the game. The reason Taylor Swift doesn’t know how to handle rejection is because she was so busy trying to make it, knocking on doors and playing at radio stations, that she didn’t have a normal life, where the rest of us learn to adjust.

And once you make it to rarefied air, who do you discuss your problems with? I mean who does Madonna talk to, who gets it? We laugh at her, with the plastic surgery and the workouts, but you can’t deny her sheer will, she’s unwilling to be forgotten, she’s doing everything in her power to stay relevant.

The untalented sell their souls, and personalities, on reality television. At this late date, everybody knows the power lies in the hands of the editors. The nicest person can be made to look like a bitch.

But those people are kicked to the curb as soon as the shows get canceled.

And the same applies to today’s plethora of one hit wonders, faces on the productions of the usual suspects.

But if you make it on your talent, if you break through, you’re in a special club wherein everybody knows your name, but no one knows who you really are. You’re hated despite being unknown. You’ve got money but buying stuff no longer makes you happy.

You know why big bands love going on tour?

FOR THE RUSH! The roar of the crowd as they take the stage. That wave of love, each and every night before they retire to the back of the bus alone, or with the same jerks they’ve hated since high school.

You think you want it.

But you don’t even know what it really is.

P.S. The Tyson quote is from his interview yesterday with Howard Stern. If you think you know him, you’re wrong. Mike is broke, smart and nice. He’s survived, so far:

Howard Stern- 04/29/13 Mike Tyson Interview

Why does everybody think they can write?

Ten years ago, a book crept into the public consciousness and has remained there, the author became internationally famous and gives high-priced speeches to corporations in far-flung communities to this day. That book was “The Tipping Point,” that author was Malcolm Gladwell.

First and foremost, Gladwell can write. And he can tell a story, via both prose and voice. Just because you know how to type and speak, please don’t believe you can do the same.

Then again, unlike Gladwell you were not an unknown reporter before you broke through. You want to go from 0-60 instantly, and despite a hundred years of automotive development, this is still an impossibility. You believe if you did it, we’re interested.

Now you’ve got to start somewhere. But even though you can spam me and put your track on iTunes I’ll tell you where you live, OBSCURITY!

Yesterday someone e-mailed me the original version of Frank Zappa’s “Status Back Baby,” from 1963:

Frank Zappa – I’m Losing Status at the High School

Yes, long before the Beatles, when the Four Seasons ruled, Frank Zappa was cutting his insightful music to absolutely no acclaim, he had to wait years until not only the market was ready for him, but he’d refined his recording to wide audience palatability.

So if you’re thinking you made it so we should care, I’ll say that despite the Internet, some things never change. The greats are still ten plus year overnight sensations.

But we all wrote in school. Can’t we write a book?

I’m reading the new business self-help book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.” Written by a tirelessly self-promoting Wharton professor, the information is good, but the writing is subpar, I cannot recommend it, despite it containing a wealth of insight. If your book doesn’t call to me in the middle of the night, if I can’t read it without my eyes rolling into the back of my head, I can’t recommend it.

Gladwell knows writing is about story. And the author, Jonah Berger, is smart enough to know he’s got to contain anecdotes, but the book is mostly analysis. Gladwell shows through example, Berger explains.

Kind of like our modern musical artists. They can Facebook and Tweet, they can market like crazy, but they don’t know great music must contain emotion, it must have the seed of its own virality inside.

There’s an example of virality in Berger’s book, an article that leapt on to the “New York Times” most e-mailed list, about “how fluid and gas dynamic theories were being used in medical research.”

Huh? Who cares?

That’s exactly Berger’s point.

But accompanying the article was a picture of a cough. You could actually see it. People forwarded the article because it hit them emotionally, they were in awe.

Just like I constantly tell people my favorite Beatles track is “Every Little Thing.”

You can break down the chords, you can analyze the lyrics, but the bottom line is it hits me emotionally, it makes me feel something. All the great records do. Does yours?

As Berger says:

“When we care, we share.”

But he goes on from there:

“as Albert Einstein himself noted, ‘The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.'”

That’s why you hate the Top Forty. The essence of music is too often absent. Blame the executives, who control production. Used to be they gave free reign to the artists, but in search of money, they squeezed the essence out. Music is not formula, it’s magic.

Kind of like Roxy Music’s “More Than This.” Listening to it instantly takes you away, puts you in a mood that has you wondering what inspired Bryan Ferry to write it.

And there are further gems in Berger’s book. But it’s gonna stop cold, its virality is limited, because it’s lacking the emotion of a great storyteller, a great singer, come on, listen to John Lennon sing “Every Little Thing,” he’s not singing words on a page, he’s been through something, he’s singing TRUTH!

So since you can text someone instantly, can watch video on demand, people believe you can create art the same way.

But this is patently untrue. Art is usually concocted off the grid.

But when done right, it sells itself.

You don’t want to know that, you want to quantify it, you want to believe it’s easy, but it’s not.

“Contagious: The Secret Behind Why Things Catch On”

“The Mysterious Cough, Caught on Film”

The Beatles, “Every Little Thing”

Roxy Music, “More Than This“

Can Kid Rock change the concert business?

His father sold Lincolns.

Where I grew up, there were no rich people. No bankers, no right wing titans ranting the poor were lazy and the government was taking all their hard-earned money. Some dads worked for the electric company, others sold insurance or held blue-collar jobs. The upper middle class were doctors and lawyers. And just beneath this tier were the auto dealers. We knew who they were, because their stores all featured their names.

We were all in it together. Sure, you could be unpopular, you could be bullied, but there was no velvet rope, no class parties or junkets that you just could not afford. And when we all saw the Beatles, we picked up guitars and started to play. And money had nothing to do with it, the music and the screaming and the energy drew us in.

Music is now the province of the underclass. No one smart is going to dedicate his or her life to a musical career, they might give it a year or two after college, but then they’re going to hotfoot it to graduate school, they don’t want to be left behind. The dirty little secret is most starving artists are not artists. They’re just poor people who can’t make it who call themselves artists. They’re not at the bar discussing Camus, they’re on the couch watching the Kardashians wondering why someone won’t pay them.

So you’re not gonna get a revolution from the poor people who do gain notoriety in the music business. Because first and foremost they need the money! This is their way out!

As for the businessmen who grease the wheels? No one knows who they are. The days of high-flying label titans are through. Clive is riding into the sunset and Tommy got kicked out and won’t be let back in. No one knows who Michael Rapino is, the press never talk about the fact he’s the most powerful person in the music business, since he wields the checkbook, and smart managers and agents were always faceless, knowing if they have a profile, their artists will fire them, just ask Terry McBride.

So Kid Rock gets a hair up his ass about ticket fees. And unlike the public, he’s got power to exact change.

That’s another thing about today’s artists. They all blame someone else. “Who me coach?” They’re slackers who believe responsibility is anathema.

But Kid Rock is different. He grew up in a middle class family. When he supports Republicans he thinks they’re the close-cropped, reasonable, educated men of yore. But Nelson Rockefeller is now a Democrat, as is Ronald Reagan. Rock’s values don’t align with the Tea Party. And first and foremost he believes in giving back. I.e. his beer and clothing company in Detroit that employ locals as opposed to exporting the jobs to Asia and crying there was no choice.

So it’s 2011 and Rock is on an arena tour and the fees on his tickets are $14.25. And that’s just too much. He wants them down to five bucks.

How does he achieve this?

Via transparency. Unlike the fans, Rock is not stupid. He knows the money doesn’t all go to Ticketmaster, there are kickbacks to buildings and promoters.

But rather than push the ball uphill, he decides to start with his own business. By lowering the price of t-shirts. Instead of the rip-off price of $35-$40, he drops them to $20-$25. His merch company had a fit. But, as stated earlier, the artist has all the power, Rock demanded the drop. And he saw sales go up…and it got him to thinking…

So Rock and his manager had a meeting with Rapino. The essence of which was, “You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” Show me where every dollar is buried and I’ll throw in my money and we’ll start fresh.

And Rapino agreed.

Took the better part of two years to come to an agreement. The wheels of change grind slowly. But now the deal’s done.

But not before Rock got another hair up his behind. Not only did he want the fee to drop to five bucks, he wanted all tickets to be $20.

Huh?

Rock’s goal was to give back. To return concertgoing to what it once was. A regular habit as opposed to a vacation. That’s how the business revitalizes, by getting people to the show. If it’s so expensive they can only go once a year, they’re gonna save up for the superstar extravaganzas, which must feature production as opposed to music to justify the cost, and ultimately everybody else loses.

But because he’s intransigent, Rock then wanted no fee at all.

So a deal was struck. If you went to Wal-Mart, where they’ve got Live Nation kiosks, you could buy a ticket for $20, including parking, with no fee. Ticketmaster picked up the vig, furthermore, more kiosks were installed to handle the demand.

And you say that Ticketmaster is the enemy.

So what happened?

Across the board, onsales doubled or tripled from 2011. Blowing past everybody’s expectations.

Irvine sold out in nine days. Came close, but didn’t go clean back in 2011, they were 700 or 800 short.

Chicago went nuclear. 2011 was 16,000, they’re probably gonna do 28,000.

Pittsburgh sold more in twenty four hours than the final number in 2011.

Boston did 10,000 tickets the first day.

St. Louis asked for a second date.

Sure, it’s his hometown, but Rock has sold seven Detroits already. They put up four the first weekend, then three the next. They stopped it there.

Everything goes in the pot, drinks, parking, merch, Live Nation and Rock are partners. And if you think this is de rigueur, you’ve never sat in the trailer where the promoter shows you the two sets of books, his and the one he shows the act. And I’m not joking, there are truly two.

And there’s no guarantee. If you want to revolutionize the world, you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is. How can we expect change without risk? It’s intrinsic to the game!

But it’s not only the ticket to get in, it’s the beer to have a good time. Instead of double digits, beer is four bucks. And Kid Rock fans drink a lot, there’s a lot of profit there, don’t forget, it all goes in the pot, Live Nation and Rock share it.

As they do parking, which is also just four bucks.

And it’s all paperless. Except for the very back of the pavilion. I mean why go halfway?

And there are a thousand platinum seats, not because Rock needs the money, but because he wants to combat scalpers. And season seats come out of that thousand, everything’s on the manifest. And the first two rows go unsold, they’re for upgrades for those in the back.

Sound like a good time?

You betcha!

Instead of buying a mortgage, you’re taking a flier, you can relax, you can party, you can drink and flirt and…HELL YEAH!

And Rock is probably gonna make more money. Because in 2011, he averaged 11,000, this time around it’s gonna be closer to 18,000.

But it’s not about the money, it’s about the fans. Not only paying back, but converting them, closing them, bonding them to Rock so they come again each and every tour.

Yup, the onus is on Bob Ritchie. He’s got all their money, now he’s got to deliver a kick-ass show that blows their minds and gets them talking. Because Rock knows you can’t rely on radio, you can’t rely on press, you can only rely on yourself. There are no middlemen, in today’s world it’s just the act and the fan. The promoter should not be the enemy, nor should the ticketing company. Everybody should profit, but it should all be in service to the fan.

And it all came about because Kid Rock is smart, he grew up in an upper middle class family, he knows it’s about values as well as money. But artists don’t seem to share Rock’s values today. They might do a benefit concert, but they’re unwilling to take any personal risk, they see the plight of their fans, but they’re so busy climbing the economic ladder that they shrug their shoulders and pay no attention.

So what happens now?

I’m not sure.

Rock has opened the door. Will anybody else go through?