We’ve got great tools. But too much mediocre music.

My goal is to get you to give up. If you’re a musician, I want you to stop. Oh, practice and play, be my guest. But please stop tweeting and Facebooking, keep stop trying to make it, you’re clogging the avenues, trying to uncover today’s great new music is like deciding to drive from Santa Monica to Staples Center during rush hour, essentially impossible. Not everyone qualifies to be a Navy Seal, hell, did you read the article in the “New York Times” delineating that both women and men have a hard time qualifying for the Marine Infantry?

Women (and Men) Face Big Hurdles in Training for Marine Infantry Units

Why do you think you should be able to be a successful musician. Desire is not everything, talent counts. Read the “Times” story about the hell they put these recruits through. If only we had a similar boot camp in the music business. Instead, we’ve got organizations like Sonicbids that prey on the wannabes, telling them they’re just an inch away from making it, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Benji Rogers used to be a musician. But he back-burnered his playing, he just couldn’t make it work, he started PledgeMusic. All those techies coming up with solutions, that’s a hell of a lot easier than writing hit tunes.

Can we have some reality here? And state that writing hits is nearly impossible?

You might deplore Dr. Luke, but he’s talented. As are Max Martin and Diane Warren. They might release formulaic material, but they’ve paid their dues, they’ve worked really hard, have you? And even if you have, does practicing on the sandlot mean you’re entitled to play shortstop for the Yankees? Even better, if you’re 5’3″, can you realistically expect to crack the NBA? Of course there’s Muggsy Bogues, there have been exceptions, but one or two, and everybody seems to want to make it in music.

I’m just saying that with everybody trying it’s making it more difficult for those who truly have talent and confusing the audience.

I love Benji. He’s a natural salesman. You want to go to dinner, talk about your girlfriend, you want to hang. That’s rare with successful musicians. Household name musicians are introverted, pains in the ass. Hell, I know a bunch and they’re all far from normal. This is oftentimes the only thing they can do. They practiced to get laid and have a career. Are you truly that maladjusted? Are you willing to endure rejection, starve, and keep going at it? Knowing that the odds are you won’t make it and if you do it won’t sustain?

You can’t handle the truth. You think since you own a computer you’re entitled to success. But that’s untrue.

PledgeMusic, Kickstarter, Indiegogo…they don’t solve the basic problem. Which is discovering and nurturing new talent. Benji told me the story of a talented artist who now has 500 pledgers on his third album? Five hundred? If I reached that few people with these missives, I’d give up. Hell, I’d give up with ten times that number.

If you’re an established act, these crowdfunding sites are brilliant, you can reach your fans, make your music and own your masters. But if you’re a wannabe, please don’t think that anybody’s gonna care other than your hard core fans.

Benji told me 46 acts have gotten deals as a result of their success on PledgeMusic. The labels track the campaigns. But how many got major deals? Maybe ten. How many of those had deals before? Maybe four. Huh? Be satisfied ANYBODY gives you money on these sites. Because that’s all you’re gonna get.

And then Benji told me about prospective partnerships with labels. This is where I got scared, this is where I wondered if he was doing the tech pivot, looking for more money. So I fund it and then the label takes 70% of my money to blow it up? Huh? If I’m that good, shouldn’t I be able to do it myself? Where’s the improvement on the old system? Now I do all the work and I STILL get screwed?

But having said all that, Benji convinced me he’s selling experiences. That it’s not about the end result, the album, so much as the ongoing relationship you get to have with your favorites. Hell, I’d pay for that. Almost everybody would. I want private updates from people whose music changed my life. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include you, sorry.

You tell PledgeMusic you want to play. You give them your data, Facebook friends, Twitter followers and e-mail list, and they tell you how much you can raise. Then, after getting your money, they insist you update constantly, with blog posts, videos and music. Stuff that can only be shared with those who pledge. Well, of course, everything can be captured and stolen online, but Benji says this is not a problem, because people don’t want to steal from the artists they’re giving money to. I’ll go with that, for the sake of discussion.

So you’re building community.

Very slowly if you’re not already famous.

And here we hit that classic dilemma. It’s those who were built by the majors who have the biggest success outside the system. Those without the initial investment stumble.

Except for Alabama Shakes.

What did Alabama Shakes have that none of the other wannabes had?

GOOD MUSIC!

Come on, someone e-mailed you that live video of “Hold On” and you got it.

Is your music that good?

Seems like no one else’s is, there’s not been another Alabama Shakes since.

We’re ready, we want it, but we’ve been waiting for a new Beatles for nearly half a century and it’s never happened. Hell, we’d settle for a new Dave Clark 5!

Benji’s so good you get caught up in the reality distortion field. But it’s not about systems, it’s not about tools, it’s about MUSIC!

And it’s really damn hard to learn and even harder to do well to the point that masses of people are interested.

We don’t have an algorithm problem. We don’t even have a tool problem.

We’ve got a music problem.

Used to be only the best and the brightest got deals and made it. As for those excluded unjustly from the system, hogwash. How about all the acts that got signed and still didn’t make it, despite putting out good music?

But then the label mentality changed. It became solely about the money, as a result of the CD and MTV riches and banker envy. And everybody got the tools and decided they were entitled to success. Hell, blame baby boomer parents, who never told their progeny the truth, that they were normal, average.

And there’s nothing wrong with being average. Being a productive member of society, being a good worker, spouse and parent. But please don’t confuse this with being a musical star.

Hell, how many stars still have the same spouse? How many are good parents?

These are not normal people living normal lives. They’re staying up all hours of the night, they’re doing drugs, they’re irresponsible, but the tunes they create are magic.

But they’re rare.

Sorry to break the news.

P.S. And you wonder why everybody in the business is jaded. Because we’re inundated by the crap of the wannabes ad infinitum. That’s why we won’t listen. Blame your brethren, not us. The only difference between me and everybody else is I’m telling you the truth.

FREQUENCY

You cannot win if you do not play. (Did you catch the Steve Forbert reference?) Don’t be afraid. Dip not only your toe in the water, but your whole body. Reluctance is so last century. You’ve got to create on a regular basis. Once a week at least, once a day is totally fine. Don’t think of it as reaching people, but working out your kinks. It’s the beginning of your 10,000 hours. The cycle is so fast these days, and everybody’s so overwhelmed with input and time-limited, that your lame work will go unnoticed, the way the “Harlem Shake” is already history. As for people discovering your lame-o’s down the line, you should only be so lucky!

WHAT

Everything. Originals, cover tunes. Acoustic versions of electric tunes. Electric versions of acoustic tunes. With unlimited bandwidth, you are not restricted. Studio time used to be expensive, you demoed and oftentimes got it wrong in the recording, whether because you were uptight or unduly influenced by a producer. Your goal is to get comfortable in front of the camera. And to keep experimenting until you find something that works. The record industry has got it totally wrong, it thinks it’s about perfection when truly it’s all about warts. You want to first and foremost be relatable, embrace your imperfections and mistakes.

GOING VIRAL

Don’t chase the dragon. Because it’s hard to follow up, just ask Alanis Morissette. You think you want overnight success, but you really don’t. You want the gradual build, you want fans to embrace you, to become invested in you. If you have overnight success, once it’s done, you’re toast. Can you say “Rebecca Black”? That does not mean you shouldn’t follow what works. If a certain style of video gains viewers, repeat the formula. Marketing is not about being on every platform, screaming your way into people’s hearts, or not. Rather marketing is about research, taking chances and seeing what works and refining it and following it up.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A MUSICIAN

Wake up. If you don’t want to practice, if you’d rather surf the net and make videos than be holed up alone in your basement being bad, then note that there’s more than one road to fame. That’s the dirty little secret of today’s wannabes, they don’t want to be musicians, they just want to be famous. On YouTube you can let your freak flag fly, go for it.

BE CREATIVE

The punks couldn’t play. Ah, that’s a bit of a lie, but the Ramones were all about the conception, the Sex Pistols too. Rather than imitate what’s on the radio, think about being unique. And don’t be afraid to follow your instincts and stay with them. You’re nobody until you’re somebody.

RADIO

You can’t get on it. Not unless you’re signed to a major label and make Top Forty music. So forget the radio, YouTube is your radio. As it is for the younger generation. Did you see the NPD report? I don’t trust research, it’s inherently flawed, but if you’re the kind of person who needs numbers to confirm what’s right in front of your face, I hope you saw the NPD report that said Internet radio accounted for 23% of 13-35 year olds’ listening time, up from 17% last year, and AM/FM dropped two points to 24%. The Internet already won, the only people who don’t know it are the old farts, who listen to the Internet 13% of the time and AM/FM 41%. It couldn’t be written any clearer. Until record labels are run by twenty year olds, they will continue to tumble into darkness, they’ll get the message last.

PRETTY

That’s not the only way to engage viewers. Charismatic is even better. You can display your whole identity in a YouTube clip. You can try on other identities. You’re not limited to sound. Today’s stars are not two-dimensional, they display every facet of their identity. Do it if you want to last.

LASTING

The faster the ascent, the faster the descent.

CAREER

Don’t equate YouTube success with a career. Just like those old sitcom stars can’t get arrested (actually, they do, their mugshots are all over the web), YouTube fame is evanescent, here today and gone tomorrow. Just because you’ve got a million views, that does not mean you should drop out of school, you’ll probably never get a million views again.

MUSIC

Singles are obvious, but singles rarely lead to a career. More cerebral music, which takes longer to identify with and spread, leads to careers. So if you’re interested in a career, get ready to be frustrated. You’re going to grow very slowly. But now, you’re building a catalog on YouTube, and you own it!

ROAD

That’s the mantra, go on the road, prove it and earn it fan by fan. The only problem is there’s nowhere to play. Screw fighting for opening slots to play to twelve people who don’t care. If you catch fire on YouTube, the whole world is your potential audience. Sure, if you get traction, you’ll eventually have to go on the road and develop your chops. But Bieber broke on YouTube, not in a damp, dark clubs. Sure, it’s great if you’ve built a road base. But that’s for old farts and hippie bands. Today’s youngsters know it’s all about being connected. And you connect online. That’s where you start. Offline comes LAST!

ORGANIC

Don’t dun your friends to spread the word. You’re gonna burn them out before you’ve even figured out what it is you’re doing. Better to woodshed and then when your avocation comes up in conversation on the couch, in a bar, pull up your phone or laptop and show people what you’re doing, they’ll be interested, and if you’re good, they’ll spread the word. Would you go to a club sans shower and the appropriate clothing? Of course not! Then why would you expect your substandard video to go viral!

MONEY

It’s there. And it’s all yours. It depends on views. If you’re truly mercenary, focus on getting subscribers. Who’ll watch everything you do. But don’t worry about fans until you truly have something clickworthy.

EQUIPMENT

You’ve got a smartphone, right? That’s all you need. Some of the best records of all time were cut live to tape with mistakes in place. Capture lightning in a bottle. Ever see two identical lightning bolts? Hell, you can’t even remember how every one looked! You just remember the emotional experience, how you felt when you saw them and heard the resultant thunder. That’s the business you’re in, connecting with people emotionally. And that’s all about letting loose and taking chances.

THE MODEL

This is the new model. Forget everything you once knew. Albums, cycles, they’re totally toast. An artist today is constantly creating and constantly in the public eye. He doesn’t bitch that he can’t sell records, that the old model is broken, rather he explores the new avenues where money is available to be made. Piracy? Rip-offs? Imitation? That’s your greatest desire! Content ID will make it so you profit off all the imitators who cover your music! You don’t want to hold it close to the vest, you want to open it up to everybody. Which reminds me, ALWAYS SAY YES! You’re gonna get ripped-off anyway. The courts are an expensive and slow way to protect rights you probably can’t. If there are no barriers to piracy, let people do what they want. This does not mean you can’t sell tracks, can’t profit from streaming, but if you think you’re in control of your work today, you don’t have a fan base. Your efforts are just fodder, starter material for others to bake their own bread. They’ll give you credit if you don’t antagonize them. And they’ll give you their money too. People like to pay those they believe in. Foster belief and you’ll get paid. Phony is history, like the deejays on terrestrial radio, if you’re playing to everybody, afraid to offend anyone, you’re playing to nobody. You want viewers, you want fans, make it easy, don’t put up barriers.

From: Graeham Goble
Subject: It’s A Long Way There – Little River Band

Hi Bob.

I read, with great interest, your blog on my song ‘It’s A Long Way There’.

I wrote it on June 2nd, 1972, almost 40 years ago! Time certainly has gone fast.

I was in my 20s and I had just left my home town of Adelaide, to pursue a music career in Melbourne. I was having a difficult time emotionally, with missing home, but I was very aware that the JOURNEY I was taking was my destiny. These were my first, tentative steps into a new and unfamiliar World. I didn’t want to leave my home town of Adelaide, but I knew it was something I had to do. I was very anxious and I missed my home enormously. For the first few months, I used to travel back to Adelaide (9 hours by car), every 3 weeks to see my family, and have home cooked food! It took a long time for me to let go.

The idea for “It’s A Long Way There” came from that 9 hour road trip I used to make. I realised much later though that there was something deeper within the words. And looking back on it now, it was a premonition of where life was taking me… I’m glad I listened!

It’s one of those records that still sounds great even today. I think that has a lot to do with the guys who played on it. We were doing 8 gigs a week those days. So when we went into the recording studio we were so well rehearsed we could just focus on the performance. We recorded it live, including the guitar solo work by Ric Formosa… just overdubbing the string section and vocals. (I remember cutting the vocals at 3 a.m.). Each take we did was a little under 9mins long, and there was no Pro Tools back then, so you had to get it right! Of course, today, with Technology, you wouldn’t try for the whole band having to get everything right at the same time, but there was a magic to the way LRB used to record… it was like the collective energy in the room was the 7th player. You can definitely hear that in the record.

That was 1975 and now, in 2013, LRB is still touring the US, but sadly with NO original members. Through a bizarre legal situation, the original members have lost the rights to our ‘Little River Band’ name and Trademark. But even though we’ve lost the right to call ourselves Little River Band, it’s good to know our songs still live on!

Thanks again Bob.

Sincerely,

Graeham Goble
Founding member of Little River Band
www.graehamgoble.com

Maybe they were spending too much time on Justin Timberlake…

Late last night I broke the shrinkwrap on a pair of Sennheiser MM 100‘s. I’ve been evaluating headphones, and nothing came close to my old PMX 60’s until these. You know that feeling when what’s pouring into your ears is music? Not that bottom-heavy compressed sludge, but a sound that is expansive, that breathes, that makes you feel positively alive?

That’s what I’m experiencing.

All my old tracks sound new again. I dialed up my favorites on my phone and…it was just me and the sound, I had a smile on my face, I was a BELIEVER!

Forget Beats. Forget fake response curves. What we’re looking for is accuracy. And warmth. The music needs no tricks if it’s real.

And I’m going through all my old favorites, Wendy Waldman, Bonnie Raitt, stunned how close to vinyl they sound, streamed via Bluetooth, from Spotify to my ears and…I decide to check out MOG, since they say it sounds better.

And that’s where I saw Dido.

Did you know she has a new album out?

I bet not. Her album didn’t even sell 20,000 copies this week. It entered way down the chart.

And I’d be lying if I told you it was a rival to her first two, but it is a return to form, from the Jon Brion abortion she perpetrated upon us back in 2008. I don’t understand the adulation for Mr. Brion, everybody he works with does worse work than they did before. So he’s talented, SO WHAT?

And there are nods to today, with rappers, most especially Kendrick Lamar, and the opening cut, the single, doesn’t resonate, but track two is vintage Dido, “Girl Who Got Away” brings tears to my eyes. She may be beautiful, but deep inside she’s me. And that’s when music works best, not when the “artists” talk down to us, but when they reveal all their insecurities and warts and let us know…they may not be exactly just like us, but they’re just as screwed up.

That’s the dirty little secret of human beings. We’re flawed. The most beautiful model, she’s as poorly adjusted as you are. If everybody stopped saying how fabulous they are maybe kids wouldn’t shoot up schools, if they learned that everyone’s alienated, everyone’s got more questions than answers.

And you see that in “Girl Who Got Away,” I heard it the very first time through.

But nothing else jumped out from the album.

I don’t get it, we had to wait five years for more Dido tunes? Why couldn’t she have dribbled one out every other month or so? It would have kept me going back to her website, it would have kept her in the loop.

And I’m a bit flummoxed, a bit unsure whether it’s thumbs up or down on the album, so I decide to do research, go to iTunes and Amazon and see what the fans are saying. And it’s mostly positive, but there are skeptics. And I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history, yes, you can stick your neck out and get your head chopped off these days, it takes a strong person to go against the tide of public opinion.

And then I’m listening to the album the third or fourth time through and a track jumps out…”End Of Night.”

I got addicted to Dido via radio. Driving my mother’s Lexus back in ’03 when “White Flag” was all over Top Forty and Hot AC. I could ignore her when she got her initial burst of fame as a result of Eminem’s use of “Thank You” in “Stan,” but now I just could not get enough. “Sand In My Shoes” could be my favorite track of the last decade. I went to see her live, and she less than killed, her voice is so thin, but the records are so perfect, not made for everybody, just for me. That’s their magic, they’re not playing to the last row, but you alone. Whew! I love her! And I’ve never even met her!

So I’m answering e-mail and I hear this mellifluous tune in my ears and I say EUREKA! THIS IS THE TRACK!

And I go to Dido’s website and find out it’s the second single. The opening cut, “No Freedom,” is the initial track. Huh? It’s not a hit! You’ve got to lead with your best shot these days. No matter how hard the RCA team works, they can’t make “No Freedom” a hit.

But “End Of Night”… Now that Top Forty is not solely the province of beats, there just might be an open door. It’s not Gotye, it’s not “Ho Hey,” it’s not novelty, but “End Of Night” is so RIGHT!

I feel nothing
When you cry
I hear nothing
See no need to reply

They always ask forgiveness. I don’t believe in it. Of course for minor transgressions, but when they’re lying, cheating scumbags I’m shaken to the core. I’m a PERSON! I know you’ve got desires, I know you’ve got your unhappiness, but don’t you know you’re hurting my feelings, that I will never recover from this? I used to be a trusting person, but after my divorce I became gun-shy. What exactly is your motivation? You can say anything, but is it true? Can I count on you?

And you know what happens? We end up counting on NOTHING AND NOBODY!

That’s the dirty little secret of getting older. The attrition. The bad experiences that make it so you circle the wagons around yourself. We baby boomers are all free, but we’re all screwed up, we were sold a bill of goods, we were told it was better to follow our desires than honor commitments.

Then again, too many enter commitments on a whim.

So what you’ve got is a guy who’s pushing sixty who trusts inert objects more than human beings. They’ve got no agenda. They’re frozen. I can wrap my ears and arms around them and salve my wounds.

I can smile now
And turn away
Come over here
So you can see me walk away

I get it. But I don’t believe it. You can never get them out of your brain, can never forget that you used to lie together, physically and emotionally connected. The burns eventually cause you to separate physically, but inside you still long for the other person. Don’t believe conventional wisdom, you never get over ANYBODY you have sex with. They’re stuck to you, in some weird twist on DNA.

I go through life living too much in the past, the way it once was, when I still had my hopes and dreams and the healthy body of a twenty year old.

But those days are gone.

And I won’t put my faith in false goods, false answers, false gods. Everybody tells me to lower my standards and embrace that which is nowhere near as good as what came before. We’re living in a golden age of television, but music is a vast wasteland of substandard goods that everybody touts as great because the young are too ignorant to know what they missed.

And then something reaches my ears and rekindles my faith. Makes me want to live forever. To see what comes next. I’m optimistic. Sinews start to reform my trust. I don’t want to go to sleep and can’t wait to get up in the morning. I can’t wait to embrace and eat up life.

That’s the power of a hit record.

And a hit is not something the record company runs up the chart that we listen to for a few months and forget, no, a hit record is something that attaches itself to you and infects you like a virus, something that can’t be shaken, that lives with you forever. Sure, the initial wonderment wears off, but every time you hear the cut it still works, because of its juicy essence and the way it affects you.

And to tell you the truth, “Girl Who Got Away” affects me this way more.

But “Girl Who Got Away” is missing something. It needs another ten or fifteen percent, despite its phenomenal sound and lyrics. Whereas “End Of Night” is fully baked, which is why I’m telling you about it now.

Don’t dial it up and tell me you’re a punk, don’t let me know about your tattoos and piercings, deep inside you’re just like me, little Tommy or Julie on the playground, your look is just an affectation, you’re wearing your alienation as a badge to ward the rest of us away. But the satisfaction and satiation arrives from coming a little bit closer.

If only I could catch you on a late night drive. Slip “End Of Night” in the stream coming out of your speakers. Then you’d get it.

You see, when done right, music brings us together, with the artist and the other listeners who get it. That’s the job of the radio station, of the curator, to find tracks that hit us emotionally, touch something that can’t be described, which is the essence of human life and connection.

That’s what’s in “End Of Night.”

Come on, celebrate! It’s the “End Of Night”!

I feel nothing
When you cry
I hear nothing
See no need to reply
I can smile now
And turn away
Come over here
So you can see me walk away
And celebrate
The end of night
THE END OF NIGHT!

Dido – End of Night