1. Fame is fleeting.

Used to be very few could get through the sieve, now with fame up for grabs, from reality TV to YouTube, it’s easy to break through, but nearly impossible to sustain.

2. Quality counts.

If you want to have longevity. It’s too hard to game the system, too hard to stay on top, in the public eye, your best bet is to focus on the work.

3. Talent is not god-given.

You have to do the work, there’s no way around it.

You can spearhead the production of the usual suspects, in other words, Max Martin and Dr. Luke can make you a star, but they can’t keep you there, hell, they’re doing their best to stay on top themselves, because almost no one does, from Giorgio Moroder to Mike Chapman to Scott Storch hitmakers have their time and then it ends. Fashion changes, tastes change, generations change. Instead of getting plastic surgery and playing to the young ‘uns, it’s best to cater to your core audience, which will spread the word for you. Yes, parents turn their kids on to their favorite acts, and these are never one hit wonders, but those who have longevity.

4. Spamming is irrelevant.

It makes you feel good to get the message out, but no one is paying attention.

It is not a numbers game. It’s all about being personal. One personal e-mail to a tastemaker is more important than a generic press release sent to a hundred people from a list you found online. The personal touch is everything. And in this era, the written word is everything. First, know how to type. Second, know how to spell. Third, know grammar. Fourth, be able to tell a story. Fifth, don’t get frustrated when you get no response. People remember personal e-mails, they can pay dividends down the line. But it’s always best to focus on the work more than the marketing. And if you don’t know how to use spellcheck, if you haven’t got the time for spellcheck, tastemakers have no time for you. Hell, I know people who pick online dates based on the spelling errors. Yup, you can have a great picture, but if you don’t know how to spell, these women want nothing to do with you. In other words, school is not for pussies. And if your educational institution isn’t living up to your needs, switch. Every elite educational institution has scholarships, it’s your duty to find out about them, it’s your duty to lift yourself up.

5. Don’t chase trends.

What’s here today may be gone tomorrow.

6. Ignore the haters.

Easier said than done. But you know when criticism resonates. None of us are perfect, we can all improve, we all make mistakes. But let me be clear, ignore the haters, ignore advice unless you’re asking for it. If you ask for someone’s time and you hate on them because they don’t love your production, you’re missing the point. If you don’t have enough confidence in your work to ignore the critics, you’re going to have a very rough road. This does not mean your stuff is good. I’m just saying breakthrough work is usually rejected at first. But there’s very little mainstream breakthrough work out there.

7. The news cycle is 24/7.

You’ve got one shot at publicity, then you’re history. So if you’re relying on publicity, your odds are low. You want to bubble up from the bottom, not float down from the top.

8. True fans are worth more than news coverage.

You can show your mother you’re in the paper, but most people reading about you, if they do at all, just don’t care. You want active users, not passive people. You want fans who embrace and champion you.

9. Just because you made it, don’t assume anyone is interested in it.

Don’t be a child showing his parent his feces. Your work is not that important, we’re all on the planet trying to get along. Push is dead, you want pull. You want to create something so good it sells itself. Which I know is almost impossible, but those are the odds you’re up against.

10. Money comes late.

Success is slow. And when you get it, if you overcharge, you shorten your career. There’s plenty of money to be made in the long run if you don’t make money your number one priority.

11. Major labels want radio hits.

They want the easy sell. Unless you can get on radio, immediately, the major label doesn’t want you. Period.

12. You need hits.

A hit is something so entrancing, so catchy, it ripples through the public. Just because your music does not fit the format, that does not mean it can’t go viral. That’s the essence of PSY’s “Gangnam Style.”

13. Me-too.

There’s an audience for me-too, but you want to be me-first. That’s why the classic rock era was so classic, none of the bands sounded alike. That’s one thing wrong with the younger generation, they date in groups, they want to be a member of the club, individuality is shunned. But when it comes to lasting art, individuality is key.

Check this out:

“Mick’s Message to the Bay Area”

It’s like a bad SNL skit, a bozo politician doing an inadequate job of reading from the Teleprompter.

And how about this from the Echoplex:

The Rolling Stones – Echoplex – You Got Me Rocking/ Respectable/ She’s So Cold

That’s the video on the Stones’ official YouTube page. Listen to Keith’s solo starting around :35, if you’re not laughing, you’re used to hearing your three year old play the guitar.

How did they get it so wrong?

You know the drill… You play the Super Bowl and you put up the shows the next morning, while the memory is still fresh in the public’s brain, before people forget the hype and excitement of the moment. Hell, I can’t even remember who won last year’s Super Bowl, I’ve just about forgotten “Argo” won Best Picture. We’re inundated with so much information, the news cycle is so fast, that if you don’t capitalize on your fame in days, you’re missing out.

So the Stones do their fiftieth anniversary shows last fall.

It’s kind of like Zeppelin at the 02. There may never be another show, you’ve got to overpay to go now, to be part of the excitement. And then MONTHS later, when there’s no buzz whatsoever, the band puts up shows at the same inflated ticket prices. Huh?

Where’s the manager?

There is none.

And you need one. An act without a manager is like an attorney representing himself, he’s got a fool for a client. You need a third eye, an opinion from outside the maelstrom, to give you perspective.

The entire Rolling Stones YouTube page …was an afterthought. How do I know? Because the views are so low. Remember when the Stones used to premiere videos on TV, how they used to work the public into a frenzy? Now there is no frenzy, there’s no cook creating the perception that if you don’t go, you’re a loser. All you see is greed.

And if you’re that damn greedy, do it like the rest of the superstars. Scalp your own tickets.

That’s the Michael Cohl model. We pay you a lump sum, and you can’t ask how we got that money.

But for prior tours, Cohl had a team of experts, a seamless machine, selling fan club memberships and merch and raking up the capital. This tour is a positively last minute venture with no vision and even poorer execution.

1. Perception Is Everything In The Music Business

Yes, the tickets could theoretically be worth $600, but if you ask for that much, you’re separating yourself from your audience. Sell platinum tickets with B.S. perks, a laminate and the ability to meet Ron Wood or some other superfluous member of the band (I’d say Charlie, but I’m not sure he can speak.)

You build your fan base not on the rich who can pay anything, but the poor who can’t afford much. Yes, in today’s rich versus poor society, and if you don’t think there’s class warfare, you didn’t notice that Obama got reelected, you have to appear to be one of the people if you want to sell to the people. There are not enough 1%ers to fill arenas at these prices.

2. Ticketmaster

The public hates Ticketmaster, even though everybody in the business knows it’s a front for the acts. Yup, those inflated fees go to the promoter, the buildings, on previous tours even to the Stones. You need a scapegoat. But the Stones messed up here, there is no scapegoat, the blame falls squarely on their shoulders.

3. Don’t Be Afraid To Share The Money

You pay professional management its commission so you can make more money. It’s kind of like hiring an accountant…they don’t come cheap, but they save you more than their fee, because that’s what they do all day long, taxes. Mick Jagger is hobnobbing with his rich socialite buddies, he’s got no idea what’s going on in the music business, which seemingly changes every six months. He needed fresh, experienced eyes on this.

4. There Are No Secrets

The Stones, like Led Zeppelin, were built on mystery. But there is no mystery today. So either you can be like many old farts and restrict taping and photography, which is kind of like telling kids not to have sex, or you can embrace it. If the Stones are crappy live, they should have their official site filled with fan videos, which we all expect to be crappy. We then go to the show to hear the real deal, up close and personal. But when the official videos sound crappy…you think the band is.

5. Social

If you don’t embrace it, you can’t energize fans.

The Stones are playing to the mainstream press. And although their audience is the last vestige of those who pay attention to it, they should be tweeting and Facebooking to humanize themselves. It speaks to perception. They need to get down in the pit with their audience.

6. Scalping

Paperless. Sure, savvy scalpers can elude the system, then again, it would require a drop in ticket prices to generate excitement, and the Stones don’t seem willing to leave a single dollar on the table.

7. People Talk

Used to be everything was rumor and innuendo, and you didn’t hear much more than what your neighbors had to say, but now with the Internet people can not only read reports from around the world, they can interact with others.

8. Virality

That’s how you sell out a show. By getting everybody talking about it, making them fearful of missing it. There’s no virality here. Hell, look at the YouTube views!

9. Desperation

It’s anathema. It’s the same in music as it is in dating. If you need it that bad, we’re turned off. I received the following e-mails:

“Another thing that shows what a disaster this tour is/was is that they actually ANNOUNCED their previously secret/surprise special guests early in the day to try and build hype! The stones official account tweeted about Keith Urban and Gwen Stefani’s appearances early in the day. Why in the world would you do this if it was supposed to be a surprise other than to try and scramble to get people to come down? They were just reaching for anything at this point. Today they announced Tom Waits guest appearance for Oakland. What a joke.”

And:

“Twitter made big bucks last night. The feed was full of Twads and I mean 7-10 in a row time and time again, espousing all their special guests.”

It’s supposed to be a SURPRISE!

10. Flex Pricing

“Rolling Stones Concert Promoter On ‘Flex Pricing’ Ticket Strategy: ‘I Want the Brokers Pissed Off'”

Let’s assume this was AEG’s plan all along, WHY DIDN’T THEY TELL ANYBODY?

This is kind of like paying a grand for an airline ticket the week of and finding out if you’d booked a month in advance, it’d be $350. Don’t create a game without telling us the rules.

11. Lies

If you believe there were no $85 customers sitting next to $600 customers, you probably believe everything you read in the newspaper. You can tell the press whatever you want, and the people on the music beat, those who remain, who were not downsized out of existence, will print it. Because they want the access, they want the free tickets. That’s what the entire music press is built upon, access. But if you wouldn’t rather speak to a tech titan than a rocker, you own no smartphone and are unable to cogitate.

12. The Press

Read the “New York Times” article wherein it’s stated that Roger Ailes cut Geraldo Rivera’s mic when he was defending Obama on Fox. But it gets better, Benghazi was a big story because Fox hammered it.

Read the facts here:

“Behind the Scenes at Fox”

Then again, this is long after the fact. And the “Times” story is reporting on a book.

Which is why if you want to know what’s going on in music, you go to the web, the one place the Stones forgot to look.

13. “Rolling Stone” Cover Story

It’s supposed to come out BEFORE the tour begins. That’s like letting you flip through “Playboy” before asking for payment for the magazine. No, that’s like watching Internet porn, getting off, and then being asked to pay. Music is a sideshow, a carnival, which is why Colonel Tom Parker did so well for Elvis. And yes, he might have ripped Presley off, not gone to Europe for fear of being revealed to be an illegal alien, but Parker made and sustained his career. There’s yet to be a superstar without a great manager. Because performing and managing are two different skills!

14. You Come Out With Both Guns Blazing And Establish Your Narrative

The Stones have lost control of their story. Meglen didn’t come out and defend their ticketing practices until days after shows began.

15. Things Change

Just because you sold a ton of tickets yesterday, that does not mean you can sell a ton today. Yes, the Stones could have sold out no problem if every ticket was $85, and furthermore, scalpers for superstar shows beget tons of press about how impossible it is to get in, how expensive it is, which only burnishes an act’s image.

16. We All Want What We Can’t Have

We should be salivating and unable to get a ticket. Instead, everybody can attend, even up to the very last minute. It’s kind of like queuing up at the Apple Store for the latest product and finding out no one else is in line. Huh? The day one of Apple’s new products falls flat is the day the company’s done.

Once again, it all comes down to money.

Didn’t used to be that way, it used to be about music. And fame. And sex. You wanted to have sex with Mick Jagger. Do you want to have sex with that emaciated guy in the video above? Eek! Maybe, but only to be able to tell your friends!

The eighties were the height of fame, because that’s what TV gives you, ubiquity. Radio can’t compete.

And today it’s all about music. If you’re in it for the money, you’re in the wrong business. Follow Bono’s lead, become a venture capitalist.

And if you do decide to play music, get a great manager. Gene Simmons likes to bloviate how it’s all about the money, but without Bill Aucoin, he’d have none.

You’ve got to want it.

And you’ve got to be willing to do the work.

So I’m standing on stage at Jazz Fest watching Hall & Oates and it occurs to me the difference between them and all the acts I’d seen previously is they had hits, and the others did not. But what were the odds of Hall & Oates having a hit again?

Yes, Springsteen brought Gary U.S. Bonds back on to the chart, but then Mr. Bonds dropped right back into obscurity. Those latter day-comeback hits are creepy. And now, you can’t even have them. Because radio doesn’t want you, you’re too damn old.

So what you do you?

Cry in your beer and play your old hits.

No one’s as jaded as a baby boomer musician. Believing the good times were stolen from him by the Internet. As if oldsters always continued to top the chart.

So Hall & Oates are going through their hits.

And one thing that’s staggering is it’s not on hard drive. They’re really playing. Remember when kids took lessons in school, practiced, studied? Now everything is instant, if you’re not famous on your first track, cut moments after you picked up your instrument, you figure someone else is to blame.

But that’s not the way it used to be. Wow, you should have seen Irma Thomas fronting her funk/soul unit. But no one will form a big band anymore, they’re afraid they won’t get paid, that if you split the money up nine ways, there’ll be next to none left.

But Hall & Oates have got a big troupe. They’ve got a full sound. And that’s all a result of those damn hits. Like “Rich Girl,” “Kiss On My List,” “Private Eyes”…

They go on and on.

And Daryl Hall knows he’s got to play them every night. But he mixes up some of the other songs, and he says “Sara Smile” and “She’s Gone” are truly fresh every performance.

So I’m talking to Daryl in his dressing room…

Yes, that’s one of the perks of being me. And being me, I know this is not the best time, because he’s still amped up on the energy. You’ve got to screw yourself up to deliver, and it takes hours to come down.

You see I’m standing on stage thinking about the unlikelihood of the band having another hit and I realize Daryl Hall found a way out. Via his TV show, “Live From Daryl’s House.”

How did it come about?

Daryl and T-Bone Wolk b.s.’ing. All the good ideas arise when you’re relaxing, in the shower, doing something else.

And unlike most people, Daryl said LET’S DO IT!

And he paid for it himself.

If you think this is common, you know no musicians. Musicians need someone else to pay. Hopefully a label.

But Daryl laid down 40k a show…OF HIS OWN MONEY!

Are you willing to do this?

This is the number one e-mail I get, after LISTEN TO MY MUSIC AND WRITE ABOUT IT!, where can I find some money?

Look inside your wallet. Wanna steer your own career? Pay for it. And now, more than ever in the modern era, no one else is gonna pay.

Palladia’s paying Daryl now, but that’s years later.

Yes, today you’ve got to stick it out so long you don’t know whether you’re on the road or in the ditch to ultimately discover if what you’ve got is real.

But it doesn’t stop there…with “Live From Daryl’s House,” with its new acts and food.

Yes, new acts. That’s how Daryl Hall keeps current! Wasn’t his intention, but if you get on the road, it’s the detours, the unexpected, that will pay dividends.

Daryl didn’t have a master plan. He just started.

Which is exactly what you need to do.

So, without a single new hit, without chasing the dragon, Daryl Hall made himself relevant today.

But, there’s more!

He’s got a show coming up on the DIY channel, wherein he restores an historic house.

Huh?

Daryl’s done a bunch of these. He restored the house you see on “Live From Daryl’s House.” Actually, that’s two put together!

But he just sold it.

Now he bought an old house in Sherman, Connecticut, and his redo is what makes the DIY show.

How does Daryl know how to do it?

His family is made up of musicians and builders.

You’re all about your roots.

And he bought a club across the river in New York. Yes, Daryl Hall is going into the club business!

Huh?

That’s a terrible business!

But he’s got an experienced partner and he’s got the acts appearing on his TV show and he’s gonna go for it.

In other words, you’ve got to say yes as opposed to no.

And the successful never stop working.

Those hits didn’t come by accident. Daryl Hall dedicated enough time to get there, do you?

P.S. I spoke with John Oates too. He just cut 18 singles in Nashville, with everyone from Vince Gill to Hot Chelle Rae. There’s no need for an album. And making singles, they can all sound different. And he’s playing Bonnaroo with Jim James. That’s the new game, going on an adventure, not plotting it all out in advance, but just doing.

P.P.S. I told John he needed to tweet, he needed to know who his audience was. He was reluctant, but this is now part of the game. You’re not an actor, you don’t have to make expensive MTV-style videos, but you do have to be in contact with your audience, otherwise they won’t know you have new stuff out, they won’t be able to support it!

P.P.P.S. The food at Jazz Fest is cheap! Nothing’s ten bucks. So you can sample. I wish the rest of the venues would follow their lead. Ate a great muffaletta!

P.P.P.P.S. Could have listened to Del McCoury being interviewed all damn day. Ellis Marsalis tickled the ivories and I was enraptured. John McHugh hipped me to the Pine Leaf Boys. Music is social. Hell, I checked out stuff mainly because it was favorited on the Jazz Fest app!

P.P.P.P.P.S. Daryl went on Stern and views for “Live From Daryl’s House” jumped. Make Howard your number one stop. Assuming he’ll have you. Assuming, like Daryl Hall, you’re willing to be honest.

 The Rolling Stones – 50 & Counting Opening Night – Los Angeles Staples…

Utterly LAUGHABLE!

And this is the OFFICIAL CHANNEL!

Is someone brain dead there? It’s almost impossible to watch this video and have a desire to go, talk about revealing the clueless men behind the curtain.

This is the Stones. A band that can’t even play “The Last Time” as well as you did in middle school.

In case you’ve been buried in a hole, the Stones got rid of all those high-priced seats by blowing them out for $85. Four digits worth.

Doubt me?

Just read these tweets from Wes Brodsky (@WesBrodsky):

@Lefsetz how right you were… Look at the $85 ticket line at Staples for Rolling Stones. Slashed everything last min pic.twitter.com/x9Lh0q45OC

— Wes Brodsky (@WesBrodsky) May 4, 2013

@Lefsetz btw that line wraps around 3 times. Must be 2-3k tickets that got released at the $85 price point

— Wes Brodsky (@WesBrodsky) May 4, 2013

That pic is stunning.

Then again, that’s how it used to be, back when concert tickets cost 3, 4 and 5 dollars. Before greed turned everybody into a bottom-fisher.

In other words, these people would have gone for a reasonable price, they wanted to attend, but not for $600.

Meanwhile, they couldn’t even bake in the fees?

I mean even the Eagles, who broke the triple digit ducat figure, don’t have the chutzpah to charge extra, they include the fees in the ticket price.

But the dirty little secret is the twenty seven to forty bucks in fees are promoter profit.

In other words, the Stones are not part of the solution, but part of the PROBLEM!

And is anybody really gonna pay $600 for a ticket after this? Or are they just gonna wait for the bargain? This is how Ron Johnson lost his job running J.C. Penney, by trying to turn a second-rate brand based on discounts into his previous employer, Apple.

But even Apple doesn’t insult you with prices this high.

Yup, you can see the Stones or buy an iPad, which will give you years of functionality, well, at least until the Cupertino company supersedes the model you’ve got, unlike the Stones, who’ve been playing the same old songs for decades.

And I got this interesting e-mail from a scalper:

From: Brad Coombs
Re: Stones Tickets

Bob:

A few observations from my brother-in-law at Circle City Tickets, in Indianapolis.

Brad,

He’s right on everything about how the markets work and that eventually people just say screw it I’m not going.

With social media if people are thinking that way it only takes a short time to get a “tipping point” where virtually no one new is going and the sales just stop.  You’ll always have the die-hards that will find a way to go no matter what but after that a lot of people only go so as not to be out of the loop socially.

Thanks for forwarding.

Mike

Mike Peduto
Circle City Tickets

Yup, resellers know the game better than the Stones!

But come on, if the above video isn’t taken down by time you read this, I’d be stunned.

There’s no energy. The crowd looks like a parody of the seventies. The band is so thin they make Gwen Stefani look fat, and she looks like she stepped onto the set of “Cocoon,” and she sucks besides…well, she adds nothing. Why didn’t the band get someone their own age? It’s not like the audience cares about Stefani, maybe only the press. Where was Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy? Fergie worked on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame special because that was made for everybody, for HBO, not fans.

So if anybody who was at this show says it was great, they’re lying. Because we have evidence. This horrible video.

The Stones shouldn’t have gone out at all.

They’re a laughingstock.

Video may have killed the radio star, but social media and the Internet put a stake in the heart of the Rolling Stones, who should have quit while they were ahead, kept their money and stayed home.

They’re an insult to history.

They rehearsed?

Paul McCartney is better in his SLEEP!