"I Love You Always Forever"
Donna Lewis

Some tracks you’re not supposed to like, but you LOVE THEM!

And this is one of them…

It’s that sound that begins at :39, like a synth running over the hills. It excites you, takes you out of this world and puts a smile on your face.

And the lyrics are such non sequiturs and so stupid that they work. Phrases are indelibly stuck in my brain…PALE AMBER ROSE?

And then there’s the line:

You’ve got the most unbelievable blue eyes…

Love is not something you see in magazines, it’s between two people when no one else is looking. You get close to another human being and marvel at their humanity, their uniqueness, their beauty.

And when the song explodes at 2:40…

Say you’ll love, love me forever
Never stop, never whatever
Near and far and always
And everywhere and everything

YOU’RE HOOKED!

As Donna Lewis sings this chorus again and again, the keyboard pounds, the electronic drums chirp, the vocals are doubled and tripled and you can’t help but smile and sing along.

And when it all breaks down, you realize you love this song always forever and need to play it again. And again.

"Just Another Day"
Jon Secada

By this time, we were sick of the SBK hit-making machine, infecting our brains with songs that were hooky but substandard, like "Ice Ice Baby" and "Pump Up The Jam".

But this is the best thing SBK ever released, except maybe for "Hold On" by Wilson Philips.

I, I don’t want to say it
I don’t want to find another way
Make it through the day without you

Whoa! That’s the most powerful pain in the universe, love lost. How do you get through? What distraction is gonna work, how can you trick your brain today, or should you just stay in bed and wallow in the pain?

I, I, I can’t resist
Trying to find exactly what I miss
It’s just another day without you

You keep turning it over in your mind. If only they’d come back and stop your brain from racing.

But they never do. You endure the pain until you find someone new.

"Smile A Little Smile For Me"
The Flying Machine

Sure, it’s sappy, almost bubble gum, but we’re all sentimental at heart. And this song has got a great singalong chorus. And even if you’re too self-conscious to sing along, you can’t help but nod your head.

Smile a little smile for me, Rose Marie

(And to be honest, I can’t help but think of the real Rose Marie, from "The Dick Van Dyke Show", every time I hear this track, both then and now.)

"The Letter"
The Arbors

It had already been a smash hit in the under two minute original by the Box Tops. But merely two years later this soft, psychedelicized version was a hit too.

Sure, it was toned down for the airwaves, but you could hear the drugs in the track. In an era where people wore flower shirts and everything was up for grabs, revolutionary was the norm. The spacy effect at the end is straight out of "Itchycoo Park", yet fully original.

"Some Kind Of Friend"
Barry Manilow

Once upon a time I hated everything he stood for. He started out with the Divine Miss M, but then he made it with endless bland numbers that were so saccharine, they gave listeners cavities.

But this one I liked…

Because of the reference to the Beachwood Cafe. Where I used to go for tuna melts and chocolate shakes. I didn’t think Barry could be that hip, I identified.

This could pass for the work of an English soft rocker.

It’s been completely forgotten, but it’s a magical record with none of the bombast Manilow was famous for.

"The Pied Piper"
Crispian St. Peters

We didn’t hate this back then, and we knew it, enduring all kinds of things waiting for the next Beatles song.

All these years later it brings back a ton of memories.

"I Love You"
The People

If it sounds like a Zombies record, it IS!

But the original was a bit too dark, a bit too left of center for American radio. We like our hits obvious and in the pocket, which the People version, released in ’68 as opposed to the original’s ’65, was.

The Zombies take is positively British. You see dark skies and skinny ties. Whereas the People version sounds like California. It’s made to be listened to in a windowless room by a group of people high on drugs.

The original was an exponent of the now faded British Invasion, the remake was made to fit into the canon of San Francisco.

But the Zombies take is better. It may be almost fifty years old, but it still sounds vital, as if the story the singer is telling just happened yesterday.

"Green Tambourine"
The Lemon Pipers

This was ersatz, straight people trying to be hip, but it was 1967, not 1969, and it contains so many hooks that it can’t be denied.

They say it’s the first bubble gum record. I’d argue it’s much more serious than that, not really lowest common denominator like the bubble gum crap, then again, I bought "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy". You can’t think about these things too long, you can’t be so proud you deny your instinct to jump up and dance when you hear these records. The lyrics might appear to be simple, but there are tons of changes, endearing vocals…if you’re too hip to like the records above you’re no friend of mine!

Spotify playlist

Previous Rhinofy playlists

My doctor’s a Republican. Seems hard to fathom until one contemplates how he got to his esteemed perch. Through a ton of hard work. He had to get good grades to get into a good college and had to repeat this process to get into a good medical school and become chief resident.

Still, despite now being chair of the department, he makes a small fraction of the salary of the man who runs the hospital.

But at least the race was defined. Becoming a doctor is a game. Difficult to play, but easy to define. Becoming a successful artist? That’s murky and we don’t need you. Everybody says they’re an artist, just listen to the track they created with GarageBand! And many are willing to play for free. And although we need health care, in a pinch, we could live without music.

I’m reading a book about the founder of DHL, Larry Hillblom.

He came from central California, farm country. He got good grades to get into a good law school, Boalt Hall, and to pay his bills, he became a courier.

Yup, he’d fly from the Bay Area to L.A., sleep in the airport and return the next day in time for class. As for his abode, he oftentimes didn’t have one, he slept in his car or crashed at a friend’s house.

And after graduating, while studying for the bar exam, Larry realized he could do it for himself, he could start his own courier business.

But he needed contacts. He went into partnership with a salesman from the old company. As for money… They started with nothing. And never got a big bank loan, never got a fat cat to invest. Finances were sketchy.

But nowhere near as sketchy as the development of their business.

Because once DHL achieved success (and in case you don’t know what DHL is, consider it to be a foreign Federal Express, before FedEx existed, never mind got into the overseas business), a competitor tried to put it out of business. Yes, Loomis, the armored car company.

But it gets worse. Loomis was tied into the government. They used their juice in Nixon’s administration to hobble DHL.

So what did DHL do?

It sued.

Well, it appealed. After losing in court and given months to remain in business.

But that’s an oversimplification. The government required a license as a freight forwarder that DHL did not need. This was the Loomis pressure. And the government told Hillblom to get rid of his foreign subsidiaries.

In other words, the government wanted to ruin his business.

And reading this, one does wonder if regulations are put in place to protect those already entrenched. It’s just like copyright law, where Disney got it extended seemingly forever and now you’ve got no right to mash-up Mickey Mouse in one of your projects.

But the point is there’s a fantasy that your career is going to be clear sailing. That you’re gonna get a VC or a record label to invest in you and make you happen.

WRONG!

The greatest successes come from those working the fringes, with ideas the mainstream can’t comprehend. And if you think it’s as simple as launching and you’re in the black… If you’re lucky, clients will clamor, but if they do, the big boys will want to put you out of business.

This is the story of Napster.

You might think it’s as simple as copyright infringement, but the truth is the labels have unclean hands. And want no progress. And just want to protect their monopoly.

Napster lost. But so did the labels.

Believing they’d triumphed, they rested on their laurels and then were eviscerated by not only YouTube, but Tunecore and iTunes, which allowed anybody to get their music distributed. You don’t see the majors suing Tunecore, they’ve got no case!

Becoming a winner is not a decision. You don’t look in the mirror and say "I’m smart enough, I want it enough, I deserve it."

That’s hogwash for pussies.

First and foremost you must prepare.

You don’t have to know how to read music to be successful, but it certainly helps. Larry Hillblom did not have to be a lawyer to make DHL a success, but the fact that he was one gave him insight into the process, and allowed him to chart a path to success.

And once you’re in the game, expect to be beaten down.

Sure, there’s the occasional artists who’s led a charmed life.

But most of them can tell stories of not only being ripped off, but pushed off. Lady Gaga lost her label deal. If you don’t know how disheartening that is, you’re still living in your mommy’s house and on her payroll. And then there are acts that despite the big push, don’t break through.

But there’s a certain sect of acts who just won’t give up.

If you think you’re good now, if you think you know everything, I’m laughing.

All those prepubescent acts. It’s got little to do with their talent and all to do with the machine. From Miley Cyrus to Justin Bieber to Willow Smith. Once the machine gives up on them, once they’re no longer a cash cow, they’re done. Can you say Leif Garrett?

You think it’s about your lucky break.

No, it’s about a series of breaks, and you can’t predict in advance which one is the one that will make a difference.

But even more than breaks, it’s about losses.

So, if you want to be a winner in this world, stay in school, play the game as hard as you can. Then you possibly can have the status of the M.D. above.

If you want to win in art, know that the odds of success are infinitesimal. And what you learn off the stage is just as important as what you learn on.

It takes a lot to make it. Outsiders may not be able to see the bruises, but they’re there. And they fade, but they’re never forgotten.

I believe in a safety net.

But despite the hoopla about welfare queens, no one living on the dole is doing well.

If you want to do well, in today’s winner take all society, you’ve got to do the work. When no one is paying attention, when no one cares. If you haven’t thought of giving up, you just haven’t tried hard enough. If you believe you should make it because everybody believes in you, you’re delusional.

If you realize music is a lonely pursuit and only the most dogged and talented have a chance of a lifelong career…you’ve got a chance.

"King Larry: The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius"

Apple is the Beatles of tech.

Once upon a time, the youth of America looked forward to the new releases of their favorite bands. Now they look forward to the latest from Apple.

Why is this?

1. Apple Surprises Us

A band would make the iPod and give up. Tour incessantly on the fumes of a ten year old device, charging us up the yin-yang for the privilege of reliving our youth.

The iPod is dead. It’s barely advertised. Like a band in the seventies, Apple’s playing its new album live, with only nodding reference to the hits. Why is it tech fans are interested in the new when you can’t get them to sit through anything they don’t know live? Furthermore, we’ve trained them not to want it live, to have it canned, so it’s perfect. Tablets are inherently messy devices. You install apps, you customize them, you get frustrated, you make them your own. Whereas every show of the major act is the same whether you see it in Detroit or San Diego, Tampa or Seattle. In a land where it’s all about having it your way, in music, the customer has no control.

2. Apple Innovates

The Beatles analogy fits because the band never repeated itself. We could not foresee "Sgt. Pepper" after "Revolver". Great artists take chances. No one takes chances in music anymore, they just repeat what they’ve done successfully, endlessly.

3. Bean Counters Come Last

Tim Cook may be an efficiency expert, but he knows he’s subservient to designer Jonny Ive and the engineers. It’s all about new products and risk. Whereas it’s all about the money in music. Every member of the infrastructure, from label to manager to agent, focuses on cash first. Do that endorsement! Take that sponsorship! Play in the biggest hall you can! Musicians are playing for their handlers as opposed to vice versa. Somehow, Clive Davis and Jimmy Iovine became bigger than the acts. Innovation is scary. Only creative people are willing to make the jump. To believe the suits will endorse your exploits is like believing your mother will be fine with you dropping out of college and hitchhiking to find yourself. But it’s when you’ve got your thumb stuck out, with the wind in your hair, that you learn, that you become inspired.

4. The Money Is Secondary To The Products

What I mean is everyone talks about the value of Apple stock, but it’s AFTER they speak about the products. Most people know about U2’s tour grosses, but they couldn’t care less about the band’s new music. Bruce Springsteen puts out a new album that’s dead on arrival. Our favorites have ceased to amaze us for so long, most of us have stopped paying attention. It’s like being excited over a new HP release, or caring about a new BlackBerry. Our trust has been eroded, we’ve given up on the past, we’re interested in the new.

Sure, everyone uses Apple products, red state and blue, rich and relatively poor, young and old. But once upon a time, everyone knew who the Beatles were, and were aware of both the Stones and Louis Armstrong. And you can credit the Top Forty radio of yore, but still the acts have abdicated their power. They got in bed with MTV, they became beholden to the labels, they bitched about people stealing their music, they completely marginalized themselves.

As for the newbies yelling loudly without talent… We see that game in tech all the time. We’ve started to tune the pronouncements out. Just like we won’t give your music a listen. We only have time for great, do you sell great?

And we want cool. Features we could not foresee. Like the ability to find your lost iPhone, iPad and Mac online. Apple didn’t need to include this feature, nor did they need to provide free iCloud services, but the company wanted to blow our minds, keep us paying attention and in the fold. Whereas all we hear from musicians is who they slept with and where they went on vacation.

The acts have to give up on the money. They lost that battle. Until America realigns, no musician can make the kind of money Tim Cook does, never mind Lloyd Blankfein. But instead of complaining about this, musicians should realize that power is not merely money based. Music has more power than any amount of cash. But it must be honest and true and new.

Lady Gaga marketed her second album better than she made it. Imagine if it had been an improvement upon what came before. If we didn’t hear Madonna’s "Express Yourself" in the single, but something that was completely unfamiliar.

But Gaga didn’t do this. And despite all the hoopla, most of America just doesn’t care about her. She’s the biggest of the marginal. Like the endlessly repeating himself Jay-Z. Kanye takes a few risks, but he’s such a narcissist, we’re turned off.

As for the rock acts… They’re repeating a formula, growing their hair to look the part. Huh? We’ve seen that movie before, we don’t care.

As for country… It’s just bad rock and roll. Country music sales dropped precipitously when the audience got computers and the sphere will be hugely impacted when terrestrial country radio tanks, which it will.

The Apple iPad announcement is bigger than any album this year. Bigger than Van Halen, Springsteen or… People were waiting for it, salivating. They talked about it. Anticipation was palpable.

This is the way it used to be in music.

Today I went inside the belly of the beast. I’m going to tell you what I learned.

A. BIGCHAMPAGNE

"All the innovation’s taking place on the edges."

Eric Garland

At least Live Nation knows this. Unlike the labels. That’s what is killing the latter, they’re just trying to hang on to what they’ve got, believing their history and deep pockets will allow them to maintain their dominance. Unfortunately, they’re going to be pecked to death by ducks. Having lost their distribution monopoly, the labels are being victimized by people they cannot see, who are stealing their business and will continue to do so. In other words, anybody can record a track and distribute it, and they see no reason to go into business with a major label unless they’re going to get Top Forty airplay, which is a narrow sphere which excludes most music makers. Furthermore, the majors are only interested in that which can get on the radio, and they’re blind to developing acts, which see no reason to give up so much action in a bad 360 deal wherein they get very little in return.

It’s different in the concert promotion world. Renting a hall, promoting a concert, that requires huge cash outlays most people can’t lay their hands on. And established acts don’t want to risk playing with newbies who might stiff them.

Eric Garland is a good twenty years younger than anybody running a major label. And those twenty years make all the difference. Garland grew up with computers, Doug Morris, Lucian Grainge and Lyor Cohen did not. Garland knows it’s hard to control the market, the goal is just to get in the way and try to gain some revenue.

There are a ton of innovators in the tech sphere. Unfortunately, most of them took VC money and have to generate a huge return. They’re run by techies as opposed to savvy music people. If you think Live Nation or AEG is just gonna cough up a ton of data to Songkick and the rest of the newbie players, you’re dreaming. Either those third parties have to come under the umbrella at a fair price, or they will eventually be marginalized.

B. The Mission

Garland/BigChampagne’s mission is to beef up livenation.com, to turn it into a destination unto itself. And the way they’re planning to do this is by creating a timeline of concerts, aggregating all the data in one site, tweets, youtube videos… Not only will you be able to talk with others about the upcoming show, you’ll be able to see clips of the show and what people are saying about it in real time.

The ultimate goal is to sell more advertising, turns out advertisers are champing at the bit.

There’s one iTunes, one Amazon, one Facebook. Can Live Nation create the definitive music site?

Someone will.

As per above, Eric Garland knows this. He has to worry less about the labels and AEG than unknown competitors. Which he must buy at a fair price or imitate, assuming they don’t have too much of a head start.

One thing you’ve got to know about Steve Jobs is he was not nice. Can Garland and his team be cutthroat enough, employ a scorched earth policy and own the sphere?

We’ll see.

TICKETMASTER

It’s all about the bots. TM is doubling down. It’s hired an expert to fight them. They know that it’s a war, but tests have shown a 95% effectiveness at keeping the bots out. No one else is investing here.

You can’t win in court. You can’t win with legislation. You’ve got to fight fire with fire.

Ticketmaster is all about the data. They repriced the season of one of America’s foremost baseball teams utilizing their models. They raised prices for football games, sold extras along with tickets. Consulting is a new area of revenue for TM. No one else is scaled at this level. This is how they’re planning on keeping clients, not by cutting fees, but by showing customers how they can make them more money via data.

As for the concept of soft on-sale dates/authorization… Nathan Hubbard said data shows people don’t want to guarantee payment unless you can show them exactly what ticket they’re buying, where they’re gonna sit.

In other words, the future is fighting the bots.

As for the game itself…

The Channel 4 documentary and the arrest of Vaccaro only helped Live Nation. Sure, Live Nation may not be completely innocent, but the more light shed on scalping and resale, the greater the chance for change, for acts to decide to go to paperless, like John Mayer, Kid Rock and Bruce Springsteen.

ELECTRONIC

How long does it last? That’s the question. Is electronic music the sound of 2011, with a cleanup year in 2012, and then it’s done? Or is it here to stay?

Perry Lavoisne says the deejays now want touring deals. Worldwide in many cases. They’re jumping from tents to arenas.

Furthermore, the deejays are investing in production when their competitors, the live acts, the bands, are pulling back. In other words, you get more bang for your buck with electronic.

Don’t be mesmerized by the media trumpeting "The Voice". That’s the mainstream stroking the mainstream. Electronic burgeoned without any mainstream attention whatsoever. It’s gonna happen in rock… All those bands outside the major label system will gain traction and succeed. But they won’t be the shoegazing fortysomethings, but the young ‘uns, the twentysomethings. (This last paragraph is my editorialization, as for LN, they’re bullish on electronic, all the building owners want in, they went on a road show and convinced them.)

AMPHITHEATERS

They said no in 2011, and it worked for them.

They’ve created an app, that models the gig. Based on history, similar acts, day of the week and more. There are multiple price points. More acts are paying attention, they want a full house.

The problem is too many old school agents and managers are focused on the bottom line, needing 450k on a weekday, not seeing that they can’t sell out and that it ultimately hurts the act.

We’re seeing the death of the old model and the birth of the new. Promoters are not to be trusted, but the adversarial relationship did not work.

ARENAS

The theory is you can make much more money if you own the building. This is true. But with so many buildings out there, they’re vying with each other, desperate for gigs. As a result, rebates are huge. Live Nation can make as much in many cases as if they owned the building.

MICHAEL RAPINO

Spoke less and made more sense than ever.

He says Wall Street plays by the quarter, everybody in the live sphere knows it’s about the year. And he likes the numbers, and they’re all public.

The growth is overseas. You can make money in Latin America now. Festivals are huge in Europe. Ticketmaster was not developed internationally, now that’s a goal. As well as updating the software thereof.

CONCLUSION ONE

Okay, now you’re sitting there believing I’ve been snowed. What about this? What about that?

Well, AEG is first and foremost a real estate play, with an emphasis on sports. Live Nation is in neither of those spheres. Live Nation believes that’s a winning strategy, as for what you believe…

The team… Assuming everybody will pay the same amount, it’s the extras that are closing clients, the sheer number of people working at Live Nation in the sponsorship and marketing departments, et al. This is the advantage the labels used to have, which they still have but is fading…scale.

Ticketing… You might be able to cut a better deal with a competitor, but can it do more than get the tickets sold on Saturday morning?

Discounting… To a great degree, this is act driven. Acts will not own their worth and Live Nation is forced to resort to deals, which hurts everybody.

CONCLUSION TWO

The acts have a right to be here, and nobody else does. That’s what Eric Garland said. Which is why your old buddy the radio promotion man is crying in his beer and there are many more people who used to work in music than do now. The acts generate the heat, they sell the tickets, Live Nation is further down the river, the company must innovate and adjust in order to maintain its advantage.

Which is why if you want to have a career in this business, be an act, or a techie. You’ve got to create. Intimidation is not what it once was. Nor are relationships. Show me how you can make me more money. Show me how you can help me. Give me more than a check, give me tools.

Live Nation is not indomitable.

But right now no one is in their game.

Live Nation is not resting on its laurels. It needs to play to win every damn day.

But the dirty little secret is concert promotion is a river of nickels as the "Wall Street Journal" so eloquently put it. Right now, I cannot see the big bang, the big breakthrough that generates a ton of cash. There’s no iPod/iPad/iPhone in the pipeline.

Maybe Eric Garland will come up with one.

But Rapino believes he’s righted the ship, increased profits, and since they’re the only public company in the game, they get all the heat.

Maybe concert promotion is not like tech, maybe it’s a steady business, albeit one with decent returns.

Then again, it’s kind of like music. There’s a limited amount of good stuff. Always has been, always will be. But if music becomes the new Facebook, the new iPad, if acts worry less about clothing and corporate endorsement and more about message…anything is possible.