Blog: Pandora and Artist Payments

He’s at it again.

Tim Westergren is not running a music service, but a religion. He expects his flock to follow him blindly, leaving their minds behind, all with the goal of lining his pockets.

He owns stock worth double digit millions, yet he’s complaining the company’s getting screwed. Who does this resonate with? Certainly not artists or listeners.

And now in this latest blog post he raves about how much obscure artists are making on his service so he can rationalize paying them less. Huh?

What he’s saying is if you let me pay less, the sphere will grow and you’ll make tons more money! Never mind that this is anathema to Pandora’s shareholders. You can only listen to one radio station at one time, whether terrestrial, satellite or Internet, people only have so many hours in a day, where are all these listening hours gonna come from? It’s kind of like the Internet. If I’m surfing all night, I can’t watch television. Hell, I oftentimes can’t even listen to music! Market share is everything, and Tim Westergren seems to be saying here that he’s willing to give up some of his. This is like Lucian Grainge giving away Parlophone if the European Commission would just approve the EMI merger… How duplicitous can you get?

If it’s all about money, why doesn’t Pandora add some commercials. That’s what their main competitor, terrestrial radio does, you’ve got to pay the bills somehow, there’s no free lunch. Just ask Facebook, we give up our data for that service.

As for Sirius XM, I love this e-mail I received:

“So, Tim Westergren doesn’t own the pipeline, doesn’t have to design and manufacture hardware (much less convince auto manufacturers to install it) and doesn’t pay for upkeep on a network of satellites? Cry me a river.”

Mojo Bone

Tim’s got a fraction of the costs of his competition, but he wants the same deal. A level playing field? Tim wants full-blown TILT!

This is why the music industry hates technologists. Self-satisfied pricks like Tim Westergren who believe they’re entitled to make a huge profit off the hard work of others, in this case the copyrighted material known as music. And he rationalizes it by saying it’s good for the public. Isn’t that like saying free food is good for the public? And free cable TV? But who’s gonna pay to grow staples and lay the pipe?

Why are all these techies so delusional?

Yes, the music industry has been too slow to license.

Yes, it tends to extract its pound of flesh.

But your way into copyright holders’ hearts is by proving you’re going to make them more money. And that’s not what Tim Westergren is doing here, he’s just lobbying on behalf of his shareholders.

The road to the economic future of the music business is riddled with potholes and conundrums. But in order to succeed in delivering a better model, we must work together, all sides must be included, creators, distributors, exhibitors and the public. The industry lost credibility and revenue by refusing to put the public in its equation. Now Tim Westergren wants to push the creators down to help him, not even the public. This is not a solution, this is heresy!

This is the number one album on iTunes as I write this:

“The Heist” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

It contains the song “Jimmy Iovine.” You can hear it here:

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Jimmy Iovine (feat. Ab-Soul)

You can read the lyrics here:

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Jimmy Iovine Lyrics

Although there are references to Jimmy earlier in the track, at the end the lyrics are:

Now I’m sorry, I’ve had a long day
Remind me, now what’s your name?
That’s right, Macklemore
Of course, today has been crazy
Anyway, you ready?
We’ll give you a hundred thousand dollars
After your album comes out we’ll need back that money that you borrowed
So it’s really like a loan
A loan? Come on, no
We’re a team, 360 degrees, we will reach your goals
You’ll get it done in the merch that you sell out on the road
Along with the third of the money you make when you’re out doing your show
Manager gets 20, booking agent gets 10
So shit, after taxes you and Ryan have 7% to split
That’s not bad, I’ve seen a lot worse
No one will give you a better offer than us
I replied I appreciate the offer, thought that this is what I wanted
Rather be a starving artist than succeed at getting fucked

Although this song is specifically about Jimmy Iovine, it could be any record label honcho. You see the label and its execs need the money, to protect their lifestyle, to try and succeed in their failing race to keep up with the bankers. Selling recorded music ain’t what it used to be, and they’re not gonna suffer, the acts must.

But what is fascinating is that the acts know it. And despite all the nitwits signing up for this misadventure, the purveyors of the number one album refuse. Because it’s a bad deal. They’re not stupid, they want to be bankers too.

And one can comment on the dog eat dog world the music business has become. There used to be cocaine for everybody, now that’s gone along with the private planes and the parties and the swag… But what’s more interesting is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have decided to strike out on their own, biting the hand that used to feed them.

Used to be in the music business if you said no, the powers-that-be would say they were going to destroy you, you’d never be successful. But Jimmy Iovine is powerless against Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Now, artists are in control of their own destiny, if they choose to be.

We’ve heard continuously this century that no act has broken via the Internet, that radio is still king, that you need a major label to succeed. But we keep getting exceptions. They’re more frequent than ever.

This is the future. Doing it for yourself. Or doing it with someone who deals with you equitably.

This isn’t Jimmy Iovine’s worst nightmare, it’s Warner, Sony and Universal’s. Jimmy’s already exited the building, with Beats. Then again, Beats ankled Monster, Beats is purely a marketing label, not a technology company, will this hurt them as technology companies enter the marketplace, as HTC, its deep pocket, fades into the rearview mirror?

One thing Bob Dylan got right, the times certainly are-a-changin’.

I don’t believe it.

And even a cursory read of Wikipedia tells you it’s not true. Hell, this is a guy who toured Australia with Midnight Oil!

Did you watch the “60 Minutes” piece? I’m loath to write this because Rodriguez appears to be such a humble, good-hearted soul. But the bastards promoting this movie are not. Hell, they even duped CBS news.

I haven’t seen the movie. I will. But from square one it smelled bad. You mean a guy was hit in South Africa and didn’t know it and labored in obscurity for decades, until some filmmaker in Sweden found out about it and made a movie?

Let’s start there. With the filmmaker. He was looking for a story. That’s what studios do. They swoop down and buy the rights to books, to real-life events, all in the pursuit of cash. That’s why this guy made the movie, for his own personal glory. It’s not like this story was near and dear to his heart, he just needed a story!

And then he gets it into Sundance, who knows what shenanigans he effected to pull this off, and the company that bought the film has been spinning tales for months, trying to get you to go to the theatre so they can get rich. They don’t care about Rodriguez, they just care about your cash.

And you love a feel good story. So you spread the word. You’re doing their work for them. To the point where even weasels like me are afraid to rain on your parade, because of the tsunami of b.s. that’s gonna come down on me as soon as I hit send.

This is old school marketing at its worst. This is why both the right wing and left wing can get away with excoriating mainstream media. “60 Minutes”… Did you just surrender to the hype? Did you do no personal investigation? Did you not want to ruin the arc of the story?

This is no different from Jonah Lehrer. The truth is messy, it’s hard to compartmentalize, it twists and turns and almost never results in a perfect story. If “60 Minutes” said Rodriguez toured Australia with Midnight Oil, that his records were rereleased by Sony long before this movie came out, the story wouldn’t work. But what’s even worse is these facts are hiding in plain sight and “60 Minutes” didn’t even do the research. It’s kind of like my old friend Tony Wilson, who screwed up the football scores in his first TV news gig. His boss almost fired him, not because anybody cared about the results of this minor game, but if the station couldn’t get it right on this trivial matter, viewers wouldn’t trust them on the big issues.

Kind of like the “New York Times.” When Judith Miller supported invasion of Iraq because she liked the access to the Republican brass. They snowed her, she got it wrong, and now even liberals take the “Times” with a grain of salt.

Then again, there are numerous news outlets who refuse to fall on their sword, who won’t admit they’re wrong, like the “Times” did in that case.

In the Internet era, you can’t mess with the facts. Lehrer’s book was in release for months before he got busted, not by a major news outlet, but an essentially unknown Dylan fanatic. The truth always outs. And self-satisfied old wave news outlets decrease in revenue and power when they refuse to search for truth and just publicize press releases.

I love it that this guy made so much of the movie on his iPhone, but that’s probably a lie too…

I love that Rodriguez is getting recognition.

But I hate being manipulated.

Call it fiction. Write a story from scratch. But when you do a documentary, when you do TV news, you’ve got to present all the facts.

Or else you just become a laughingstock.

Like “60 Minutes.”

P.S. Hell, he was sampled by Nas back in 2001. “Sugar Man” was featured in the film “Candy,” released in 2006, starring Heath Ledger. This guy wasn’t hiding, he was in plain sight!

Rodriguez Wikipedia entry

Rodriguez discography

1. Mumford & Sons “Babel”

Sales this week: 599,915
Debut

The revolution has begun! And it will not be televised!

You’ve waited a long time, ever since 1999, when Napster reared its ugly head until a year later when everybody found out about it and shortly thereafter when everybody else got a high speed connection to play. We’ve heard the doomsayers prognosticate, music is finished, but as the Carpenters so eloquently sang, we’ve only just begun.

Credit Daniel Glass. Someone without a private plane who shows up in more places than Coran Capshaw, who has one. Wanna learn a rock and roll lesson? Daniel started out as a DJ, at Regine’s! Do you even know what Regine’s is/was? If not, you’re blowing it. Music is all about history and influences, read up.

And skipping a few chapters he was then a promo guy at Chrysalis. Ditto at SBK, ultimately morphing into head of EMI. And then he went to work for Doug Morris at Universal. Then indie. Then with Danny Goldberg he ran Artemis, until that ran out of steam. And now he’s triumphant, when his hair has finally turned gray but he can still run a marathon. And you expect to be successful before your pubes grow in? And what is success? One and done? If you want to last in this business, you’re gonna have tons of ups and downs. It’s about character as much as skills. Can you build relationships, learn the game, adjust to change, continue to risk?

But to give Daniel all the credit would be missing the point. Because we all know it comes down to the music. And that’s where Mumford shines.

They don’t dance. They don’t wear designer clothing. They don’t do beer commercials. They underplay and undercharge. They do everything the complainers say you cannot.

And then they blow up the chart.

The big story has been that the album was available on Spotify yet still sold a ton. That’s missing the point. If you think digital sales are the future, you’re still watching TV on a cathode ray tube. It’s not only music that’s in the cloud, everything’s on demand all the time. Ever notice that laptop storage is getting smaller? You used to want a big hard drive, now you just want a modicum of speedy flash.

But Daniel and Mumford have it right. In truth, this number is irrelevant. It’s all about mindshare. Being available. For far too long the music business has been like a carnival. Pay first, get screwed second. You’ve got to trust your audience. You’ve got to be available. If you think being on Spotify hurts your sales, you’re completely missing the point.

But this is not about Spotify. This is about music. That sounds nothing like the Dr. Luke/Max Martin fake drum Top Forty drivel. Turns out there’s a huge market for an alterna-sound. Before the Net, if you couldn’t sign to a major label and get on the radio or TV, you were finished. Now MTV is not about music and if radio were so powerful, a different album would have racked up these sales.

This is only the beginning. Careers are now in the hands of the audience. That’s who spread the word on Mumford. It wasn’t a top-down media campaign, but a grass roots thing. People bought the album because they needed to belong, it was a badge of honor. Remember that, when you defined yourself based on musicians?

How can you define yourself by someone who’s beholden to corporations and puts music second?

You can’t.

Which is why music has been heading for the dumper.

But no longer…

(“Babel” is the biggest SoundScan chart debut of the year. One out of ten Spotify users played a song from the album in its initial week, for a total of 8 million streams, a record.)

2. Green Day “Uno!”

Sales this week: 138,686
Debut

You can’t say there wasn’t enough publicity. We’ve been hearing about the three albums for more than three months and Billie Joe’s meltdown at the iHeartRadio Festival got major press, as did his subsequent entry into rehab.

But none of that has anything to do with music.

If you want to sell records, if you want people to listen to your music on Spotify, you must focus on the tunes first. Green Day was so busy being on Broadway that they lost their audience’s focus. People were no longer hungry for what came next.

Let this be a lesson to you. If you’re a musician, focus on music, forget the rest!

3. No Doubt “Push & Shove”

Sales this week: 114,911
Debut

They’re an oldies act!

Wow, isn’t that scary. Gwen Stefani’s not even that old.

They waited too long. Gwen’s now your mother, not your friend.

This is the modern world. Create all the time, have music in the marketplace all the time. Isn’t that what Kanye does?

17. Bob Dylan “Tempest”

Sales this week: 19,198
Percentage change: -46
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 164,781

Bob’s on Spotify.

This is an anemic cume. We live in a country of 300 million, 165,000 is like the number of kids in detention at any given time. That’s the modern music business. The media cares, the audience does not. Which is why you have to make it easy for the audience. That’s why you’ve got to be on Spotify, that’s why you’ve got to do everything new.

If you’re only in it for the money, wait for the turning point, when everybody else is already in, like Zeppelin and the Beatles did with iTunes. But those bands are dead. If you’re alive, you’ve got to catch the wave and ride the curl. Otherwise, people forget you, and there’s nothing worse than that.

20. Carly Rae Jepsen “Kiss”

Sales this week: 16,084
Percentage change: -65
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 61,771

She’s a singles act! There never should have been an album, and if there was, it should have come out when the single was hot, even if it was a compilation of goose farts, people don’t buy the albums of these one hit wonders based on quality, they’re sheer impulse items for nagging kids who know no better.

Why’d she waste her time with an album?

She should only be focusing on hit singles.

And so should you.

Because if Carly Rae Jepsen can be ignored, after having the hottest track of the summer, you’re not even on the radar screen.

24. Justin Bieber “Believe”

Sales this week: 14,869
Percentage change: -6
Weeks on: 15
Cume: 902,145

Mumford’s bigger than Bieber! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

But the reason I’m writing this is I just can’t believe there’s no traction about Bieber scalping his own tickets. The audience is busy hating Ticketmaster and the media won’t pick up on the story.

David Carr! You brought down the “Tribune” brass with one front page “New York Times” story… Can you do one on ticketing?

Then again, it’s the “Tribune” brass that fired the execs. Who has power over the acts?

No one but the fans.

And the fans don’t want to believe their heroes are guilty, because then they’ve truly got nothing to believe in. No politicians, no bankers… They’re just broke chumps.

That’s what artists are… Repositories for hopes and dreams. Take your mission very seriously.

Justin Bieber, despite all his protestations, is not.

And in case you missed the story, once again, it’s here:

“Documents Show ‘Bieber Is Scalping His Own Tickets”

29. Matchbox Twenty “North”

Sales this week: 13.254
Percentage change: -29
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 154,990

Why?

If you’re a radio band, you only need a single.

Otherwise, you’re a touring band.

Do I really think Matchbox Twenty is gonna grind it out doing 250 dates a year, not only this year, but next?

Of course not.

The album, which is actually good, was a circle jerk. Led by the band, the producer and the label. They didn’t know what better to do. It’s like Microsoft rewriting Office for desktops and ignoring tablets.

Once upon a time, artists were on the cutting edge. They were leaders. In tech, you snooze for six months and you’re history. In music, you take a multi-year vacation and come back doing the same old thing and expect it to work. Ridiculous!

78. Aimee Mann “Charmer”

Sales this week: 4,702
Percentage change: -63
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 17,536

Maybe she’s just not that good.

I love “Voices Carry,” and “That’s Just What You Are” from her solo career thereafter. But despite all the press hosannas, she doesn’t have a motivated fanbase. This is not Bonnie Raitt, who goes indie and her audience comes out in even greater numbers.

Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist. She’s talented and lovable. But my point is in the new game, if you’re not spectacularly great, you can barely make a living. I’m just pointing out the truth.

148. Richie Sambora “Aftermath Of The Low”

Sales this week: 2,927
Percentage change: +16
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 5,442

This is almost too sad to comment.

You wake up one day and you realize no one cares anymore. They see you as a memory, they just want to hear the old hits, you’re a nostalgia item.

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Don’t e-mail me and ask what your favorite band did. The only reason I wrote this is because of Mumford’s spectacular number. It’s an illustration that everything you thought you knew is wrong.

I’m fearful of Universal’s negotiating power with digital services, I am not afraid of their dominance of new music. Because they’re playing by an old metric, with far too many zeroes. They don’t realize it’s all about grass roots and getting lucky. If you’re chasing a hit, give up before you start.

And speaking of starting… Begin with the audience. I’m not saying you can’t woodshed at home, recording up a storm. I’m just saying if you want to have a growing career, see the landscape through the audience’s eyes.

They’re overwhelmed. Media is a sea of garbage. Except for young people and old execs, the radio/retail/press game is ignored. People have been burned too many times.

Assuming you’re good, and for the umpteenth time I will say you’re probably not, Aimee Mann and Richie Sambora could compose circles around you in their sleep and they can’t get arrested, what you’re looking for is a reaction. If you’ve got none, go back to the drawing board. If you play your music for someone and they don’t start jumping up and down, clamoring for more, you didn’t get it right. Not in a commercial sense. And by commercial I mean earning enough to eat. You wanna do it in private, think it’s great, be my guest. But unless you’re suddenly consumed by rabid fans asking for more, either give up or get ready for a very long journey.

That’s what you want. People so rabid to hear it that they spread it. That’s what broke Mumford. It wasn’t their tweeting or social networking, it was the honesty of their music and message, in a phony world, their fans couldn’t stop spreading the word.

But to follow Mumford you have to give up everything you know. You’ve got to stop going on singing shows. You’ve got to stop angling for a major label record deal. You’ve got to stop haranguing gatekeepers to give you a chance. It’s only you and your music, in a world that doesn’t need it. We need food and water, we don’t need your music, it’s a luxury item. But can you somehow make it necessary? Can it stand alone?

Advertising doesn’t sell ice cream, it’s the experience itself. It’s just so damn good… Let me tell you about Phish Food, mmm, with chocolate and marshmallow and little chocolate goldfish… You see what I’m doing? I’m salivating, I’m trying to convince you to try it, not because I’m being paid by Ben & Jerry’s but because I want you too to experience the joy. And then I want to be in a club of like-minded people with you. That’s the music game.