On the front page of today’s "New York Times" there’s a fascinating story on the economic crisis in Europe.  The public is pissed.  The government and the banks ruined the economy and they’re supposed to pay for it?

This thinking is bubbling under the surface in America.  But it is rarely acknowledged.  The American paradigm is no longer we’re all in it together but I’m climbing over you to get mine and leave you behind.

The only problem is you depend on the little guy to pay your bills, to get by.  And if you alienate him, you’re in trouble.

Despite the brand names, oil companies and banks are essentially faceless.  Who exactly controls Exxon Mobil?  Damned if I know.  Sure, I’m aware of Lloyd Blankfein, and they’re parading a bunch of bankers in the media seemingly every day, but the average person is worried about one thing and one thing only…his job.

If you’re not worried about your job, you’re independently wealthy, you don’t have to work.  The rest of us are completely freaked out.  Demoralized that we cannot find work or frightened that the work we do won’t continue.

And you want to parade your rich lifestyle and charge insane prices for concert tickets so you can do your best to imitate Lloyd Blankfein?

It’s not only the artists, it’s the executives.  Exactly which side are Azoff and Rapino on.  Never mind Bronfman and Cohen. They’re running as fast as they can to keep up with their heroes, fat cats without household names who fly in private jets and vacation on private islands.  The people running these music companies don’t care about music, they care about money. And if you think this is untrue, just ask them to work for nothing.  Or even $100,000 a year.  They’ll laugh and pass, say they just can’t do it.

But that’s what you’ve got to do to be a successful artist today.  You’ve got to put money on the back burner, you’ve got to align yourself with your fans.  Ironically, by doing this you will ultimately get richer, because fans will believe in you.  Sounds a bit counterintuitive, but it’s not.

Artists are supposed to be leaders.  Now they look like tools.

Did you see the Forbes list of the highest paid musicians?  What do you think the public thinks of these people?  I’ll tell you one thing, they don’t think twice about stealing their music, hell, they’re ALREADY RICH!  They don’t think the artist is on their side.  If you truly want to be rich and successful, your goal is to hide your wealth, to stay off the "Forbes" list.  You want to make the public believe you’re in bed with them, that you feel their pain.

And speaking of that Clinton cliche, you’ve got to realize we’re not living in the nineties any longer.  When there was prosperity even into the tiniest nooks and crannies, the dash for cash was legitimized.  But when there’s financial and emotional and medical pain, it’s only a matter of time before the disadvantaged rebel.

Stay ahead of the curve.  Get on the side of the public TODAY!

Stop singing about your rich and famous lifestyle.  Drive that Benz (although you’re better off with a Prius), just don’t TELL anybody!

Charge not what the market can bear, but a fair price for concert tickets.  If Dave Matthews and Taylor Swift can do it, why can’t you?  As for the tickets ending up in the hands of scalpers…  There are ways to combat this, but even if you cannot, don’t lament that all the money doesn’t go to you, it’s an investment in your future.

Take the case of Pearl Jam.  Standing up to Ticketmaster and losing.

It was one of the best things that ever happened to the band.  People still talk about it today.  It fuels their career.  Pearl Jam was on OUR side.

As opposed to Metallica.  Sure, people should pay for music, but the band illustrated ignorance of the Internet and separated themselves from their fans.  You don’t get people on your side by labeling them crooks.  This stand still hurts Metallica to this day.

Take a stand against ticket fees.  Yup, be a band that delineates where every dollar in fees goes.  Ticketmaster may hate you, the promoter and the agent too, but if you can sell every ticket, they’re gonna play ball.  They want to get paid.  That’s the power of stardom.

Use that power for yourself.  Know that acts come and go, that no one on the inside is really on your team.  The only people who will give you the time of day after you’ve lost your record deal, your manager and your agent are your fans.  They’ll keep you in business if you play on their side.

Economics are complicated.  Balancing budgets may look like a good move, but they can hurt recovery.  The economy is fueled by individual spending.  If people don’t have jobs, they don’t spend money.  If they’re afraid of losing their jobs, they’re tight-fisted.  All this negatively impacts the economy.

But that’s not your mission, to fix the economy.

Your mission is to understand it, to your advantage.

Despite what the fat cats say we’re undergoing a worldwide transition, an incredible tumult fueled by the Internet.  The have-nots are rebelling against the haves all over the world.  The proletariat is feeling its power.  Hell, this is what happened in the last U.S. election.  People ousted the incumbents because they wanted change, they wanted jobs.  And Obama will have a hard time being reelected if he doesn’t produce jobs and right the economy.

And you’ll have a hard time having long term success if you chase the dollar, if you’re on the side of the rich and famous as opposed to the poor and unknown.

There are many more faceless middle class and poor people than rich people.  They can fuel your financial success if you respect them, if you play to them.

The time for cynicism is dead.  People are disillusioned, they’re sick of income inequality, what’s happened to our world, and they’re looking for someone to be on their side.

It’s not going to be Exxon Mobil.  Certainly not going to be Goldman Sachs.  It’s not even going to be Live Nation or Warner Music.

It’s going to be you, the artist.

You’re the leader.

And without an army, you’re nothing.

Your army is made up of the great unwashed looking for direction, leadership, a way out.  It’s your duty to pick up the mantle. And you get richer getting everybody to spend a few bucks than getting a few to spend many.  There’s plenty of money.

If you just don’t put money first.

"As Europeans Wince at Austerity, Markets Fear Turmoil"

"The World’s 25 Highest-Paid Musicians"

It’s toast!

Have you seen a PlayBook in the field?  They claim to have shipped 500,000…TO DISTRIBUTORS!  Middlemen own those tablets, not customers.

And speaking of customers, the story here is that the public leads.  So busy focusing on the demands of business, RIM missed the boat, all the exciting developments were in the consumer sphere and eventually those innovative devices bubbled up and business people wanted them and corporations just couldn’t say no.  People want iPhones and Androids.  Ever try to surf the Web on a BlackBerry?

I rest my case.

As for the apps, how come I can’t even see all the lines of the "New York Times" on my BlackBerry?  RIM can point to the "Times", claiming development issues with its app, but the bottom line is it just doesn’t work.  And the consumer expects everything to work, Apple taught them that.  That’s the problem Microsoft has got, that any competitor has with Apple.  It’s not the shiny hardware, it’s not even the marketing, but can I take your product off the shelf and does it work intuitively and will I have no problems?  And if I do, who do I talk to? Apple’s got that damn Genius Bar.  Free service.  That’s killing its competitors.  We all want someone to talk to.

But what bugs me here is the press giving RIM the benefit of the doubt.  So busy accepting what is said when anyone can see that the BlackBerry is dying, just leave your house, take a look around!

To not question 500,000 PlayBooks sold is to accept Groupon’s financials.  Yup, the deal site created its own metric, "adjusted CSOI", to make it look more appealing.

Really, read this report, it’s horrifying:

The Groupon I.P.O.: What Is Adjusted CSOI?

Let’s just call RIM dead and move on.  The same people who put faith in the PlayBook are the same people who said Palm was gonna make a comeback, and you see how that turned out.

Business is so difficult now.  You cannot rest on your laurels.  You must be one step ahead of your customers.  You must deliver what they don’t even know they want.  You must kill the old to make way for the new.  You must constantly move forward to avoid moving behind.

This is just like the music industry.  Major labels were so busy playing to middlemen that they missed the market.  So busy placating record stores, listening to Wal-Mart, that not only did they not come up with a reasonable way to monetize digital acquisition, they ceded the entire market to a new company, Apple, that does not play by their rules.  Apple doesn’t bow to intimidation, you bow to it!  Apple doesn’t bend the rules.  All that Mafioso-style, backroom arm-twisting…that’s gone.  Homey don’t play that no more.

Let me see.  To succeed RIM has to come up with a sharp looking device that synchs everything I’ve got with the cloud and has hundreds of thousands of apps.

But it’s worse.  Because Apple has taken aim at RIM’s secret weapon, BBM, the BlackBerry Messenger.

Apple’s messaging service will only grow iPhone usage.  You want to go where your friends are.  It’s not only about being the best, there’s strategy involved.  And a messaging service can be duplicated any day of the week.

This is just like the Facebook problem.  And the Groupon problem.  They say their concept can’t be replicated, but that’s b.s.  But at least unlike Facebook and Groupon, mobile handsets are not fads.

And consumers have mostly given up on e-mail anyway, the BlackBerry’s strength.  There’s the aforementioned messaging services and texting…

I’m just angry that no one in the mainstream press has called this debacle when it’s been evident for at least a year, ever since the Android juggernaut began.

Android shows Apple is vulnerable.

And if it stays in place, Google search is vulnerable.

You’ve got to reinvent yourself every day.

Or get left behind.

Distribution is king.  Remember that please.  He who owns the pipe wins.  It’s why John Malone is so rich and powerful, to the point where one can argue HE is the most important person in the music business, owning so much stock in Live Nation.  Distribution is not glamorous, but it’s where the action is.  Let me make it simple, it doesn’t matter how good your album is if no one ever hears it.  The major labels were in charge of getting music made and heard.  That monopoly on distribution is gone.  THAT’S why they’re in trouble, not P2P theft.  The Internet broke their hold on distribution.

The reason major labels survive to the extent they do, other than their trove of copyrights, is their control of distribution on terrestrial radio and television.  You cannot get a record played on a major station unless you’re on a major label.  Insiders know that the Spitzer crackdown actually made the result worse.  And television wants gatekeepers, channels don’t want to deal with every wannabe in the world, they want to be spoon-fed acts that will be supported, that will make a splash in the media, they don’t want to be caught out on a limb.  Alone.  Which is why you rarely see the cutting edge on TV.  The mainstream is a club, it’s not about taking risks.

Then again, I was out with a major label publicity person and a powerful indie and they both said that late night TV gives no bump whatsoever.  Used to be there were few shows many watched that featured music only occasionally.  Now music is on constantly and no one cares.  There’s no sales bump.  You want a spike?  Go on Sunday morning television, they say that still has power.

But the main power of the major labels used to be the control of retail distribution.  They could get records in stores and could get paid. And if you think either of those are easy you live in a fantasyland where your eight year old just got GarageBand and you believe he’ll be a world-dominating superstar in three months.

But the Internet killed the major label distribution stranglehold.  Anyone can sign up with Tunecore and get their music on iTunes. ANYBODY!  Sure, the music won’t sell, except to family and friends, but it’s what this represents that’s important.  Access and the ability to get paid.  The power has shifted.

As for terrestrial radio…it means ever less.  Same with TV.  You can thank technology, most especially the Internet, for that.  People watch what they want when they want.  The days of sitting in front of the TV seeing what’s next are heading towards extinction, killed by the DVR and online access.

And speaking of TV, all of the above is inspired by a fantastic article in "The Atlantic" about Netflix.  About its distribution power.  How content creation does not scale, how that’s not where the money is.  It’s long, and it can get boring, but I recommend it:

Why Content Isn’t King

So the major labels aren’t coming back.  Never ever.  Don’t pay attention to the hype.  Sure, they can make superstars of the bland playing to the masses, but most people just don’t care.  And the action is in the rest of the morass, the amalgamation of all of the indies.

I’ll make it simple.  iTunes is distribution.  Apple creates and sells no music.  It’s just a storefront, a pipe.  But look at Apple dictating to the labels, look how powerful Apple has become.  Hell, Apple not only killed record stores with iTunes, but the CD with its iPod!

I can’t tell you exactly where we’re going.  Oh, I could, but I’d be wrong.  Because you just can’t predict the future.  But I will tell you that more people will make music, because the barrier to entry is so low.  And that he who can connect the public with good music will be very powerful.  So powerful he can dictate to the creators.  That was the power of MTV.  They owned the pipe.  The major labels don’t want to give any entity the REVENUE of MTV.  They should worry more about giving a new entity the POWER of MTV.  Because first comes the power, then comes money.

Look at Vevo.  It’s distribution, but not only does it lose money, it fails to aggregate all the indies.  That’s YouTube’s power.  YouTube is where you go to see videos.  YouTube is a distributor.

So never ever believe content is king.  Howard Stern would be irrelevant if no radio station aired him.  Then again, before re-upping with Sirius XM, Howard contemplated distributing his show himself.  That’s now possible.  That’s why radio is in trouble.

And who’s got a ton of power?  THE CABLE COMPANIES!  THE WIRELESS COMPANIES!  THAT’S WHERE YOU GET YOUR INFO!  THE INTERNET FLOWS THROUGH THEM!

Pipe is not sexy, but pipe is where both the money and the power are.

Content creators get all the ink.  They’re the sauce everybody’s interested in.

But those who deliver the content truly have all the power, make most of the money.

Insiders know.  DISTRIBUTION IS KING!

It never makes the sound at the dealership.

I like things perfect.  I know, I know, that makes life challenging in an imperfect world, but I’m just being honest.  I like to buy the best and revel in its glory.  You know how they say no one uses all the buttons on the remote, that the features are wasted on the customers?  Not with me.  I read the manual.  I ferret out all the detail.  I’m the guy who comes over to your house and amazes you with what your products can do, or bores you talking about all this stuff you think is irrelevant.

I read every word of David Pogue’s Snow Leopard manual.  I really only got one good trick, but I’m going to reveal it to you now.

Launch Safari.

Go to the File menu.

There you’ll see a choice, about halfway down, "Mail Contents Of This Page".  It’s grayed out if the page isn’t fully loaded.  But if it is, click on the menu choice and the Web page in your browser comes up in Mail and you can send it to your buddy.  No link required.  No extra step.  The actual Web page!

Isn’t that cool?

It is.  To me anyway.

That’s just the kind of guy I am.  I get satisfaction when my stuff is humming, it puts a smile upon my face, it makes me feel glad all over.

And if it isn’t?  If there’s a glitch?  If there’s an imperfection?

I just can’t cope.

I know, I know that’s ridiculous.  But I get satisfaction from my objects.  It’s got something to do with what happened in my house growing up and I don’t know you well enough to tell you but…  Here goes, you don’t put yourself in the public eye if you’re well-adjusted, if you got all the love you need.  I’m writing for the pleasure, but also the positive feedback.  You see I’m broken.  And I’m going to the shrink to try and fix myself.  In the meantime, since I can trust my possessions more than people, if they function perfectly I’m in a good mood.  If they don’t…

I’m devastated.

I spent $1900 to get my transmission fixed.  For a problem I thought could never arise from starting a car with the reverse gear engaged.  It was an unlucky accident, I feel stupid enough to begin with, since I don’t really believe in accidents, I believe everything’s my fault.  But to pay all that money and still have a problem?  It makes me INSANE!

I noticed it driving right off the lot.  There was a thunk.  That was never there before.  I’d know.

Did I really hear it?

That’s where the testing is involved.  That’s where the OCD comes in.  And OCD therapy is about exposures, learning to cope with imperfection, but they also tell you to take care of real problems right away, not to obsess about them.

But I didn’t have time to take the car back.  I needed it.

And then I picked a date.

And here’s where the social anxiety comes in.  It’s almost easier not to go back, to suffer in silence.

You see I don’t tell anybody about my mental trauma, I’m fearful of being laughed at.

And when I anxiously showed up at the dealership two weeks ago, Daryl thought he knew what the problem was.  But he had a limited time period.  His theory didn’t pan out.  He tightened a few things, but he wouldn’t guarantee the problem was gone.

And it wasn’t.

Daryl said I could come back and he could put "electronic ears" on the car.

Huh?

I’m no mechanic, I just play one in real life.

I was sure it was the clutch.

I called to make an appointment but they wouldn’t give me a loaner.  It was a Catch-22 situation.  They only give loaners if they’re doing work…but weren’t they going to work on my car?

I knew I was not going to win this one.  I picked an empty day, today, and got Felice to pick me up after I dropped the car off.

This time I didn’t demonstrate the problem.  The last time it took a long time for it to manifest itself, and even though Daryl said he heard it, he’s such a nice guy I figured we’d be bullshitting, like last time, and the thud, the thunk, the clunk would go unheard.

So I just described it.  Said I thought it was the clutch.  Because after all, they just pulled the transmission and reinstalled it and the clutch and the noise was coming from the footwell and…

I had absolutely no confidence the problem would be rectified.  I know I heard it, it was getting worse, but would someone else?

And I’m embarrassed, that I’ve got a problem and that I want it fixed and it would be easier to buy a new car, they’re so cheap at the Subaru dealership, you can lease one for $159 a month!  Otherwise, to live with this problem forever…

And Daryl’s so different.  He’s nice and he’s friendly.  Usually encounters with the dealer are adversarial.  Been to BMW?  You feel like you’re interrupting the Beatles, bad Beatles, who need to work in secret.

I had no faith.

But Daryl just called.  He said it was a motor mount problem and he fixed it.

Huh?

And this is where devastation truly lies.  Having hope and ending up with these same hopes dashed.  Actually, my hope is gone, I don’t believe anything will go my way.  In life and love as well as fixing mechanical and electronic items.  Those people with confidence…where do they get it from?

So Daryl put on the electronic ears.  Drove with his partner.  Isolated the problem.  He said he had it nailed.

The motor mount was broken in the extraction of the transmission.

Now that makes sense.

But really?

Well I just drove home and didn’t hear the noise!  My inner flame is starting to burn a bit stronger.  I’m starting to believe.

My problem is solved.

So what do I do with all this?  Pat myself on the back for standing up for myself?  Daryl said the problem was obvious.  He heard it.  He described when he heard it, which matched my experience.

Do I beat myself up for believing the problem was unsolvable, and I’d have to exist in a living hell?

Or do I just relish the fact that my automobile is back in perfect shape, and when I’ve got the radio blaring and the sunroof is open and the turbo is whining I’ve got a smile on my face and everything is right in the world.