In January 2010, the ratio of DashGo revenues from iTunes:YouTube was 25:1

In December 2010 the ratio was 2:1

In twelve months YouTube streaming revenue grew to 50 cents on the dollar to iTunes.

Every day a few thousand people buy our content on iTunes. Every day on YouTube a few million people stream our songs.

In other words, YouTube is a very important retailer. I spend a lot of time on that channel.

Ben Patterson

Forget About Buying Music Online — People Don’t Even Want To STEAL Music

Look at the pie chart, don’t read the analysis.

Better yet, click on the link just above the pie chart and download the entire study and start reading, it’s utterly fascinating.

First and foremost because it seems to be written by people who are familiar with what they’re studying.  For years, we’ve had analysis done by those who not only don’t steal, but don’t believe in stealing and therefore don’t know how to ask the right questions and end up with skewed answers.

And the more I read the report, the more questions I’ve got.

But:

1. It appears music is a tiny fraction of the files traded on BitTorrent.  2.9%

2. As for lockers, i.e. Megaupload and RapidShare, which many thieves are unfamiliar with, never mind rights holders, music is only 10% of that.

3. Yes, music is more prominent on Gnutella services, but those are so 2001.

So where does this leave us?

It does tell us the action in piracy is in TV and movies.  And that those industries are heading towards a wall.

But why do the video downloads overwhelm the music downloads?  Could it be that people know how to access said music for free, on YouTube?

Mmm…

It appears that the only way we can compete with free is free.

Furthermore, piracy may be a paper tiger.

Read this article:

"Free Music Can Pay As Well As Paid Music, Says YouTube"

The story’s not written so well, but the premise is fascinating, is there more money in music being free?

In other words, should we declare all music free and try to monetize from there, since it’s so readily available that many people are not even bother to steal it anymore?

Maybe music has to be a service, with social and other components, because people just don’t see a reason to buy it anymore, they don’t even see a need to acquire it, because it’s so readily available!

Challenge the preconceptions.  Don’t beat me up, I’m just the messenger, I don’t hold any music copyrights.

It appears if something’s not free, it gets no traction.

Used to be it was free on the radio.

Then it was free on TV.

Now it’s free online.  And so ubiquitous that there’s no incentive to buy.

With TV and radio exposure fading, you need free exposure to get started.  Maybe the money’s in the deluxe packages, or in the convenience where payment is so cheap, it saves you time.

We’ve got to redefine the debate.  The public is way ahead of us.

MOG and Rdio and Napster and Rhapsody are all good services.  But none of them has made a dent because you have to pay to play.

YouTube is free.  Monetization is being figured out along the way.  Maybe we need to admit music is free and work from there.

He took himself out of the debate.

The kiss of death was when he said he was going to be nice.  That’s like Dick Cheney caring what the public thinks, that’s like Sarah Palin suddenly saying Obama’s great, that’s like Paul Krugman saying trickle down economics work.  A LEOPARD CAN’T CHANGE HIS SPOTS!

In other words, you’d better make it on who you really are, because if you want to change midstream, you’re in trouble.

Perez has a fatal flaw.  He wants to be liked.

Don’t forget, Sally Field acknowledging her weakness, that she had low self-esteem and cared what people thought of her, and this dented her career, she went from winning multiple Oscars to nowhere and then TV.  Marlon Brando refused to show up to accept his Oscar.  Didn’t hurt him a whit.  In other words, once you start giving the public what it wants, you’re doomed.  You’ve got to follow your own path, tick to your own inner clock, or else you’ll get blown away by the whims of the public.

Perez was successful because not only did he reveal gossip, he commented upon it.  At first people flocked to his site because he broke the news.  Ultimately, TMZ did this better than he did, but Perez’s audience stuck with him because of the attitude.  TMZ is faceless.  Whereas Perez was all about personality…  HIS PERSONALITY!

An overweight ethnic gay who was not accepted by society.

Perez invented himself, played by his own rules, and became not only a star, but a starmaker.  His fans listened to him and wannabe stars played up to him, because of the huge audience he controlled.

Then Perez drank his own Kool-Aid.  Instead of seeing himself as a blogger with an attitude, suddenly he was a media star.  Not only appearing all over radio and TV, which is an excusable victory lap, but always pays short term dividends, the media needs fodder today and doesn’t care about you tomorrow, but hosting his own concert tour and expanding into fashion and animal and god knows how many other blogs.

Perez was at the cutting edge of gossip blogging.  He knew the ins and outs.  What did he know about fashion?

He had an opinion.  But so does everybody else.  Perez was leveraging the brand, but there was nothing underneath, there was not the 10,000 hours in fashion design.  And he’s got a pup and a mother, who doesn’t?

It’s hard to make it in one tiny sliver of entertainment.  Do you really think you can dominate in all of them?  Hell, Madonna couldn’t even make it as an actress!

You’ve got to know what made you.  Perez took his eye off the ball.  He didn’t realize his gossip blog was his cash cow, his identity.

And then he decided to play nice.

Sure, he could have done a mea culpa for bad behavior, which he exhibited on more than one occasion, that’s what I love about newbie stars, their success far outstrips their maturity.  But why eliminate the snark?  We’re ALL snarky!  Gays have been backbiting forever.  It’s a sport.  Which they perform in better than the straights.  It’s a cultural thing.

But the straights love to gossip too.  If we can’t put someone down, we’re not alive.  It’s as old as the hills.  Dragging down he or she who’s more famous, more successful.  Suddenly Perez Hilton is going to change human nature?  As I stated above, Perez does not have the best gossip anymore, but no one can steal his attitude.

Be unique.  And stay there.  If you’re like everybody else, you can be imitated into oblivion.

Like Jennifer Grey.  She was cute with a big nose.  She wanted to be beautiful with a tiny little perky nose but after rhinoplasty she looked like everybody else, no one could recognize her, she lost her individuality, her career was through.

If you make metal music, don’t start working with beats, don’t follow the flavor of the moment.  You might have momentary success, but then what?  You’ve alienated your core for an evanescent new fan base?

Don’t mind the slings and arrows.  It goes with the territory.  If you don’t have haters, you don’t have a profile.

I don’t think Perez Hilton can come back.  But his only option, his only chance at reclaiming his throne, is by canning all the extracurriculars and focusing on his main site, and returning to the doodles and the attitude.

It’s not like the vacuum’s been filled.  Sure, we’ve got Bonnie Fuller, but she seems to want fame and notoriety so much it’s creepy.  Sure, Perez wanted fame and notoriety too, but he started off NOWHERE, not as the editor of "Us" and "The Star".

And RadarOnline.com’s got no personality.

Perez needs a comeback.  He’s got to get back to where he once belonged.

Let this be a lesson to you.  Don’t go for world domination.  Be happy you triumph in your own niche.  Maximize the brand you’ve got.  And don’t change your identity!  If someone married a curvy brunette they don’t want to wake up next to an anorexic blonde!

Now THAT was interesting.

So I’m at Q Prime, back in October, and I’m checking my e-mail and I get a message from a guy who says he’s Lady GaGa’s manager.  Off the top of my head, I don’t know who Lady GaGa’s manager is, so I ask Peter Mensch for confirmation of the relationship and when he says it’s solid I dial the number in the e-mail and speak with Troy Carter.  Who asks me if I’ll come speak to his troops.

Today was the day.  At Soho House.  In West Hollywood.  On the cusp of Beverly Hills.  About twenty people, around a long slim table.

Funny, there was no attitude.  No malaise.  Just eagerness and attentiveness.

Troy asked questions.

And his team did too.

But the most fascinating interlude was when the tables turned, when I got Troy’s story.

Son of a single mother.  From Philadelphia.  Came up with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.  Even to Bel Air with Will Smith.

Or, what did Bob Dylan once so famously sing, "when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose"?

That’s what fascinating about the entertainment business.  There’s no admission requirement, no basic curriculum you complete to get in.  And if you think music business college is gonna get you to the top, you’re sorely mistaken.  Entrepreneurs are born, not made.  Or to put it more accurately, it’s who you are, not what you own or who your daddy is or where you went to school that matters.  Can you think on your feet?  Can you make things happen?

Steve Jobs dropped out of college.

If you want to steer the corporation, you can get an MBA and work your way up the ranks.  But if you want to invent something brand new, you’ve got to go your own way and take the hits.  A path many pay lip service to but few ultimately journey forward upon.  Because they’re just too damned scared.  Not only is it easier to go to law school, but it’s also easier to make a deal with the devil, the major label, then it’s THEIR problem.  But you’re only successful if it’s YOUR PROBLEM!

And believe me, Lady GaGa’s issues, her career, her direction, as well as Greyson Chance’s, are Troy Carter’s problems.

Now you can get a toehold if you’ve got a famous dad.  And there’s always someone in Hollywood ready to take your money if you’re rich.  But if you want to make it forever, you’ve got to be smart.  Really smart.  David Geffen smart.  Irving Azoff smart.

I was impressed how smart Troy Carter is.

So he ends up going to work for Puffy.  When Sean Combs was still using that moniker.  What did he do?  EVERYTHING!  Take out the trash, open the mail.  Too many people are too big to do the little things, and they get left behind.

Then he promoted shows in Philadelphia.  And made a deal with Sanctuary.  And then the English company ran out of money and Troy was out on the street.

That’s when he connected with GaGa.

He got her when nobody wanted her.  When she’d been dropped from Def Jam.  Troy got her a new deal with Interscope.  And then…

We talked about Justin Bieber.

It’s an interesting question.  Do you plan for the long haul?  IS THERE A LONG HAUL?

I don’t think so.  Justin’s voice is gonna change.  And he didn’t write the songs.  GaGa wrote the songs.  It bonded her to her audience.  She blew up.  Now?

This is where it gets really interesting, truly fascinating.  Troy told me how he was going to launch the new album.

Unfortunately, it was off the record.  But you’ll see.  It won’t be long.

But I’ll tell you this.  His goal is to sell 30 million albums.  Maybe 40 million.

Don’t laugh.  That’s the power of the Internet.  You can reach everybody.  Shouldn’t everybody be up for buying your music?

That’s what we’ve got in the world today.  Winners and losers.  And not much in between.  But if you’re a winner, what’s the limit?

Laugh at the number ones on the SoundScan chart.  Amos Lee is never going to be a household word.  And neither is that Christian rock band that’s supposed to enter at number one next week.  But GaGa is already a household name.  If Verizon can break sales records in two hours with the iPhone

Verizon iPhone Sales Are Brisk

shouldn’t this mania be able to translate to a musical act?

But what’s the price?

Troy is an advocate of lowering the price.  To get everybody in.  That’s the future of music.  Low-priced subscriptions that EVERYBODY buys.  Instead of pooh-poohing this, look at the cell phone industry.  Where handsets used to be a grand and calls were a buck a minute.  Who needed a cell phone?  Wasn’t that for Maxwell Smart?  Turns out EVERYBODY needs a cell phone, and what it does…you couldn’t have even conceived of five years ago.

So how do you get everybody to buy those records…

Not via the radio, not at first.  You’d think that radio would be jumping to air new product.  But radio is now last.  But Troy believes that without radio the project doesn’t scale.  And believe me, he’s interested in projects that scale.  He rejects nine out of ten acts that come to him for management.

First it’s about the music.  If you know you’ve got a hit, you’ve got to stick with it.  Could take an entire year for the track to become ubiquitous, for radio to finally go on it.  Don’t get discouraged, don’t change singles, either believe in your cut or don’t put it out.

And you look for stickiness online.  And then pounce.

Are people watching the video?  Then instantly go on Twitter and Facebook, start a dialogue, promise to follow the first 20,000 people who follow you.

So GaGa’s in a meeting with Steve Jobs…

That’s right.  Money can’t buy you love.  Not even fame.  But artistry?  Everyone wants to be involved with artists, because of the elusive charisma and the fanatical fan base.  The doors come open.  You’ve got access.

And the key is not to suck up to the bankers, but to manipulate them to your advantage.

Anyway, Steve shows GaGa….

I don’t want to tell tales out of school.  But Jobs shows GaGa the latest Apple creation and GaGa says it sucks.  Steve didn’t like this, he argued.  But that’s what being a rock star truly is.  Being honest. Using your power to say what you think, playing to the audience as opposed to the middleman.

That’s what we love.  Unfiltered truth.  Gimme some truth.

So far, GaGa’s been right about that Apple product.

Stick to your guns.

Because of Lady GaGa’s success, because of the rabidity of her fan base, doors have opened across the business landscape. She can get a meeting with anyone.  Everybody wants to be in business with her.

And it’s not about saying yes, but partnering with these enterprises to your greatest advantage.

At some point in the future we’ll have acts that sell the equivalent of thirty million records.  Will GaGa be the first?  She’s trying. Maybe.

You’ve got to think big.  You can’t worry about Wal-Mart and the old powers, you’ve got to enter the new world and figure out how to play by the new rules.

Troy Carter impressed me.  It wasn’t about winning through intimidation, but leading with the best music and then running that ball to the goal line.

We live in an exciting era where everything’s up for grabs.  If you’re doing it the old way, you’re destined for the scrapheap.

I believe new players will triumph over so many of the old.

But I also believe Malcolm Gladwell had it right.  That the 10,000 hours make a difference.  He with the most experience who’s willing to take chances, who is not wedded to the past, will win.

Don’t decry Spotify, e-mail Shak and get hooked up.

Tweet, social network, sign up for Groupon.

How can you succeed if you’re not familiar with the tools?

Music doesn’t change.  When done right, nothing means more.  How do you get the great music to the public?  How do you inform and infect them?  That’s the question.