1. Picking the right horse.

"Apple is a company that doesn’t have the resources that everyone else has. We choose what tech horses to ride, we look for tech that has a future and is headed up. Different pieces of tech go in cycles… they have summer and then they go to the grave."

This is in response to the Flash question.  But then Steve goes on to cite that they killed serial and parallel ports, even got rid of optical drives on the MacBook Air and were the first with the 3 1/2 inch floppy, which they ultimately killed with the initial iMac.

In other words, what horse is the music industry betting on?

For a decade, the industry has been trying to prop up the CD and the album, when it’s clear, like Flash, both are headed to the graveyard, because both have been superseded by digital delivery.  Online you buy just what you want, doesn’t mean you can’t buy a plethora of tracks, but the idea of an album of ten tracks as the basic unit makes no sense.

Now we’re moving to the cloud, the concept of ownership will evaporate.  Don’t listen to what Steve says, he likes that iTunes revenue, he likes that everybody is buying their music from Apple, otherwise why fight Amazon and its deep discounts?  But he mostly cares about keeping customers in the Apple ecosystem.

You don’t fight Apple by creating a competitor to iTunes track sales, that’s like fighting the 3 1/2 inch floppy with a 1 1/2 inch floppy.  If you want to fight Jobs, you’ve got to come up with a better cloud solution than Apple.  And so far, the industry is fighting this, playing right into Jobs’ hands.  By refusing to authorize Spotify in the USA, by refusing to enable subscription services to compete with Apple, rights holders are insuring we go to a per track ownership model online.  Think about that, that’s exactly what the cable industry is fighting, they don’t want to let you cherry-pick shows, they want you to buy the whole enchilada.  If cable capitulated, the price of service would go up, just like the price of digital singles went up.  Ultimately, killing the golden goose.  Sure, short term revenue may be slightly up, but you’re training people to look at price, to not consume.  Whereas cable customers don’t think about price when selecting a show, they just watch, they confront price just once a month, when the bill comes.  We need to bill once a month in the music industry, not for every track.

If rights holders want Apple to control the future of the music industry, they should do nothing.  If they want competitors, they must license cloud-based subscription services at a low rate.  It’s their only hope.

2. Go on record and be accessible.

"We weren’t trying to have a fight, we just decided to not use one of their products. They made a big deal of it — that’s why I wrote that letter. I said enough is enough, we’re tired of these guys trashing us."

You can’t get a single music industry bigwig to go on the record.  Could it be that their position is indefensible? Come up with solutions, lead the public, don’t try to convince people to go back to the past.

"You emailed Valleywag…"

The most famous executive in the world, controlling the number one tech company in America, reads and responds to his e-mail.

It’s about a dialogue.

Assuming the people on the other side are rational.

You don’t have to kowtow in your responses.  You can be honest.  But you’ve got to have a good position to advocate.

3. Admit your mistakes.

"We never saw ourselves in a platform war with Microsoft, and maybe that’s why we lost."

The public is fascinated by the Redmond/Cupertino battle.  By admitting Apple lost in the desktop world, the point becomes moot, everybody moves on.

Blow out CDs.  Blow out tracks at the iTunes Store.  Move everybody to the future, in the cloud.

Meanwhile, admit you played it wrong for a decade.

4. Quality rules.

"We want to make better products then them. What I love about the marketplace is that we do our products, we tell people about them, and if they like them, we get to come to work tomorrow."

He with the best music wins.  We’ve known that forever.

Then again, marketing matters.  Just look at GaGa and Justin Bieber.  The key is to establish trust and then sell on this trust.  That’s what Richard Russell has done at XL, that’s what kills the major labels, they say everything they sell is great and lose their credibility.  Don’t go for the short term money, go for the long haul.

5. Volume is where it’s at.

"Price it aggressively and go for volume."

The music industry refuses to learn this lesson, all under the banner of "the value of music".  What’s the value of a computer, or an iPod?  Come on, being able to take all your music with you on a hand-held device…isn’t that worth thousands?  But if you price it that way, no one will buy.

CDs should have been ten bucks ten years ago.  They should be five now.  MP3s should be a dime, since they’re on their way out.

6. Everybody’s equal.

"You know how many committees we have at Apple? Zero. We’re organized like a startup."

Isn’t it funny that perennially successful Interscope has no titles?

Sure, it’s almost an Iovine dictatorship, but imagine if you empowered everybody in the company, instead of dictating and firing them.  You don’t have to be CEO to have a good idea.  Then again, being surrounded by the egos of the acts, executives like to believe they’re big kahunas too.  This blinds you.  You’ve got to be secure enough to admit what you don’t know.  The role of an executive is to steer the ship, to correct mistakes, not to micro-manage.

7. Constantly improve the user experience.

"Ads now rip you out of your app, you lose your place. Wouldn’t it be great if they didn’t do that?"

Just try and buy a ticket.  Then you know we’re not respecting the consumer in the music business.

8. The end user is your customer.

"When we went to music companies, we said who is your customer… they said Target, and Best Buy — they thought the retailer was the customer. What changed in that industry was the front end, the distribution and marketing was able to be done in a much more effective way, going right to the end user."

To this day, rights holders believe the retailer and the radio station are their customers, and this hampers them as both lose influence and power.  Bond with the customer, he’s the one with the wallet, and online you can reach him…and maintain the relationship (and isn’t it funny that acts do this but labels don’t, their websites are shite.)

________________________
________________________

Smart is the new hit single, the new draw.  You believe Jobs has thought about these issues and you want more, more, more.  You don’t want much from today’s musicians.  Focusing on the dollar first and foremost, they’ll do whatever’s expedient to extricate dollars from your wallet.  Acts get no respect, which is why they don’t last.

As for middling or developing acts…  Apple used to be in that business.  It only went mainstream when it leapfrogged everybody else.  In other words, can you come up with what people don’t know they want?  And furthermore, can you insure that most people want it?  That’s what Apple did.  That’s the challenge of not only the companies in the music industry, but the acts.

Steve Jobs live from D8

1. "The Word"

I didn’t even buy "Rubber Soul" when it came out.  The American version had no hits!  And I had only a little bit of money, and had to use it wisely and preferred to buy albums that contained big radio tracks.  Yes, I had a very brief ride on the singles train, I was an album guy way back in ’64.

Of course I was wrong.  I love "Revolver" more, but you can’t name a better album than "Rubber Soul".  But the original Beatles take is so English, cut exuberantly inside while it rains outside.  Bettye’s take…  It’s a gospel explosion with a funk groove.  It’s John Lennon’s sweet vocal that makes the original so great, it’s the attitude in Bettye’s version that makes it so great.

Bettye Lavette – The Word

2. "No Time To Live"

My favorite track on the album.

The original, of course, is on the second Traffic album, which contained no hits, and the lack of commercial success caused the band to implode.  All these years later, we can say that "Traffic" had the original "Feelin’ Alright", but as great as that track is, there’s not a single loser on this all time classic album.

There’s a desolation in the original.  Which Bettye captures in her take.  You feel strong as you’re alone, maybe on the edge of a cliff contemplating life on a blustery day in the U.K.

This is the anti-Top Forty.  But it wipes the deck clean.  You listen and you feel something inside.  The compressed rhythm tracks on today’s radio are all external, but this is life itself.

Bettye Lavette – No Time To Live

3. "Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood"

My favorite Animals track is "Don’t Bring Me Down"…  But if you were conscious back in ’65, you know every lick of their hit version.  But Bettye’s rendition is the opposite of her take of "The Word".  In this case, it’s the original that’s got the attitude, Bettye’s take is reflective.

The Animals were from dreary England, you can hear Eric Burdon’s desire to escape in the track.  Whereas Bettye’s version sounds like it was cut in Muscle Shoals.  It’s not about the urgency, but the underlying message. You won’t even realize it’s the same song until she gets to the chorus, then again, you still might not know.  But what’ll get you in the gut, what’ll rivet you, is the little instrumental bit at the end of the chorus, like someone tugging at your shirtsleeve, imploring you to turn around as they smile and try to make a connection.

Bettye Lavette – Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood

4. "All My Love"

Yes, the best track from Zeppelin’s "In Through The Out Door"!  The riff from the original is gone.  You know, that keyboard figure.  But Bettye’s track is dark in a way that Jimmy and Robert can understand.

Bettye Lavette – All My Love

5. "Isn’t It A Pity"

Poor George, almost forgotten, when "All Things Must Pass" was considered by many to be the best album of 1970.

When was the last time you heard "Apple Scruffs"?  Or the Bob Dylan cover "If Not For You"?

This is every bit as good as George’s original.  Fat where his take is thin.  But sad underneath in the same way.

Bettye Lavette – Isnt It A Pity

6. "Wish You Were Here"

My favorite version of this song is the live one by Fred Durst and Johnny Rzeznik from the "America: A Tribute To Heroes" concert.  I like it even more than the Pink Floyd original.

Fascinating choice, but in this instance, Bettye does not trump either of the foregoing takes.  Then again, she does turn it into something different that you have to accept on its own terms.

Bettye Lavette – Wish You Were Here

7. "It Don’t Come Easy"

Some tracks just cannot tire you out, you never burn out on them, you smile every time you hear them.  Songs like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "It Don’t Come Easy".

It certainly don’t.

But listening to Ringo, you think it eventually does come, you get what you want, the track is optimistic.  Whereas Bettye’s version is after the party, after the audience has gone home, after everybody’s had a good time and the truth is being uttered backstage, or in the bus on the way to the next gig.

She emphasizes different parts of the song.  She stretches it out.  It’s not all of one vibe, rather it encompasses the range of emotions.  Everybody gets to play, everybody gets to shine.  It sounds like it was cut in Muscle Shoals after the engineer went home.  When everybody’s spent, yet too keyed up to leave and starts to jam.  The guitar squeal that sounds like a horn section, the fingers dancing across the piano keys like Barry Beckett, you listen and alternately ooh and ahh and get introspective.

It definitely don’t come easy.  But somehow you keep on keepin’ on.  And what helps is music.  You don’t have to be rich or powerful to get it, to experience it, to love it…  Then again, listening to the right track you feel like the King of the World!  Bettye LaVette’s take of "It Don’t Come Easy" is such a track.

Bettye Lavette – It Don’t Come Easy

8. "Maybe I’m Amazed"

Do you know the live version off the Faces’ "Long Player"?  It’s NOTHING like it was live.  Live, Ronnie Lane would stand in front of the microphone and sing thinly and then…Rod the Mod would rush up alongside him and sing from the bottom of his soul.  Ronnie Wood would rage, and you’d throw your head back and say WHEW!

McCartney’s genius is captured in the original.  Only he could write it.  Bettye doesn’t challenge it.  Rather than try to go over the top, out-sing him, she slows it down and lets the meaning of the words shine through.

Bettye Lavette – Maybe I’m Amazed

9. "Salt Of The Earth"

"Beggars Banquet" came out the same time as the White Album.  And had a fraction of the impact.  But this was the Stones’ transformative moment.  This is when they stopped imitating and forged their own path.

Yes, the track with all the airplay was and still is "Sympathy For The Devil".  But as great as that signature track is, what comes after is in its own way better.  Rather than swinging for the fences, the band looked inward, listening felt like pulling back the curtain and taking a peek inside.

Who can forget the intro to "Stray Cat Blues"…that was edgy in the days before Internet porn!

God, every track is so great.

But the closer both sums the record up and creeps you out.

Yes, it’s "Salt Of The Earth".

I’d like to say Bettye’s take trumps the Stones’ original, but that might be impossible, the way intercourse with even the best looking person in the world cannot compete with sex with a loved one.  We don’t need riches and fame, we just need honest feelings.  And the Stones deliver.

Still, a great choice.  The more people who know this song, the better.

studio: Salt Of The Earth

live: Bettye LaVette, Salt of the Earth, Highline Ballroom, NYC 5-26-10

10. "Nights In White Satin"

I hate that the Moody Blues have been forgotten, or if remembered, are a punch line.  In their day, they were truly cutting edge.  They were the first to cut an entire album with an orchestra, they made album-length statements, they were interested in music more than hits.

Bettye’s take is absent the majesty of the original.  And that’s good, rather than compete by throwing everything into the mix, she breaks the song down to its essence, turning it into something different.  It’s now a dirge.  But when she builds to the chorus, professing her love, the crescendo makes you lift your head to the heavens, you ultimately twist and turn your noggin, caught up in emotion, the same way your parents did with classical music.

Bettye Lavette – Nights In White Satin

11. "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad"

Eric Clapton’s never cut an album as good as "Layla".  This has got a different groove, a different feel from the original, it’s got horns, and Bettye squeezes out the chorus like toothpaste from a tube.  There is a guitar solo, but if only Derek was the one doing the wailing…

Bettye Lavette – Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad

12. "Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me"

Elton’s throwaway albums are better than the long players of today.  "Caribou" is not as good as "Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player", but it does contain the classic "The Bitch Is Back".  And this.

But whereas the original is majestic, in the fashion of "Tumbleweed Connection"’s first side closer "My Father’s Gun", Ms. LaVette’s take is stripped down.  The guitar sounds like the haunting picking on Elton’s American debut, and the whole thing has a world-weariness, in opposition to Elton and Bernie’s fascination with the west on "Tumbleweed".

live:  Bettye Lavette performs "Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me" San Jose Metro Fountain Festival

13. "Love Reign O’er Me"

The inspiration.  The live take from the Kennedy Center.

"American Idol" can get viewers, but that’s about the competition, the drama of who’s going to win, Ms. LaVette triumphs here by injecting the drama in the song itself!  Unlike the Mariah clones, she doesn’t start out at 10 and stay there, she works a whole range of emotions, from soft to loud, from intimate to intense.

This track has gotten all the hype.  The press needs a hook, saying how Pete Townshend loved it.  All I can say is it provided inspiration to do this whole album.

Kennedy Center Honors – Bettye LaVette – Love Reign

If Bettye LaVette were white instead of black, and had lived in obscurity for decades instead of trying to make it right under our noses, with only a tiny bit of success, she’d be the new Susan Boyle.

Or let me put it this way…  If Susan Boyle’s album had come with a free copy of Ms. LaVette’s, Bettye would be on a sold-out concert tour at this very minute.

I know you’ve seen the hype.  It’s all been in print, where baby boomers lie, but since so many of them still buy CDs, or no music at all, they’ve not heard "Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook".  But if they did, they’d tell everybody they knew about it, it would be this year’s Norah Jones.  You know, the debut, that infiltrated the public consciousness slowly, but ended up selling in excess of ten million units.  Sure, nothing can move that amount of product anymore, but that doesn’t mean something can’t become ubiquitous, with so many places to hear music, to experience it, like YouTube.

On the surface, it’s a covers album.  But it’s not.  It’s more akin to those Joe Cocker takes, like "With A Little Help From My Friends", where you know the originals, but what’s coming out of the speakers is different.  This ain’t "American Idol".  These are not covers, they’re interpretations!  Incredibly intriguing.  As great as Ringo Starr’s "It Don’t Come Easy" is, Bettye’s take is equally good, well close, and hits you in a completely different way.

Hell, Ringo should cancel his All Starr Band tour and go out with Ms. LaVette.  As should all the other writers/performers of these classic tracks.  That’s something we want to see.  At least make it a PBS pledge break show.  Or how about July 4th, fuck the fireworks, put on the real explosion, music!

If you’re over forty, buy this album sight unseen.  Just log on to iTunes and lay your money down.  You’ll thank me.

If you weren’t alive when these songs made it to begin with, if you’re under twenty five, you’ll love this album too. Not experiencing the originals in real time, there’s no issue of sacrilege, these numbers sound brand new.

If you’re over twenty five…  If you’re wearing skinny jeans and living in Brooklyn, salivating over bands with weak singers and weak sounds, you’re gonna pooh-pooh this.  And ain’t that just the point…sometimes something’s so mainstream that it’s just right.  So simple, you slap yourself in the forehead and say "I could have had a V8!"

This is as important as Tina Turner’s ’84 comeback "Private Dancer".  But it’s 2010, twenty five years later, and we haven’t had an overlooked star deliver something so right in the interim.  Everybody’s focusing on image, social marketing, but almost unknowns went into the studio and created this gem, that I can’t help but tell you about.

It don’t come easy.  I can’t imagine today’s kids, needing fame, wanting to get paid, hanging on half a century to finally reach their time, but that’s what Ms. LaVette has done.  And we’re the beneficiaries.

That’s the name of the book I’m reading.  I can never remember the title, only the author, Tom Rachman.  His last name, not his first.  As in I can only remember his family name, although in my mind it’s spelled "Rackman".

That’s a facet of growing older.  Everything runs together to the point where you can remember the details, but not the headlines, not the big picture.  You can remember what someone wore, but not their name.  You can remember what the movie was about, but not its title.  You can remember the music, but not the name of the album.

It was the front page review in the "New York Times Book Review".  You know, the tabloid the erudite peruse every Sunday that I never paid much attention to until I got a Kindle and became a voracious reader, recalling my days in the back of the station wagon, consuming sports novels and biographies as we drove to Boston.

But the previous front page review book was such a disappointment.  But I had nothing else to read.  So I purchased "The Imperfectionists".  And have been plowing through it ever since.

It’s not an easy read.  I cannot tell you why.  Because each story cuts me to the bone.

Yes, you see each chapter is a story, of a writer for an international newspaper in Rome.  And in between is the history of the paper, how it got started, how it evolved.  And the stories seem benign until the very end, when there’s a twist and a turn, not unbelievable, but true to life, just like my life, and I’m floored.  Because right there on the page is something I experienced.  Maybe literally.  But oftentimes, it’s just an emotion.

Ever hold someone on a pedestal?  For years?  And then finally realize that you were wrong all along?

Or how about being involved with someone too good for you, too beautiful, too young, too rich…knowing at some point it’s going to end, and it does.

And what is it you’re trying to achieve.  Do you desire to be average, does anybody truly desire that, or do you accede to it, or are you shooting for the stars?  That question is answered too.  Well, maybe not answered, that’s the weird thing about life, there are very few answers, but turned over, examined, to the point you get creeped out because you realize you’re living now, but you’re gonna die soon, forgotten by everyone except a few, who will ultimately die too.

I read a great review of the second "Sex and the City" movie.  No, it wasn’t a positive review, everyone who wrote about the movie said it was trash, but something was said in this review that has stuck with me.  The writer said the new film was lacking because the TV series was sad, had moments of sadness, and this movie does not.

Isn’t that life.  We don’t get it much in modern art.  People don’t do sadness anymore.  It connotes losing.  And if you even profess doubts, never mind actually lose, you’re kicked to the curb these days.  We’ve only got time for winners.

And it’s not that we’re all losers, but each of our lives has moments of sadness.  For some, it plays out on the world stage.  For most it’s private.  We don’t want to let it leak out.  We’re mortified.  We get up our gumption and soldier on, but it’s difficult.

Wrapped up in these stories in this book by Tom Rachman is sadness.  And it’s so right, that even though you may never have heard of it, the book is selling briskly.  That’s art.  Not Lee DeWyze and the nitwits competing on television, but work done without spotlight, that when revealed to the world is spread by word of mouth, because each and every reader, listener or watcher is touched.

The Imperfectionists