https://shorturl.at/cZW5N

This book is confusing, and for that reason I’m loath to recommend it.

But it really resonated with me, there were some universal truths that stuck out, like:

“To get to the destination your inner compass has been driving you back to, screaming it was home, only to discover that you don’t really belong.”

Things change. But not in your mind. History is set in stone. And you think if you just went back to that location, hooked up with your old love, it would work and…

Too much time has gone by. You’ve changed and they’ve changed. No matter how much you will yourself, it doesn’t work.

So, what we’ve got here is two parallel narratives that ultimately connect.

First we’ve got Anita de Monte and her husband Jack Martin. Martin is a famous minimalist. de Monte is a fiery artist. And the result is a tempestuous relationship.

The book starts with a party. Jack enters and seeks attention, that’s his style, and then Anita dances and…she goes out the window? At the party? She was drunk?

It clears up, but you have to keep reading. And then you’re still not sure what happened until you are.

So therefore, if you need to know exactly what is happening at all times, this book is not for you.

The other half of the story is about art history students at Brown.

Art history is the laughingstock of college majors these days. Even though we all live for art. It’s the books, the movies, the TV shows, the paintings that get us through. But art is hard to quantify. You can’t give an objective test. Opinion is crucial. Better to major in science or math where it’s either black or white, right or wrong, and there’s a clear path to a career.

But that is not an element in this book. Furthermore, the art history majors believe they’ve got a future in the field.

So Raquel is a woman of color from NYC. Her mother works at the Met, but it’s in food service, not as a curator. And Raquel is smart and ends up with a scholarship to Brown and…is angry that everybody believes she’s an affirmative action admission, even though she’s got the grades. In a world where not only is everybody white, but many are from the prep school world, and rich. Does she fit in?

Raquel’s friend Denise got a full ride at Notre Dame, but passed that up for a state school, SUNY Buffalo. Turns out Denise was not eager to go where she was one of the very few minorities, she didn’t want to feel like a fish out of water. As for Raquel, does being at Brown change her, forever?

Now Raquel’s story goes deeper into art history, and school. The professor…is he coming on to her or not? Is he an object of respect or scorn?

And then there’s the sh*t talking about academics who have different viewpoints.

Sounds like an insular world, I know. But Jack is a big swinging dick in the art world, and that’s all he needs, the respect of these people. Art at that level of success is a rarefied air, with sometimes billions of dollars involved. Just because everybody doesn’t know your name, that does not mean you’re not a big name where it counts.

And the question arises whether Jack is past his prime. This is a thorn in the side of elite artists. You’re famous for one thing, but if you don’t change, and grow, you lose status. Braque was right up there with Picasso at the advent of cubism. But Picasso evolved and Braque didn’t, and other than students of the game, most people have no idea who Braque was. The recently deceased Frank Stella burst on the scene at a young age with his protractor series. He moved on, but nothing he did thereafter titillated the critics to the same degree.

Once again, this is fine art. This isn’t drawings for TV. It’s not only what you see…then again, is it? The conception is almost as important as the execution. Which many people who go to the museum don’t understand. They look at the old masters and can see all the talent on the canvas and then they might even look at a Stella and not get it, after all, Stella couldn’t even draw.

So, once again, there’s little concentration on art history studies in the news, other than denigration. But Raquel is dedicated and…

A lot of questions arise. And a lot learning how the world truly works. Relationships. There’s an elite level of communication that most people in America still don’t understand, even though they think they do. You can view the houses on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” watch MTV “Cribs,” yet not even know that many of the truly rich don’t want the publicity, they’re unknown to the masses, and have much more money than those flaunting it. Furthermore, how did they get there?

You can go to Yale, be exposed to it all and still graduate and remain broke.

In other words, you have to work it. Kind of like Hollywood, but in most verticals there are barriers to entry. The elite education, access to vast sums of money… That’s why you go to the Ivys, for the people you meet more than what you learn. Chances are, the classes are just as good at the state school.

“I already knew how important it is for an artist to protect their time; time, that critical thing required to think and ponder and question and perfect.”

This is what non-artists don’t understand. They go to work from nine to five, or nine to nine, or even nine to midnight and they can quantify what they’ve done whereas an artist…might have read, might have gone for a walk… An artist’s mind needs to percolate, unfiltered.

Which is why I’m always amazed at these partnerships where two people have an office with desks shoved up against each other. How can they get anything done? To create art you need silence, you need to be alone. You need to think. You’ve got to get in the zone, you can’t be interrupted. And non-artists have a hard time understanding this.

Once again, I’m talking about art, not commerce. There’s a ton of money in making records, painting, selling stuff…but does it change the culture, does it make people think? Sure, ideas come to you spontaneously, but usually you need to get into the right headspace.

And then there’s this:

“Art is, if nothing else, always about the next thing.”

This is what I was writing about the other day. You have to keep on moving forward, that’s what an artist does. And that’s ultimately what the audience demands. But it’s so challenging, it’s easier to repeat yourself. Also, what outsiders don’t understand is the high of success doesn’t last very long. An award? Maybe a day or two, not even a week. You have to get back to the work.

“Or maybe I’d go to a party and get drunk and cause an argument just to feel like I’d made a dent in someone else’s existence.”

Most artists are not easygoing, they’re not well adjusted and they need to know they’re alive and have you recognize it. So when you go to a party and encounter that edgy artist that makes a scene… Or even when you ask for an autograph or selfie… Once again, it’s about time. But also, the artist knows the experience is hollow, ultimately worthless. It might be about building or maintaining your brand, but do you think Van Morrison thinks about that? Many of the performers who are constantly thanking their fans are not artists, they’re ultimately business people, very successful financially, but not artists.

So most people don’t care about the art history field.

And other than the artists themselves, and some gallerists, there’s not a ton of money in the art world. There are a few jobs running museums, but they don’t pay the kind of money you make in Silicon Valley, never mind Wall Street. You’ve got to love it, you consider it meaningful.

I was an art history major. And what it created in me was a sensibility.

Also, I went to a college where forty five percent of the people went to prep school, and many of them came from rich families, VERY rich. One of the things I learned most at Middlebury was how to interact with these people. I came from the melting pot suburbs. Everybody verbal, throwing sharp elbows to get ahead. Meanwhile, so many of the prepsters were mellow, took it all in stride, it was a completely different attitude. And if you wanted to befriend them, you had to adjust your behavior.

I recently went to my college reunion, and two months later I’m still not over this experience. These students were satisfied. They might not be household names, but they’re pillars of their community, they feel accomplished. Me, not only am I still trying to work it out, I’m still not sure I’m worthy.

In their world.

And Raquel is always asking herself this question.

As for Anita? Can a woman from Cuba be respected for her art? Just by being married to a famous artist is her work pooh-poohed, and does her husband want to hold her back?

And there are many ways to hold someone back, you can read about them in the book.

But I read “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” because the reviews said she did, last laugh, that is. And she kind of does. And that’s obvious from the very beginning.

But how does that happen? What happens between the covers?

As much as “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” is set in the modern world, it’s also one step removed. Because art always is. And if you think raw quality will get you to the top…you just haven’t met enough of the people who decide whether you make it to the top.

So I don’t think this book is for everyone. But it made me think. I could relate. It created a whole world separate from my everyday existence, and I liked that.

So…maybe you’re intrigued.

Or not.

Whose idea was this?

My research has not yielded the backstory, but that’s the star of the evening. It’s always about the idea more than the execution, and this one was brilliant, because it has an afterlife.

Jimmy Kimmel told me it was not about the show, but creating viral moments that live online. That’s the ticket.

And that’s the world we live in, one in which we all consume different items at different times, and if you criticize me for being late I can point to a ton of stuff you were unaware of.

I saw the DJ on the flat screen last night. I had no idea what he was doing, I was just passing by on my way out the door. I can’t listen to these people rant and rave forever. Life’s too short, I can find the highlights later online.

And that’s what I did. I sampled all the videos served up to me, in bite-sized fashion.

Keep it brief. That’s the mantra of virality. Or, keep it really long, if it’s unique and great. It’s either hit and run or pure dedication. There is no such thing as a short attention span, that’s a canard cooked up by traditional media to explain why younger generations are not glued to their content. The oldsters grew up in an era where there was little. But when there is much, you keep clicking next until you find what you want, and then you go deep. Which is why you find kids who weren’t even alive when “Friends” went off the air bingeing that series. 

Bingeing is an immersive process that the aged still don’t get. They think that the drip of every week keeps viewers coming back, keeps them subscribing. What they don’t understand is bingeing is not only about content, but mood. We want to be taken away to a special place, where the real world doesn’t exist. And this depends on high quality, which most can’t achieve, so they berate the system.

For all the b.s. about endless smartphone use, the truth is we’re dying to disconnect, it’s just what we disconnect for must be better than what’s on the phone.

Let’s take dating. How many nights did you waste in a bar or a club just hoping to meet someone. It was endless and depressing. And despite all the present blowback about internet dating, it’s a much more efficient use of one’s time.

Which is why I don’t watch the convention live. I don’t want to find out after the fact that it was a waste when I can cherry-pick content later or avoid it entirely.

So I’m on the cesspool known as X right after I wake up and…

Yes, I’m like those zombies in “Dawn of the Dead,” who go to the mall, because that’s their instinct. I love instant news, you can’t get it anywhere else. But in truth X is a cesspool unless you’re a virgin bro or a dyed-in-the-wool Trumper or both. It’s so frustrating.

But Meghan McCain said:

“I’m sorry but this #DNC2024 roll call with DJ Cassidy, themed state music and party/club atmosphere is blowing the RNC’s roll call out of the water. It looks like a giant party and celebration and everyone in that room looks like they’re having a blast.”

Then I knew something happened. Although more reasonable than many, McCain is a dedicated Republican, for her to put them down…

You know you’re on the losing team when your own members criticize you. This is exactly what was happening with Biden before he stepped down. There was all this public agitation from those in power. And if Biden refused to listen for weeks, what are the odds that Trump will change course? So far, nil.

So reading McCain’s tweet made me aware of the fact that something happened.

And it wasn’t long before I came across another reference, maybe in X, maybe in Apple News+, I was intrigued.

And then I found the playlist. The Spotify playlist.

BINGO!

You want to go back to the pre-internet era when people had to buy an overpriced CD to hear one good track? The ability to stick all these cuts together, instantly…allowed every news outlet to write about it and draw people to it, get them to listen.

And that’s the power of music.

Playlist – “DNC roll call”: https://shorturl.at/rRbGc

Click, you can’t help but check out the picks.

The obvious ones, with the names of the states in the title, the other references. This is how you get people to listen, THEY’RE INTRIGUED!

I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican or Independent, you’re interested in the choices. And if you rain on the parade, nitpick… You’re a hater. No one likes a party pooper, NO ONE!

And the music covered all bases, unlike the Spotify Top 50. There were songs both old and new, it was a celebration.

So how can you do this?

Well, virality can’t be your sole motivation, that almost never works. Your idea must work on the surface. And if it’s cool enough, interesting enough…people will spread the word.

This is creativity, this is art, this is what’s missing in today’s music business, especially at the major labels. You can sell anything if it’s good and marketed well. But thinking outside the box? That’s anathema.

Everybody wants to go viral, but how do you do this?

Once again, you can pour a ton of cash on execution, but it really comes down to the idea. Is it unique enough to draw attention without looking like you’re doing it solely to draw attention?

And what will be the lifespan of this viral moment? Could be only two days.

That’s what old marketers don’t understand. That it’s nearly impossible to get noticed, but when you do, it doesn’t last, especially if it’s something universal. If you start from nowhere, with an act or event that few know about, it can grow over time. But if everybody is aware of the underlying cause, whether it be the convention or a concert or…virality lasts a very short time.

That’s what we’re waiting to see with Kamalamania. Will it last all the way to November, Election Day?

WE DON’T KNOW! We’ve never been in this situation before!

That’s how it used to be with music. We were surprised constantly. And in tech fifteen and twenty years ago there was a new app, a new platform, constantly, but those days of excitement are through. Apple stopped making the iPod, a huge hit that reached the end of its lifespan and then KAPUT!

So if you’re a band…

You can go on the road and do the same thing every night and wonder why you don’t get any traction outside the building or…

You can make it different every night. Instead of synching to hard drive, you can do something human, unique.

And the studio version… Rework your songs ad infinitum. The days of the pristine track are done. You need to cut it more quickly, to preserve the life. And then you can have alternate takes, acoustic versions, live versions, stems distributed to the fans… You want to enable virality, not shut it down.

It’s the public that made DJ Cassidy and this playlist go viral. It was spontaneous. In the old days, it would all be premeditated, there’d be a PR person who’d spread the word to major media outlets and a concentrated campaign to spread the news. Now each individual is a media outlet, if they see something amazing they tell everybody about it.

And it’s not only the playlist, which evidences its own creativity… Who is this DJ Cassidy guy? You WANT to Google him!

And the overall effect is to burnish the Democratic party and its convention and candidate. It all boils down to cool. And people want to be on the cool team. And in many cases, that’s more of a driver than the issues, which most people don’t understand, other than abortion.

Sure, the Republicans have Kid Rock, but not a whole hell of a lot more. That looks like a cult. Whereas all the performers of different stripes and colors at the Democratic convention…looks like the big tent the Democrats always say they are.

People want to belong. As a matter of fact, that’s what has solidified the MAGA cult. It’s them versus us. It’s about team sports. And so far, the Democrats haven’t found a way to counter this.

But now they have. They threw out the old for the new, not only getting rid of Biden but creating a viral moment with DJ Cassidy.

What other tricks do they have up their sleeve?

I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE!

Has Kamala Harris’s campaign ushered in a new era of optimism?

Was the pent-up demand already there, just waiting to be released?

And was Taylor Swift’s Eras tour just a harbinger of a new era? And the nearly overnight success of Chappell Roan indicative of this newfound optimism?

Let’s be clear, there’s been a lot to be pessimistic about. The ’08 crash. Covid. And the hulking giant, income inequality. People thought not only could they not get ahead, but they were falling behind. And they were angry.

But something funny happened along the way, the younger generations detached. This is where Biden and the Democrats had it wrong. They looked on paper and saw what Joe had done, they looked at it as a math problem as opposed to an emotional one. People were beaten down, they were depressed, they wanted a ray of sunshine, ergo Harris’s great success.

And contrary to all the naysayers saying that the VP should have been Shapiro, to lock up Pennsylvania, the only people who have something negative to say about Walz are Republicans. Arguing about when he resigned from the National Guard after decades of service.

It’s laughable, when Trump skated service completely.

This is why the “weird” descriptor has worked so well. There’s no anger, no analysis of inane positions. Just a description of Trump and Vance as the other, out of step with the mainstream, not fully comprehensible.

Meanwhile, all Trump is selling is anger.

I can’t watch the convention. Life is too short. If there are any highlights, I’ll catch them later online.

There’s a lot of ink on Biden’s speech, which is ultimately irrelevant. It was the equivalent of giving him a gold watch before he rides into the sunset. Despite the hosannas, David Brooks was totally thumbs-down, saying the speech lacked intimacy, identity, all the elements that rile up the public in support of you. That it was just the usual political dreck and Joe was losing with this strategy and was going to lose again.

Actually, Biden’s complete strategy was to portray Trump in a negative light. You don’t want THIS guy, he’s going to end democracy!

Well, it turned out that plan didn’t work. The public is tired. They just can’t fight the usual bogeyman one more time, they can’t get it up.

But then the candidate was changed and this tsunami of energy and hope was unleashed. Suddenly, there were double digit increases amongst young people and those of color in support for the Harris/Walz ticket. The somnambulant awakened, the youngsters became active. And the weirdest thing is everybody believes their vote counts, and many of these people weren’t even planning to vote at all!

And speaking of weird, RFK, Jr. self-immolated. Never mind the issue of residence, the bear in Central Park was a bridge too far. Unfathomable to people who’ve never even encountered a bear outside of a zoo, never mind put it in their vehicle and then dumped it in a major city. RFK, Jr. was now laughable, indefensible, and his numbers tanked.

And RFK, Jr.’s position was one of no. No vaccines! The CDC is the enemy!

What he and the Republicans want is chaos. That’s what happens when you tear down government. As for the police, statistics tell us crime is going down. We want order. While not suppressing our individual rights. But somehow those in the hinterlands believe they have a lock on this, even when there is little law enforcement in the area.

Patriotism. Somehow the Democrats have reclaimed this. Turns out you can question your country and still love it.

As for Walz, he’s everyman. People can relate to him and his background. He’s not rich, he doesn’t own stock. He’s a man of the people. Not the people with rifles telling the government to stay away, but the people abiding by the rules who want a level playing field.

And all the Republicans are doing is attacking Harris.

She too could self-immolate, you can’t predict the future, faux pas are lurking around every corner, but in truth her candidacy is not even about her, it’s about what she represents. Hope.

Yes, that’s what Obama rode all the way to the White House, hope. But we were sold a bill of goods. Congress was locked, other than the Affordable Care Act nothing was passed and the division between the parties grew and Trump won.

Trump won because of dissatisfaction. But homey don’t play that no more. At some point you’ve got to have a plan.

As for Trump’s term in office, the only people who view that positively are those committed blindly to support him. Those who actually lived through the era remember the chaos. In truth, we want to stop thinking about politics, we want to get on with our lives, we don’t want to believe death and destruction is right around the corner. We’re sick of fear.

I’m not saying there are not issues. But if you don’t marvel at Shawn Fain’s success with the UAW, you must be an owner. As for all this negativity about unions… That’s an old paradigm. The corrupt officials. In a world where the federal minimum wage is less than ten dollars and manufacturing jobs have cratered, people want justice, they’re for the little guy. It’s less about you taking mine than all of us in it together for the benefit of everyone!

This is another way in which Trump bats zero. It’s always about him. Solely about him. Everybody sees that. Those who vote for him believe the goodies will trickle down to them, even though he benefited the usual fat cat Republicans in office, but the rest of the public ain’t buying it. They’re not looking for a narcissist.

Think about it, last year’s big hero was Barbie. The movie was dominated by pink.

As for “Oppenheimer”… A veneration of intelligence, of both the man and the viewer. It wasn’t dumbed-down for lowest common denominator acceptance.

This is what the movie studios don’t understand. They refuse to pivot to give the public what it wants. They make fewer movies in narrower verticals and even though some of these flicks do business, the overall numbers keep going down. You’ve got to break the trend.

Kind of like this spring’s rap battle between Drake and Kendrick. Questlove declared it the end of hip-hop. Insiders and acolytes were hanging on to every diss. But most of the public? They’d seen this movie before, they didn’t care, and what did it all mean anyway, two rich entertainers arguing about…exactly what? Their personalities, their choices? What about my personality and my choices!

Optimism does not mean no edge.

Then again, today’s rock is all edge and no substance, and is also negative. Look at the history of rock, it had many upbeat moments. The whole lifestyle was upbeat. Sure, people were drinking and drugging and f*cking, but that’s why they signed up, that’s what we all wanted before AIDS and sober living, never mind smartphone cameras. The world changed, but rock did not, and then it evaporated.

Grow your hair long, don your leather jacket, sport your tattoos…maybe you feel good about yourself but most people see you as out of touch, stuck in a past that is never coming back.

People need to be optimistic or they can’t go forward. Life is just too difficult sans sun. Sans belief you’re mired in the mud, sunk in depression. People won’t glom on to any false hope, but if everyone believes, they’re eager to jump on the train.

Which is why you’ve got these Zoom calls for Harris. Everybody wants to play. And every niche, in a world comprised of niches, is included. I attended a Deadheads for Harris Zoom. Likeminded people want to hang together, and feel that there’s a way forward.

And I could sit here and say how many ways Trump has it wrong, but that’s the change, it doesn’t matter, he’s selling black and Harris and Walz are selling white. No one wants to hear him spew about how bad it is, how this or that person is evil, they’re sick of it, they want something more positive.

And this does not only apply to politics. This optimism is and will continue to infiltrate all verticals. Sure there were scandals at the Olympics, then again there was Steph Curry’s three-pointer, and Simone Biles and… People felt nationalistic, Paris was not a downer. As for the people claiming that bunch of misfits were recreating the Last Supper…

Some of us are misfits. Actually, I’d augur all of us are misfits. Those were heroes, those were outsiders brought in. Does everything have to be seen through a negative lens? Does religion have to permeate every pore? Can’t we just have a good time?

But not be totally hedonistic?

The right keeps talking about the takers. Where on the left, people know they’re working hard and that being on welfare is no picnic, never mind being homeless. Are we just going to ignore America’s problems, throw our hands in the air, or are we going to dig in and address them, knowing progress is difficult, that not everything works out, but that does not mean you should stop trying.

This is a sea change in America. It’s been happening over the last four years and D.C. certainly hasn’t recognized it.

People want to leave the past behind. They want a fresh slate. They want something to believe in.

That’s what Swift delivered. That’s what Chappell Roan is delivering even more. You may not understand it, you may not care about it, but you must evaluate what it represents.

Everybody keeps painting the sixties as a dark era. And sure, there was Vietnam, protests, but there was also a hell of a lot of fun. Believe me, the Dead and the Airplane were having fun. Woodstock was all about fun.

That’s what people want, fun. When they’re not working hard.

And they want meaningful work. And they want to be heard.

All you have to do is give them opportunity.

When you keep telling them how bad things are, how the system is rigged, they are not energized. You’ve got to light a match to build a fire.

And that’s what Harris has done.

I don’t even care if you’re voting Republican. You’ve got to recognize how America has changed. We want things to work. We want progress. Enough with the negativity, we want to party like it’s…

A WHOLE NEW ERA!

Is death.

Or at best stasis.

But probably a step in the wrong direction.

Tell me about a band whose road numbers increased after they stopped having hits.

Tell me about a movie sequel that did better than the original.

Of course there are exceptions. Nitpicking is not the point. The point is if you’re not changing, you’re falling behind.

This is what is hobbling Trump. It’s no longer 2016. Eight years later the world has changed. Not only do we have all these new voters, Trump no longer represents the outsider throwing the long ball, up against the usual suspects. Now Trump is a usual suspect. And that ain’t working for him.

Of course Trump could still win. It’s only about seven states, and although Nate Silver has Kamala triumphing, things don’t look so good over at the WaPo. And never forget, if someone only has a twenty five percent chance of winning, that does not mean they cannot win.

But who is buying Trump’s spiel who did not buy it before?

And what are the odds that everybody who bought it last time is on board this time?

This is a completely different question from whether those with Republican values will vote for him. We’ve seen even the brass hold their nose and fall in line for him. But this election is about very few people. Are nicknames, insults and falsehoods going to convince those on the fence, the undecided?

Trends change. I guarantee what you’re doing today won’t be in vogue eight years from now.

Meanwhile, everybody will keep telling you to do the same damn thing.

Change course and a healthy chunk of your audience will abandon you. Furthermore, the odds of success in your new vertical are not good, just ask David Bowie. He had commercial misfires before he won once again. As for Garth Brooks, he wanted it both ways, changing his name for his rock album, which ultimately satisfies no one. People need to believe in you. Otherwise they won’t follow you to the next destination.

Look back, even the titans had very brief careers. The Beatles’ studio albums were all released in one decade. And that’s half a century ago. And as hard as they tried, no member of the band could achieve the ubiquity of the original band. Sure, Paul had huge commercial success following the same template he established with the other three, but John Lennon gets more respect because he widened his horizons, he experimented.

If you’re not willing to fail, you’re not going to succeed.

It’s nearly impossible to make it, to garner an audience. And once they get it, people are afraid to lose it. The more success you have, the less eager you are to experiment. But Neil Young did, and he outsold, and has more cred than Crosby, Stills or Nash, even though some of his records were commercial turkeys, relatively speaking.

This is where the labels come into play. This is one reason they’re faltering now. Because they’re providing the same thing they have for nearly two decades. And public tastes have changed. Once upon a time, hip-hop was new and fresh, and there are exceptions, but so much is calcified today. The audience has seen the movie, they’re looking for something different.

Nirvana killed the hair bands, but where do you go from there? There’s a harder edged modern sound that has its own format, Active Rock, but it reaches a fraction of the number of people rock did in the past.

And distribution makes a difference too.

Used to be even Tower Records carried a limited stock. Now streaming services have everything, meaning you’ve got to compete against the greats of music history, and that’s difficult. And if you’re doing a poor job of imitation, I’d rather hear the original, as most people would.

And the world changes nearly instantly today. Trump got shot not even two months ago and not only does it seem like ancient history, it has nowhere near the gravitas, the import, of what it had back then and usual suspect prognosticators believed it would continue to have.

Stratospheric peaks are no longer the poles holding up the big tent. Today you need a lot of peaks, maybe not as high, but without them, there’s no reason for the audience to continue to pay attention, it moves on.

And complaining gets you nowhere. If you think you’re going to win by carping about Spotify payments, you’ve already lost. And I hate to tell you, if you win, and continue to win, there’s a ton of money for everybody. But it’s easier to complain about the game than figure out how to break through yourself.

You’ve got to change it up. Even if you do it as well as you did the first time around, the public saw it the first time around, it’s no longer as incredible. There might be a bit of money involved, but very little excitement.

Post Malone’s recording career was going in the wrong direction. But now he’s gone country and it looks like he’s following the yellow brick road all the way to Oz.

And somehow Post did it with authenticity. Evidencing country roots. And he did it live before records. Which is the opposite of the way it used to be. Do something different on stage and even though few people were there, word can spread.

You cannot be a prisoner of your audience. It just isn’t comprised of enough people. This is Trump’s failure. He’s playing to the converted, not the uncommitted he needs to win.

As for Kamala… Most people still don’t know who she is. All they know is it’s no longer two aged men inured to the old system running for President. This is how much people wanted change. They’ve come out of the woodwork in support of…exactly what? Well, I don’t think it’s Harris herself, but what she represents, the new, the different, the young.

Harris is just like the new act replacing the old.

And you’ve got to make the news. The paper reports what has already happened. But news outlets need stories. Stunts can garner eyeballs, but how do you sustain viewership? Remember when BuzzFeed was all the rage? All those listicles? Well, they shut down their news department and no one has forwarded me one of those listicles in years. Turns out BuzzFeed didn’t have a second act.

Same deal with Yahoo. And AOL.

But with music, you can always rely on your catalog, your hits. But usually, these acts complain that they’re no longer on the chart, that no one wants their new music. That’s right, they don’t want new music that sounds just like the old. And blindly following trends doesn’t work either, all those rock bands who made disco records in the late seventies in a dash for cash ended up losing credibility, never mind not having success.

But reinvention, pushing the envelope is hard. It’s easier to rely on the tried and true.

But people always want the new. Look at the Sphere.

But that’s not the only place to look.

The public always wants something different, even though it says it wants the same and doesn’t know it wants the new until it does.

This is why market research doesn’t work in music, never mind anywhere else. How did Apple become the most valuable company in the world? By going by Steve Jobs’s gut. He famously did no research. He gave people what they needed, not what they wanted.

And this is all amorphous. It’s one thing to decide to change, it’s another thing to figure out where to go.

And don’t count on any support. Your audience will complain that you’ve changed. Your percentage partners don’t want to make less, they’ll tell you to stay the course.

So it’s down to you.

An artist challenges conceptions. Pushes people. Both irritates and thrills them. Which is why people who’ve never heard “Blitzkrieg Bop” know who the Ramones are.

Even the MLB changed the rules. The games were just too long. Going or watching is now a completely different experience.

But we haven’t had a new sound in decades, whereas we used to have one every four or five years.

And the landscape is amorphous. It’s a long hard struggle. There are no rockets to the moon. And TikTok is a game of chance.

No, it comes down to you.

Change is hard, but it’s the only way to continue to win and have impact, the only way to keep yourself in the conversation, to dominate it.

Which is what you want, right?