Well I know it sounds funny
But I’m not in it for the money, no
I don’t need no reputation
And I’m not in it for the show

I just want a hit record, yeah
Wanna hear it on the radio
Want a big hit record, yeah
One that everybody’s got to know

"Overnight Sensation" was not.  A last hurrah, a final attempt for renewed chart success, this Raspberries track was a complete stiff.  In the radio arena.  But in the world of rock criticism, in the world of credibility, it was MORE than a hit record, it turned out not to be a period piece, but a sensation that lasts until this day.  It’s what brings people to Raspberries shows in the twenty first century.  Sure, they want to hear "Go All The Way" and "I Wanna Be With You", but when that "Overnight Sensation" piano intro begins, when the backup vocals start cascading in waterfalls, you get that same hit you do when you listen to "Good Vibrations".  You’re reminded of listening to this record alone in your bedroom, sans a date, but knowing this music is enough to get you through.  You look at the other people in attendance and you feel a bond, you know they had the same experience as you, not only listening, but growing up.  You feel you could be friends with each and every one of them.  Whereas if it was a multi-act oldies show and the big radio hits were the only ones being played, all you’d have in common would be your age.

Eric Carmen wanted a hit record in an era when AM radio was floundering.  Don’t read the Joel Whitburn books, sure there are Top Forty charts from 1974, but they were almost meaningless.  Those acts couldn’t do shit on the road.  The same way most of today’s radio acts can’t play much more than clubs on the road now.  All the action was over on FM, where the CAREER BANDS HUNG OUT!

AM was a cultural wasteland in the mid-seventies.  Today, Top Forty is not only a cultural wasteland, almost no one’s paying attention!

Oh, don’t quote me listener statistics.  What we know is career acts are rarely built on the radio today.  A hit record won’t buy you much.  And an overnight sensation is just that.  On the radio and vapid television shows for a few months, and soon thereafter, the band members are back working at K-Mart.

If this is so, why are you SO desirous of being an instant success?  What makes you think it’s that easy?  What makes you think that kind of rocket into space doesn’t splat on earth not long thereafter?

Everybody e-mails me trying for a leg up.  Wanting me to listen to their music, to give them an instant ride to the top.  The desire to make it eclipses what’s in the tunes.  Because if it’s really in the tunes, I’ll find out about it from someone else.  Even though it might take years.

Years?  I haven’t got years!  My parents want me to go to law school!  I can’t delay my professional career that long!  My dad gave me TWELVE MONTHS!

Or maybe you want to give up your day job, which is keeping your wife and kids in food.  You want relief.  But the kind of relief you want will only be momentary.  Want that kind of relief, go on a reality television show.  Millions of people will suddenly be aware of you, maybe even tune in to see your shenanigans, and then laugh at you when they see you shopping at the supermarket, broke, only months thereafter.

If you’re into fame, instant success, do me a favor, don’t e-mail me, go knock on the door of the major label.  That’s the only entity that can deliver this kind of instant musical fame.  The fact that your sound will be processed and oversold and they won’t care about your career…that’s the price you pay.

There was a fascinating story in the "Wall Street Journal" this week:

Why ‘It’ Bags Are Out

They can’t sell overpriced "IT" handbags anymore.  The kind that Sarah Jessica Parker utilized on "Sex and the City", that tons of women, attempting to be hip and cool, overpaid for.  The luster has worn off.  There’s no exclusivity.  And all the money is in exclusivity.  Hell, the new, hip bag maker doesn’t even advertise, and I haven’t even heard of it.

If you want to last in the fashion world, you need a coterie of people who are willing to overpay for your designs.  Same deal in the music business.  You need people willing to give you more than fifteen bucks for a CD.  They need to go to multiple shows, they need to buy multiple t-shirts.  And they’re only going to do this if you’re exclusive, if only your fans own you.  And, if you’re good, if you put on a great show, the world will spread.  Just like it has on that Italian handbag maker, Marni.

Don’t focus on the fences, concentrate on the infield.  Seth Godin’s got a post about how the LAST experience is the one that sticks with you:

The last interaction

Don’t worry about people buying your music, worry about keeping them involved by giving them unexpected stuff AFTER they’ve been hooked.  The free MP3 AFTER they’ve become a fan.  The great concert tickets.  Play to THIS audience, not the temporary, casual fan.

This is why your audience must be able to get good seats.  It’s not about maximizing scalper revenue, trying to out StubHub StubHub.  More important is making sure your core audience sits up front for a reasonable price.  Focus on this, not the extra revenue momentary fans pay to attend shows up close at the last minute.

Well if the program director don’t pull it
It’s time to get back the bullet
So bring the group down to the station
You’re gonna be an overnight sensation

That’s how the business used to be run.  How do you goose it, how do you get a bullet?  And, how do you prevent things from going in the wrong direction?  How do you get the bullet BACK?

You don’t want a bullet.  If you’ve got a bullet, you’re moving too fast.  If you have to regain your bullet, you’ve been moving way too  fast.  Slow and steady.  It takes that long for the word to spread.

I’ve been tryin’ to write the lyric
Non-offensive but satiric too
And if you put it in the A-slot
It’s just got to make a mint for you

Top Forty is a ghetto, with rules.  Eric Carmen was trying to bend them, to get a chance.  Meanwhile, everybody on the FM band had THROWN OUT THE RULE BOOK!  The rule book has been gone for years.  Just ask the major labels.  They don’t know what the fuck is up, as their revenue tanks.  Now is not the time to listen to ANYBODY tell you what to do.  Now is the time to follow your own muse.  And to make a mint for yourself.

I fit those words to a good melody
Amazing how success has been ignoring me
So long
I use my bread making demos all day
Writing in the night while in my head I hear
The record play
Hear it play

It was so much different back then.  You had to please the gatekeepers.  The labels, to sign you, press up records and work your single.  You felt like you were harassed by the system.  If you still believe this, that everybody’s against you, then I’m laughing.  Nobody cares.  Because everybody’s busy doing their own thing.  As should you.  Make your demos.  Put them up on the Web.  Spread them to your buds, if they’re good, they’ll tell others.  You’ve got to have a personal relationship with those spreading the word.  Not me, I don’t know you.  I can’t help you.  But the kid from school, from work.  He can give your MP3s to his friends, people you don’t know, he can encourage them to come see you live.  But people won’t come back unless you’re good.

Bruce Springsteen built his career on the road.  He was just that good.  Took three years for everybody else to notice.  But imagine if there were no viable radio format to air "Born To Run", it might have taken even longer.

Bruce was electric.  You could see this was not a way station, a stop on the way to medical school.  You believed that he believed.  That the only thing important to him was this music.  That the power of this music was enough to convince you.  That’s how Bruce broke, by you telling everybody he had to be seen!

Do you need to be seen?  Do you need to be listened to?

Chances are no.  But you don’t want to hear this.  You want an easy road, where if you bullshit people enough, e-mail enough people blindly, manipulate your MySpace and YouTube numbers high enough, the world will take notice and you’ll gain instant riches and fame.  Rolling in the big city, partying and screwing celebrities.

You’ve got a false goal.  That’s an empty world.  Filled by people who are here today and gone tomorrow.  Who don’t care about you.  They’re fodder for entertainment.  You want to see Britney wig out, but you want to see Bruce Springsteen PERFORM!

So go back to the drawing board.  Create something different, straight from your heart.  Don’t worry if you don’t gain instant success.  If you’re not willing to eat ramen, you’re not willing to make it.  It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.  But if you set your course and stay on the road, if you work on your craft, if you believe you truly have it, that you can hold your own with Springsteen on stage, go for it.  But know that it won’t happen overnight.

"Overnight Sensation" live

1. Michael Rapino

Is the fact that he’s too young to have experienced the golden age a plus or a minus? Does the fact that he didn’t stay up all night listening to underground FM radio and going to Grateful Dead concerts mean he just doesn’t possess the soul, the DNA, or does it mean he’s not burdened by history and he can innovate in ways the oldsters can’t?

Rapino sits atop the big kahuna, Live Nation. That’s where the money is these days, touring. And he’s got the biggest operation. Rapino is where you get paid.

Can Rapino break acts?

Can Rapino eliminate the heinous convenience/ticketing fees that hurt our business?

He’s the one with the power, let’s see how he executes.

As for the stock price and Artist Nation…

Unfortunately, Rapino and Cohl are looking to cash out. We wish they were long term players, but that doesn’t decrease their power. And Cohl always seems to resurface anyway. But if you’re looking for Live Nation to be the new record company, I wouldn’t count on it. Because big acts don’t need record companies and presently selling music isn’t a growth business.

2. Steve Jobs

I don’t really think he gives a shit about music. He seems to care more about movies. Hell, he helped invent a new medium, computer animated features, with Pixar. We don’t see him starting a new kind of record company.

But the iTunes Music Store is where the rubber meets the road. It’s where the transaction happens. And that’s why he’s got power.

Furthermore, Jobs controls the player. The iPod dominates.

If Jobs suddenly said subscription rental was the future, and available at the iTunes Store, where you sync your iPod, that formula would burgeon, but it still wouldn’t dominate. Yet, he has the power.

3. Irving Azoff

When Irving was building the present Frontline empire he told me his goal was to build a monolith so powerful that when the major labels wouldn’t do something because it was "against their policy", he could counter that a certain procedure/deal point was against HIS/FRONTLINE’S policy.

But who could foresee the slip in label power in this century. Now Irving manipulates the label, when he wants to use one at all. He sold the "Warner" piece of Frontline to Barry Diller and then up and sold Warner ANOTHER piece.

With Irving it’s not a matter of trust, he’s just smarter than just about everybody else. And accessible. And charming. And the other managers hate him for it.

Irving’s got the power in an era where the manager dominates. Hell, Irving’s partner Howard Kaufman has got Rapino tied in a knot. Rapino NEEDS Howard’s acts, to fill his buildings.

You want to know the future of this business? Watch Irving.

And his artists trust him…

4. Randy Phillips

Touring can’t be stressed enough. AEG is perched at the absolute top of the pyramid. They’re about touring guaranteed moneymakers. They’re not full-service like Live Nation, but they’re very profitable, and a power that can outbid LN.

Great work with the O2, turning a white elephant into a first class venue. And now Coachella’s going to operate on the east coast too!

5. Rob Light/Marc Geiger/Chip Hooper

They couldn’t be more different, but they’re all extremely powerful.

You might not see Chip’s name in the paper, but he controls the jam band world, starting with the Dave Matthews Band. And these acts might not be sexy, but they have unending grosses, they can tour forever and people want to see them.

Rob Light has built CAA into a monolith, even though many felt that when the prior generation left, i.e. Tom Ross, CAA would falter.

Marc Geiger’s probably the most innovative thinker in the agency business, one of the most insightful in all the music business. He lost everybody’s money with ArtistDirect, but he didn’t lose his smarts. And somehow he’s been able to rebuild Lollapalooza as a weekend, destination festival.

Don’t curry favor with your A&R guy. Hell, your record label PRESIDENT is less important than your agent. Your agent will get you paid. And your label head might not even be able to break you. Acts are broken on the road. And those acts that aren’t, that are build on Top Forty airplay and television, don’t last and can’t do much business playing live, and therefore make less money and are less important.

6. Guy Hands

If he runs the smallest label and his star acts are pissed at him, how come he’s so powerful?

Because he’s the one angling for change. He’s got no history in this business, no allegiance to anything, he’s starting with a fresh slate. He’s the one who’s going to try shit that makes a difference.

Some of his ideas are stupid. Like branding a corporation with a song/act. It shows he has no idea of the true power of music, of people’s relationship to it. Yet, despite his stumbles, he doesn’t want to fail, he wants to come up with good ideas. He’s less worried about Best Buy and all the old powers the business has been beholden to. He’s looking to the future, not the past. Watch him.

7. Ian Rogers

MySpace and Facebook get all the ink, but Yahoo Music is the number one music site on the Web. And the Web is where you break records.

8. Music Blogs

We’ll even put Pitchfork here too. This business was built by, and is sustained by, rabid fans. Rabid fans scour the Web for information on their favorite acts and new acts. Too many sites are started with the profit motive first, and that’s why they’re untrustworthy. Hell, that’s why MySpace has got such a bad name. And Mark Zuckerberg is doing a good job fucking up Facebook too.

Music bloggers do it for the love of music. They can be trusted. Profit is secondary. Are blogs the new radio? If not quite, they show a pathway to the future, where it’s about being turned on by love, not hype.

9. Pandora/LastFM/Net Radio

I don’t listen to any of them on a regular basis. I’m a firm believer in satellite radio. I like pros picking my music. But it seems that most of the public is not with me, they don’t want to pay. If XM and Sirius merge, and they probably will, since the Whole Foods/Wild Oats deal went through, there’s a chance satellite will become the new cable. Ultimately dominant over time. But right now, it doesn’t look that way.

Traditional, terrestrial radio is toast. When it comes to music. It’s not where the active music consumer goes. Because of the calcified playlists and the endless commercials. Sure, you can break an act on terrestrial radio, but that’s the old model, that’s payoffs and hype. It’s not about the audience, but the powers-that-be. Those radio records have less impact than ever and the acts have briefer careers. Sure, it can be quick money, but it’s not the future.

The future is niche, narrowcasting. And you get this on Net radio. The majors are fighting it because they don’t like its openness, the lack of control. But it’s what the people want.

Ubiquitous Net radio is not in the immediate future. We don’t have either WiMax or Net-capable cars. But both are what the public want. And eventually the technology will catch up with what the people desire.

10. Doug Morris

If only he exercised his power for GOOD! Instead of being a bad traffic cop wanting to write tickets for everybody going five miles an hour over the speed limit.

Doug thinks it’s about breaking records on radio, seeing if they react at retail. He’s old school, he hates the future. He and his compatriot Zach Horowitz are single-handedly holding back the future of compensation for recorded music. They just want a check. They don’t understand Google, that you have to know where in the food chain to charge, that the most important thing is hooking the public on your wares, then figuring out a way to monetize.

______________________________

NOT ON THIS LIST

Clive Davis

Old school player massages records which ultimately sell the old way. Clive’s got no business innovation, and all those acts he’s building are selling ever less. If only he broke a plethora of acts, of all stripes. If only he didn’t meddle in the creative process. If only he was about the future as opposed to the Clive business, then he’d truly be powerful.

Rick Rubin

A story on the cover of the "New York Times Magazine" does not make you powerful.

Has done nothing, and probably never will. A bad mistake on the part of Rob Stringer, who has to worry about Clive and the Germans breathing down the neck of his unsuccessful business.

TicketMaster

Live Nation pulls its ticketing and then you buy a reseller?

Whose side are you on?

Your own.

TicketMaster is only about the money, it gives nothing back while continually trumpeting how great its service is.

There’s no innovation at TM, just endless service charges.

Wal-Mart

Soon they’ll only be selling a handful of CDs, and then none at all. And they failed with their online store. Stop being so afraid of them.

Jeff Kwatinetz

A sad, sad story. If only he were less combative and less about announcing deals and more about putting points on the board.

Kevin Lyman

There were only ten places. If there were twenty, Kevin would have made it. The Warped Tour is a juggernaut that never seems to fade. It’s a rite of passage for teenage boys.

Rolling Stone

Is it a celebrity magazine or a music magazine?

All print is dying. And "Rolling Stone"’s Website sucks.

Jann Wenner may swing his dick at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, but now that Madonna’s being inducted, that institution has lost all credibility. Shit, we need a NEW HALL!

Terry McBride

One of the most innovative thinkers in the business, but then why did Nettwerk need a cash infusion from MAMA?

Terry says that Barenaked Ladies made more money than if they were on a major label, but their tour grosses are bad and their profile is horrific.

Keep watching Terry. But I’m not sure he’ll lead you to the future. Or, maybe he’s just going to lead you there too soon.

Rob Glaser/Rhapsody

The MTV tie-in worked for Rock Band, but not Rhapsody.

The public doesn’t understand it, doesn’t think it needs it, and the interface and hand-held players suck.

There’s something here, but the public doesn’t know what it is, do they, Mr. Jones.

Microsoft

Zune… Have you been to the social?

Music, when done right, is cool. Microsoft HAS NEVER been cool.

SXSW

A circle jerk. You don’t break bands there, you just show the usual suspects what your priorities are. Stay home.

Nickelback

I’d almost want to put them on this list. Because they’ve illustrated that what people want most is meat and potatoes rock and roll. But that’s just not sexy enough for major labels. They need what’s hip, executives need to impress their friends. Daughtry is Nickelback one step removed. How come there aren’t a ton more Nickelback and Daughtrys? Maybe with better material, but playing down home rock and roll?

SoundScan

Many no longer trust it. Its accuracy is in question. How well does it track indie stores, how about gig sales…sales from Websites?

A barometer that’s losing power every day. Shit, one can just go to the iTunes Store and see what’s hot.

Billboard

They need to bring Timothy White back from the dead, it’s the only thing that can save them. Certainly their endless conferences won’t do the trick.

Jay-Z

He’s no longer at DefJam, his album didn’t sell well and Steve Jobs won the staredown.

With Jay-Z hobbled and Russell Simmons turning into a joke, as he preaches new age bullshit, who will raise and fly the flag of rap?

Maybe Dr. Dre. He’s still got the cred, and he was never flashy. But we need someone new…

Amazon

It’s just not sexy. It’s purely utilitarian. It’s the big box compared to Apple’s "indie" iTunes Store. Log on to iTunes and you feel a coolness. There’s no coolness at Amazon, it will never dominate the sphere.

As for building a competitor to iTunes… If sale by track was the future, the business wouldn’t be in such shit shape. But digital sales don’t make up for the CD shortfall. There has to be a new way to monetize digital, a bucket of tracks for a certain price, P2P trading licenses… Maybe Guy Hands can show some innovation in this area.

MTV

Sure, music video moved to the Web, but once MTV was the heartbeat of music, the powerhouse that broke acts. Now it’s endless reality TV, with shit ratings, competing against every other outlet on cable/satellite. They lost their soul. And soul is the most important element. You can branch out, go for the easy money, but at some point you’re not going to stand for anything anymore, you’re going to lose your specialness and find that your hard core audience, that you felt was inviolate, that you could depend on, is gone.

Re: Luck of the Draw 

Hi Bob,

Nice to read your comments about my song ‘Luck Of The Draw’. I actually wrote it in LA in 1990 when I was staying at what used to be called The Registry Hotel across from Universal Studios just off Lankersheim. It’s a true story. I was recording the album ‘Trick or Treat’ at the time. Gary Katz was producing. I used to stop off for a nightcap in the hotel bar before I’d turn in each night and she was always there behind the bar, going like ‘hey, don’t talk to me, I don’t really work here!’ Eventually after a few nights she opened up a bit and that’s when she said, "I’m a screenplay writer, really…’. That night I went to my room and wrote it in about twenty minutes. Bonnie Raitt came into studio the next day to sing a duet with me on the title track of my record and when we were done she said ‘have you any new songs?’ …She had already recorded another song of mine, ‘Not The Only One’. I said, well I wrote this just last night I haven’t even got around to demo-ing it yet. She said ..just sing it. So I picked up an acoustic guitar, pulled the lyrics out of my hip pocket (written on Registry Hotel stationery, I still have it) and sang the song. She said, ‘Luck Of The Draw. That sounds like an album title!’ and so it became. Glad it spoke to you.

Keep on writing your stuff! I enjoy your spirit and energy….even when I don’t entirely agree with you!

Paul Brady

Re: Spirit – "So Little Time To Fly"

Bob,

I wanted to share this email with you and your readers from my friend and Spirit member, Jay Ferguson…. A true “class act.”

Bill Hall

Hey!

Thanks for sending me the SPIRIT blogs & threads. Pretty amazing stuff.

You tend to forget what impact your music has on people. These are all heartfelt and touching, and are a super tribute to the guys in the band. Wish Randy and John could see them…

Thanks again.

Jay

Eric Herz called me freaking out, how do you find the rental movies at the iTunes Store?

Then the blogs picked up the story.  There aren’t many movies available for rental, and it’s almost impossible to find all of them at the iTunes Store.  Does Jobs not have a complete, easily accessible list of rentals so no one will see how pitifully short it is?

Are you buying a MacBook Air?  Are you willing to forgo an ethernet connection?  How long until every hotel is wireless?  Hell, you’ve got a router at home.  As for the SuperDrive…  It is an extra machine, it is a business machine, right?  If you’ve only got one computer, buy a MacBook Pro.  But if you’re going on the road, or surfing in bed, is a MacBook Air sufficient?

Did you buy an iMac without a floppy?  The one with only USB?

When was the last time you bought a serial peripheral?

Are you looking forward or backward?

This is what got the record business in trouble…  Looking backward.  So worried about physical retail that it made online acquisition free!  Is the movie business about to do the same thing?

Read Seth Godin’s blog about this.  The guy’s fucking right.  He’s looking to the future, not worried about preserving a past that’s built on quicksand.  The movie studios are so busy protecting the DVD cash cow that they’re driving people to BitTorrent.  Because you can’t get what you want when you want it legitimately online.

Seth is right.  Make it so cheap it’s not worth it to steal.  Build a business that scales.  So you can make money in the future.

Read this.  It’s brilliant.

Seth Godin’s Blog
(Article entitled "How Much For Digital".)
Or, you can go to Seth Godin and click on Seth’s head to get to his blog.