What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the average concertgoer attends fewer than TWO SHOWS A YEAR?

Yup, that’s what Michael Rapino said yesterday at the Goldman Sachs clusterfuck.

Live Nation: We Want In On Ticketmaster, StubHub

Why IS that?

First and foremost, there are not enough acts people want to see.

It’s funny to watch.  The majors have laid off not only employees, but acts.  Check Columbia’s roster, Rick Rubin has sliced and diced.  And there was that consolidation at Capitol.  And the whacking of the acts over at Warner.  FURTHERMORE, the acts that are left can’t seem to gain traction, we just can’t get everybody to pay ATTENTION!

I mean I used to go to one or two baseball games a year.  Back before there were so many teams and so many playoffs that excellence was buried by product.  I mean I can’t believe in baseball anymore.  And the major players make it damn hard to believe in music.

IF you want to go to the show, IT COSTS YOU A FUCKING FORTUNE!

Same deal with CDs, if you think about it.  Buy a couple that suck and you vow to never purchase one again.  Greatest advertisement for P2P and single downloads ever.

You go to the show and you get no respect.  You’re treated like cattle.  You’ve got the dreaded "General Admission" which is supposed to make you FEEL THE MUSIC but is really a way to squeeze more bodies into the venue.  Unless you’re big and burly and come with body armor, you’re never going to get close.  And if you do, you’re going to be part of a mass of stinking humanity so bad that you can’t wait to get home and take a shower.  Greatest advertisement for staying home in front of the flat panel EVER!

And the prices of everything from drinks to t-shirts is exorbitant.  I mean you’ll pay a premium, but not this much.  Unless your daughter or date is nagging you.  And, when you’re done, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GO AGAIN!  WHO CAN AFFORD IT?

Now if you’re nearing retirement, whether it be the Stones or the Eagles, you don’t give a flying fuck about ripping off your constituency.  You figure you’ve earned it.  You’re not investing in your career, THIS IS YOUR CAREER!  This is the last heist before you’re done.  And that’s what gets people to pony up the big bucks, fear you’re never going to do it again.  Which ain’t even working so well for the Stones anymore.  They can’t go clean at these ridiculous prices.

But the number of acts who can really draw on this basis, superstar status and age, are very few.

Then you’ve got the flavor of the minute.  Hannah Montana.  I guess maybe it’s like seeing an ice show, a one time event.  It’s got very little to do with music, and if you think there’s longevity built in, you haven’t checked Hilary Duff’s grosses.

So, you’ve got high-priced gigs at each end of the spectrum…  The legends and the insta-idiots.  In between?  A vast wasteland…

Used to be there were three act bills.  People went to see the opening acts.  Back before the acts were on the bill totally as a favor, oftentimes not even appealing to the same demo, and were completely ignored.  Oh, you get people paying attention to the openers at festivals, this is a new revenue stream, but the acts that play?  They return to their day jobs and stay there.  Doubt me?  Check the status of the acts that play Coachella.  They’re nowhere.

And maybe it’s not their fault.  Maybe they don’t suck.  But where are those not in attendance at the festival gig GONNA FIND OUT ABOUT THEM?

Certainly not on MTV.  And, if they were on MTV, it would probably kill their career.

And whatever radio there is, that with a modicum of listeners doesn’t play anything risky.  It’s not about stretching the listener’s mind, it’s about ASKING THE LISTENER WHAT’S PALATABLE!  Call-out research rules.

And on the Web, you have an almost incomprehensible cacophony.

Sure, you can’t steal a t-shirt, you can’t P2P a concert.  But the live business that’s supposedly so healthy today is heading for a steep decline.  BECAUSE THERE ARE NO ACTS ANYBODY WANTS TO SEE!

Used to be there were stadium gigs.  Multiple times a summer.  Now no new act can sell out a stadium.

As for an arena…  John Mayer did them after his FIRST COLUMBIA ALBUM!  So much for artist development.  Maybe if Mr. Mayer wasn’t whored out in every medium known to man we might care.  But I don’t give a shit how talented he might be, I’ve got to see him on TV, in magazines, in Gap ads, fucking the tart of the moment.  God, doesn’t this guy know that sensitive people DON’T PARTY ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT?  That it’s not solely about your bank account, but WHO YOU ARE?

You’re gonna tell me it was always this way, that money always ruled.  Let’s just say you’re right.  Well, it wasn’t VISIBLE!  Now it’s about the gross, not the quality.  The whole EXPERIENCE is different.

So you’re a fan, you go to the show all the time.  Big fucking deal.  I know people with Dodgers season tickets.  We need to make EVERYBODY a music fan.

How do we do this?

Get music in everybody’s hands.  Don’t force them to pay CD prices and sue them if they desire the product so much they get it another way.

Have trusted filters.  The new MTV is a trustworthy Website that tells us what to listen to.  But, either sites are tools of the man, like MTV.com, or incomprehensible, uneven, untrustworthy clubs of boys who couldn’t get laid in high school and are getting their revenge now, like PitchforkMedia.com.  How about a review of the WRITERS at PitchFork?  How about letting us know WHICH WRITERS to trust.  But no, criticism is for the acts.

And less whoring out.  Hate to tell you, but it’s about MUSIC!  It’s not about how you look, your endorsement deals or who you’re fucking.  It’s about how the music makes you FEEL!  Do endorsements and you’re inherently less trustworthy, less believable.  Don’t tell me you’re starving, don’t tell me everybody else is doing it, all I’m saying is THERE’S A COST!  The more you’re sold out, the less people believe in you.

Music’s got to be cool again.  It’s got to be in the forefront of people’s brains.  It’s got to drive the culture as opposed to being a mentally-challenged stepsister of TV and movies.

First, we must respect the music itself.

Then we must respect the audience.

We must not talk about the dough, but how the tunes have changed our lives.  How what the act is SAYING is important, not what they’re wearing or making.

We’ve got to start at the bottom and work our way up.  Little acts, taking years to break.  You’d be surprised, this is happening in the college world, amongst teens and twentysomethings.  They have killed radio and the major labels.  They’re going to reinvent the wheel.  Because they’re sick and tired of the way the baby boomers have fucked it up.  That group who grew up on music, adored it, and then used it for its own financial purposes.

If you’re in this business to get rich, GET OUT!  If your main desire is to get closer to the music, to midwife great tunes, CLIMB ABOARD!  Don’t work backward, figuring out how much to charge so you can fly private…  Think about growing your act to the point that so much money is thrown off YOU CAN BUY YOUR OWN DAMN PLANE!

Some people have it right.  Like Coran Capshaw.  The Dave Matthews Band respects its audience.  Has relatively cheap tickets and an endless supply of product.  How come no one else follows this formula?

I don’t give a shit if you like Dave’s music.  His career has been handled properly.  Whereas seemingly every other act and the major labels and big promoters are behaving like it’s a close-out sale and everything must go.  No, everything must stay, except for your sorry ass.  We’re still gonna be here.  We’re still gonna want music.  Feed us, respect us.  We’ll pay.  Make music the destination of the entertainment dollar.  Music shouldn’t be an event, it should be an EVERYDAY EXPENSE!

So I’m gassing up at the Shell station and after checking the oil I drop the hood pick up the squeegee and as I clean my windshield I feel the sun at my back. It might be nice to be young again, but then you wouldn’t have your memories, your frame of reference. I was taken right back to September 1974, having graduated from college, driving cross-country to firm up a job in Alta, Utah.

It was just me, my brand new BMW 2002 and twenty six tapes. It’s a long way from Denver to Salt Lake and following the TripTik I was driving across southern Wyoming, which might sound glamorous, but is really flat and desolate. Every two hundred odd miles I’d stop at a gas station, filling up with the newly-found self-service pumps, go inside and buy a Coke and set out on the road again. I’d place the can on the counter of that legendary car, shift through the four gears and accelerate back onto I-80, with just that big sky in front of me. Finally leaving the east coast behind for good. Where I was a known quantity, where houses were on top of each other, where everybody was in everybody else’s business. I was starting over. Remaking my life in my image.

I landed in Salt Lake on September 14th, for my assignation with the owners of the Goldminer’s Daughter, the lodge closest to the Alta lifts, a mere fifty feet away. In Little Cottonwood Canyon Middlebury had cachet, I was offered the job of waiter immediately. And went off to kill two months before my gig began.

It was during that fateful journey that I heard "Maggie May". After exiting a snowed-in campsite with the heat on full blast just over the Wyoming/Idaho border on my way from Jackson Hole to Sun Valley. When I heard the words telling me it was late September and I really should be back in school I felt a resonance the song had not previously elicited.

It took me two years to get back to school.

If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have. I had my first real relationship. I’m a member of the California Bar. But the law is not for me. I believe in the road and the sky.

And as I pulled away from the station and scuttled up Overland to the freeway the country stations were playing too many songs I was already familiar with so I pushed the button to listen to Sirius’ Bridge, the soft rock station. And in classic Sirius fashion, they were playing what was familiar. But today, "Doctor My Eyes", with the sunroof open and the sun staring in my face, felt just perfect. I recalled buying that debut album after seeing Jackson open for Laura Nyro at the Fillmore East.

And when "Doctor My Eyes" was done, there was that classic beat of the equally familiar "Rikki Don’t Lose That Number". A constant companion on an earlier drive from Connecticut to Cape Cod. What a crazy fucked up world it was where a song like this could be a big hit. Then again, at first I didn’t take Steely Dan seriously because they were only on the Top Forty stations, with "Do It Again". Sometimes you’re wrong.

And as I pull into my garage I see a thunderhead of clouds off on the horizon. It’s supposed to rain in L.A. tomorrow.

I’ll believe it when it happens.

And when I entered the house I was confronted with the new "Skiing" magazine. Encased therein were all my hopes and dreams.

Getting older is scary. But you get to steer. I love to steer. I wish I was on a long drive right now, cranking the satellite, feeling how fucking great it is to be alive.

Who looks cooler? Kanye West who essentially begged people to buy his album, constantly boasting about his talent and prowess in every medium known to man and then throwing a hissy-fit when he believed he wasn’t treated properly by music god MTV, or Trent Reznor who railed that his record company was run by greedy bastards overcharging the public and that his audience should just steal his music in a performance so far away that I’m sure Ms. South Carolina can’t find the location on a map.

How many times were you e-mailed that clip of the guy being tasered? You know, the performance art doofus asking John Kerry an endless question. If you’re a music fan, probably not as many times as you were e-mailed quotes and clips from Reznor’s rant.

Kanye West may have sold a bunch of albums, but if history is our guide, he’s only as big as his last hit. Rappers tend not to kill on the road (well, at least not in ticket sales), and just like in the old days, Top Forty doesn’t create lasting fans. Sure, Top Forty is the icing on the cake if you happen to cross over, but now almost nobody can cross over. If the Eagles’ new album contains a track as good as "Hotel California" IT will not get airplay on Top Forty radio. Because Top Forty radio is a ghetto, comprised of the youth, and not all youth, just those who are susceptible to the inane commercials featured on the stations. When done right, radio is a club. If you want to be a member of the Top Forty club, you’re probably thrilled when the mailman delivers a AAA invite to join ITS club. All the cool, all the hooks, have been drained from conventional media in an effort to harvest the most eyeballs. But that paradigm is dead. We live in an era of individuality. How else to explain the Facebook and MySpace pages, the endless YouTube concoctions. The youth have identities. They don’t want to be lumped together and labeled. They want to be treated as honest, thinking individuals, respected for their power. And they’ve got power.

A clip like the Reznor video wouldn’t exist if most acts had their way. NO CAMERAS! NO VIDEOS! Why? You’re pissed people love you so much that they want a recording, to show to others? You’re not a magician, fearful of your tricks being revealed, you’re a MUSICIAN, and the more people who want to join your club, the better. And, if you’re good, and say interesting things, people will be drawn to you.

50 Cent’s record was hampered by his personality. Just like Kanye’s was boosted by a fawning press thrilled that they could promote someone not dangerous. What has this got to do with the listening experience? NOTHING! This is a game concocted by desperate labels mired in the twentieth century to assault the populace with their wares, to browbeat them into buying product. Seems to have worked for Kanye’s first week. But how about his twentieth week? And, if labels want a piece of that road revenue, was this good for career longevity?

I’m not going to say the old system has no impact. As evidence, we’ve got the 957,000 albums Kanye moved this week. But I’m more interested in the new system. Where the AUDIENCE picks the stars. And hypes them based on criteria that the performer may not even be aware of. Do you think Mr. Reznor was ranting for the cameras? This was no press conference, this was a GIG! Watching, amidst the crowd response, is a more powerful experience than what happened at the Palms ten days ago. And if you total up the number of people who’ve seen the various clips, who’ve read about what Trent said, it doesn’t compare to the number of exposures Kanye got. But so many of those impacted by the Kanye hype had no interest in the man and his music. So many were turned off. So many want to see him fail. Whereas those passing the Trent speech fervently on the Web are long-time fans, or newly-minted fans struck by his honesty.

His record company did try to rip off fans in Australia. He spoke out and now its employees hate him. But he’s got power too. He’s going directly TO THE SAME TARGET AUDIENCE! Who’s gonna win? An artist with a fifteen year career or the same people who brought you P2P lawsuits? Trent’s enhancing his credibility, he’s increasing the longevity of his career, by being what an artist should be, a beacon of truth.

This is a gargantuan story on the Net. Made by those who care, not the mainstream media or paid street teamers. It pays lasting dividends. Trent may not have sold as many records as Kanye, but where it counts, on the road, HE’S the king.

Trent Reznor: "Steal My Music!"

You could talk about the low market share and completely miss the point. Suddenly, we’re living in a Mac world.

It’s absolutely fascinating to watch. People who pooh-poohed Macs in the past are now testifying. Frustrated with their Windows machines, they’ve made the switch. And they’re selling the product better, more vociferously, than those who’ve been Macheads for years.

Don’t take my word for it. Read "The Wall Street Journal":

Readers Endorse Switch to Apple

It’s not about the iTunes Store, it’s about the iPod. It’s not about FairPlay DRM or price, it’s about the seamless synch you get with the cool device.

And with both the iPod and the Mac, it’s not about the price, but the headache. You can buy a Vista machine, laden with craplets, spend hours loading up the anti-virus and spyware detection software or you can go Mac, and be up and running almost instantly. And, if you’ve got a problem, you can go to the store where you bought it and get help free!

I’m not being an Apple fanboy here. I’m not trying to polish Steve Jobs’ image. I’m just hipping you to a fact. The world is going Mac.

Businesses are adopting much slower. But on the personal level, it’s starting to resemble a tidal wave. I don’t know anybody who’s purchased a Vista machine. Not a single one. But, I’ve got an endless list of friends who’ve bought MacBooks and iMacs.

What have we learned here?

1. That quality sells.

2. Your best sales force is satisfied customers.

3. One great product can sell other products.

4. Service is important.

5. Price, although a factor, can be trumped by usability.

If you’re creating PC-only software, you’re missing the boat. For SpiralFrog to launch PC-only illustrates how they’re out of touch. Because those on the Mac can’t even try the service, can’t spread the word, can’t get it going.

And SpiralFrog is not going to get traction in the Mac world ever because it uses WMA files with copy protection that has no equivalent on the Mac side.

Music purveyed outside iTunes has to be DRM free, because otherwise you can’t use it with the iPod. This isn’t a question, this is a fact. There will be no online traction with WMA copy-protected files. That format, if not quite as dead as Sony Connect, is a sideshow equivalent to Creative’s hand-held players.

iPod is the standard. No one has come close to a device that works as well.

Mac is becoming the standard amongst consumers. If you don’t believe me, poll your friends. If they don’t own a Mac already, they’re planning to buy one, or are at least considering one.

Funny how business, run on PC’s, is missing this story. It’s almost stealth. But it’s like a new band breaking. All you have to do is put your ear to the ground and you can hear the rumblings.

And you know how it works with bands. The slower the build, the longer the stop on top. And it’s not about convincing the media, but the fans. When the fans are selling the product, you have a career. When the media is selling the product, you’ve got a momentary sales spike at best.