1. TicketMaster

Every day I get e-mail complaining about this helpful service. Whether it be exorbitant charges on cheap tickets or a charge for printing the tickets yourself, people are fed up.

TicketMaster is awaiting its Napster moment. When the public finally gets some traction, has an alternative, TM is going to be in serious trouble.

If Live Nation does its own ticketing it MUST bury the service charge in the price of the ticket. And, if it does this, where does this leave TicketMaster?

Live Nation has the chance to solve this entire problem. Will the agents and managers help them and agree not to commission the fee, or will they be glad that the blame is not placed upon them, and screw Rapino and his minions?

Ultimately, the high fees reflect badly on the artists themselves. They just don’t know it yet…

E-Mail re this today:

Want to hear something that’s FUCKED UP? I purchased tickets to a Bela Fleck and the Flecktones concert in Birmingham, AL through Ticketmaster. Face value of ticket – $43. Total Charge once it’s run through Ticketmaster – $111.10 for two tickets. That’s ridiculous, but I like Bela Fleck and want to see the show, so I’ll pony up the cash. Apparently not enough people were willing to pay $55/ticket to see the band, ticket sales were sluggish, and they canceled the show. So I check my credit card statement today to confirm the refund, and it is only for $107. I call Ticketmaster and they say that even though the show was canceled by the artist/promoter, I am not going to be refunded the full amount due to a NON-REFUNDABLE processing fee. Are you fucking kidding me? Think about that for a second–that means that if 500 people have purchased tickets, Ticketmaster is pocketing $1,500 of the CONSUMER’S money. And the consumers being ripped off are the band’s dedicated fans–people who bought tickets IN ADVANCE to guarantee entry to the show! What should I do the next time this band announces a show–wait and see if they sell enough tickets so that it looks like the show is going to happen, then buy my tickets?

Let’s say that this happens in a couple of cities 2-3 times per week–you’re talking over $150,000 per year pocketed by THE MAN. No wonder consumers are sick and tired of the music industry! Working with bands and having promoted shows, it infuriates me to think that this happens to enthusiastic music fans. If a band or promoter overshoots and realizes they are going to lose their ass if they go through with a show, they shouldn’t further penalize the music fans they are already disappointing–they should absorb the "service fee". I’m actually glad this happened to me–a lesson learned so I don’t piss off my patrons in the future. Thought you would enjoy this "fleecing of America".

Sincerely,
Jason Rogoff

2. MTV

The music channel can trumpet its VMA ratings increase all it wants, perception is the VMAs were a train-wreck disrespectful to music, the veritable last straw/nail in the service’s coffin.

It wasn’t about ratings, it was about rebuilding MTV’s franchise. But by going lowest common denominator, by going for the gold, i.e. cash, MTV blew its final chance to fall on the right side of this issue, i.e. MUSIC!

It’s an entertainment channel now. The king of the teen reality shows. Hope it works for them, because their days in the music industry are DONE! As is MTV.com. If you want music, you go to Yahoo. Or AOL. MTV.com? RollingStone.com? They blew those franchises long ago.

3. Terrestrial Radio

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where RADIO is hated MORE than the major labels?

One in which music fans have GIVEN UP on the major labels.

Radio used to be your friend, it used to be in bed with you. Now it’s a tool of corporations you want nothing to do with. There’s no honesty, research that delivers a constant, well, interrupted by endless commercials, drumbeat of empty calorie crap. Sure, it’s free. But so is Net Radio. Blame whomever you want, but the terrestrial band is dead.

As for satellite? It barely ever got started.

Just like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, XM and Sirius will merge. And then talent/programming payments will plunge and what is aired will be ever narrower in focus, akin to terrestrial radio. Yup, Karmazin and Sirius are ultimately going to rule. It’s almost endless repeats of the obvious on most Sirius channels. You expect the terrestrial guys who run it to do it any differently?

4. The Major Labels

They release crap and they sue their customers on the behalf of artists they don’t pay. Perception is so bad, their future is fucked. Quality, long term/career bands want nothing to do with the majors! So, all they’re left with is music of the moment, which is very hard and very expensive to break, and doesn’t last long.

Want to know how deep the hatred for the majors is? The TECH REPORTER for the "New York Times", David Pogue, is beating them up for overpriced, evanescent ringtones.

A Baffling Phenomenon: Customized Ringtones

When you can’t even pull the wool over the eyes of the fourth estate, always out of touch, usually not even caring about the music industry, you know you’re fucked.

5. Steve Jobs

Mr. Jobs is on the brink of a Q rating meltdown

Q rating

Oh, he hasn’t changed. Not much. But suddenly, all his wisdom and all his talent have resulted in Apple being top dog. And EVERYBODY shoots for the top dog.

Stunningly, Jobs isn’t even aware of the coming backlash. As evidenced by his failure to foresee the early adopter reaction to the iPhone price drop.

There have to be fewer special events. Steve’s got to do some press where he laughs at himself. The record labels and movie studios and TV networks have done SUCH a good job of depicting him as a tyrant that some of it is now sticking. Steve’s RIGHT! But right isn’t everything.

Steve has always walked a fine line between the industry and the fan. But now, it’s getting him in trouble. He’s isolated, he’s alone, out in the desert.

In order to win in the twenty first century, first and foremost you have to be aligned with the public. The Tommy Mottola decade is over. It’s not about your flashy life and power, if you believe that, you’ve watched too much "Cribs". It’s about being honest and delivering for the public at large, with your cash and power being mere BYPRODUCTS!

Buying tunes from Starbucks via Wi-Fi on your iPod Touch? That doesn’t get my hormones going. How about a subscription that can verify via Wi-Fi, i.e. when you enter Starbucks? How about more music for less money? How about further illustrating you’re in OUR world, not THEIRS!

6. 50 Cent

We don’t hate Kanye because he’s not dangerous. 50? We’re afraid to walk down the same side of the street with him.

He’s become so focused on business, has such a bunker mentality, that we can no longer relate. We don’t want to give you our money to make you RICH, we want to belong to your club, we want your music to ENHANCE OUR LIVES!

50 needs psychotherapy.

Stunningly, he was warm in the VMA pre-game.

Only one problem, most people didn’t see it.

Yup, you’re on MTV and people STILL don’t see you!

7. Ticket Prices

Since music is free (and if you don’t know this, you probably disagree with most of this screed), acts make their revenue on the road. Only one problem, THEY’RE GOUGING US!

Oh, we’re paying to see who we want. But we don’t want to see many people.

Used to be going to the concert was a decision just a little more major than going to a movie, they weren’t that different in price. Now a show is an EVENT! As a result, there’s a focus on production rather than music. There’s auto-tune and instruments on hard drive, all in an effort to make it perfect. Live isn’t perfect, live breathes. These events leave one cold. Once is enough. And they drain all the money out of the marketplace.

There’s no concept of repeat business in today’s concert industry. It’s get all the money NOW! If you’re doing it right, people will want to see you in the future. They’ll be on your side if you don’t rip them off. They’ll keep coming back. See the Dave Matthews Band for instruction.

8. Wal-Mart

Often the only game in town. Where you can buy very little repertoire, a good deal of it censored to fit the company’s criteria.

The Eagles are gonna get paid upfront, they’re gonna move a lot of product, but it’s never gonna burnish the Arkansas retailer’s image. Then again, people stupid enough to still buy CDs are probably so out of it they don’t care that their communities have been ruined by the giant, they just want low prices. And probably think Iraq was behind 9/11 too.

Who you’re in business with says a lot about you. Choose your partners wisely.

9. Simon Cowell

At least he has the balls to go on TV. Where you’ll never see Doug Morris or Edgar Bronfman, Jr.

Simon gets away with it though, because he’s not dishonest, he tells what he believes to be the truth. Bottom line, mainstream music is SO bad that the catatonic minority would rather buy gussied-up wannabes than the incomprehensible works of art rockers and metal-heads.

In the modern era, you’ve got to have a public face. You’ve got to be able to take your hits.

10. Music Itself

Unlike Mr. Cowell, most in this industry are dishonest. They won’t call out travesties, they’re only interested in what sells. And unless you LIVE for music, you just can’t find anything with meaning.

Albums are WAY too long. Our heroes don’t deliver anymore. New acts are not as good as the legendary ones. There’s a focus on everything BUT the music. FASHION ROCKS? No it doesn’t.

The number one criterion is GOOD. If it’s not good, just play the old stuff. That’s what the teenagers are doing. That’s why 20 million people want to see Led Zeppelin’s show at the O2 Arena.

Led Zeppelin didn’t play by the rules. They were not beholden to the man. They didn’t play it safe. They were unique. But, despite all the foregoing, they were strangely listenable.

That doesn’t describe today’s music, and that’s why today’s music is in the dumper. And it doesn’t matter if you agree with me, that’s the PERCEPTION!

And we can blame everybody for this. The agents, the managers, the labels, MTV, radio… The only person we can’t blame is the fan.

But now the fan has power. And he’s mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. Won’t anybody worry about the FAN?

ADDENDUM:

We Don’t Give A Shit About DRM

Anybody who cares about DRM is stealing the music in an unprotected format anyway. Rather than pissing the people off who ARE paying, just leave the DRM off. But really, this is a tempest in a teapot.

The Price Is Too High

I understand record revenues are tanking, but by raising prices, you’re just encouraging people to steal. Don’t tell me how much money, time and effort you put into recording your material. They spent a lot on the DeLorean too, and IT failed.

People own a lot of music now. They have a limited music budget. Focus on GETTING THAT BUDGET FROM EVERYONE! Not trying to get thousands of dollars from a few.

Re: Hits

Hey Bob,

I’m sorta slow keeping up with you most of the time, but reading this post a couple days later made me think about an artist that came across the IODA radar this week that I think illustrates what you are saying in this post. Check this out:

Andy Mckee – Guitar – Drifting

Andy McKee is a genuine Youtube sensation. He’s had over 7 million views on Youtube, placing him in the top 40 most viewed videos of ALL TIME and the top 20 most subscribed of all time. His last release is currently #4 on iTunes folk album charts, and his new album was released this week and should hit iTunes any day now.

On one hand, just another Youtube anomaly, but this guy is an amazing musician on an unknown label that has done INCREDIBLY well without any of the normal industry benefits. Why? Because of Youtube and the "word of mouth" it has created, but fundamentally because he’s genuinely unique and exceptionally talented.

He came to our attention because we constantly track and analyze our sales data and he’s doing strong numbers via iTunes and other outlets. He’s not good looking, but the talent shines through and he found his audience via the new marketing paradigm. AKA word of mouth. Very old/new school.

Check him out.

Nice finally meeting you in Sydney btw.

Kevin Arnold

So we’re having dinner with Richard Griffiths last week and he reveals that he manages Paul Potts. You know Paul Potts, right? The salesman from Carphone Warehouse who won "Britain’s Got Talent" singing opera?

Or maybe you don’t. Check out this link:

Paul sings Nessun Dorma

Bottom line, MANY people checked out this link. Because Mr. Potts’ album went to number one in a whole host of countries besides the U.K., even though he’s never been to these places, as varied as South Korea, Singapore and Denmark.

We were waiting for the first Internet stars. They’re here.

Oh, Mr. Potts’ career started with a TV show. But not Andy McKee’s. Nor Colbie Caillat’s. Turns out video on the Web is just as powerful as it is on TV. It’s just that it’s different. All that dancing, all those special effects, they don’t translate in a small window at a low resolution. But the ESSENCE! The ESSENCE SHINES THROUGH!

It’s been a long time since the essence, the core, the reality, the truth, has been important. What’s going on at MTV, the race between Kanye and Fitty, that’s the sideshow. The mainstream is for pussies. It’s where those with no clue hang out. And those who start there end up on the scrapheap that much faster.

You don’t need the machine anymore, you need TALENT!

And if you’ve got talent, you can just set up a digicam in your bedroom, post the results online and the world will know.

It’s not about getting a big label involved. Actually, you’re probably stupid if you do. What can they do for you? Get you in the mainstream Kanye/Fitty world on radio stations the fans don’t listen to, whore you out and burn you out? It’s the seventies all over again. It’s ORGANIC!

It’s not about promotion, it’s not about an edge, it’s about how good you are.

If this fat, bald guy can have a career, I don’t want to hear your sour grapes that no one’s paying attention to you. You get it the instant Andy McKee starts to play. And, even if it’s not your cup of tea, you know the guy’s got talent. Does Nicole Pussycat Doll have talent? You might want to bang her, but after that?

Whereas you want to know where Andy McKee came from. How much he practiced. Does he have other fans? You want to be a member of the group. You want to tell all your friends about him. You want to see him.

This is how you grow careers in the twenty first century.

Why does everybody have to dress like a slut?

You walk down the sidewalk convinced these girls want you to throw them to the ground and do the wild thing right there. But are they even appealing to you, or are they really dressing for the other girls?

Think about SUVs. Do these women truly believe we’re impressed they drive a truck big enough to haul hay? Is that what they think we want, someone who can beat us in a demolition derby? Yup, I’m driving down the highway, trying to see over the slow weaving dame on the cell phone, and as I pass her, and am exposed to her bleached hair and sunglasses the size of a picture window, I’m thinking to myself, I WANT TO HIT THAT! Are you kidding me?

I’m not saying that appearances don’t turn me on. But it’s not about fashion, but what you radiate. And what today’s youth (and the oldsters imitating them) want to put forth is I’M ONE STEP AWAY FROM THE POLE! COME GET ME BEFORE THEY START CLIPPING DOLLARS TO MY GARTER!

Huh?

If you’re intelligent, the women hate you. Maybe because they can’t compete with that. If Hillary Clinton loses the presidential election it won’t be because men are down on her, but women. Who does that bitch think she is? Why doesn’t she get behind the wheel of her SUV with a latte and sit in traffic talking about her nails like the rest of us?

Yes, that inane conversation on the cell phone. It’s not about world peace. It’s about the latest nail salon. Or what Ginny did to Jennifer. Men’s eyes roll into the back of their heads when they’re exposed to this gossip. What exactly about this behavior do girls think APPEALS to us?

Or maybe it’s the dogs. So small you’d squish one on the way to take a whiz. Yup, that’s what I want while I’m doing the nasty, some insect-sized pooch staring me in the face, whimpering.

And why do they have dogs ANYWAY? Because they can’t relate to men, can’t keep a relationship, because they need some COMPANIONSHIP?

Want to get in most men’s pants, talk sports.

Not gonna work with me, but it’s good if you’re playing the law of averages.

And if you don’t want to do that, don’t try to change your guy, don’t tell HIM what to wear, just give him a social schedule and listen to his stories. That’s all we want, someone to lean upon. We can’t lean upon girls who only eat on days with T’s in them. We don’t want to fuck a pickup stick. We want a little warmth, not someone who has to sleep under twelve comforters to avoid freezing.

Who do we blame? Paris Hilton?

Hate to tell you this girls, but Paris Hilton was BORN RICH! Oh, don’t tell me she’s a role model because she’s making so much money being a fashionable nitwit. She used her celebutante status to get there. And YOU’RE NOT a celebutante. So you can’t play. And do you think it’s going to last forever? While women who went to school practice medicine for the next forty years, Paris will be a weathered old bitch in Ibiza, drinking and drugging her days away. And if you think this is appealing, you’ve been watching too much VH1.

Or maybe the problem is MTV. For perpetuating the cult of dimwittedness. Get a boob job, act like a stripper and the world will be YOURS!

Or maybe, just maybe, we’ve got to blame your parents. Who can’t say no. Who want you to be their friend. Who secretly envy you and want to believe they’re teenagers again too.

There’s nothing wrong with getting old. With age comes wisdom.

And if you think everybody’s body is perfect, then you just haven’t seen them naked. And if you’re depending on your looks, what are you going to do as you age, turn into Jocelyn Wildenstein? You think we can’t tell you’ve had your veneer tweaked? Do you think we want to be involved with that? Someone who’s so needy for approval they want the whole world to believe they’re twenty years younger than they really are, as opposed to OUR age?

I’m not saying you shouldn’t strive to look good. But if you want to get ahead, get an education. Learn about this world. Get a career that will not only sustain you financially, but make you interesting to us, the opposite sex. We’ve really got no interest in cosmetics, we’d rather hear you debate the Iraq War. Or just have your eyes widen as you tell us about what’s important to you that doesn’t have to do with APPEARANCE!

What did Tom Hanks say in "A League Of Their Own", "There’s no crying in baseball"?  Well, attempts don’t count in music, but they do in TV.

Kinda like the new Springsteen song.  It’s all dark and dirty, but once is enough.  Forget the e-mails telling me it reminds listeners of Tommy Tutone, "Radio Nowhere" just doesn’t possess that elusive magic.  That made you stand up at attention when you heard "Born To Run", never mind "Wild Billy’s Circus Story".  When you paint by numbers, you can get us to move our bodies.  But if you want to own us, you’ve got to create a record that captures the zeitgeist, that is just fucking perfect.  Like "She Loves You" or "Love Me Do".  Never mind "Satisfaction" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit".  You can’t convince someone to love a track, that’s a conclusion they have to come to by themselves.  And there’s no formula.  I was elated when I heard "Over The Hills And Far Away" on XM this evening.  But when "Carouselambra", one of my favorite tracks off "In Through The Out Door", came out of the speakers, I had to switch channels.  After all these years it’s clear, it’s just not good enough.  Jimmy was best in the beginning.  Oh, he had a comeback with "Physical Graffiti", but that perfect darkness, that was captured best on the first two albums.  Especially the first.  IV was the peak, the apotheosis.  When you get it perfect, it’s hard to do it anymore.  Where do you go from there?  Ultimately, to extended numbers and simplified romps.  Which gives us "Kashmir" and "The Rover".  But "Down By The Seaside" was maybe the last hurrah.  We didn’t EXPECT IT!

What do we expect?

The same old thing.  Curiously, right now in music.  But especially in TV.  And now movies.  Actually, movies are the worst.  If you go to see Hollywood fare you’re looking for escape, because that’s all there is.  Who cares if Brad Pitt is a star, the pictures he makes are such trifles that they’re forgotten right after you see them.  Whereas on TV, they’re now trying to test the limits.

And just when we were about to switch allegiance to Showtime, HBO makes a comeback.

Credit Larry.  The reviews might not have been A+, but when he showed up at Super Dave’s house, i.e. Marty Funkhouser’s, Bob Einstein’s, Albert Brooks’ brother’s, I started laughing uncontrollably just like I did during the first five seasons.  And when that cigarette hit the garbage can, I knew that we were going to once again live the saga of the marble rye, when everything in the episode was tied up neatly in the end.  Larry David was the genius in "Seinfeld".  Without him, the series fell flat.  Actually, I told him this at the AMC in Santa Monica one afternoon.  And his reaction was STRAIGHT OUT OF CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM!  He said I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THAT!  I’M A PRODUCER, I WANT THEM ALL TO BE GOOD!  And as he scowled and bought a ticket, I was left dumbstruck, I thought I was paying him a compliment.  But this was before we knew who Larry David really was.

And when I was done with his show, I fired up the other series that had debuted that evening, "Tell Me You Love Me".  You know, the one where everybody takes off their clothes, where even Jane Alexander gets naked.

I was not prepared.

Oh, I’ve seen tits and twats before, but the subject matter…

This show is painful to view.  It’s a bit like watching paint dry.  It’s SLOW!  I almost turned the TV off five times.  But the latter few were because I was starting to get flipped out.  I’d HAD that relationship.

This show could only be created by a woman.  Only a woman could be this honest.

We live in a land of meaningless diversions.  It’s believed Americans can’t handle the truth.  Not only does the entertainment business protect us, the government does too.  We don’t want to see the truth, we might get scared.

The truth really is scary.  But everybody knows it.  Do they want to face it?

What do you do with a jealous spouse?  You’re devoted, but it’s never enough for them, they believe that waitress you’re talking to is going to become your new girlfriend.

And on the surface, your relationship looks great.  All those people treating you like a loving couple don’t know that sex is uneven, that orgasms are elusive, that masturbation eclipses coitus.

You want a baby more than you want your spouse.  And when you get it, your husband becomes a second-class citizen, no matter how much he reads to the children, he’s not doing enough, only you understand them, they care about you most.

In your twenties, you’re doing it everywhere.  Your fights never eclipse your arguments.  You’re so passionate, you gloss over the bad times.  Until…

Is marriage forever?  Does ANYBODY know what’s going on?

"Tell Me You Love Me" has got an east coast feel.  As opposed to being set in La-La Land, where everybody goes to therapy.  Those on the east coast are closeted.  They rest on their graduate degrees and family pedigrees.  Problems are shoved under the rug.  Are you shoving problems under the rug?

While you worry about your record’s SoundScan number is your wife fucking her yoga teacher?  Or are you fucking your assistant.  Or is nobody fucking anybody, even though you talk about sex all the time.

Are you at the end of your rope, believing you have no options?

Are you afraid to get out of your relationship, however bad, because you don’t want to be alone?  Or, in the alternative, are you not getting into a relationship because you don’t want to be hurt, AGAIN!

Do you know what it feels like to put your fingers down a woman’s pants?  It’s de rigueur when you’re in a relationship, but watching this show you’re reminded of the sensation, which is in your memory bank, but might have been papered over, so you don’t despair.

I had issues with my spouse to be.  But I never give up.  I stayed the course.  Through the wedding.  All the way until she left me, which I knew she’d do BEFORE we got married.  But what did I know?  You’ve got to take chances, RIGHT?

And what is most important?  Compatibility, trust or hot sex?

If you hated "thirtysomething", you won’t like "Tell Me You Love Me".  If you’re twenty five, and barely beyond puppy love, it won’t tickle your fancy either.  But if you’re in your late thirties, or older, you’re gonna freak when you watch this show.  You’ve been there.  The stolen sexual moments, and the absence thereof.  The connections and the crossed wires.  When Sonya Walger stormed out of the therapy session, I was brought back to that exact moment.  When my old girlfriend stood up in the therapist’s office, announced she was done, slammed the door and never returned.  You can imagine how trepidatious I was about going back to our shared apartment.

And breakups aren’t that easy when you live together.  And when you don’t, they’re constantly right around the corner.  Your love can retrieve their toothbrush and some underwear and suddenly they’re gone from your life forever.

All we see in the media are winners.  And sometimes I feel like a winner too.  But not all the time.  Actually, I can’t relate to the folks who are constantly upbeat, telling me how great life is.  Because it’s not that way.  I know, I’ve spent a lot of time on this mortal coil.

I have no patience for automatons.  I’m interested in those with more questions than answers, who are trying to figure it all out.  Those who can see the conflagration coming, but still aren’t sure whether they want to leave, or explode and stay.

Our nation is made up of those suffering silently.  Rather than live a life of quiet desperation, tune in "Tell Me You Love Me", you’ll find out you’re not alone.