Forget about the music, focus on the AUDIENCE!

WHAT?

Of course the music is important. But you’re no longer playing to gatekeepers, there are no rules, no A&R guys scratching their chins. Oh, of course those people still exist, but if you’re playing the hit single game you’re on a fool’s errand, or in country music, which is always a step behind the pop game, as in it’s still controlled, but that won’t be forever, as terrestrial radio continues to diminish in importance.

You used to depend on the label, on intermediaries, to build your audience. Now that’s your responsibility. And no one cares how you do it. If someone is judging your music, ignore them. Phish never had a hit single. And neither has Tedeschi Trucks. But they both do a ton of live business, have fans who go to every show and can’t stop testifying. The one act that appears most in my inbox is not Drake, or the Weeknd, or Taylor Swift, it’s Phish. Their fans can’t stop telling me about them. Now even the managers don’t know how many Phish fans there are, whether it’s the same people going to every show, but one thing’s for sure, there are very few of them compared to the aforementioned big three, but they’re dedicated, they lay out their dough, Phish shows are swimming in attendees, the band can even do festivals!

And it’s not only Phish. There’s Jason Isbell. On a smaller scale Wilco. These are two other acts people bug me about. Once again, who cares about the music, it’s not made for you, it’s made for those addicted, the fans. And if the circle grows it will be because of these fans, not mainstream media. The media is just a victory lap, especially for these acts that have been around for a while. The looky-loos have already checked them out and either said yes or no, and once they’ve said no it’s nearly impossible to addict someone, there’s just too much in the pipeline, people don’t come back.

Of course you can have a popular record, but that does not mean you’ll have fans. And how many people are actually hearing that record?

As for Taylor Swift, she wouldn’t be a superstar if she hadn’t started out in country music. And Coldplay wouldn’t be selling out stadiums if they weren’t one of the last acts under the wire before the VH1/music television paradigm died. You can’t reach everybody today, world domination is nonexistent, forget about it, don’t stay at home polishing that one track that’s going to break you wide, instead go out and try to find fans, and if people don’t like what you’re doing figure out why and change it.

Those are the stories of today, people doing it their way, by themselves. Yes, Zach Bryan is now attached to Warner, but he started himself and plays by his own rules. And keeps putting out music, not caring about overwhelming the system, but satisfying his fans.

And if you want to be big, you must do the opposite of everybody else, just like the execrable Peter Thiel said. Don’t try to imitate, don’t do what everybody else does, that ship has sailed. You want to be unique, you want to create your own lane, you want to hoover up all the people everybody else ignores.

And want a tip? Make your lyrics, your story, personal. Yes, have an identity. Don’t get good makeup, unless that’s what you’re selling, don’t sing to hard drive, do it your way, so people can identify with you. I abhor the fact that Pink does her damn acrobatic act, I mean one tour okay, but forever? But she’s the only one doing it, and people clamor for tickets, so my opinion doesn’t matter. Also, she had hits before the entire system blew apart.

Forget the old rules. Forget protecting your interests. The music is just a vehicle to establish your audience. Don’t complain about Spotify payments. If anybody is listening, great. Odds of having a billion plays of anything, which pays quite well by the way, are incredibly low. Your songs are a demonstration, manna for the fans, who’ll go to the show, buy merch…

A manager is more important than a label. You don’t want someone who can schmooze as much as someone who has vision, who can execute your vision, who can make things happen. Someone who doesn’t depend on others but is a self-starter.

Forget the legacy acts. They were built in another era.

Forget pop, it’s too expensive. To make the music, to get known, and it all appears phony anyway.

As for hip-hop… That’s its own game, but the biggest people in it seem to be outsiders, who focus on authenticity more than an individual track. Then there are acts like Run the Jewels who have never had a hit, but have a huge audience.

But all that was in the past, and I’m talking about today.

It’s all from the bottom up. The creator is king. The platform is irrelevant. You use them all. Yes, you must be on social media, yes you must reveal your inner life, must detail your life constantly, but not to grow your audience, but to satiate the one you already have, the one in control of your career, the one that will grow you…or not. If you don’t know your biggest fans, you’re doing it wrong. Believe me, they won’t stop coming to shows, they won’t stop hanging out, they’ll contact you on the internet, empower them.

If you have a catchy song…

I’d argue that Dave Matthews was broken by “Ants Marching,” and that was never a hit. But just like Coldplay, Dave and his band broke in the old era, with VH1, don’t try to emulate Dave, other than his focus first on his audience. Dave doesn’t appear to be playing the game, and he’s got a sense of humor about the whole thing, he’s only serious when he’s actually playing.

I don’t care what you think, it does not matter. Does not matter what I think. It’s not about slicing and dicing, analyzing the tracks, if you’re not interested, fine. It’s just a matter of whether SOMEONE is interested, and whether the act can grow the fire. Yes, you’re starting with kindling, and the spark might be a catchy tune, or something you do live, but it’s not about a typical hit massaged by the machine. Hell, you could work with Max Martin, create a radio-friendly track, but odds are it won’t help your career unless someone is spending a ton of money and telling you what to do, and you don’t want that, because these people DON’T KNOW! Only you know, because you’re online, you’re on stage, you’re in touch with your audience, you’re feeling the vibe, you know what works and what does not.

As for money?

Your goal is to give up your day job. Which might never happen. But if it does, don’t dream of mansions… Those are for somebody else, mostly people not in music at all. You want to be able to travel by bus, and have enough money for freedom when you’re not working, to maybe go on vacation, possibly to an island. It’s a lifestyle, you should be thrilled you can make a living playing music.

Having said that, and I hate to insert this caveat, I hate to go negative, but no one is entitled to a living playing music, absolutely no one. If you’re complaining about streaming payments, ticket fees, how the world is stacked against you, you’re a chump. It’s just like every other business. There are hurdles, a labyrinth, and you have to figure out how to navigate, how to establish a path. And if you can’t do it, it’s your fault. Don’t be a sucker, don’t complain, no one is listening, just work. You’ll know when you’ve got it right, you’ll hear from the audience, and those are the only people who matter.

The downside is world domination is nearly impossible. The upside is you’ve got all the tools to do it yourself, and most of them are completely free, if not close to it. Create whatever music you want. Get the word out however you want. Monetize however you want. There are no rules, you’re creating your path yourself. And it’s going to be unique to you.

If you’ve got people listening, don’t care if outsiders criticize your music, they’re just haters, you’re on to something, keep going.

Forget everything you ever knew. Forget reading music business books. Forget paying people for a leg up. Look into the mirror and have a conference with yourself, figure it all out yourself, it’s scary, but thrilling.

And entirely doable.

As a matter of fact, it’s the way to do it. Forget the labels and the publishers and the old media that are not hip. The agents are hip. That’s the most important person after your manager. But you can even make it without playing live if you’re innovative enough. But you need to let the people touch you. Which means you’ve got to be out there, honest, leaving some blood on the saddle.

There are more slots than ever. But only for truly creative people.

You can do it. Or maybe you can’t. But there are plenty who can. They’re inventing the new music business.

“Extremely Online”: https://tinyurl.com/4kjthpmd

You’ve got to read it. Like right now. Like click that link and start in. Because this is the key to the real America, the real world, that the boomers and the straight media pooh-pooh but drives all the viewers, eats up all the attention, generates all the dollars.

Forget the backlash. That goes with the territory. Like the negative reviews on Amazon. They don’t like Lorenz writing about their field, where they live, so they’re hating on her, just like everybody does on social media. Like I’ve said again and again, if you’re not experiencing online hate, you’re not playing, or you’re not honest enough, not posting enough, because social media is a giant pecking order, a greased pole that everybody wants to climb, and if they can’t make it to the top they’re going to tear you down in the process.

Lorenz left the “New York Times”… I’ve heard her version, I’ve read the public version, but one thing is for sure, the usual suspects at the “Times” had no time for her. Because she was part of the scene, part of what she was writing about, she didn’t keep the usual distance, wasn’t neutral in the way they were taught in J-school. But that paradigm went out with the internet itself. If you don’t participate, you’ve got no idea what is truly happening. The old paradigm of who, what, why, where, when and how? Gone. We don’t want reporters, we want the words of people living the lifestyle, in the pit, reporting back their experience. The cheese moved and the mainstream media denizens don’t like it. So, social media is a criticized backwater just like rock and roll in the sixties… It’s where all the youth are, it’s driving the culture, but the oldsters denigrate it, say it’s worthless, decry all the time the youth are spending on these social media sites.

So what we’ve got here is the history. From blogs to Friendster to MySpace to Facebook to…

And for a minute there I was bummed, because I know so much of this. But do most people know all this, do they care? Kind of like all those books about Napster and file-trading, the changes in music distribution…we all lived through it, who needed to be reminded of it. But most people did not live through social media, at least the kind who are going to read this book. They were too busy doing other stuff. But just like you laid on the rug in your bedroom, listening to records while you devoured “Rolling Stone,” today’s younger generations go online and spend that time on social media. Yes, want to know about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Go on TikTok. I’m not saying the straight news is doing a bad job here, but it’s completely different from what you get on TikTok. On TikTok you get people testifying personally, the message is more vivid, it resonates, it’s right here as opposed to over there.

That’s right, many people use TikTok like Google, to research products, to find the news…

But even me…I don’t know all the players in history. Maybe I know Maker Studios, but not the names of those who started it and the ins-and-outs of its development. You’ve got to know, in the beginning, there was not that much money in it, and therefore unless you were in the scene you ignored it, were clueless, like a developing band fifty years ago. They might ultimately break through, but the early albums, the gigs, the history, you had to be there. And with so much diversion in today’s world, unless you lived on social media, you’re not going to know all this information.

But there’s a parallel story… How the usual players, the agents, the studios, ignored the growth of social media stars. Wanted nothing to do with them.

And then there is the platforms themselves. They were devised to do one thing, but then the creators took them somewhere else, a place unforeseen.

And if you were around in the early days of the record business, the post-Beatles music business, you’ll know it was cottage industry, with people forming new companies, trying to figure it out, make a buck, and the music itself was so interesting that it attracted the brightest minds.

The brightest minds were in social media. Because they were willing to think independently, to pivot. It’s one thing if you’ve got the template and follow it, but to create the template? That’s something else.

As for the music business today, we’re in a post-template world, and everybody who was around in the pre-internet era can’t handle it, and hates it. The business used to be defined, and closed. You needed a major label, for distribution, to get paid. And the major label owned radio and the press and other means of public relations. Today? It’s a free-for-all, everybody’s got the tools, and everybody’s creating. And there’s a lot of dross, but there’s a ton of great stuff too.

And it’s mostly based on personality. Your identity, your life, your thoughts, your comings and goings…things that got excised as music became more centralized, as opportunity cost rose, these elements were squeezed out.

Again and again in the book, after being rejected by the usual gatekeepers, the creators wake up and ask themselves why they need these intermediaries, why can’t they do it for themselves? And then they do and make beaucoup bucks.

Right now I’m only in Instagram, the book is chronological, but I got a text from Lewi about Aspen and I told him I was reading the book…Jim devours business books, and it immediately occurred to me that I had to tell him about it, that he had to read it.

You see it’s a completely different vision. They’re making it up as they go, with no restraints. That’s what blew up the music business. Yes, you got Tull, Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell all burning up the charts at once. People were excited about music in general, they were open to everything, they didn’t want something calculated, but something new and different.

This is where all the money is, social media. Used to be in the movie business, then in the music business, but now it’s social media. Anybody can make it, but very few do. Then again, so many die trying.

But this is where you can express yourself. This is where you can connect with the public. And you don’t have to narrowly define yourself, you can be who you are, changing along the way, and you can find an audience and thrive.

Don’t tell me about some of the worthless influencers, who are prank-oriented, where there’s so little there there, they’re like Top Forty hits, getting all the ink but not representative of what is going on. You’ve got to dig deeper.

This is so exciting. This is the world today. And just about everybody with power is missing it! They don’t understand it. All they can say is it’s worthless and to get off your damn phone.

But that would be like telling people not to listen to their Jimi Hendrix records in the sixties… Where else could you get this excitement?

The economy is gigantic. As is the artistic expression. And most people are unaware of the details, how we got here, the building blocks, to their detriment.

There is not another book like “Extremely Online.” It’s a peek into a world that you don’t know everything about unless you’re living it 24/7 and based on my inbox and what I read in big time media, most people are not. This is a window, a decoder ring.

I’m telling you now. Buy and devour this book. It’s not hard to read, you might get bogged down occasionally in the names, but isn’t that just the point, the fact that you don’t know who these people are, that you’re clueless?

And the sites might change, but the bedrock remains. This is about people, expressing their humanity, that’s where all the money and excitement is today, and if you want to know what is going on…

Read this book!

“Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World” by Naomi Klein

“Crook Manifesto” by Colson Whitehead

I love Naomi Klein and most of what she stands for, but I want my time back. What she does here is shoehorn a paradigm into every facet of life, as a way to explain every ill in society today. Yes, she was mistaken for Naomi Wolf, and that’s interesting, but do we have to take that to Trump and everything else? I mean why not just write a book about the insane society we now live in?

But man does she have a crack publicity team. Klein has been everywhere. Hyping a book with a title most people can’t pronounce, never mind understand. Proving that hype can bring people to the river, but it cannot make them partake.

Klein is personable and eloquent live, but her book too often reads like an academic tome. And it should have been cut down by at least half. It’s endless. It gets good when she talks about her child, her family, when she makes it personal, but too often she’s quoting academics and if it were assigned in a college course, you’d be pissed you have to read it. And if you’re just a layperson… You may be motivated to buy “Doppelganger,” but if ten percent of the purchasers actually finish it, I’d be stunned.

“Doppelganger” consumed two flights, to Toronto and back from L.A., and hours at home to ultimately consume. I could have quit, I know, but I stopped doing that. Let me change that, if I’ve read in excess of a quarter of your book, I’m going to finish it, I’m invested, I’m waiting for the payoff.

Which is the case with Colson Whitehead’s “Crook Manifesto.” I stayed with it and then it actually got good. But that was over halfway through. And not only is the first half boring, it’s at times indecipherable, Whitehead writes in this choppy way that oftentimes confounds you, has you trying to understand what is going on.

But both of these books got terrific reviews, hosannas.

I was down on Whitehead, because the very first book I purchased for my Kindle was “Sag Harbor,” which got a great review in the “Times,” and it was disappointing. I stayed away from Whitehead for years because of this. However, my mother purchased “The Underground Railroad” and long after it came out I dove in and it’s really good. So then I read “Nickel Boys,” which is not quite as good, but is very good. But “Crook Manifesto”?

Everything sells, is consumed, based on word of mouth these days. Reviews, press will gain you attention, but if the product doesn’t deliver not only will you not move any units, there will be a backlash. I wouldn’t have warned you off “Doppelganger” if I hadn’t seen it and its author everywhere. And then there were the stellar reviews of “Crook Manifesto”…

So I’m warning you off both of these. Also proving that not everything I consume do I give a thumbs-up to. And then there’s all that I watch and read and listen to that I don’t even bother to write about, like “Women at War,” the French series on Netflix. The ratings were good, and it stars Audrey Fleurot, who blew me away in “A French Village” and more. But while watching I wondered if I would have stuck with the series if it was an American show. Images great, story thin.

All this to say that when I find something that is truly great I want to tell everybody about it. I want you to have the same experience I had, to feel alive.

But I also don’t want to have you waste your time. Stay away from these two books.

Your mileage may vary, but I doubt it.

https://tinyurl.com/35rcnjn7

I loved this book. And I think you will too. Then again, it’s hard to know who people are, you know, below the surface. So many are gooey, yet many are not.

I’m talking about men here, but occasionally women fit this paradigm. What you see is what you get. It’s all surface. They want it and they’re out to get it. If they’re reading a book, dedicating the time, it must pay dividends, it must teach them something, best to read nonfiction for the lessons, even though fiction is always more true than fact.

So what we’ve got here is a Jewish family.

Well, that excises most of the public. However, families are universal. The primary unit. From which direction and neurosis emanate. If you grew up in a typical Jewish middle class suburban home, a lot of this will resonate. The professional father, the mother who sacrificed her career to raise children, the hopes and dreams instilled in said children, and the ultimate veering from the path.

That’s what they don’t prepare you for, how it all goes haywire. Sure, unexpected things can happen, like car accidents, illness, but usually it’s situational. You find yourself in a place you never anticipated, without a map, and all the people you counted on for advice are the worst to go to, because they don’t understand who you truly are, who you’ve become. You’ve grown up, separated from your parents, become a full person, yet the roadblocks and choices have you flummoxed.

Like Maya. She wanted to stay in education, get her doctorate, become a teacher. But her advisor tells her this is the worst path possible. You know it’s hard to get a tenured professorship, right?

And then there’s Gideon, who knew he wanted to be a doctor from day one, emulating his father. But when you start to think, do you really want to continue down the path you’re on?

Then there’s the self-centered grandmother, Marjorie. You know people like this, who don’t believe they’re an imposition, who can’t be criticized, who are essentially children in adult bodies, narcissists.

And then there’s Scott, the head of the household. Sure, he’s a doctor, but can he really pay all the bills?

And his wife Deb… Those urgings in her loins, can those be suppressed?

We only go around once. And you get to decide how tight you want to hold the throttle, the joystick. There are people sans instruction, who wake up one day behind the eight ball. They’ve got no education, got no money, and life continues to be a struggle. And the problems keep compounding. The drugs, the babies, the bills… And then there are those who do exactly what they’re told to. They become professionals. Follow in the footsteps their parents have laid out for them from the time of birth. They jump through hoops, get that graduate degree, and then wake up in mid-life and ask themselves if they truly want to be doctors or lawyers or… I hear from this type all the time, they’re more passionate about music than the people who work in it. They live to go to the show, because that’s their fulfillment, their jobs have become empty vessels rendering the cash it takes to feed their lifestyle. And in-between.

Do you know how hard it is for a Jewish kid to drop out of college? Maybe you’re not making it, believe me, your parents will excoriate you. And then there are people like Mark Zuckerberg…you slave to get into Harvard and you’re not going to finish? And normally finishing is everything. But sometimes you have to break the rules. Like Mick Jagger dropping out of the London School of Economics. His father was horrified. This is not the way it was supposed to be. You’re throwing away your future! But sometimes inside you know, this is not the way to go.

And oftentimes that comes from upbringing, ironically. Having been given the best and the brightest by your parents, who want to enrich your life so it can be even better than theirs, you discover other stimulants, other paths, and your parents are confounded.

So, once again, what we’ve got here is a family. And you’ve got no idea what goes on behind closed doors. As you get older you realize this. A friend of my father was married to a beautiful woman, yet he was stepping out, why? She was too needy, too hard-edged, he had to go his own way. I was stunned when I found out. And you hear it all the time, that this or that couple that looked incredibly happy got a divorce. And that kid you grew up with, who you played at the house of, they went to India, followed a guru, are into yoga, and don’t seem to care about money whatsoever. And we don’t know what is going on behind the front door of the Greenspans’ house either.

Some are shocked. Some knew and played it back to them.

As for Scott… Where is the line between truth and fiction? It’s kind of like Trump’s fraud trial, if no one gets hurt should there be a penalty? But the rules are the rules.

And Deb follows her desires and her life is at risk of being stolen out from under her.

And Maya is living out her fantasy, putting her whole life, never mind her job, at risk. Furthermore, the underpinnings of her interaction are based on a false premise. That’s happened to you, right? Where you’re acting based on a certain perception, with your significant other, a good friend, and then you find out the real story, the basics, the bedrock, it’s all completely different.

But it’s life and life only. And what we’re truly looking for is fulfillment.

Well, not if you’re broke and disadvantaged, then you’re just in survival mode. You’d be stunned how much of America is in survival mode. Their judgments, their choices might not make any sense, but if you were in their shoes, desperate and oppressed, they probably would.

But as we move up the economic food chain, that becomes the question. You wake up one day, hopefully, and realize it’s your life. What do you want to do? And are you so invested in what you’ve done that you can’t change?

“Hope” is one of those books you can’t put down. You sacrifice other activities to read. And when you’re reading your mind does not drift. And it’s an easy read, cuts like butter.

You might find some of the plot points, especially in the beginning, a bit too obvious, a bit too neat, but as you continue to read you’re no longer bugged by this. We always expect books to surprise us, and when they don’t, we consider them lowbrow. Not that “Hope” doesn’t ultimately surprise us, but at first, I wondered, was “Hope” lowbrow or highbrow?

And I couldn’t remember where the tip came from. Mostly mine come from the Sunday Book Review section of the “New York Times,” and Ron Charles’s weekly e-mail from the “Washington Post.” But I’ll read an article and someone will be testifying and I’ll reserve that book too.

Yes, I reserve these books via the Libby app. And you’d be surprised how soon you can get the best sellers. But the best thing is the spectrum of books you can sample is much more vast, and you’re not invested if a book doesn’t ring your bell, you’re not out bucks. Remember when you bought a bad record? It really bugged you, your money was limited. And this set, the music freaks, bought many fewer books. And if one was a bummer…they might wait an entire year to purchase another.

So at two a.m. last night, well, this morning, I was confronted with whether to read for another hour and a half and finish “Hope,” or to go to bed and pick up today. I ultimately forced myself to sleep, it wasn’t easy, but I was fearful of my day being messed up from lack of sleep. But before I turned in, I was in my own cocoon, my own world, with these characters. This is what I live for, the darkness, with the story.

And I know this is a conundrum. Rather than read about people, I could leave the house and hang with them, meet them. But there’s my social anxiety, and too often the experiences are not fulfilling, and like I said above, fulfillment ends up being everything. Actually, the question is when you can veer off toward fulfillment. Do you have to finish college first? Man, if I’d dropped out of college my father would have killed me. Literally.

So, I very much enjoyed reading “Hope,” and I hope you will too.