Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3JbXkdT

This album is a masterpiece.

Except when Johnny Depp sings, that’s unlistenable, you can’t click off fast enough.

This collaboration between Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp has gotten positively scathing reviews. The kind that say why was this record made and no one should ever hear it. Which meant that I wasn’t interested in it.

But then…

I’m still fascinated by my Dragonfly Cobalt. I heard from Gordon Rankin, who designed the product, and he said:

“Quality wise Qobuz is the best, Tidal second if you have MQA capable setup, Apple then Amazon.”

Normally I listen to Amazon, because they have more Ultra HD tracks than Apple by far. And I tell you, I can hear the difference, ANYBODY could hear the difference! There’s more presence, more immediacy.

But today I started researching what else was in Hi-Res Lossless on Apple Music, and I ultimately came upon a Reddit thread and someone said “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” by Jeff Beck.

Everyone should know this track.

The song is payback for “Superstition,” which was written for Jeff and then ultimately taken back by Stevie Wonder, so the no longer Little Stevie wrote “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” for Jeff.

“Blow By Blow” is the apotheosis of Beck’s recorded work. Not only does it have the iconic version of “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers,” it’s got a cover of the Beatles’ “She’s a Woman” and one of Beck’s signature tunes, “Freeway Jam,” made legendary mostly by the live version with Jan Hammer. That they played all over the radio, whereas “Blow By Blow” not so much. “Blow By Blow” was a secret, well, a well-known one, but the immediacy of the live version was undeniable.

And since that time, Beck has been a journeyman putting out eclectic albums, like “Crazy Legs,” his tribute to Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, but then came 1999’s “Who Else!” With “Brush with the Blues,” whew!

It’s the only live cut on the LP, and if it weren’t for the occasional cheering you would swear it was cut in the studio, I mean who else can do this so definitively on the fly? NOBODY!

I went to see Beck at the long lamented Universal Amphitheatre on that tour.

It’s hard to describe rock and roll.

It’s hard to describe Jeff Beck.

Beck started when it was about the music, and pretty much only about the music. You had to know how to play to sustain. And that Beck knew how to do.

But he couldn’t write and sing like Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton. And he legendarily didn’t get along with people, which even Jimmy Page could do, so Beck was left out in the cold. Well, there was “Truth” with Rod Stewart,” but unfortunately it came out about the same time as the first Led Zeppelin album, and not long thereafter Stewart left the band and went solo. Stewart didn’t need Beck, but Beck needed Stewart. Until Beck decided to ditch the lead singer, to lead the band himself, make the instrumentals the most important element, ergo “Blow By Blow.”

So if you see Jeff…

It’s not like the usual rock act. It’s not the song so much as the playing. Not the singing, but the guitar work. Also, Jeff always surrounds himself with the best players, even another guitarist, Jennifer Batten, who was a woman to boot. Jeff was pushing the envelope, and he was willing to share the stage, because nobody could blow him off it.

So you go to see Jeff Beck and it’s a primal experience. It starts in the chest, not the head. Your whole body resonates with the music, the sound. You can’t ignore it, you can’t talk, you can’t sit on the phone, there’s a channel directly between Jeff and you, it’s electric, but so solid, so ALIVE!

And then Harvey Goldsmith became his manager a little over a decade back and got Beck the appearances he needed for his well-deserved victory lap. But then there was an argument, the partnership ended, and you don’t see Jeff at Musicares or on TV like you used to, and that’s a damn shame. If for no other reason than Jeff is getting older every day. He turned 78 just last month. You see Jeff is a progenitor, positively first wave, he came in with the Beatles and the rest of the original British Invasion. But unlike those on the oldies circuit, Jeff is still testing the limits, he’s not just repeating what he once did to satiate aged boomers wanting to relive their youth, what he’s doing may not be commercially popular but it’s positively now, if not FUTURISTIC!

SO WHY’S HE WASTING HIS TIME WITH JOHNNY DEPP?

Depp can play the guitar, he hangs with rockers, some of the most famous, but he is not in their league, he’s essentially a wannabe. He looks the part, but he has no track record of success in music, and good guitar players are a dime a dozen and he can’t write and he can’t sing. Why is he muddying up, why is he messing with, WHY IS HE WASTING THE TIME OF JEFF BECK?

Pisses me off. Beck was the best and he’s still got the chops, and he doesn’t work that much, we want more of HIM!

So I’m not going to bother listening to the album “18,” the collaboration between Beck and Depp, but after listening to “Truth,” which suffers sonically from its age, my mind flashed on their album and I decided to play it.

First thing I noticed is it was only in Lossless. I can’t understand the rhythm of what’s in Hi-Res and what is not. The funny thing is “18” is in Ultra HD on Amazon Music. And I’m comparing the two now. It’s like a bit of noise has been scrubbed from the Ultra HD take, it’s cleaner, more in focus, and just a bit more immediate. You really think Jeff is playing right in front of you.

But at the time I stay with Apple, because I’m not going to listen for long, it really doesn’t matter that it’s only in Lossless, it sucks anyway, RIGHT?

Well, I start right at the top, with “Midnight Walker,” and Jeff’s presence is immediate, that sting that no one else can replicate with the same tone. And I’m waiting for Johnny Depp and…HE NEVER COMES IN! It’s an instrumental. And it’s not “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” but it’s beyond everybody else playing in this sphere. I mean Peter Frampton plays instrumentals extremely well, his last album is phenomenal, but it’s kind of the difference between today’s MVPs and Babe Ruth. Ruth was one step beyond, AND HE DIDN’T EVEN SEEM TO BE TRYING!

Oh, Beck is concentrating, he’s taking the music seriously, but he’s not overdoing it, it’s like listening to a player with the Philharmonic!

Now I’m excited, maybe I have it all wrong, maybe it’s an instrumental album!

But NO! Depp starts to sing near the beginning of the next track, and it’s UNLISTENABLE! It’s not terrible, it’s MEDIOCRE! And nobody has time for mediocre anymore. Beck is still good, but just when you get into his playing Depp starts singing again.

And Depp is singing on the following track, “Time,” and it’s damn near execrable, and I’m done, I get what the reviews are saying. So I stop the music and look at the track listing before I bolt. And I see “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder).” Really? From “Pet Sounds”?

IT’S INCREDIBLE!

No Depp whatsoever. And somehow Beck channels the same gravitas that’s in the Beach Boys original, but it’s up to date, it’s not nostalgia, it’s more than a cover, it’s not even an interpretation, it’s a LEVITATION! As if God stopped by in the studio to show the mere mortals how it’s done.

And then there’s a cover of “Caroline No.”

All the rest of the tracks, Johnny Depp ruins. But these three instrumentals, I’d say they’re world class, but once again, Jeff Beck is OUT OF THIS WORLD!

If only people heard these cuts.

I constantly ask guitar players, famous names, who the best rock guitarist ever is. And almost all of them say Jeff Beck. Occasionally, I hear Jimi Hendrix, but when I press the players they talk about Jimi’s innovation, but when it comes to pure playing, everybody ultimately agrees it’s Jeff Beck. And unlike Hendrix, JEFF BECK IS STILL HERE!

Makes me crazy. At some point Jeff is going to pass and people will be listening to the records lamenting they never saw him.

I saw him back in 2018. Outdoors, where it’s even harder to mesmerize, but he blew minds that night too, just by being him, with no flash, no production, HE’S ENOUGH!

And listening to Jeff play today it occurred to me that when time marches on his work has a much better chance of being remembered than most of the hits, which almost always end up being period pieces. Jeff Beck’s work is TIMELESS! It’s a bridge between what once was and still is.

Well, rock no longer gets any respect. Then again, today’s rock is far from Jeff Beck.

And it’s hard for anybody to be recognized.

But Jeff Beck could do an album of covers and it could become a classic. Rod Stewart’s “Great American Songbook” albums have already been forgotten, another Clive Davis marketing exercise, a dash for cash, but Jeff Beck adds something to the classics, makes them different, the underlying songs are just a jumping off point.

All these aged acts are getting unending hosannas for work they did decades ago, when Jeff Beck is still doing incredible work NOW!

Do I expect Beck covers to be in the Spotify Top 50?

No.

Think of it like Rick Rubin doing those Johnny Cash records. Not bringing Johnny up to date, but stripping away all the dross and just letting his pure essence shine through.

It’s criminal Jeff Beck doesn’t get attention, for not only him, but us, we’re deprived of his music. And that’s what it is, the penumbra is irrelevant. There’s no perfume, no clothing line, just the sound itself, as it’s been from the beginning of time. Jeff Beck is closer to Beethoven and Bach than he is to today’s pop hits. Sure, he may not write, but actually he does, he takes what’s already down and turns it into something brand new. Anybody can just perform the notes, covers albums are rampant, but Jeff Beck is something else, he’s iconic, HE’S THE BEST!

Listen…

We cover it all, from Florida to L.A. to Denny Cordell to Jimmy Iovine to Jeff Lynne to George Drakoulias to the Dirty Knobs and Don Henley. You’re gonna dig this Heartbreaker’s testimony!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mike-campbell/id1316200737?i=1000571437437

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/248baae6-8f71-4d5e-93d6-6387f45f196b/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-mike-campbell

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast/episode/mike-campbell-205262200

From: Steve Stewart

Subject: Re: Too Much Springsteen / Ticketmaster Boycott

Date: July 26, 2022 at 8:05:14 PM PDT

I have a quick Ticketmaster story for you, Bob – Back in the mid-90s, when I was managing Stone Temple Pilots, I was in close touch with Kelly Curtis, who was managing Pearl Jam. Kelly’s tour accountant, The Goon, figured he could do an end-run around Ticketmaster and the high service charges they slapped on every ticket. The STP guys were concerned about high ticket prices as well, and always pushed for a percentage of tickets to be sold for about $16 (this was the 90s!), as a “gesture” to their fans. The issue was the service charges ended up being more than 25% for these modestly priced tickets. 

So, Pearl Jam decided they were going to boycott the “evil” Ticketmaster and not play any of their venues (which were most all of the sheds and larger venues across the country). They took a stand in the press, started a boycott, and ended up booking shows in some really unusual (and inconvenient) places. I remember stories of fans driving more than 3 hours to muddy fields in WA state – which turned out to be a nightmare for many. 

I thought there might be a better way, and figured I would go right to the root of all this “evil” – I called and scheduled a meeting with the “devil” himself, Fred Rosen, who was running Ticketmaster at the time. When I sat with him a few days later, I asked him why he hadn’t put anything in place with any of the other managers who had joined the boycott. “You’re the only one who’s called me,” he said. I was floored. Instead of trying to work (or even communicate) with Ticketmaster, they chose to boycott and build their own makeshift venues – at a huge expense to the artists and their fans. 

Fred was as accommodating as could be, and asked me what he could do. I told him that his service charges accounted for more than 25% of our low priced tickets. Could he make the fee a percentage of the ticket’s face value, rather than a flat dollar amount? “Done.” Could he roll the other fees fees back on the lower priced tickets and push them up on the higher priced tickets (as the higher priced buyers could better absorb them)? “Done.” All that in 15 minutes – and it saved us the monumental expense of building staging, sound, lighting, fencing, generators, parking, prota-potties, security, concessions, etc. in the middle of nowhere. We could play fan-convenient amphitheaters with low ticket prices and Ticketmaster still made money on the deal. Everybody won!

Eventually, the boycott fell apart, as the other artists realized that Ticketmaster was willing to work with them – if they would only ask. 

You are right about the money – Ticketmaster is no more evil than your record label or your local hamburger stand – they’re in business to make a profit. They depend on artists to fill their seats, and know where their bread is buttered. Managers and agents are well aware of ticketing prices and potential costs and profits. No one is forcing them to accept deals they don’t think is in the best interests of their artists. Touring accounts for a very large portion of a top level artist’s cash flow – and in my experience, most artists will look for the best paying offer – why wouldn’t they?

Managers and agents work for the artist, and they’re only signing deals with the artist’s explicit approval. I’ve seen situations where I know scalpers were making more in a night than individual band members (band members have to cover expenses) and scalpers are getting “market” value for tickets rather than what artists might think their tickets are worth. I used to walk the venues every night and actually ask people what they paid to get in – the answers were always shocking to me – 10-20X face value was not uncommon in those days. 

Is it greed? Would you sell your house for $500K more than what you think it’s worth, if that’s what someone was willing to pay? I bet most would. It’s just human nature, and will probably always be…

-Steve Stewart

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From: john dittmar

Subject: Re: Springsteen’s Silence

Date: July 23, 2022 at 9:25:22 AM PDT

Hey Bob,

The folks tossing this Bruce ticketing issue around are missing a significant point regarding ticketing controls.

Unless Landau did his deal directly with Live Nation brass, it’s the booking agent’s responsibility! Agencies, more than lawyers or anyone else for that matter, deal with the ticketing world every day and should advise management accordingly. You’re right; Landau and Bruce are grizzled veterans; hard to imagine they have intimate knowledge of how the tech works. 

A dirty little secret is that most managers, regardless of age, don’t fully understand the system. It’s part of an agent’s job to know the ticket system and how it can positively (and negatively) affect the client. That expertise should then provide a breakdown in clear terms to management before any ticket is on sale. It’s part of having a good team around the client.

Maybe the agent red-flagged this, maybe not. However, the buck does stop with the manager, so again, you’re right; it’s on Jon and Bruce’s doorstep.

PS, this will blow over soon, but hopefully a good lesson for all.

_______________________________________

From: John Butler

Subject: Re: The Playlist Fallacy

Date: July 27, 2022 at 4:09:17 PM PDT

Bob,

This is wonderfully written and I thank you for sharing it with everyone. In my post Spotify life I have been evangelizing about never relying on the editorial team to be the arbiters of an artist’s success ever. It’s like I’ve been talking to a wall since I left. I loved the ability to suggest and put artists in our frontline lists, find gold in the never ending soil of new releases each week and spread them out among our worldwide team. That was a privilege but to me it was only the beginning of the journey!  Just like getting an add on a radio station was the beginning of your job (have to thank my old boss Jack Satter for that promotion wisdom!), the same is true.  What was a label, artist, manager going to do or not do with what we may or may not do in a list?  We could put a song in a list and sure the streams may come but it’s downhill without the real artist work.  I can tell you in my post Spotify life how much I advise my colleagues and industry partners to not give god status to the lists, be a good partner, don’t sell your soul for the playlist. Often it’s falling on deaf ears..it’s hard to change and the industry is very willing to look at editorial playlists as a plug and play feature of the business. They are not.  Not a single one of my editor peers at Spotify would ever claim that they do “artist development” so don’t do that to them. A lot, maybe even more than shared here, of streams are produced by people just looking for good music amongst the deep soil of releases. In fact Bob, one of the last playlists I launched at Spotify is called Just Good Music

to tip my cap to those just looking for a good experience. The experience and hope that we could offer a wonderful, easy editorial experience.  They could always just hit play too!

John Butler

Fmr Spotify editor

_______________________________________

From: PAUL TRUST

Subject: Re: The Playlist Fallacy

Date: July 27, 2022 at 4:56:04 PM PDT

Hey Bob,

Let me give you a case study that you might find interesting on several levels.  I have a song that is now platinum and if it’s current rate of streaming continues will be double platinum in 13 months.  This song has NEVER been featured on an editorial playlist.  It’s never been on the radio.  There hasn’t been a dime of promotion.  We are the label so I can attest to the fact there is real money to be made with streaming, IF YOU OWN THE MASTER. It just so happens that the artist of said song became one of the biggest (and maybe most notorious) artists in the U.S.,  and fans found this song.  That’s the key to streaming, once you have exposure it’s the greatest social experiment ever devised at least as it pertains to the arts. It has become one of this artists 10-12 top streaming songs out of a catalog of around 50. 

Oh and who is this artist?  His name is Morgan Wallen.  You know him well.

If you can separate from the noise, get the exposure and build a better mouse trap this social experiment pays well.

Paul Trust

songwriter | producer | mixer

_______________________________________

From: Chris White

Subject: Re: Springsteen/Motley Crue

Date: July 24, 2022 at 6:54:58 PM PDT

Bob –

For the record, Live Nation (or maybe Ticketmaster) sent me an email a week or two ago, spelling out the process through which I could qualify as a legit fan and not a scalper, and earn a spot in the queue before those guys get a shot at tickets. The night before they went on sale, I got another email with details on how to enter the queue with other approved “fans.”

When tix went on sale, I had 2000+ people ahead of me. Within minutes, that wilted away and I was allowed to pick seats. I chose 2 tickets on the lower level midway up, in the first section after the edge of the stage–great seats. $99 each, plus the usual fees, for about $265 total (for the show in Portland). Sweet!

The next day I was at a family picnic thing where a guy a couple of years older than me (I’m 65) was babbling on about how he heard Springsteen tickets were $6000 each. I started to correct him, but why bother? He was fully enjoying his outrage, regardless of what the truth might be.

Chris W.

_______________________________________

From: Dave Murray

Subject: Re: Springsteen/Motley Crue

Date: July 24, 2022 at 8:36:07 PM PDT

Hi Bob, 

I was about 360th in the queue, which only took about four or five minutes to get me to the top. I picked seats at the very back of the arena, for 99.50 each. I was prepared to spend $300 so was happy. The service fees on EACH ticket were $31.60. I think that part is getting lost in the conversation about $5000 tickets.

Thanks,

Dave Murray

_______________________________________

From: Martin Valentine

Subject: Re: Too Much Springsteen

Date: July 26, 2022 at 11:05:47 PM PDT

Spot on Bob. Over these last few days I’ve had endless arguments with supposed Bruce fans. One was desperate to convince me that less than 10,000 tickets had been sold for Edinburgh – and that no standing tickets had been put on sale at all. No amount of me telling him I had three of those tickets in my possession convinced him. Another said nobody should pay more than £25 for a ticket….. living in dreamworld. 

Meanwhile I have tickets for six shows in five countries in Europe, all bought within the first 10 minutes of going on sale, and bought at face value. I’m happy. 

Strangely enough, all the folks bleating on about how unfair it is are the same ones who missed out on that first rush. Stuff ‘em! They either need to now pay up or, for the love of god, shut up.

Martin, Nottingham, UK.

_______________________________________

From: Tom Spitzer

Subject: Re: Too Much Springsteen

Date: July 26, 2022 at 9:29:35 PM PDT

Sports has used dynamic pricing for quite a while. Games with in-demand opponents cost more than games against some team from Florida. It’s funny that I accept that going to an NBA game costs me a couple hundred dollars a ticket, but I resist it for the artists I grew up with. Its an emotional thing, but that’s where we are.

_______________________________________

From: Matt Robertson

Subject: Re: The Springsteen Ticket Fracas

Date: July 25, 2022 at 9:50:22 AM PDT

Look at tickets to Pearl Jam’s upcoming Madison Square Garden show on Stubhub. Seats close $3K a pop – in the nosebleeds!!

_______________________________________

From: Andrew Brooslin

Subject: Springsteen- TM Verified Resale Tickets

Date: July 25, 2022 at 1:39:00 PM PDT

Hi Bob

One aspect of the Springsteen ticket onsale that I haven’t seen discussed is the Ticketmaster Verified Resale. Using TD Garden in Boston as an example, there are blocks of nearly entire rows available in the Loge and blocks of prime seats on the floor available as Verified Resale tickets. With a four ticket limit how is it possible that these tickets were legitimately sold on the open market and those buyers (who ended up buying seats next to each other) just happened to place them all up for sale through Ticketmaster? Perhaps it’s an arrangement with the arena or promoter? Did TM place them straight on the resale market after briefly making them available for sale? The whole Verified Resale has always been a little opaque. Certainly a money maker for TM. They collect fees on the initial sale and more fees on the resale. It’s another layer of this onsale fueling fans frustration and anger at Bruce, Inc. 

Best regards,

Andrew Brooslin

_______________________________________

From: Mark Beaven

Subject: RE: Too Much Springsteen

Date: July 26, 2022 at 6:52:54 PM PDT

Amen. My first thought when I saw Jon commented was, “Why shut your head in the door now?” And why you? Why so after the fact and impotently? Never half apologize or niggle.

There is so rarely a win in opposing a social media framed groundswell or mob. Especially when much of it is comprised of your fans. It is no longer about who’s right, it’s about who has the best or most resonant story. $40k tix, real or no, is a big, mythic indefensible crater to fill. Especially for an Everyman.

These days one lobbies through blinds or other parties in social media. If the temperature suits a win or redirect, you go. If not, you keep your head down and don’t extend the life of the story by commenting. No one has the patience to stay focused long. Look at the Ukraine War.  You pray some bigger disaster comes along and distracts everyone. Today, it’s just a matter of when or redirection. People hire very expensive and seasoned teams to chum the environment, quash the haters’ stories, and provide counterpoint. This HAS to happen real time.

That was Trump’s formula. In a democracy, especially one where there is meaningful leverage of support within the courts, one can keep piling up damages in differing arenas and quickly no one can keep up or stop you. The courts can be stalled for years while someone “rapes and pillages” repeatedly. It’s a real problem and major knife to the throat of our and every Democracy.

If Jon had to speak, he should have fallen on his sword and shared that the metrics got away, this had NEVER happened before, and it’s history. Probably will serve so it never happens again. And…  It’s purely due to the LOVE and COMMITMENT of Bruce’s fans. We LOVE them for it and want to honor that relationship in the framework it always has been. While the level of outpouring in demand for tickets is absolutely what we wanted, these pricing aberations are not at all what we wanted, expected, or stand for.

We look forward to getting out on the road and seeing everyone soon. Peace. Out.

_______________________________________

From: Adam Harrison

Subject: The Latecomer

Date: July 26, 2022 at 2:30:36 PM PDT

I’m at the chapter before the clambake.

I don’t want to do anything else in life but wait for the drama to unfurl.

Tough day working. It’s Tuesday at 230pm and only thing on my mind.

Thank you for the recommendation.

Adam

_______________________________________

From: John Parikhal

Subject: Re: Mailbag

Bob,

To be fair about our generation.

We did multi-task when we listened to music.

We smoked pot at the same time. Made love while we listened. Cooked dinner while we listened. Just for starters.

John

You may or may not be aware of the CMA announcement yesterday.

The bottom line, streaming works fine.

Needless to say, the songwriters, the indies, are up in arms.

So, what is the CMA? It’s the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority. You remember, they held hearings. And now they say there’s not going to be a market investigation. The study that was initiated six months ago will be completed, but as for the heinous streaming payouts small labels and players themselves have been complaining about:

“There has been a huge increase in the number of artists sharing their music and a vast back catalogue made available via streaming. This, coupled with the fact that there is only a finite amount of music a consumer can listen to and a relatively fixed pot of revenue from streaming, inevitably reduces the amount that most artists can earn, even with increased royalty rates”

 

But it gets even worse for the naysayers:

“While the majors’ profits have been increasing since the lows of piracy, the current evidence does not suggest that market concentration is allowing the majors to make sustained and substantial excess profits.”

And, it puts a stake in the heart of the publishing complaint, saying revenues have gone from 8% in 2007 to 15% today, although there was a slight dip between 2017 and 2021, but this was as a result of the increase of the DSPs’ share, not that of a rights holder.

 It’s a sad, strange business out there. The U.K. government held hearings, and ultimately found…there were no major problems. Sure, the study might ultimately recommend adjustments, but a wholesale investigation into abuses by the DSPs and the major labels…the CMA believes it’s unnecessary.

This is vastly different from a hearing in the U.S. Where elected officials grandstand with no knowledge of the underlying business and nothing changes anyway.

But if you pay attention to the business, you know all of the above. It’s just like politics, you can live in a bubble, you can avoid hearing the truth, if the facts don’t align with your feelings, they must be untrue!

So, the above is mostly a footnote to insiders, but buried in the CMA statement is a chart on streaming services, now THIS is interesting:

https://bit.ly/3J8PDoK

You can see the table with surrounding analysis from MusicAlly here: https://bit.ly/3J8PIbW

If you study the table, and you should, you should click through, you’ll learn…

THE POWER OF PLAYLISTS IS WAY OVERSTATED!

Yes, all the bitching is how you can’t get on playlists.

The bottom line, on Spotify, the biggest streaming service with the most active customers, meaning they stream the most music, 50-60% of listening is done via USER CURATED PLAYLISTS! What that means…well, you know what it means, you build your own playlist and listen to it, as opposed to the ones proffered by Spotify.

And 10-20% of listening on Spotify is NON-PLAYLIST!

In other words, listening on Spotify is between 60 and 80% user-driven, user choice, user selected.

How do they find out what to listen to?

Well, it ain’t algorithm driven radio. That accounts for 0 to 5% on Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple. It’s higher on Amazon, 5-10%, but that’s mostly about calling out to Alexa and…

What about the vaunted company generated playlists. On Spotify, the most active service, with the youngest customers, it’s 5-10%. And it’s the same on YouTube Music. Apple and Amazon are both 10-20%, but are those services actually breaking acts, or is this mostly passive listening by older generations wanting background music?

Then there’s “Algotorial.”

The devil is in the details. But basically, it’s a blend of company picks with tracks delivered algorithmically based on an individual’s listening preferences.

You can read Spotify’s explanation of algotorial here:

https://bit.ly/3vkZZMC

But better to read this page:

https://bit.ly/3PWS7c2

Bottom line? Spotify does pick priorities and places them high in algatorial playlists, but the share of algatorial on Spotify is 10-20%. On YouTube Music it’s 30-40%. But on Apple and Amazon, the other two biggies, it’s only 5-10%. So compared to user-picked listening…IT’S DE MINIMIS!

But let’s dig deeper into YouTube Music, Apple and Amazon.

A much lower percentage of listens on those services is via user curated playlists. On YouTube Music it’s 10-20%, as it is on Amazon. On Apple, it’s 20-30%. What this tells us is the listeners on all three of these services are not only lower in number, but lower in effort, activity, picking and choosing their own songs. These are the people who cotton to your act LAST!

As for non-playlist listening, on YouTube Music, Apple and Amazon, it’s 40-50%

As for Autoplay… That means the service keeps delivering music after your choice is finished. It makes up 0-5% on YouTube Music, and 5-10% on Spotify, Apple and Amazon. And we all know the songs played automatically are always in the same wheelhouse of what’s been chosen previously, there is an opportunity for music discovery here but it’s very small, the services don’t want to serve up any tune-outs, because then the listener will stop the stream.

So on every service, the vast majority is user picked listening. Apple’s customers are a bit more active than YouTube Music’s and Amazon’s, but not in the league of Spotify’s.

So, to bottom line it, subscribers are not going to DSPs for music discovery, chances are they already know what they want to hear and are picking that exactly!

Because in truth, the streaming services are positively awful for music discovery. You’ve got to wade through so much crap to get to what you want.

So, you find out what you want to listen to elsewhere. And then you go to the streaming service and pick that exact music and listen to it.

Whoa, so all this b.s. about playlists, is just that, B.S!

I’m not saying playlists have no effect on music discovery. And, if you have a relationship with the streaming service you have a much better chance of getting heard by more people as one of the DSP’s priorities, but most people, the active listeners, those on Spotify…want almost nothing to do with playlists unless they’ve created them by themselves!

Have you ever tried to listen to these company or algorithm driven playlists? It’s interminable. You check out a few tracks, then you skip forward, keep skipping forward, and then you give up and go back to what you already know.

So…

Sure, radio and streaming service playlists might be the easiest way to reach the most people, but they mean LITTLE!

Analogize it to network TV. Sure, that’s where advertisers go, pay money to have their product seen, but each ad reaches just a small fraction of the number of people from the era prior to basic and pay cable. And now in the era of streaming, despite all the talk of Netflix adding an ad-supported tier, MOST PEOPLE PAY TO NOT SEE ANY COMMERCIALS!

Happens to me all the time, people say, “You know that commercial…” And I always respond, I DON’T! I’m now watching a ton of TV, but it’s all high quality fare on streaming services with no ads.

So, if a song gets traction on TikTok, fans will go to their streaming service of choice to listen to it. The listening is done on the DSP, but the DISCOVERY IS DONE ON TIKTOK!

Or some other social media platform.

And then there’s a bit of press. Conventional, the big media kahunas, and then the web only outlets.

But in truth, most of the listening is being driven by WORD OF MOUTH!

That’s how you want to get your story started, not by convincing a DSP to playlist you.

But that’s much harder. A listener has no financial investment, and has a limited amount of time. They need to hear a HIT! And a hit doesn’t mean just a three minute pop or hip-hop ditty, but something that they need to hear again and again, that they will ultimately tell their friends about.

And if you’ve got fans, you can play live, and sell merch, there are a ton of ways to monetize.

But many true music fans do not have the ability to listen to music 24/7, or choose not to, with so many other diversions, so the teen driven stuff makes up the Spotify Top 50, giving an even more skewed view of the overall picture.

Let me restate.

The streaming music platforms are terrible at music discovery. Being open to all customers, i.e. labels and individual musicians, they promote so much stuff that little gets traction, and this plethora of stuff turns off customers who don’t even bother to partake in the push of this music upon them.

You want to start small, not big. You want to build a fan base, not convince the middlemen/women. It’s slower than ever, and even if you succeed wildly, your reach is less. These are facts. Ignore the hype.

And know that although you can make bank in the music business, more than you ever could before, it doesn’t compare to what you can make at a straight job in banking or tech.

Think about it. The winners take most of the pot. In EVERY industry. And at the bottom, you have more competition than ever fighting over fewer spoils. Maybe if you can’t make ends meet, it’s not the system’s fault, there is no enemy you can point to, it’s not the DSP, it’s not the major label, it’s REALITY!

It’s harder to make it than ever before, and it’s harder to move up the food chain than ever before, and this is for EVERYBODY!

There are few short cuts and they rarely pay lasting dividends.

Best to own the truth and start there.