I’m stunned how much ink Harry Styles is getting for his residency at Madison Square Garden.

Dennis Arfa, agent for Billy Joel, quibbles with that term, but the game remains the same, playing an extended run at a venue over a period of time. Billy can do MSG once a month, because he lives in the area, but many acts are not close to NYC, never mind their bands.

But Billy Joel is a legendary superstar. Harry Styles is a twentysomething in the heart of his career.

But all the buzz has been about fans coming to the gig, a la Las Vegas, as opposed to the record…

Yes, want publicity, GO FOR THE RECORD!

Now the truth is many arenas have a limited number of dates available, because of their sports teams. But the Forum in L.A. has none, it’s music only, so theoretically 365 days are available. Who can play the longest?

That’s another reason new arenas are being built. Because of the demand and availability. Comparing yesterday to today is apples and oranges. You see there are a lot more people, never mind a lot more acts.

I guess too many people miss the news. This was the essence of my SiriusXM show yesterday.

Let me start with the residency concept. The big story here was in the “New York Times” last week:

“Why Pop’s Biggest Stars Are Staying Put for Long Residencies – Extended runs in one venue, once associated with legacy acts, have become popular with stars including Harry Styles and BTS, lowering bills and building hype as touring costs rise.”: https://nyti.ms/3R3yU9L

This is not news to anyone in the business, then again we haven’t seen an exhaustive article about this in the business. But how many people saw this article? That’s the issue. Used to be if it was in the New York or L.A. “Times” everybody saw it. That’s not the case these days, they don’t reach those in the business. And “Billboard” has become a nearly useless consumer facing publication. You can get some inside information from HitsDailyDouble.com, albeit in many cases biased by payments, but I’m stunned how many people don’t read it, aren’t even aware of it. You see when “Hits” started 36 years ago, record companies ruled. Now they’re a sideshow. Just read about the executive movements, you won’t know who the people are and you won’t care.

And then there was an article in the “Wall Street Journal”: 

“Look Out Boomers: The Next Generation of Arena Stars Is Coming – While the Stones and Springsteen show few signs of slowing down, newer and younger artists are selling out massive venues.”: https://on.wsj.com/3AKmKwA

Once again, those in the business know all this, but to see it in one place puts the situation in context. Many of the classic acts are starting to ride into the sunset, they’re not going to be able to play live forever. And in the earlier part of this century, when files replaced CDs, it was thought that the era of the arena act was dead. That it would become a theatre business. But this has turned out to be untrue. Irrelevant of their mindshare in the country at large, there are enough fans to support today’s artists to the point where they can play arenas and sometimes stadiums. You see today’s youth have a different perspective. They didn’t live through the ladder of yore…from clubs to theatres to arenas over a number of years, never mind stadiums. Today kids want to go and they expect their act to play in a large venue nearly immediately. You see there are two tiers of acts, those that break right away and those that take years in the marketplace and maybe don’t ever make it to arenas. And the young acts have a shorter shelf life, but the demand is huge. But, once again, there is a population increase, and also more disposable income. Talk about economic challenges all you want, but if they truly existed in the concert sphere prices would come down and instead they keep going up. We are approaching a challenging time in the concert business…with the Covid demand having been fulfilled, will a potential recession hit sales? Sales dipped a few months back, but then they recovered. In any event, in a digital, virtual world, the experience of live music is unique and desirable, one you cannot get anywhere else.

And then there was that story in the L.A. “Times”: 

“After Astroworld catastrophe and Drakeo’s stabbing, Live Nation faces mounting questions over concert safety”: https://lat.ms/3KppWRt

No one is talking about this, it’s got no legs. If for no other reason it’s got no juice. Live Nation’s PR person fielded the questions as opposed to Michael Rapino. Rapino quotes travel, those of the PR person do not. This is the Springsteen issue… If you’re a celebrity, if you have a profile, don’t enter the fray without knowing anything you say will be repeated around the world and will never disappear. Whereas if you say nothing…people’s memories are short, if they even know the story to begin with.

And there is one gotcha in the L.A. “Times” article:

“CSC job listings for event staff show that typical pay is under $20 an hour, and its own advertising for job openings has told candidates, ‘Why pay upwards of $100 for a ticket when you can experience the event with the CSC family and be compensated for it?'”

How well can a security person do their job if they’re incentivized to see the show as part of the gig?

CSC is Contemporary Services Corp. I.e. a security company. Yes, security for these big events is OUTSOURCED!

This is what killed GE, this is what is still killing America, this is what is hurting so many workers, that are shadow employees, even in tech. They do all the work for the well-known company, but they’re paid by an intermediary, and they don’t get the same pay and benefits. You can be working for Google, but paid by a third party.

So, the buck stops with Live Nation, but they are not the hands-on party.

And you must watch the Woodstock ’99 documentary on Netflix to see the character and quality of these third party security people, it’s not much better today, but the reason I mention it is a member of the audience offers a big buck for the security person’s t-shirt and he sells it to him! He got money in his pocket, and the person with the shirt now has access and other powers. It’s akin to a backstage pass.

Security is a huge issue. Something we should all be discussing. But this exhaustive article in the L.A. “Times” had no reach, no impact. Even the L.A. “Times” is its own private backwater. To reach everybody is impossible. We have a zillion verticals, and oftentimes those who need to be reached are on TikTok, where the mainstream media has no presence or impact.

But getting back to the residency…

It can be a badge of honor. Akin to a Grammy, but better. How many nights did you play at the arena, do you hold the record? And was every gig sold out?

You see fans will flock to the residency not just to see the act, but to be part of an event, to say they were there! It’s one thing to say you saw the act at your local arena, it’s quite another to say you were at show 16 at the residency. This is part of fandom, you want to own the act and the experience! As far as flying or driving to the arena…you go on vacation, don’t you?

Sure, there is a business touring the country, but it will never get cheaper. You don’t have to pay for hotels if you stay in one place, never mind all those trucks. And it doesn’t have to be in Las Vegas, in Vegas music is secondary to gambling and having a good time. But at the Forum, IT’S MUSIC ONLY! Adding gravitas.

Don’t expect change overnight, but there will be an evolution.

God, most of Billy Joel’s ink in the past decade has been about his residency, without it there would have been a lot of less press and maybe fewer ticket sales not only at Madison Square Garden but elsewhere.

And it’s not like Harry Styles’s record just came out. It was released on May 20th, but now he’s on the cover of “Rolling Stone”…which no one reads anymore, because it’s behind a paywall, but quotes are pulled by other news media and it makes a good tweet…and now there’s another article in the “New York Times” reviewing the show: 

“The Harry Styles Show (and Some Music) Comes to New York – The first two nights of a 15-concert run at Madison Square Garden were heavy on charisma, banter and nods to the past.”: https://nyti.ms/3Tb3Q9k

It doesn’t stop! The Harry train keeps rolling. And, once again, Harry’s fans are not reading this story, but advertisers and film producers are, they see the impact Harry has. Harry Styles might be the biggest superstar in music today, along with Bad Bunny, but the aged think it’s Beyoncé. Now they know otherwise. And as far as Beyoncé goes, not being on the road hurts her purchase on society at large, there was the buzz around the release of the album, now what? The experts here are the Kardashians. They’re online and in the news every damn day. Did you see that Apple has even got Kim Kardashian earbuds? And they’re sold out, but Apple has full page ads and the bottom line is people still think the Kardashians are a sideshow, but if you’re involved with Apple…that’s the top of the heap, that’s the Holy Grail!

There’s a lot going on. But no one media outlet has a hold on it, never mind having little reach and almost no legs. In a world where you can reach everybody instantly, they’re reaching ever fewer and what’s here today is gone tomorrow.

Which is why the mainstream media is only part of your plan. Why the record is only part of your plan. Live, the fan can feel the connection, once again it’s a unique experience, capitalize on that. Harry Styles has.

Hyundai was a joke. The maker of the cheapest cars with the oldest technology. The only thing that you could buy that was worse was a Yugo.

But Yugo tanked, and Hyundai and its sister company Kia improved and then thrived over the ensuing thirty years they have played in the American market. And not only has Hyundai expanded into luxury, with its Genesis line, most analysts consider the Ioniq 5 and its sister Kia, the EV6, to be the only reasonably priced challengers to Tesla in the American market.

And then comes BYD:

“BYD, Tesla’s Chinese Rival, Is Coming Into Its Own – China’s top electric-vehicle maker has emerged as a formidable force—one that could soon be felt globally”: https://on.wsj.com/3R5PIfO

But Bob, you say, GM and Ford are moving into electric vehicles!

And I’ll respond with the tiny recalled Chevy Bolt, a statement car as opposed to a usable automobile. As for Ford’s triumphs with the Mustang and F-150 Lightning… I’ll tell you they’re essentially conversions, gas cars made electric, as opposed to clean slate vehicles like those of Tesla and BYD.

But we don’t need no stinkin’ electric cars in America. Drill, baby drill. And why combat climate change, even if it exists, because look at how China pollutes!

But this is an old story, the truth is China is addressing climate change more directly than the U.S. these days, that’s the essence of electric vehicle penetration in the country, China wants to clean up its air.

You see as Americans lobby for a return to the past, the Chinese are moving directly to the future, in many cases eating our lunch.

We don’t need no stinkin’ foreigners here, keep ’em out. Everyone thinks of migrants at the southern border, but this also includes technologists, who are now staying home in not only China, but India, so innovation is coming out of those countries now as opposed to the U.S. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot.

The belief is all innovation comes from America, especially in social media. Our hero/enemy is Mark Zuckerberg, who superseded MySpace to build a colossus with Facebook.

Now give Zuck credit, he saw the penetration of WhatsApp in the rest of the world and purchased it when most Congresspeople had no idea what it was, never mind blow a whistle.

And Zuck ended up buying Instagram, but innovation petered out and…

Twitter was a revolution. Pooh-poohed to this day, it’s where the news is batted around and built. You may not be on Twitter, but all the people who create the news you consume are.

And then Twitter became a hotbed of discussion over free speech. Forget that it’s a private company and can do what it wants, the concept was that free speech could eclipse truth.

And then America’s tech hero Elon Musk, the heir to Steve Jobs for those who did not live through the Jobs era, the bros who Jobs could never relate to, said he was going to purchase the whole thing and turn it into the free-for-all it was supposed to be.

But that ended up being a sideshow.

And today’s show in America is the whistleblower, talking about Twitter’s security lapses. And the whole issue becomes whether Musk will be forced to buy the company or not.

But the truth is America is one big security lapse. Twenty years after 9/11 and our infrastructure still goes unprotected. Our water supply, our electric grid.

As for the corporations, whether they be traditional, brick and mortar, or online, or even banks, security breaches are a regular occurrence, kind of like school shootings. You get an e-mail telling you to change your password and life goes on.

So Zuckerberg wakes up and realizes there’s nothing left to buy and he comes up with his meta concept, the virtual world. Something which is not brand new, and has never scaled previously. Meanwhile, China comes up with Musical.ly which turns into TikTok.

America had an early competitor, Vine, but it was allowed to wither under the ownership of Twitter and was eventually killed while Musical.ly was seen as kids’ stuff. Young kids’ stuff. After all, the money, the gravitas, was in the full-length song marketed by the music industry.

And then Musical.ly was purchased by ByteDance, and the product evolved into TikTok and now not only is TikTok the primary social medium, it’s where young people go to shop and just like with Twitter, to this day, oldsters, those who think they know better, decry TikTok, see it as a sewer populated by the young and ignorant not realizing the joke is on them.

Oh, they’ll get uptight about the Chinese ownership of data, but understanding what the platform represents…IMPOSSIBLE!

We live in a land of Luddites. As far as their plan for making America great again, it seems to be focused on making the rural dominant and halting progress to ensure that America continues to lose not only status in the world, but power, with innovation not supported, certainly not with government money. That’s the number one bitch on the “Wall Street Journal” editorial and opinion pages, the government supporting electric automobiles. But without the government, we wouldn’t even have this internet I’m using to communicate with you.

We’re so caught up in the penumbra in the United States, that we’re missing the main point. All these social issues, bathroom access, gay marriage, they’re just sideshows ginned up by monied interests who want no change so they can continue to rape and pillage and reign. That’s the number one goal of the corporation in America, to sustain. Innovate? Hopefully they can kill competition to avoid it. Look at Amazon, if you come up with a new idea they haven’t they compete and kill you or buy you.

As for innovation…

This electric car thing is just like photography, with a lot more zeros and cultural, financial and environmental impact. It’s going to flip seemingly overnight. Buzz has already started, you don’t want to buy a new gasoline powered car because when electric reaches critical mass it’ll be worth nothing. All this blowback about the lack of charging stations… You don’t hold back the future because its evolution is bumpy.

Let’s be clear, China is an authoritarian state. Therefore decisions can be made and implemented quickly. Whereas America is something akin to democracy.

Now one party is leaning towards autocracy, but once again its goal is not a great leap forward, but a theoretical leap back. Putting its finger in the dike of progress, which happens elsewhere and then the dam breaks and America is overwhelmed by the flood.

We used to have national goals, like putting a man on the moon.

Now all we’ve got is gotcha. That’s what the news is. This or that person was caught in flagrante delicto.

Most Americans have no idea what is going on in the rest of the world. Forget having a driver’s license to vote, every American needs a passport. And a national program taking every American citizen to a foreign country, so their horizons are widened, discussion is fomented, and a path forward can be created. Instead, we’re arguing about teaching race in school, removing books from libraries. All that does is create an ever more ignorant populace, which those in power like, know-nothings are easier to control.

In truth, we’re in the equivalent of a space race with China. Never mind the Asian nation buying up natural resources to make electric automobiles while Americans debate their utility. We’re debating the present with no vision into the future. And if anybody wants to push the nation forward they’re a crank. Yes, it happens on the left too.

We need a national reset. Instead of patting ourselves on the back, telling ourselves how great we are, we must realize that our self-professed title as the greatest country in the world is in jeopardy, if not already history. I don’t want to hear about everybody wanting to immigrate here… Sure, America is still great in some aspects but we need to stop trumpeting those and see what we’re missing, what we need to achieve!

This is what leaders are supposed to do.

And the tired old man in the White House can’t, because he’s not digitally native.

As for his opponent…he doesn’t even appear smart enough to understand the concepts, never mind take appropriate action. He’d rather share state secrets with our enemies, become friends with dictators while the countries run under democracies run circles around them. Can you say North Korea and South Korea, can you say Russia and Western Europe?

We are at a critical point in American history. We cannot survive without the rest of the world. The pandemic taught us this. Furthermore, we cannot bring all manufacturing back to the States, it does not make economic sense. No, what we need to do is strengthen ourselves, create new bargaining chips. And for the past few decades that’s always been intellectual property, whether it be entertainment or technology. Not only is the biggest social media company the Chinese TikTok, but the biggest musical act is Bad Bunny, who sings in Spanish!

That’s why we can’t make our country smaller, but bigger. We need to look outside our boundaries, see the advancements of others, the changes. We can’t be so nationalistic that we close the doors, that’s economic death, never mind cultural decline.

But we want to debate whether Elon Musk, a myopic bro, should be forced to buy Twitter.

Our entire nation has a security issue. And it’s not only e-mail addresses and passwords, it’s raw economics. We’re fighting over social issues while China is eating our lunch.

We need to wake up, get our priorities straight and take action.

NOW!

What do you read/hear and where.

Tune in today, August 23rd, to Volume 106, 6 PM East, 3 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

RE: PANDEMIC CHANGES

Travel to Europe lately? Essentially cashless with the occasional exception such as a mom and pop convenience store.  For years Europe accepted credit cards at the table when tabbing out at a restaurant.  What took the U.S. so long? We are not the progressive society we posit to ourselves and the world.

What is laughable is Ralph’s does not accept Apple Pay because Kroger has their own mobile payment app…Kroger Pay!?! Have you been to any Farmer’s Market lately?  If Apple Pay is not accepted, Venmo certainly is.  One of the valets in my building that washes my car every two weeks accepts Venmo.

Lol…I never hear anyone mention Samsung Pay. Don’t get me started on Android.  Give me a break.  Apple owns my conveniences and I embrace all of it, thank you very much.

Andrew Paciocco

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just walked two miles to my nearby Ralph’s
turns out – they do not take Apple Pay. you need to download “Kroger Pay” instead, which i tried to do (along with two Ralph’s employees) but couldn’t get it to work, so i left.
having just read your article, i just wanted to yell “But Bob said so!”

love the letter. keep ‘em coming!

biff butler

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I just spent a month in Iceland and Norway. Never got a penny of local currency. Tapped my card everywhere, for everything. Makes travel a breeze.

Bob Langlie

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A colleague of mine took her 4 year old daughter to a coffee shop and gave the girl a $10 bill to pay for the drinks.   The girl tried to tap the money on top of the credit card reader.

Cash is dead.

Mark McMillan

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Amen, my trip to UK last year and more travel so far this year proved the point about the irrelevance of cash.  Quite a few shops in London, Portugal etc. had signs saying ‘cash not accepted’.  I got used to ‘tap and go’ and loved it.  I don’t bother getting Pounds or Euros anymore.  I get a better exchange rate with a good credit card.  You just have to remember to make sure you have a card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.  I didn’t realize the first time and ended up with charges of 4 cents for a coffee here and $2.15 for lunch there.  It was ridiculous.

John Brodey

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I went to the BOA cash window yesterday. I wanted 60$ in my wallet cause a was gonna fly a friend down to Lawrence, MA to grab breakfast at a place that takes cash only.
I drop in the card, enter my pin and the prompt tells me it only doles out C-notes. I’m like “WTF”? Is this part of inflation or is the state of Maine short on 20 dollar bills?

Seriously?

Will Eggleston

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The problem with not accepting cash, however is that we are now down to where even the mere act of doing anything related to commerce involves a fee, which is just kinda insane on the face of it. Taxes are one thing, but a 7 year old should be able to sell lemonade without incurring credit card fees. I call it the ticketmasterization of society, people are just used to getting jacked for literally everything.

Jeff Gorlechen

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It’s totally true.

I no longer use cash at all anymore.

Okay, at the car wash; they love cash. But really, that’s it!

It’s only Apply Pay, in several different EU countries I travel though regularly.

Cash is pointless. I have numerous cards in AP in several different currencies, and it’s super smooth and basically perfect; never fails. They totally nailed it!

And, do I worry about being tracked?

Really!!

Is that even a thing?

And do I really give a shit??

Hmm, they’re tracking me anyway, so you know..,

No!

Hiding is a fallacy…

What difference does it make anyway? None

Come on, are you really “at large”??

Of course you’re not!

There’s way larger issues then that one, really; look around

Maybe that’s the point, right??

No, of course it’s not!

Who f’n cares, not me. And I’m 60!! Technically inept.

This is reality, this is the future, this is 2022. Just f’n wait!

Five years, tops. Then what??

Oh man, you will see, yes…, all of us will.

Sacha Spindler

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Without cash, we can’t buy weed. So, until it’s federally legal, cash is necessary. In fact, cash is necessary for most things illegal…

Drew Ferrante

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During the pandemic I was made redundant from my chosen profession and spent some considerable time doing other things before I settled on working for the cinema chain currently in dire straits.

First off, we get a BBC report online long before we hear anything from above in the UK. Y’know, the usual BS, ‘everything’s fine’ ‘keep trading’ ‘we’re gonna get thru this’ and ‘business as usual.’

Of course, we are in the building every day, and it’s been dead not just because of the poor fare that’s coming out of Hollywood, but because of the weather here these past 6 weeks.

Everybody decided to forgo the cinema and enjoy a very different kind of British Summer. We had a solid month of late 20s and early 30s weather. Honestly, July was a wipe out, cinemas were a ghost town.
So what happens next? Well Cineworld, and the chain the ‘local’ chain they own, Picturehouse, have quite a few top rented sites in London. And I mean big rents. Many of them were underperforming even before the last month of the heatwave.

Supposed tent pole movies like Nope, Dr Strange and Thor have failed to get the crowds needed to keep paying the bills, we’re chronically understaffed, we’re still one of the lowest paid sectors in the UK. I could go on…

Remember cinemas rent these movies from distributors. They control the price and they take up to 80% of all ticket prices. Wanna show Thor on first week of release? Good. Distributors take 80% of the ticket price you charge, and you gotta show it an allotted number of times. Also that hard drive with the digital file the distributors send you locks after a week, so you can only show it with the code they send: weekly!

Cinema survived TV when it first popped up, survived VHS and DVD, but it won’t survive streaming. It’s too expensive, screening rooms are still largely full of morons on their phones, and why spend money on tickets, food and a babysitter when you can stream whatever you want, with the kids tucked up in bed in the next room?

I love cinema and I still love going to see movies, mostly old ones tho, but cinema is taking too many punches, pre and post pandemic to survive

Gary James Clarke

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When I swapped my first iPhone for my 2nd one, many years ago, I did so at a T-Mobile shop because I’m a longtime T-Mobile user (since it was Omnipoint and Voicestream, over 20 years now), but they said they couldn’t add AppleCare, I had to do that through Apple (they’ve since been able to do so more recently).  So I drove over to the Apple Store where one of their floating reps offered to help me, and sold me AppleCare and then asked me how I wanted to pay for it.  In the Apple Store. I said, “I have ApplePay,” to which he sheepishly responded, “oh, right.”

I have a $5 bill in my pocket that’s been there for weeks.  Just in case.  I think I’ve used cash almost exclusively for service-related tips (shuttle van drivers, hotel bellman) for years now.

As for movie theatres, I said two years ago that I wouldn’t invest in movie theatre chains but that individual theatres in major cities, mostly probably owned by studios (including Netflix, Amazon, etc), would survive as launch locations for major films, especially big-budget action and comic-based ones, where a live audience can trigger word-of-mouth.  Films for adults, script-driven, will primarily launch and live on cable/satellite/streaming.

Speaking of streaming, I think you’ve said this before, but I’ll say it now. Too many separate subscriptions.  At least with music it’s pretty much all on the major services.  But HBO, Paramount, Disney, Discovery, Netflix, etc.  Too complicated to manage.

Toby Mamis

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RE: E-MAIL OF THE DAY

My niece’s 8-year old son wanted some sort of lizard for a pet, which cost something like $150 at PetSmart.  She told him he’d have to earn the money, so the first idea he had was a lemonade stand.  He set up in front of their house.  She figured he’d learn a little about money, and give up after a short time.  He did a little cash business, but when my niece put a picture of him on Instagram and told the story of what he was doing, friends and relatives started Venmo-ing money to her on his behalf and he had his lizard paid for within about 15 minutes, to her astonishment and chagrin!  He got his lizard and didn’t even have to sell much lemonade.

Mike Blakesley

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Hey, Bob,

For Mike’s daughter and all enterprising people out there… we won’t need a separate card reader as the emerging technology is “Tap to Pay” as part of Apple Pay. You can transform your phone into a card reading device to accept payments!

Here:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/02/apple-unveils-contactless-payments-via-tap-to-pay-on-iphone/

I’ve been in the music and media industry since 16. I’m 41 and transitioned full-time into Tech and start-ups for the past five years. Music is my part-time thing now, my hobby. The Business is elsewhere.

Ciarán O’Toole

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Was just at the Hollywood Bowl tonight, second time since the pandemic (didn’t try buying anything the first time). Stacked parking took cash, but inside the bowl Satan’s Cashless Society!

Cheers, Mark Southland

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I just wonder when bank cards will be gone! We don’t need them in a digital age.

In Sweden we have Swish which is very secure as it is connected to an electronic ID (BankID). When will this happen in US? Like a secure digital SSN approved as an offical ID, just as a passport. We can’t use apple ID or facebook or any account as an ID in the digital age

With a digital eID a lot of innovation will happen.
In Sweden Mike’s daughter would use Swish to receive payment from ‘customers’

Even beggars in the street uses Swish as nobody is carrying cash any longer.

Br
Mikael Codiqo

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RE: PICKLEBALL

That is not to say pickleball is easy, potentially.  Like badminton.  It’s based on progressing IF you have the desire to improve.  Then it becomes a matter of reaching one level and then learning a whole other set of strategies and skills to take you up.  Everybody’s max is different.  You can also, just stay at the same level if you desire.

Think about all the public tennis courts sitting mostly idle.  Up here we converted two private tennis courts into six pickleball courts.  So in the same space, instead of maxing out with 8 tennis players (doubles), with PB you can have 24 playing at the same time.  Shorter games=more people can have court time.  Inner cities need to think about this.  It is exploding.  I play 5 or 6 days a week.  In the last three years, our club membership has gone from 55 to 205.  It’s more social than tennis and people kibbitz have fun etc.  I’m not surprised this woman invited you.  That’s the nature of the game.  I’m a 3.5 player and addicted.

John Brodey

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This is my 5th summer and first year of full Pickleball play. The sport has changed a bit since the pandemic, but is still very social. The bigger issue is the “fight” coming from tennis in a resort town like Park City. There is limited space left to put in recreation facilities and tennis is putting up a huge stink about Pickleball lines on their courts, or even converting less used tennis courts to Pickleball courts.

While I don’t share the sentiment that tennis will die, it will certainly wane in popularity. Anecdotally in Summit County (where Park City is located) most of the surrounding areas can’t build enough courts fast enough. Just outside of Park City there’s a venue where 2 tennis courts were converted to 8 Pickleball courts; every morning (when there isn’t snow or rain) the courts are packed 8 courts full and usually about a 6 courts of players waiting to rotate on after each game. In the afternoons it’s usually very similar. While the two other tennis courts at that venue that still exist are rarely if ever used.

One venue in town is now exploring putting up acoustic fence covering to help mitigate some of the sound. As a musician and sound engineer I’ve been helping with that process. When playing indoors in an untreated space I will wear my custom Westone earplugs to help me stay focused on my court of play. But outdoors I don’t have an issue.

The Park City Pickleball club started with about 25 members 3 years ago. It now has a membership of over 1,000. The sport has definitely exploded in popularity. I believe it is due to the social aspect of the game and that a player can find any level of game from beginner to 5.0 and enjoy it. For more advanced players there is definitely a skill factor and high speed pace that keeps the game interesting. I view Pickleball like Othello. It’s pretty easy to learn, but can be hard to master.

The fun part for me is getting to an advanced level and much like music, some companies start taking notice and endorse or sponsor players. I might be the first career musician with a Pickleball sponsorship, which is pretty exciting – much like the first music endorsements I got in my music career. It’s a fun game and chances are it will hit the olympics soon.

Jody Whitesides

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A month ago, I was visiting my hometown of Memphis and drove through an affluent, old-money neighborhood and what I saw shocked me. Two of the houses had Pickleball courts IN THEIR FRONT YARD! The landscaping around one of them was beautiful. There were chairs and benches all around the courts. It looked like it could have been on the cover of Garden & Gun. The other one was nice but not like the other house. I was aware of the game before, but seeing these courts was the moment I realized how big it is. Some of my fondest memories from youth were playing soccer and football in the front yard during the fall. It was the social hub of the neighborhood. I can see the allure of the neighbors walking up and hanging out around the court in the front yard, drinking mint juleps, smoking cannabis, and playing Pickleball.

Michael Patterson

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Bob, people have no idea what is coming with Pickleball. I took tennis lessons and the courts were empty and a few hundred feet away 20 Pickleball courts were constantly full. My wife and I joined 1,500 other Pickleball members in our community in 2018 and have not looked back. 2-3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Tournaments twice a month. Many of our friends are people we met playing Pickleball.

And now we have these awesome new facilities in Maricopa County like Bell Bank Park – 41 courts including a 2,500 seat center court for televised tournaments. Both the PPA and APP play there. You can play in the same tournament the pros play in, they’ll be playing on the court next to you and will stop and talk to you between matches. Not many other sports offer you that opportunity. And the pros remember your name – when they see you six months later they remember you.

You can become a reasonable Pickleball player with a month of effort – not a great player but one who can keep points going and have fun with many peers with comparable skills. All for a $200 paddle and some court shoes.

And the exercise – my blood pressure improved dramatically playing this sport. Such good exercise.

It’s a really fun and social sport. Thank you for mentioning it.

Thanks,

Kevin Hillstrom

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I played pickleball 3x a week for most of 2020 and well into 2021.  I could play outdoors with other people and we all wore masks while playing. Doubles is the most popular and the most fun.  It does not take a lot of running around, but a skill set is required and one can improve with a reasonable amount of practice.  We even set up a net and chalked the court lines in an empty parking lot, while the official courts were closed during lock-down.  Its increased popularity is definitely pandemic-induced.

Susan Rosenbluth

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Ha!  I play every day.  Every. Single.  Day.

Great community, lots of laughing, in a word: satisfying.  These divisive days, it’s great to find a place with zero politics, all fun.

Lesley Bracker

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It’s about time you mentioned the worlds fastest growing sport!  Thank you!

BTW in pickleball world we say:  “I drank the kool-aid”.

I’m a total addict and I my mix music and humour with Pickleball  (for real….) https://fb.watch/f1moZhTFnt/.

In fact I’m a bit worried about sharing this info so widely but pickleball has brought me a whole new audience.

Anyhow for anyone recently addicted, welcome  to the club!

Rachael Chatoor

Pickleball addict and musician/singer/songwriter

www.rachaelchatoor.com

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Don’t forget disc golf eventually replacing golf. It has far lower cost to buy equipment, uses less land to play on, fewer resources to maintain each course, can be built in woodlands, and is full of strategy. I got into it after seeing this 250-foot shot to force a playoff at the World Championships getting #1 on Sportscenter Top 10. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-w1TWtMsDus

Extra angles: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eOhO7FfVQlE

The more you research the game, the more you realize how absurdly difficult that throw-in was. To be very brief, he basically had to throw against his body for a left to right shot, all while looking into the setting sun. Also, the course’s high altitude and temperature made it very challenging to create the needed curve in the shot.

Take care,

Michael Ball

Kensington, MD

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There is an analogy here. As pickelball is to tennis, disc golf is to golf. I believe that disc golf is emerging much like your description here for how pickleball is growing.

They are both easier to learn than the sport they are displacing. They are sports you can take up later in life knowing you will never be great but legitimately recognizing that you can improve a lot with practice. The cost of taking up the sport is low. The cost of setting up new places to play is not significant – especially when you are displacing unused tennis courts or golf courses. Both are social, fun sports where current players are remarkably likely to invite a non-player to give it a try. Neither has any of the pretentiousness of the sport it is displacing.

In my area (the Western Carolinas), forests in public parks that were long neglected have had local players carve you disc golf courses all through them. What follows is that the broader use of a neglected forest that were once filled with litter and garbage are now clean, filled with hiking paths and dog parks all because of what the disc golf course jumpstarted.

The pandemic led to explosive growth for older adults (like me) taking up disc golf. It’s an outdoor sport where maintaining distance from other players is easy. I don’t know if this applies to pickleball but I bet the pandemic drove growth of that sport too.

Both are growing at a crazy pace but both are unstructured organizations with very little data to document that growth. There is an app called U-Disc where disc golf course managers can easily load their course into the app. Then, anybody with the app can easily keep their own scorecard for every round they play on pretty much every course in the world. 10 years ago, individual disc golf players recorded about 7000 rounds of disc golf using the U-Disc app. In 2022, it is estimated that 17 MILLION rounds of disc golf will be recorded in that same app. Some of that is just about the growth of the app but, nonetheless, it is a remarkable data point for the overall growth of the sport.

Mark McLaughlin

BTW – as far as I can tell, the growth of the U-Disc app is 100% word-of-mouth between players. No marketing, no digital advertising tactics.

Crazy. Crazy good for all of us.

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The soft drink industry used to call their wider competition “share of stomach” that being the gross amount of liquid consumed by the average person each day versus how much of that space their given product filled up.

I wonder if what the music industry is dealing with is “share of ears” – the relative amount of listening time a given consumer allots to music versus podcasts, e-books, etc. Putting aside the relative merits of today’s music for the moment, it can be argued that the Beatles never had to compete with This American Life and the like.

Rob Schlyecher
Vancouver BC

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Pickleball, Sport of the Future Injury?

tjlambert