I’m just totally weirded out about getting old.

No, scratch that, I’m just totally weirded out about being 72.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Almost all my contemporaries are in denial. They are over 70, but they’re acting like they’re in their forties, if not their thirties, as if they’ve got a lot of runway ahead of them, and we don’t.

Classic rock stars are dropping like flies. Rick Davies. I’m a huge Supertramp fan, I saw the last tour, sans Rodger Hodgson. It’s sad, then again Davies was 81. Not a bad run. My father died at 70. The Big C got him. That’s what people don’t realize, you can just be wandering through life and BAM!, cancer gets you. You’ll say you’re eating right, as if that really matters, but Neil deGrasse Tyson points out the fallacy in that argument here:

@hasanminhaj

“Science!!! Matters!!!” Neil deGrasse Tyson

? original sound – Hasan Minhaj

In caveman days, half of the people died by age 30. In 1840, it was 35. They were all eating organic, eating free range meats, but it wasn’t until science came along that life expectancies increased by so much.

That’s what Tyson says, many people will disagree, on both the left and the right, as if beliefs can undercut science, they can’t.

So where was I…

Oh yeah, getting old.

I ask my contemporaries if they died tomorrow would they feel ripped-off. Most say no, that there are things they want to do, but if they passed they’d be satisfied with their lives. Not me! There’s so much more I want to accomplish. But that requires I stay healthy and alive. And you can be alive and be hampered.

Anyway…

Can I tell you I saw a video of the Who on TikTok? Of Roger Daltrey, who’s gone on record he can barely hear or see, waiting to hit the high note in “Won’t Get Fooled Again”? With Pete Townshend standing nearby, waiting for the synth part to end to begin playing his guitar once again?

I was struck by one thing and one thing only, how old they both were. Both in their eighties. It’s a pact between the acts and their fans, we’re supposed to suspend disbelief and think everybody is young and chipper and still as good and will live forever.

But we won’t.

Or maybe you caught the video of Paul McCartney at the Oasis show. Maybe you notice he’s shrunk a bit. That’s a feature of aging, it happens to all of us. But the truth is Paul’s voice is shot. Or nearly shot, depending upon where you want to draw the line. You heard him on the SNL anniversary show…

BUT YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT PAUL MCCARTNEY!

That’s not the point. Can you stand back and see what is going on? We’re all fading into the woodwork, and no one has all their faculties, skills and looks.

But you can try and cheat. Did you read that “New York” magazine article about facelifts? 

“The Forever-35 Face – The face-lift is better than ever and everybody wants one. Deep inside the uncanny world of the surgically ageless.”

https://apple.news/Ao2CAADOBTaOArhJxEUIdKA

Ozempic and plastic surgery. You can present an image to the world. But it’s just an image, your insides don’t know any better. Never mind lying about your age.

Now this is coming across with the wrong attitude. I don’t care if you love seeing the dinosaurs or get plastic surgery, all I’m saying is time is marching on and you can’t stop it. So what do you want to do with the rest of your life?

You’re certainly not going to be remembered. You realize that as you get older. As far as possessions? I was always creeped out how the aged ended up in one room in retirement homes, sans all their crap. I completely understand it now, most of that stuff you never use. And if you’re trying to impress people with what you’ve got…you don’t know that that’s a young person’s game, no one cares.

So what do you do with your time?

You can travel. But that’s weird too. Because you can no longer go everywhere. You’ve got to pick and choose. And take a good look around when you’re there, because chances are you’ll never be back.

I wanted to ski at every area in America. That ain’t gonna happen. Nor every mountain in Europe.

But what’s important to me, what are my priorities?

And then there’s books and movies and TV shows… I know people watch stuff multiple times, but I don’t get it, there’s still so much I haven’t seen!

And then there’s politics… There could be massive change before I die, we had a Black president and legal marijuana, which were unfathomable in the twentieth century, but chances are it will just be push and pull and…

You start to realize, I’ve started to realize, that people just can’t get along. Hell, Rodney King is dead. There are going to be wars. As for people like Putin…I don’t understand it. Who wakes up and says they want to be a rich dictator in a corrupt system. I mean money and power are nice, but why this desire to lord it over people?

These are questions I think about all the time.

Kind of like when I talk about music business stuff, if money was made the discussion ends there. You can’t criticize, can’t even analyze something if money is being made.

So you become further and further isolated.

And the separation between people, people you know, who all started from the same line. Some made something of themselves, others didn’t. Fine. But then there are those who didn’t who have contempt for those who did. So what do you do, hide your achievements or hang with those who’ve had similar successes?

It’s the nature of life. You start to become more and more detached.

When you turn 60, you’ve seen the trick, you know the game, you’re no longer beholden to the hype. If a movie or product is good, you’ll find out about it when it’s in the marketplace, you’re not going to get all excited and waste time in anticipation.

70? That’s when you realize you’re not going to be here forever.

But almost everybody I bring this up with gives me a blank stare. Tells me what they’re doing, as if they’ll be able to do it forevermore. But they won’t.

Yes, your buddies will die. And then what… You’ll just keep on keepin’ on.

So what do you do with your time?

I certainly don’t want to waste it. I don’t want to spend time with people selling me, which so many want to. Let’s talk on the phone so I can convince you to help me make money!

Or those who don’t want to talk about the deeper issues.

Or those who can never challenge their preconceptions.

Like that David Brooks piece in the “Times” last week, “Why I Am Not a Liberal.” http://bit.ly/3Ke7Rtq I’m all for a social safety net. But is Brooks right, that some programs just don’t lift people and ultimately it’s culture that creates change? I’m not sure, but I’ve been thinking about it, even though his piece is contrary to liberal orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy…

Kamala was a good candidate. Trans kids should be able to play in all sports. Sabrina Carpenter is a talent for the ages. Question precepts and you’re a pariah.

So what do I do with my time?

That’s another piece.

It’s astounding how good some of these TikTok clips are.

Sure, there are stuntsters, but then you’re dependent upon cooking up a new idea on a regular basis, constantly upping the ante. But if the draw is you…

This is the antithesis of the hit ethos we’ve seen since the nineties on MTV. You lead with the product, i.e. the music, and you present a massaged image that works for media outlets, all the while professing love of your fans and sponsors.

Sure, the focus should be on the music, but today’s music is so me-too, it’s not enough. If music were so hot, there would be a TikTok equivalent solely for tunes, but the truth is non-musical clips are just as enthralling, if not more so.

Now it used to be that acts evidenced their personalities in their songs. But this is hard to do when your numbers are written by committee. One of the reasons music burgeoned with the Beatles is the acts wrote their own songs, and therefore their personalities were up front and center. They were in the lyrics! You felt you knew who John Lennon was. And he didn’t censor himself, smooth off the rough edges to be accepted.

So if you want to be a successful musician today, focus on writing your own material, with your own personal experiences and attitudes included, so people can relate. You want spikes, things that can hook people, not moon in June. The music itself must tell a story. This is more important than any outfit/stage show/production. The music can even have mistakes.

But you must have the talent.

Look yourself in the mirror. Are you a good singer? If not, don’t try to front your music, get someone else to sing. Or maybe you shouldn’t be a musician at all.

So many of the people on TikTok are not lowest common denominator, they are educated and beam intelligence. And they’re not afraid to wade into controversial subjects. All we hear is about the dumbing down of America, but this is not true on social media. Of course there is lowest common denominator stuff, but what sticks out is the people with a brain with something to say, but even more an IDENTITY!

If you want to sell your music online, you must have a personality. Just posting a music video to TikTok is not enough. You must go on and talk about what interests you, what pisses you off. You can talk about what inspires you to write a song, the roadblocks you hit. People eat this stuff up! If you have any traction at all, focus on the bond with your audience more than the music. The label can’t do this for you, no handler can do this for you, YOU MUST DO THIS YOURSELF!’

Enough with the two decade b.s. from musicians saying that’s what they are, just players, they shouldn’t have to post on the internet. The joke is on THEM! They are the ones who are missing out.

Gaining traction is a whole ‘nother thing. Then again, employ a bit of creativity. People are constantly e-mailing me Jesse Welles clips. Furthermore, Welles doesn’t wait for a clip/song to catch fire, he keeps creating new ones. He’s not worried about the potential fan, but the fans he has, and if he does it right, they will spread the word.

Artists have personalities. Being able to play is not enough. Which is why Berklee students don’t dominate Spotify. It’s about conception, innovation…

Do yourself a favor. Get on to TikTok and scroll. And scroll. And scroll. And discover what interests you.

It’s always someone with a personality. Which might be off-putting, but…

There’s this guy the car wizard. He is always negative at the outset, usually dissing manufacturers, but then he digs deep and solves unsolvable problems. Likable he is not, yet he is fascinating and you keep watching, like so many musicians…can you say “Van Morrison”?

Then there’s the financial guru. She goes on about not being able to afford a four year school, just going to community college. She talks about varying issues and then will sneak in items like taking a GLP-1, even though she is not severely overweight. Did people come down on her for this? Of course, but it goes with the territory. If you’re not getting any negative reaction, you’re not doing it right, you’re not reaching enough people.

Then there’s another mechanic who had a series of videos telling how he got from there to here. We’re all interested in your backstory, warts and all. You just didn’t show up with a record deal.

Do you crack jokes? Are you serious?

Once again, NO ONE CAN DO THIS FOR YOU!

Your music is no longer enough. If you’re not posting on TikTok and Instagram Reels yourself, at least a few times a week, the joke is on you. View it as a new avenue of expression, not hype. The key is to glue people to you.

But no platitudes, no asks, just you. Raw you.

If you don’t get on the gravy train, you’re a hater.

Oasis played five dates in America, in large venues. Let’s just call it 80k a night, even though that’s excessive. That means that…

400,000 people went to see Oasis.

In a country of 340.1 million.

Could they have sold more tickets? ABSOLUTELY! The Oasis tour was the ultimate in FOMO. Hell froze over, get it while you can. It wasn’t only oldsters who went to the gigs, but youngsters too. And if you’re on social media you’ve been exposed to video after video of the throng singing along, as well as Liam with his sneering voice actually endearing himself to the audience.

Fine. But is this what the mass of Americans want? Do the masses want ANYTHING?

______________________

From: Tim Brunelle

Subject: Lizzo on TikTok

She’s speaking your truth!

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Sdw7HM/

______________________

Watch this video. Wherein Lizzo says it’s nearly impossible to break through and your only hope is to focus on your hard core fans and superserve them.

This is a completely different paradigm from yesteryear. Evidence of which was displayed on last night’s VMAs. Once a must-see, now a drive by car crash. Most stars appearing for the publicity. Is there any underlying meaning? This was the 41st show. Talk about long in the tooth…

Kind of like the classic rockers, who if not retired are positively geriatric. But the boomers who supported them then still believe, you can’t say anything negative about their heroes of yore, even though they’re on their last legs.

So there’s no perspective. But a lot of people yelling telling you if you don’t agree you’re dog sh*t. It’s not much different from politics.

As for the media… They LOVE this stuff! All-encompassing tours/shows that they can milk for months. It’s kind of like all the press about “White Lotus.” I gave up after the first season, that was enough.

But it isn’t much different from the hype about “Succession” and “Severance.”

What do all these shows have in common? Like tours, they play out week by week, keeping the story alive. But the viewers?

One of the biggest hits of the summer was “Happy Gilmore 2.” What is a hit? SOMETHING PEOPLE WATCH!

“‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ the 29-years-later sequel to Adam Sandler’s golf comedy, set a record on Nielsen’s streaming charts for its premiere weekend. The film amassed 2.89 billion minutes of viewing time in the United States from July 25-27, the highest single-week total for a movie in the five-year history of the ratings provider’s streaming charts. Happy Gilmore 2’s total — 2.893 billion, to be precise…”

http://bit.ly/4geyU43

Yet media coverage of “Happy Gilmore 2” was de minimis.

As for “KPop Demon Hunters,” despite the recent press about live showings, the reality is that the film was released on June 20th, to veritable crickets. The fans adored it, watched it multiple times, but the media ignored it. The tracks dominated the Top Ten and there still were no stories. Because the success did not fit the classic paradigm. Of advance hype, continuing press, the milking of every ounce of potential news out of a production. No, that is reserved for classic fare released by classic streamers.

BUT THE AUDIENCE DOESN’T CARE!

And how many people care about Oasis?

If Oasis was as big as fans and attendees want you to believe, there would be concomitant streaming evidence. But there’s not a single Oasis track in the Spotify Top 50. You’ll find Coldplay and Fleetwood Mac and Radiohead, but not Oasis. Because despite the magic of “Wonderwall,” it’s a niche enterprise.

As a matter of fact, only two Oasis tracks have in excess of a billion streams on Spotify, “Wonderwall” has 2,473,583,534 and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” has 1,152,938,602. As a matter of fact, other than “Champagne Supernova,” which has 515,735,185 streams, not a single other Oasis track has half a billion streams, most nowhere close!

Fleetwood Mac has four billion streamers, with “Dreams” at over 2 billion. Radiohead has two tracks at more than a billion, with “Creep” over two. Coldplay? They have a double digit number of billion streamers.

So where does Oasis fit in here? Definitely a significant act, but based on the press and the buzz you’d believe they’re huge in America, dominant, when that’s completely untrue.

But if you say that…

Let’s have a little perspective. There are fifty percent more people in America than there were in the heyday of stadium shows back in the seventies. Meaning a lot more acts can sell a lot more tickets. Kudos. But if you’re trying to convince me they’re dominant, I’m laughing. They’re NICHE! Why can Lizzo see this and seemingly nobody else?

My point is not to diss Oasis. Then again, I’ll diss the fans, who’d have you believe going to a show is like going to see the Beatles. Hell, Oasis wasn’t that big in America even in their heyday. It’s a thirty year old band. If Noel Gallagher wasn’t a member he’d be pissing all over it. But no, he’s silent in this dash for cash.

Welcome to America. With niche news whose attendant readers/viewers believe everybody is in on the story, or should be.

My inbox is full of e-mail from right wingers complaining that the NYT, WSJ and WaPo are not covering the stories all over Fox, never mind the right wing blogosphere. Meanwhile, stories in the aforementioned NYT, WSJ and WaPo are not covered on Fox. And you can’t convince either side that these are not huge stories. They’ll argue about it, vociferously.

The same way they’ll tell you that if you don’t think everybody in the country is enamored of, enthralled by, foaming at the mouth over Oasis or Taylor Swift, you’re just plain wrong.

But in this case, they’re wrong.

But you can’t convince them of it.

“The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World”: http://bit.ly/480ozGy

1

If you’re going to music business school…

You’ll learn more in this book than you will in class. Class will teach you the mechanics, the elements of publishing, how to put on a show, you will be taught how to be a worker bee, but all the money is in controlling talent, being on top, and most people do not possess the skills to do so.

Not that the book is the easiest read. Not that any book is an easy read. Reading demands commitment. But the amazing thing about reading is it will take you 90% there. All you will need is the cherry on top, the personal interactions, which will be easily achievable because with your book learning you will STAND OUT!

How do you manage relationships… I haven’t seen this taught in any course. But that was what Colonel Tom Parker specialized in. Creating relationships and staying connected to people. It wasn’t as simple as shaking hands, he created his own fictitious organization, the Snowmen’s League of America, based on how one person snowed another. There were no meetings, and rules that the Colonel made up and changed and discarded on a whim. He inducted people at William Morris. Celebrities. It was humorous, it was fun. Colonel focused on this, fun. If it wasn’t fun, he wasn’t interested.

Fun used to be a core element of the music business, up until about twenty years ago, then it all became too corporatized, too institutionalized, too bottom line oriented, to its detriment.

What looks like blowing a ton of money is a good investment if it keeps your artist happy and producing. This is not the widget business.

Colonel was constantly cracking jokes. And in between asking for what he wanted. He was self-deprecating, stating that he could be wrong, and always warm at the end, noting a birthday or some other important milestone of the recipient of his correspondence. Sure, so much was transparent, but the letters certified that Colonel was thinking of you, you were in it together, on the same team. He continued to humorously ask for a bonus for being an outpost of the William Morris Agency at his home in Tennessee. When promised anything of his choosing from the RCA warehouse, he asked for a computer, long before there were desktop machines, when they were still huge and expensive! And you didn’t always know when he was joking, he kept you on your toes.

As for the record label… He viewed Presley as an industry within the company, standing alone. Not only did he insist on the best deal, but no returns. And if the salesman screwed up and something came back, it could only be replaced with Presley product, and nothing else from the catalog.

And Elvis was in total control of the creative end. What songs to record, how to record them, the Colonel paved the way as opposed to too many managers inserting themselves in the creative process and pissing off their acts.

And the Colonel learned to trust his instincts. Told by William Morris that Elvis’s initial movie deal was standard and then caving on his demands, the Colonel kicked himself soon thereafter. He knew better, as outsiders often do.

When RCA got its knickers in a twist and complained about a debt, the Colonel was incensed, you’re getting all worked up for THIS sum of money?

That’s the role of the manager, to be independent. And to get the most for his artist. Which means you just don’t send a letter of demand and sit back and wait for a contract, you have to establish a relationship with people, show how your interests align.

The Colonel is the kind of self-made person who built the modern music business. Entrepreneurs with big dreams who couldn’t fit into the corporate mold. That type still rules, but there are fewer of them.

2

The MONEY! Elvis was always running out! Spending more than he had.

At first tax rates were insane. 90%. But even when lower Elvis would buy things on a whim and his father Vernon would tear his hair out wondering how he was going to pay for all this.

For all the bad press, the Colonel kept his money separate. Elvis had his own accounts and if asked for advice the Colonel would give it, but otherwise he didn’t meddle.

As for the deals…

You can ultimately say that the Colonel was self-dealing a bit, especially with RCA. He started off with 25%, it could be a third, but then he had all these theories that certain product was under the deal and the rest were special projects, for which he was entitled to 50%. And a lot of the RCA deal wasn’t even on paper, but he held RCA to these oral agreements, he used his leverage.

And author Peter Guralnick says that it was not the Colonel’s idea or preference to sell the assets to RCA. It is said the deal was completed because Elvis needed the money!

And even worse, at some point Elvis no longer wanted to work. He went on a spiritual journey. The work just did not get him off anymore. And while he was on his hejira obligations would go unfulfilled and money would not come in, but…

It’s hard to do the same thing year after year and still stay excited about it. Singing the songs that made you famous decades ago. You grow up, you have other interests.

And Elvis surrounded himself with hangers-on, the so-called “Memphis Mafia,” who bled him dry and talked the Colonel down and although providing companionship, kept Elvis isolated.

So?

People are people. A lot of the same rules still apply. Which is why I recommend reading this book if you’re a wannabe. Parker ends up looking good, only those alive back then know for sure, but he was not the devious schemer he’s portrayed to be. He paid his debts/bills immediately, didn’t wait thirty days, not even a day! And if you didn’t pay YOUR bills on time, he dressed you down.

It was all cottage industry, while interfacing with some of the biggest corporations in America. If you’re intimidated by the big boys, you’re never going to win. But you have to entrance them, get them in your circle, and then bend them to your desires. And don’t forget, the company men have a different ethos, they want a salary, they’re not dependent upon innovation, they’re not as hungry. So change always comes from the outside.

All we see is brashness portrayed in today’s world. And there are some like this. Then again, most people talking down today’s bigwigs have never met them, don’t know their people skills, which have allowed them to triumph.

I can’t believe at this late date I’m finally interested in Elvis, but I am.

Because they were working without a net, innovating. Sure, he made all those junky movies, but that was the goal back then, to go Hollywood, and it was still the goal for a long time, Madonna “tried” to be in movies.

But it was all before the Beatles, who flipped the script, created a whole new business. And then came not only FM underground radio, but AOR and MTV and then the internet. Today’s hits are akin to those before the lads from Liverpool, made by committee, steered by execs for a commercial return. But there are still entrepreneurs on the fringes.

Go where everybody else is not. Where there’s room to be creative. Rather than complain about the label, figure out how to do it yourself, if you can create success, they’ll come running.

And the Colonel was never sour grapes, he kept on moving forward.

You need that attitude, that optimism to survive.

If you have success, you can change the system, if you have none, no one is listening to you.

Remember that.