1

It’s a stupid show. But that’s why it’s so good!

Apple TV+ has been improperly analyzed. It’s more akin to Amazon Prime Video than Netflix or Disney+. You see it’s a perk, it’s not a standalone purchase. It’s an extra, a bonus, not something you debate subscribing to.

Bottom line, 62% of Apple TV+ subscribers are on free accounts. How can that be you ask, especially if you’re still a member of the Wintel/Android world. Well, the truth is if you buy almost any Apple product, you get a free subscription.

But what keeps you watching?

This is unlike Apple’s Arcade. I got that free too but I don’t plan to renew, I’ve never even cracked it. But gaming, as large as it is, has a smaller footprint than television. The pool of potential TV watchers is gigantic, essentially everybody. And what drives streaming platform success? HITS!

And to succeed in any artistic endeavor, you have to come up to the plate on a regular basis, whether you’re an act or a record company or TV channel or streaming platform… You see it’s very hard to predict a hit. Every once in a while, a few times a year, there’s a project so undeniable that you know it is going to succeed, but those are rare. Which is why you see supposed sure shots, even Paul McCartney in the eighties as well as today, so heavily marketed/promoted. Turns out most people need to be reminded, they’re not following the scene that closely, now more than ever, where the channel is so cluttered, and there are so many avenues of interest. This is what is hurting the music business, the lack of a translatable superstar, the last one was Adele, who do we have now? Someone who essentially everybody can love? No one.

So, Netflix pivoted to streaming and invested a plethora of money into production. Knowing all of the above rules. Disney came with a catalog of children’s programming, and a low price, which boosted its subscriptions. As for competitors? Well, for most people Hulu is essentially a network/cable service, a place where you can dial up last night’s shows. Sure, there is some original programming, and some licensed too, but not enough to get you to pay all that dough per month.

So Hulu survives.

Amazon Prime Video? It hasn’t made as many shows as Netflix and certainly doesn’t have the hit to crap ratio that Netflix does, but its problem is the service is perceived to be free, and therefor the shows get little buzz/traction. But, you say, isn’t this the same with Apple TV+? Not exactly, there is no cult of Amazon, as much as people use the service, but there is an Apple cult, large and motivated, people want to watch Apple TV+ so their links to Cupertino are even stronger, they’re even rooting for the platform! Sounds ridiculous, but what can you believe in these days, Rihanna? Who has forsaken music for branding/licensing, not knowing you’re only as hot as your last hit, which is why her LVMH deal failed. Youngsters may be completely unaware of Rihanna, they have no incentive to overpay for her luxury goods.

So Apple TV+ gets attention. But so far, it has been unable to build on that attention. Every show that Apple promoted, oftentimes via Tim Cook himself, has been released to a chorus of…nothing. “The Morning Show.” That Earth show. None of it has truly clicked until “Ted Lasso.” Oh, there was some buzz on “Dickinson,” but perception was it was for young girls, and perception is king. Well, after distribution.

But Apple didn’t promote “Dickinson” either. As for “Ted Lasso,” I just considered it another mediocre Apple production, throwing too much money at a celebrity to do their passion project. Come on, despite the hoopla, “Mank” sucked. Not in the league of any awards, at least not for content, maybe cinematography. But, once again, marketing has influenced “news” and the whole enterprise has detached from the public, which is why the Oscar show has tanked…people don’t care, they can’t relate to it. As for fashion? You go to Instagram and YouTube for that, to the influencers, to people who live for fashion 365 days a year, not one.

But then there started to be a buzz on “Ted Lasso.”

I still wouldn’t watch it, because I refuse to watch any show that is dribbled out week by week. I get it, Apple is trying to build buzz, it’s got very little content to begin with, but that buzz approach is positively last century. We live in an on demand culture, we want it all and we want it now! Come on, Steve Jobs was famous for that. He loved to introduce a product and say it’s available NOW! And instantly there’d be a buying frenzy, you want to catch people when they’re hyped-up, manic.

But now, months later, I finally dove into “Ted Lasso.”

2

Jason Sudeikis has no star power in my universe, just another latter-day SNL star who reached his expiration date and has been trying to make it on his own ever since.

So Sudeikis was no reason for me to watch “Ted Lasso.”

As for the other main star…supposedly she was in “Game of Thrones.” Yes, I know, I know, but I’m not into fantasy, not whatsoever, maybe when I’m  washed up on a desert island with a solar-powered iPad I’ll give it a go, but it’s far from a priority for me.

But “Lasso” was on Apple, and I’m part of the cult, and my free subscription seems to go on forever, if for no other reason than I’m signed up to the new iPhone every year plan. As for the prohibitive cost, which I’m paying through the nose for? HOW MUCH DO YOU USE YOUR SMARTPHONE? It’s my most used device, by far, why should I be living in a backwater? It’s about the chip and the features. As for the chip…I’ve got an iPad Air 2, I purchased it at the end of 2014, and it’s almost unusable, it’s best just as a TV streaming device. Another user might find its lag time tolerable, but compared to my iPhone 12 Pro Max? IT’S GLACIAL!

So I decided to try “Ted Lasso.”

Sudeikis/Lasso never breaks character, never ever. And at first it’s intolerable, but then it becomes magical. And when his wife want to divorce him because he’s too optimistic, I GET IT!

But I’m a glass half-empty kind of guy. But watching Ted, I started to wonder if there was a benefit in optimism. Furthermore, at times Lasso gets low, has regrets, so there’s a bit of three-dimensionality, but you have to wait for it.

As for Ms. Game of Thrones, Hannah Waddingham? She’s incredible! A great foil for Sudeikis, a star in her own right. She’s forceful and then vulnerable, unable to get over her divorce, and Lasso is supportive… We don’t see this much in celebrity culture, someone tending to another’s wounds, it’s all about me me ME! But here it’s endearing.

And the supporting players…

The almost nonverbal coach, who has a passion for chess and a knowledge of kink.

And Nathan… The unappreciated underling who is a soccer genius, at least compared to Ted.

The blurbs didn’t have it right. American football coach takes the helm of a Premier League team. Sounds too hokey. But that ends up being just the point, IT IS HOKEY!

Everybody ultimately caves to Ted’s magic. And he knows when he works it.

As for Keeley… Julien Temple has a daughter old enough to play the love interest? Remember the legendary music video director? Yes, we’re getting older by the minute, the times keep changing, and the whole world is what have you done for me lately? It’s hard to keep up.

But that’s why you rely on word-of-mouth, your friends, the buzz.

Otherwise I never would have even watched “Ted Lasso.” Apple certainly wasn’t hammering it, it was only my friends the sports acolytes. And then the buzz grew wider, so I had to check it out.

As for you?

My favorite stupid movie is “Stripes.” It’s genius.

Stupid means it doesn’t have to comport with real life, it can be broad, it can go from joke to joke.

But too many stupid movies are just that, stupid, which is why Adam Sandler gets such a bad rap. His flicks have no iconic scenes involving Tito Puente or some other obscure reference. The references bond us, keep us interested.

But there are not that many belly laughs in “Ted Lasso,” and on some level it’s an SNL production, but unlike SNL, “Ted Lasso” does not reek of insiderism, no one breaks character, it’s a fantasy world and in today’s scary world, it’s a relief.

The characters are very broad. And mostly two-dimensional But that was the goal!

As for the Diamond Dogs… I can’t remember a comparable scene in any production, where nerds, regular people, gather to support and analyze a friend’s love life. And hell, “Ted Lasso” even gets divorce right! You stood up in front of all those people, it’s legal…emotionally it’s hard to break.

It’s hard to do comedy. So hard, that most people don’t even attempt it. Come on, streaming services are laden with cop shows, and supernatural/horror shows. Comedy? It either works or it doesn’t. And oftentimes it doesn’t.

And I can’t give “Ted Lasso” a ringing endorsement, I can’t say it’s a must-see, but I will tell you once you watch about an episode and a half, you’ll finish it. Because you’ll like the mood, you’ll like the respite from the real world, and ultimately…things don’t always play out the way you expect them to, which is a relief.

3

So Apple TV+ has a hit. It’s a sleeper, it’s taken time to grow, but that’s how almost everything is these days, a work of art must percolate in the marketplace before it gets traction. As for marketing? If marketing were truly king, most movies released would be a success, when this is patently untrue.

And the truth is there are very few great things out there, stuff worth talking about, telling others about. And your personal credibility comes into play, whether you know it or not. Recommend a couple of losers and people no longer listen to you, their time is too precious. And personal credibility is one of the key traits in today’s world, where everything is a service or an experience, on demand. You want your friends to listen to you. Seemingly nobody else is, ultimately it’s how you become embedded in the social fabric, where all the rewards are.

So, Apple is on to something. The company should never cut off the freebies, it should continue to give a free subscription to Apple TV+ with every purchase of an Apple item. It reinforces the cult! And once you have a hit, all eyeballs are upon you.

Hell, HBO wasn’t a juggernaut until “The Sopranos,” which boosted the already extant “Sex and the City.” As for “Larry Sanders”? However good it was, it was a cult item.

And “House of Cards” was the best show on any platform, network, cable or streaming, just like “The Sopranos.” And what “The Sopranos” and “House of Cards” also have in common is…signing a producer/creator and giving them a lot of money and free rein.

And Apple is now trying to sell package subscriptions. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t understand pricing. There’s very little incentive to sign up, the price is too high, which is the complaint about all of Apple’s products. I’ll buy the package if I’m paying less than I am now and get a whole ‘nother service absolutely free. As for the services I’m already passing on…if I wanted them that bad, I’d buy them, and I haven’t.

And too many of Apple’s subscription products are me-too. Spotify is an alternative to Apple Music. News is everywhere. As for exercising… Sure, Peleton is much more expensive, but it’s hot and cool at the same time! Apple’s exercise program Fitness+ is not! Steve Jobs understood this…once you’re competing with everybody, when you’re approaching commodity status, you lower the price, like he did with the iPod, killing all other entrants.

People forget the stiffs. Whether it’s TV or music. There’s just too much on offer these days. All those lame Apple TV+ shows? No one cares if they can get “Ted Lasso.”

Apple TV+’s biggest disadvantage was audience. Because distribution is king. You may have the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if no one can see it… But by giving away free subscriptions, EVERYBODY CAN SEE IT! Furthermore, this is the tech ethos… It starts off free until you hit critical mass. Then you either charge or make it continue to feel free, like Google and Facebook.

There are no monopolies in Hollywood anymore. The town elders have lost control. You don’t fight the future, YOU JOIN THE FUTURE! Which is what all the creators have done. A hit can come from anywhere these days, be on any platform, but the key is to HAVE HITS!

Apple TV+ has a start with “Ted Lasso.” Watch it, not so much because you’ll love it, but because then you’ll be part of the discussion. We’re dying for talking points, we’re dying to be members of the club. So, people are incentivized to check out hits, because they want to belong!

Trust me, you want to belong to the “Ted Lasso” cult.

Bode Miller is America’s most decorated male alpine skier, winner of two World Cups and six Olympic medals. Bode is a self-taught wunderkind. We dive into his philosophy on education and go deep into his roots and his career, stopping along the way to investigate his innovations and his choices. Bode may have retired from competitive skiing, but he’s involved in more than a dozen ventures, which keep him quite busy. I guarantee you if you’re a ski fan you will have questions answered that have never been asked anywhere else. You’ll learn about equipment, coaching, doping…all the aspects of ski racing at the elite level. Bode is intelligent and articulate, I was high for a day after talking to him!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bode-miller/id1316200737?i=1000508584256

https://open.spotify.com/episode/20ueCaIgjqv6XfnNP74nUm?si=YJvnIlfzQtylS7qoPylFEA

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast

It’s a moral issue.

I was brought up with the notion that people knew, if they were elected to top positions, if they ran the corporation, they were skilled with insight.

This has not turned out to be true.

This is what Washington has wrought. We’ve now learned that everybody is human, everybody screws up, and even the most educated and talented have blind spots and those with blind spots can often supersede those who know.

It’s inspiring and disillusioning. It’s inspiring because it demonstrates I can compete, the playing field is level, those in power, those with status positions, are truly no better than me. But it’s disillusioning because chaos reigns, there is truly no there there, what holds America together is a very thin thread. We’ve been living under the fallacy that we’re all connected through a moral fabric, we’re all in it for the common good, that truth and justice will out.

That’s no longer true.

Let’s start with Clinton. Hell, let’s start with Gary Hart. Rumor was he was having an affair. He said no, to follow him, and then they caught him in the act. What was Hart thinking, that he was truly immune? Clinton had a reputation as a playboy. A reasonable person would keep his penis in his pants for his term. But it turns out Clinton couldn’t, he was no different from the guy running the local machine shop or manufacturing plant, taking advantage of his position, not worrying about social mores. But was Clinton’s behavior so egregious that he should be kicked out of office? I won’t walk you through the details, but it’s clear the Republicans were out to get him, and if getting a blow job and lying about it means you lose your job…women would run the Fortune 500.

And Clinton’s election coincided with the rise of Newt Gingrich, who turned politics into a zero sum game. Either you win or I win. No different from Monopoly, or Careers. Compromise was out the window.

And then Roger Stone got Bush elected via the Brooks Brothers riot.

A black man became president.

And then it all imploded.

Now I get the Republican position, they’re playing a team sport. But this is not what everybody was taught about politics growing up. Politics was for the greater good. And if someone crossed the line, they were excised. Now you can break the law, brag about it, and keep on ruling, more powerful than ever, can you say “Ukraine”?

Don’t argue with me. That’s not the point. Don’t quote Fox talking points. Yesterday, they cut away from the impeachment process. Their talking heads were more important, after all, ratings are everything, and what someone is not exposed to they do not know. This would have never happened in the three network era. But that era is long gone.

Later I listened to Mark Levin spew his inanities on Sean Hannity’s show. The Democrats were stupid and laughable. There was no respect, no decency. And sure, those concepts went out the window eons ago, but my point is what impact does this have on Fox fans?

Oh, don’t quote the false equivalencies, Russian collusion, Benghazi… As for Russian collusion, turns out Bill Barr got out ahead of the Mueller Report and Robert Mueller himself punted.

But let’s not get caught up in the past.

Now we have video evidence. Of a Capitol riot. What we’re hearing from the right is no one is responsible but the rioters themselves, they operated in a vacuum and Trump is not culpable. So, you tell me my eyes are lying?

As for the legal defense of the ex-president… The founder of the Federalist Society said the impeachment was legal, and those who haven’t gone to law school don’t realize that everybody, every criminal, is entitled to a defense…but that does not make them innocent.

Come on, you see it in the news every day. Outrageous claims that should exculpate behavior.

But what stresses me out, has me wondering, is the future. Yes, if those at the top lie and get away with it, WHY SHOULD I TELL THE TRUTH!

This is the America we now live in. Only the poor get caught and get incarcerated because there are security cameras everywhere and they can’t afford good lawyers. As for white collar criminals? Hire good enough attorneys and you can delay to the point where the prosecutor at the government leaves his post, and maybe a friend of yours gets elected and can make it all go away.

It’s all about gangs and who you know. Is there any wonder we’ve got gangs in the inner cities? There’s no future for these people, no money for training, many join the gang just to survive. And if you’re a rapper, you may get shot. We don’t live in the wild west anymore, but maybe we do! Westerns used to be fantasies, now they’re realities.

So what do these senators who refuse to convict Trump say to their friends, their families, their heirs? Well, it’s not radically different from what a member of the Crips or the Bloods would say… I was forced into it, if I went against the gang I’d lose my job, maybe even worse. And without money and power you become a second-class citizen who is forgotten.

So what lesson are we teaching further generations?

You’re on your own baby. Do not trust institutions. Everybody is out to get you if you raise your head above the fray, and it’s important to build your team to fight them. Loyalty is everything, truth is out the window.

Lying in court? EVERYBODY DOES IT! Used to be taboo, now it’s de rigueur.

“Nearly 140 police officers were injured in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to the Capitol Police union. Officers suffered brain injuries, smashed spinal discs, and cracked ribs, and one is likely to lose his eye. Two officers have committed suicide.”

NBCNews.com via “The Week”

I thought the right was the party of the police. But what do you say to the injured, the dead and their families? That their efforts were in vain? That it was nobody’s fault and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day and these are the risks you take?

When a building collapses we hold the contractors accountable. But when it comes to politicians, everything’s up for grabs, how good a team do you have, one as good as the Yankees, the Buccaneers?

Accountability itself is up for grabs.

And the truth is that Trump lied incessantly during his tenure, loyal news outlets refused to correct him and people are completely misinformed as to what went on. But ignorance is a badge of honor these days. You’re not from some highfalutin’ family, you didn’t go to college, no, you stay at home and drink beer and…how exactly do you pay the bills, wages are so damn low! Or else you’re a Christian conservative, an upper middle class nitwit protecting your right not to sacrifice, not to lose anything in this game we call life. But there are no guarantees, nothing is future-proof. They make no more Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles either. Kodak is a shell of itself. What, are we supposed to hold back progress so some people don’t get hurt? YES! You hear this argument again and again, in life, in business, give me protection from the future, hold the ingrates back, it’s not only white supremacists who rig the game. What do you think all those lobbyists are about?

And the establishment media tells us to lionize Sheryl Sandberg when she’s a fount of misinformation and misdirection. Facebook was an insignificant driver of the January 6th insurrection. OH YEAH? They expect us to buy all this crap. They know they’re lying when their lips move. But since they’re so rich and powerful they can get away with it. Hell, Zuckerberg himself is willing to throw our privacy under the bus to save small businesses, even though this in itself is a falsehood. Turns out small businesses are a very small part of Facebook’s advertising base. But Apple wants to protect people and this just can’t happen, Facebook must survive, operate unfettered.

And then there’s the case of Twitter. Wall Street is down on the company because it’s just not growing fast enough, as if that was the only criterion, the only measure of success. And then the naysayers say Twitter is not America…then why was Trump on it? During the window between the inauguration and the impeachment trial did you notice Trump was nearly completely out of the news? And you wonder why…he couldn’t spew his falsehoods on social media!

Today they shut down Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for spewing vaccine falsehoods, debunked evidence, on Instagram. But we’re supposed to respect this idiot, because he’s a Kennedy! Like Bush got elected president because his father was president.

America is truly rotten at the core. No one is interested in doing the right thing, sacrificing their own self-interest, putting themselves at the end of the line. And when senators do this in plain sight, with the cameras on, the fabric of America frays. And rust never sleeps. We can’t teach evolution in schools, it’s like we’re pulling the hood over America, to keep it in darkness, as it isolates itself from the rest of the world believing it can go it alone when the truth today is NO country in the world can go it alone.

One could hope that Republican senators will wake up and do the right thing, but hope is now hopeless. The game is rigged before you start. Yes, the evidence the House managers are giving is irrelevant. The Republicans don’t want their faces shown on camera, a slew are not even paying attention, their minds were made up before the trial even began!

Expand upon that. You were arrested and when you get to court you realize it doesn’t matter what the evidence is, you’re gonna get convicted.

And then there are people like Springsteen, who gets drunk and drives. So let me get this straight, everybody in these United States is perfect and if you commit a faux pas you’re history forever? You can’t learn from your mistakes? As for Morgan Wallen…he’s in the penalty box, we’ve got to let him out at some point, otherwise it just demonstrates cancel culture knows no limits, no boundaries, never mind none of the focus on Wallen’s behavior was why the country star was out partying with his boys during Covid anyway! No, that’s not sexy, but that’s bad behavior!

But science is no longer facts. The virus leaked out of a lab in Wuhan. Masks and vaccines don’t work. Just go on about your business, you’re safe. And if it turns out you weren’t, well, too bad. Scientists say if everybody in America wore a mask the virus would be gone in two weeks. But no, we’d rather argue about freedom for two years.

But if your parents defended you against the principal…

If your daddy got you your job…

If your bros covered up your bad behavior…

WHY SHOULD THINGS CHANGE NOW!

Almost fifty years ago, John Dean claimed there was a cancer on the presidency. Nixon resigned? BECAUSE REPUBLICAN SENATORS TOLD HIM TO!

But now everything is topsy-turvy. And we’ve let things fester and slide for so long that the cancer has spread throughout our nation. But just like climate change, it cannot be addressed. Government is a team sport, there is no such thing as the common good.

Actions have consequences.

Don’t parrot legal mumbo-jumbo. If Trump gets off, our nation will be the worse for it. Truth and justice will be gone, the American Way completely eviscerated. BUT WE’VE GOT OUR FREEDOM!

PERSEVERANCE

It takes longer than ever to make it. If you are not in it for the long haul, don’t even start.

YOU CAN PLAY BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN WIN

The barrier to entry has never been lower, but the odds of getting noticed and growing have also never been lower.

YOU WILL NOT BECOME A HOUSEHOLD NAME

No one is anymore. Unless maybe you’re president or a tech billionaire. You may want to increase the size of your audience, but there’s absolutely no way you can reach everybody.

HATE

Once you have some success, you will have people taking you down online. Be prepared.

STUNTS MAY NOT GET YOU NOTICED

Used to be you could make a flashy video, perform some outrageous stunt and you’d get publicity and you’d be on your way. Today, the internet is an ongoing flashy stunt machine, can you say TikTok? Best to focus on the underlying art as opposed to the marketing.

MARKETING

You can have a campaign with a lot of tear sheets that ultimately reaches no one, has no effect.

NEWSPAPERS

Are worthless unless you’re appealing to an older demo, the younger, more active audience just doesn’t read them. Local newspapers have never meant less. Subscription levels keep decreasing. So you can send the article to your mother but you won’t be any further down the road to success.

PRACTICE

In an era where everybody can do it, those who can do it well have a leg up. Furthermore, in an era where everything is easy, where the computer tools help you, being able to perform at a high level in the offline world is notable. You can fake it online, you can’t fake it off, at least not without tech. In an era dominated more and more by machines, it’s the human that translates. If you learn how to play an instrument, or paint, or do anything which is not easy, eventually people notice. They’re awed because there are so few skilled at your level.

INSPIRATION NOT SKILLS

Inspiration is the basis of great art. Period. Without it you have something inert that does not affect people. Inspiration usually happens in a flash. The key is to act on it immediately, and don’t let in your naysayer voice or outsider criticism. When you’re inspired, you capture the zeitgeist. It’s all about catching lightning in a bottle. You know it when you do it, but it happens very infrequently, usually when you’re not even working.

LIVE A LIFE

Otherwise you have nothing to build upon, nothing to say.

THERE ARE NO RULES IN ART

You can get up at noon, you can work five minutes a day… Artists channel the world so the rest of the public can understand it.

YOUR GOAL IS TO BE SELF-SUSTAINING

There are no longer any markers that definitively say you’ve made it. No record deal, no TV appearance. You have to learn to be happy with the success you have, not the success you dreamed about.

ART FIRST MONEY SECOND

People can tell. They know what you’re all about, what you’re in it for. There’s commerce and then there’s art. There can be money in commerce, but don’t confuse it with art. Art touches people, art lasts.

WHAT’S HATED TODAY IS LOVED TOMORROW AND VICE VERSA

You have to adhere to your own inner tuning fork. If you compromise and do it their way chances are your work will lose its essence. Sure, the Beatles were loved by critics in their era. But not Led Zeppelin. Which never changed its sound to satiate critics.

CRITICS

It used to be a small club based on access and free records and tickets. Today everybody has access and everybody’s a critic, so criticism means less than ever before. Furthermore, don’t pay attention to any criticism made by someone who doesn’t love your work or genre to begin with. Who cares what a critic of Renaissance art has to say about abstract expressionism.

YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE ON YOUR TEAM

Culture has changed. Nobody’s in it for the long haul, everybody’s in it for themselves, everybody wants money and they want it now. As a result, you’ll get a plethora of bad advice, mostly in the vein of do this now because everybody else is.

CONSTANT CREATION

You must be creating work on a regular basis, so that fans can keep up with you constantly, otherwise you’re forgotten. Don’t shoot the messenger, this is the reality. If you’re waiting years to debut your work you’re laboring under the fiction that people are eagerly waiting for its delivery. There are a few fans who feel this way, most people have moved on, because there are so many options/choices in the marketplace. You have to be really special for people to be waiting for your pearls of wisdom with bated breath. And if you believe mainstream publicity can bridge this gap you’re wrong. Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities,” his first and most successful fiction work, was serialized in “Rolling Stone” before publication.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A CHOICE

The goal is to deliver a large enough audience that their chatter sustains your career. If part of your art is social media, interacting with your fans, go for it. But if it is not, don’t. But, at the beginning, you’re going to have to play this game, you’re going to have to participate.

INVITE DON’T FORCE

No one wants anything jammed down their throat today, everybody is overscheduled, it’s a privilege to be able to gain someone’s attention and time. Don’t hammer, don’t chide, don’t say you’ve delivered the best thing since sliced bread, be warm and open, invite, so that tastemakers will be interested in checking you out and spreading the word.

GROWTH

If it’s not happening, you’re doing it wrong. Or you’ve been too afraid to play, to allow your work/career to grow. You’ve got to post your work online. It doesn’t matter if it’s imperfect, if it’s unfinished, just by participating you will improve and this will make more people stick to you.

VIRALITY

Happens very very slowly. Almost under the radar. Once or twice a year something blows up virally nearly instantly. And most of these have a short shelf life.

GENRE

There are no channels. Do whatever you want. Sure, some types of creative work have a larger built-in audience than others, but now, more than any time in history, the world is open to anything, you can grow an audience for anything. Don’t shave off the edges to grow your career, it’s the edges that hook people.

YESTERDAY’S HEROES

Can succeed on the nostalgia circuit, but barely have a leg up online. Your name gets you entry, but the work decides whether you get traction or not.

BITCHING AGAINST THE SYSTEM

Is positively fruitless. It’s a waste of energy. Furthermore, there’s this canard that there is an impenetrable system that is working against you. How can this be where anybody can post for free on YouTube or SoundCloud and for a de minimis price on streaming services like Spotify and Apple? You have a bigger chance than ever before. The system is working for you!

DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE SCUTTLEBUTT/NEWS

Successful people rarely bitch. It’s only the unsuccessful, used to be successful and wannabes who spend their time complaining endlessly, it’s easier than creating great work. Furthermore, most people writing in major news outlets have no real understanding of how the system truly functions, nor does the government. And the more people bitch, the more systems operators retreat from view, because there just can’t be a rational discussion based on facts. Mob mentality rules today, as well as misinformation, don’t be a victim of falsehood.

THE INTERNET IS THE MEANS

You create the end. Computers and the internet are your toolkit, mix and match and innovate. Some of the greatest products of all time were mistakes. And some of the greatest sounds in music history were created by people playing with equipment in the studio, oftentimes contrary to instructions by the manufacturers and the poohbahs.

YOU’VE GOT TO LOVE IT

It’s a long hard road and success might be long in coming, or it might not come at all. Anybody who’s a legend contemplated giving up at one point.

MEANS TO AN END

If your art is a way to get rich, to become a brand, sell clothing and tchotchkes…that paradigm does exist, but it’s very different from creating art. Creating art takes all your time. You’ve got to experience, you’ve got to distill, you’ve got to polish…it’s a full time job. Today money is paramount, most respected, but never confuse that with art. In a world where everybody can’t get rich, in a world where no one is as big as they think they are, in a world where the public is searching for soul fulfillment…art is king.