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“Goats Head Soup” was a disappointment. The opening cut, “Dancing With Mr. D,” was not on the level of other album openers. That’s where the Stones shined, can you say “Gimmie Shelter,” can you say “Brown Sugar”? Then again, “Rocks Off,” which kicked “Exile” off, was not superior, then again it was better than “Dancing With Mr. D” and it was followed up by the better “Rip This Joint,” the ethereal “Shake Your Hips,” the vastly underrated (and my favorite on the LP!) “Casino Boogie” and the album side finished with “Tumbling Dice,” whereas “Dancing With Mr. D” was followed by the nearly lame, sans energy, “100 Years Ago” and then the dirgey “Coming Down Again,” which sounded like everybody involved was on drugs, which they probably were, but the first side ends with the album’s two keepers, my personal favorite, “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and the classic “Angie.” “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” began with Billy Preston’s exquisite clavinet and then the way Mick sang “The PO-lice in New York City”…you were instantly closed. As for “Angie,” can we say “Sweet Black Angel” on “Exile” was better? “Sweet Black Angel” was made by a band that didn’t care what you thought, you could only peer in on their world, you wanted to get closer, whereas “Angie” was obvious.

As for the second side of “Goats Head Soup,” it was Johnny Winter who made “Silver Train” famous, not that he improved on it that much, the original just sounds thin, there’s no punch. But “Hide Your Love” is the second side surprise, once again Mick’s vocal enchants and intrigues, the way the words are thrown off, but the secret sauce is the piano, played by Jagger himself. No one ever talks about “Hide Your Love,” it’s one of only two cuts on the album that doesn’t get its own Wikipedia page, it never got played on the radio, but if you were a dedicated fan it got under your skin and you never burned out on it. And the next track, “Winter,” was also a winner, as was track number nine, “Can You Hear The Music,” with its hypnotic groove, albeit also druggy and low key, akin to “The Rain Song” on “Houses of the Holy.” These three cuts in the middle of “Goats Head Soup” are the heart of the LP, they’re what sustains when the rest falls away, when you tire of the rest you still want to hear these three.

But not the closer, “Star Star.”

This was when the Stones were the World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band, the ’72 tour proved it, they lived up to the hype, they were at the apotheosis and as a result of their royal status they got endless reams of hype, which the band was good at anyway, and we could not stop hearing about this song “Star Star,” only then it was referred to as “Starf*cker,” back when to swear on a record was still taboo. So, we anticipated the cut, promoted for nearly a year, even though it had to be renamed “Star Star,” and the result was…flat. A lame Chuck Berry-influenced cut that wouldn’t make anybody erect, wouldn’t get the juices flowing in the most eager of groupies. There was no bottom, no punch, as for the chorus…yes, they used the f-word, but that was about the only appeal of the track, it wasn’t that it was bad, but it was a throwaway, we waited for THIS?

Now the Starmaking Machinery cannot let a dollar fall by the wayside if it’s there to be had, especially if you’re already a star, therefore we get unnecessary product that actually impinges on the reputation of the original. Not only is the remix of “Goats Head Soup” superfluous, it’s offensive. Instead of being cohesive, certain instruments stick out that were just part of the fabric of the original. God, the music business would rewrite the Ten Commandments if it thought it would move a few more Bibles. So, who is excited about this project? NOBODY! Not one single track of the remix has a million streams on Spotify, hell, five of the ten cuts don’t even reach 100,000. And except for the three “new” cuts on CD2, nothing on the rest of this three CD set even breaks six figures. Then again, this is not about streaming, but sales. To collectors. God knows why. They didn’t play it to begin with, like too many Stones albums “Goats Head Soup”‘s sales faded nearly immediately.

But what is funny is the last CD is live, a previously much-desired recording known as “The Brussels Affair.” Funny how when something is in plain sight it’s not so desirable. But this is what interested me.

Unlike today’s acts, the Stones were and still are rough. Today’s acts are seamless, at least those that play the arenas, they believe the audience expects it. They don’t wait to warm up during the set, they deliver from the first note, but not the Stones. Having said that, I must say in this case “Brown Sugar,” the concert’s opener, is surprisingly good. But “Gimme Shelter” contains little of the ethereality of the original and never quite gels, but thank god it’s not the dud of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” later in the set, which starts off slow and…never gets going.

So, I’m going track by track, trying to get a sense of the performance, the show. “Happy”…it’s full of energy but it’s ragged, Keith’s vocal is shouted and substandard and if you want to give the band the benefit of the doubt you can nod your head and compliment it, but in a world where there’s an unlimited amount of music available at your fingertips if you can make it through once that’s enough.

And I’ve seen the Stones kill “Tumbling Dice.” On the ’75 tour at the Forum. They were rough and then they finally locked on, I’ll never forget it, they found a groove that’s not even extant in the original. But they didn’t reach that peak here.

And then came “Star Star.”

Now this is the last number I’m excited about hearing, it’s hard to polish a turd, but…immediately what blasts out of the speakers is a fluid guitar sound that is straight out of the Chuck Berry canon, BUT BETTER! My attention is caught immediately, I’m just waiting for this sound to come back. But really it doesn’t reappear in force until the second verse.

And it’s clear, this is the secret sauce, this is MICK TAYLOR!

You can make a good case that “Beggars Banquet” is the best Stones album, it’s certainly the one that takes the most risks. Despite the famous openers on both sides, the high energy “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Street Fighting Man,” it’s the quiet acoustic cuts that seal the deal on this masterpiece.

And for all the people who laud “Sticky Fingers,” my favorite is “Let It Bleed.”

Neither of these albums featured Mick Taylor, but when the axeman is firmly ensconced in the band they become the biggest in the land, the biggest on the PLANET!

Then comes “Exile.” Then comes “Goats Head Soup” and “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll” and Mick Taylor quits. And the band is never the same. Sure, “Some Girls” is a comeback after too much middling material, and there’s an occasional great track, like “Memory Motel” off “Black and Blue,” but the band never reaches the height of the Mick Taylor years ever again. They let him come out on the 50th Anniversary tour to play a few numbers and he killed and he was the highlight but now when you go to see the Stones it’s about getting a notch in your belt more than the actual music, who’s performing on stage.

But it wasn’t only Mick Taylor, it was Jimmy Miller, who could somehow channel the Glimmer Twins, get them to focus, as soon as he worked with the band they cut “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” an unexpected summer smash of ’68 and he worked with the act through “Goats Head Soup.”

In other words, it’s the little things that make the difference. This is why you don’t mess with masterpieces, why you don’t try to improve art. This happens all the time in the restoration of paintings. In the name of getting rid of grit and grime the end result has none of the feel of the original. Do no damage. And the same deal with remixes. Excellence is funny. Once it’s perfect, you don’t want to touch it. And anybody who creates and doesn’t know when to stop…is not creating A+ material. A+ material is channeled from the gods, you’re in a trance and when you wake up you realize if you touch what you’ve created again you ruin it.

Now it’s not like this live performance of “Star Star” is the best thing you’ve ever heard. Actually, if you just cherry-pick it you probably won’t be impressed. You need to start at the top, with “Brown Sugar,” and then “Star Star” will jump out at you, it’s a revelation. It’s live performance. When suddenly the outfit fires on all cylinders, transcends, when the whole building levitates, when you leave the rest of the world behind, when the only thing that counts is RIGHT NOW, as the mellifluous sound permeates your skin and gets you jumping.

Now if you were at this show and you were a groupie, if you had access, you’d be eager to spread your legs for some of this juice.

Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist, don’t bring out the politically correct police. I just point you to this article:

“The Real Penny Lane Has a Few Things Left to Say About ‘Almost Famous'”: bit.ly/2Ro4qlo

The groupies were not “Band-Aids.” And they knew what they were getting into and they were PROUD OF IT! I know, that might not be the way you want it to be, but Pamela Des Barres has made a living on her groupie exploits, she’s more famous than some of the musicians she bedded.

Access. That’s what we wanted back then. There was no Instagram, no social media. You never got to meet anybody, never mind get backstage.

Now the lyrics of “Star Star” make sense:

genius.com/The-rolling-stones-star-star-lyrics

I’m not gonna recite them here, they’re too dangerous, kind of like “Stray Cat Blues,” Mick Jagger is fully aware of what he’s singing. Then again, this song is personal even though it was broadcast to millions. Who exactly was this woman, what exactly happened? And Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen?

And rock and roll was always about sex, and the truth is so many of the legends got into the business for this very reason, to get laid, it’s the only way women would find them attractive, if they got up on stage and played music.

Not that you had to be at the venue to get moist. Maybe a dark basement. Maybe a living room after dark with all the lights turned out. Maybe even a high school dance. If the right song was played, if the performance was hot enough you’d be surprised what could transpire. Never forget, music INSPIRES!

And then “Dancing With Mr. D” swings live more than it does on wax, the band is in a groove.

And then Mick rips off “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” his vocal puts the track over the top all by itself, the backup vocals are kind of lame, but when Mick comes back in, whew!

And “Angie” is more resonant live than on “Goats Head Soup.” It comes alive, full-bodied, it’s human.

And just when you think the band is cruising on the edge…

It doesn’t.

But that moment in “Star Star,” it’s such a surprise.

And if you go to see the Stones today it’s the same thing. They play stadiums but at heart they’re a bar band, just one with much better songs. They need a few beers, some crowd energy, to find their groove, to lock it all in, and then they turn into the World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band.

It takes cojones to risk it, to play without a net, without hard drives underpinning the whole performance. It’s about capturing lightning in a bottle, that’s what the great records contain, lightning, as do the great live performances. And the truth is this performance of “Star Star” is about as good a live cut from the Stones released repertoire as it gets, there have been too many of these double albums that were not memorable, many only required one play, I know, because I bought them. That’s the magic of Mick Taylor…the rest of the band had to keep up with him! Yes, a star lifts the performance of the rest of the group, of the team. You’re inspired to be better. Sure, Mick and Keith wrote almost all of the material, and Keith has created some cool sounds, but Mick Taylor has been almost completely forgotten. Then again, he couldn’t make it without the rest of the group. But it’s hard to be the new guy, no matter how long you’ve been involved, just ask Jason Newsted, you’re nearly a hired player, you constantly get crapped on, you’re not allowed into the inner sanctum populated by those who grew up together, who sweated together on the road to success.

So what we’ve got here is a forty seven year old relic.

Don’t forget, back then you had to go to the gig to see the band. You were either there or you were not. And every night the performance evaporated when the lights came back on. You weren’t sure what you’d get, something subpar or the show of your life.

And it was the rock and rollers who got the girls. No one knew who ran the bank, there was no tech, there were no billionaires.

We gave it all up for rock and roll, not only the girls.

And if you listen to this performance of “Star Star,” you’ll know why.

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This is the best song off Kenny Chesney’s latest LP, “Here and Now.”

Unfortunately by writing that sentence I’ve immediately turned off many of my readers. They don’t care about country music, they don’t care about Kenny Chesney, at best they’ve got time for the hits, but album tracks, no way. Or else they’re the people who say their album tracks are better, the ones who e-mail you their faves, many of whom don’t even bother to listen to what I’ve written about. But in this case they should.

I can’t say that you don’t hurt me anymore

Vulnerability. Lasts much longer than the relationship. No matter whether you were the leaver or the left, when you hear what the other person is doing…it gets to you, under the skin, in a creepy way, you can talk to others about it, but they can never get it, what happened happened between the two of you.

Not that you don’t try to buck yourself up, feel good about yourself, try to mentally move on, but that’s impossible, despite the celebrities who jump from relationship to relationship, those are not deep, those are not bonds, and the truth is you have to mourn what you had before you can move on.

I haven’t changed enough to make me think I’m what you’re looking for

It’s hard to listen to a lot of country hits. The pandering makes you wince. To family, religion, a two-dimensional lifestyle that doesn’t really exist. Or else there’s the mindless hedonism. All this is the opposite of country music’s heritage, which was based on authenticity, it was the pop hits that were based on sheen, whereas country went straight for the heart.

And I can’t be the fix for what you’re going through
Maybe I’m not the same me, but you’re still the same you

He’s telling himself she’s troubled, he can’t fix her, but it’s taking all his strength not to try once again. He’s telling her he’s moved on, but in a way that’s protective.

So you don’t get to know what I do with my time

You stopped calling them. You’ve convinced yourself they’ve stopped calling you. But then the phone rings, it always happens, and they want to know how you’re doing, and you want to tell them, you’re dying to tell them, but you know that by revealing yourself you’ll just hurt that much more thereafter.

You don’t get to say you ain’t doing all right

That comes next, after you’ve told a bit of your story, they unload, they tell you they miss you, they need a hit of what only you offer.

You don’t get to come around saying that you want me now
You don’t get to show up with that look in your eyes
You don’t get to think you can take it all back
You don’t get to miss that you said we never had

They have power over you. After all, they were the one who left you, who broke it off, and with the right tonality and the right look they can seduce you, do you have the strength to say no? And if you’ve moved on enough, you zing them, play their words back to them, they explained why you were not what they were looking for, but now in a pinch they want to lean on your shoulder, even maybe get back together, but you don’t want them to settle, nobody wants to settle, you always want to be number one.

Did you come back ’cause I didn’t break enough
Did you hear that I was happy, you just had to mess it up

They get to move on, start a new life, make new friends, but they expect you to stay where you were, not changing, and they can come back and plug themselves into your life like two jigsaw puzzle pieces fitting together.

Or is it just some phase you’re always going through
To want what you can’t have and leave it when you do

If they can’t be happy, you can’t. And if you take them back suddenly they want out again, you’re never enough.

You don’t get to kiss me and make it all better
You don’t get to lay it all out in a letter

The letters are the worst, the opposite of ghosting, they’re testifying in permanent ink, they’re trying to convince you you’re necessary after saying just the opposite.

Blame it on something, break me like it’s nothing
Just to love me back together

Excuses. Those are the worst. Where they try to convince you it was them and you should just forgive their behavior.

And you don’t get to show up with your hair hanging down
Move a little closer like you’re moving right now

Physicality. We’re all just animals under the skin. We crave the human touch. And it’s familiarity we’re drawn to. It’s hard to hold back from the closeness, it’s a magnetic effect, drawing you two together, furthermore she knows what turns you on, she’s got her wiles, she knows how to close you. Turning on her sexy, yet meaningful vibe, sidling right up to you and then…
Disappearing once again.

I don’t have to understand, you don’t get to give a damn

That privileged place, being your number one, the shoulder you cry on, the one who listens to your foibles, your wants and desires, that’s what you long for but that’s not what you can let her be, for then it’s all over, you’re back where you started, you have to be strong, but can you be?

After all you put me through, no, you don’t get to
You don’t, you don’t, you don’t, you don’t get to

He’s trying to convince himself. By remembering the hell she put him through. Less the turmoil of the relationship than the pulling away and the ultimate break. If she were really to be trusted, if she really loved him, she wouldn’t have done this. And there are certain behaviors you should not be able to get over, never.

“You Don’t Get To” is like a country song of yore in its reverse lyrics. You have to listen closely to understand what is going on. Furthermore, the protagonist evidences the opposite of today’s public persona, whether it be a celebrity or just a regular person on social media. We’re always putting forth our best selves, we’re shaving off our edges, our vulnerabilities, it’s like we’re automatons, shiny, happy and beautiful all day long, even though that’s not the truth, it’s not the nature of the human condition, life contains ups and downs, you can try to deny this, but you’re just lying to yourself. The same day you’re elated can be the same day you’re depressed. You can’t necessarily understand, and you look to your significant other for understanding, but too often there’s no one there, and you think back to who used to be, desiring their return but knowing it just can’t happen. Oh, it might happen but it won’t solve your problems, you’ll feel good for a bit, but then you’ll be back in the same rut with the same issues, why is it when you connect with an old love you quickly remember why it didn’t work?

“You Don’t Get To” is the tenth of twelve tracks on “Here and Now.” It’s buried deep, only for dedicated listeners. But if you take the time, if you’re a fan, like me, it jumps out at you. Funny, it’s been the same forever. You get an album, play it, and then one track jumps out, at least when we used to have time to listen to albums, never mind over and over, when music was scarce and you went deep into the well instead of partaking at the endless smorgasbord of available music.

I like to nod my head, I even like to bang my head, I like to listen mindlessly, but the tracks that mean the most to me contain an element of truth, an element of humanity, that not only can I identify with but reaches into my soul and resonates, like the singer knows something about me nobody else does, like the singer is on my wavelength, and if I just continue to listen I can make it to the next rock as I hop down the river of life.

That’s “You Don’t Get To.”

The Social Dilemma | Official Trailer | Netflix

Distribution is king. Always was and always will be. You want your work on the most available platform, the one with the most eyeballs. And presently that is Netflix.

The purveyance of art used to be based on scarcity. There was only so much, so you could dictate the terms upon which it was consumed. But the internet busted that model and the only creative art form that has adjusted is music. Streaming outlets make everything available, removing the filter from the pipe. If you pay, you can listen. And, if you’re willing to listen to ads, you can listen without paying. So, it becomes a matter of getting known, getting attention, amidst the mass of product. Scarcity is history and everyone is affected. The barrier to entry is very low, but it turns out that people all don’t want to listen to the same thing. The big may be bigger than the small, but they are nowhere near as big as they used to be.

Same situation in television. Every show on television would have been canceled in the old three network world. You’d see ratings in the twenties and thirties. There was a limited number of shows, and there was a huge audience hungry for shows. But then they got choice, assuming they were willing to pay, cable expanded the channel universe and if you wanted to pay even more you could get premium cable channels, like HBO and Showtime. Actually, deals used to be rampant, as was outright stealing, but then the cable systems all went digital, increasing the number of channels, and discounts went by the wayside and stealing was stanched. And the monopoly distributors, the cable systems, were raking in dough. Their only real competitor was satellite, but now satellite is tanking, because that’s not what people want. People want a premium pipe and then they want to layer on their own services, like Netflix and Amazon and… As for the cable providers, they’re about to get a competitor in 5G, but the rollout has been slow and different types of 5G have different speeds and the fastest has the smallest reach and problems penetrating obstacles, but 5G causes Covid anyway, right? Or maybe it’s cancer. Or both. Just hold on, give it some time, the ills of 5G, however false and fatuous, are about to be amplified as the service grows.

That’s what we’re talking about here, the spread of disinformation. The amplification of falsehoods. The lack of facts we can all agree on. That’s what “The Social Dilemma” is ultimately about, and more.

“The Social Dilemma” is the most e-mailed creative project in my inbox this week. Not a record. The problem with records is they’re all niche, none appeal to all, whereas the tech companies have monopolies and we all use their services and we’re interested in their effects, since we’re addicted.

So, if you follow the movie business, and you probably don’t, you’re aware that all the studios are holding back their premium product as a result of the relative failure of the release of “Tenet.” Seems people are not ready to leave their houses and congregate, at least not in suitable numbers. But the movie business signed its death warrant years ago, studios decided to make fewer and fewer films while being sure they all had worldwide appeal and the pictures lost their edge, and edge is what hooks you, what makes something successful. And the truth is edge inherently contains polarization, there will be people who don’t want anything to do with the project, who excoriate it. So, the movie studios have lost their hold on the public consciousness just like the television networks, turns out making everything for all people is a bad business model in a world where there is not scarcity.

Theoretically network television is free, assuming you want to buy an antenna, don’t live in a valley or behind a mountain and are not that far from a transmitter. Which is why we got cable to begin with, to eliminate those problems. But it turns out many can live without network TV. Turns out many people can live without cable TV. Yes, cable. Where they go in search of the lowest common denominator and when they find it they run it into the ground. But streaming has a different model. The goal is to get you to keep paying every month, therefore the appeal of a specific show is irrelevant, as long as the smorgasbord of product keeps you drinking from the trough.

So, on Netflix, you have a plethora of product, little of it completely bland, some downright serious, and everybody in America has an account or access thereto. Netflix’s reach far outstrips that of Disney+ and Apple+ and HBO Max, its only real competitor is Amazon Prime, with its slow software, lousy interface and lack of hit product. Hit product is what drives subscription, it gives you notice, no different from a hit single selling an album. The hit doesn’t have to be compromised, it doesn’t have to fit a formula, it just has to appeal to the spreaders of information, that get a conflagration of word of mouth started.

Therefore, the biggest thing in visual entertainment last week was “Away,” Netflix’s space oddity featuring Hilary Swank. People had access, and word of mouth spread. And despite low RottenTomatoes ratings, the series rose to number one on Netflix, proving that some shows are review-proof, and that being featured on the Netflix homepage is like the endcaps in the record stores of yore, they promote and sell product.

So, this week’s story is “The Social Dilemma.” It will have much more impact than Bob Woodward’s book, much more impact than any music released on Friday, because it’s on the biggest platform and it appeals to all people and you can view it on demand. Yes, unless your product is available on demand, you’re toast.

So, is “The Social Dilemma” a 10? A triumph? Actually, no, it’s imperfect. But that does not mean it’s not must-see TV. As a matter of fact, it’s the one show everybody needs to see, which is why my inbox is filling up, why word of mouth is spreading, because the film speaks to all of us, our hopes and dreams and our fear and despondence.

The social networks. They’re the enemy. Right? But we all use them incessantly. We just need to get Zuckerberg to get in line, just like people think we need to get Daniel Ek in line, and everything will be hunky-dory.

You see the anti-streaming people live in a bubble. Where their false beliefs are amplified. And if you pierce that bubble, even with truth, you’re excoriated. Same deal in politics. Social media has caused polarization, that’s the game the algorithms play, to keep you addicted they serve you more of what you’re already interested in. Which is why you can see people on TV spouting inanities like Antifa is responsible for the wildfires, never mind QAnon.

So what we’ve got in “The Social Dilemma” is a bunch of talking heads, all with experience in the social media world, many at the true heart of it, having worked for Facebook and Google and Twitter and…telling us about the evils of the product. But if you think you know it all, you’ll still learn more. Like the algorithms are out of control, that even Zuckerberg does not have power over them. Yes, we’ve been hearing about AI forever, and if you read the papers you believe that its implementation is on the horizon. But that is wrong, it’s already here. The computer, via machine learning, decides what you see. The programmers input some information, and then the final decisions are made by computers crunching the data.

Not that the programmers do not have power.

The platforms’ goal is to keep you addicted, spending time on the services.

Now there’s a fictitious scenario playing alongside the talking heads, of a family and how it is intertwined with social media. And one of the interesting things is nobody knows how much they’re actually using these services. They think it’s an hour a day when it’s two and a half. And the turning point was around 2010, when everybody got a smartphone and the social media services were up and running and childhood suicide rates went up.

I’m not anti-screen time. I know, that puts me in the minority, but the fact that we can all connect via our devices eliminates a ton of loneliness, imagine if we had no internet today? Whew, how would you cope in the Covid era. But the truth is, the nature of growing up is many feel insecure and inferior and bullies are rampant and when you’re publicly shamed, when someone reaches out and zings you, maybe even someone you don’t even know, it hurts. So, you end up putting forth a false image, which evidences happiness 24/7, which has no connection with the real you, assuming you haven’t offed yourself already.

So, these platforms are not in control of the content. You provide the content. And based on what sticks, they feed you more of it. And everybody, I mean EVERYBODY gets a different feed, even different Google results, and you wonder why our country has devolved into tribalism.

And it’s only gonna get worse. And when you watch “The Social Dilemma” you’ll realize how much at fault these platforms are. The issue is not only foreign interference, that’s just the cherry on top. Meanwhile, as Roger McNamee says in the movie, the Russians are using Facebook properly, what it’s designed for, they’re not breaking any rules.

Think about that.

So, we’ve got Pizzagate and the aforementioned QAnon, laughable on the surface. But in your feed someone you respect amplifies them and suddenly you’re in a group of people that all feel the same way and you become a believer.

Let me tell you a story. I had to go to the eye doctor, I lost a contact lens. And the doctor told me about a couple of patients that he had seen that morning. One patient lived in a $22 million dollar house and was ranting and raving that Covid is a hoax. Furthermore, her husband is a physician. But even worse was the cardiologist, who lives nearby, who came in saying she hadn’t been able to sleep for seven days. She’d watched the Republican convention and she was so upset…if Biden is elected they’re gonna come and take her house! Yes, if the Democrats win she’s not gonna have a place to live. The eye doctor had a great comeback, he said he hadn’t discussed it with his wife, but he was sure she’d agree…that if the cardiologist’s house was taken, she could have theirs. And the cardiologist didn’t laugh, she said REALLY?

We could sit down and teach these people the facts, but they won’t believe them. It’s not only Trump who has eroded credibility, but even more these social networks, where falsehoods are spread as I type this, and they grow, and the truth is those in power don’t even have the ability to stop this!

So, social networks are much more of a problem than you’ve been led to believe. They are contributing to the division of our country. Even more than Trump and Fox News. It’s online, on these services, that the stories are amplified and twisted and spread to millions, who never hear another side. And, those in charge don’t have the power to stop this, and they don’t even want to, because it would mess with their business model of slicing the data ever more thinly to sell it to advertisers.

And the social networks just don’t sit back passively, they actively poke you to stay engaged, to not sign off, because then they can learn more about you and sell you more ads. Yes, they’ve built a profile on your wants and desires that far exceeds your worst nightmare, and they’re selling this data. And when Apple said they were going to give iOS users the option to opt out, to not be tracked by Facebook, et al, Mark Zuckerberg had a fit! It was all over the business press, to the point that Apple is delaying this feature. Yes, the social networks’ business model is selling your data, and if they don’t have it, they’re done.

Once again, you probably believe you know all this, all the ills of social media. Trust me, you don’t. “The Social Dilemma” will only build in the number of viewers and its impact. And don’t expect the government to address the problem, it is always multiple steps behind and those in office don’t understand the ins-and-outs, never mind being paid by their donors to overlook problems.

This goes far beyond this year’s election, this speaks to democracy!

But it gets even worse. One of the talking heads, Tristan Harris, worked at Google and was so upset at this hoodwinking of the company’s users that he spent hours after work writing a manifesto. And when he finally gave it to friends at the company it spread like wildfire, making it all the way to Larry Page’s desk. And what happened? NOTHING! That’s what people don’t understand about modern society. You think if you’re on TV your act will break, you’ll get a big leg up. No, NOTHING does that anymore, NOTHING! First and foremost you don’t reach enough eyeballs, and those who are aware are inundated with a tsunami of product every day, every hour! So, you can drop your album and it can be done in a day, over, never to gain any legs. Which is why Daniel Ek says to release a steady stream of product, to give you a better chance of gaining an audience and keeping listeners engaged and what do music makers say? I DON’T MAKE MUSIC THAT WAY! I MAKE ALBUMS! They’re pissing in the wind. The paradigm has shifted, and it’s got little to do with Daniel Ek, he’s just speaking the truth. But, of course, you can’t hear it, because you’re in your silo, your friends on Facebook and Instagram are putting logs on the fire, amping you up, yes, we must defend the album, streaming is the devil, we can stop the wheels of progress, to the point where you don’t even want to hear an explanation of what is going on.

But “The Social Dilemma” gives you an explanation of what is going on with social media. Watch it.

“1% of artists account for 90% of streams says Alpha Data”

It’s a racket I tell you. Streaming has ruined the music business. I’m sitting here busting my ass recording and releasing and I’m not making any money. The system is broken. I’ve been screwed. Spotify is the devil.

But the devil is in the details. That 1%? It represents 16,000 artists!

SIXTEEN THOUSAND ARTISTS?

Last I checked, people could only listen to one track at one time. And sure, they’ve made more people since the seventies, but not that many.

In the seventies there was a glut of product, it was the talk of the business, how there were now FIVE THOUSAND ALBUMS A YEAR! Up from 2500-3000. How was anybody supposed to get noticed?

In other words, sixteen thousand artists making money every year sounds pretty good. The cycle in the seventies was one album per year…there weren’t even 16,000 artists making music every year, at least not recorded and distributed to record outlets.

As for the rest of the acts…

The top 160,000 artists got 99.4% of the streams.

TERRIBLE! Only 160,000 artists a year are making money via streaming. We’ve got to get the government involved, this is a travesty!

If 160,000 artists are making money via streams, that’s a MIRACLE! As for the other 99.4% putting music on the site, the vast majority, each one is a person with a voice and social media access and they can’t stop bitching, obfuscating the reality.

Furthermore, the RIAA just released their mid-year statistics:

MID-YEAR 2020 RIAA REVENUE STATISTICS

Despite the pandemic, despite the devastation of business in America, recorded music revenues WENT UP! By 5.6%. And, AND, streaming now represents 85% of the market as opposed to 80% a year earlier. In other words, STREAMING IS SAVING THE MUSIC BUSINESS!

But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.

As for the vaunted vinyl revival? Of the $5.7 billion in sales at the retail level, $376 million was attributable to vinyl. Sure, there was a negative impact from the pandemic, but do you get the relative proportions? Sell that vinyl as a souvenir, it’s a de minimis part of overall revenue, especially when you consider streaming is all net and vinyl has fixed costs in shipping and manufacturing, never mind discounts at retail.

In other words, the future’s so bright you’ve gotta wear shades. More people are making more money from recorded music than ever before and revenues are going up. LET’S PARTY!

But it’s all doom and gloom in the press. Artists are starving. Daniel Ek ruined the business, and by telling the truth, that some acts are making beaucoup bucks on streaming, and that that number is growing, he ended up excoriated by everybody not rich or rich in the past to the point where I doubt he’ll be making any pronouncements in the future.

I know, I know, it doesn’t FEEL right!

But feel has got nothing to do with facts. Hell, look at politics.

So, you can make music and distribute it cheaply as a result of new tools. You can record on your laptop and distribute via streaming services at almost no cost, whereas in the past recording was expensive and without a deep pocket, i.e. a record company, you were shut out. BUT WHY IS THERE AN EXPECTATION YOU SHOULD MAKE A LIVING!

This drives me crazy. All the ink about starving artists. They never factor in demand. If you start a restaurant and no one comes it’s not the public’s fault, IT’S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT! You tweak, you do everything you can to stay in business but chances are you fail. Kind of like the record store owners of yore. The internet ruined their businesses. They were so good at it, recommending records, people loved their shops, but the future came and they ended up on the wrong side, in the past. I thought art was about piercing the barriers of the future, not holding people back.

So, the big get bigger, as the pie increases, as more people subscribe, as revenues go up. And, the business is no longer hit dependent, people want full access to all music all the time, they just don’t subscribe and sign off when there’s a hot new album.

However, mindshare of hit artists is decreasing. The landscape is broadening. This is a story that is not told because the media and the business itself are focused on a hit mentality. There is no longer just a top forty. Turns out there are a ton of music niches and successful acts in each one of them. Everybody lauded as a star? The Spotify Top 50? The ridiculous, manipulated “Billboard” chart? They’re reaching a smaller percentage of the public than ever before. You can ignore Cardi B no problem. You may have never heard the Weeknd. As for “Billboard”‘s supposed song of the summer, DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” most people have never even heard it, never mind like or dislike it. You won’t get that sense if you pay attention to media, then again, media is an insulated self-hyping universe.

So, there’s money to be made. By a greater number of artists in a greater number of genres, especially when you factor in touring.

But somehow there’s a problem.

NO WAY!