Founder and CEO of Primary Wave Music, Larry Mestel started out as a CPA and shortly thereafter was drafted by a client to Island Records, and after stints at Arista and Virgin he quit to start Primary Wave, a new wave publishing company with its own marketing department. Listen to hear how Larry and Primary Wave are breaking norms.

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You don’t analyze the past to see how the future will be disrupted.

The music business was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. First the industry didn’t believe it, then it said it didn’t make sense, then it tried to stop it and finally, after nearly a decade, it accepted it. And even though older customers have adopted the new technologies, many oldster artists have not, yearning for the days of yore, labeling streaming the devil, staying on the sidelines to their detriment.

This is what is happening in politics right now. So-called experts are looking at statistical models, they’re looking at history to predict the future, and they’re getting it wrong.

Disruption usually comes from the uninitiated, the ignorant, those who if they knew better wouldn’t even begin.

And the late Clayton Christensen said the new product is always cheap and shoddy at first, but over time it improves and takes over the old.

Can you say Bernie Sanders?

In 2016 they said it was impossible. No one wanted a Democratic Socialist. Then the DNC tried to stop him, to their detriment, it hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign and turned off Sanders supporters. And now, four years later, these outsiders, the so-called “Bernie Bros,” are organized and triumphing and the usual suspects just cannot believe it, they want to stop it, they believe Bloomberg is their hope, not knowing it isn’t about Bernie himself, but his ideas.

Napster was sued out of business.

KaZaA burst on to the scene without a centralized database, which killed Napster legally.

After P2P sites we got digital lockers.

Sure, people wanted free music. But at least they wanted the music! Think about how many products you can’t even give away, because there’s no desire.

And this great desire for the music and easy and cheap distribution suddenly made acts famous, able to tour, where they could not before. Suddenly marketing was online instead of on radio and in print. An alternative system was being built that many in the industry still don’t understand and accept as radio and print mean ever less. Just because radio has the largest market share, the greatest number of ears, that does not mean it will dominate forever. Look at network television, with its declining ratings, based on an advertising model. It’s being creamed by pay cable and streaming. And Amazon has bundled streaming with shipping and new streaming companies are burgeoning, did you see the Disney+ numbers, and people are cutting the cord and…

As for Disney+’s numbers, the truth is people will pay if it’s a fair offering. Disney+ is $6.99 a month, streaming music services like Spotify are $9.99.

And streaming music sites are ahead of visual streaming sites. You get ALL the product for your $9.99. There are so many candidates today because you can get the word out online. Hell, the Democrats blame their loss in 2016 on what happened online. The internet fractures society, creates deep niches, few dominate, but when it impacts everybody, one person can rise above, that’s the essence of Trump.

And that’s what the Democrats want to avoid with Bernie. They want someone famous in the old world not the new. They want someone who is talked about on TV shows and in the newspaper as opposed to those talked about online. They want candidates who take money from the usual suspects, i.e. corporations and billionaires, as opposed to the general public. They want CONTROL!

But they don’t realize disruption comes with chaos. And you’re never going back, best to ride the wave and see where it takes you as you try to make sense of it all.

And now even the disrupted are being disrupted. That’s what’s happening with Facebook and Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg denied there was a problem with false advertising on his site. He thought if he ignored it it would go away. But the public was up in arms. He thinks his sites are too big, he refuses to take meaningful action. Meanwhile, Twitter is trying but it’s playing Whac-A-Mole. Is there a new site in the offing that eliminates this problem, these falsehoods?

The truth is we are no longer living in the pre-globalization era. Just like the public thought CDs were overpriced, with one good track amongst the dozen, people are pissed that the elites got rich while they did not. Kinda like the stock market…sure it’s good, but how many people actually own stock?

And we no longer live in the pre-internet era. Now word can spread everywhere, even though today it’s hard to gain eyeballs and information can be inaccurate.

And then there are bozos like the failing Shadow, which created the Iowa app.

Shadow was killed by market forces, it was resuscitated by an infusion by Acronym. And isn’t it funny that Shadow was started by a Hillary Clinton staffer? This is no different from all the non-techies who took VC money to create apps and products that were nonstarters, or failures like Pets.com. Johnny-come-latelies always fail. Because they don’t understand what disruption is about, they just want some of that money.

Kinda like Hollywood. Everybody with any cash is invested in tech products. Better to stay in your area of expertise, employ your own skills to triumph. Don’t create an incubator, double-down on your assets, do what you do best, create new products, like Baby Yoda with Disney+.

The news media was reasonably accurate when other industries were disrupted. But now that it itself is being disrupted it keeps complaining and getting it wrong.

Newspapers must survive, just like the album. All news online is fake. You need pros to tell you what to think.

And then stories ignored by the big boys were broken online and blogs push the needle and what do the newspapers and TV keep doing? Featuring and promoting the power players of yore while they denigrate those of today and tomorrow if they acknowledge them at all.

“The New York Times” is marginalizing itself every day. With its anti-Bernie screeds and drivel like today’s Thomas Edsall piece

If Bernie Wins, Where Will He Take the Democratic Party?

quoting all the old “experts” on what is happening, quoting old models that have nothing to do with today (kinda like the “Billboard” charts, trying to satiate the major labels it keeps adjusting its model into irrelevancy).

Bob Dylan had it right over fifty years ago. He said “don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters.”

But that was back when music drove the culture and it was all about being the other and pushing the envelope while you poked the establishment.

Then again, the sixties were the last time the youth revolted.

The little girls understood.

But their parents did not.

And today those kids are the parents and they too have no clue.

One thing’s for sure, Biden’s toast.

But how could this be? For months we’ve endured polls, talking heads, telling us he was the leader and the people’s choice, the man with experience shooting right up the middle.

But it turns out that’s not what people wanted at all.

So, the pollsters got it wrong. Oh, there was that “Des Moines Register” poll that was canceled that was supposedly more accurate, and I’m sure Nate Silver and the rest of the experts will weasel once again and tell us how they really got it right, but they didn’t. Turns out it’s not only government that is out of touch with the public, but the pollsters and the media too.

It all comes down to if you’re winning. If the present environment is working for you, you want no change.

But it turns out the present environment isn’t working for most of America.

Let’s start with Trump. The same media outlets and pollsters failed to see the disharmony that led to the Donald’s election, they convinced us, even him, that his campaign was a sideshow, a way for Trump to burnish his brand, to start a TV network, to get richer. Little did we expect that he would use the Presidency to get richer.

And on the other side you’ve got Bernie. According to Hillary Clinton, an evil hatemonger who refuses to play well with others. Meanwhile, Bernie almost deposed the anointed Hillary in 2016 and it appears he’s gonna run to the roses this year. Turns out most of the populace is not happy with business as usual.

Let’s talk about the Clintons. Sure, they were eviscerated by the right, but they also used their position to get rich, even Chelsea has gotten rich, she’s even wealthier than Hunter Biden! But sucking up to Wall Street and the rest of the billionaires was de rigueur, because everybody else did it. You needed their money to win. But Bernie didn’t take a dime from the usual suspects and this time around he’s raised more money than anybody!

As for Mayor Pete… Where were the articles predicting this? The polls?

And then there’s the question of why.

It appears that people want someone young and smart untainted by the usual b.s. Although if you look into Pete’s CV it’s not appealing, drinking at the trough of McKinsey and being unable to run his own damn city. As for being gay…no one cares about that anymore, if a black man can become President why not a gay man? As for those who couldn’t accept Obama…it didn’t keep him from winning.

Which brings us to the impeachment.

Turns out Trump is above the law. He can do whatever he wants and not have to answer for it. Furthermore, he doesn’t have to provide any details. He’s king, get over it.

As for the Iowa app debacle… If Trump loses in November, there’s no way in hell the Republicans will accept it.

But if the Dems lose…

They’ll just whimper. Can you say Al Gore?

Because you see the Democrats have no center. It’s a big party under a big tent but a self-serving cabal runs it and they don’t want any change. Now that Bernie Sanders is a distinct possibility the truth has finally come out, those in power, at the DNC, don’t want any change, no different from the Grammys. You see a new guy is gonna come in, who gets to choose the head of the party and…a lot of people are gonna lose their influence, if not their jobs.

So, America doesn’t appear that different from Afghanistan, some other tribal country.

Part of the public wants the trains to run on time, wants to rid the populace of scum and be entitled to keep all they’ve got and never go backward.

That’s what’s wrong with America, no one can lose. Hell, the Astros cheated but they’re not losing their title. It’s too big a step, like convicting Trump, we can’t handle the anarchy. But the truth is we’ve undermined the rule of law, it’s every person for themselves in America today. And if you don’t realize this, you’re part of the problem.

Like the people who say they can’t feel the change under Trump. They’re no different from Jews who refused to leave Germany. Everybody thinks they’re protected until they’re not, and the truth is contrary to their belief they’ve got no recourse.

So essentially no one is alive who remembers when America was a second-class nation. Everybody thinks the U.S. of A. is the greatest country in the world, it cannot be defeated.

As for Vietnam and Iraq, the belief is the agitators undermined us and if we just gave the armed forces and Dick Cheney and the other rulers carte blanche, we would have won again.

Only that doesn’t take into account hearts and minds. The North Vietnamese were willing to sacrifice everything for the cause. And the truth is so many of the losers in today’s society feel the same way. They’re sick of billionaires, sick of kowtowing to the rich, they want some power.

Which is how Trump got elected. He represented change.

Hillary was damaged goods offering business as usual.

Just like Joe Biden.

But the insiders tell us we must nominate someone safe in order to win in November, we must sacrifice all our beliefs, all our interests, for a greater good…which would only benefit the entrenched. Which brings up the question why bother to vote at all?

A huge slice of the public never does. Many because they believe there will be no difference. And after living through twenty five years of tech innovation they know that change can happen overnight, if people choose to make it happen. They also know that techies run circles around D.C., elected officials don’t understand tech, never mind regulate tech.

But all we hear from insiders is how dumb the populace is.

But that’s because they don’t understand it’s not about issues so much as emotions.

Oh, the Republicans always focus on a divisive issue, but the Democrats…Hillary Clinton fake smiled, just like old Joe, and no one bought it, they didn’t speak to your soul, they were controlled by those with the cash.

Globalization is here to stay. What’s your answer to that?

Trump’s is to promise impossibilities as he engages in trade wars. No, manufacturing is not coming back to America, and coal mining won’t boom. Instead of providing false hope, why don’t you give the disenfranchised a roadmap as well as a safety net as opposed to service jobs that don’t put food on the table, never mind a roof over your head.

This is why Bernie is resonating, because it’s crooked and you’re screwed. Everybody knows this, it’s just the winners don’t want to admit they’ve bent the system to their satisfaction, they just tell others to pull up their bootstraps, it’s easy, everyone can be a millionaire, even though you can’t get into a good college because they’ve paid for slots, with either bribes or buildings, and have had their kids tutored and… It would be like trying to become a coder in a school without computers, it can’t be done.

I’m not saying a whole hell of a lot new here, I’m just wondering when the powers-that-be are gonna wake up and admit what’s going on.

Add up the numbers. Put Sanders and Warren together and…

It appears the public wants radical change.

But what does the media do? Concoct a phony war between them.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi steals Trump’s thunder by ripping up his speech. He wouldn’t shake her hand and she took revenge. And owns the news cycle.

Sometimes you’ve got to test the limits, sometimes you have to push the envelope, sometimes you have to throw decorum out the window, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

But all the left can do is respond to the talking points of the right, as opposed to leading.

Which is one reason Mayor Pete can’t win. Do you think people are gonna buy his phony smile? He appears devious, and he’s selling nothing other than himself. It’s like he constructed his campaign on a computer. Let’s see, where’s the best slot, somewhere between Bernie and Biden, if you can believe in this guy, you probably went to Harvard and worked at McKinsey yourself.

Meanwhile, if you didn’t go to an Ivy, good luck getting that gig at McKinsey. As for the funds, they load your employer up with debt, take their investment and profits out first and you’re left holding the bag.

But you’re supposed to laud them because they’re rich.

The old America is dead. The internet proved that those telling us what was going on had no clue. Meanwhile, the rich on the left and right, the elites, rigged the game to their advantage, telling the less fortunate that it was just luck they lost out, that there was nothing they could do about it.

So, the public wants its revenge.

Any Democrat can beat Trump if the party just gets behind the nominee. Instead, the DNC keeps going on about who’s electable.

You know who is electable?

THE ONE THAT WINS!

The Republicans circled the wagons today. I’d say history will judge them, but the truth is Trump may run the country off the rails first.

It’s time for the Democrats to circle the wagons, to get back in touch with their natural constituency, the workers. Bloomberg may be able to get the nomination and win, but the truth is he’s not promising solutions to the real problems of this country, he just wants to pilot the ship as opposed to fix the leak, never mind build a new ship.

Disenfranchise the public at your peril. Turns out voters don’t want centrists, they want someone to believe in.

And this has got nothing to do with flawed apps and nothing to do with polls and everything to do with identity.

We’re sick of compromise, we’re sick of getting the short end of the stick, we’re sick of seeing our country going down the drain as those in power blame us for it. Trump said it was the immigrants. He’s always establishing scapegoats. The Democrats are the party of the future, they’re the party of hope, they’re the party of equality, if only those in power and the elites would get out of the way and let the voters get their shot. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?

From “Tell Me What You See” from the America-only “Beatles VI” to “Girl” from “Rubber Soul.

Tune in today, Tuesday February 4th, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: HearLefsetzLive

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