An agent, a publisher, a label majordomo and now a manager, not only has Richard Griffiths worn all the hats, he’s a seer when it comes to careers. Richard and his partner Harry Magee and their firm Modest! Management were honored with the 2019 Music Industry Trusts Award on November 4th in London. Modest! has steered the careers of One Direction, the Spice Girls, 5 Seconds of Summer, Olly Murs, Niall Horan…

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THE BIG TEN

Radio is in an undeniable position of strength in terms of accessibly, but as a fan of the medium, it has the potential for long term extinction in its current form. Overly dramatic maybe, but there are a lot of red flags that need to be addressed:

1. MERGERS, WALL STREET, THE ECONOMY AND ACQUISITIONS:

If you observe the radio business, the conversation is focused almost exclusively on the economic side. That’s great…this is America. But—when was the last time you heard or read about a radio content war, or a station that’s tearing up a market with a new sound. Content brilliance needs to be part of the conversation. If the excitement in radio is all about the deals, where does that leave the listener who could care less about who owns who. Death by deal is a real possibility as media’s eye is SO far off the content ball, that we simply can’t compete to win in the Google/Apple era. The business side is what makes it rock, but content is what makes it roll, and you need both. Deals will be done, but it’s the magic that comes out of the speakers and screens that’ll move things forward, and that needs to be the conversation every bit as much as the economics.

2. THE PLAYBOOK HASN’T BEEN UPDATED IN 40+ YEARS:

I heard a “new” Rock station recently and they presented;

–A “big voice” yelling at you about how hard they rock (that worked in 1979 when rock stations needed to re-enforce their manhood against the disco invasion….but that’s over)

–Star Wars laser sound effects complete with ‘man in the box’ filtered effect. (The Empire was destroyed in the 70’s…time to move on..if radio is “theater of the mind” I heard theater of the lame)

–Blocks, Two-fers, commercial free sets (Another relic of the 70’s. That was 40 years ago)

–Lunch. Not sure if it was a retro lunch, an electric lunch or whatever, but it was a “lunch”

–A station van. Cool in ’71 when hippies carried their pot and guitars in vans, now a soccer mom symbol that defines not cool drives a van

–DJ’s selling Free Bird. (What can POSSIBLY be said about Free Bird in this day and age?)

The station was on 70’s focus group auto pilot. We’re in the era where competition from other music sources is on steroids, but radio is in the “K108 plays more variety era. The Simpsons and Onion parody this stuff.
Stations should install cliche buzzers—three buzzes and you’re fired. That should thwart “new” ideas like “The _____ Lunch”

Of course this station was raving about how cool they were. Embarrassing.

3. THE STARS OF RADIO:

50’s- Deejays
60’s- PD’s
70’s- Consultants
80’s- Researchers
90’s- Group Heads
00’s-beyond —- Bankers

God bless bankers, but we are in a creative crisis as much as an economic one. Time to recruit, enable and inspire creative content stars, and not just Talk hosts… but content creators. Radio seems to hire based on purely operational aptitude, driving those with heavy creative aptitude to other industries. That 19 year old creative star will probably look at TV and Radio as the last place they’d want to be. This is a problem IF media has any interest in entering the content war. We have to make our media a creative oasis for thinkers to thrive. Read a job posting from any major traditional media company. Sounds like HR hell. Then read the Apple postings. Wonder why they get the future stars?

4. BALANCE NOT BULLSHIT

It is a content war out there and Apple/Google seem to have the advantage. But Radio and TV have the eyes and ears. Without a balanced people/function configuration, you’re doomed to lose. Need STARS in;

-Business
-Revenue
-Technology
-Operations
and Creative.

I’m not talking about Morning Shows. I’m talking about creative leadership that, though actions and execution, create a creative priority that is equal to revenue priority. Working in sync to win the battle.
I recall waking into a TV station and seeing a mission statement in the lobby. It included lines about being cutting edge, innovating, leading, etc…. I asked the GSM if this was true. He smirked and said—Nope compete BS. Those statements exist throughout media. When you hear “Content is King”…run! It’s not king. Revenue is. Content drives revenue.
Speaking of Bullshit. Stop with the old school slogans. No one believes them. Like in TV News–EVERY station is “Best, First, On Your Side, In It For You, Accurate….etc….. America is too BS savvy to buy that anymore.

5. DENIAL & ARROGANCE:

You hear a lot of;

–Spotify only has a small share of listenership. Ha Ha

–Radio is great. When a tornado hits, you don’t go to Spotify (Maybe not yet, but then again, what about the 358 non tornadic days?)

–We’re #1

STOP! If you’re talking to Agencies and Wall Street…OK. BUT—internally….STOP!

This stuff sounds like General Motors in 1980.

We are at the most dramatic crossroad in Media History and to be self congratulating with denial and arrogance is frightening. It’s NOT OK…it’s war. You gotta pull out the weapons, kill the denial and start creating content that’ll win on 21st Century terms. The denial and arrogance is deafening. It’s worse in Radio/TV than newspapers where they still think it’s 1935.

6. THE DIGITAL EXCUSE

Digital is now…and the future. Pretty obvious. But–it’s often an excuse. A short cut that undermines the REAL issue—Dated and tired 80’s rooted content. If a station is tired and dull, a new App won’t magically make it great, but that’s the thinking out there.

You constantly hear how a product is “moving forward” and entering the digital space. Well, that’s simply survival. What is being avoided like the plague is the core product…the brand itself. Fix the product first. I recall being at a newspaper and they were raving about their innovations and it was stunning. But when I asked about the printed paper, I got blank stares and a “we can’t touch that…it’s sacred” response. Same thing in radio and TV. WHAT COMES OUT OF THE SPEAKERS OR SCREEN is the problem that won’t be fixed by migrating it to online/mobile. Take TV News. It’s laughably dated with the Ultra Doppler super action weather, NORAD sets and big haired modern Ted Knight anchors. Will migrating that to Ipad save the day? Of course not. Fix the product first. Get the product in sync with 2020 before you start praying the delivery system will save you.
Then there’s “interacting” with your radio. That’s great, but not at the expense of the listening experience. Listen first…then interact. No one wants to interact with something tired and increasingly irrelevant.

7. THE SECRET CONSPIRACY

Seems there’s some secret law that says a Technology company can innovate daily. Version 2, Version 3, Upgrades, White IPhones, etc… Radio? Same playbook with new slogans. Even TV and Fashion has “New Fall Seasons”…radio is on innovation autopilot at a time when, to prosper in the Google/Apple era you need to innovate DAILY. American media is getting beaten by the Phone and Cable companies in terms of innovation.

That’s wrong.

Radio has become a stagnant commodity hoping a new App will fix everything at a time when Tech companies have embraced the 21st Century. This ain’t 1975 where you plug in a format and go. It’s a new world requiring constant updating.

8. BUT WE’RE LOCAL!

No you aren’t. Well, the WGN and WLW types breathe local, but most stations are generic. When I was a kid, we’d drive from Chicago to Miami on Holiday. Indy, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami. Every city had stations with character. Maybe it was the Southern accents on WQXI in Atlanta or the undeniable pride that permeated every break. Make that same trip today and it’s a generic wasteland. Everyone sounds the same. Again, you’ll hear the denial. we have a local morning show…we do a blood drive every summer. Big deal. Stations should do a “local audit”…audit their sound and marketing and you’d find hundreds of missed opportunities. In Chicago, there are several billboards and outdoor vehicles, I’ve yet to see ONE that says “Chicago’s W—-“….
Incidentally, “local” can be an excuse too. We are becoming more Global by the minute. But if you commit to local…then DELIVER in EVERYTHING that you touch.

9. YOU CAN’T ABBREVIATE MAGIC

New station launches: “We have AM Drive, billboard, a tested library, some promos and an App—we’re good to go”

HUH??!! You can’t design the future until you understand the past. Look back to KHJ, KCBQ, THE LOOP, KFOG and scores of other ground breaking stations. They created a plan—completeness. Schwartzkopf style planning…a mission. Right down to how the receptionist answered the phone. Some say this/I’m old fashioned and you can’t do that today. Why? Is media so full of itself that a great game plan that REALLY reinvents is old fashioned? I’m one that believes ANY old media product can reinvent itself and kick ass in any market. Money? Imagination is free. In fact, the most passionate and gifted people are the ones you want in there, and they’re not about money. Of course media is driving them away. Winning media wars is hard. It takes emotional and managerial command. Media has to stop living in the Ad Club world and create teams that fight for brilliance…and deliver.

Todd Storz had a timeless line: “First program…then sell.”

Media is entertainment…not utility. In some cases both, but always entertainment. The environment is too cluttered to think call letters, history and an abbreviated game plan will win.

10. MEDIA & INFORMATION IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL.

Rock and roll is arguably on life support as is music radio. It’s may not be apparent yet, but when it starts looking backwards, the best days are behind it. But that’s OK, you can learn from it and build on the NEW Rock n Roll. By Rock being dead, I mean as a driver of culture. Whereas Elvis drove culture, nowadays it’s Facebook…and News. The world is having a nervous breakdown and that’s what s moving the culture. I doubt if a new Beatles will emerge that make everything right…culture is all about media and information. BUT–The M.O. of Rock n Roll is timeless and we need Rock n Roll THINKING, regardless of format or style. The characteristics of Rock n Roll thinking include:

ECCENTRICITY…ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
INNOVATION AS A DRIVER IN EVERYTHING YOU DO
ATTITUDE…A SPIRIT
SWAGGER…A SENSE OF CONFIDENCE
NEWNESS…THE STRUGGLE TO BE FIRST
BIG—MASS APPEAL
RE-INVENTION…A DESIRE AND MOTIVATION TO
CREATES FANS NOT “USERS”
POWERFUL…CULTURE MOVING
CHANGING…ALWAYS PUSHING FORWARD
COMPETITIVE…FIGHTING FOR SUCCESS
ARTFUL…CREATING COMMERCE THROUGH ART (ART IS NOT A BAD WORD UNLESS IT’S BAD ART)
INSTINCTIVE…NOT RELYING ON YESTERDAYS INFORMATION
REBELLIOUS…AGAIN, A FIGHTING SPIRIT
INTELLIGENT…IN A MASS APPEAL WAY
NON ELITIST…FOR THE MASSES

SUMMARY:

Get back to the roots. What a listener/viewer hears and sees from the speakers, the screens and on the streets. Stop with the excuses—Everything will be fine when the economy improves…we have a new App…We’ve been here since 1942….we’re local because our tower is here. Radio has one incredible thing going for it—Reach. Everyone has a radio. Radio and TV are in a position of strength. Just imagine if EVERYone had a Mac. Do you think Apple would call it quits? Radio and TV have, as mediums, given up the content fight at a time when THE MAGIC OF WHAT COMES OUT OF THE SCREENS AND SPEAKERS is more powerful than ANY technology. Combined with technology, it’s untouchable. Time to get on war footing and start to create the magic on 2020 terms.

He was inspired by Christo.

Like I said, I’m working hard for the money. Which is cool, since Felice is not here, it’s good to be occupied, but I’m wondering whether it should have been labeled the “Bob Lefsetz Festival” instead of “Australian Music Week.” I quoted them a price, my standard overseas fee, but they kept adding on obligations, like a podcast with Ken West.

I didn’t even know who the guy was. They told me he started the Big Day Out. That I was familiar with. I said yes, but I was worried, there was little biographical information online, I like to talk to people whose work I know by heart, having studied it for decades, so I was wary.

I didn’t need to be.

That’s what the newcomers don’t understand, the ethos and viewpoint of the oldsters, who were inspired by the music and built the business, before the corporations, before it was fully-formed.

So Ken West went to art school. Which was kind of funny, because it was a good ten years after everybody in the U.K. did. He testified about the oddballs, those are the ones who used to make music, the fringe, those that couldn’t fit in anywhere else, they couldn’t be brands because not only did they not know anything about corporations, that’s not what they cared about.

Ken didn’t care about money, he cared about art. I told him he’d been pushing the envelope…he said he’d thrown it away.

But you need money to live. Ken didn’t want to be on the victim end of it, he said he was not a self-promoter, he did not want to be dependent upon other people buying his art, listening to Christo, he saw another way, events, spectaculars based on great art.

Now the Aussies have accents. And my hearing is not great. Was Ken really talking about Christo? The guy who sets up umbrellas and gates and encircles islands? This is the first time I’ve ever heard anybody in the music business mention him.

But it got even better. Ken started talking about the danger in events as they got bigger. How the tendency is to play it safe, but you shouldn’t. Three people lost their lives with Christo’s Umbrellas installations. Ken decried the Gates in New York, it was too safe. But Floating Piers, those 24/7 walkways in Italy? Where people in wheelchairs could roll off and die? That rang his bell.

So Ken hired a band because they came with a PA, and he wanted the band he was managing to play, and it was cheaper to hire this band with their equipment than hire a PA by its lonesome.

And then his friend Nick Cave… Whoa, how did Ken get here?

Well, he flew to England and convinced New Order to tour Australia, when they hadn’t even performed ten dates. Their soundman was held up at the border, he filled out his visa form wrong, they hired a studio engineer who got it all wrong and the first night sucked. Live is a crapshoot.

And Ken becomes friends with the Violent Femmes, they’re big Down Under, they ask him to be their tour manager in the States, which he does, $250 a week and he had to get himself over the ocean. He learned people were the same everywhere, but he’d rather live in Australia.

The Femmes wanted Ken to be their manager, but that’s not his interest, but inspired by Lollapalooza, Ken started a festival, to sell more tickets he booked Nirvana to open, just after “Smells Like Teen Spirit” broke. He had them for $5,000, but he gave them $4 per head on the merch, they walked out with 38k. It was the right thing to do, no contract said Ken had to.

And now Big Day Out is rolling, all over Australia, even New Zealand. But when you have a success, money is attracted, but Ken credited his TLC with keeping Big Day Out going. Then again, he was thinking about it 24/7, it took over his life.

Now if you know your history, the Big Day Out ultimately cratered, went kaput, even though C3 got involved. And Ken’s been sitting on the sidelines for five years.

Is he coming back?

Probably not. He’s following the scene, but he believes science is driving the culture. That you can make mistakes off the radar, make breakthroughs that can change the world.

Ken laments the fact that acts can no longer woodshed in private. He says sampling killed the music, now you can’t tell whether a track was cut in the seventies or today.

And I’d like to explain both of these concepts to you, but I’m not sure I fully grasped them. The mics were turned off, but we kept on talking, because it’s these personalities who built the business. Not MBAs, not pencil-pushers. Alas, one of Ken’s initial tours was funded by a dope dealer, who got his 30k back a year later.

And every Big Day Out was a roll of the dice, where Ken had his entire fortune at risk. Was it worth it?

His partner said no, took money off the table.

But money is not what excites Ken, he wants to wow people, catch them off guard and impress them. He wants to change the culture. He wanted the bands to hang during Big Day Out, get to know each other.

It was a traveling circus.

But they put Ringling Brothers’ out of business. They don’t do that no more.

And they not only don’t make the Big Day Out anymore, they don’t make people like Ken West in the music business. Where the money is secondary to the effect, where you want to transport people to somewhere they’ve never been, where you want them to remember to the point they keep coming back.

You’re born with it, I tell you.

And it’s these limit-pushers who are changing the world.

Are you one?

How do we sleep while our beds are burning

I woke up at 6:30. Maybe reasonable for you, out of the question for me, the last time I saw the sun rise was to catch a flight, I like the darkness, when everybody’s sleeping, when the world is mine.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. I ended up going to breakfast. I’ve got to ask you, why do they undercook the sausage? And the bacon should be CRISP! I could barely look at the bacon, I took a few bites of the sausage and got grossed out and immediately ate some yogurt to kill the taste. There’s protein in yogurt, that was breakfast, at an ungodly hour, would I have enough sustenance to carry me through?

To Studios 301 to do a podcast with Peter Garrett.

This was hard to make happen. It was confirmed, then canceled. I was told that Peter had a hard out at 11:50, he needed to get to the studio to record with his band.

We were there early, so I got to look at the gear. They had every tape recorder, that high end Technics that isolated the tape, two track Mitsubishi digital, I actually saw two of them, a couple of Studers. From a bygone era, before digital. And there were racks and racks of outboard equipment, this is how they used to make records. The studio was a sacred place, not just for anybody, it was expensive, it was the belly of the beast, it was where you made records, my heart still goes pitter-patter when I’m in the inner sanctum.

And then, while I’m checking out the iMac Pro we’re going to record on, avoiding the 72 track desk mere feet away, Peter Garrett arrives.

I’m intimidated. I feel like I’m imposing upon him. He’s almost 6’5″, he’s got a bald head, you know the type, irritable, asshole… BUT HE WAS NOTHING LIKE THAT!

Peter was warm and congenial. Like maybe someone I went to high school with, well no, nobody I went to high school became famous, no one took the road less taken.

And most musicians are reticent, their music speaks for them. But Peter… I was thinking of his choices, ones I was too afraid to make. Then again, he’s confident, his parents supported him, the opposite of my upbringing.

And Midnight Oil was an indie band before they signed to Columbia and were all over MTV. It was about the message, they refused to be compromised, actually, “Beds Are Burning” was not written to be a hit, but to be part of the soundtrack of a minor movie. Excellence comes when you’re not trying to execute it.

And we talked not only about the Oils, but Peter’s tenure in the government. As minister of education (should I capitalize that?) He was passionate and nice, I didn’t know they made rock stars like this.

But the best part was when we turned the mics off, after ninety minutes of conversation, long after noon, long after Peter was supposed to be gone. Actually, we’d still be there talking if I didn’t have a video commitment at 1:30. We were sitting there, analyzing the world, Peter’s smiling…do you know how good it feels to feel connected, to be listened to, to wrestle with the issues with someone who wants to? It’s what I live for! I always find I resonate most with the artists, even though I’m afraid of them. Joe Walsh reached out and volunteered himself for a podcast…I told him I’d been afraid to ask him, I hate imposing upon people, but it made me look like an amateur, I never believe I’m a member of the club, but it’s astounding how few of these people are intimidating, I felt like Peter was a friend for life!

And then we went to Fox Studios, to record this interview. When the lights go on, or down, depending on whether it’s a recording or live, I turn it on, this is when I deliver, because you never know what will put you over the top, usually the thing you were reluctant to do. And I’ll be honest, I wince when I find myself telling the same stories over again, especially when there are people in attendance who’ve heard them, but I try to tell myself they’re new to the audience.

And then we went to ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Company. The public outlet. I had my picture taken in front of legendary cartoon characters who I had not grown up with, the building was empty, maybe because of the Melbourne Cup, the famous horse race, but…

Then I did a radio interview and by time I got back to Cronulla it was time for my next gig, a dinner. I’m just running on adrenaline, like I said, I’m working hard for the money.

And I ran into this guy who started Australia’s third biggest ticketing company, from scratch, sixteen years ago. After listening to him for five minutes, I knew he’d be successful at anything he did, because he was passionate, he believed, he was his product. That’s what they don’t teach you in music school, not even entrepreneur programs, you’re born with it, it can be taught, but only those born with it are great at it. Find what you’re great at, you can’t compete with the naturals unless you’re one too, even if you put in the 10,000 hours, you can learn the notes, but you can’t write the song.

And I meet the guy who runs the arenas. And Don stands and thanks all the sponsors, usually sponsors are there to be ripped-off, but Don truly made them feel included.

And then we ate dinner.

Geoff had told me his partner made great Lebanese food. I had no idea. It was phenomenal! I overate, but I can’t stop when it’s that good, and I hadn’t eaten lunch until three p.m., I was running on empty.

And I got into a conversation with Adam Lewis, who lives in L.A. but I only see in foreign countries, he’s here to sign up bands, to do their radio promotion, publicity.

And these conversations are free-flowing, like the alcohol, everybody gets loosened up and tells stories and you feel part of a fraternity, of lucky freaks, we couldn’t do anything else, but we’re privileged to have fun doing our jobs, to never stop talking about them. As I said earlier today, go anywhere and say you’re involved in a hit record, a hit band, and all the billionaires will go ignored, that’s the power of music, the money is secondary, it’s the personal impact. As Peter Garrett said, it energizes people, gets them motivated.

And hours into this dinner conversation, the topic switched to television, it always does, politics and TV, that’s what people want to talk about today.

And Adam said he wished he could watch more TV. Huh? Isn’t everybody trying to watch less? So I ask him what he watches, and he says reality shows. He starts testifying about “Below Deck,” Felice is hooked on that too, it’s upstairs/downstairs in the private yacht world. But the show Adam liked best was…

DR. PIMPLE POPPER!

I thought I didn’t hear right. Couldn’t be. That wasn’t the name.

Adam said it was.

Okay, that was the name of the doctor, but not the show, right?

No, it’s the name of the show!

So I Googled it and it had its own Wikipedia page, so it was real.

And everybody at the table starts testifying about the show, about the growths these people have, how Dr. Pimple Popper saves their lives, how they’ve been afraid of leaving the house… HOW DID I MISS THIS?

I like to feel I’m clued in, I’m reading all day every day to take the pulse, but I’d never heard of “Dr. Pimple Popper.”

That’s the power of people, that’s the power of conversation, that’s when you feel most alive, talking to others, listening and learning.

The time has come, a fact’s a fact

Like global warming, like the power of a liberal arts education, like music. It’s what you do about it. Peter believes you can’t do it alone, it’s about getting together with other people, compromising, making the sausage, executing. It’s all right to complain, but you’ve got to do something.

There are people all over the world doing something. Not that the power of the individual should be dismissed, Greta Thunberg single-handedly motivated students to stand up, to protest, to tell the old men in charge that action needs to be taken. And then she declined the Nordic Council’s environmental award, and its prize money. It’s not about her, it’s about the cause. That’s rock and roll. An unfiltered opinion rendered by someone who is not sold out and is unwilling to cripple their vision.

These are the people we need more of, these are the people who change the world, people who believe it can be a better place.

Where we can feel free to watch “Dr. Pimple Popper” without worrying about our planet burning up.

Peter Garrett wants you to wake up, Greta Thunberg too, because when the beds are burning you don’t want to go up in flames with them.

People are inspiring.

I was inspired today.