One of the original Rhino Brothers (along with Richard Foos), Harold went from playing to writing to CBS college rep and ultimately Rhino Records, then just a record shop. Harold was the one who expanded the brand into recordings, with Wild Man Fischer, the Temple Kazoo Orchestra, the Winos and more, ultimately leading to the distribution of the Turtles’ catalog. Listen to the story of how Harold and Rhino succeeded by doing it their way.

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This is what happens when no one trusts information.

Brexit was supposed to free the U.K. from European tyranny, keep the immigrants out, save money at the NHS, everything but provide free sliced bread.

So you had people voting against their interests. Not knowing that European companies were responsible for their paychecks. It all felt good, but the devil was in the details.

The devil is always in the details.

They call it the Information Age. What we didn’t expect was that everybody would make up their own information, to suit their own purposes. To the point where no one trusts information at all. Like in the vaccine debate. Something must have caused the child’s autism, vaccines sound good, because there’s no way in hell I can be the victim of fate, drawing the short end of the stick, someone must be responsible.

And speaking of responsibility, that’s what right-leaning pols are selling. The no-goodniks sucking on the tit of the government. If everybody just got down to work and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, you wouldn’t even need a government.

So Brexit passes on feel good nationality and falsehoods, never mind a lack of actual knowledge of the issues. But once it passes, everybody wakes up and sees the consequences. It wasn’t supposed to happen. Now the country is in deep doo-doo. How do we fix this?

Turns out you can’t. Nothing can be done. The government has come to a standstill.

The only ones who want a no-deal Brexit are the people who lied to get the exit. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage… They see the government as their plaything, damn the consequences if it works out for me!

But then we’ve got the fearmongers talking about the disaster of a no-deal Brexit. Is it Y2K or real? One side says it’s no big deal, as the pound falls, and the other says it’s a disaster.

There’s no truth anymore. No facts the public can rely on. They hate the people in government, the government itself, they don’t know who to turn to. And many end up making up their own facts. When it comes to health issues, it’s the educated left with their cockamamie ideas. I said I had cancer and people inundated me with info on nutrition and meditation, saying my blood cancer could be cured if I just subscribed to Goop and believed Dr. Oz and took control of my health care and dissed the industrial medical complex and its quacks. Kinda like Marianne Williamson saying the “power of the mind” could stop a hurricane Dorian disaster. Oh, she deleted that tweet, once she was informed it was looney-tunes, but the truth is that’s what she’s selling, and she’s not selling it to the underclass, but the educated. Meanwhile, the poor go to the doctor and listen to him/her, assuming they can afford to do so.

And then not only the right excoriates Medicare-for-All, but so does the left. And then you’ve got a story like the one in the “New York Times,” where a hospital is suing for exorbitant bills and people are losing their houses. Do you think this would happen in a Medicare-for-All world? Of course not. These people had insurance, but insurance doesn’t cover everything, no way. All those people afraid of losing their employer insurance are just afraid of change, like the people who said files would never supersede CDs and streaming would never supersede files.

You see it’s not only the right that lies.

And then you’ve got the right’s house organ, Fox News, which is criticized by Trump. It’d be like Elizabeth Warren saying not to trust MSNBC. Then who do you trust?

And despite politics/government/Boris/Trump being the story of our age, despite people following it closer than ever before, people still have to work, go to school, live their lives, they can’t sacrifice everything to study the issues. And the outlets they rely on? The right has neutered the “New York Times,” according to Republicans you can’t even trust its sports scores. Of course that’s an exaggeration, but not by much.

And in this social media/influencer world, people believe they can generate their own news, their own spin, it doesn’t matter whether you’re educated or not, you’re entitled to an opinion!

So Brexit does not happen. Been over three years now. And now that people have a greater understanding of its consequences, they want to be assured they’re not negatively impacted. Everybody’s on high alert. And Boris Johnson tries to ram his vision through, and people protest and not only does Labour stand up to him, but members of his own party!

We haven’t had that spirit here since John McCain voted not to get rid of Obamacare. He did the right thing, knowing he was never gonna run for re-election and he didn’t have to pay fealty to Trump, never mind the party.

That’s one thing that’s amazing. In Britain, lawmakers broke ranks. But we’ve yet to see this happen in the U.S. But of course it would have happened if the Democrats had impeached Trump six months ago and actively pursued it.

Now most people don’t even know that impeachment is not kicking someone out of office, it’s just an investigation by the House, and if the House thinks expulsion is warranted, it’s kicked up to the Senate.

And having lived through Watergate… Nixon was innocent until the plethora of evidence showed that he could not govern and the Republicans told him he had to go. If you don’t think this would have happened with Trump, you’re too young. In the face of overwhelming evidence, everybody caves. You just jump to the other side and say you’re shocked, positively shocked that this was going on and the integrity of the government must be preserved.

But Trump passes legislation to increase pollution, i.e. global warming, and now Al Gore and the prognosticators’ predictions have borne evidence. That’s right, no one ever believes there’ll be a payday, but when it’s 90 degrees in Alaska, you know the witching hour has arrived. Yup, the religious nuts think Jesus will save them, but the truth is man has to save himself. You’ve got to plan. You’re not gonna be an M.D. if you don’t graduate from college.

But if you can find one scientist who says global warming is a hoax…

And you’ve got Joe Biden railing against climate change the day before he’s going to a fundraiser hosted by big oil…you know he’s on the wrong track, and maybe too old to know what’s going on. But we’re propping him up, he’s our savior, according to the same people who say impeachment will alienate voters and African-Americans won’t vote for Warren. Didn’t Trump teach us the old paradigm is out the window?

But now the left’s story is it’s all about white nationalism, racism, but if you think that’s the reason Trump got elected you’re probably a big city denizen wondering how you’re gonna make it on 200k a year…how are you gonna pay for your European trips and your Benz, never mind private school? No wonder the underclass has contempt for you.

Taxes are cut to help the little guy and the law only helps the corporation.

And you wonder why people don’t trust the government and the media…

And just because people were nationalistic four years ago, that does not mean they’re nationalistic today. Sure, politicians can’t change their minds, but people do all day long, they learn things, they get educated. So Warsaw goes left instead of right. You learn from the past and then go forward. So what we know is too many have suffered in the race to globalization. So now all these leaders are trying to isolate their countries to their detriment instead of taking care of those who suffered under open trade laws.

Sure, China is gonna cave to Trump. What, are you nuts? They’re operating with a different playbook, if the public suffers, so what? They won’t let the U.S. dictate to them. And now it’s not only farmers suffering in America, but the regular folk, what they’re buying…the price has gone up. And it’s their spending that keeps this country alive. Their entire paycheck goes into the system, whereas the rich hoard their money.

But if you’re not a student of the game, you throw your hands in the air, who knows what to believe?

Who cares if going from the U.K. to Europe is difficult if you don’t go? But that free border benefits you in ways you haven’t been informed of.

Meanwhile, those running the governments are in the disinformation business. Mexico is gonna build the wall? China is paying the tariffs?

Then again, too many people are not educated enough to analyze the issues.

So we’ve got gridlock. Those who want to move forward and those who want to move back. And the truth is in every change, someone suffers, but no one is willing to suffer anymore.

Turns out most people don’t want the Brexit sold to them in 2016. Turns out the issues are much more complicated than they were sold as. But it’s kinda like that Trump tax cut, if we do it fast enough, no one will know what the consequences are. And if you load up the disinformation, and there’s always some pundit to take your side, you can spin it that it’s not castor oil, but lemonade!

Meanwhile, Facebook doesn’t stop lying while it continues to invade our privacy, and now the one to one paradigm Zuckerberg is moving toward will inundate you with updates from people you do know, I mean they’ve got to sell advertising, they’ve got investors, Wall Street is king!

But that’s how Trump got elected… Who is looking out for the little guy?

Nobody, there’s no money in it.

Tune in today, Tuesday September 3rd, to Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: LefsetzLive

She didn’t hit a million. But nobody other than Taylor herself seemed to think that was possible. You see the paradigm has shifted, now it’s all about streaming, i.e. consumption, i.e. listening, and Nielsen and the labels have not come up with a way to measure this to their satisfaction. You see if you can’t game the system, they’re not interested. They don’t really care about the number of albums sold, but the impression it leaves upon the audience. Talk to any aged act. Their goal is to get a #1, even if they fall off the chart the following week. They want to brag about it, put it in their bio, cite meaningless statistics that stupid people will be impressed by, like the media. Yup, the media has never understood the music business, it doesn’t want to, it’s too much smoke and mirrors selling sub-literal stuff to young people with no CV. Yup, the media is built by college graduates, paying their dues, and musical stars come out of nowhere. Furthermore, everybody in the business is flashy and most are far from intellectual. Therefore, the brain dead media plays along without realizing it. Yup, all the newspapers print the sales chart, doing the music business’s work for it.

Imagine if there was no chart in the paper, popularized online, do you think we’d have these shenanigans, with ticket bundles and merch and..? Of course not, because it isn’t about the money, but the chart position, the bragging rights, and if you ain’t got those, no one cares.

Now by anybody’s standards, “Lover” made a huge impression, with the equivalent of 679,000 sales. But what are those sales made up of?

Well, you’ve got expensive physical packages at Target, feeding into the mania and fandom of the hoi polloi. These are collectibles, they’re not made to be played, these are souvenirs, merch, just like at the show. There’s a lot of profit, the numbers are high, they show dedication from hard core fans but they don’t show impact amongst everybody else.

The most important statistic re “Lover” is the streaming number.

“Lover” was streamed 226 million times! Whew, that’s impressive!

Until you realize that only qualifies Taylor for number two on this year’s chart. Yup, the biggest streaming week this year belongs to Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next,” her SECOND album this year.

Notice the difference in paradigm?

In our attention deficit world, where it’s not only hard to have an impact, but to keep that impact, you’ve got to deliver product on a regular basis, you can’t absent yourself from the scene. Sure, Taylor was in the news, but she didn’t release new music, and people moved on to something else. The scene moves so fast, that if you’re not here today, you could be gone tomorrow.

Furthermore, there’s a good chance that “Lover” won’t gain mainstream traction.

At the present moment, Taylor Swift has two tracks in the Spotify Top 20, the title track at number 7 and “You Need To Calm Down” at number 20, and both of them have a red arrow pointing downwards, as in they’re fading as opposed to rising.

A week ago, Taylor Swift dominated the Spotify Top Ten, but that’s history. Now, the track that everybody is listening to is “Circles,” by Post Malone. It has 1,729,280 daily plays, whereas “Lover” has 879,388, about half. That’s right, “Lover” is already old news.

Now in the old days, the label would try to get a radio single. Actually, during the last legs of “Reputation,” Big Machine broke one.

Then again, radio is falling, the target audience is online, which moves a hell of a lot faster and is not beholden to radio, print, or anything other than the whims of listeners.

Now despite all the hosannas over Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” the truth is most tracks no longer stay at the top, except on radio. Radio is risk averse, tracks play forever, but things move much faster online. So your only hope to stay top of mind is to release more product. Sure, every once in a while you can come up with a blockbuster that will have legs, but that’s very rare these days. People hear it, play it, and then move on very quickly. That’s the game you’ve got to analyze, not the one of a manipulated sales chart.

So, today you cannot have too much product. You cannot oversell. Your fans want you every day, as far as everybody else…they can tune you out. The truth is everybody is paying attention to themselves, not entertainment stars, who have fallen from their pedestals. Individuals are branding and selling just like artists. That’s right, the social media influencers post every day! Or at least once a week. They get the new paradigm, the music business does not.

At least not the major label/mainstream.

There’s a whole ‘nother business in falling under the radar. In these cases, it’s all about the live show, fans will go to more than one, travel, a community is created, the recordings are just part of the mix. And no one has figured out how to measure success in this area. Sure, there are ticket sales. But no one seems to pay attention to the acts that sell out 3,000 to 5,000 seaters and work 200+ days a year. These acts are truly part of their fans’ lives. They’re as underground as the acts on FM radio were in the sixties, or the indie acts of the nineties. And the music they play is rarely like that which is in the Spotify Top 50. Actually, it tends to be rock, whatever niche it might fall in. Rock is not dead on the road.

So let’s watch Swift’s streaming numbers in the future.

Or let’s not. Because we’ll be concentrating on other things.

Movies get a weekend, three weeks at best, now it’s the same with many recordings. Been there, done that, show me something new!

And don’t complain about the system, because the next thing might be yours!

So, once again, the music business is pushing the envelope. It’s no longer about sales but consumption. And live is a better experience than almost anything else. Try charging a hundred bucks for a movie! And sure, Broadway sells at a high price, but tickets were most expensive for Bruce on Broadway, isn’t that interesting.

So don’t think big. The people who are are inured to the old system do so to their detriment. Think small. You cannot reach everybody. You want to create music with lasting power. Chances are you’re best off doing it differently from everybody else. If they’re all on TMZ or Twitter, you should not be. It’s the modern version of mystery. Because now people just don’t care, only your fans do, assuming you’ve got fans.

So managers, agents and record companies are secondary to yourself. All the tools are at your fingertips. And none of the preceding entities is interested unless you’ve got a fan base, which you can build yourself online. Sure, there’s a chance you can blow up what you’ve got by working with a major label, but chances are you don’t make radio-friendly music and radio is a smaller piece of the puzzle every day. The majors control less of the music business than ever before. They’re fighting over scraps, and losing market share.

We live in an indie world.

We also live in a world of disinformation.

The only two statistics that count are streams and ticket sales. Work on those numbers as opposed to the fictitious ones paraded by “Billboard”‘s bogus chart.