EMBRACE NEW PLATFORMS

The younger generation is online all the time…how else will they connect with their peers? And the younger generation is all about new platforms. Oldsters are on Facebook, you can’t find anybody under twenty who uses that platform. So take the temperature of the younger set, see where they play, and go there. Furthermore, today it’s less about the star than the listener. TikTok works because it’s about the user, not the maker of the original music. This is a sea change in consumption and word of mouth. Oftentimes songs are just a vehicle to make the listeners famous!

WORK THE OLD MEDIA

Which is asleep. Believe me, none of the oldster reporters is living on TikTok, you’ve got to tell them what’s going on online. Unless it’s war, stories always start online. The story in this case was that “Old Town Road” was rejected by “Billboard”‘s country chart makers. Forget that that chart means little, it’s all about radio airplay in country, and Mediabase rules, but suddenly it was a story of us vs. them, of black vs. white, of racial equality, of bias. The truth is this was untrue. Country radio was unaware of “Old Town Road” and the decision at “Billboard” was made willy-nilly, it’s not like they convened the editors to make a judgment. But this story appealed to the mainstream press, and got universal traction, as people on all sides of the issue debated it. It wasn’t about the record, but the CONCEPT! In other words, with a publicity stunt, Lil Nas X and his team surfed the zeitgeist…and people had to listen to the track in order to make a judgment. And the hardest thing to do today is to get attention, listens, and this PR stunt delivered that. But don’t repeat it exactly, it won’t work, just like acts tried to replicate Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” promotion, with its name your own price feature. The key is to know that stunts still work, but you’ve got to get one with a hook, that’s a twist on what came before to succeed. And the more people who try stunts, the fewer that succeed.

KEEP THE STORY ALIVE

This is where the remixes come in. In the age of cacophony, where everybody is deep into their own rabbit hole, not only is it hard to break through, it’s hard to keep it alive, even though tracks last longer than ever. And the reason they last longer than ever is radio wants familiarity, and they stick with that which delivers ears, i.e. ratings. Radio loves playing the remixes of a hit, and they’re always a story online. And getting Billy Ray Cyrus to do the first was a masterstroke. A has-been country novelty act with nothing to lose was willing to sell out and say and do anything for attention, which hit country acts probably wouldn’t have done.

MAKE IT ABOUT STATISTICS

17 weeks at number one? WHERE? “Panini” ranks higher than “Old Town Road” on Spotify. You have to get to #17 until you find the Billy Ray Cyrus remix. And it’s #13 on the Mediabase Top Forty chart, which is the bible of the format. No one is vetting these figures, they’re just deferring to “Billboard” with its formulas that make no sense. With their weighting and… But everybody’s #1 somewhere, some obscure chart, maybe in their bedroom, and in a world with few fact-checkers, you can trumpet this before anybody catches up with it! Yes, “Old Town Road” is #1 at the iTunes Store, but that’s almost like being #1 on the SACD chart. Track sales represent an infinitesimal sliver of consumption, why are they weighted so high? No real music fan buys anymore, it makes no sense when you can get everything for ten bucks a month anyway, and the compressed sound is a far cry from high fidelity. Tell someone, anyone, that a track is #1 on the iTunes chart and they’ll shrug, maybe laugh, because that’s a passe backwater. But “Billboard” anointed “Old Town Road” and there’s a story about the track going #1 for seventeen weeks in all media outlets. Not to mention that #1 isn’t what it used to be anyway. Comparing Lil Nas X to the Beatles is like comparing your flag football team to the Patriots.

MAJOR LABELS

If you’re a one hit wonder, best to align with a major that can spend all the money to do remixes and pound the pundits/writers. They’ve got the money and the power.

CONCLUSION

“Old Town Road” itself is nearly irrelevant. Yes, it shows the power of TikTok, but the track isn’t even as ubiquitous as “Macarena” in terms of mindshare in the public at large. “Macarena” was all over TV…today kids don’t even watch broadcast/cable TV. Active viewers employ on demand streaming services, and they don’t even watch the same thing! Ratings of TV shows are a fraction of what they used to be, even “Stranger Things” and “Game of Thrones.” So to say something is #1 today…usually means almost nothing.

And speaking of #1 I’d say we need new charts, but the charts are already there. We’ve got streaming, sales and radio. Three charts of three different stripes. Radio is behind streaming and sometimes never catches up. “Billboard” has Blanco Brown’s “The Git Up” as the #1 country track and in the Mediabase Country chart…IT DOESN’T EVEN APPEAR!

And you wonder why music doesn’t move the culture like it used to.

The truth is there’s no consensus. Oftentimes what is hyped has a relatively tiny footprint, and if looky-loos check it out they don’t like it, and they check out less new stuff.

One could say that music is a harbinger for media consumption, but you could also say the industry is in a race to the bottom. The majors only want to promote narrow genres of music that many people don’t like and the reporting on the industry is clueless.

And you wonder why people don’t pay attention.

Rhymes with “Orange Julius,” at least according to the Beastie Boys! George produced the Black Crowes’s “Shake Your Money Maker” (and “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion”!) and he’s the music supervisor of choice for Ben Stiller, and he’s worked on films as varied as “The Hangover” and “Frances Ha.” George is a great conversationalist, listen!

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This is why Republicans win and Democrats lose.

Did Republicans tell Trump his wall was a fantasy, that Mexico wouldn’t pay for it? Are they even countering his claim that China will pay the tariffs? NO! Because they’re united, all in the name of victory. Just ask Moscow Mitch. He keeps his troops in line. As a result the Supreme Court is controlled by Republicans. And there you have it, the most powerful man in the country is Mitch McConnell, and his wishes are enforced by the kangaroo court known as Supreme.

EVERYBODY, and I mean EVERYBODY, knows that Medicare for All is presently a pipe dream. It ain’t gonna happen right away, no chance, even if Democrats control both houses of Congress, which they won’t. But not only the other candidates, but the media, can’t stop attacking Sanders and Warren over this. The truth is people are afraid of change, and Bernie and Elizabeth are right, that insurance companies are built on not paying, just like Vegas is built on losers. If they paid out, they’d go out of business!

Of course Bernie and Elizabeth are right about health care, but it’s gonna take a while for the Luddites in America to be convinced. Furthermore, just like in Canada and the U.K., there will be private policies for those who can afford them. Hell, it happened in Canada because of a lawsuit, which would probably win in the U.S. too, all in the name of freedom.

And with your present private policy, you don’t get service, and you can’t see any doctor you want, you’re closed out from specialists, and this is what you want to maintain?

Ain’t that America, where everybody’s afraid of losing something, worried about slipping down the pole when the truth is the corporations and the rich are pulling the strings and laughing behind your back.

And ever since Judith Miller, we know the media is in cahoots with the politicos/power. Hell, check how much those CNN anchors make! As for the people at the papers, they get access, which is no different from being in the music business and getting free concert tickets. The perks are cash, sometimes taxable, but the IRS has been hobbled to the point where it can’t collect.

So you get two candidates standing up for the people and they get EXCORIATED! Sanders and Warren keep making points how the game is rigged, which Trump won on, and they keep getting blowback from those who control the game. The same people who called the 2016 election wrong. Do you think these TV talking heads or opiners in papers actually know the electorate? Of course not! They want to hang in the Vineyard or Nantucket as opposed to Mississippi or the burned-out burgs across this country. This is what income inequality has wrought. An elite completely out of touch with the rank and file.

Trump convinced people he was on their side, that he would fight for them.

And what does the media keep on saying about Sanders and Warren, the only two candidates truly leading the charge for the people? THEY’RE TOO RADICAL!

Sure, it’s a process, winnowing out the losers, the wannabes. But it’s already over, eliminate everybody but Warren and Sanders and Buttigieg and Biden and Harris. But just like in kiddie soccer, no one can be left out, no one can be told they’re a loser, everybody has got to get a trophy.

And the media doesn’t like it that the envelope-pushing ideas of Bernie and Elizabeth are not their own, even though left-leaning websites are all over these issues. Steve Bannon was recruited by Trump to speak to the right wing base and what happened? HE GOT ELECTED!

So let’s narrow it down to the real candidates and pick a winner early and get behind them. BUT NO! Even if Sanders or Warren gets the nomination, the left wing press will criticize them and amplify the opinions of others who do so too. The right unites and the left splinters. The Squad speaks to the youth, who will inherit the earth, and all Pelosi can say is they’ve got no followers. Huh?

Speaking of followers, the most powerful people amongst the youth are the social media influencers. Today it’s about a following, an audience, Trump knows this, he’s got zillions of Twitter followers and he uses his platform regularly.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are lost in the last century, believing it’s all about TV news and newspapers. Meanwhile, the younger generation partakes of neither. It’s all about on demand, when you want it. No wonder they’re disillusioned and don’t vote, NO ONE IS SPEAKING TO THEM!

But then you’ve got the old students of the game, triangulating, not realizing the game has CHANGED! Trump started a revolution and the Democrats want to counter it by saying they’re oppressed. Yeah…

You fight fire with fire. When they go low, you go low.

And no one was ever excited about the status quo. Which is always overthrown, have you heard of digital disruption?

It’s a battle of ideas, and right now the right is winning, because the left is paralyzed. And it keeps shooting its leaders, with good ideas. And lionizing those who broke the economy, and the regular people know it! That’s right, the media keeps trumpeting the efforts, the lifestyle, the RICHES of the titans, the bankers and the CEOs. Bernie and Elizabeth say they’ve got no loyalty to the U.S., working for multinational entities, hell, the rich stash their money elsewhere, and the media says DON’T UPSET THE APPLE CART!

There’s so much wrong with this country. The pay of CEOs, the low taxes on private equity and capital gains. And you find someone who augurs for change, who wants to lead the charge, and what do they keep on hearing…THEY CAN’T DO IT!

The same thing all agents of change have heard throughout history.

CDs are better than files and streaming.

Movies are better on the big screen.

Electric cars are a pipe dream.

Do you hear the younger generation saying ANY of these? No, it was the younger generation that was ahead of the game. The Wall Streeters see Tesla as a business, the youngsters see it as a huge leap forward, they want it to win, they don’t want to live in a world killed by carbon emissions.

Just kick it down the road. Have no dreams. KILL DREAMS!

If you don’t think Bernie and Elizabeth can win, you don’t know this country, not at all.

But their odds will increase if all you Trump-haters will get in line and fight for change.

Never in the history of the country has a party platform been enacted in its entirety. Never has a President delivered everything he’s promised. Why in hell are Sanders and Warren being held to a different standard?

Because the media and the fat cats don’t want them to win. They don’t want to admit society has changed and they’re losing power.

He not busy being born is busy dying.

P.S. As for taxes going up to pay for Medicare for All… OF COURSE THEY WILL, but you won’t have to pay for private health care insurance, it’s a net win, did everybody fail elementary math? But the Republicans have labeled all taxes as bad, so anything that resembles one must be quashed immediately, irrelevant of the benefit, irrelevant of the net positive. And yup, Bernie and Elizabeth were right, CNN, labeled as leftist by the Republicans every day, is carrying the Republicans’ water for them!

Delivery trumps ideas.

This is why Roger Ailes was so powerful. He realized politics was show business. Fox was exciting to watch, irrelevant of the content. He didn’t necessarily put on the best talent, but the talent that would interest and intrigue the viewers most. Megyn Kelly was a superstar on Fox, she was a failure on NBC. And speaking of show business, why in the hell was this debate so long? At the end, the only people watching were reporters. Who will then frame the issues for the public, oftentimes incorrectly.

Give Bernie Sanders credit for pushing back on the questioners. That’s right, they were taking Republican talking points, putting the candidates on the defensive. It’s time for Democrats to lead.

But first they must be stars.

Talk to any big time music exec. Talent is abundant, but is the act a STAR? Don’t forget they call it show BUSINESS, which means it’s all about selling, and if people don’t buy, you’re toast.

Like my buddy John Hickenlooper. His delivery was execrable, his speech was halting. Whereas Marianne Williamson evidenced some kind of weird charisma, you can see why she became a cult hero, not that her campaign will have any legs.

The process started with a presentation by Steve Bullock. He was totally together, he delivered the best introductory speech. But as the show, and it was a show, wore on, there was something off about him. His fake smile bugged me, but Felice nailed it, he was CONDESCENDING! You’ve got to be likable first and foremost.

Buttigieg hesitated, like he didn’t have his coffee. What he had to say was good, his closing speech was one of the best, but he never delivered that energy, he didn’t seem ready for prime time.

Bernie?

Bernie’s a rock star. The only problem is rock is dead. What are the odds that Bruce Springsteen will have a number one pop single today? NONEXISTENT! Times have changed, even if Springsteen has not. That’s always a question, whether you change with the times, but in music if you move towards what’s popular, you undercut your credibility, your hard core fans abandon you, you end up in purgatory, waiting for the next hit, which might never come.

Bernie’s act is not new. He broke in 2016. Like Elvis Costello. Someone unknown who arrived fully-formed selling a new and different product. Sure, Bernie was around forever, so maybe he’s more like the local band that makes it big, after thousands of gigs. This is why Buttigieg failed, he hasn’t been in the game long enough. And the system worked against Bernie in 2016, the DNC wanted Hillary. Bernie was FM when the DNC wanted AM.

But now everybody’s on FM. And this is what the DNC does not understand.

If Bernie is long in the tooth, if we’ve seen his act, Elizabeth Warren is totally new, it’s the first time around for her. If she doesn’t get the nomination and tries to run in 2024, it won’t work, timing is everything, and her time is NOW!

Forget about Kamala. She attacked Biden and when you got down to the nitty gritty of busing, it was complicated and it turned out Kamala and Biden were pretty much on the same page. Kamala is like Katy Perry. She can deliver someone else’s hits, she’s got the seasoning, but deep down inside there is NOTHING!

Of course I’m exaggerating, but never forget, this nomination battle is basically a cartoon, where you put forth an exaggerated image of yourself.

As for Biden… He’s like an oldies act from the fifties. Old people might be interested in reliving the past, young people don’t even know who he is!

Times have changed. And only Bernie and Elizabeth are acknowledging it with star power.

As for everybody else… Who cared what they had to say, it was delivered so poorly. Klobuchar’s act might work in Minnesota, but it’s not ready for prime time, not with a national audience. Ditto on Delaney, who inhabits a charisma-free zone. You want nothing to do with him. He resembles nothing so much as the fat cat businessmen making deals behind closed doors…WHICH HE USED TO BE!

So after delivery, after star power, it comes down to vision..

Bernie told us what was wrong, but his perspective was not cohesive, he’d attack the wrongdoers, but would he give us hope, would we be able to believe in him?

It always comes down to hope. I mention for the umpteenth time the movie “Milk.” Milk killed his opponent in the debate for state office, but his opponent wasn’t worried, he told Milk he would lose because he offered no hope!

Elizabeth Warren offers hope.

Yup, she’s won the nomination, it’s over.

Bernie and she are flip sides of the same coin. It’s just that she’s younger and fresher and can articulate her position better. She’s got experience fighting the bad guys, and she’s gonna do it again! Watching her you have no doubt she’s on your side.

Mayor Pete had one thing right…it’s about excitement. And we haven’t had that spirit here for a very long time.

It’s like the Dems in power don’t understand that new people are being born every day, they think they know everything and will rule forever, but this is patently untrue. The young ‘uns are ready for their seat at the table.

And the truth is all sides are sick of D.C. Not only the paralysis, but the business as usual, the belief that it’s a club for career politicos in cahoots with fat cat corporations. Unless you’re fighting this, you will get no traction.

What I loved about Warren, and Bernie too, is they did not back down. Oh, it’d be so easy, when wankers like Tom Friedman, married to a zillionaire himself, are worried about Medicare for All. Do you want to solve the problem or do you want to remain in the quagmire? That’s the question both Bernie and Elizabeth are asking.

Only the fat cats working their union jobs, those who have theirs already, are worried about Medicare for All. But the truth is there are no unions for gig workers. The Republicans eviscerated unions and then Bill Clinton moved right, especially on welfare, doing what was expedient as opposed to what was right, and that’s how we ended up here.

You’ve got to believe in something. Everybody does. But not in politicians.

That’s what Trump had right. He knew it was show business, he knew the game was rigged, and he promised to upset the apple cart. Forget the white supremacy, forget his faux pas as President, ASK WHAT GOT HIM ELECTED!

Trump reinvented the game, proffered a solution, and as a result the Democrats didn’t win.

Oh, don’t tell me that Hillary got more votes, who cares, it’s about the Electoral College!

You don’t beat Trump by tearing him down, but by putting forth an alternative path, a plan, which Warren has dozens of.

And their content is secondary to the fact that she’s done the hard work, she’s ready to go for it, she’s prepared, as opposed to Tim Ryan, who looked like he took the wrong door onto the stage! He was like a deer in the headlights, why in the hell did he think he could become President?

Stars are both born and made. But the ones who are born are always bigger. And if you start with someone with the raw material and then give them a push…the sky’s the limit!

But all the tried and true Democrats can do is tear Bernie and Elizabeth down. Like the wannabes hating online, they wish they were there instead, but they weren’t willing to do the hard work and lay it all on the line.

And the biggest, most successful musical stars are always those on the bleeding edge with rough edges. Come on, you’ve got to give Billie Eilish credit for wearing baggy clothing when every pop star has a fashion line. She doesn’t want to be categorized, looked at that way, and that resonates with the rank and file, and the rank and file are everything. Don’t forget the pundits and insiders only get one vote apiece, yours is just as powerful, and their main goal is to keep their jobs, that supersedes doing them. And once you’re in the club, it’s hard to get rid of you. So now we’ve got outsiders like Sanders and Warren and the club doesn’t like it, they’re bullying them!

But all opinion writers and pundits can do is point out flaws, they’re not in the vision business.

But Bernie and Elizabeth are, and that’s what the PUBLIC wants!

It’s not so difficult if you understand the game. All those experienced governors and congresspeople on stage… They did not even realize they weren’t ready for prime time, they didn’t even realize they weren’t stars. They were like the people moving to L.A. to make it and then finding out how hard that is. You’ve got to look good, make relationships, and when you get your chance, YOU DELIVER!

And only four people did that tonight.

There’s Bullock, who should have shut up after his opening number. He’s too fake, too old school, and that’s over. Middle of the road has no longevity.

And Williamson is just too far out there. She has no constituency.

So it comes down to Bernie and Elizabeth.

And it’s Elizabeth Warren’s time. She was emphatic, she was not mealy-mouthed, she owned her positions, she bit back… Remind you of someone? TRUMP! Only Warren’s style is more endearing and she’s more experienced and right.

Don’t tell me it’s about male and female. Once you’ve GOT the star power, it’s about the record, the substance. And if you don’t deliver a hit, fuhgeddaboudit.

Springsteen got no traction on his first two albums. But then he gained converts at concerts, he got buzz, and then he delivered…BORN TO RUN!

Warren is making hit records.

Everybody else is just resting on their laurels.

Never forget, you reinvent the game to work for you!

And losers don’t want this.

And the Republicans will poke holes and the Dems will shoot each other.

But if there’s one clear leader, who gets hearts and minds?

They can’t be beat.