“Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others.”

Don Passman
Taylor Swift’s Attorney Says Singer Never Had a Chance to ‘Outright’ Buy Back Her Masters From Big Machine

Horseshit. EVERYTHING’S FOR SALE!

That’s like saying you couldn’t go on a date because the girl didn’t ask you. Make an offer, see what they say!

I’m sick and tired of Taylor Swift playing the aggrieved party. It’s like Bill Gates complaining he was ripped-off, or Mark Zuckerberg. What’s the end game here? How can you win?

Then again, who are Swift and her team playing to? Insiders or outsiders?

The publicity was just dying down, and now Passman threw some gasoline on the fire, keeping it burning longer than it should, embedding this fracas in people’s brains. Some of this is Star 101. Where’s the manager? Oh, that’s right, Taylor manages herself, to her detriment, she needs an outside opinion, because she certainly can’t see the forest for the trees.

It’s about long term, not short. It’s about being likable. The last thing you want to do is piss people off, then it’s a press story, and the press lives for kerfuffles, it sells ads!

Insiders are ignoring Passman’s statement. Because they can see right through it. Suddenly knowledgeable enough to not respond, Taylor sent in her second. Come on, if Passman wanted to weigh in he would have days ago. As for Scooter’s seconds, they made statements nearly instantaneously. And the truth is Braun has more credibility than Swift. She’s gonna fade, he seems to always be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Hell, if you’re a young act, he’s one of the first you call, because he’s closer to your age and has had success. That’s the truth, too many of the great managers are long in the tooth, and the best and the brightest of the youth have shied away from the music business because it doesn’t generate enough cash. And do you really want to sign with a conglomerate like Red Light or Artist Nation, where you get lost in the shuffle working for the man? They call it PERSONAL management, and that’s what an artist wants most, personal treatment, if they don’t believe they’re number one in your stable, they move on, especially if they’re superstars.

Insiders know the score. With internet success you can make any deal you want. Labels don’t sign anything unless you prove it first online, and this gives you leverage. You can license the music, whatever your lawyer can negotiate. Sure, some people take the cash, some people think long term, but it’s the artist’s call. The artist has gained power in the twenty first century. Sure, recording revenue may have gone down, but not only is it now going up, you can make the music and put it online for essentially nothing! Of course, the landscape is littered with the work of wannabes, but that’s what happens with democratization.

And if you’ve got enough money and make an offer, you’ll find you can buy nearly anything. If you play in this game, especially in L.A., you know someone who had no intention of selling their house and then a buyer came along and asked for the owner’s fantasy price and the buyer met it!

Furthermore, EVERYBODY on the inside knew Big Machine was for sale. But Swift didn’t want to pay for it, she felt she was owed the masters emotionally, she’d paid her dues. But that’s like being the best customer at Tiffany and walking in and insisting you own the store, with no additional money paid. Or that everyone who ever made a bad deal gets a do-over. No, that’s why you have a team, a manager and a lawyer, so you don’t get screwed!

And irrelevant of the sale, Taylor should have stayed at Big Machine anyway. Never underestimate the power of being a big fish in a little pond. Swift’s music had to be successful at Big Machine, it’s their crown jewel. But Monty’s got a bunch of superstars, from the Weeknd to Ariana Grande to Shawn Mendes, and a bunch of stars too, like Florence and the Machine and the Jonas Brothers. Republic doesn’t need Swift to hit, as long as something hits, Monty comes up to bat regularly.

But not Borchetta, who built Taylor. And irrelevant of how the money was split, Borchetta did break her, never underestimate his efforts.

So Passman speaks and the Swifties are satiated. But these are the same people who will never abandon Team Swift. Then again, Team Swift is leaking members. As any act does after it’s past its peak. You can’t dominate forever. Own it. Or reinvent yourself.

This is what the music business has come to. There’s not an act out there with this kind of mindshare. The story has been covered everywhere, from the “New York Times” to “Billboard” to social media. We’re hungry for something to sink our teeth into. And we know it won’t be Swift’s new album “Lover.” Madonna was always a sly manipulator, it’s not like one day she said she’d let men take advantage of her. She was consistent. Swift was the hater, reacting to every perceived insult to the point where her thin skin was a joke, to the point where she couldn’t let anything roll off her back. And it’s not like Howard Stern, who went to therapy and changed his outlook, it’s just the same b.s. again and again. Swift a lover? What’s next, Trump best friends with Nancy Pelosi?

Leopards don’t change their spots, and it appears Taylor Swift doesn’t either.

The truth is most people just don’t care. And by keeping the story alive Swift is burning out many more, by appearing the narcissist who always plays the victim.

You want to make it about the music.

But suddenly it’s about Swift’s antics. Kinda like Charlie Sheen. Who lost his mind and was the train-wreck of all time for a few months, he even did live dates, but woke up one day and discovered he’d lost his television gig and couldn’t get another that paid anywhere near as much. Now Charlie is just a footnote. Keep acting this way Taylor, and you’ll be one too.

In my mind I can’t study war no more

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, whether to be freaked out or just let it pass.

But our long national nightmare will not be over even if a Democrat is elected President. You see there is gerrymandering, a Republican Supreme Court, and red states that are strictly red, in all branches of government.

Yet the Democrats are arguing amongst themselves, moderates rallying around a tired old man who will never be elected king when the truth is we need impassioned lefties to make our nation be aware of what’s at stake.

What’s at stake if you’re rich?

Not much. You can buy your way inside. If you’re smart, you’re not on social media and no one knows who you are as you fly in your private jet and live behind the walls at your numerous residences. For every Koch brother, there are tons of wealthy people who believe they can never be touched.

But you call this class warfare.

Actually, I just went on foxnews.com, and they don’t even mention Trump’s shenanigans on the Fourth.

That’s right, he’s gonna speak. There are gonna be flybys. There are gonna be tanks. And if you’re a VIP you sit right up front, to avoid hecklers getting close.

The “Wall Street Journal” told the story, but believe me, the rank and file Republicans don’t read that paper behind a paywall. All they know is they want a return to what once was, even though it wasn’t that good to begin with, when the truth is the future is being made every day and if you don’t change, you’re gonna be left behind.

But I get it. The elites changed the game and you didn’t get a vote. They call it globalization. And now all you can do is work in an un-air conditioned Amazon warehouse so wankers can get their products immediately.

Bread and circuses. We’ve got smartphones, we’ve got YouTube and Netflix and the public is so deep into its respective rabbit holes that it doesn’t know what’s going on.

Meanwhile, Trump is the biggest rock star out there, making news every day, staying in the public eye. Maybe that’s why rock stars are dead, you can’t record a hit song every day, but somehow Trump manages to. Music is relegated to the background, it’s so Balkanized that no one could sing the same song at a protest.

But that’s what we need.

We’ve got to protest where they can see us. We’ve got to make news. We’ve got to have our story heard.

We did last week, at the debates. And what did we hear? The game is rigged, the little people need help, health care, and what was the blowback? The establishment saying it can’t be done, scaring the populace into retreating, but is this so?

This is a music paradigm. The sound changes, it never stays static.

And neither does the world.

In the sixties, the military and the police were the enemy.

Today they’re vaunted kings. Hell, you can’t go to a public event without people paying fealty to the military, it’s the new American flag pin. But do you think they do this around the world? Of course not, because of coups, because of military abuse. The military is one step away from taking power, just look at history.

And there’s a canard that Democracy will survive. Why? it’s not doing so well in the rest of the world. What we’ve got is isolationism and strongmen. Who promise to make it all right and then end up consolidating power and ruling. Can you say Putin? He just declared the age of liberalism was dead, and he’s Trump’s best friend, a guy who couldn’t possibly have meddled in our election.

Up is down and down is up.

Maybe we need a draft. If your ass was on the line, where Trump keeps placing our troops, you’d be questioning these activities. No one wants to see their kid killed. But we keep lauding women in the military. Cool, a woman can do what a man does, but why would anybody want to be trained as a fighting machine? Especially in an era where the threat comes from technology, not brute force. If Trump really wanted to have a parade, he’d get all the denizens from Silicon Valley to come to D.C. and walk the streets, they’re the ones who’ve delivered what the people want, what’s making their lives so good.

Oh, that’s right, the bros in San Francisco have run ragged over our nation. And I’ll admit online abuse is an issue. Facebook and Instagram and Twitter have to set limits. But truly, are any of these outlets a bigger problem than Fox News? NO!

You’ve got to understand, we no longer have a national news source. Trump is the only person covered by both sides. It’s all Trump all the time. And the right reports and its audience is hypnotized and the left calls out the faux pas and nothing changes. It’d be like being the parent of a child and noting their misbehavior and expecting them to change without taking action. At some point you’ve got to delve in and do the hard work.

But no one wants to, they’re stars, on Instagram! Or, they’re too busy playing Fortnite. It’s the new American Dream, I’ll post on social media, become an influencer and get rich! But the odds are about as good as Powerball. Then again, lotteries are a tax on the poor. The poor are ripped-off and taken advantage of in this country day in and day out. But their spending keeps the economy humming. That’s right, everybody needs food and clothing and a roof over their head. Our country runs on public spending. But somehow it’s the corporations, the rich, who are our benefactors. You can invent a brilliant video game, but if no one plays it, no one buys the virtual tchotchkes, you’re screwed.

I know, I know, it’s been the same story for two and a half years, you’re used to it.

But that’s just what they want. To numb you into inaction.

Trump acts unilaterally and the Democrats in the House move at the pace of a snail, via the legal system, protesting when things don’t go their way, afraid of pissing anybody off. Trump doesn’t roll that way. He does whatever he wants. The fear is if the Democrats impeach Trump, he’ll win again. But this is just the behavior that is sealing the deal. In tech, no one wants a ten year old product, never mind one from the eighties or nineties. But somehow, the establishment believes Biden is the answer. That’s right, let’s all go back to Netscape, on AOL! On our big box computers, with their terrible color screens. That’s anathema, so why is Joe so great?

But not only is the right selling fear, but so is the left. The left is paralyzed, but AOC showed that change can be instant. I don’t care whether you like her or not, the truth is she came from nowhere on her own truth and is now one of the most powerful and famous people in America. Take that DNC, take that music industry!

And this is what entertainers don’t understand. AOC ain’t rich, she’s only selling her brain, her ideas, her credibility. But everyone in entertainment is selling out, trying to to get rich, but believe me, they can never be as rich as the ruling class. You’ve missed the plot if you think it’s about money.

So July Fourth will come and go, you’ll forget about what happens in D.C. and move on. But ever hear of a cumulative effect?

All over the world, in Hong Kong, Istanbul, Prague, people are standing up against authoritarianism.

But we believe it can’t happen here.

But it can.

Save the people
Save the children
Save the country
NOW!

“Save The Country”
Laura Nyro

None of the innovation is in rock.

Today’s big story is “Oasis,” the collaboration between J Balvin and Bad Bunny. Actually, it was released on Friday, but mainstream media doesn’t work that fast, it cannot be surprised. There’s a reason politicians dump news on a weekend. But today, all the news outlets are writing about it.

“Oasis” is thirty minutes long. Actually, thirty minutes and thirty six seconds, i.e. 30:36. It contains eight tracks. By pre-CD standards, that’s an album. But today they call it an EP.

Just like Lil Nas X’s “7,” released the previous Friday, it’s an EP all of eighteen minutes and forty four seconds in length, 18:44, and it has eight cuts, not one of them even three minutes long. And Lil Nas X has got the biggest track of the year in “Old Town Road” which is 1:53. And the shorter the song, the more times it is streamed, assuming it’s a hit, and the more money you make.

The format affects the music. The bloat of the seventies, the free format experimentation is gone.

And so is the bloat of the CD. We ended up with CDs with nearly eighty minutes of music, a triple album by old standards. Without multiple sides with opening and closing cuts you needed to pay attention to. On CDs, everybody puts their best material first, because listeners may never get to the end.

How come Latin and hip-hop artists are up-to-date, and everybody else is behind? You’ve got to roll with the changes.

So, if streaming is your game, if that’s how you make coin, make it short. And if you’ve got a fan base, if you’ve got something interesting to say, say it often.

But there’s more than that.

The big time music business is still running like a monoculture, when that’s no longer the case. They’re employing the 1980’s MTV model, when today is more like the 1960’s FM model.

That’s right, in the sixties there were two radio bands. AM was for the evanescent hits, FM was for the real musicians.

That’s what’s happening today.

If you read the chart and have no idea what these records are, and when you spin them you don’t care, join the club.

That’s what the execs are missing. That the penumbra is bigger than the center. It’s driven primarily by live as opposed to recordings, then again, in an era where everybody wants an experience, live is where it’s at.

The big hit tracks are fodder for the body.

The penumbra tracks are fodder for the soul.

But those in the penumbra are unable to play the game. What broke those FM acts of yore into superstars? HITS!

A hit is not just something that gets played on radio, it’s really something that you hear once, maybe twice, and cannot get out of your head, since it makes you feel so good, touches you so.

Yesterday you had to go out and buy it, or listen to the radio ad infinitum to hear it, but today tracks are just a click away.

But the audience is looking for entry points.

Too many of today’s artists can get ink, but don’t deliver hits.

“Dear Mr. Fantasy” was never played on AM, but it’s more iconic than most of the stuff that was. Same deal with “Purple Haze.”

Then again, “Sunshine of Your Love” crossed over, Cream became so big they disbanded. Only insiders talked to me about “Disraeli Gears.” But once it came to “Goodbye,” everybody was clued-in. That’s the issue, how do you break out of the backwater into the mainstream?

Not by putting out endless CDs every couple of years and bitching about the system. Nothing sticks today unless it’s a hit. So you’re better off focusing on that one hit.

And Steve Winwood had a great voice. Jimi Hendrix’s was serviceable, and he was one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Jack Bruce’s vocals were iconic, and need we testify as to the talents of one Eric Clapton?

James Taylor had “Fire and Rain.”

What does Wilco have?

I mention the band not because I have anything against it, but I’ve yet to find a single track since “Being There” that is a one listen smash, that you can play for anybody and they’ll get it.

So much of what’s promoted is just not good enough.

Furthermore, today no one likes everything. But you can grow your niche to where it’s got a huge footprint, and is very profitable.

But you’ve got to embrace the new tools.

Used to be, when you bought music, you played it because you laid your cash down.

Today, if a track doesn’t grab you in a matter of seconds, you’re out. Don’t blame short attention spans, you’re competing against all entertainment media in history, you’ve got to be just that good.

And the rules are changed all the time. No one expected “Money” to dominate on AM and for “Dark Side of the Moon” to be one of the biggest sellers of all time, no one expected it to continue to sell!

And prog was a sideshow until Emerson, Lake and Palmer cut “Lucky Man” and Yes cut “Roundabout.” The former was in the mold of traditional ballads, the latter was such a revelation you heard it and became instantly intrigued.

I know these are all old records. But that era was the last time music truly drove the culture, when it was the most important art form.

Since then it’s oftentimes been about money.

But that’s business, the greats talk about art.

So it’s your call. Forget if the big boys don’t want to play in your backwater. You can still make it. But you’ve got to embrace the new tools. With a constant parade of content. Not huge chunks, but bite-sized ones. Play to your fans, not the population at large, they’ll spread the word if you deliver something worth spreading.
And that’s always the hit.

Mine is Roxy Music’s “Avalon.”

“Lefsetz Live,” Tuesday July 2nd, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

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

Twitter: @lefsetz

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