It’s a race to quality, driven by technology, why haven’t we had a concomitant race in music?

Music is far ahead of television technologically, the disruption has already happened and you can get the history of recorded music at a number of outlets, i.e. Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Deezer…

But the music being purveyed is absolutely dreadful. It hasn’t been this bad since before the Beatles. And now we know what it was like before the Fab Four…music was just another industry, necessary, but not exciting. Why is this?

If you study the Emmy nominations, you’ll be confronted by one thing…the networks were almost completely cut out. That’s right, despite crowing to advertising agencies that they’re the best place to reach the largest audience, however small, the shows on the networks garner little attention and are not respected. They’re middle of the road and not edgy. They’re ignored in the cultural conversation. Some people might actually watch them, but no one talks about them.

But they talk about “Game of Thrones,” the biggest cultural event of the year.

Sure, a lot of people watched “Game of Thrones,” but everybody was talking about it! And they were not talking about the penumbra, but the essence, the show itself. When people talk about today’s music, it’s mostly about the feuds and the money.

And the money is what it comes down to.

You see the various TV outlets are fighting for eyeballs. They’re playing a game of musical chairs. How many services will you ultimately pay for?

Now we had this excitement in music back at the turn of the century, they called it Napster, when not only could you acquire all those hits for free, but a ton of stuff that was never commercially available.

Needless to say, the majors and the antique artists tried to tamp down file-trading to preserve the past, fearing the future.

And one thing was for sure, money was drying up in recorded music.

That’s what is driving the television revolution, money. Netflix is spending billions on shows, running in the red so it can win in the end, at least hopefully. AT&T purchased Time Warner and it’s injecting cash to play too. Hell, Richard Plepler, HBO’s guru, departed because the new owner wanted more production!

And the producers?

They’re living in a fantasyland. There’s cash for almost every project, especially if you’re a star. That script in your drawer, your passion project, you can find a sponsor for that now.

But in recorded music, the cash went the other way, half the revenue was lost, and therefore investment is low and so are the offerings. The majors sign less and invest less, and they’re not searching for quality, but cash, right away.

But the live business is burgeoning, that’s where all the investment in music is today. We have a slew of festivals, actually too many, this replicates the TV streaming wars. The customer is eager. He or she who comes up with something different can tour forever, whereas the hit dependent…are hit dependent.

So it’s not a complete loss.

But we’ve still got that quality issue in music.

Jimmy Fallon has great ratings, is constantly discussed in the media, but he got no nominations, whereas competitors like Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, John Oliver and James Corden did. Even Jimmy Kimmel got one, never mind the ratings leader Stephen Colbert. Turns out safe is sorry. Today people want edgy, limit-testing, but we don’t see that in popular music.

And if you’re new and different and good, you gain attention. Almost no one talks to me about Amazon shows, but they do about “Mrs. Maisel,” which is a juggernaut. It’s unique, and not even that great, but when it resonates…like the episodes in the Catskills, you feel all warm inside, you can’t get this anywhere else.

And “Ozark” was nominated. I could watch “Ozark” every day, even if it slipped a bit this season. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney are so good, they’re a marvel to look at, as well as Julia Garner who plays Ruth.

And “Killing Eve” and “Fleabag,” actually another Amazon show, are constantly talked about, and have traction, when was the last time you found yourself discussing a record?

And I still can’t figure out the end of “Russian Doll,” but I’m watching it.

So where is our golden age of music?

In the last century.

We’re shooting low.

And it’s all about the Benjamins. You hear about sponsorships, tie-ins, proving that acts gravitate to the cash.

And those without money can’t stop bitching they don’t have it.

Maybe a TV show about the industry would be better than the music, the haves versus the have-nots. And the heroes? They would be those going their own way, according to their own mind, not playing by the rules.

This is how every great triumphed in the music world. It wasn’t just songs, but arrangements thereof, instrumentation, the sound… From the Beatles to Dylan to Jimi Hendrix to Led Zeppelin to Yes to Culture Club to…

To what?

P.S. Julia Garner is a bigger breakout star than anybody in music. Because she radiates talent. Remember talent?

Emmy nominations

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This is where Trump wins. This is how he got elected.

Who would predict he would defend his heinous, racist remarks? I figured he’d just let his statements float off into the ether.

Instead, he doubled down.

What the left doesn’t realize is it’s established a line, a third-rail, on so many subjects, that those not in the club of the offended are scratching their heads and saying HUH?

There are so many words, so many descriptions, that you cannot say.

There are so many protected minorities.

And this is how the left gets in trouble.

Like with the Oberlin case. Which got star treatment on the right, but has barely been mentioned on the left.

A black man gets arrested for stealing in a local bakery and the Oberlin mob agitates and protests against the establishment, causing the school to take action, canceling contracts, and then the bakery sues and gets double digit millions. And the guy who did the stealing admitted it! But since he was black…this was a racial offense.

Now there’s the trans issue. I ask you, how many trans people are there in America? And the issue of pronouns, we’re supposed to use “they” in certain circumstances.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fine to be trans, I don’t think their rights should be impinged. But is this the biggest issue in America today?

And of course, like the left so frequently does, they take it too far. They want these trans people to be able to compete against women in sports, even though female runners have been kicked out of competitions because of having too much testosterone, NATURALLY! Even Martina Navratilova has taken a stand against having female trans people competing against women in tennis, she called it “insane.”

And then you’ve got the strange case of Scarlett Johannson, who was excoriated for saying that she should be able to play any character. She backed down, don’t they all, you’ve got to pay fealty to the politically correct police.

But no, only a specific nationality can play that nationality, only people of a specific color can play that color. I’m not saying that there should not be people of color in the movies, but the last time I checked, they called it ACTING, not real life.

And then there’s the #MeToo movement. Found a man who’s stood up against it recently? Even spoken about it? No, it’s taboo. If you’re a man you’re not entitled to an opinion. There can be no discussion. How do you think all men feel about this? Sure, women have gotten short shrift in society, they deserve equal pay and the right to walk freely on our streets, but this hard line is doing them no benefit.

It’s not all bad on the left. We’ve got Megan Rapinoe, the star of the World Cup, refusing to go to the White House and not caving when confronted with her viewpoint.

But the left is so busy bending over backwards, reporting the right’s viewpoint, that the effect is neutered. That’s right, they essentially hang Rapinoe out to dry.

There are so many litmus tests on the left that no one qualifies.

And you can’t express a contrary opinion or you’re shouted down.

And then you have to APOLOGIZE!

It happens all the time. I’m not saying there should not be a penalty for abhorrent speech, but when an actor goes to rehab for speech, I’ve got to laugh. What’s next, rehab for speeding? Yelling? Smoking?

So Trump stands up to all the B.S., he stands up to their crap.

And of course, his statements are inane, but they resonate with a lot of people, like those who don’t believe immigrants should be caged like animals, but do believe we need a coherent immigration policy.

Trump has redefined the debate, as to whether you love the country or not. This, once again, is how the left lost the war. The concept of criticizing the country and still loving it gets no traction, despite repeated voicing. The left contributed to the with you or against you line in the sand, because that’s how it behaves on every other issue!

The left can’t even control a debate. It’s good on the small things, but on the big things, it’s a crybaby. What did my mother say when a bully threatened me at school? Stand up to him, fight him, and then he’ll stop bullying you, and it turned out to be true!

Furthermore, my mother refused to get involved in my issues, my friendships. Now everybody says their kid is being bullied and they’re calling the school and other parents and…

The school has to be a safe space. Where everybody must be calm.

But no, school is where you learn about society, how to behave in a group. And believe me, the bullies ultimately get their comeuppance.

No one likes their kid to be bullied, but what are you gonna do when the “child” is out in the workplace, in a marriage, you can’t protect them forever.

But mostly we’re talking language here folks. Remember when they banned “Ulysses’ and Henry Miller? Now in left wing institutions you have to have trigger warnings, cautioning students they might be offended by what is contained therein. How in the hell did we switch from the right wing being offended by language to the left? And it’s just LANGUAGE! Isn’t this supposed to be a country of ideas? Do words really hurt people? What do they say on the playground, “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me?”

This apologizing has got to stop, this inhibition of discussion, this constant policing of statements.

Of course Trump’s tweets were reprehensible. But he instinctually knows people are sick of the blowback, they want a certain freedom of speech, and as a result, he turns the accusations on their head and it resonates with people, not only his base, but more.

But the left is so offended!

But it’s been offended since day one. And what does it keep doing? Report it to the principal, i.e. the left wing press. It rarely stands up to Trump, it rarely defines the debate. All it keeps saying is impeachment is not prudent, and the Presidential candidates are too far to the left and…

You can’t even fit in in your own party.

Oh, what a country.

Only Trump has figured this out in the social media age, one with incessant messages, most of which go ignored.

Used to be even if you were ultra-famous, you never heard from the hoi-polloi. The average citizen was a nobody who could only vote by consuming or not. Furthermore, there were few offerings, and real estate was precious, on television, in record racks, and the game was to find something that appealed to everybody.

That game is over.

Be happy if you have an audience at all. But if you do, you’re gonna have haters.

You see you have what someone else wants, the aforementioned audience. And those people below the attention status of yourself are angry, they think they’re better than you and deserve the attention, and as a result they try to tear you down, make you blink, hopefully so they can take your place.

Even successful entertainers are victims of this paradigm. Howard Stern has a rabid fanbase, but unlike in the pre-internet era, he’s inundated with negative social media comments. The key is not to blink.

Used to be it was about research, you tested the audience, tried to deliver what it wanted, shaved off the rough edges, pleased the boss.

First and foremost, today YOU’RE the boss. If you’re pleasing someone above you, you’re doing it wrong. That’s one of the problems with doing corporate sponsorships, the chilling effect. The man doesn’t say what you can’t do, but you’re wary of doing it, you’re inured to those bucks.

But the key to success today is making your own bucks. Hell, that’s one of the reasons Trump won, irrelevant of the truth of the matter.

And in a world where there’s no universal fact-checker, where there’s no single news outlet that can hold you account, you can lie with impunity. Rock stars wrote this script. Hell, they’re even employing it today! All those shows they say are sold out, a lot of them are not. It’s all about image. And it used to be the mainstream didn’t care about music, so there was no ink, but today there’s so much information, the mainstream gets no traction re the faux pas of even bigger constituents!

Look at Ticketmaster. People don’t stop railing against it, governments investigate it. But Ticketmaster doesn’t care, it’s aware it’s fronting for the greedy acts, they’re the ones responsible for fees, i.e. the fees are not commissioned, it’s the only way for Ticketmaster to make money! There’s usually no profit in the tickets themselves.

So Ticketmaster doesn’t fight back, and neither should you!

And then there are those who still can’t fathom someone moved their cheese. Blowhards who believe they can stop the juggernaut of streaming. Bitching they’re not making as much as they did in the physical/sales era. Well, let’s go back to sixteen baseball teams. Three networks. The era of no smartphones. The future arrives, he or she who is caught in the past is ultimately irrelevant.

But that does not mean they don’t attack you.

It’s so easy to do, just fire up your app of choice!

So the creator…is overwhelmed.

This is a new paradigm and there’s no instruction booklet. Kinda like when FM went rock. They were inventing it on the fly. The usual suspects were talking about ratings and three minute ditties but it was what was on FM, longer, different, that ultimately triumphed.

It’s hard to stay the course. But that’s why people like you to begin with!

Look at Frampton, who catered to a theoretical pop audience with “I’m In You” and went straight into the dumper, overnight. It’s taken him decades to rehabilitate himself.

But it happens faster now. And the truth is you’re remembered for your successes, not your failures. Which means the biggest people can fail, but when they succeed later, the failures are forgotten. Bieber has had a lot of stiffs with his hits.

And if you’re trying to be the biggest, you’re gonna get blowback. This is what Taylor Swift doesn’t realize, they don’t hate her music, but her! First her “aw shucks” behavior and then her retaliatory songs and then her girl squad and now her rainbow-embracing. She’s trying to appeal to people who don’t exist! She’s got her fans, she should be happy with that. As for the slings and arrows, she can’t stop complaining about them, when the truth is they’re a badge of success, she should just ignore them!

Art runs on emotion. So when someone hits you unexpectedly, it’s hard to fathom, it changes your mood. Which is why, supposedly, artists didn’t read their reviews. But today, you just cannot avoid the feedback. You’ve got to have a thick skin and brush it off. Otherwise, not only did they win, you probably compromised yourself.

Your fans want you. It’s your fans who will spread the word. The rest are irrelevant.

And the markers have changed. Like with the Blanco Brown track. It may not be number one on country radio, but if you have traction online, who cares? And genres are nearly irrelevant. Country artists rap and… All those people agitated about lines and crossing over…THE AUDIENCE DOESN’T CARE!

But too often artists fall for it.

You’re on your own path.

And if you’re not, you’re me-too, and nobody wants me-too in the internet age, we’re all looking for fresh and different. That’s one thing Hillary missed, which is why she lost. Never forget, research will tell you where you’ve been, but not where you’re going.

It’s those who think outside the box who gain attention and become victorious in the long run. It’s much easier to imitate what’s out there, and you might get a moment of fame, but then you’ll be instantly forgotten. That’s another facet of the internet era, you can get universal press, be a kingpin (queenpin?) in your era, and end up broke in your hometown slinging burgers. Which is why those with a brain get an education and find their way, you don’t want to end up as Snooki or Rebecca Black.

They are out to get you. Assuming anybody cares at all.

And if they’re needling you, what they want most is a reaction. Respond and you’re doomed. Trump and AOC blocking people on Twitter is unfathomable to me. Almost no one is gonna see the hate, and by calling it out, you create a conflagration.

Which means that even the famous don’t have it all figured out.

But you’ve got a chance. Yes, you can promote yourself for free online, but beware of the incoming negativity.

It’s a new game.

But one thing’s for sure, when you veer off course, by acknowledging haters, when you adjust because of the criticism, you’re on the wrong road, you’ve left your mission and are in a backwater.

We’re looking for singular heroes (heroines). We’re looking for people to believe in.

Forget the idiocy, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop. It’s only the intelligentsia who truly care, she’s got traction with them and they’re pissed they didn’t think of it first!

But Goop is a sideshow, without many acolytes. Without all the hate she’d be doomed.

Yes, hate can bring you attention, but still, you’ve got to ignore it, you can’t acknowledge it.

Techies were the artists of the last few decades.

But that era is over. The internet is solidified. There’s no radical change coming in the immediate future.

So we’re back in the era of art, a message can have much more impact than a product. The software of music and movies and TV is now much more important than it was in the past two decades.

Everything you remember, from Jimi Hendrix to David Lynch, started on the outside, and don’t forget “Twin Peaks” wasn’t Lynch’s first project.

You must pay your dues. The more immediate attention you get, the quicker you will fail, we learned this in the MTV era.

You can woodshed in public, and if you’re good, you’ll gain some followers. The key is to keep developing and not change your viewpoint.

And that’s hard to do, because everybody is telling you to.