Baby Shark Dance | Sing and Dance! | Animal Songs | PINKFONG Songs for Children

Is it time to redo the “Billboard” chart once again?

Or is this the harbinger of a new dawn, wherein radio is less relevant and hip-hop is not America’s sound and a non-major label song can triumph?

In case you missed the memo, and I did until yesterday, “Baby Shark” entered the “Billboard” Hot 100 at number 32.

WHAT?

Now this is also evidence of the internet era. Known quantities drop their albums and the music is instantly forgotten. Whereas newbies can struggle for years to get notice of their songs.

And one thing about “Baby Shark,” IT’S HOOKY!

“Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Baby shark!”

Sure, the lyrics are stupid, but isn’t that the case with so many songs?

Now if you’re completely flummoxed, and I understand your pain, the derivation of “Baby Shark” is unclear. Some say it was a camp song twenty years ago, others point to a German version in this century. Actually, you can listen to the various iterations, but one thing’s for sure, the Pinkfong! take is the hit. Proving once again that instrumentation and arrangement can be the difference between a smash and a stiff.

And speaking of Pinkfong!, it’s a Korean company, making children’s music. In an industry landscape where kids are irrelevant and hip-hop is all that matters.

And it’s still all that matters on Spotify and Apple Music.

It’s nowhere on either of their top charts.

But “Baby Shark” does have 50 million streams on Spotify, it’s just that they all didn’t happen yesterday.

And weirdly enough, “Baby Shark” is selling on iTunes. It’s number forty there. Proving…

What, parents are oldsters who are afraid of streaming or don’t want to pay $10 a month because they’re inundated with bills? Why own this?

Especially when you can stream it for free on YouTube where it has TWO BILLION VIEWS!

But it was released almost three years ago, in June of 2016.

So, is “Billboard”‘s weighting off, putting too much emphasis on sales, which are de minimis? Only 3,000 tracks were downloaded last week.

But the truth is there were 20 million streams, but nearly three quarters of them were video.

In other words, YouTube, the scourge of the industry.

So what have we learned?

That a catchy song has no ceiling, that it can live in the ecosystem for years, quite happily, and eventually blow up, or not.

Why now?

Well, there was a cover by James Corden.

But late night TV doesn’t matter, right?

Or maybe we’ve got to credit “Billboard,” for unearthing this hit. Maybe the Bible had it right, and it’s the industry that’s wrong.

And, of course, there’s the dance craze, even easier to do than the Macarena. But when that novelty song hit the airwaves were still controlled, by MTV and major labels. Now?

So I don’t think this is a one-off.

First and foremost, “Baby Shark” turns out to have penetration beyond what we consider to be hits, the Spotify Top 50. Expect everybody to know it soon.

It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s what we’ve lost as music has become a manipulated format where up to thirty writers try to get the sound of the street, and end up missing.

“Baby Shark” had nothing to do with a major label, nothing to do with radio and nothing to do with hip-hop, it made it all on its lonesome.

You can too.

“To Cover China, There’s No Substitute for WeChat – Li Yuan conducts much of her work on the WeChat mobile app, including spotting trends -and prodding sources to get back to her”

I know, I know, you’re inundated with lists of articles to read every day, and if you’re like me, you end up reading none of them. Information overload has consequences. I never go to the movie theatre, except on my birthday, because it’s a tradition (along with a hot fudge sundae and a pastrami on rye), not because I hate the movies, not because I’m protesting, but because I don’t have the time. Never mind driving to the multiplex, the film doesn’t start when I get there, it’s not on demand, like the rest of our culture. And unlike gigs, it’s not live. I mean going to a concert is an event, is that what movies are going to turn into? Quite possibly.

So I don’t understand all this excitement about awards season, because I haven’t seen the flicks, and most others have not seen many either. Used to be I lived for the movies, before they became so high concept as to defy reality, before the golden era of television.

And speaking of television, with nearly 500 scripted series a year, who can get a handle on it, other than the critics. That’s who awards shows are for, the critics and old wave media, stuck in a circling the drain paradigm that the public wants no part of.

I mean who cares who wins the Oscar?

Same deal with the Grammys, although we’re always interested whether it will be a rapper or a woman or both. That’s more important than the music, because most people have not heard it. We’re all down in our niches, if we’re paying attention at all. That’s right, just like I’ve excised movies, waiting for them to come to TV and ignoring them once they do, there are people who’ve completely tuned out music.

Not that the industry acknowledges it.

The music industry is the same as it ever was. Focusing on radio and a Top Ten. Sure, it’s now streaming instead of sales, but despite being on demand, there’s no kowtowing to the public’s desires, no effort to make it comprehensible.

And I read four newspapers a day to try to get a hold on things. I mean you can learn about music from kids, which I don’t have, but the world issues? Everybody’s ignorant these days, that’s the dirty little secret, if someone tells you they know, they probably don’t.

And the papers are all different. As are their owners. Do you believe Jeff Bezos led with his unit? Isn’t that interesting, how we never really change, how business is always secondary to lust and desire and love. Hell, Sumner Redstone summoned escorts.

And the flaw of the “New York Times” is too often it’s living in the past, it’s anti-tech.

But starting a few months back, they began this new series, about how their reporters utilize tech, it’s published on Tech Thursday.

What bothers me is people covering tech who don’t have all the services, who don’t use the latest tech. When they say a 6s is enough. Sure, have a Samsung, as a matter of fact you should have both! But get the latest edition. And subscribe to all the video services. It’s your gig, you can write it off, I have a hard time taking your opinion seriously if you didn’t buy a ticket.

And this week’s story is on the China correspondent.

And she uses WeChat.

Most Americans have no idea of the power of WeChat, as Li Yuan says, it’s “the equivalent of WhatsApp plus Facebook plus PayPal pus Uber plus GrubHub plus many other things.”

Whew!

Got that?

On one hand, you don’t want to give one company that much power.

On the other hand, think of the ease of use! The connectedness!

And most people in China skipped the laptop and went straight to the mobile phone.

Which is why you must not still be using your 5s, never mind your 6s. You need the power and the features to experience the present, never mind the future.

And China’s a nearly cashless society.

But it’s a censored society.

And in this one brief article you get more insight into China than you do hearing the blubbering of the D.C.’ites.

And speaking of D.C…

Are we really talking about physical walls when technology does such a good job?

The issue with China is not tariffs, it’s how the nation has already superseded us in so many ways, and will continue to gain power. For all those America First, USA! USA! people, this is unfathomable.

But if you read this article, not so much.

Now the criminals are techies. They hide in plain sight and get a pass from the government, because with billions of dollars they define the game.

Like the Mafia used to, with a lot less cash.

I was just watching the episode where Adriana gets whacked. Christopher leaves her T-Bird in long term parking at the airport. Not only was I worried about fingerprints, old school, but cameras, new school. Blue collar crime is passe, there’s a camera everywhere, especially in the U.K. That’s how they found those Russians who poisoned the ex-spy and his daughter, they went to the film, you always go to the film these days, it’s a regular plot point on television and in movies.

But the rich people don’t even have to hire lawyers, the IRS has been neutered and they hide under the rubric of being job-creating envelope pushers who make our society great.

Not that I’m anti-tech, but the last year has been about the turning tide in tech, but we’re still only at the tip of the iceberg.

In the twenty years since the Soprano family used flip-phones, a lot has changed.

Steve Jobs tacitly agreed not to poach from Google.

Facebook sold your data and its site to the highest bidder. As for the vaunted social graph where you can connect with everybody, you’ve got to pay for that now, otherwise you can’t reach anybody.

Amazon puts you out of business if you don’t sell to them, this has happened so many times that it’s not only well-known, there’s a chilling effect, why start a company that will be crushed or sold for pennies.

Or laid off on the highest bidder who will bury it, like Tumblr and Yahoo.

Marissa Mayer got whacked and then Tumblr had no champion, without porn it will never survive, it’s too 2007.

And Tim Armstrong laid AOL off on Verizon and then got canned when it all didn’t add up. Meanwhile, we ate the bill, those of us invested in the telco, and you probably are, even if it’s via an index fund.

And for those with little, the joke is on you.

That’s what the Mafia was about, the dream, of a high life for the uneducated, the street smart. “The Godfather” gave the Mob gravitas. “Donnie Brasco” illustrated that the family was based on small time crookdom, but…

Those without portfolio could get a leg up. They could rely on their brothers. Like those at Georgetown Prep, or the college fraternity.

Once again, there’s a dividing line, and chances are you’re on the wrong side of it.

Meanwhile, you keep hearing about how these companies made it legitimately, but the dirty little secret is…

They did not.

Forget the foreign bribes, how about Microsoft insisting that manufacturers pay for Windows on every machine, even if it wasn’t installed. That put a dent in Linux way back when.

Yup, you work hard, you follow the rules, and you lose. Even if you got an education.

As for those without, they’re so disillusioned they’re on drugs. They started on opioids prescribed by pill mills, Purdue Pharma got rich, and then they ended up buying heroin and fentanyl on the street and we want them to go straight, but why, so they can get a minimum wage job that doesn’t pay the bills?

And what I loved about “The Sopranos,” and it is my favorite TV show of all time, and I believe it is the best, is the way real life was illustrated, how Meadow suggested punishing her by taking away her gas credit card.

Forget the fact that no one uses a gas credit card anymore, they use Mastercard, Visa or Amex for the points, this middle class existence doesn’t exist either. Mom and Dad are both out working. You’re on your own. And if you happen to get in trouble, it’s someone else’s fault, like the teachers, those damn schools, why are they always singling out my child?

And those with money live a completely different lifestyle, often behind gates, they go to private schools, oftentimes fly private and don’t want anybody taking their spot at first class institutions, which are need blind, which you probably don’t even know the definition of, which is the way they like it.

The poor and the rich, the lower middle class and the upper middle class, don’t even mix.

And sure, the standard of living is higher in many ways, everybody has a smartphone and a flat screen, but hope has been eviscerated, upward mobility has been eviscerated.

Which is how Trump got elected. The downtrodden feel screwed by the elites.

But the joke is now on the elites, because they’re not elite enough. They can’t afford concierge doctors, never mind NetJet accounts.

So everybody with a brain and an education buys insurance, metaphorically anyway. Used to be your parents told you to be a doctor or lawyer, but those professions no longer rain down enough cash, now they tell you to become a banker. Or maybe a techie, but competition is too rough in that field.

So the winners live a lifestyle most people are unaware of, they’ve got no real idea how the truly rich live.

And these are not rock stars, rock stars don’t make billions, never have. These are faceless nerds, both male and female, who worked hard and then realized…there was no law, there was no oversight, so…

They raped and pillaged.

And I know you can’t utilize the term “rape” anymore, but while the politically correct police are checking your language, Sheryl Sandberg is pulling the wool over your eyes, saying you can have it all when the truth is only she can have it all, and she’s doing everything in her power to keep it that way, screw morality.

That’s just like the Mafia, it’s never enough. The Mob never gives an inch.

But the truth is the law decimated the Mob.

But there are not enough lawmen left. The government won’t fund the people who go after white collar crime. The FBI has been denigrated, courts are overbooked, and you think it’s about keeping immigrants from crawling over a theoretical wall to take your job.

They don’t want your job, they’re doing all the stuff you won’t do.

As for your job…

You’re angry it’s a dead end, from which you’ll probably get fired anyway. You’re trying to climb a greased pole, but when anybody tells you that, you deny it, believing the USA is better than socialist countries like Denmark, where there’s free education and free health care, because you’ve got the American Dream.

But the American Dream is more achievable in socialist Europe than it is here, just check the “Wall Street Journal,” they published the figures.

So you’re mad as hell and you’re not gonna take it anymore. So you vote against your interests, and get hung up on irrelevant issues like gay marriage and abortion when the truth is you can’t make it here.

Which is why you used to wake up in the morning and get yourself a gun but…

All those bad guys have been caught, use a gun and end your life, you can wreak a lot of havoc, but you’re not gonna escape.

And your mama may have told you you’d be the chosen one, but the call never comes, you never get your chance.

But you’re looking good on Instagram so you think you’re making progress, when the truth is you’re only making Zuck’s pocketbook fatter.

But still, if you tune into “The Sopranos,” all these years later, you’ll find more truth than you’ll get in the newspaper. Hell, wasn’t Manafort a Soprano?

Tune in tomorrow, Tuesday January 8, on Volume 106, 7 PM East, 4 PM West.

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

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