This was his Napster moment.

And he failed.

Everything comes back to the music business. Which was the canary in the coal mine for digital disruption. When they finally started stealing movies…there was a trailer in the theatre scolding moviegoers not to, PAYING CUSTOMERS WHO WERE ALREADY THERE!

Never forget, those with money and status protect money and status first and foremost, they cannot question their beliefs.

Like Chuck Schumer.

Schumer seems to believe it’s business as usual. That the system works. As it is crumbling all around him. He reminds me of the executives who kept saying that the CD was perfect, who would want anything more…after ripping off the public with one good track on a disc they sold for fifteen bucks. The public was angry, the industry was ignorant, and then an explosion happened.

This time the explosion is on the other side, the Republican side, a slide towards authoritarianism. If you think Trump believes in the system…you just haven’t been following the news. He acts willy-nilly and dares the legal system to stop him, and so far it hasn’t done a great job of this.

Now it’s not only Trump. But his acolytes. We’ve got to stop demonizing each and every person who voted for Trump. Forget the Biden-haters, those who constantly want to own the libs. The bottom line is people wanted change, and the Democrats weren’t giving it to them. Biden was a placeholder. Where was the march to the future?

Oh, don’t bother to defend him. And don’t bother to point out the small margin with which Trump won. Or denigrate Gavin Newsom’s new podcast. Makes me crazy when people are so up their own rear ends, inside their bubble, that they can’t see the outside.

Sure, if you’re part of the educated elite you think you know better. But one thing you do not know is how the other half lives. You’re so busy chasing the billionaires that you’re myopic.

Ah, I’m an equal-opportunity offender! People hate when you question your own team. Which is what Newsom is doing. He realizes he’s vulnerable, with the issues in California, with the fetid debate with DeSantis on Fox. So Gavin is switching it up, trying to save his presidential prospects, and what do we keep hearing? HE’S LEGITIMIZING THE RIGHT!

As if we don’t all live in a society together. Isn’t that the cliché, keep your friends close, your enemies closer?

And then there’s James Carville telling the Democrats to roll over and play dead and wait for the Republicans to self-destruct.

I’m sick and tired of the usual suspect Democrats who believe in the game so much that they can’t question the game.

Like the coming elections… Do you really believe they’re going to happen? On a fair basis? I mean they have elections in Russia and Hungary and it makes no difference, the incumbent strongman wins.

Everything is suddenly up for grabs. People are afraid to speak. Talk about a chilling effect… How do you lose the ability to speak truth to power? Very slowly and then all at once.

If you want to be really horrified, read this piece from “The New York Times’: 

“Young Democrats’ Anger Boils Over as Schumer Retreats on Shutdown – A generational divide, seen in newer lawmakers’ impatience with bipartisanship and for colleagues who don’t understand new media, has emerged as one of the deepest rifts within the party.”

Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/government-shutdown-spending-bill-schumer-democrats.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4U4.rYGH.R5a6fF1fgYte&smid=url-share

Here’s the money quote:

“And in private, 30- and 40-something lawmakers commiserate about having to decipher the mysteries of the internet for their older colleagues; one said she recently had to explain to another House member what a podcast was.”

This reminds me of the turn of the century when record execs did not use computers and had their e-mail printed out. How in the hell could they understand technological change? THEY COULDN’T! They couldn’t fathom the discontent of the public. And they had the law on their side… So they sued their customers, and instituted the rootkit. How did that work out? HORRIBLY! Revenues continued to sink until an outsider, Daniel Ek, came along and rescued them.

And the funny thing is the labels LOVE Ek and Spotify, he’s their largest account. And the users who bought the internet dream that everybody would be rich and famous in the future because of the unlimited opportunity blame Ek when this fallacy evidenced itself. More artists are making more money than ever before on Spotify and this still isn’t enough for wannabe and broke artists, especially those who made money in the past. What more do you want?

Oh, a penny a stream. Then you’re instantly ignored. You don’t know economics. And if you don’t know the landscape, you’re screwed.

The public knows the landscape and is horrified and scared. And the only people seemingly tapping into this are D.C. pariahs Bernie Sanders and AOC. Bernie is speaking English, constantly railing against the oligarchs, and AOC represents the younger generation. But Schumer, et al, are in bed with the oligarchs, they’ve got their own team just like Trump and the Republicans, and they want no change, while believing that they know everything and rule forever, they’re baby boomers, aren’t they?

The record labels refused to make a deal with Napster, they legally shut it down, it was copyright infringement. And then what happened? KaZaA surfaced, and since there was no central database, a new legal question arose. And after KaZaA came lockers… It was an endless race until Ek and Spotify. (Don’t talk to me about the iTunes Store, it was a wank, a temporary solution of ownership when ownership is passé, just ask anybody under thirty, they want ACCESS, not OWNERSHIP, meanwhile the aforementioned boomers can’t understand this, aren’t you supposed to build a shrine to yourself?)

So as you can see, it was one cut after another for the music industry until an outsider came along and rescued them.

So Schumer capitulates on the budget and he thinks this is the end. No, it’s just the BEGINNING! Trump has Schumer and the Democrats just where he wants them, afraid and complacent, believing in business as usual when nothing could be further from the truth.

Well, they’ll get him next time. Huh? When are you going to draw a line in the sand, when are you going to activate the public, get them on your side.

Napster gained traction with college students, because at the time they were the few with high speed connections. And even eventual users pooh-poohed Napster. It was illegal, the sound was supposedly poor, there were viruses… And then they started to use it and they were amazed, this was the greatest thing of all time! Not only could you get the hits you wanted that you’d never buy, you’d get all this unreleased stuff! Metallica said they didn’t want their work tapes out there. Now acts are begging for attention, they’re flooding YouTube with live shows, covers… Credit Napster. And if you think we’re ever going back to the controlled market of yesteryear… You believe that foreign music is not infiltrating the scene and diluting the power of U.S. and U.K. repertoire.

Now the labels had an edict that no one employed could use Napster. Which only made them ignorant. Because if you used the service, you saw its magic, its advantages.

Schumer wants the Democrats to fall in line.

Whereas if he’d voted down the budget we’d be in uncharted territory, which a politician hates the most, they want a controlled environment. Yes, in the past a government shutdown was anathema, but I wouldn’t think that would be the case today. It would focus and define the issues. As for the deleterious effects…how about all the people who’ve already lost their jobs as a result of Musk’s chainsaw?

And the press keeps reporting the news. Just like with Napster. But the press didn’t make the difference, THE USERS DID!

The general public.

And the general public is pissed, certainly the Democrats. And Republicans who voted for Trump are about to experience pain and what did Schumer do? Roll over and play dead.

It’s a new world. You employ new strategies.

Read that article above:

“Representative Sara Jacobs of California, 36 — who said she recently had to explain what a podcast was to a Democratic colleague she would not name…”

Said:

“‘Democrats won the people who watch cable news and read newspapers,’ Ms. Jacobs said. ‘We lost the people who don’t feel like they’re part of politics at all. And so, how do we go to them, instead of keep trying to force them to come to us?'”

Bingo. It’s not only those on the right who do not believe in mainstream news. You’ve just got to read my inbox.

Oh, that’s right, YOU DON’T!

If you did, you wouldn’t have been surprised that Trump won in 2016 or 2024. And you’d be aware of the discontent and anger on the left today. People who are not only sick of the politicians, but big media. They rely on Substack and YouTube and podcasts and…alta kachers in Congress are clueless. Even baseball changed its rules, realizing the game had to be sped up and reined in.

But not the Democrats.

What do you want them to do? Their hands are tied!

No, they’re not, we want you to wake up and LEAD!

Tune in today March 15th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

The man of constant sorrow… Yes, you know Dan Tyminski from “O Brother” and his work with Alison Krauss, but here’s the backstory, how a guy from Rutland, Vermont made it to the apotheosis of bluegrass.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dan-tyminski/id1316200737?i=1000699013824

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/375abbfc-1120-42a3-878c-495b6da5f808/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-dan-tyminski

 

Artists question the status quo.

But this is hard for most people, because they’ve been taught from birth to fit in, not make a ruckus, be a member of the group…which is why I say the captain of the football team or the class president is rarely an artist. Artists tend to be loners, or members of an outside group. They question every precept and react to it.

Now don’t confuse this with disrupting the status quo in D.C. Those are business people. Whose actions affect millions. Artists can affect entire nations, but they do it through people’s minds. The work of an artist contrasts with society, the conventional mores, and it makes people think. It’s about speaking truth to power. And if you’re so uncomfortable you can’t handle negative feedback, you can’t be an artist.

So school was invented to create good workers. Many artists can’t even work a conventional job, they can’t show up on time. Not all, but I’m just letting you know the skills of an artist are different.

You may be able to do math, take notes, be efficient and organized…but an artist may be unable to do all of those things yet still be very successful.

I started out as an English major in college. One of the reasons I left that pursuit is they didn’t want to know my take, my opinion, how I reacted to the material. They wanted me to study the historical take, what the great seers of yesteryear had to say about the work. We had to shut up and bow down to the gods.

But when I switched to art history…

First and foremost the lectures were different, all of them, they were ENTERTAINING! The professor was giving a performance, it wasn’t rote, it was alive, just like art itself. As for the artists…

Sure, there were historical breakthroughs, like perspective, but the greatest artists, the ones who are remembered, all created breakthroughs.

Let’s start with minimalism. The average spectator says I CAN DO THAT! And in truth, they may be able to, BUT THEY CAN’T COME UP WITH THE IDEA! And the goal of a minimalist artist is to challenge preconceptions… Is this art? What is art?

And then there are the abstract expressionists, like Jackson Pollock. He knew how to draw, but he yearned to express himself in a different way.

And then there is the recently departed Frank Stella, who didn’t know how to draw at all!

Actually, to be an art history major, you have to take a year of studio art. I can’t paint, I can’t draw period. But I tended to get a better response from the professor than those who could, because of my conception, where I was coming from.

And sure, some of my compatriots went on to work in museums, but I took inspiration from the artists themselves, I wanted to challenge the field, do it differently.

Now they’ve cut arts education from schools. And if you go to college…you’d better come out with a job! None of this foments artists, these people don’t have the right mind-set.

Whereas the baby boomers…

There’s a reason they created so much great art. Because they questioned their parents’ ideas, the government’s ideas, they thought there was another way to look at things. And the goal was to stand out and be a winner.

Conversely, millennials haven’t yielded a plethora of artists, because the goal of a millennial is to fit in, be a member of the group, they even go on dates in a group, if you can call it that. They don’t want to stand out.

I’ve given a zillion presentations. And when I ask a question, people are loath to raise their hand. They don’t want to stand out. They don’t want to be the object of ridicule. Now there are shy artists, then again an artist can’t break through unless they create and interact.

Then you have the music schools… Berklee can teach you how to play, but that doesn’t make you an artist. We want someone who breaks the law, breaks the code, and makes us stand up and recognize them.

I’m not saying every artist is going to be commercially successful. However, I’ll also say there are many acts who are known by all, who make a ton of money, who are not artists.

Clive Davis specialized in commerce, not artistry. Even worse, he wanted control. An artist has a vision. That does not mean they cannot be affected by feedback… But if Clive is picking the track or changing the lyrics…where does that leave the artist?

And we know being a great singer is not enough, almost no one from a TV singing show becomes a star. But Clive could pick one of them, match them with the right material and blow them up. Kudos, but that does not make that person an artist.

David Bowie? He challenged preconceptions.

Madonna too.

You know the acts… You may not have even liked them when you first heard them because they were so different.

And it can be the whole package, the looks, the attitude…

Or it can just be the song, the lyrics.

And the funny thing is despite all the success of lowest denominator commercial music, the public YEARNS for artistry. They’re looking for it, it can move mountains.

It used to happen on a regular basis. Some new sound would come along that would wipe out the previous one. Whether it be the Beatles and Perry Como or Nirvana and hair bands. The new sound was so fresh, so different.

Now to a certain degree, I believe artists are born, not made. I don’t think you can teach someone to be an artist, because to a great degree it’s a sensibility.

Then again, you can have influences. My father questioned everything, he took nothing at face value. Furthermore, he ultimately employed this perspective to become very successful as a real estate appraiser, which is normally the job of a schlepper.

I’ll save how my dad did it for the moment, but I want you to know if you’re just like everybody else, your odds of making it are poor.

There are tons of great guitar players. What can you do differently? Most people had never heard anyone tap the strings like Eddie Van Halen.

So what we’ve got is a ton of sour grapes. The people who jumped through all the hoops want their reward, they want success. But artists don’t jump through hoops!

And no one in business wants their cheese moved, that’s their worst nightmare. But it happens all the time. Look at the deletions from the Dow… General Electric is no longer in it, never mind AT&T and even Hewlett-Packard. These companies have been superseded, they’re no longer pushing the envelope.

I don’t want to get into an argument about these specific examples… I’ll just say few of the companies of yesteryear are dominant today. And most acts have a short lifespan on the chart. But those who reinvent themselves tend to have lengthier success.

If everybody else is doing it one way, an artist does it another. And shrugs when people put them down.

If you can’t look at the landscape and see a way to do it completely differently, you’re not an artist.

Music is going to stream forever. There is always a great desire for music to listen to. That does not mean every era is equivalent. And I’ve already stated that just because you’re a chart success, that does not make you an artist.

After all the artistic breakthroughs of the sixties and early seventies, record labels and wannabe acts divined a formula. They started making music they thought people wanted to hear and buy as opposed to making a statement, i.e. corporate rock. But then the public shrugged its shoulder. The record business crashed. You can look it up. But most won’t. However, if you understand history, it gives you context, a view of the landscape that people can react to.

Most people who want to make music for a living drop out. They realize they’re not good enough, or they don’t want to sacrifice that much. And artists give up too. But just because you continue that does not make you successful.

And I don’t care how many hours you’ve put in, 20,000, that does not make you an artist. 10,000 hours OF HARD PRACTICE makes you a world class player, it does not make you an artist. Artistry is in your DNA. It’s perspective. It’s attitude.

Furthermore, most ultra-successful artists are not so good with people. Forget the image, if you meet them… They may be incredibly off-putting, they may have little to no friends. They can be an artist, but no more.

Of course there are exceptions. But I’m stressing here that just because you’ve paid your dues and your song is on Spotify that does not mean the public will clamor for it, no matter how many guitar lessons you’ve taken.

Artistry is elusive, unquantifiable. And society hates this, but loves what is produced.

Once again, society wants hoop-jumpers and order.

And there are the clichés, like “starving artist.” Then again, anyone can starve, that doesn’t take a huge commitment. However, “tortured artist”..? Artists tend not to be well-adjusted, they are tortured, most people have learned how to get along and be happy, chances are the artist has not.

Many need that hit from the audience in order to feel good about themselves. They’re trying to fill an unfillable hole… Get the love they never got from their parents, or they’re reacting to rejection in love.

The above is just the way it is.

But many don’t like it. Especially in this era where the barrier to entry is so low and so many are playing.

To throw a curve ball into the action… Great social media influencers can oftentimes be artists. They’re questioning the status quo.

Do not be influenced by those invested in the status quo. That is death. And those people fade away… So many who complained about Napster and Spotify and everything in between, who lamented the destruction of the old paradigm…have faded away and not radiated. Young people accept the present as gospel. They’re not burdened by the past. (Once again, it’s good to know the past, but an artist is free, unconstrained.)

Is this the way you feel? That you’ve got to do it your way and if no one pays attention and you’re poor for the rest of your life you’re happy?

I know commercially unsuccessful artists who are happy. They create their art and that’s enough.

Is that you?

If not, maybe you’re not an artist. And that’s a reason why you’re not winning in the music game.

People hate when I say that. Everybody wants encouragement. Hell, that’s one of the reasons I’m successful, I’ll say the unsayable. Submit your track to a professional and they’ll never say it sucks. Or they’ll give you bogus criticism to get you off their back.

The music business is not based on honesty.

But artistry is.

Man, you know it when you hear it. It’s like a light bulb comes on. A car wreck. You’re jolted alive.

And we’re all looking for that.