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

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: LefsetzLive

So, It’s Time For Some Truth…
Scott Borchetta
Big Machine Records

And Justin Bieber too:

Justin Bieber Defends Scooter Braun After Taylor Swift’s Criticism: ‘What Were You Trying to Accomplish?’

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

You’ve got to control the narrative.

Yokels don’t care about Scott Borchetta or Scooter Braun. And fans get mad at athletes asking for more money even though the owners of the teams are usually billionaires, profiting quite handsomely.

In other words, Taylor should have thought twice before airing her dirty laundry in public.

But this is what she has done again and again, played the poor little rich girl and the tide has turned against her, only her true fans follow her into the wilderness, everybody else shrugs. It’s kind of like Madonna, but no one ever said Madonna was unsophisticated when it comes to business.

Maybe that’s what happens when you grow up on stage and don’t go to college.

Word on the street is Taylor Swift makes all the decisions. So I don’t think we can blame her attorney, but how about her father/management, were they asleep at the wheel? It looks like Taylor made a bad choice and now wants a do-over. But there’s no crying in the music business. It’s all about the cold hard cash.

And forget the cash, everybody thinks Taylor already has enough. And like Michael Jackson lost the plot when he started calling himself “The King of Pop,” Taylor made a mistake by spreading the story how much she made via slow ticketing on her last tour. Hell, the audience felt ripped-off. Which is why acts that are fan dependent, as opposed to hit dependent, always try to keep prices low. Can you say Metallica? Can you say Bruce Springsteen? It’s truly about your fans, they’re the ones who keep you in business, the label will drop your ass as soon as you stop earning them coin.

Sure, Swift can now respond to Borchetta, but there’s no upside, the tide has turned. What kind of bizarre world do we live in where fans take the side of the man instead of the artist? One in which you portray yourself as a victim when it’s your own damn fault.

Of course more details will come out. Then again, if Taylor Swift were smart, she’d shut up, let this kerfuffle pass, as they all do. And in time no on will even remember. Do you really think that Metallica is hurt by its anti-Napster stance today? No way!

Then again, Lars was out of his depth. Sure, no one would want people to invade their house and steal their couch, but a couch is physical, not digital. Would you really mind if people came to steal your couch by the millions if it was replaceable for free? Of course not! Because this is how you build a fan base. Meanwhile, hip-hop acts put out free mixtapes, post to Soundcloud to drive interest for their projects when they’re released on paid services, they’re bonding their audience to them.

Taylor’s missteps are legion. From the feuds and the songs about them, to the faux friends, to the overmarketing, to the sudden LGBTQ stance. You could say she’s using people, but the truth is she’s myopic, in her own bubble, she has no knowledge of the world outside her window. If she were smart, she’d do a mea culpa and travel like the hoi polloi for a year or two. Hell, isn’t this how Joni Mitchell ended up writing “Blue”?

That’s right, Taylor Swift has an album called “Red,” and that would have never happened if we didn’t have that phone conversation wherein I told her to listen to “Blue,” which she’d never heard of.

Maybe Taylor’s got a different take. Who cares?

But I did care about Taylor’s first two albums, they were brilliant. They channeled the ethos and angst of teen life better than anybody, especially awkward teen life, with its anxieties and crushes and goofs and…

But then Swift needed to be the biggest act in the world. She canned Liz Rose and then worked with the hitmakers du jour and was vulnerable to the same blowback as any other pop act/celebrity. Carrie Underwood does not get excoriated to this degree, because she stays in country and is a nincompoop.

No one will argue with the fact that Taylor Swift is smart. But she just does not seem to be educated. The truth is, no one cares about the disses and the feuds, it’s all about selling ads online. Isn’t this how the Kardashians made all that money? Which they most certainly did, but unlike Swift they’re completely vapid, there’s no there there.

Meaning, no one cared about the knives thrown at Swift until she kept responding to them, then it became theatre of the absurd and we all couldn’t stop watching the movie. Everybody knows that Kanye is certifiably insane, just let it roll off of you!

The truth is today people only care about themselves. Ergo Snapchat and Instagram. Everybody wants to be famous, everybody wants to be an influencer and rich. Meanwhile, musicians want to sell out the same way, tying up with the same corporations. Music used to be the other, that was its magic. Music was about soul, not cash. And the man who wrote “Mr. Soul” competes with no one. That’s right, there’s room for you if you’re unique, like Neil Young, like Taylor Swift used to be.

And just before her new album comes out?

I’m sure it will be the biggest and baddest marketing plan of all time. But we know it will underperform. Because that’s what happened with the last album. Today it’s about evanescent crap like Lil Nas X, and pop has a hard time competing with hip-hop, which is why Katy Perry hasn’t had a hit in a long while.

But Katy Perry is all flash. And, when she gets it right, Taylor Swift is all soul.

“Nebraska” didn’t sell prodigiously when it was released, and there were no hits, but it burnished Bruce Springsteen’s image, it still pays dividends today. Like Brian Wilson’s “Pet Sounds.” An utter stiff upon release, it’s a legend today, not only considered the Beach Boys’ best work, but in the pantheon with “Sgt. Pepper.”

You can recover from missteps. Maybe like all those actresses, Taylor Swift should go back to college. Sure, she’ll need a bodyguard at first, but anybody who’s hung with celebrities knows the stares wear off very quickly, people stop treating you as special.

But Taylor’s too old, she’s thirty.

But she must get out of her shell.

Joni Mitchell drove cross-country and came up with “Hejira,” which may not have been a huge commercial success, but is loved by her fans.

Sure, Joni traveled in a Mercedes, but she did it.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be separate and then part of the fabric whenever you choose. You can be one or the other. But separate with mystery ended with the rise of the internet, everybody knows everybody’s every move, their dirty laundry, assuming they care.

You don’t want to be Madonna, getting plastic surgery to appear young, trying to appeal to teens and twentysomethings when they see her as their grandma. Did you notice that E. Jean Carroll got no plastic surgery, never mind an eyepatch, and it adds to her credibility?

So Taylor Swift stepped into it. And I’m telling her the world moves so fast she should just shut up and forget about it. But before she posts again, she’d better think twice. Who are you? A geek who’s one of the people, or an untouchable superstar? You’ve got to choose.

Taylor, choose freedom, your own. It’s a long game, don’t get caught up in the minutiae. At this point you’d be better off to underplay, for the good of your career. Because your hit days may be over.

But people still want to hear what Neil Young has to say.

They don’t want to hear from Young MC.