Hanging with a bunch of douche bag insiders for a week?

WORTHLESS!

Performing on the telecast or winning one of the top four awards?

PRICELESS!

Welcome to 2018, where you just can’t get your message out. There’s too much noise. How are you going to cut through that clutter?

By appearing on the Grammy telecast.

Forget the declining numbers, forget the passage of the tweetstorm, don’t confuse your career interests with those of television and advertising. Your goal is to get your act seen and your music heard.

And the barrier to entry is nonexistent. As long as you can motivate people. That’s the hardest job today. How do you get people to click?

Don’t confuse the Grammys with the Oscars, totally different animal. Despite all the press, the Oscars are passe, movies don’t drive the culture, not even close. And you can’t click and hit play and watch the movies instantly after the telecast, most are unavailable, except in theatres, you’ve got to pay, and people forget. Whereas music is all about instant gratification. And this is a good thing. With a barrier to entry so low, you can hook people and then… Think like a tech company, gain fans first, then figure out how to monetize them. Putting the music behind a paywall is anathema. You’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. How you gonna get them to come to the show and buy your merch if they’ve never heard your music? Sure, YouTube can pay more, but not everyone is gonna subscribe to a streaming service, thank god for the Spotify free tier, back in the radio days not everybody bought music and that’s true today, although the value proposition is so good that over a hundred million people pay to subscribe.

Once again, you’ve got to get on the show. Which means you need a hit or a good manager or both. It’s a negotiation. U2’s new album is a complete stiff, but killing it on the telecast will help them sell tickets, their main driver. And despite you and me knowing that hip-hop drives the culture, many people tune out. But when they see rappers on the telecast…at least they’ll know what the rest of us are talking about, they too can become part of the discussion, they might even become fans!

And the great thing about music on television is it sucks. Especially if it’s loud and raucous. Which means you have to go to get the real experience. This is just an advertisement for the gig. And if you laugh, you’re missing the point. Everybody on this show has an audience, and after their heroes appear, they’re gonna talk about it endlessly, spreading the word.

And a nobody could become a star. That’s what happened to Chris Stapleton. He appeared on the CMAs and overnight he was anointed, winning helped too, seemed like all of his brethren dug him.

This is what occurred with Bonnie Raitt thirty years ago. But thirty years have passed. It’s about consumption, not purchase. We measure the after-effects differently. We want to know if people listen, if they’ve become FANS!

In the old days it was easy to keep up. A number one was known by everybody. Flip the radio dial and you could get an appraisal of the landscape in an hour. Watch MTV for an equal length of time and you knew what was going on. Now it’s all a mishmash, a cornucopia of influences with none seeming to dominate. The Spotify Top 50 is very different from the Mediabase chart, but the reason record companies focus on radio is because of the same thing here, it’s the easiest way to reach mass.

But radio is dying. Never ever listen to the prognosticators saying otherwise. They’re all in the industry. Just ask anybody under twenty if they’re listening. We live in an on demand culture and you stream not only at home, but in your automobile. Waiting for your favorite to come up is so twentieth century.

But we are human. We congregate, we want to be part of the mass. So we watch this show for various reasons. Insiders to rate and react, hipsters to judge, fans to swoon and outsiders to see what is going on. Get out of your bubble if you want to know the impact. We like rankings, we like coherence, we like to take the pulse of art and society.

So if you’re not on the telecast and you’re not up for one of the big awards, stay home, it’s a meaningless circle jerk wherein you think you’re important but you’re not. If the big acts have a hard time getting universal traction, what are your odds? Oh, so you want to put “Grammy Winner” on your bio… Well, think of all the greats who never won. And the organization has historically gotten it wrong time and again.

But if Kendrick wins instead of Jay Z this year…

His fanbase is only gonna get bigger. Because if everybody’s into it…

Maybe you should be too.

He’s not happy.

But that’s the ethos of an artist, not a businessman.

And we’ve all become business people.

In the limited rock press, a fraction of what it is today, filled with press releases and the mass opinions of the great unwashed, Elliott Murphy got traction with his 1973 album “Aquashow.”

But it was on Polydor. And therefore destined for the dustbin. Yes, it was a major label, yes, he had a record deal, but sometimes you play with one hand behind your back and you just can’t break through.

And then your moment is passed.

Elliott switched labels, even put out music on Columbia. But the sound was changing, he was no longer the new thing, he drank and took drugs and finally put the whole thing to bed on his last promotional tour, he just could not be disappointed one more time.

So he went back to college. He was gonna become a lawyer.

Instead, he moved to France, and became a legend. Probably one most of you have never heard of.

But his fans keep him alive.

This all went down prior to the MTV era, never mind the social network era. Before that, you could only be so big. As big as you were during the AOR heyday of the seventies, it was nothing compared to the eighties when MTV penetrated the populace and everybody knew your name, when suddenly there was no time for non-stars like Elliott Murphy.

But that changed the paradigm. Money became ever so much more important, along with looks. To the point where the whole scene flipped over into pop, which was anathema before this. You didn’t want to be lowest common denominator, you wanted to make a statement, you wanted the people to come to you, not vice versa.

But those days are through. Of course there are exceptions. But very few with success. You see today you can yell loudly and be heard, for a minute, before you’re tuned out, but that does not mean anything you say is worth listening to.

So when everybody wants to make it in America, Elliott Murphy moves to France and has a hard time. His middle years. Too old to die young, yet too young to be a legend. He’s working. And recording. And writing. Because this is what he does.

And he doesn’t bitch.

If you can make it work, you soldier on.

Otherwise, you give up.

Some drink themselves to death, O.D. But you’re faced with challenges and you make a choice. Sometimes you’ve got to give up. Sometimes that’s the brave thing to do. Before you throw your life away. I know too many people who threw their lives away for rock and roll. They never finished school, they have no 401k. All they’ve got is their memories, and they wonder what happened to them. Back when a song was everything and a show was under ten bucks.

Elliott was buds with Bruce and Billy Joel, they’re in this doc. But really, it’s about Elliott. How he soldiered on when no one cared other than his fans.

He talks about playing for them instead of the execs.

Making records because he has something to say.

Wanting to write a new album right before the show, play it, and then discard it and do it all over again.

You’ll learn more about being an artist, being a musician, having a career, in this documentary than you will in most every other rock doc, because it’s not about the facts, but the emotions, the feelings, as all great art is.

Strangely you can’t turn this show off. Because not only is it shot well, it’s personable. You’re right in Elliott’s living room and mind. And the longer you stay tuned, you realize there’s something there, not only the original single “Last Of The Rock Stars,” but new material, like “On Elvis Presley’s Birthday.” He says it’s his most famous song these days, but I’d never heard it. But as he sings/talks about driving around with his father on January 8th your mind starts to drift, you start thinking about your own father, about the times when the world was not so networked and you rattled around in your own brain. Hell, is social networking just a way for us to feel less lonely?

And the Europeans love the music without knowing the lyrics, without knowing the language.

But there’s something in the music.

There is something in the music. To a great degree we’ve lost touch with. No one wanted to be a brand back then. They wanted to make a statement, they wanted to be heard. The trappings were just that, you were interested in the essence.

But then it all got co-opted, the big boys and the money. Just like the internet today. Does anybody really believe they can compete with the Big Four, who seem not to have our best interests at heart?

But, once again, that’s commerce, not art, corporations, not people.

Art when done right evidences life. Makes you think about your existence. Makes you contemplate your place in the universe.

We need artists to not only make sense of it all, but to make it worth living.

Not all artists can be household names.

But that does not mean those on a lower plane have little to contribute.

Elliott Murphy has hung in there long enough, paid enough dues to now be considered legendary. As he says, he’s on his victory lap. There was a pot of gold at the end of his rainbow, but it was chocolate, not cash.

You never know what you’re gonna find, where you’re gonna get, if you’re an artist.

Elliott Murphy is an artist.

And that’s why I can’t stop paying attention.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel interviewed for
THE SECOND ACT OF ELLIOTT MURPHY

Trailer THE SECOND ACT OF ELLIOTT MURPHY

“On Elvis Presley’s Birthday”

Maybe we’ve got it all wrong. Maybe the record isn’t the advertisement for the live show, but the live show is the advertisement for the record!

Think about this. It’s only been a hundred years or so that we’ve had recorded music. But prior to that, for millennia, music triumphed.

And it wasn’t until the late sixties when the album format burgeoned that there became so much money in recordings. Which ultimately went through the roof with CDs and the rocket ship of MTV. Suddenly, we were living in a monoculture and everybody was paying a high price for a plastic disc with only one good song.

And then the whole thing crashed. Credit the internet, credit Napster, and ever since everyone in the food chain has been complaining we just haven’t made the revenue on recordings we once did.

But live business has gone through the roof.

Why?

Because of a culture change, because of a societal change, so much of what we consume became commodities, we all had the same items, which were relatively cheap, we were looking for something to separate ourselves from the pack, to stand out, and to communicate with others.

Ergo the live experience.

We haven’t analyzed this, only basked in its payoff.

We think festivals are about headliners when the truth is they’re gatherings of the masses akin to Woodstock. It’s where you go to commune with others, in a world where you’re often at home, in front of a screen.

And we’ve hit peak festival and many will survive, but not all.

And the idea of going out to the local bar to hear music is anathema. Who wants to hear that much bad stuff, especially when you can be titillated at home.

We’ve got endless cash to go see superstars in concert. But how do you become a superstar?

Traditionally you make recordings, assemble enough of them where you can go on the road and repeat them.

But it didn’t used to be this way. It used to be you went to the show to see the act explore, to hear something different, unique. Prior to the MTV era when the public expected a production akin to the video.

And now…

The biggest act in the world is “Hamilton.”

Its Soundscan number is almost equal to Taylor Swift’s. Furthermore, it’s got multiple companies on the road. It’s basking in bucks. Why?

Because of its story, because of its uniqueness.

You can listen to the music at home, but it’s nothing like being there. This isn’t just songs, it’s story, you’re caught up in it, you can never get enough, assuming you can get tickets, you go again and again and again. WHY AREN’T WE MAKING MORE OF THIS?

Instead we’re focused on hitmakers du jour, propped up by producers and topliners, music made by committee, and one educated Puerto Rican American is inspired by a biography and comes up with a musical by his lonesome which is staged in collaboration with others and all we can do is marvel at his genius, deservedly so. This is the magic that created classic rock, which blew up the business, and it’s right in front of our very face!

This is not so different from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, touring every year to boffo at the b.o. The recordings are secondary.

We’ve figured out online monetization of recorded music, streaming won, yet we haven’t analyzed the underlying product. While record companies are investing in tech startups, they are not investing in music, in creativity. Do you really think “Hamilton” can be the only one?

P.S. Phish gets its fans to come back multiple nights with surprise content. You feel if you don’t go, you’re missing out. Sure, it’s all ultimately videoed and up on YouTube, but still you need to be there, to see what happens next.

P.P.S. Jazz and blues and even rock were built upon improvisation. Playing the hits note for note is passe. We need to train the audience to come to hear something new. It’s not about the new track that sends you to the bathroom, but EXPLORATION! Believe me, no one went to the bathroom when Eric Clapton stretched out in Cream.

P.P.P.S. Record companies should be CONTENT companies. And the goal of their business should be to own rights which rain revenue in the future, and they’re all not in recordings. Instead of having songwriting camps to create hits, they need to nurture talent to stretch out and do something new. Not only create musicals, but productions… Never forget that Genesis built a loyal audience on production, the hits came MUCH later. And Peter Gabriel hasn’t had a hit in eons but he continues to sell out when he tours because his audience expects something DIFFERENT, not only production, but reworkings of legendary songs, with new players and instrumentation.

P.P.P.P.S. The recordings are just the beginning. Hearing them rendered note for note live is actually a lame experience. What can you add to make one plus one equal three?

P.P.P.P.P.S. Story is king. It’s what created the album concept, it’s what’s making TV the prime creative outlet today. Why not inject story in music?

This is an almost two year old article and the numbers have only gotten better:

“‘Hamilton’ Inc.: The Path to a Billion-Dollar Broadway Show”

How does a young fashionite lose his job after experiencing the first of numerous nervous breakdowns end up managing and producing the Rolling Stones?

By doing publicity for the Beatles and knowing a great band when he sees one (and tying up with a more experienced partner to add gravitas).

This was when Brian Jones was the spokesman. This was when the blues-revival was in full-form. This was before Mick and Keith started to write their own songs.

I’d say Andrew is self-invented, but even more he’s self-educated. Education is overrated, it squeezes the creativity right out of you, assuming you’ve got the spark to begin with. Which Andrew does, along with a ton of intelligence and insight. That’s what’s impressed me most with the podcast interviewees so far…their intelligence. It’s the way they put the words together, the way they can see things others cannot. Sure, listen to this podcast for the facts, but every once in a while Andrew drops wisdom that will drop your jaw.

He tells the story of getting Lennon and McCartney to let the Stones cut “I Wanna Be Your Man.” He runs into them serendipitously after leaving a session freaking out there’s no follow-up hit and they come to the studio and pretend to finish the song when the truth is they cut it with Ringo on vocals already. And Andrew said they didn’t do it for the money, but to see their names on the record. That was the motivation back then, TO BE PART OF IT! You sat at home looking at your 45s, to see your name under the title…WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR??

Andrew was there. When “Satisfaction” was cut. The key is the acoustic guitars under Mick’s vocal that were ultimately mixed way down.

So if you’re interested in the Stones.

If you’re interested in how someone goes from zero to hero.

Listen.

Listen to Andrew Loog Oldham on TuneIn

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