Just charge what the tickets are worth.

But no, rather than admit she’s into the money, she’s gonna bankrupt wannabes who are not gonna be able to sit in the good seats no matter what, because those are reserved for those who are connected, who oftentimes resell them, which is why if you want to sit up close and personal you pay more on StubHub, the fair market value of the tickets.

This is a tone-deaf scam. This upselling with a theoretical benefit.

I thought the Adele album was the last hurrah of physical. But Swift is trying to squeeze one more in before the whole paradigm crashes and we all go to streaming. Hell, she knows it, which is why she put all her albums up on Spotify.

In case you missed the memo, and it’s hard to, since today has been all Taylor Swift all day, she’s dominated the news, and I wouldn’t say in a good way, remember the days of the underplay, when you were already a household name? Well, Taylor Swift has perfected the OVERPLAY! Banging us over the head to pay attention.

So the story is, if you buy more Taylor Swift crap you get a better chance of getting a ticket. And if you want to know how it really works, you can read the terms here:

Taylor Swift Tix

Only a tween would take the time, and many are gonna be frustrated and angry when they lay down dough and find out they’re closed out. Parents will be up in arms, we’ve seen this movie with Miley Cyrus before, all because Taylor Swift is greedy. How could she get it so right at the trial and so wrong here? This is a naked dash for cash, an effort to sell albums so she can publicize how successful she is, as if it all matters, as if anybody can equal the stature and ubiquity of the classic rock acts, whether it be the vaunted Beatles or the Stones who never sold albums but can still sell out stadiums today.

I thought it was supposed to be about message, wasn’t that supposed to eclipse money?

But that was back before the music business was hollowed out and no one could make the money of techies or bankers, even though they all tried to, loving the perks. Hell, even Taylor Swift plays privates. Is NO in her vocabulary?

And this whole ticket promotion leaves a bad taste in consumers’ mouths. Hell, they’re pissed off enough when they can’t get tickets, now you’re gonna charge them and they’re still not gonna get in?

The backlash has already begun:

“People Have Feelings About How Taylor Swift Is Trying To Change The Way We Buy Concert Tickets – ‘Me showing Taylor my empty bank account after buying tour tickets and all of her new merch: look what you made me do.'”

Expect aw shucks Swift to take out her dagger and crucify Buzzfeed, all the news outlets out to get her, hell, she had a problem with “fake news” long before Trump. But the way you succeed when you’re on top is to take yourself out of the game, which is the opposite of Taylor’s endeavors. She wants coverage, she wants photos, delivering gifts with camera crews, shooting snaps at her holiday party, did Swift learn nothing in her hiatus?

No, she’s a MEAN GIRL! Yup, a hypocritical bully who seems to believe she’s been done wrong, just like the Donald, they both won but somehow that’s not enough for them.

And both are living in a bubble far removed from reality.

If I were Taylor I’d take a cue from Rivers Cuomo, who famously went back to college in the middle of Weezer’s career. She needs to have her horizons broadened, she’s been blinded by the spotlight, she needs not only personal development, but education, points of reference, she has to learn we’re all not measured by the monetary yardstick.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if once the mainstream press gets ahold of this Taylor capitulates. It’s almost a Ponzi scheme, but in this case you buy stuff you don’t really want for a chance to get what you do want, tickets, but you can’t get. The longer this charade exists, the worse it’s gonna be for her.

You’ve got to pay attention to Taylor Swift for the same reason you pay attention to Trump, because she captures the zeitgeist, she’s a reflection of us back upon ourselves, she’s evidence of how far off the rails we’ve gone.

It’s time to get back to the garden.

Saint Motel – Spotify

I’ve got this friend in Nashville, he sends me all the new country tracks.

And the old ones too.

He’s the guy who turned me on to Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy” and Luke Bryan’s “Drink A Beer.” I trust him implicitly, he’s my go-to resource.

And he just sent me a bunch of tracks. The most intriguing were by this unsigned guy Mike Ryan, I heard it immediately, especially “New Hometown.”

And he confirmed my love of Luke Combs’s “Hurricane,” told me the man was blowing up, was becoming a juggernaut, so I downloaded Luke’s whole album, synched it to my phone.

And I was intrigued by Ashley McBryde, who just might break out.

And I was excited that an act like Greensky Bluegrass could sell so many tickets, made me hopeful that listenership was widening, that other genres besides hip-hop and pop were gaining traction.

And then I stumble on to Saint Motel.

It was nearly midnight. I’d listened to sixteen country tracks all the way through, giving them a good shot, none were bad, I understood them all, but none gave me the same twinge as I got with Saint Motel.

Which is not a country act.

Yes, this gentleman appended a bunch of pop/alternative/mainstream acts at the end of his list, and it was Saint Motel that blew my mind.

I’ve got to admit, the previously heard “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man is a phenomenon, a well-deserved left field hit. And the Old 97’s/Brandi Carlile “Good With God” was my favorite track by the band in eons. And the Ryan Adams number “To Be Without You” is almost a complete return to form, just needs another change, an improved chorus to bring him back, and we agree that “When The Tequila Runs Out” is the best cut on the last Dawes album.

But Saint Motel was UNDENIABLE! A one listen smash. Which got your feet moving. A cross between what once was and now is that is exquisite.

Yes, imagine blending the new wave of the 80’s with the modern movement of dance, without sacrificing any credibility whatsoever.

Yes, remember the excitement of the English bands on MTV, who wiped the slate clean of corporate rock and vapid disco and infatuated all of us?

Saint Motel is just like that, without sounding dated whatsoever, it puts a smile on your face, makes you a believer once again.

MOVE!

You’re implored to do this, not long after the advent of the song.

And then the fanfare of the (fake?) brass grabs you in the private parts.

This man, this dutiful man has got this sense of devotion
One look, one touch of a hand can set the spiral in motion

And it’s the attitude, the vocalization that hooks you, kinda disinterested yet omniscient, the viewpoint of acts too cool for school who were not interested about techie titans, certainly not bankers, because they knew they had much more influence and fun than either of them.

And then we come to the chorus!

Gotta get up, I gotta get up
Move

You jump up, start dancing around, even if there’s no one else there, even if you never dance in public, the song gets inside you just that fast.

And then the playlist slid into “My Type,” somewhat similar, yet different, but every bit as infectious.

Take a look around the room
Love comes wearing disguises
How to go about and choose
Break it down by shapes and sizes
I’m a man who’s got very specific taste

It’s almost otherworldly. Not a diss track, just about life, the one we’re all living, it resembles nothing so much as an ABC cut.

You-you-you’re just my type

“My Type” is just the kind of track you play to psyche you up, for an athletic event, to get up and ask that person for a date.

The third cut, “Getaway,” was of the similar oeuvre, but different. Had an element of Depeche Mode, the early stuff, like “Just Can’t Get Enough,” but an imploring vocal that gets your head threading through the air…

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

And they are guys. And they’re not from the old country, but Los Angeles.

And these tracks are not new.

“Move” is from 2016.

“My Type” is from 2014!

And “Getaway” is from 2016 too.

Now it’s not like Saint Motel is completely unknown. “My Type” has 75,287,192 streams on Spotify, “Move” has over 16 million and “Getaway” nearly 2 million.

Hell, “My Type” even made it to #5 on AAA, showing how important and impactful that format is, as in NOT!

How does such great stuff go unrecognized?

They were on Parlophone which was in limbo and is now part of Elektra, so maybe they got lost in the shuffle, maybe the label didn’t do its part, WHO KNOWS?

That’s the modern era. WHO KNOWS?

There is great stuff in the marketplace, but you’re not aware of it. Until someone tells you, and then you find out you’re not the only person in the club.

We need a better system than this, because these three Saint Motel songs are one listen gets, THEY’RE SMASHES!

You sell in the fourth quarter.

You stream all year-round.

Once again the music business is on the cutting edge, the canary in the coal mine. Movies are fourth quarter dependent. What are people gonna see during the holidays? Thanksgiving to Christmas? They’ve got free time, they’re oftentimes not working, they’ve got to get out of the house, why not go to a movie?

And during the summer, when kids are out of school.

But they listen to music all twelve months. And one could argue the holidays are when they listen to new music the least.

The record business has been focused on the fourth quarter for nearly a century. Hold back your heavy hitters. Market like crazy. Get those discs into people’s hands. Their parents have to buy gifts. It’s a cornucopia of consumption.

But now the wheel has turned.

Just like Bob Seger and Taylor Swift are now on Spotify, soon the physical and file paradigm will die. There will be no reason to fourth quarter load. If anything, you want to stay out of the maelstrom, when the tsunami of hit product is released. And accounting has changed. Labels shipped in the fourth quarter and got returns thereafter, making their numbers and then dealing with the detriment in the aftermath.

If you’re releasing new music today, your best bet is to do it when no one else is. Assuming you’re going to get press attention to begin with.

And the way you cut through the clutter is not with front-loaded publicity, but marketing after the fact. Music has turned into curling. Sliding the stone is only the beginning, then the brushpeople start doing their work, reducing friction, making a good slide go into the appropriate spot.

And the sweeping looks insignificant. But it’s oh-so-important.

Now you create the record and see if it responds. If it doesn’t, if there’s no data to support your story, you’re screwed. It all comes down to the data. Do people save it on Spotify, do they listen to it again and again. And then it’s a long hard slog to the top.

Release date is just the beginning, arguably the least important part of the journey.

There was a story on Randy Newman’s new album in every publication known to man. But not a single track has eclipsed 100,000 plays on Spotify, not even close. This is ass-backwards. The man needed a one listen single, which he arguably had with his Trump song, which he left off the album, but now his new work is already in the rearview mirror.

Whereas those acts without airplay, who are not part of the broken media scene, are the ones that are triumphing on streaming services, like Logic.

This is a sea change.

The fourth quarter is about to be history.

It’s about streams, not sales!

Never forget that.

You never punch down.

So this is the second strike out by Jack Antonoff, after Lorde’s “Green Light,” Jack’s no Max Martin. Martin releases no track before its time, Martin has his finger on the pulse of music culture, he knows the hit parade and adjusts his sound accordingly, Antonoff is a niche player with talent who gets undeserved accolades, because if you’re the go-to producer of follow-ups…

You’ve got to deliver.

“Royals” was a phenomenon. It’s got 424,344,664 streams on Spotify, and it was released before that platform blew up. “Green Light” only has 172,029,805, a huge come down. It’s only the media which still believes Lorde is a pure heroine…

She’s peaked.

As for Taylor Swift…

She’s winning the battle for mindshare. In today’s world, it’s hard to get everybody’s attention, only Trump seems able to do this.

But she bunted. Criticizing Kim and Kanye? Isn’t that like Paul McCartney trashing Peter Noone? Or Steph Curry going on about some hater in the crowd?

Kanye’s a bipolar nitwit. Married to a nincompoop. To focus on them only brings you down.

And the only reason Taylor got into this tiff is because she lost perspective. She was so busy being everywhere and fabulous that when someone pointed this out, took her down…

She couldn’t take it.

There’s nothing worse than a sour grapes celebrity, complaining that they’ve been done wrong.

But this has been Taylor’s MO for eons. But it used to be a guessing game, in the old days the targets weren’t famous, now she’s in feuds with other celebrities, when what we’re really looking for is guidance, for her to float above and tell us what to do, instead of illustrating she’s no different from the hoi polloi, living in the gutter of social media.

As for the line about Taylor Swift being dead… Didn’t Miley Cyrus do this act years ago? This is not Madonna excavating a niche trend and making it mainstream, like with “Vogue,” rather Taylor Swift is beating a dead horse and we’re supposed to care.

And the Swifties will.

This is where statistics fail us. Believe me, “Look What You Made Me Do” will rack up streams, expect to see stories about broken records soon. It will be a hollow victory lap. Because at the center is this pleasant track about dissing folks that does not cry out for endless repeats unless you’re a dedicated fan.

But there are enough dedicated fans to make this look like a hit. They’ll eat up everything Tay Tay does. So where does this leave us?

Looking for some truth.

John Lennon was in the biggest band in the world, then he goes solo and opens a wound and testifies in a personal way heretofore unheard on Beatle records.

U2 is fearful of repeating itself and therefore brings in Brian Eno to switch up sounds, ultimately successfully. And when the band was experiencing its backlash, after “Rattle and Hum,” when Bono was excoriated on both street corners and in the press, what did the band do? They went to Berlin and cut an album with industrial sounds that was a distinct departure from what had come previously. One that delivered more rewards the more you listened to it. The more you listen to “Look What You Made Me Do,” the less you want to.

But they’ll spin it in clubs. And we’ll all be told what a success it is…

And there you have the modern world. Why so many dismiss the music business. It’s a producer’s medium. This sounds nothing like what Taylor Swift made her bones on. That was closer to countrified Joni Mitchell, this is of the moment disposable dreck. At least “Shake It Off” was catchy.

So now I’m part of the problem. I didn’t buy in. Like the rest of the somnambulant groupies and critics who have become cheerleaders, who can say nothing negative.

What we’re looking for is someone to push the envelope. And those with the greatest attention have the greatest responsibility. That’s one of the reasons we still marvel at the aforementioned Beatles, they took left turns, they didn’t give us what we wanted.

Then again, Taylor Swift is a woman of her times. Embattled, self-righteously taking on all detractors, just like the President.

And by pointing this out I’m seen as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution.

But someone has to stand up for truth.

And I’m not worrying about payback, SHE ALREADY WROTE A SONG ABOUT ME!