{"id":1599,"date":"2009-01-21T11:36:16","date_gmt":"2009-01-21T19:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2009-01-21T11:36:16","modified_gmt":"2009-01-21T19:36:16","slug":"brand-new-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/01\/21\/brand-new-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand New Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

How many of you people out there<\/span>
Been hurt in some kind of love affair<\/span>
And how many times do you swear that you’ll never love again?<\/span><\/p>\n

I used to spend all my money on records.\u00c2\u00a0 I built a collection I felt worthy of the Smithsonian.\u00c2\u00a0 If it was free and it sucked, I threw it out.\u00c2\u00a0 What if someone came to my house and saw it?<\/p>\n

But in 1988 I bought a Michael Monroe CD with one good track.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be the single was just the invitation, to a well-developed world worth visiting.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, albums were overpriced theme parks with only one roller coaster and a bunch of kiddie rides.\u00c2\u00a0 It took a little more than a decade, but Napster unbundled the track from the album and we were DELIVERED!<\/p>\n

No longer were we at the mercy of the man, no longer were we pawns in the act’s game, suddenly we could have exactly what we wanted, FOR FREE!\u00c2\u00a0 Not only the tracks we wouldn’t buy an album for, but songs that had never seen the light of day, rarities that thrilled us.<\/p>\n

Then, we downloaded everything we needed.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, we no longer wanted the new stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 It had a vocal audience of purveyors, but we thought it paled next to the classics.

How many lonely, sleepless nights <\/span>
How many lies, how many fights <\/span>
And why would you want to put yourself through all that again?<\/span><\/p>\n

Play Grand Theft Auto if you want to see creativity and innovation.\u00c2\u00a0 The wii is cooler than CDs ever were.\u00c2\u00a0 And it comes WITH the crucial games.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re tempted to move on.<\/p>\n

‘Love is pain,’ I hear you say <\/span>
Love has a cruel and bitter way <\/span>
Of paying you back for all the faith you ever had in your brain<\/span><\/p>\n

We hate the major labels, TicketMaster and the overexposed acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Is there no one who won’t sell out, who won’t take the corporate money, who won’t see that we’re enough to support them, that if you’ve got the fans, you’ve got everything you need?

How could it be that what you need the most <\/span>
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?<\/span>
You never want to feel so sad and lost again<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s been painful, being subjected to the prepubescent wannabes, being afraid of getting sued by the RIAA.\u00c2\u00a0 You may want to give up, but like that old classic song says, the darkest hour is just before the dawn.<\/p>\n

One day you could be looking <\/span>
Through an old book in rainy weather <\/span>
You see a picture of her smiling at you<\/span>
When you were still together <\/span>
You could be walking down the street <\/span>
And who should you chance to meet <\/span>
But that same old smile that you’ve been thinking of all day<\/span><\/p>\n

Last night I fired up a 60’s playlist on Napster.\u00c2\u00a0 Not the old Shawn Fanning P2P service, but the licensed streaming service.\u00c2\u00a0 I needed to hear "Lightning Strikes", Len Barry’s "1-2-3".\u00c2\u00a0 But what pushed me over the edge, what made me insist Felice and I get up and dance, was the Buckinghams’ "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy".<\/p>\n

Just a band from too far north playing soul music forty years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Conceptually.\u00c2\u00a0 But the listening experience was better than any TV show, better than any movie, better than not only Grand Theft Auto, but Rock Band.<\/p>\n

The track was cranked to the max via the Sonos system.<\/p>\n

Maybe you think Sonos is overpriced.\u00c2\u00a0 But the most important thing is the technology WORKS!\u00c2\u00a0 You can stream the history of recorded music on IMPULSE!\u00c2\u00a0 It comes straight from the pipe, no computer necessary, just an iPhone or iPod Touch.<\/p>\n

What amazing technology.<\/p>\n

Cell phones were once expensive.\u00c2\u00a0 HD flat screens too.\u00c2\u00a0 But in seemingly no time, they’ve become affordable, they’re plentiful throughout the landscape.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, not long from now, you’ll be able to stream the history of recorded music in your house for next to nothing.\u00c2\u00a0 You won’t even bother to steal, the experience will be too damn good.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just a matter of time.\u00c2\u00a0 And for under a grand and $15 a month, you can have it all today.<\/p>\n

And you can buy an iPod Touch for $229.\u00c2\u00a0 And download creative apps as well as control Sonos and eventually stream music directly.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve come so far, and are just inches from nirvana.<\/p>\n

You can turn the clock to zero, honey<\/span>
I’ll sell the stock, we’ll spend all the money <\/span>
We’re starting up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

The RIAA said they would no longer sue file traders.\u00c2\u00a0 The story from MIDEM is the rights holders have finally caught on, they’re going to stop beating up their customers and give them what they want, all the music at a very low price.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\n
Music Industry Imitates Digital Pirates to Turn a Profit<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We’ve been fighting for this for a decade.\u00c2\u00a0 It seemed like we’d never win.\u00c2\u00a0 But with their bottom lines decimated, labels and publishers have finally capitulated.<\/p>\n

But it’s about more than money.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about LIFE ENRICHMENT!\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be you had to buy a record for an exorbitant price to hear it.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, you can check it out for next to nothing online, on MySpace, iMeem or the band’s Website.\u00c2\u00a0 Think about this.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to wait for the radio to play your song.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t even have to drive down to the store to buy it.\u00c2\u00a0 You can experience greatness INSTANTLY!\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to go to a friend’s house to hear their records, they’ve just got to make a suggestion and you can dial it up.<\/p>\n

An act no longer needs to go through radio’s filter.\u00c2\u00a0 Get enough fans spreading the word and you can give up your day job.<\/p>\n

Turn the clock all the way back<\/span>
I wonder if she’ll take me back <\/span>
I’m thinking in a brand new way<\/span><\/p>\n

Driving to Brentwood today I heard a new country song I liked on XM, Andy Griggs’ "How Cool Is That".\u00c2\u00a0 I discovered country music via satellite radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, there isn’t even always a terrestrial country station broadcasting in L.A!\u00c2\u00a0 I wrote about tracks I liked and this guy Henry e-mailed me about Keith Urban’s "Stupid Boy".\u00c2\u00a0 It came on my iPod and I was blown away by the guitar solo.\u00c2\u00a0 I didn’t even know who it was.\u00c2\u00a0 But I knew this was the same magic that entranced me in the seventies.\u00c2\u00a0 Having written about it, Gary Borman invited me to the gig.\u00c2\u00a0 It was stunning.\u00c2\u00a0 This wasn’t fake like the Top Forty wonders.\u00c2\u00a0 There were FIVE GUITAR PLAYERS!<\/p>\n

Flabbergasted, I wrote about the experience and when I ran into Keith Urban upstairs at the Roxy, he knew who I was.\u00c2\u00a0 This could never have happened in the pre-Internet era.\u00c2\u00a0 Word didn’t spread that easily, you hit dead ends.\u00c2\u00a0 Now we’re all networked, if you love something you can tell EVERYBODY about it!<\/p>\n

Turn the clock to zero, sister<\/span>
You’ll never know how much I missed her <\/span>
Starting up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn’t only that Buckinghams track.\u00c2\u00a0 When "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" streamed last night I was brought right back to the sixties, when the Mamas & the Papas were not the exception.\u00c2\u00a0 Today an act like this would be the biggest in the land, overnight.\u00c2\u00a0 Two girls and two boys and a resident genius songwriter.\u00c2\u00a0 And a brilliant producer, who started off in surf music.<\/p>\n

But the Mamas & Papas faded out.\u00c2\u00a0 Mama Cass died and John Phillips lost his inspiration.<\/p>\n

But inspiration did not die with the sixties.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just been channeled toward fame and riches, music has taken a back seat.\u00c2\u00a0 But now that anyone can be famous and almost no one can be rich, there’s going to be a focus on music once again.\u00c2\u00a0 We can have hope.\u00c2\u00a0 That we’ll have these great listening experiences once again.<\/p>\n

Turn the clock to zero, boss<\/span>
The river’s wide, we’ll swim across <\/span>
Started up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t have to wait for permission, you don’t have to be rich.\u00c2\u00a0 You can just buy a MacBook and create your opus with the free GarageBand software.\u00c2\u00a0 And post the result online instantly!\u00c2\u00a0 You keep telling everybody how great you are, now you can prove it!<\/p>\n

It could happen to you – just like it happened to me <\/span>
There’s simply no immunity – there’s no guarantee<\/span>
I say love is such a force – if you find yourself in it <\/span>
And sometimes no reflection is there<\/span><\/p>\n

The Web allows the word to be spread instantly, far and wide, to essentially everybody.\u00c2\u00a0 Like that skier hanging naked, upside down on the chairlift in Vail’s Blue Sky Basin.\u00c2\u00a0 First, it was just a story in the "Vail Daily".\u00c2\u00a0 Then I was e-mailed the picture from readers around the world.\u00c2\u00a0 It was on the HuffPo and Drudge.\u00c2\u00a0 On the "Today Show".\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the power of train-wreck value.\u00c2\u00a0 But maybe, just maybe, if an incredibly great record is cut, word could spread that wide just that fast.\u00c2\u00a0 If Neil Young cut a new "Ohio" after the next international crisis, maybe it could be number one in the public consciousness overnight.<\/p>\n

Maybe not.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe cable TV has taught us nothing can dominate anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s too much choice.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody doesn’t want to listen to the same damn thing.<\/p>\n

But that’s not so bad.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve now got a direct connection to your fans.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll buy the $100 package, with the book and vinyl record.\u00c2\u00a0 And they won’t bitch about being ripped off!\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to run the gauntlet to try and have a dominant hit, you can build slowly and generate an audience that supports you.<\/p>\n

Baby wait a minute, wait a minute <\/span>
Wait a minute, wait a minute <\/span>
Wait a minute, wait a minute<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you willing to be positive, are you willing to have hope?
Sure, you hated the big labels.\u00c2\u00a0 But they have less control than ever before.\u00c2\u00a0 The most powerful person in the music business is not Doug Morris, but Irving Azoff. And Irving’s number one priority is the act, always has been.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why there’s never been a "Hotel California" movie, no "Lyin’ Eyes" bathroom spray.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s protected the Eagles’ legacy and it’s paid dividends DECADES after the band’s heyday.<\/p>\n

Yes, Eagles tickets are expensive.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe they’ll still sell during the recession.\u00c2\u00a0 But no one’s going to pay $45 plus fees to hear the music of the one hit wonder. Live music is going to be reinvented, be cheaper at least.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s gonna take a while, but this is going to happen.\u00c2\u00a0 And, with music easily available online, it’ll be easier than ever to build up your fan base, generating ticket sales.<\/p>\n

Turn the clock to zero, honey <\/span>
I’ll sell the stock, we’ll spend all the money <\/span>
We’re starting up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

Music is cheap to make and cheap to acquire.\u00c2\u00a0 Relative to the products of GM and so many faltering behemoths.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t have to go down any further, we’ve hit the bottom, we’re ripe for reinvention.\u00c2\u00a0 Give us your great new tracks, your infectious new acts.\u00c2\u00a0 But not if you promote them the usual way, we’re not going to pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t want our e-mail addresses harvested, we don’t want to be spammed by our mobile phone providers, we want to discover you honestly, primarily via our friends.\u00c2\u00a0 Quality is king.

Turn the clock to zero, Mac <\/span>
I’m begging her to take me back <\/span>
I’m thinking in a brand new way<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s what Steve Jobs said he was inventing, TOOLS!\u00c2\u00a0 Fire up your Mac, create, spread the word, connect with your friends via iChat!\u00c2\u00a0 Apple is not the enemy, only the enabler of a brand new day.<\/p>\n

Turn the clock to zero, boss<\/span>
The river’s wide, we’ll swim across <\/span>
Started up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s right, YOU’RE the boss.\u00c2\u00a0 The oppressors have fallen, they’ve been neutered.\u00c2\u00a0 It may only be symbolic, but the Berlin Wall of the music industry has fallen, it’s been smashed to bits by angry fans.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t wait for the usual suspects to break you, you’ve got to do so YOURSELF!<\/p>\n

Turn the clock to zero buddy <\/span>
Don’t wanna be no fuddy duddy <\/span>
Started up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m on your page.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t wince when I quote the oldies.\u00c2\u00a0 Just create something BETTER!\u00c2\u00a0 Believe me, I’m looking for a new Joni Mitchell, a brand new Jackson Browne.\u00c2\u00a0 Give me someone with a voice as pure as Elton’s, who can bang the piano like he truly has the music in him.

I’m the rhythm in your tune <\/span>
I’m the sun and you’re the moon <\/span>
I’m a bat and you’re the cave <\/span>
You’re the beach and I’m the wave <\/span>
I’m the plow and you’re the land<\/span>
You’re the glove and I’m the hand<\/span>
I’m the train and you’re the station <\/span>
I’m a flagpole to your nation – yeah<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m just trying to be honest, calling fouls when I see them committed.\u00c2\u00a0 In a phony world where every record is supposedly great and being friends, not crossing people, is more important than how good the music is.\u00c2\u00a0 I want you to trust me, I want to trust you.<\/p>\n

Stand up all you lovers in the world <\/span>
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl <\/span>
Stand up all you lovers in the world <\/span>
Starting up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why everybody came to D.C.\u00c2\u00a0 They wanted to believe, they wanted to have hope.\u00c2\u00a0 If only we could demonstrate our power.\u00c2\u00a0 But we have!\u00c2\u00a0 We built the iPod!\u00c2\u00a0 We paid a fortune for these devices, just to hear our music!\u00c2\u00a0 The device was useless without the tunes.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, it would have been great if rights holders had been compensated, but we demonstrated that we cared.\u00c2\u00a0 ABOUT MUSIC!<\/p>\n

I’m the present to your future<\/span>
You’re the wound and I’m the suture<\/span>
You’re the magnet to my pole<\/span>
I’m the devil in your soul<\/span>
You’re the pupil I’m the teacher<\/span>
You’re the church and I’m the preacher<\/span>
You’re the flower I’m the rain<\/span>
You’re the tunnel I’m the train<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t work me.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not as powerful as you think.\u00c2\u00a0 And I only write about what I truly believe in.\u00c2\u00a0 What truly excites me is serendipity, hearing a random song on satellite radio, having someone not in the music business testify about a track.\u00c2\u00a0 If I believe, I’ll tell everybody, not for compensation, but because I want to share the joy!<\/p>\n

Stand up all you lovers in the world <\/span>
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl <\/span>
Stand up all you lovers in the world <\/span>
Starting up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

We know what’s great.\u00c2\u00a0 And we love to support the left field creation, like "Slumdog Millionaire".\u00c2\u00a0 We want to testify against the cookie-cutter product, we’re dying to support something that tests the limits, that’s truly real.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Gnarls Barkley’s "Crazy".\u00c2\u00a0 Now THAT’S a hit record.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to tell everybody I knew about it.\u00c2\u00a0 Haven’t heard a track quite that good since, but that one Danger Mouse creation gives me hope.\u00c2\u00a0 An outsider, making music on his own terms, delivered this track, not a usual suspect.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about who you know, but how good you are.<\/p>\n

You’re the crop to my rotation<\/span>
You’re the sum of my equation<\/span>
I’m the answer to your question<\/span>
If you follow my suggestion<\/span>
We can turn this ship around<\/span>
We’ll go up instead of down<\/span>
You’re the pan and I’m the handle<\/span>
You’re the flame and I’m the candle<\/span><\/p>\n

George Bush is no longer President.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a long national nightmare, but people came together and elected the unelectable, a black man.\u00c2\u00a0 You see you can’t give up.\u00c2\u00a0 The public is smarter than you think, people are not as prejudiced as the pundits say.\u00c2\u00a0 Most people are honest, and want to reason to a good conclusion.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, they’re motivated by self-interest, but they’ll take a chance.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t need to hear the same old "American Idol" wannabe, they’re ready to give you a chance.

Stand up all you lovers in the world<\/span>
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl<\/span>
Stand up all you lovers in the world<\/span>
We’re starting up a brand new day<\/span><\/p>\n

Why has music been so stagnant?\u00c2\u00a0 Was timing key to the alchemy of the sixties and seventies?\u00c2\u00a0 Was there too much money involved?\u00c2\u00a0 Did Tommy Mottola and Clive Davis just get too much power?<\/p>\n

Tommy and Clive have been neutered.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re fighting the man, I hate to tell you, he doesn’t exist.<\/p>\n

It’s not only our country, it’s our music industry.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not business as usual.\u00c2\u00a0 An infrastructure has been built.\u00c2\u00a0 Acts have been freed from slavery.\u00c2\u00a0 You can now do it on your own.<\/p>\n

Sure, the plantation owners want 360 deals, some people are afraid to give up slavery.\u00c2\u00a0 But that will change.\u00c2\u00a0 Artists have been SHORTCHANGED for far too long.<\/p>\n

As have listeners.\u00c2\u00a0 Subjected to third rate dreck.<\/p>\n

But now you don’t have to listen to it.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to tune into Top Forty radio.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to buy overpriced CDs.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re in charge of your ears.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a cornucopia of music easily sampled.\u00c2\u00a0 A veritable buffet.<\/p>\n

Is it confusing?\u00c2\u00a0 Have we overeaten, stockpiling songs in our iTunes library and ended up with indigestion?\u00c2\u00a0 Sure!\u00c2\u00a0 But, sample enough buffets and you desire better quality food, portions don’t mean that much.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d rather have a 35 minute album of quality than a 75 minute extended masturbatory workout.<\/p>\n

We’re trying to figure out how to separate the wheat from the chaff.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the next big battle.\u00c2\u00a0 And it will be won not by someone looking to strike it rich, but an individual with a team that wants to spread the word more than get rich.<\/p>\n

George Bush was sworn in twice.\u00c2\u00a0 We entered a war on trumped up evidence.\u00c2\u00a0 A whole city was almost lost.\u00c2\u00a0 It looked like things would never turn around.\u00c2\u00a0 Now we’ve got a chance.<\/p>\n

The country was mad as hell, and wasn’t going to take it anymore.<\/p>\n

That describes the music business in 1999.<\/p>\n

But it’s 2009 now.\u00c2\u00a0 The war is almost over.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re at the start of a brand new day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
"Brand New Day"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How many of you people out thereBeen hurt in some kind of love affairAnd how many times do you swear that you’ll never love again? I used to spend all my money on records.\u00c2\u00a0 I built a collection I felt worthy of the Smithsonian.\u00c2\u00a0 If it was free and it sucked, I threw it out.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-pN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1600,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions\/1600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}