{"id":1743,"date":"2009-03-03T09:13:37","date_gmt":"2009-03-03T17:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=1743"},"modified":"2009-03-03T09:29:04","modified_gmt":"2009-03-03T17:29:04","slug":"tv-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/03\/tv-ratings\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was going to write about Saul Hansell’s article in the "New York Times" about the sale of "iPhone: The Missing Manual"<\/a> at the App Store.\u00c2\u00a0 Mr. Hansell focused on the fact that people paid for it, but more interesting to me was that not only was this the number one computer book this year, the number one format is as an app for the iPhone.\u00c2\u00a0 All in a week that Prince announces a triple album set available from Target.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless he’s going to write a hit song and play in each and every store in the chain, this is a bad deal.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got enough Prince music.\u00c2\u00a0 We want two CDs and a third of a protege?\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a life.\u00c2\u00a0 And Prince hasn’t put out a good album in this century.\u00c2\u00a0 He keeps making more and more irrelevant music, to the point I don’t even bother checking it out.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s lost me.\u00c2\u00a0 If only he’d cut one good track.\u00c2\u00a0 And then another.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, I can understand a need to express yourself, but not at the expense of your audience.\u00c2\u00a0 Prince gets a check, we ignore him.\u00c2\u00a0 Next!<\/p>\n

You probably think I’m making a point about CDs.\u00c2\u00a0 How they’re history.\u00c2\u00a0 But that is not the analogy that struck me reading Saul Hansell’s article.\u00c2\u00a0 The printed edition of "iPhone: The Missing Manual" costs $24.99.\u00c2\u00a0 The App Store version costs $4.99.\u00c2\u00a0 And when the publisher lifted the cost to $9.99, sales dropped 75%!\u00c2\u00a0 So they lowered it back down.<\/p>\n

If I hear one more asshole singer, songwriter or record company executive tell me about the value of music, I’m going to puke.\u00c2\u00a0 A record is worth a billion dollars if listening to it keeps you from committing suicide.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s invaluable if you propose to your spouse when it’s playing in the background.\u00c2\u00a0 But that doesn’t mean it should cost a buck, that when you tote up the cost of ten tracks you reach the price of a CD.\u00c2\u00a0 Music needs to be much cheaper.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, it’s free.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that the rights holders won’t admit it.\u00c2\u00a0 Or believe by suing the Pirate Bay as opposed to embracing new economic models we can all jet back to the nineties, when the labels were fat and happy.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to why I’m writing this missive.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got nothing to do with the App Store, but an article about network television in Saturday’s "New York Times".\u00c2\u00a0 In the 1978-9 season, "All In The Family" had a 30.5 rating, meaning almost a third of the homes with TV watched it.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2007-8, "Desperate Housewives" had a 10.9!!\u00c2\u00a0 Was "All In The Family" that much better?\u00c2\u00a0 Or are there just that many alternatives these days?<\/p>\n

Let’s speak music business numbers.\u00c2\u00a0 Back when the music business was fat and happy, in 1998-9, "E.R." had a 17.8 rating.\u00c2\u00a0 So, in ten years, a popular network show lost almost HALF of its viewers.\u00c2\u00a0 So, if you think that the Boss or U2 or any superstar of yore is selling so poorly because of piracy, you just haven’t thought enough about the equation.\u00c2\u00a0 There are only 24 hours in a day, music is fighting against not only television, but video games and the Internet too.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, every record is fighting against every other record in history.\u00c2\u00a0 You can only play one record at one time.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you want to spin the newly-hyped crap or an old classic?\u00c2\u00a0 If you do create a new classic, how hard is it to get the word out?<\/p>\n

In other words, we’re seeing the death of the superstar.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe one or two could emerge, kind of like "American Idol", but the ubiquitous star, known by everybody, is history.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, shoot lower and try to make your profits in more ways than selling records.<\/p>\n

No diamond albums, no stadium shows.\u00c2\u00a0 Probably no arena shows either.\u00c2\u00a0 So to hear indie promoters rail against Live Nation and Ticketmaster merging is missing the point.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels have bitten the bullet, become marginalized, unable to cope in this new world.\u00c2\u00a0 And historically, the labels have built demand for live performance.\u00c2\u00a0 Who is building that demand today?\u00c2\u00a0 And how great is it anyway?<\/p>\n

We’ve got a clean slate.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t try to reach everybody, because everybody isn’t interested.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t care if the A&R man doesn’t hear a single, just worry if you’ve got an audience that wants to hear your music. Don’t focus on your SoundScan number, but your bottom line.\u00c2\u00a0 How many t-shirts did you sell.\u00c2\u00a0 How many deluxe packages.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to get people into the gig so you can sell them other shit.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s no different from a supermarket putting cheap items by the cash register.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s where you are, that’s where you check out!<\/p>\n

So the deafening roar of complaints by the oldsters should be completely ignored.\u00c2\u00a0 The glory days are never coming back, certainly not in the old way.\u00c2\u00a0 The major labels are marginalizing themselves, by clinging to the model of distributing hit product, when hit product is almost an oxymoron.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless you sell the ones and twos, unless you’re in the marginal world, you’re screwed.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like Google.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine if they only provided a few searchable sites, and were looking for people to pay ten bucks for a direct hit. That’s the model of the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas Google serves everybody, exactly what they want, and makes its money on servicing a zillion niches.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody doesn’t click on the same ad, you just click on what you want to.<\/p>\n

Will someone roll up the acts to his and their advantage?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s Irving Azoff’s play.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the merger is about.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it the only way out?\u00c2\u00a0 Of course not.\u00c2\u00a0 But the alternative starts at the grass roots.\u00c2\u00a0 With bands that generate followings.\u00c2\u00a0 And finding a way to monetize those followings.\u00c2\u00a0 Irving’s a sexagenarian. The twentysomethings will inherit this business.\u00c2\u00a0 But so many would rather work in Silicon Valley, the odds of success, the number of zeros on the paycheck, are so much higher…<\/p>\n

I don’t want you to believe in your record.\u00c2\u00a0 I want other people to.\u00c2\u00a0 And they come to music not by being hyped, not by being marketed to, but by word of mouth.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a whole new paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 Radio broadcasting is a dying medium, just like network TV.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, there’s still a business there, but it’s not the future.<\/p>\n

The handwriting is on the wall.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t be dazzled by what’s on TMZ, most of those people don’t make any money.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t look for an advance.\u00c2\u00a0 Just look to make music so good that when someone hears it, they need to tell others about it.<\/p>\n

How many people are going to tell their friends about Prince’s new album?\u00c2\u00a0 None.\u00c2\u00a0 No one has hipped me to a new Prince track in fifteen years.\u00c2\u00a0 The release of his album is a dead end.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s abused our trust. When you e-mail me an unsolicited track you abuse my trust.\u00c2\u00a0 When you add me to your mailing list without asking first, you abuse my trust.\u00c2\u00a0 When you focus on marketing as opposed to music, you’ve got your head up your ass.<\/p>\n

\n
Why Are iPhone Users Willing to Pay for Content?<\/a><\/p>\n

Broadcast TV Faces Struggle To Stay Viable<\/a><\/p>\n

Prince To Release Latest Album At Target<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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