{"id":181,"date":"2005-10-05T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-05T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2005\/10\/05\/london-town\/"},"modified":"2005-10-05T10:24:47","modified_gmt":"2005-10-05T17:24:47","slug":"london-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2005\/10\/05\/london-town\/","title":{"rendered":"London Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, I’m getting e-mail from here to Colorado re last night’s venue.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, it’s the ICA, otherwise known as the Institute of Contemporary Arts.\u00c2\u00a0 The homepage is: ICA<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and a page about the Concentration game is at: Memoryplay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After writing to you last night, I went to bed.\u00c2\u00a0 Went out like a light into one of those dark nocturnal worlds where you’re completely blacked out, you can’t remember a thing.\u00c2\u00a0 But, after waking up and lying in bed for half an hour I fell back asleep and had this nightmare involving my mother, sister, ex-wife, girlfriend and the police.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do you always have the weirdest dreams when you travel?<\/p>\n

After doing my back exercises Richard and I took the Mercedes A to West London, for lunch with Robert and Gordon.<\/p>\n

It’s so funny.\u00c2\u00a0 The A class is TINY!\u00c2\u00a0 Looks like a little shoe.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Mercedes-Benz A Class<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s a Mercedes inside.\u00c2\u00a0 With wood and all the classic Mercedes instrumentation.\u00c2\u00a0 But, it’s properly narrow in order to navigate the squeezed British streets, which weren’t built for cars, never mind the Detroit behemoths.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, Richard told me he was thinking of trading the Mercedes in for an electric car.\u00c2\u00a0 He said they cost about 8,000 pounds.\u00c2\u00a0 But, you can beat the automobile tax and can park at meters for free.\u00c2\u00a0 AND, you beat the congestion charge.\u00c2\u00a0 You see the mayor has instituted this fee to enter the center of the city.\u00c2\u00a0 I think the sign said 8 pounds.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s all computerized.\u00c2\u00a0 But Will said at first it didn’t work.\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile, speaking of computers, Americans would never put up with what’s going on here on the "freeways".\u00c2\u00a0 There are cameras that take pictures of you if you’re speeding and issue a ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 There doesn’t seem to be much of a right of privacy.\u00c2\u00a0 God, if they want to control that much of my life why don’t they just drive the car FOR me!<\/p>\n

We parked near Baker Street.\u00c2\u00a0 It was Sherlock Homlesville, but I couldn’t help but think of the Gerry Rafferty song.<\/p>\n

The lawyers’ office was on St. Christopher’s Place.\u00c2\u00a0 Fascinating, it’s like an alley.\u00c2\u00a0 There ARE no cars.\u00c2\u00a0 You get the impression that the structures were built HUNDREDS of years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 You can see your predecessors, without their mobiles, going through their daily paces ages ago.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I’m in London is for this event on Thursday entitled "The Chat Room".\u00c2\u00a0 About fifty or sixty heavies get together twice a year for a debate of the major issues in the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 Tomorrow, with Richard as moderator, I’m debating John Kennedy, head of IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry).\u00c2\u00a0 Go to IFPI<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to brush up on the organization.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, the lead story is Mr. Kennedy’s pronouncement re the formation of an anti-piracy coalition.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, I’m all against physical piracy.\u00c2\u00a0 Lock the bastards up!\u00c2\u00a0 But this P2P thing…\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want the scumbags like Grokster to profit from it, but I don’t want the technology eviscerated.\u00c2\u00a0 I want it monetized.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, you can’t kill it, why not CHARGE for it!<\/p>\n

This is one of the issues we’re going to tackle tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 It’ll be amongst the three of us for an hour, and then the floor will be opened to questions.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s Chatham House Rules.\u00c2\u00a0 Which means…well, it’s kind of like that "Seinfeld" episode.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s said stays in the vault, so people can speak honestly, not worried about repercussions with regard to their companies.\u00c2\u00a0 We debated at lunch whether this means I can write about it or not, and we didn’t come to a conclusion.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, I only need to write about myself, it’s not the end of the day if I can’t let on what happened, but I’d like to tell you about the experience.\u00c2\u00a0 It seems generalities are okay…I’ll find out.<\/p>\n

Turns out Mr. Kennedy was the lawyer for Live Aid.\u00c2\u00a0 And the original lawyer for London Records.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, Robert Horsfall<\/a>, organizer of the event, a partner in Lee & Thompson, told a great story about Roger Ames and royalties.\u00c2\u00a0 Robert said you KNOW how labels hate to pay royalties.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, they were due, and Kennedy asked Ames what to do.\u00c2\u00a0 Roger said to PAY THEM!\u00c2\u00a0 That it would INCENTIVIZE the artists, show them they could make a living playing music.<\/p>\n

As opposed to what’s going on now.<\/p>\n

God, I’m getting an earful here.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, it’s so different from the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0 You see there are all these breaking acts!\u00c2\u00a0 Ones you’ve heard of like the Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party, and others like James Blunt that mean nothing in the U.S. yet, and ones I can’t even remember the names of.\u00c2\u00a0 They break the records via TV, but the acts have to kick in for the advertising.\u00c2\u00a0 (Actually, it’s a bit like the Sunset Strip of yore here in London, I’ve seen billboards for Jamie Cullum and Streisand and other bands all over town.)\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out a guy at Atlantic took a chance and invested in a big TV campaign for the unproven Mr. Blunt and at first nothing happened and now he’s caught on and the Atlantic dude looks like a GENIUS!<\/p>\n

But, most of the conversation during lunch was about how the record companies DON’T pay royalties anymore.<\/p>\n

Actually, Robert Lee<\/a> told us in the firm’s office that you can’t even negotiate a record contract anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s take it or leave it.\u00c2\u00a0 And Robert Horsfall said at lunch he’s resorted to mockery, trying to get labels to change clauses.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost always to no avail.<\/p>\n

Used to be if you hit, you could renegotiate, or get a lump sum payment.\u00c2\u00a0 Now that’s passe.<\/p>\n

Listening to the labels’ business practices was FRIGHTENING!\u00c2\u00a0 Mr. Horsfall represents (legendary seventies act) and his label is selling his product digitally and there’s NO underlying agreement.<\/p>\n

And it turns out the MMF is just joining with the publishers in the tribunal as to digital payments.\u00c2\u00a0 So, there’s no big money involved for attorneys.\u00c2\u00a0 God, if it goes public, if the world hears that artists only make 4 1\/2p per 79p download…this is the labels’ worst nightmare.\u00c2\u00a0 And I agree with Tony Wilson, there should be no public performance fee for selling a digital download, but it turns out that’s the LAW, and the publishers are scraping to get a fair share, especially since the majors want a REDUCTION!\u00c2\u00a0 From 8.25% to 6%!<\/p>\n

Furthermore, I heard the inside story on the Robbie Williams deal.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out under British tax law they can write off the FULL VALUE of the deal in the year it’s inked.\u00c2\u00a0 And then the revenues are booked as profit when they finally come in.<\/p>\n

I know, it all might sound arcane.\u00c2\u00a0 But here in the U.K. they’re INTO the arcanities.\u00c2\u00a0 Discussing penny rates.\u00c2\u00a0 Chart numbers.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s almost QUAINT!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like the record business of old.\u00c2\u00a0 A bunch of insiders splitting the pie.<\/p>\n

Actually, it’s almost like they don’t understand OUTSIDERS are going to invade their turf.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like Apple owns digital music, unheard of players are going to own the new acts, and purvey them in new ways, while the old players argue about the old model.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s FASCINATING to watch.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like being at a Smith-Corona typewriter convention and hearing how they’re going to profit from the new computer world, and do so by slowing down the machines themselves, and not allowing people to print the same document again and again and again.<\/p>\n

And it’s so different from L.A.\u00c2\u00a0 Lunch in L.A. is purely business.\u00c2\u00a0 What I mean by that is it’s about keeping up the relationship, so you can get work in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 People eat lightly and dash out.\u00c2\u00a0 Back to the office to slave away.\u00c2\u00a0 But we sat there in excess of two hours.\u00c2\u00a0 They had wine.\u00c2\u00a0 We had a far-ranging conversation.\u00c2\u00a0 I LEARNED things.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t learn anything but gossip at lunch in L.A.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is one of the reasons I don’t go.\u00c2\u00a0 God, people only want to lunch to get ahead.<\/p>\n

And I felt a bit out of it too.\u00c2\u00a0Robert and\u00c2\u00a0Gordon<\/a> were in suits.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, they sported no ties.\u00c2\u00a0 But I couldn’t stop theorizing on their backgrounds.\u00c2\u00a0 In America everybody fights for a position in law school and tries to rise to the top out in the field.\u00c2\u00a0 What does it even TAKE to get into law school in the U.K?\u00c2\u00a0 Can anybody go?\u00c2\u00a0 If you went to a public (i.e. private) school and come from the right family does it pay dividends?\u00c2\u00a0 It was the pin-striped suits and dignified accent that had me mesmerized.\u00c2\u00a0 Like law was a noble profession.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not that way in the U.S. anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you’re not going to court, you don’t show up in a suit.<\/p>\n

After discussing how Eric Clapton’s fishing shop was nearby we exited back into the neighborhood.\u00c2\u00a0 Which was strictly commercial but had a small town feel.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the England Americans fall in love with.<\/p>\n

On the way back we drove through Hyde Park.\u00c2\u00a0 It was romantic.\u00c2\u00a0 It got your mind thinking.<\/p>\n

That’s what great music does.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, it might get your body moving, but it also opens your brain.\u00c2\u00a0 Changes your mood.\u00c2\u00a0 Makes you think of the possibilities.<\/p>\n

Follow the music and you could end up anywhere.<\/p>\n

Yup. listening to all those records in my bedroom and dorm room got me here.\u00c2\u00a0 To London.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, what a long strange trip it’s been.<\/p>\n

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Okay, I’m getting e-mail from here to Colorado re last night’s venue.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, it’s the ICA, otherwise known as the Institute of Contemporary Arts.\u00c2\u00a0 The homepage is: ICA\u00c2\u00a0and a page about the Concentration game is at: Memoryplay. After writing to you last night, I went to bed.\u00c2\u00a0 Went out like a light into one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-2V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}