I guess we’ve got to blame the Stones.\u00c2\u00a0 Their 1981 partnership with Jovan
broke the barrier and set the trend.<\/p>\n
It’s important to start with this event because it proves the lie everybody
in the touring business has been spouting for the following twenty five years.\u00c2\u00a0
That acts NEED sponsors to make ends meet.\u00c2\u00a0 That you can’t tour without
Madison Avenue money.\u00c2\u00a0 That Stones STADIUM tour went clean\/sold out.\u00c2\u00a0 Tell me, how can the biggest rock and roll band in the land go on tour and sell out and
LOSE money?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t be done.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless, maybe, the tickets are a buck.\u00c2\u00a0 That Jovan
cash just went to the bottom line.<\/p>\n
But that’s the entertainment business circle jerk.\u00c2\u00a0 Where those in power live
in a rarified air where the end consumer doesn’t exist and what they dictate
reality is IS!<\/p>\n
Then came hip-hop.<\/p>\n
According to my research, black culture is different.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about getting the
money NOW!\u00c2\u00a0 And if you can do it at the expense of the man, BE PROUD OF IT!\u00c2\u00a0
Maybe it’s because all the recording companies of yore ripped off the artists.
\u00c2\u00a0Maybe it’s because African-Americans are fearful they won’t live to see
another day.\u00c2\u00a0 Whatever the motivation, they want the cash now.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if it’s at a
discounted rate.<\/p>\n
And, since the rappers were doing it, the rockers jumped in.<\/p>\n
Then, with the aging of the population, hipsters started populating
advertising agencies.\u00c2\u00a0 And they selected some hip old numbers as soundtracks for cool new ads.\u00c2\u00a0 Like using that Trio song to sell Volkswagens.\u00c2\u00a0 A sales resurgence
for that track was used as justification for labels to now license NEW tracks
for commercials.\u00c2\u00a0 Then the example of Moby’s "Play" licensing was used as
FURTHER justification.<\/p>\n
Although it was found revenue, the licensing of the "Play" tracks didn’t
break that album.\u00c2\u00a0 Traditional MTV and radio airplay did.\u00c2\u00a0 But, now the labels had
PROOF!\u00c2\u00a0 That this was a new AVENUE!\u00c2\u00a0 Through which you could break BANDS!<\/p>\n
But I ask you, how many bands have been broken recently through commercials?\u00c2\u00a0
Better yet…\u00c2\u00a0 How many bands who’ve benefited from commercial airplay have
SUSTAINED CAREERS?<\/p>\n
And now in this airplay challenged world, wherein MTV plays almost no videos
and radio plays the same damn urban tracks again and again, labels say this is
the only way to BREAK a band.\u00c2\u00a0 Make no mistake, it’s just whoring out for the
buck.\u00c2\u00a0 No real band has been broken by selling out, all the real bands have
been broken the TRADITIONAL way, via ROAD WORK!<\/p>\n
But the worst thing about the commercialization of hit music, QUALITY music,
is that music has now become a second-class citizen.\u00c2\u00a0 A JOKE!\u00c2\u00a0 Music went from
the PRIMARY entertainment medium, the one that entered your heart and STAYED
there, to an afterthought secondary to the primary vehicle.\u00c2\u00a0 A lubricant at
best.\u00c2\u00a0 Napster didn’t devalue music, it’s the pricks in the business who cut up
the carcass and sold each and every part, sometimes to more than one user, who
eviscerated the public’s belief.<\/p>\n
And now things are over the top.<\/p>\n
U2 pimps for Apple.\u00c2\u00a0 Again and again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 Did you see the new ad Steve
Jobs trotted out in his speech on Wednesday?\u00c2\u00a0 Watch that.\u00c2\u00a0 Does that seem
like a hit to YOU?\u00c2\u00a0 No, that’s just U2 trying to elongate their touring schedule.
\u00c2\u00a0Stay in the public eye.\u00c2\u00a0 As was their appearance on "Entourage".\u00c2\u00a0 Only one
thing…\u00c2\u00a0 Their tours sell out ANYWAY!\u00c2\u00a0 So that’s a REAL head-scratcher.\u00c2\u00a0 The
ONLY one benefiting here is Apple.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially when you realize that MTV has
proven the more you’re exposed, the shorter your career.<\/p>\n
Then there’s Paul McCartney.\u00c2\u00a0 Does his tour really need to be promoted by
Fidelity Investments?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like there are tickets available.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like
he needs the cash to make ends meet.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially with the prices he’s
charging.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just PURE greed.\u00c2\u00a0 By someone richer than whole COMMUNITIES!\u00c2\u00a0 And you wonder why people no longer believe.<\/p>\n
But it gets worse.\u00c2\u00a0 Crack Sir Paul’s new CD and you find a LEXUS ad.\u00c2\u00a0
Disguised as a contest, wherein you can win a new car.\u00c2\u00a0 BUT, you’ve got to visit the
WEBSITE first.\u00c2\u00a0 Where you have to endure an endless Lexus ad before you can
enter your personal information for a sweepstakes you’re not going to win.\u00c2\u00a0 Why,
when people are loath to give out their personal information on the Web, for
fear of spam, never mind identity theft, do Capitol and McCartney believe
their audience is going to stand for this?\u00c2\u00a0 Play along ignorantly?\u00c2\u00a0 No, people are
offended.<\/p>\n
Now, some will argue all this is necessary to get the message out.\u00c2\u00a0 That
Paul’s got a new album and tour.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it’s not like this story hasn’t played out
in the conventional media.\u00c2\u00a0 God, he played the SUPER BOWL!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like
desirous of reaching someone in an old age home in Montana they’re batting ALL of us over the head again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 Like we’re not supposed to be pissed off?<\/p>\n
And then you’ve got the Stones for AmeriQuest.<\/p>\n
Nobody’s breaking bands here.\u00c2\u00a0 This is just pure greed.<\/p>\n
No one’s asking the average American to sell out.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do you think he tole
rates these rich bitches getting richer?<\/p>\n
I’ve got to tell you, he doesn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s pissed off.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe he’ll still go to
see McCartney or the Stones, but he doesn’t feel bad at all about stealing the
rest of the music, and is sure the wannabes making deals with corporations
today are worthless hacks who he shouldn’t pay attention to.<\/p>\n
Don’t tell me it’s a different era.\u00c2\u00a0 That everybody does it.\u00c2\u00a0 That it’s
accepted.<\/p>\n
That’s like telling me they’ve invented a new way to have sex.\u00c2\u00a0 That people
now sport six toes.\u00c2\u00a0 Human nature hasn’t changed.\u00c2\u00a0 Abuse the audience while
claming profiteering is NECESSARY and expect a backlash.\u00c2\u00a0 One within which CD
sales are down and nobody wants to see the new acts live.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I guess we’ve got to blame the Stones.\u00c2\u00a0 Their 1981 partnership with Jovan broke the barrier and set the trend. It’s important to start with this event because it proves the lie everybody in the touring business has been spouting for the following twenty five years.\u00c2\u00a0 That acts NEED sponsors to make ends meet.\u00c2\u00a0 That […]<\/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-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-33","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","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=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}