Paul Krugman weighs in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nOr maybe you’re just sitting at home, in front of the big screen, anesthetized by vapid television while your future goes down the drain.<\/p>\n
I’m very sorry those workers were killed erecting Madonna’s set, but what struck me is what music has become.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really need such a large production?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe Madonna does, so we don’t have to hear her sing…\u00c2\u00a0 But no wonder the concert business is in the shitter, and it is, people view music like a Broadway show, a one time a year overpriced event that overwhelms you visually and emotionally.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be the music was enough, but not any longer.<\/p>\n
And speaking of music, what about EMI hiring Blackstone in order to get out from under the crushing weight of the Citi debt?\u00c2\u00a0 If the record business were good, this wouldn’t be an issue.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, at some point EMI will disappear, with some, if not all, of the assets going to Warner, but if this bothers you, why aren’t you incensed about Goldman Sachs?\u00c2\u00a0 Where are your priorities?<\/p>\n
And why should you care about the number of major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 They transformed themselves years ago, into vehicles to overpromote the lowest common denominator.\u00c2\u00a0 Worked when MTV was king, but MTV is struggling now too.\u00c2\u00a0 So the labels are headed towards the cliff, with the pedal down, doing what they’ve always done.\u00c2\u00a0 Jettisoning workers and bands and doubling down on that which can be made ultra-successful overnight.\u00c2\u00a0 But despite all the hoopla, Michael Jackson only sold 1.1 million albums in the U.S. last week.<\/p>\n
Michael Jackson, ain’t that a story.\u00c2\u00a0 They should have been like the Jews, put the guy in the ground immediately.\u00c2\u00a0 By time they had the memorial concert, it was already known that the guy O.D.’ed on anesthesia.\u00c2\u00a0 Every day that goes by Michael looks less like a hero and more like a victim…of his own insane delusions.\u00c2\u00a0 Want to know the turning point?\u00c2\u00a0 When he destroyed that car in the "Black or White" video…\u00c2\u00a0 Only someone completely out of touch could not foresee the negative repercussions.<\/p>\n
Kind of like the newspapers, wanting to charge for access.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if you make the numbers work and you survive, you’re going to become irrelevant, eclipsed by someone who delivers the news for free, just like Craigslist delivers classifieds for free.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone more passionate about the story, who knows it from living it, who delineates it daily, maybe hourly, as opposed to reporters who ring up "experts" to find out what’s going on.\u00c2\u00a0 The concept of being a generalist?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s history.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, the majors would be minting platinum stars every week, and they’re not.\u00c2\u00a0 The whole world’s gone niche.\u00c2\u00a0 We bury our heads in the sites that interest us, we don’t pay attention to that which we don’t care about just like we use the clicker to jump past not only commercials, but entire TV channels!\u00c2\u00a0 As for sites that are living off linking to those who do the legwork…their days are numbered.\u00c2\u00a0 The HuffPo will only be king if it does its own reporting.\u00c2\u00a0 Without the traditional news outlets, these aggregators are nothing.<\/p>\n
And insiders believe it’s business as usual.\u00c2\u00a0 You wine and dine and pay off those you believe are in power and screw the great unwashed.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not only referring to banking, but the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be you paid radio, you paid retail, but what to do in a world where they are no longer king?<\/p>\n
As for the artists…\u00c2\u00a0 Why do we use that term?\u00c2\u00a0 Are they truly artists?\u00c2\u00a0 On one hand we’ve got Madonna and her wannabes.\u00c2\u00a0 Telling us we should care when we’re creeped out.\u00c2\u00a0 You injected your cheeks with fat after dieting yourself down to nothing, we can relate because..?\u00c2\u00a0 And McCartney can’t sell out stadiums, so he goes on Letterman to shill.\u00c2\u00a0 And neither can AC\/DC.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the seventies, there were sold out stadium shows every summer.\u00c2\u00a0 Analyze all you want, but facts tell us people don’t want to go.<\/p>\n
But the stock market is reviving!<\/p>\n
But if you don’t know someone who’s out of work and down on their luck you’re a bazillionaire living on your own private island.\u00c2\u00a0 But those in power tell us to just stay calm, that everything’s all right.<\/p>\n
But it’s not.\u00c2\u00a0 And those telling us not to worry have an investment in keeping us glued to the television set, spending our time and money other than in their business.\u00c2\u00a0 The whole world is like a fifties record label. We gave you a Cadillac!\u00c2\u00a0 Royalties?\u00c2\u00a0 You should be grateful to us!\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that what the major labels say? We have the power to make you a star so give us ALL your money?\u00c2\u00a0 Only the ignorant would make that deal.\u00c2\u00a0 Or those interested in potential fame and money more than music.<\/p>\n
So, if you’ve got a brain, you’re completely flummoxed.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t trust anybody.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like John Lennon’s initial solo album has come to life.\u00c2\u00a0 All you can trust is yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 And Yoko.<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The biggest story of the week is the insane profits at Goldman Sachs.\u00c2\u00a0 The number one person on this story is Matt Taibbi.\u00c2\u00a0 Read the complete "Rolling Stone" article here Read the latest update by Taibbi here If you’d rather get your news from the "New York Times" instead of "Rolling Stone", Paul Krugman weighs […]<\/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":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-xX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105","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=2105"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2107,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105\/revisions\/2107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}