Is this paradigm dead?<\/p>\n
The blogosphere is rife with stories that Whitney Houston is back drinkin’ and druggin’.\u00c2\u00a0 One writer connected it with the stress of her new album.\u00c2\u00a0 Whitney had a new album?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, that’s right…\u00c2\u00a0 I never heard a single song and other than this negative news blip, I haven’t read a word about her in weeks, possibly months, even though the album came out on August 31st.<\/p>\n
Talk to someone in New York, and they’ll start bloviating about the success of "Empire State Of Mind".\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t hear it in L.A.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if it is number two on the chart.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, if you dial up the right radio station I’m sure you’ll enjoy a spin, but it’s so easy to avoid not only that station, but ALL stations.<\/p>\n
Which brings us to the sad case of the Black Eyed Peas.\u00c2\u00a0 This supposedly dominant act’s tour is a stiff, ask anybody in the business.\u00c2\u00a0 Didn’t it used to be you couldn’t get a ticket to a star’s show?<\/p>\n
But what’s a star anymore?<\/p>\n
Kim Kardashian is a star.\u00c2\u00a0 She couldn’t sell out a club, she could barely fill a toilet.<\/p>\n
But she and her sisters are newsworthy.\u00c2\u00a0 For their plastic surgeries, their sexual shenanigans, for their on again off again romances.\u00c2\u00a0 What does this have to do with music?\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s the point.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be musicians got the ink, we loved their music and wanted to know their stories.\u00c2\u00a0 Then they started playing to the press, by dressing up and living large.\u00c2\u00a0 Which also have nothing to do with music.\u00c2\u00a0 So, it seems, you’re either a star or a musician, but very rarely both.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the more ink you get, the less seriously the public takes you.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, you’re living in the world of Paris Hilton, where we’re more interested in gotcha journalism, your stupid exploits than your music.<\/p>\n
Jon Bon Jovi sells a hell of a lot of concert tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 But not a hell of a lot of albums.\u00c2\u00a0 Because even on tour, he’s only going to be seen by a fraction of the public.\u00c2\u00a0 Most people just don’t care.<\/p>\n
That’s the way it used to be.\u00c2\u00a0 Music was cottage industry.<\/p>\n
This is what the fat cats rail about, the loss of the diamond seller.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not so much theft as the inability for someone to rise like a phoenix.\u00c2\u00a0 No one can get that mindshare anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if you’re trying to achieve it, by whoring yourself out here and there, you’re sacrificing your credibility in the process.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s your credibility that keeps people bonded to you.<\/p>\n
Set your sights low.\u00c2\u00a0 Not because you suck, but how many people love ANYTHING?\u00c2\u00a0 With so many alternatives, people delve into the niche they desire.\u00c2\u00a0 On cable TV, on the Internet…and now it’s no different in the music sphere.<\/p>\n
Be thrilled you have any audience at all!\u00c2\u00a0 And try to satiate your fans!<\/p>\n
Look at it like building a fire.\u00c2\u00a0 You need kindling.\u00c2\u00a0 You need to add a log at a time, never too soon, because it might put the whole thing out.\u00c2\u00a0 And no matter how big you build your blaze, someone in the next state can’t see it, its impact is limited, just like your musical career.<\/p>\n
In the late twentieth century it was all about reaching everybody.\u00c2\u00a0 Selling every last album to every available customer, touring the world to convert those who don’t even speak the language.\u00c2\u00a0 Albums had three year cycles. Now they don’t even have three month cycles.\u00c2\u00a0 The public moves on.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ll check out the train-wreck for an instant. Yes, I saw Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perform "Empire State Of Mind" at the VMAs, but I’ve had no desire to hear it since, and I DON’T HAVE TO!<\/p>\n
Really, think about this.\u00c2\u00a0 In a world of unlimited options, that’s just what you are, another option.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re a speck in the firmament.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re making less money not because people are stealing, but because you just can’t get enough people to pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what you’re fighting for, ongoing attention.\u00c2\u00a0 With the emphasis on "ongoing".\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s momentary, it’s meaningless.\u00c2\u00a0 Stunting is worthless.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to campaign endlessly, slog ad infinitum. Continually release music, continually engage your audience.<\/p>\n
There’s a reason Tommy Mottola lost his job.\u00c2\u00a0 And why agents and managers are more important than label people.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s no longer about razzle-dazzle, but building a career.<\/p>\n
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Is this paradigm dead? The blogosphere is rife with stories that Whitney Houston is back drinkin’ and druggin’.\u00c2\u00a0 One writer connected it with the stress of her new album.\u00c2\u00a0 Whitney had a new album?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, that’s right…\u00c2\u00a0 I never heard a single song and other than this negative news blip, I haven’t read a word […]<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-En","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503","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=2503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}