I’m sick and fucking tired of people telling me to be more positive.\u00c2\u00a0 To focus on solutions rather than problems.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t you get it, it all comes down to the MUSIC!<\/p>\n
That’s what I love about this business.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re either a player or a supporter.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a clear divide.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the difference from the movie business.\u00c2\u00a0 Even a five year old can tell you what’s wrong with filmed entertainment.\u00c2\u00a0 The acting was bad, or the story wasn’t believable, or the sets were phony.\u00c2\u00a0 But ask a fifty year old about a record and he’ll shrug his shoulders and say he liked it or he didn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s about as far as it goes.<\/p>\n
So, you’re sitting there trying to be a manager, or a booking agent, even starting a label. And you’re frustrated, and dipping your toe in social media, reading marketing books. I’m gonna tell you, that’s all bullshit.\u00c2\u00a0 Find one great act and the doors will open to you.<\/p>\n
The major labels triumphed because they had the best acts.\u00c2\u00a0 But then they got greedy, the execs started thinking they were the talent, they broke the cardinal music business rule, that we all bow down to the creator.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re really that talented, make your own damn music.\u00c2\u00a0 This happens in the movie sphere, producers become directors.\u00c2\u00a0 But when was the last time a record company president became a best-selling artist? When did he even make a record?<\/p>\n
And for you frustrated artists, I’ll say it one more time…\u00c2\u00a0 Your lack of success probably comes down to the fact that you’re just not that good.\u00c2\u00a0 Sorry, the truth hurts.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you’re the king of klezmer or the new Philip Glass and want to complain that you’re not on "American Idol"?\u00c2\u00a0 Wow, how do you cope every day, are you really that far from reality? Just because you’re good at something, anything, that doesn’t mean the whole world needs to pay attention.<\/p>\n
What does the public like?\u00c2\u00a0 Melody.\u00c2\u00a0 A good voice.\u00c2\u00a0 A beat.\u00c2\u00a0 These aren’t immutable rules, and it’s the cutting edge that we tend to become enamored of, but if we can’t sing your song and think you can barely sing it either, GIVE UP!<\/p>\n
Or practice a ton more.<\/p>\n
Yes, practice.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s how you get better.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure playing every night in a bar helps.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’ve also got to challenge yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to test your own limits, learn more than three chords, not so you can use them so much as you become aware of the POSSIBILITIES!<\/p>\n
If you’re a musician, listen to a lot of records.<\/p>\n
If you want to write lyrics, read a lot of books.<\/p>\n
Doctors go to school to become M.D.’s.\u00c2\u00a0 Why should you be able to be a world famous music star without putting in the work?<\/p>\n
The hardest thing to do in this business is find a hit act.\u00c2\u00a0 You can be the best manager, the most tenacious agent, but if you don’t have a hit act, you’re doomed to failure. Speak to a concert promoter.\u00c2\u00a0 He’ll tell you there’s no way you can get people to come to see a stiff act.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if you pick them up in limos and give them good seats.<\/p>\n
A great act can make a ton of business mistakes, have a less than great manager, a rip-off label and STILL make it.\u00c2\u00a0 A third-rate act with the best team is still a third-rate act.<\/p>\n
I think it’s great that you’re looking for innovative ways to do business, that you want to challenge old models.\u00c2\u00a0 But some things never change.\u00c2\u00a0 And what never changes in this business is it all comes down to the music.\u00c2\u00a0 More than ever.\u00c2\u00a0 In a world where anybody can make a record and the audience doesn’t concentrate on one outlet, not even one format.\u00c2\u00a0 Some people listen to NO radio.\u00c2\u00a0 Others watch NO television.<\/p>\n
But that doesn’t mean greatness will go unnoticed.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re all looking for quality.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if we find it, we tell everybody we know.\u00c2\u00a0 So, a great act gets traction.\u00c2\u00a0 But takes a long time to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, the Kings Of Leon would have been gargantuan right away fifteen or twenty years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it takes that long just to get people to pay attention.<\/p>\n
And maybe KOL weren’t that great in the beginning.\u00c2\u00a0 To think that talent needs to emerge fully-formed is to think that babies can do calculus.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a long hard road to becoming a musician.\u00c2\u00a0 Short cuts might deliver success sooner, having your songs written by the usual suspects and working with an experienced producer might give you a leg up.\u00c2\u00a0 But there’s no real foundation, you’re going to fall back to earth if you don’t do the work.<\/p>\n
Everything I write, all the innovation, it only applies to GOOD ACTS!\u00c2\u00a0 The question is, what choices do you make if the act has talent.\u00c2\u00a0 If it doesn’t, GIVE UP!<\/p>\n
You’re not entitled to a gig in the music industry.\u00c2\u00a0 People don’t need records the same way they need food.\u00c2\u00a0 If you can’t associate yourself with a good act, you’re going to starve, no matter what your desire.<\/p>\n
Finding great talent and bonding to it is a skill unto itself.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t rail against Irving Azoff or Jimmy Iovine, this is what they do BEST!<\/p>\n
And until you do it as well as they do, you’re gonna be broke.<\/p>\n
Sorry.<\/p>\n
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I’m sick and fucking tired of people telling me to be more positive.\u00c2\u00a0 To focus on solutions rather than problems.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t you get it, it all comes down to the MUSIC! That’s what I love about this business.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re either a player or a supporter.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a clear divide.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the difference from the movie […]<\/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-2508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Es","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508","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=2508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}