{"id":2723,"date":"2010-03-11T15:54:25","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T23:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2010-03-11T15:54:25","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T23:54:25","slug":"toronto-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/11\/toronto-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

DA PLANE<\/span><\/p>\n

I do my best to fly American.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, that loyalty program works.\u00c2\u00a0 If I’m Gold, which I am, I don’t have to pay for bags and…I can get upgraded…which happened just last week!<\/p>\n

But not to Toronto.\u00c2\u00a0 The front of the plane was booked.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to sit in the back.<\/p>\n

Not too bad.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m just gonna sit on the aisle and read my magazines all the way to Canada.<\/p>\n

Then again, having priority access, being able to board the plane early, I’m in that hellacious anxiety-filled limbo, waiting to see who is going to sit next to me.<\/p>\n

Yup, I get on the plane right away.\u00c2\u00a0 Need to.\u00c2\u00a0 To put all my shit in the overhead bin!\u00c2\u00a0 Not that I’m traveling with that much, but I want a little legroom, I don’t want to put my computer underneath the seat in front of me.<\/p>\n

So, they’re loading from back to front.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m just behind the wall in coach…\u00c2\u00a0 I see obese people go by…\u00c2\u00a0 I’m losing sympathy for Kevin Smith.\u00c2\u00a0 Or should I blame the airlines, with impossibly skinny seats and no legroom befitting a population of Lilliputians…<\/p>\n

And finally, they’re loading my zone.<\/p>\n

And one of those guys who looks like a leaking barrel…\u00c2\u00a0 He’s towering over me.<\/p>\n

And he’s with this woman, I’m not sure it’s his wife, because he’s all over her, and usually years of marriage eviscerates that behavior, and they’re debating whether he should sit in the middle or on the aisle and ultimately…he tells her he’s gonna sit by the window.<\/p>\n

Yay!\u00c2\u00a0 Victory!<\/p>\n

Then again, his significant other is a bit wide in the hips.\u00c2\u00a0 No, that’s an understatement.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s fat too, just not as fat.\u00c2\u00a0 But then they start nookying around, as if they’re going to join the Mile High Club right there in the cabin, without a blanket, and she’s leaning against him, and her avoirdupois is…infringing upon my territory.<\/p>\n

That’s how you start wars.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, it’s bad enough that the guy in front of me put his seat back all the way as soon as we leveled out.<\/p>\n

So, feeling encroached upon, I pushed back once or twice.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean she’s leaning her ass right against mine, like I’m a cushion or something.<\/p>\n

And she never gives me room, but ultimately gets up to pee, and goes to first class, which is a no-no, and she comes back and the guy goes to pee too and she waits in the aisle and when they come back, they switch seats!<\/p>\n

Well, at least his hips were narrower, but all his fat is oozing over the armrest, I feel like I’m going to be crushed by the Marshmallow Man.<\/p>\n

I get it.\u00c2\u00a0 Fares have to be cheap or people won’t fly.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to pack in a bunch of people to make the numbers work.<\/p>\n

But we’re a fat as hell country trying to squeeze into a skinny world.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like a middle-aged matron sporting a spare tire trying to fit into a size 2.\u00c2\u00a0 At least the fashion designers wised-up and made a size 10 the equivalent of a size 14.<\/p>\n

So what’s the answer?<\/p>\n

I don’t consider myself a member of the fat police.\u00c2\u00a0 But either we’ve got to get people healthy or we need bigger airplane seats.<\/p>\n

Then again, I read a great analysis in "Newsweek".\u00c2\u00a0 Stating that it’s not really the politicians’ fault, blame the electorate, which wants tons of services for no money.<\/p>\n

Yup, I don’t want to pay any taxes, but fix my roads, give me my entitlements…<\/p>\n

To tell you the truth, I would have rather stood up to Toronto.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the CEO of Ryanair suggested, however facetiously.<\/p>\n

VINCE BANNON<\/span><\/p>\n

You know Vince, right?<\/p>\n

Was a performer, a promoter, a record exec and now works for Getty Images.<\/p>\n

People steal images for their Websites.\u00c2\u00a0 So what does Getty do?\u00c2\u00a0 It makes them available cheap, so people will go legit. Hell, they’ve got a whole site where the hoi polloi can post their own photos for usage, with a bunch of instructions attached, like NO ONE GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOUR FAMILY PICTURES!<\/p>\n

If only the labels got the message…<\/p>\n

You want to be a distributor for everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 And you want to make music so cheap, it doesn’t pay to steal.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, stealing takes time.<\/p>\n

If you think\u00c2\u00a0 a buck a track is a good deal, you’re probably not buying any…<\/p>\n

Piracy isn’t a battle to be fought with lawsuits, but pricing and ease of use.<\/p>\n

Then again, everybody knows this except the rights holders, which is why the major labels are in decline.<\/p>\n

MUSIC MANAGERS FORUM<\/span><\/p>\n

They had a dinner, honoring Anne Murray’s deceased manager and Sam Feldman.<\/p>\n

Sam said some interesting things.<\/p>\n

Like how it’s the same as when he started.\u00c2\u00a0 You put up posters and you build your act in the clubs.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re starting all over.<\/p>\n

Sam also railed about 360 deals.\u00c2\u00a0 Managers hate ’em.\u00c2\u00a0 At least managers who are not so eager to commission the meager monies that come in on today’s new deals.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, you can make more money playing the slots in Vegas.<\/p>\n

Or, as Jake said…\u00c2\u00a0 In a 360 deal, is the manager working for the label?\u00c2\u00a0 The labels wants you to forgo commissions while you’re building the act, but the manager’s starving…<\/p>\n

The majors believe they’ve won, 360s are the standard.\u00c2\u00a0 But have they really lost.\u00c2\u00a0 Have they got a perfect world where they rule but few want to play.<\/p>\n


BILLY CORGAN<\/span><\/p>\n

Yup, forgot, I read "Rolling Stone" on the plane.<\/p>\n

Yes, I still get it.\u00c2\u00a0 But everybody I told about this story in T.O. does not.\u00c2\u00a0 The magazine has never meant less.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Billy knows he’s a has-been.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s using spiritual techniques to try and remain optimistic, that he can break through again.<\/p>\n

It’s fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually stars won’t speak the truth.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re delusional, being ripped off again and again yet believing it’s sunny when it’s raining out.<\/p>\n

But Billy knows that people made a fortune on his music…\u00c2\u00a0 And now, he’s yesterday’s news.\u00c2\u00a0 Few want to see him.\u00c2\u00a0 Same as it ever was.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why you can’t be on the side of the labels, who take the lion’s share of the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Athletes have brief careers too.\u00c2\u00a0 But they pay a lot in sports, the stars bring in the cash.\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be you could make tons on the road, now the label wants a share of that too?\u00c2\u00a0 Ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there’s a long story on Shaun White, the preeminent snowboarder, in "Rolling Stone" too.\u00c2\u00a0 You want to know what his passion is?\u00c2\u00a0 Music.\u00c2\u00a0 The hip shit, beats and such?\u00c2\u00a0 No, Shaun loves Zeppelin, he’s learning the guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 The Top Forty nitwits are the sideshow, never forget this.\u00c2\u00a0 The mainstream and the hip merged in the MTV era, but MTV finally removed "Music Television" from its logo, those days are THROUGH!<\/p>\n


OLIVER<\/span><\/p>\n

Can’t remember his last name, can’t remember the venue, but both made an impression upon me.<\/p>\n

First, the club.\u00c2\u00a0 Two rooms.\u00c2\u00a0 Comedy in the front and music in the back.\u00c2\u00a0 ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT!\u00c2\u00a0 You can feel the heartbeat in Toronto.\u00c2\u00a0 In L.A?\u00c2\u00a0 They’re bumping asses, trying to get in TMZ.<\/p>\n

And Oliver, who made it into the Top 22 on "Canadian Idol", don’t hold that against him, did an acoustic set.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, he could sing well, play and you could follow along, and sing along.<\/p>\n

This is music.<\/p>\n

Yeah, yeah, yeah.\u00c2\u00a0 Beats are music, and that alternative dreck is music too.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that in this post modern world in which we live, people are doing derivations of derivations that the public can’t relate to.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s go BACK to the garden.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, Zeppelin, et al, were influenced by the blues.\u00c2\u00a0 A great blues number still works.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really have to mess it up with speed, time changes and screechy vocals?\u00c2\u00a0 Think about it.\u00c2\u00a0 The best cars have the simplest exterior design.\u00c2\u00a0 Think of the classics, stop trying to be hip.<\/p>\n

RALPH SIMON<\/span><\/p>\n

Worth knowing.\u00c2\u00a0 Clive Calder’s old partner.\u00c2\u00a0 But unlike Clive, Ralph’s still in the game, would be even if his old partner had cut him in on his score.<\/p>\n

Ralph flies all over the world brokering mobile deals.\u00c2\u00a0 He cemented the deal between U2 and BlackBerry.\u00c2\u00a0 In the lobby, Ralph introduced me to this guy from India who paid Warner a bunch of money for mobile rights.\u00c2\u00a0 Conversations with Ralph are deep, not just statistics.<\/p>\n

And I told Ralph that the U.K., where he resides…is completely different from America.<\/p>\n

In the U.K., people follow music like horse-racing, they’re fans of the game.\u00c2\u00a0 No one gives a shit about the game in the U.S.<\/p>\n

In the U.K., radio still matters.<\/p>\n

Radio matters less than ever in the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0 You can be a radio star and play clubs, whereas someone without radio play can live off their tour receipts.<\/p>\n

Point being, in the U.S. we’ve got utter chaos.\u00c2\u00a0 And the rest of the world is following us.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s making music, potential listeners are overwhelmed, there are no filters and there’s no organization.<\/p>\n

Filters will rule.\u00c2\u00a0 People want to be told what to listen to.\u00c2\u00a0 Online.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, they’re not going to listen through endless b.s. to hear their favorite song on Pandora, that radio service has the lifespan of MySpace, it’s about reading about something and hearing it INSTANTLY, clicking on it!\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, you can even do this now, with LaLa and YouTube, never mind Spotify. But what you listen to…\u00c2\u00a0 That’s where the game gets interesting.<\/p>\n

And recommendations won’t come from computer algorithms, but people.\u00c2\u00a0 Computers will decide what we listen to when you can have sex in an orgasmatron…<\/p>\n

LUNCH<\/span><\/p>\n

An A&R man told me how new bands manipulate the system.\u00c2\u00a0 They cut a radio guy in for points, get airplay and then trumpet these spins to the label.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s all fake.<\/p>\n

Then again, this same guy didn’t say all new music was bad, just ABOVE AVERAGE!<\/p>\n

Eureka, THAT’S IT!\u00c2\u00a0 People send me decent stuff all the time.\u00c2\u00a0 But one listen is enough.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, as the publisher in attendance stated, like Steve Jobs’ credo, music must be INSANELY GREAT!<\/p>\n

Make that the filter.\u00c2\u00a0 Before you recommend something, is it INSANELY GREAT!<\/p>\n

That leaves just about everything out.\u00c2\u00a0 But don’t complain, face the facts.\u00c2\u00a0 The public is so overwhelmed, they’ve only got TIME for insanely great.<\/p>\n

Apple releases one or two products a year that they’ve been working on for years.\u00c2\u00a0 And nobody in the building was born yesterday.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got people who’ve been coding since before they grew pubic hair!\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what it takes to make something insanely great.\u00c2\u00a0 So think about it, you just learned GarageBand, cut a song and made a deal for Tunecore to put it on iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S GREAT OR THAT WE CARE!<\/p>\n

The Long Tail means everything is available, so your friends and family can buy it, not that we, the general public, care whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself, in an era with infinite music at your fingertips, DO YOU WANT TO PLAY IT AGAIN?<\/p>\n

Prior to this century, music was expensive, we had little, we played it again because we had no choice.<\/p>\n

Those days are history, gone completely.\u00c2\u00a0 Everything’s available.\u00c2\u00a0 How do we get people to pay attention, to spend time?<\/p>\n

By being INSANELY great!<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DA PLANE I do my best to fly American.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, that loyalty program works.\u00c2\u00a0 If I’m Gold, which I am, I don’t have to pay for bags and…I can get upgraded…which happened just last week! But not to Toronto.\u00c2\u00a0 The front of the plane was booked.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to sit in the back. Not too […]<\/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-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-HV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723","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=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2724,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions\/2724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}