What would it take to get you to pay for content?<\/p>\n
I was planning on making a phone call during my drive to Santa Monica.\u00c2\u00a0 But the radio was tuned to Howard Stern and I wanted to find out who had this voice, who had this accent.<\/p>\n
It turned out to be Mike Ditka.<\/p>\n
Don’t we hate Mike Ditka?\u00c2\u00a0 You know, the martinet, the coach?\u00c2\u00a0 If there’s a single successful musician who played on the football team, I want to know about it.\u00c2\u00a0 Musicians are not team players.<\/p>\n
And neither is Howard Stern.<\/p>\n
But the funny thing about getting older is we realize we’re all in it together.\u00c2\u00a0 Bullying decreases, acceptance emerges, and we wonder what makes the other guy tick.<\/p>\n
Not that you’ll find out on television.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time "The Tonight Show" was ninety minutes and Johnny Carson even interviewed authors.<\/p>\n
Now everybody in late night is doing Letterman’s show, a comedy extravaganza, where the guests are all pre-screened to tell bite-sized stories that will make the audience chuckle and then go to sleep.<\/p>\n
There’s no substance, no honesty, no truth, because as Jack Nicholson so famously said in that movie, YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!<\/p>\n
But you can.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the dirty little secret.\u00c2\u00a0 The audience is hungry for the truth.\u00c2\u00a0 And as difficult as it is to get on TV, it’s almost impossible to get it in mainstream music.<\/p>\n
Which is why the alternative scene, the indie scene, is growing so much.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s based on honesty, truth, ability, MUSIC!<\/p>\n
Now as much as I hate when Howard self-hypes, lobbying for a new contract, it’s nothing compared to the musicians.\u00c2\u00a0 Who are shills for dollars.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s all we hear in every interview, whether print, audio or video…GIVE ME MONEY!<\/p>\n
And who wouldn’t be turned off by that.<\/p>\n
Tell me again why I should pay you?\u00c2\u00a0 Because you’ve got a BMW payment?\u00c2\u00a0 Because you want to buy a second house?\u00c2\u00a0 Because you want to party in Vegas?<\/p>\n
And sure, there are idiots who think they can live this same lifestyle, get up close and personal with the famous faces in clubs in Hollywood and Sin City, but most people are more realistic, they dismiss the "artists", they might buy the track, but they no more believe in these acts than we did in Ed McMahon, or Andy Richter.<\/p>\n
Howard asked Ditka about violence.\u00c2\u00a0 Open the paper and you’re constantly confronted with another football player who’s been paralyzed.<\/p>\n
I expected Ditka to pooh-pooh the injuries, to say football is fine.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what I love about big time entertainment, the denial.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone should listen to their music on CDs and watch the World Series after midnight….\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n
But being an insider, a master of the game, Ditka said it was the helmet’s fault.\u00c2\u00a0 That the helmet is so good, it’s become a weapon.\u00c2\u00a0 That there are fewer injuries in rugby than there are in football, and rugby players don’t wear helmets at all.\u00c2\u00a0 Remove the face guard and let’s see people hit like that.<\/p>\n
Mmm…\u00c2\u00a0 Never thought of that.<\/p>\n
And then Howard asked the coach if he ever cried.<\/p>\n
After getting fired.\u00c2\u00a0 Twice.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s tough to lose a gig.<\/p>\n
Have you ever lost your job?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s your identity!\u00c2\u00a0 Your phone stops ringing.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody moves on but you.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s depressing.<\/p>\n
But there’s no depression on television unless you’re watching drug addicts, everybody in music is a winner, who can identify?<\/p>\n
And I’m driving down the freeway and I’m wondering…\u00c2\u00a0 If Howard left the satellite, could I do without him?<\/p>\n
And lo and behold, I realized I couldn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 That I’d gotten hooked.<\/p>\n
Sure, I could live without the obligatory questions on broads, then again, I am interested in the answers.\u00c2\u00a0 But I realized Howard’s become such a good interviewer, he elicits such juicy truth from his guests, that I couldn’t live without him.<\/p>\n
Can you live without Taio Cruz? Or the Far East Movement?\u00c2\u00a0 Or Maroon 5? <\/p>\n
And you wonder why revenues are decreasing in the music business.<\/p>\n
In order to be successful, you’ve got to either sell a commodity, like food or shoes, or you’ve got to be necessary, an integral part of people’s lives.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got to be unable to live without you.<\/p>\n
And this has got nothing to do with your paycheck.\u00c2\u00a0 And everything to do with how skilled a musician you are, what you say in your lyrics, how your tunes connect.<\/p>\n
Infectious is not only Top Forty beats.\u00c2\u00a0 A moody number can infiltrate a listener’s mind just as much.\u00c2\u00a0 You might be attracted to someone’s looks, but who they are is what keeps you sticking around.<\/p>\n
We’ve lost the plot.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re making entertainment for people who don’t exist.\u00c2\u00a0 And everybody believes they deserve to be famous.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if they can’t sing or haven’t practiced their instrument.\u00c2\u00a0 The focus is on fame, not achievement.<\/p>\n
Ditka played on two championship teams before he ultimately coached the Bears to a Super Bowl victory and became a legend.\u00c2\u00a0 But now people want to become a legend first.\u00c2\u00a0 What makes them believe this is possible? Other than the handlers who blow smoke up their rear ends?<\/p>\n
Don’t listen to those people.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s a connection directly between you and your audience.\u00c2\u00a0 And don’t go away for three years concocting new product…\u00c2\u00a0 Keep delivering it, like Howard, hook us every day.\u00c2\u00a0 We want more. Play to your core, don’t try to close those who don’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re truly good, word of mouth will grow your audience.\u00c2\u00a0 But the days of the casual audience are done.\u00c2\u00a0 There are just too many entertainment options.\u00c2\u00a0 You want a tribe.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you grow one, it’ll give you all of its money.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, Howard Stern gets paid $100 million a year, he built Sirius radio…he’s richer and more powerful than almost any musical act.\u00c2\u00a0 Think about that…<\/p>\n
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