{"id":483,"date":"2006-07-20T15:49:06","date_gmt":"2006-07-20T23:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/07\/20\/power-top-ten-2\/"},"modified":"2006-07-20T15:52:03","modified_gmt":"2006-07-20T23:52:03","slug":"power-top-ten-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2006\/07\/20\/power-top-ten-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Top Ten"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Steve Jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don’t fuck with Steve.<\/p>\n

Michael Eisner ignorantly came down on Apple’s "Rip\/Mix\/Burn" campaign, falsely declaring it illegal, and didn’t make nice with Pixar and who won, who survived?\u00c2\u00a0 Steve.<\/p>\n

Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and his CEO brethren saber-rattled, stating they needed variable pricing at the iTunes Music Store, and who won?\u00c2\u00a0 Steve.\u00c2\u00a0 Every track is still ninety nine cents.<\/p>\n

Apple Computer is everything music used to be, before the pricks in the industry whored it out.\u00c2\u00a0 People BELIEVE in Apple Computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only do they not give a shit about price, they’re SALESPEOPLE!\u00c2\u00a0 If you haven’t been told to buy a Mac then you don’t have any friends.\u00c2\u00a0 It was this same kind of rabid evangelism that blew up music to begin with!<\/p>\n

But the reason Mr. Jobs is so powerful is not because of the iTunes Music Store, but the iPod itself.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t believe the iPod is going to break down the Berlin Wall of physical goods I feel sorry for you.\u00c2\u00a0 People DO need to own totems of their devotion.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s what the CD has become.\u00c2\u00a0 EVIDENCE of fandom.\u00c2\u00a0 As for all you old farts waxing rhapsodic about sound quality…did you ever SEE a teenager’s stereo?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s two speakers attached to his computer!<\/p>\n

Microsoft will not steal significant market share, but will further legitimize the hand-held music player sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 Their entry will be akin to IBM’s foray into personal computers twenty five years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 The Apple II was for techies, the fringe, but once IBM got in the PC business was legitimized, it TOOK OFF!<\/p>\n

In a parallel to Moore’s Law, storage keeps getting cheaper.\u00c2\u00a0 Hard drive and flash memory prices don’t go up, they go DOWN!\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, people are toting devices with the ability to store MANY TIMES the number of tracks they used to own in the physical disc world.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about CD replacement, it’s a whole new market.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like cheap-priced DVDs you purchased compared to expensive VHS tapes you rented.\u00c2\u00a0 Copyright-holders will finally figure out that if music is cheaper, more people will own more of it and they’ll make more money.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, you can’t count on them seeing the light in the near future.<\/p>\n

2. Michael Rapino<\/strong><\/p>\n

His power is commensurate with the gargantuan share of the market that Live Nation possesses.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s more than that.\u00c2\u00a0 You break acts on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 And once you’re broken, most of your revenue is from the road.<\/p>\n

Used to be, not that many years ago, less than a decade, the concert promoter was at the asshole end of the business.\u00c2\u00a0 Subsidiary to the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels built the stars, and the promoters exhibited them for a very thin slice of the revenue pie.<\/p>\n

But then the labels couldn’t build anybody but the biggest stars.\u00c2\u00a0 So the promoter had to build the mid-level act.\u00c2\u00a0 As for the stars??\u00c2\u00a0 Most of those the majors erected couldn’t sell a concert ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 And those that did, were flashes in the pan.<\/p>\n

This business was built on credibility, and careers.\u00c2\u00a0 No one knows this more than a concert promoter.\u00c2\u00a0 Promoters have given up on the MTV\/Top Forty model.\u00c2\u00a0 They want to know about your road history, do you have FANS, who will SUPPORT YOU!\u00c2\u00a0 They want to build upon this, not on your goings-on in the tabloids.<\/p>\n

Rapino is hungry.\u00c2\u00a0 Because he’s young and has got something to prove.\u00c2\u00a0 God, the labels were killed by being top heavy with old farts.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s good we’ve got a newbie, not burdened by the way it MUST\/USED TO be done, in charge.<\/p>\n

3. The Manager<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two types.\u00c2\u00a0 The big ones and those that believe in you.\u00c2\u00a0 And sometimes the twain meet.<\/p>\n

Used to be, in many cases throughout the nineties, the label was the manager.\u00c2\u00a0 But now the guy who ran your career there has been fired and only the rats interested in keeping their jobs are left.\u00c2\u00a0 You need someone to LOOK AFTER YOU!<\/p>\n

Kwatinetz, Azoff, Burnstein & Mensch and Terry McBride bring all their leverage and relationships to the table.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re owed favors, they know where the bodies are buried, it’s like playing for the Yankees.\u00c2\u00a0 But, unless you’re Johnny Damon, should you be ON the Yankees?\u00c2\u00a0 Are you better off playing for a smaller market team?\u00c2\u00a0 One with few distractions, that will dedicate all its time to you?<\/p>\n

The days of garage management are back.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about having someone you grew up with (kind of like E on "Entourage"), who you know will never fuck you over, who will die for you, in charge of your career.\u00c2\u00a0 Someone who will lift an amp if necessary.\u00c2\u00a0 And spend time making friends with all the lower caste Live Nation people around the country who are only going to grow in stature.<\/p>\n

The executive clientele in this business is going to turn over.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Almost overnight.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, even Jimmy Iovine ain’t what he used to be.<\/p>\n

Every savvy, smart, music-loving twentysomething entrepreneur wants nothing to do with the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 God, he’s not that different from the renegades that BUILT the major label.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got vision, he’s got personality, he wants to do it HIS WAY!<\/p>\n

This is the price to be paid for letting no youngsters into the halls of the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, they let them into the concert promotion companies.<\/p>\n

Yes, while the major labels became about "superstar" executives, it was business as usual in the touring world.\u00c2\u00a0 There were few airs (although a lot of intimidation!)\u00c2\u00a0 Ergo, innovation is bubbling up there.\u00c2\u00a0 And it will bubble up in music production too.<\/p>\n

As for the label?<\/p>\n

Expect a lot of the new managers to BE the label head!\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, it’s not that different from Howard Kaufman selling Jimmy Buffett discs.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re in control of your own destiny and you make so much more fucking MONEY!<\/p>\n

4. John Hogan<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’d like to tell you terrestrial radio is dead.\u00c2\u00a0 That it’s been eclipsed by satellite and the Web.\u00c2\u00a0 But this would be untrue.\u00c2\u00a0 Although terrestrial ratings are sinking, conventional radio is where you still go to reach the largest slice of the population.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like you advertise on a TV network to reach not the niches, but EVERYBODY!<\/p>\n

Well, not everybody.\u00c2\u00a0 But, in the car, radio still dominates.\u00c2\u00a0 Its number one competitor is not the iPod nor the CD, but the cell phone.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, the CELL PHONE has hurt the music business more than P2P.\u00c2\u00a0 People just aren’t listening to radio ENOUGH!<\/p>\n

Furthermore, if radio playlists were broader, we’d be selling more music.\u00c2\u00a0 Most people can’t HEAR most of the new music.\u00c2\u00a0 But last I checked, every car came with an AM\/FM radio.<\/p>\n

Satellite is stalling.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, the two companies are muddying the waters.\u00c2\u00a0 Not knowing which service to buy, people are buying neither.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, Sirius fans have to tell all potential subscribers about the dropouts.\u00c2\u00a0 In a land where perfection is expected, where we buy Japanese cars that NEVER break, to pay thirteen bucks a month and to constantly lose signal DRIVES YOU NUTS!<\/p>\n

And that’s the catch.\u00c2\u00a0 The thirteen bucks.<\/p>\n

Satellite used to be a club.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like the iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 But somewhere along the line, it got fucked up.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe when Mel Karmazin, the old boss, became the NEW BOSS!<\/p>\n

Satellite is not radio.\u00c2\u00a0 If satellite is radio, you’re fucked.\u00c2\u00a0 Satellite has to be something unique, that you ASPIRE to own, that you must have.<\/p>\n

But leaving all the perception and marketing behind, if Howard Stern’s fans didn’t follow him to satellite, where’s the hope?\u00c2\u00a0 If people won’t pay for Howard, if they’re willing to listen to someone else in the morning, what about the guy who NEVER listened to Howard?\u00c2\u00a0 How are you going to get HIM??<\/p>\n

Howard Stern is now irrelevant.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not part of the national dialogue.\u00c2\u00a0 And despite being the poster child for radio consolidation, Clear Channel is taking steps to clean up its act.\u00c2\u00a0 Like airing fewer commercials.<\/p>\n

It appears today, that the threat to terrestrial radio is not satellite, but Net in the car.\u00c2\u00a0 And Net in the car has got copyright issues.\u00c2\u00a0 And no one invests a ton of cash if they’re going to have copyright issues.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S what the RIAA\/Napster\/Grokster battles taught savvy investors (to the RIAA companies’ DETRIMENT, without investment, you’ve got no PROGRESS!)<\/p>\n

So, terrestrial radio still rules.\u00c2\u00a0 And John Hogan is the most powerful man in that sphere.<\/p>\n

5. The Net<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where do we start?<\/p>\n

Hell, let’s begin where everybody else does, MySpace.<\/p>\n

Once again, MYSPACE DOES NOT BREAK ACTS!\u00c2\u00a0 Most people never look at the homepage.\u00c2\u00a0 What MySpace does is give you a place to listen to the MUSIC of acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Usurping the need for a record company.\u00c2\u00a0 For FREE, you can have your music hosted.\u00c2\u00a0 Where not only "friends’ can check it out, but professionals too.<\/p>\n

You can build a buzz.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re GOOD!\u00c2\u00a0 Most bands on MySpace are bad.\u00c2\u00a0 But now EVERYBODY expects EVERY ACT to allow their music to be heard on MySpace!\u00c2\u00a0 Were the major labels here first?\u00c2\u00a0 No, they’re begrudgingly following along.<\/p>\n

I’d like to say that the Web is where everybody discovers new music.\u00c2\u00a0 But this would be untrue.\u00c2\u00a0 Terrestrial radio is still number one.\u00c2\u00a0 But the savvy, the FANS, they’re constantly surfing and discovering.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why acts should have their music available in blogs, given away free EVERYWHERE!\u00c2\u00a0 Because if the tastemakers have it, they can spread the word.<\/p>\n

We’re still waiting for our Google, the killer app, in the music disovery world.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not Pandora and it’s not the iTunes Music Store.\u00c2\u00a0 But in the not too distant future, you’ll go somewhere to find out about all the new acts, and the owner of this site will be as dominanat and rich as MTV was back in the eighties.\u00c2\u00a0 And I say more power to them, SOMEBODY’S got to sift through the morass of crap, and it ain’t gonna be ME!<\/p>\n

6. Marty Bandier<\/strong><\/p>\n

BMG should sell the label and keep the publishing company.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S where the action is.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, these continually screwed entities are fearful of being fucked over in the future, and refuse to negotiate reasonable rights fees for new delivery methods.<\/p>\n

We’ve got to go to a percentage.\u00c2\u00a0 To stay at a penny rate is insane.<\/p>\n

But Marty Bandier won’t do it.\u00c2\u00a0 Marty Bandier and his big boy on the block EMI Music Publishing have the record companies by the balls.\u00c2\u00a0 And therefore, a future that comports with reality seems a distant mirage.<\/p>\n

But can you truly get angry with the publishers?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean can you trust the labels?<\/p>\n

Nope.<\/p>\n

7. Terry McBride<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, he may be a manager, but that’s not all he is.<\/p>\n

Terry’s younger than most of his superstar manager brethren, and it shows.\u00c2\u00a0 He got the digital memo.\u00c2\u00a0 He understands the new marketplace.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s not looking back.<\/p>\n

Terry believes so much of what I say here.\u00c2\u00a0 That an act with a profile should be ITS OWN label.<\/p>\n

But Terry is not without portfolio.\u00c2\u00a0 He has a huge touring and radio presence.\u00c2\u00a0 He can use his relationships\/assets to deliver for a developing act.\u00c2\u00a0 Will he dominate in the future?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s an open sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 But NO major player is better placed for what’s coming down the pike.<\/p>\n

Terry knows it’s first and foremost about the fan.\u00c2\u00a0 And the system is just a tool to get to him.\u00c2\u00a0 And, that the fan doesn’t believe in the system, but the ACT!<\/p>\n

Isn’t it interesting that Terry put out MC Lars’ "Download This".\u00c2\u00a0 And is defending a trader against the RIAA.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re not willing to break ranks, you’re not going to be playing in the future.<\/p>\n

8. Eric Garland<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an effort to get paid, Mr. Garland’s words no longer have the brittle edge of yore, he’s trying to HELP the content providers.<\/p>\n

But thank fucking god he’s still trumpeting those P2P numbers in every publication known to man.<\/p>\n

P2P demonstrates DESIRE!\u00c2\u00a0 Go to the 99 cent store.\u00c2\u00a0 There you’ll see endless products that nobody WANTED!\u00c2\u00a0 People want music.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re breaking the law to get it.\u00c2\u00a0 Legalize this acquisition.\u00c2\u00a0 To do otherwise is to ignore reality.\u00c2\u00a0 And to leave money on the table that can’t be recaptured.<\/p>\n

9. Jay-Z<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought he was retired!<\/p>\n

Jay-Z is the poster boy for rap.\u00c2\u00a0 And despite how you feel about the sound, people believe in this music more than any other genre today.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the lyrics might be cartoons, but so many of the players have gotten shot there MUST be some truth to their thug life words.<\/p>\n

When black music was smooth and a joke, Russell Simmons entered the picture and took a street-level art form and blew it up based on its credibility.\u00c2\u00a0 We all live on some street.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, the white media thinks it’s Sunset Boulevard, where all the vapid TV stars party.\u00c2\u00a0 But no, it’s a place where the media is not looking.\u00c2\u00a0 Where life is rough but you’ve got hopes and dreams.\u00c2\u00a0 Where you want to do it YOUR way.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what rap represents.\u00c2\u00a0 Rock no longer represents this.<\/p>\n

Don’t count hip-hop out.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s built by street level entrepreneurs, not the usual suspects.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not only about music, but lifestyle too.\u00c2\u00a0 The key is not to decry it, but to embrace its tenets.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is you’ve got to respect the fan, make him feel like he’s part of the party.\u00c2\u00a0 And that if it weren’t for hard work and some luck, you’d be right down there with him.<\/p>\n

10. The Bonnaroo Team<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the middle of nowhere, out of whole cloth, these guys created a festival that its attendees talk about all year.<\/p>\n

That’s the way it used to be.\u00c2\u00a0 Every year, the band put out a new record and toured.\u00c2\u00a0 Like clockwork.\u00c2\u00a0 And during the intervening time, you waxed rhapsodic to all your buddies about the show.<\/p>\n

People are gonna be talking about Bonnaroo 2006 up until, and even AFTER, Bonnaroo 2007.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional concerts, the fan at Bonnaroo feels respected.\u00c2\u00a0 And that he’s part of something.\u00c2\u00a0 And by traveling halfway across the country to attend, he’s evidencing his dedication.<\/p>\n

Bonnaroo is the double album of yore.\u00c2\u00a0 Something unique, that you savor.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about remixes, but evanescent moments of magic.<\/p>\n

Bonnaroo represents hope.\u00c2\u00a0 And rebirth.<\/p>\n

The audience exists.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve just got to respect people.\u00c2\u00a0 And deliver something GREAT!<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Not On This List:<\/h3>\n

\n

1. Jimmy Iovine<\/strong><\/p>\n

The old days of wooing hot bands to blow them up via the big entertainment media are passe.\u00c2\u00a0 People don’t want marketing extravaganzas, rather something they discover and help build.\u00c2\u00a0 Master manipulation is through.<\/p>\n

2. Mitch Bainwol<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the "Wall Street Journal" and "New York Times" rebutting every inane press release with the P2P figures of Eric Garland and BigChampagne, Mitch’s pronouncements are whimpers.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s a lobbyist.\u00c2\u00a0 Paid to put a sunny face on the efforts of his crook members to save a dying model.<\/p>\n

3. "Rolling Stone" and the Print Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

"Rolling Stone" died when it imitated "Blender".\u00c2\u00a0 There shouldn’t be SHORTER articles, but LONGER ONES!\u00c2\u00a0 This concept of today’s kids having short attention spans…BULLSHIT!\u00c2\u00a0 Ever see them play Halo all night?\u00c2\u00a0 If they’re INTO something, there’s no limit to the time they’ll dedicate.\u00c2\u00a0 "Rolling Stone" was magic because it went on forever about stuff that only you thought was interesting.\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s playing to Madison Avenue.\u00c2\u00a0 GOOD RIDDANCE!<\/p>\n

As for the other magazines in the music genre.\u00c2\u00a0 Aren’t they all featuring hot actress babes on the cover?<\/p>\n

As for newspapers…\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve completely lost it.\u00c2\u00a0 Trying to appear hip they’re reviewing indie releases, championing the left field…\u00c2\u00a0 Newspapers must be mainstream, that’s their only hope.\u00c2\u00a0 But, with the info available instantly on the Web, with attitude, the younger generation doesn’t give a shit about the printed page.<\/p>\n

4. Clive Davis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Someday Clive is gonna die.\u00c2\u00a0 And we won’t even miss him.
Kind of like Burt Reynolds.\u00c2\u00a0 Whoops, Burt’s still alive?<\/p>\n

5. The Rolling Stones<\/strong><\/p>\n

They’re not in the music business, but the Rolling Stones business.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like visiting a museum.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, Keith Richards LOOKS embalmed.<\/p>\n

6. Eminem<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you believe that?\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not like he made a Billy Squier pink video or something.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that…\u00c2\u00a0 In a fast-moving landscape he should have put out a continuous stream of product instead of pursuing the album cycle he did.\u00c2\u00a0 Because once you hit a dry patch…you’re forgotten.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, it’s not like you hear his music on the radio anymore!<\/p>\n

7. Amoeba<\/strong><\/p>\n

So you like to go hang out in your jeans with your old fart brethren buying discs.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, there are people addicted to flea markets too.<\/p>\n

Amoeba is the Disneyland of record stores.\u00c2\u00a0 If there was a Disneyland in every town…\u00c2\u00a0 Whoops, there’s one in Paris, FAR from Anaheim and Orlando, and it’s constantly losing money.<\/p>\n

8. Best Buy<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you think they care about music, you’ve never asked a question of one of their employees.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re just waiting for another loss leader product to hit the stage.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re married to CDs like you’re married to your nursery school sweetheart.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re gonna outgrow them, and not even look back FONDLY!<\/p>\n

9. IMPALA<\/strong><\/p>\n

If this is the future of the record business, I want out.\u00c2\u00a0 These crybabies are handed their future by techies in Silicon Valley and they rail against the OLD system.<\/p>\n

You know they’re fucked when even the "Los Angeles Times" comes down on them.<\/p>\n

\n

Europeans’ Same Old Tune on Mergers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

10. Andy Lack<\/strong><\/p>\n

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1. Steve Jobs Don’t fuck with Steve. Michael Eisner ignorantly came down on Apple’s "Rip\/Mix\/Burn" campaign, falsely declaring it illegal, and didn’t make nice with Pixar and who won, who survived?\u00c2\u00a0 Steve. Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and his CEO brethren saber-rattled, stating they needed variable pricing at the iTunes Music Store, and who won?\u00c2\u00a0 Steve.\u00c2\u00a0 Every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-7N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}