SALES ARE DEAD The fact that news outlets trumpet them is testimony to their ignorance, not the stats relevance. Its almost like its the year 2000 all over again, when the public knew what was going on but the media did not. Something is happening here and you dont know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones? Bob Dylan famously sang that about a Time reporter, but at this point its the acts that are ignorant. They continue to believe in old paradigms that are now history. Tchotchkes generate revenue. Its called merch. Your CD/vinyl is a souvenir, see it that way. KATE BUSH If shed put out a new album, the hype would already be history. But whether consciously or unconsciously, by doing dozens of live shows shes keeping her story alive, and in todays world its all about making the story last. Forget the ridiculous hype about multiple albums flowing back into the chart after the gigs began. Those sales are anemic and irrelevant. Today its all about whether anybody is listening to your music. By generating heat, Kate Bush has not only reignited the passionate, shes caused those previously not in the know to pay attention. And hopefully theyll check her material out. The barrier to streaming entry is very low, its just a click away, just a click away, and your goal is to get someone to make that click and hopefully become infected. BUDWEISER MADE IN AMERICA IN L.A. Its only reason to exist is cash. The lineup made no sense, the site had no shade and once you actually put the sponsor in the name youre no different from Playboy Jazz, and everything involved in that is fading. Boobies are free on the Internet, the festival is small and irrelevant, and jazz is something believers trumpet and everyone else ignores. RELEASE We know whether your album is good in a day, if not an hour. We anticipate the work of the superstars, the rest of the acts are just grist for the mill. Unfortunately, everything is equally hyped and therefore almost all of it is ignored. In other words, just because the newspaper writes about your new album, that does not mean anybody will listen to it. Youre now your own hypester. Your biggest asset is your mailing list, yes, e-mail still counts. You want to know who your fans are and how to reach them and you shouldnt worry whether the media covers your release at all, thats old school thinking, purely twentieth century, when music was scarce and buying an album was an expensive proposition that you pondered a long time. HITS When theres too much noise, you up your game. You now have to shoot for the stratosphere or play to the niches, there is no middle class. And if youre shooting for the stratosphere youve got to be perfect. Which is why the labels employ Max Martin, because hes got experience and can do it better than anyone. Dont lament the game, understand it. Know that you wont have a hit unless its as catchy as Maxs work. Good is not good enough. COUNTRY IS THE NEW ROCK If you think rock is dead, you havent listened to country music, which may feature a banjo or a fiddle, but really sounds like nothing so much as Skynyrd and the rest of the seventies icons. But its not totally retro. There are electronic elements and rap and its all very exciting. Country is taking over America, its not just a red state thing. THE HIGHWAY Is the tribal drum of country music. Its Americas radio station. Its where chances are taken and acts are broken. This is the biggest story in radio today. Forget Pandora, one program director has taken over a whole format by focusing on the future, not the past. Its an amazing tale. One of risk-taking and audience consolidation. Clear Channel fans the flames of the media, but its the Highway that is the blueprint for tomorrow. We used to go to radio to discover. Radio used to be a community. The Highway provides both. Its positively twenty first century. We gravitate to one winner. All we need is someone to grab the reins and pull ahead! And you thought Sirius XM was irrelevant. ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES What were we doing in Iraq a decade ago anyway? Saddam Hussein may have been a dictator, but he kept the peace. Yup, Bush and Cheney destabilized the region and we continue to pay the price. And we can debate politics all day long but my point is just because you apologized, just because you went to rehab, that does not mean people dont remember. Youre building your rep every day. People remember they were tricked, they were spammed, that you took the expedient route, that you sold out to a sponsor. What looks like a blip on the radar screen today could haunt you forevermore. Go by your heart, not your wallet. If your heart steers you wrong, well forgive you. AT&T UNLIMITED DATA No its not. Hit 5 gigs and theyll throttle you. Furthermore, Sprints 4G sucks and T-Mobiles got little coverage. So the truth is if you want high speed data everywhere youve got to pay, through the nose. It sucks, but its the truth. AMAZON Could be killed by Alibaba, eBays threatened too. Amazon may look like Engulf and Devour but the truth is the tide is turning on the company. Its just not consumer friendly. Who cares if your package comes on time if its going to hollow out the world with only Jeff Bezos benefiting. Remember when Microsoft was the behemoth? Nothing is forever, never forget that. MISTAKES ARE NOT TERMINAL Facebook had a flawed mobile strategy and then it scrapped it and is now triumphing in the sphere. Dont dig your hole deeper, pivot! FAST COMPANY Buy a subscription. Today. Its about smart people doing smart things. The writing may not quite be at the level of the New Yorker, but theres no self-satisfied attitude. This is what the music business used to be like. The people profiled in Fast Company have big dreams, they want to change the world, and unlike the teen dweebs, theyre neither delusional nor uneducated. Hell, Tory Burch graduated from Penn. Same as it ever was. PREVIEW ISSUES How publications sell advertising. NIKKI STINK Nikke Finke is the new Mike Ovitz. Powerful and hated she has now gotten her comeuppance. You may not know what Im talking about, but Google is your friend, and if youre under thirty you may not know who Mike Ovitz is either. You cant criticize people for being fat when you are. You cant be anonymous yet use the Internet to spill your bile. Were all in it together these days. Yup, you may fly private but you depend on us to be the wind beneath your wings, and we can stop blowing at any time. Really. -- Visit the archive: lefsetz/wordpress/ -- twitter/lefsetz -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, lefsetz/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, lefsetz/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=a8a3c1857243a5547548fb54681f4095 To change your email address lefsetz/lists/?p=preferences&uid=a8a3c1857243a5547548fb54681f4095 -- powered by phpList, phplist --
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 03:18:52 +0000
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