Monday, 31 January 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
"On air, on sale" is a good start. Now let's give fans everything else they want from online music, says Joe Taylor.
David Joseph of Universal and Ged Doherty of Sony made a brave and progressive move this week by confirming that their companies will release tracks to retail as soon as they go to radio.
To declare my own interest, I suggested to the Music Managers Forum that they campaign on this issue, which they did alongside the Featured Artists Coalition, the Musicians Union, iTunes and others. It's not over yet - Warner and EMI plan to continue using pre-release windows on a case-by-case basis so we can expect to see some of their releases entering the chart high after pre-release exposure, which will make it harder for media to interpret which are the real hits in the new look chart.
Let's hope "on air, on sale" signals a new approach to online music, driven by giving fans what they want. Surely this is the key to growing the recorded music business - not suing fans or shutting down popular services.
Next, let's comb the internet for every significant type of music consumption out there - then let's license those services, and come up with new ideas for how to make money out of them. Or for the likes of The Pirate Bay that are truly dedicated to piracy, let's license someone else to launch a similar but better service (as Virgin Media have tried and failed to do).
Some examples:
A YouTube video is now the top Google result for most songs. There are millions of tracks that are on YouTube but not on iTunes or any other store. There are loads of ways of getting an mp3 of the audio from a YouTube video but no way of paying for it legitimately - why not?
How about a website with all label copy, artwork and label-owned photography on there? Viewing the information should be free, but prints could be available to order and images could be available to license, Getty Images-style. With some torrents, there's a printer-friendly file included which enables you to print the perfectly sized CD sleeve - that could be a commercial service.
There are forums and newsgroups dedicated to downloads of instrumentals, a capellas and stems for remixing. We should be selling these things - preferably on a website where fans could upload remixes they've made and make a share of any revenue that resulted from their remix.
How about an mp3 legitimisation service which would scan your computer for mp3s and, for a small fee, enable you to upgrade them to legitimate, properly tagged files?
Every leading artist's website should sell discographies of that artist - i.e. their complete catalogue as high quality mp3s with artwork including rarities for a decent price, available in one click. Why? Because you can get this on The Pirate Bay, but you can't get it legitimately for any artist I know of.
How about a website where fans could upload recordings of gigs they've made for others to buy?
I was at a meeting where a musical hero of mine, the artist and indie label boss Ben Watt, spoke out about cyberlockers, meaning services that allow files/albums to be downloaded by any number of users from one weblink. He was despairing because one of these companies was offering fans money to upload copyrighted content in the knowledge that this content would drive traffic, advertising sales and premium subscriptions. But surely this is exciting - it shows that cyberlockers are a viable business model and an opportunity for the industry. Why aren't any of them licensed?
Why isn't the record industry allowing fans to make available all the tracks they haven't got round to putting on iTunes, and giving them a share of the profits from resulting sales? It's easy to set up a blog giving away free music without a license, but what if a fan wanted a license to sell music off their blog? No chance. So let's make it as easy to sell music online as it is to give it away, much like buying stock for a record store - i.e. as long as you pay the copyright owners for each sale, you can sell the music. Let's have as many one click "buy" buttons on the internet as there are free streams or downloads.
How would all these services be licensed? In some cases, it would be tricky - and that's the problem. We need to rethink licensing with the aim of enabling new services rather than making life difficult for them. Our current licensing practices have scared off investors and there are very few successful online music services, while services that succeed in one country can't get a license in another (Pandora in the UK, Spotify in the US). The music industry has put huge amounts of energy and resources into anti-piracy measures. Now let's put the same effort into facilitating new services.
Licensing music should be so easy that there's no excuse for any online service to operate without a license - then the industry would really have success in going after the few remaining pirate outfits. They would no longer be launching political parties - instead they would be viewed as the moral equivalent of market traders selling shoddy CDs with colour photocopied sleeves. But, to paraphrase David Joseph, this is not primarily about preventing piracy - it's about giving fans what they want.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Monday, 17 January 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Monday, 20 December 2010
Friday, 17 December 2010
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Monday, 22 November 2010
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
the digital music business as we know it is on the way out
why digital sales are flat: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-pollack/losing-steam-why-digital-_b_772769.html
digital music is ailing: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20020655-261.html?tag=topStories2
connect any wi-fi device to any other wi-fi device anywhere: http://mashable.com/2010/10/25/wi-fi-direct-launch/
read the comment: "Ultimately file sharing applications taking advantage of the wifi direct standard will allow devices to be constantly, and I mean literally 24/7, sharing distributing and sharing files in an untraceble truly peer to peer anonymous, uncontrollable network. Just leave your smart phone with all your music on as you walk through a crowd or in a coffee shop, and minutes later you will have amassed an entire new library of content. I predict file sharing will be the number one use of this new technology, and that's why it's been held back from a an actual 'blessing' from the industry. It is clear now that content providers cannot win this uphill battle, and so the content can now be free."
digital music is ailing: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20020655-261.html?tag=topStories2
connect any wi-fi device to any other wi-fi device anywhere: http://mashable.com/2010/10/25/wi-fi-direct-launch/
read the comment: "Ultimately file sharing applications taking advantage of the wifi direct standard will allow devices to be constantly, and I mean literally 24/7, sharing distributing and sharing files in an untraceble truly peer to peer anonymous, uncontrollable network. Just leave your smart phone with all your music on as you walk through a crowd or in a coffee shop, and minutes later you will have amassed an entire new library of content. I predict file sharing will be the number one use of this new technology, and that's why it's been held back from a an actual 'blessing' from the industry. It is clear now that content providers cannot win this uphill battle, and so the content can now be free."
Monday, 25 October 2010
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Friday, 17 September 2010
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Friday, 13 August 2010
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Monday, 5 July 2010
Friday, 28 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
"But instead of trying – and failing – to stop us downloading music for free..."
"media companies have to make their more obscure content easier to obtain than illegally hosted versions..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cyber-clinic-does-the-digital-economy-act-mean-the-end-of-rapidshare-1943831.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/cyber-clinic-does-the-digital-economy-act-mean-the-end-of-rapidshare-1943831.html
A deeper look at how much musicians make online
http://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/a-deeper-look-at-how-much-musicians-make-online/
attacks on low revenue received by songwriters from Spotify:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/spotify-1-million-plays-163108-return-1944051.html
more on what Spotify pays:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/7590782/Spotify-rejects-claims-that-it-rips-off-artists.html
plus an attack on the Digital Economy Bill:
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/04/op-ed-neil-cartwright-on-why-uks-digital-economy-bill-is-technology-censorship-.html
attacks on low revenue received by songwriters from Spotify:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/spotify-1-million-plays-163108-return-1944051.html
more on what Spotify pays:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/7590782/Spotify-rejects-claims-that-it-rips-off-artists.html
plus an attack on the Digital Economy Bill:
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/04/op-ed-neil-cartwright-on-why-uks-digital-economy-bill-is-technology-censorship-.html
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Monday, 22 March 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
editorial from today's Record of the Day magazine
Wednesday saw a MusicTank debate titled Is Pre-Release Killing Our Business? Answer – no, but it is encouraging piracy.
Diana Vickers’ debut single was added to every ILR network last week, to Radio 1 this week, and it’s on YouTube. As you can see from this forum, fans were desperate to get it as soon as they knew about its existence, and now they’ve got it. Yet they won’t be able to get it from download stores until April 19th. Some fans will buy it come April 19th to support Diana. Others won’t buy it, but clearly would have done if a download store had been the first and easiest place to get it.
Similarly the DJ MistaJam posted this on Twitter before the release of Tinie Tempah’s single: “If every MC & singer who did a version of Pass Out bought just one copy, ... be enough sales to make it a #1”. Obviously Pass Out did get to no.1 and some of the MCs and singers who covered it did buy a copy. But others would have been happy with their YouTube rip or illicit download. Why are we driving fans towards unofficial sources when we could be driving them to download stores?
What would happen if singles were released to download stores at the same time as radio? Needless to say, there would still be ten tracks in the top ten each week, there would still be marketing campaigns, and there would still be new music on the radio. In the case of Tinie, he would still have had a massive hit. In fact, Pass Out would probably have climbed to no.1 earlier than it did. Genuine hits could emerge earlier – instead of Iyaz’s Replay getting an airplay spike once it hit no.1 in the midweeks, its airplay would have gradually increased over the preceding weeks as radio watched it climb the chart. In the case of Diana, her track looks like a smash but we won’t know for sure until late April. Without a pre-release window, we’d find out earlier – good news for the media and good news for Diana’s label RCA who could allocate their marketing budget accordingly. Labels would hopefully be less prone to spending tens of thousands of pounds of marketing money before they have any reliable information about whether it will come back to them.
On the other hand, it would become even harder to make flops look like hits by concentrating efforts on one week of sales – surely a good thing for the bottom line of the majors and the industry as a whole. We suspect some of the fans of pre-release windows within majors are the great marketing people who know how to manipulate the system to make their releases look more popular then they are. How very 20th century.
With pre-release windows gone, the chart would truly reflect popularity and we'd see all except the out-of-the-box smashes like Help For Haiti entering low and climbing as awareness rose. The chart is being manipulated at present thanks to pre-release windows – popular records are excluded because they’re not on sale yet. For example, Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal was clearly the most popular track in the country for some time before it was released. We'd also be able to kiss goodbye to the copycat cover versions that chart when hits like Fireflies or Riverside get played on the radio before they’re available on iTunes.
More generally, the first place to get new music by your favourite band wouldn't be The Hype Machine or YouTube or P2P. The first place would be whichever digital retailer could move fastest. Every artist would then have a great incentive to start a chart-eligible download store on their own website, and make that the first place their fans could hear and buy their new music. You know how every band used to post their great new song to MySpace for fans to stream for free? Why not post it to their own chart-eligible download store instead? Let’s make it as easy to buy and sell music as it is to give it away or get it for free.
Of course, there have been some experiments in this direction with mixed results. Radiohead’s In Rainbows album was released without any pre-release build up, and it became a phenomenon. The Raconteurs released an album in a similar way and it flopped. The Gorillaz single had no pre-release window and failed to set the charts on fire, but the single is still on the Radio 1 A list and the album is no.1 in the midweeks.
One major label chairman has said he would always use pre-release windows even if the rest of the industry stopped, because he believes it would give him a competitive advantage. He may be right – but he’s also encouraging piracy and undermining any requests the record industry is making of consumers or the government. Why should they help us tackle piracy if we refuse to get our own house in order?
Any one artist who releases without a pre-release window may of course end up regretting it. Media aren’t yet accustomed to tracks entering the chart low and climbing, so may back off a single if they see a low chart entry. But if everyone abandoned pre-release windows then media would instantly learn not to assume a track is a flop because it enters the chart low – what counts is whether it climbs once it gets exposure. So ideally the whole industry would do this collectively. If they did, we’re convinced that total sales would increase as we allowed and encouraged customers to buy tracks whenever they hear them.
Joe Taylor
More on the MusicTank event from CMU
Diana Vickers’ debut single was added to every ILR network last week, to Radio 1 this week, and it’s on YouTube. As you can see from this forum, fans were desperate to get it as soon as they knew about its existence, and now they’ve got it. Yet they won’t be able to get it from download stores until April 19th. Some fans will buy it come April 19th to support Diana. Others won’t buy it, but clearly would have done if a download store had been the first and easiest place to get it.
Similarly the DJ MistaJam posted this on Twitter before the release of Tinie Tempah’s single: “If every MC & singer who did a version of Pass Out bought just one copy, ... be enough sales to make it a #1”. Obviously Pass Out did get to no.1 and some of the MCs and singers who covered it did buy a copy. But others would have been happy with their YouTube rip or illicit download. Why are we driving fans towards unofficial sources when we could be driving them to download stores?
What would happen if singles were released to download stores at the same time as radio? Needless to say, there would still be ten tracks in the top ten each week, there would still be marketing campaigns, and there would still be new music on the radio. In the case of Tinie, he would still have had a massive hit. In fact, Pass Out would probably have climbed to no.1 earlier than it did. Genuine hits could emerge earlier – instead of Iyaz’s Replay getting an airplay spike once it hit no.1 in the midweeks, its airplay would have gradually increased over the preceding weeks as radio watched it climb the chart. In the case of Diana, her track looks like a smash but we won’t know for sure until late April. Without a pre-release window, we’d find out earlier – good news for the media and good news for Diana’s label RCA who could allocate their marketing budget accordingly. Labels would hopefully be less prone to spending tens of thousands of pounds of marketing money before they have any reliable information about whether it will come back to them.
On the other hand, it would become even harder to make flops look like hits by concentrating efforts on one week of sales – surely a good thing for the bottom line of the majors and the industry as a whole. We suspect some of the fans of pre-release windows within majors are the great marketing people who know how to manipulate the system to make their releases look more popular then they are. How very 20th century.
With pre-release windows gone, the chart would truly reflect popularity and we'd see all except the out-of-the-box smashes like Help For Haiti entering low and climbing as awareness rose. The chart is being manipulated at present thanks to pre-release windows – popular records are excluded because they’re not on sale yet. For example, Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal was clearly the most popular track in the country for some time before it was released. We'd also be able to kiss goodbye to the copycat cover versions that chart when hits like Fireflies or Riverside get played on the radio before they’re available on iTunes.
More generally, the first place to get new music by your favourite band wouldn't be The Hype Machine or YouTube or P2P. The first place would be whichever digital retailer could move fastest. Every artist would then have a great incentive to start a chart-eligible download store on their own website, and make that the first place their fans could hear and buy their new music. You know how every band used to post their great new song to MySpace for fans to stream for free? Why not post it to their own chart-eligible download store instead? Let’s make it as easy to buy and sell music as it is to give it away or get it for free.
Of course, there have been some experiments in this direction with mixed results. Radiohead’s In Rainbows album was released without any pre-release build up, and it became a phenomenon. The Raconteurs released an album in a similar way and it flopped. The Gorillaz single had no pre-release window and failed to set the charts on fire, but the single is still on the Radio 1 A list and the album is no.1 in the midweeks.
One major label chairman has said he would always use pre-release windows even if the rest of the industry stopped, because he believes it would give him a competitive advantage. He may be right – but he’s also encouraging piracy and undermining any requests the record industry is making of consumers or the government. Why should they help us tackle piracy if we refuse to get our own house in order?
Any one artist who releases without a pre-release window may of course end up regretting it. Media aren’t yet accustomed to tracks entering the chart low and climbing, so may back off a single if they see a low chart entry. But if everyone abandoned pre-release windows then media would instantly learn not to assume a track is a flop because it enters the chart low – what counts is whether it climbs once it gets exposure. So ideally the whole industry would do this collectively. If they did, we’re convinced that total sales would increase as we allowed and encouraged customers to buy tracks whenever they hear them.
Joe Taylor
More on the MusicTank event from CMU
Monday, 8 March 2010
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Friday, 22 January 2010
today's articles on the downloading etc
Alison Wenham on mp3 blogs - http://www.zeropaid.com/news/87843/music-blogs-need-to-be-regulated-to-stop-piracy/. Surely what we need is to a way of licensing the brilliant stuff that mp3 blogs do? We need to make it as easy to sell music online as it is to give it away.
Universal and Warner on Virgin Media's mooted limited/unlimited service - http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3idb0553264d55f001c23915c0f1666ebc
Ed O'Brien interview - http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-radiohead-the-music-biz-could-cure-its-ills-in-one-week/
Thursday, 21 January 2010
why we need to open up licensing (and spend less making and marketing albums)
Paul Sanders vs Bono (I'm with Paul Sanders): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/20/sanders_bono_no/
Sharing files is an essential part of the digital revolution: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/nicholas-jones-sharing-files-is-an-essential-part-of-the-digital-revolution-1874034.html
Tom Silverman's comments on how few albums sell enough to make money in the US: http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2010/01/20/wrecking-the-record-labels-buzz/
Sharing files is an essential part of the digital revolution: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/nicholas-jones-sharing-files-is-an-essential-part-of-the-digital-revolution-1874034.html
Tom Silverman's comments on how few albums sell enough to make money in the US: http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2010/01/20/wrecking-the-record-labels-buzz/
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Friday, 4 December 2009
Monday, 30 November 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Friday, 30 October 2009
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
two good pieces from Bob Lefsetz
1) Eric Garland on the movie business: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/10/28/eric-garland-on-the-movie-music-business/
2) some good ideas in here about empowering the audience: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/10/28/empowering-the-audience/
2) some good ideas in here about empowering the audience: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/10/28/empowering-the-audience/
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Monday, 12 October 2009
Thursday, 8 October 2009
two articles highlighting problems with current digital music business models
http://digitalmusicnews.com/stories/100709dmf1
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3iecb83415cefdd2b09a867b6dd5ef7b6f
We need licensed unlimited download services right now, like Virgin Media's and TDC's
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3iecb83415cefdd2b09a867b6dd5ef7b6f
We need licensed unlimited download services right now, like Virgin Media's and TDC's
Friday, 2 October 2009
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Monday, 21 September 2009
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
differing views on copyright
Lucian Grainge letter to the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/aug/29/universal-music-downloads-digital
Blog saying cutting off internet users is going in the wrong direction:
http://www.mediafuturist.com/2009/08/uk-disconnecting-the-troublemakers.html
Guardian piece on The Pirate Party and copyright: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/26/filesharing-pirate-party-uk-downloads
Blog saying cutting off internet users is going in the wrong direction:
http://www.mediafuturist.com/2009/08/uk-disconnecting-the-troublemakers.html
Guardian piece on The Pirate Party and copyright: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/26/filesharing-pirate-party-uk-downloads
Saturday, 22 August 2009
viral promotion on the JK wedding dance video
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Friday, 26 June 2009
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Friday, 22 May 2009
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Monday, 20 April 2009
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Monday, 6 April 2009
Andrew Orlowski on blanket licensing
he proposed it here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/23/orlowski_interactive_keynote/print.html
then went off the idea here: http://andreworlowski.com/?p=458
then went off the idea here: http://andreworlowski.com/?p=458
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Monday, 16 February 2009
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Bob Ezrin on quality in an email to Bob Lefsetz
"Bob,
I usually sit on the sidelines and eat my popcorn as I enjoy the theater that is you and this wonderful newsletter. You're better than most movies and just about any music that's out there right now for entertainment. And even when I think you're being a stick in the mud, you do it so artfully and passionately that it's ok and I enjoy the performance for its own sake.
But this one has to be answered - with affection and the deepest respect of course. You start this with the word "Quality" and then you proceed to counsel struggling musicians to contort themselves and what they do to fit the market so that they can "make it in this business". But here's the true bottom line: This business of exploiting art and entertainment is built from it's very inception on creativity and quality, on special things made by special people that touch, inform, elevate, divert, soothe, numb, challenge or sometimes even drive other people enough so that they are drawn to it and want it to be a part of their lives - either for the moment or for a very long time. When they want it, they sometimes pay for it in one way or another and this special stuff sometimes accrues a value beyond the ephemeral and actual makes money for its creator and for the folks who help to support and market it. Sometimes it becomes more vaulable than gold and stars are born.
But unless it is especially touching in some way (even if it's in a juvenile or prurient way), nobody will care and it will end up having no value at all. Which then goes to your title "Quality". If a thing lacks quality of some sort, it will not touch anyone. It will simply be a not so special thing in a world of not so special things. It will blend in and disappear. But if a work or performance is of high quality and special, then it has at least a shot at becoming valuable to someone - and the person who creates it has a shot at being appreciated and rewarded for it. If I were talking to "struggling musicians" I would say:
First, be special. Make something of such high quality that anyone would care. And that's not as easy as it sounds. Just because you can use a sequencer and play an instrument doesn't make you an artist. You have to create something that is special - unique and capable of moving others in a meaningful way. Once you are truly special, truly great at what you do, you may have a chance at finding an audience willing to reward you for your specialness. More than likely you will not, because special - by definition - belongs to the very few. But if you do, then someone somewhere might recognize that and show up to help you to take your creativity out to a wider audience.
How do you get recognized in the first place? Play to people as much as you can. They will let you know if and when you are truly special because they will either begin to pay you to do this, to be able to be close to you - or they will ignore you. Play: in your town; at your school; in the next town over; on the web (but that's a whole other and longer discussion); at parties - anywhere you can. If you have created something truly special someone will recognize this and the ball will start rolling.
But whatever you do, DO NOT pick a market and try to create for it. You may decide to do that later in life when you become so good at your craft that you can aim your creativity wherever you wish, even when it doesn't please you. But you cannot start there. No one is born a hack. Hacks are failed or jaded artists, each and every one. First you must be able to create for yourself and find the way in which you may be special, and then you have to work on becoming really great at that. Create from your heart and from your will. Your will is what you use to keep you practicing and trying and trying to get better at what you do. Your heart is where the inspiration comes from to use that ability to make something really truly special. But above all DO NOT listen to critics, pundits or "experts" who try to bend you to what is happening now. By the time you get there, now will be long gone.
Dedicate yourself to quality, to being the very best at what you do and then use that quality to create or be something truly great. Then you may have a shot at "making it". But whether you become a star or not, you will have become and will forever be someone very special. And others will know you for that.
End of lecture.
Thanks
Bob"
The above is copyright Bob Ezrin. Bob, if you would like it removed from here please email worldsgreatestmusic@googlemail.com
I usually sit on the sidelines and eat my popcorn as I enjoy the theater that is you and this wonderful newsletter. You're better than most movies and just about any music that's out there right now for entertainment. And even when I think you're being a stick in the mud, you do it so artfully and passionately that it's ok and I enjoy the performance for its own sake.
But this one has to be answered - with affection and the deepest respect of course. You start this with the word "Quality" and then you proceed to counsel struggling musicians to contort themselves and what they do to fit the market so that they can "make it in this business". But here's the true bottom line: This business of exploiting art and entertainment is built from it's very inception on creativity and quality, on special things made by special people that touch, inform, elevate, divert, soothe, numb, challenge or sometimes even drive other people enough so that they are drawn to it and want it to be a part of their lives - either for the moment or for a very long time. When they want it, they sometimes pay for it in one way or another and this special stuff sometimes accrues a value beyond the ephemeral and actual makes money for its creator and for the folks who help to support and market it. Sometimes it becomes more vaulable than gold and stars are born.
But unless it is especially touching in some way (even if it's in a juvenile or prurient way), nobody will care and it will end up having no value at all. Which then goes to your title "Quality". If a thing lacks quality of some sort, it will not touch anyone. It will simply be a not so special thing in a world of not so special things. It will blend in and disappear. But if a work or performance is of high quality and special, then it has at least a shot at becoming valuable to someone - and the person who creates it has a shot at being appreciated and rewarded for it. If I were talking to "struggling musicians" I would say:
First, be special. Make something of such high quality that anyone would care. And that's not as easy as it sounds. Just because you can use a sequencer and play an instrument doesn't make you an artist. You have to create something that is special - unique and capable of moving others in a meaningful way. Once you are truly special, truly great at what you do, you may have a chance at finding an audience willing to reward you for your specialness. More than likely you will not, because special - by definition - belongs to the very few. But if you do, then someone somewhere might recognize that and show up to help you to take your creativity out to a wider audience.
How do you get recognized in the first place? Play to people as much as you can. They will let you know if and when you are truly special because they will either begin to pay you to do this, to be able to be close to you - or they will ignore you. Play: in your town; at your school; in the next town over; on the web (but that's a whole other and longer discussion); at parties - anywhere you can. If you have created something truly special someone will recognize this and the ball will start rolling.
But whatever you do, DO NOT pick a market and try to create for it. You may decide to do that later in life when you become so good at your craft that you can aim your creativity wherever you wish, even when it doesn't please you. But you cannot start there. No one is born a hack. Hacks are failed or jaded artists, each and every one. First you must be able to create for yourself and find the way in which you may be special, and then you have to work on becoming really great at that. Create from your heart and from your will. Your will is what you use to keep you practicing and trying and trying to get better at what you do. Your heart is where the inspiration comes from to use that ability to make something really truly special. But above all DO NOT listen to critics, pundits or "experts" who try to bend you to what is happening now. By the time you get there, now will be long gone.
Dedicate yourself to quality, to being the very best at what you do and then use that quality to create or be something truly great. Then you may have a shot at "making it". But whether you become a star or not, you will have become and will forever be someone very special. And others will know you for that.
End of lecture.
Thanks
Bob"
The above is copyright Bob Ezrin. Bob, if you would like it removed from here please email worldsgreatestmusic@googlemail.com
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Kid Rock's response to Bob Lefsetz
"I really believe its about a connection to the artist and the "lack of" that plays a big part in this. When I would hear a Bob Seger or Run DMC record as a kid, I really believed they WERE the songs, and that they were who they sang and wrote about. I think that connection, especially in pop music has been missing for sometime. Shit, I dont think kids even believe in half the rappers are who they claim to be anymore. On another note, the radio has fucked so much of it up, for instance, that James Mcmurty song is a pop hit, but they know he wont suck thier dick so they say fuck him and as a result kids lose out on hearing a great song and pop music suffers. Now obviously i dont suck dick either, but i know how to put my arm around em and make em feel good, maybe tickle thier balls a little if it means more people will hear my music. BUT NO DICK SUCKING!! Programmers are not the fucking stars, artists are, but if they would rather party with brittney or mariah rather than folk
s like me, thier missing one hell of a party!! I mean ,I wanna be friends with radio and have met some good folks in it, but overall they make it very difficult with the politics and bullshit, and the record companys share in that as well. (shit, sometimes us artists do too)
And this biggest thing is, you ll never beat word of mouth on a good product! And when people love something, theyll do whatever it takes to get it. Itunes is convienient, but so is Mcdonalds, but....... a lotta people still wait in line and make reservations to eat elsewhere!! Sometimes when you believe in yourself and your product, NO is the best answer. Thiers plenty of ways to have big sales without itunes (or conventional wisdom), i just proved it! (dont mean to toot my own horn but BEEP FUCKING BEEP!!!! haha) bottom line, lets bring some creativity back into this buisness and make it fun again,lifes too short, thats where im at with things."
and here's the Lefsetz piece about it: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2008/08/12/all-summer-long/
s like me, thier missing one hell of a party!! I mean ,I wanna be friends with radio and have met some good folks in it, but overall they make it very difficult with the politics and bullshit, and the record companys share in that as well. (shit, sometimes us artists do too)
And this biggest thing is, you ll never beat word of mouth on a good product! And when people love something, theyll do whatever it takes to get it. Itunes is convienient, but so is Mcdonalds, but....... a lotta people still wait in line and make reservations to eat elsewhere!! Sometimes when you believe in yourself and your product, NO is the best answer. Thiers plenty of ways to have big sales without itunes (or conventional wisdom), i just proved it! (dont mean to toot my own horn but BEEP FUCKING BEEP!!!! haha) bottom line, lets bring some creativity back into this buisness and make it fun again,lifes too short, thats where im at with things."
and here's the Lefsetz piece about it: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2008/08/12/all-summer-long/
Monday, 11 August 2008
Monday, 19 May 2008
Monday, 12 May 2008
Bob Lefsetz on the death of the mass market
http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2008/05/11/gladwell-on-spaghetti-sauce/
Personally I think that if artists would really strive to make a mass appeal album, then one would get made and it would sell tens of millions like the good old days
Personally I think that if artists would really strive to make a mass appeal album, then one would get made and it would sell tens of millions like the good old days
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Monday, 21 January 2008
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