“What kind of fucked up world do we live in where Google and Wikipedia take the lead on freedom of expression, on personal rights? That used to be the domain of the artist. Today, Internet companies changed the world. It used to be artists. But people love Google more than Top Ten bands. They rely on Wikipedia more. Because they're pure. They don't compromise their vision or values for instant remuneration. They give back. Hey, you're using an Android phone, do you know the operating system is free? And sure, Google will make money off of Android ads, but is this any different from selling concert tickets and merch after people hear your music for free? And speaking of starting off for free... That's what Google did. They launched it first and then developed a business model. And it's still got a freemium model. I've been using Google for years and have clicked on exactly one ad. But Google is rolling in dough. Just because you give away your main product for free does not mean you can't make money. We live in an attention economy, your biggest chore is getting people to listen, not to pay for your music. And the entire music industry is rotten to the core, riddled with egocentric businesspeople putting themselves first and responding not to music, but money. Don't listen to a word they say, it's like asking a child to deny he wants candy, it's useless.”
—Bob Lefsetz, “Which Side Are You On?”I Interned for Amanda Palmer
Hey Bob,
I know you’re done on the Palmer kerfuffle but thought I’d share my story with you.
I’ve been a fan of Palmer’s since 2004. She’s been my favourite musician since the Dolls. Back in 2008 right before the release of Who Killed Amanda Palmer, Amanda’s assistant Beth put out a twitter call out requesting an intern to help with several AFP projects. The intern did not need to live in Boston or NYC.
I reached out and got the gig. At the time I was living 600 miles north of Toronto literally in the middle of nowhere. I helped out with Amanda’s online merch company, Post-War Trade, back when it was completely DIY artist commissioned work. I volunteered about 10-15 hours a week. I flew down to Toronto when the WKAP tour came through. I was on the guest list, Amanda gave me her love and any free merch I wanted. It was amazing.
June 2009, not long after the news came out that Neil Gaiman & Amanda were now a couple— which might I add Neil has been my favourite author since 2000— SPIN magazine organized events featuring an author & a musician for a night of readings & music. So in June 2009, a Neil & Amanda event was held in NYC.
Amanda paid my flight to NYC where I was a photographer for the event and also part of the crew for her headlining show at the Highline Ballroom two nights later. I stayed at her assistant’s place in Brooklyn. My first time in NYC and I got to hang out with my favourite musician and my favourite author. I had my copy of Neverwhere that I’ve had for 12 years now, signed by Neil. He also drew me a picture of the Sandman that I’m getting tattooed.
For three magical days I was part of her world. And I would gladly do it again if given the opportunity. For free.
Kara
@KaraDawnElle
I originally wrote the above email to Bob Lefsetz after he published The Amanda Palmer Kerfuffle on his blog about her recent press controversy on the heels of her latest album release, Theatre Is Evil. I sent the email totally not expecting him to publish my letter in his Mailbag email to the newsletter on September 16th.
But he did. Here’s the full story:
When I applied for the internship, there should have been no way that I had a chance of getting it. I was this insignificant Native chick living in the middle of nowhere in Northern Ontario thinking I had no chance.
I really thought it’d be impossible that I’d get the internship and in fact I forgot I had even applied for it until several months later when I finally got a reply back from Beth, Amanda’s assistant. She said I sounded the most promising. I passed my first research job for Amanda’s upcoming solo tour that got me the job.
By late 2008, I had an airfare credit and a friend with an empty bachelor apartment in Toronto I was able to use for Amanda’s Toronto show. I was on the guestlist and she made sure I got free merch, free love and recognition for being an intern as part of her team. I had already seen the Dresden Dolls earlier that year in January before they went on hiatus.
In early 2009, Beth emailed to let me know that there was a headlining Amanda Palmer show in NYC for June. She said that Amanda was going to pay my airfare to NYC so I can see the show as appreciation for the work I’ve done.
At the same time, it was just becoming known that Amanda was dating Neil Gaiman who just happened to be my favourite author. As it turned out, Neil & Amanda were to perform at an event together several days before her headlining show in NYC I was to be there for:
Two days later, Amanda headlined at the Highline Ballroom.
The entire trip was magic. Beyond my utter imagination that all of this had happened.
I was just this Native chick with big dreams that managed to grasp onto an experience of a lifetime.
It made me believe that the impossible really is possible.
I will never forget this experience I was gratefully given the opportunity of.
Bob Lefsetz on lessons learned from Louie C.K.
lefsetz.comReally great list. Some excerpts:
…No one arrives instantly formed…
…It’s easy to be famous. It’s hard to have fans…
…Publicity is a byproduct, it comes after the fact…
…You just do the work, you never know what will happen…
…A good marketing plan is irrelevant if the product sucks…
…A great artist doesn’t repeat what someone else has already done but tweaks it, improves it, makes it his own…
Op-Ed: Wall Street Killed The Concert Business - By Bob Lefsetz
The following is an op-ed from Bob Lefsetz. His opinion, not mine. Hope you know who Bob Lefsetz is…
There’s been this b.s. that concert tickets went through the roof because of Napster, that the acts had to make it up somewhere. But that’s just lemmings trying to emulate rich lifestyles, to go back to the cause you’ve got to retreat to 1996, when Bob Sillerman rolled up the concert promoters into what was then called SFX and is now called Live Nation.
Our entire business has been ravaged by this roll-up. With concert promotion now a public business, with a ton of debt and quarterly reporting, it was hard for promoters to say no, they needed acts to fill the sheds, they could not have a decrease in revenue, and as a result, the price for talent went through the roof. It was a market share grab, a scorched earth policy that changed concertgoing from a working class activity to one akin to going on vacation, oftentimes that’s what tickets cost.
Not that the acts were against this. It’s hard to get someone to say no to a check. Especially when you’ve been doing it for decades, haven’t had a hit in years and have kids in college and multiple mortgages, as so many classic rock and early MTV stalwarts possess.
So as the rappers emulated billionaires, as kids on street corners believed they too could be rich, from watching MTV and then “American Idol”, the underpinnings of the music business fell out.
You didn’t have a mortgage when you were starting out, not even a wife. You did it for the booze and the chicks and the experience. But now, with the entire country focused on cash, not wanting to be left behind, you wanted to get paid too. Not that you should be screwed, but the concept of leaving money on the table, investing in your career, became taboo. Because everybody supporting you, from the label to the agent to the manager, thought short term and wanted to emulate the lifestyles of the rich also.
So suddenly, the rank and file couldn’t get a good ticket, never mind at a fair price.
First and foremost because there was always someone richer than them willing to pay. Secondly, the acts devised shenanigans to get these tickets into the hands of the wealthy. Via pre-sales, via scalping, via insider deals. And now it’s common wisdom that if you want to sit up close and personal it’s gonna cost you a couple of hundred bucks, if not more. This is like saying if you want to see “Mission Impossible”, you’ve got to pay seventy five bucks. Only it’s worse, you’re bullied by security, the floors are sticky and the only thing good is the music. Although sometimes that’s untrue. Because at these prices it became common wisdom that the music was not enough. You needed dancing and production, you had to give value. And you couldn’t have an off night. So much of the show was on hard drive. And suddenly going to a concert was like going to a Broadway show, something set in amber, calcified, the same every night with no risk. And while all this was happening no one accepted responsibility, because if you’re getting paid you shut up and if you’re making money no one’s entitled to say anything negative. And now, concertgoing is not an everyday occurrence, but something that happens once a year.
Now there’s a bit of hope. The new acts, developing off the radar, without television or radio play, tend to charge less. But then they run into the walls of infrastructure. Because the way the business is built, these theatres and clubs being owned by mega-corporations, there are fees embedded in the ticket prices that prevent many from charging little.
Not that the acts are not guilty. You hear that not only do they want to ride in buses, they want to bring a zillion dollar production to satiate their audience. But it’s not about the audience so much as the acts. They want to compete with other acts, the same way starlets all get their lips puffed up. Not because it appeals to men, but because every other woman is doing it.
But as soon as someone starts talking about Sillerman and Wall Street, out comes the dreaded term “class warfare”.
I’ll make it perfectly clear, class warfare’s been going on for decades. And the victim is you. You can’t get a cheap ticket, never mind good, to a decent show and most of the music is not worth listening to because the acts are far from independent, they’re kissing ass up the food chain, whether it be the labels or the sponsors or…
And we can discuss all day long whether the public is gonna wake up, but the true story is the music business has been eviscerated. People don’t go to hear live music on a whim. Going to the show is like renting a convertible, something you do once a year to feel free and easy before you go back to your dreary life.
What do they say, you’ve got to see an act to get it?
Well, if that’s true, people have to take a chance. Which most don’t. Because of the prices. As for the experience, the venues are not upgraded because the balance sheet won’t allow it.
So we end up with studio creations, stuff that you don’t need to see to get. And so many of these acts suck live, or are on hard drive as per above, and once they stop having hits they’re done. Whereas the modern music business was built on credibility and longevity.
And a bond with the audience.
Now the acts want nothing to do with the audience. They’re trying to leave the audience behind, move behind a wall, fly private and stay in expensive hotels. And since in music you start from nothing, it’s a constant scrape for dollars. It’s like “Survivor”, with backstabbing and only the most despicable person emerging victorious.
Somehow the fiction has been spread that Wall Street doesn’t affect the common man. Or, like with the mortgage crisis, it’s the public’s own damn fault. But the truth is the giant casino has negatively impacted our cultural institutions, stripped them of value and left barely more than a carcass.
And there won’t be a change until everyone says NO MAS! Not only the public, which to a great degree is staying home, but the acts, labels, managers and agents who are complicit in the destruction of our business.
The Hollies Movie
I thought I would post this article for my Hollies friends on Tumblr. I subscribe to Bob Lefsetz’ email list. Bob is a music industry veteran that blogs about the current state of the music business and also about music that he enjoys. I thought his article about the Hollies was pretty great, so here it is!
The Hollies Movie: by Bob Lefsetz
Graham Nash wrote “Teach Your Children”, “Lady Of The Island” and “Right Between The Eyes” in one night. He was on tour with the Hollies, he was frustrated, he was sick of making pop music, he wanted to write songs with meaning…and these three came out.
After the movie tonight, Graham said all we’ve got is time. And he doesn’t want to waste ours.
I don’t want to waste yours. I realize this is the third missive from me today. But I just came back from the Aero Theatre from the premiere of this Hollies movie and I’m buzzed. Because they made such great music. And they really knew how to play and sing. And they were at it for years before they did their best work.
They were Mancunians. Graham and Allan Clarke. Best buddies since age six they were infatuated by the Everly Brothers and chased them all the way back to the Midland Hotel from a gig. And stayed up talking so late that they missed the last bus home, they had to walk nine miles.
But they didn’t care.
You see they had a passion. Encouraged by their parents. It’s a baby boomer thing. We were the first generation who could be something more.
And sure, Graham and Allan are just a little bit older, but they were the leaders, the progenitors.
Actually, they followed the Beatles into the Cavern Club. Which Graham labeled a “death trap”. There was only one way in, it was the same way out. And one night, a thug came up on stage while they were playing and walked right off with Tony Hicks’s amp. No one could stop him. It was just that kind of place.
And discovered by producer Ron Richards, they went down to London and started to record.
And there were changes in the band. Jazz-influenced Bobby Elliott now pounded the skins and the bass player got married and was replaced. Keeping a band together is hard. Eventually Graham left. The turning point? “King Midas In Reverse”. It wasn’t a hit. But the throwaway “Jennifer Eccles” was. Is there no justice? Beware of creating a niche, you just might get locked up in it.
And Graham went on to even bigger success with Crosby and Nash. But Allan Clarke and the rest of the troupe triumphed too. Although “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress” was considered a throwaway, it’s one of the great singles in rock and roll. I can still picture driving on Route 30 in Vermont as it blasted out of the dashboard. Like “All Right Now”, it was indelible.
And now it’s nearly fifty years later. And Allan’s voice is questionable, at least in his own mind, and Bobby and Tony are still fronting an edition of the Hollies and Nash is still palling around with David Crosby. Oh, what a long strange trip it’s been.
It was different back then. Music was the glue. The way to connect. It was a way out of the drudgery. You might have done it to get noticed by the opposite sex but the money was secondary. It was a lark. Not meant to be forever. But when the Beatles started experimenting and getting strange, the public followed, that was the power of the tunes.
The film has got twenty two complete performances.
And it’s not like “Behind The Music”, there’s no dirt.
But you marvel at how great the voices are, the technical skills of Tony and Bobby. If these guys were on “American Idol” or “X Factor” they’d win. They needed no auto-tune, no technical help. They could do it live.
And they did.
You watch this old footage and your heart palpitates. You were there, when music changed the world.
And when the lights came up and Graham and Allan were there to answer questions, they did not appear to be seventy year old men but Gods, still walking this Earth.
They made this music. They’ve aged, but it has not. One day they’ll be gone, but the records will last forever.
So if you want to play this creative game know that you’ve got to start young. And you’ve got to have the fire in your belly. And if success comes too fast, it probably won’t last. But if you need to make it. If you can’t do anything else.
You will.
http://bit.ly/qQg6h4
A nice tribute from Bob Lefsetz
And I thought love was only true in fairy tales.
The legend of the Monkees is that they didn’t write their own songs, they didn’t play their own instruments, the whole think was fake.
WRONG!
The Monkees were the first indication that we’d won. That the old guard, the establishment, our parents, were no longer in control. We had our own sitcom on TV. Featuring our music. That was a gigantic breakthrough.
But what was even better was the music was great! In the case of “I’m A Believer”, spectacular! Credit the songwriters, credit the delivery, but never forget it was a band, which came together through obtuse circumstances, like so many, but went on to not only create music, but stay together, even after their eponymous television show had been canceled.
And Micky Dolenz might have sung most of the songs.
But Davy was the front man, he was the cute one, he was the one the girls swooned for, the one we wanted to be.
Even better, he had a sense of humor about himself. He was funny back then, and knew he’d lived a charmed life until it all ended today.
“Here we come
Walk down the street
We get the funniest looks
From everyone we meet”
There’s not a baby boomer alive who does not know “(Theme From) The Monkees”. This was not a Justin Bieber sideshow, the Monkees had more impact than Mr. Bieber or Lady Gaga. They were ubiquitous in a three network world where we were addicted to the radio when we weren’t in front of the tube.
There are classic album openers, like “Gimmie Shelter” and “Back In The U.S.S.R.”, and “(Theme From) The Monkees” is a member of this club. You’re hooked from the initial drumbeat. And unlike modern hip-hop culture, the listener didn’t feel excluded, put down by the group, but invited in.
But the hit was “Last Train To Clarksville”. It played all fall until… “I’m A Believer” took over and owned the airwaves, through Christmas and beyond.
A magical track, “I’m A Believer” pivoted on Micky Dolenz’s breathy vocals, but we didn’t see it as a solo cut, but a masterpiece by the Monkees. It still puts a smile on my face today. I played it incessantly back then. I have never ever burned out on it. In a pre-Internet era where we didn’t have our music on demand, you listened to the radio until they played your favorite song and then you went out and bought it.
Which I did.
I even bought the songbook, so I could play the songs at home, on my guitar. Not because I thought I was gonna be rich and famous, but because I wanted to share in the joy.
And I’m stunned how joyful I feel when I hear “Pleasant Valley Sunday” today. I’d given up at this point, as you often do. I bought the first three albums and then dropped out, but years later I realized I was wrong, this was a killer track.
But, once again, Davy did not sing the lead vocal.
But not only did Davy carry the hit “Daydream Believer”, he sang “I Wanna Be Free”, “This Just Doesn’t Seem To Be My Day” and “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)”, which were as big as the hits to we who wore out these vinyl records.
I saw Davy twice in recent years. Once at the Pollstar Awards, where he demonstrated the aforementioned sense of humor about himself and last summer at the Greek, as part of the Monkees reunion.
At Pollstar, Davy talked about being a fading, aged rock star. The bills for college. He mocked his height, or lack thereof. And was essentially shilling for work, that’s why you present at the Pollstar Awards.
At the Greek, the band played all the hits, we reveled in the memories. They showed video, we marveled over who we once were. It was thrilling, but shortly thereafter they broke up once again and the rest of the tour was canceled.
And that’s the story of rock and roll, of being a fan. We want our bands to last forever. But they almost never do. The alchemy is so fragile. But the music remains. We put our faith in it. It keeps us going.
Such that when one of its purveyors passes to the other side, we’re shocked. We thought they’d be here forever, with us, like the music. We looked up to them. If they’re old and gray and pass away, what is to happen to us?
I don’t know if Davy Jones went to the doctor. If he adhered to his prescription. In any event, he’s now gone. He was a thread, however thin, to what once was, my formative years, I didn’t have a bad memory about him. But if he goes, that means I’m next.
Yes, we baby boomers are heading into our sunset years. And as we’re shuffled off the horizon, they want to rewrite our history.
Let it be said that we were mad about the Monkees. Their music stands the test of time. They were trailblazers. They were not hula-hoops, used briefly and then discarded with disdain, but a group of four men we embraced warmly. They let Jimi Hendrix open for them. They created one of the first psychedelic films. Hell, to get “Head” you’ve got to be high on drugs. It was co-written by Jack Nicholson before anyone knew who he was. Don’t pigeonhole the Monkees as a trifle, as a mere footnote, as puppets. With their television show on the air it showed us not only that we had won, but the music was the decisive weapon in our battle. Soon bands like the Jefferson Airplane would be testing limits, we’d all gather at Woodstock and blow the mainstream’s mind.
We owned the country. It was now ours.
And it would have happened slower, and it would have been different without the Monkees.
Great songs, great performances… If that ain’t the essence of music, I don’t know what is.
Davy, we’ll never forget you.
Spotify Orgasm
Good lord, the music biz baited breath was palpable the other day when after months (years?) of speculation, the sky opened up, the sun shone through and a little Swedish company called Spotify launched. Finally, the music business would be saved! Wait, I thought Apple’s cloud was gonna do that? Wait, wasn’t Amazon’s cloud or Google’s— jesus I get so confused! I mean Bob Lefsetz keeps telling me everything is dead but Live and subscription and lo and behold, here’s the subscription. And I assume it’s in the cloud. Duh. I hate to disagree (actually that’s not true) but I think some sober thinking is order. Maybe subscription will work and save all of the labels who are not signing anyone and losing sales from those that are…..
A colleague of mine wrote on this here: Ain’t No Sunshine: Music Clouds
I will reiterate the point here. There are so many problems with the idea of a subscription/cloud model that it may in fact HURT the music industry’s tentative relationship to fans to the point of breaking. As we race toward completely digital, we are not really inline with what consumers/fans want. They do not want subscription, nor are they adopting the cloud. They want a simple way to build and keep their collection. Subscription is great with the first part but not the end result. Miss one payment…. there goes your collection.
Not that Spotify isn’t great, it is. I was fortunate enough to get it the first day (thanks guys). I’ve been listening to some old Van Halen and reacquainting myself with early Heart and Jay-Z. I’m keeping the free model for a while so that I can gauge the ad level usage on it. So far, not bad. The female VO is not terrific and the guy VO has a strange sub-accent, but the banners are relevant and I love Coca-Cola- so it got me there. I also like the paid placements of Khalifa 420 and LMFAO, nice offers.
One problem, as a music supe, I have tons and tons of music in my iTunes and Spotify also shows that too. Basically if it is in your iTunes it is shaded, but a strange thing to have so many of the songs I am searching for anyway. I wonder if people with large collections will have the same problem.
My big pet peeve? No BUY NOW fucking button. It’s mind-boggling to me that any rightsholder signed on to this (especially in the free service) without an option for a BUY NOW call to action. I know the UK has one. I also know it will probably come about and that their model is about subscriptions so, it’s kind of counterintuitive. I get that. But it’s stupid.
As for selection, it’s great. I asked my gal for the deepest cut she could think of (she’s very good at this) and she said: “Make a Circuit with Me” The Polecats. Bam there it was! That’s a good sign.
So, is it good. Yes. But, I happen to believe that the future of the music industry lies within the independent community. Double the amount of releases, much more talent and expertise is happening and risks are being taken. Meanwhile, labels have stalled signing and it has turned into more of an M&A business. So, is Spotify good for the future? No.
The actual number per spin that an artist gets is in some dispute but it is no more than…0.0031 at full share. You don’t need to be Michio Kaku to figure out anybody needs a hell of lot of spins to make a dime at rate. And who do you think will get them? Legacy artists and label pushed new music. I did it. I went in for Fleetwood Mac and didn’t even look to see if Elevaters are on there, cause I know they are not. Even if Spotify (or the next subscription model) signs direct deals with independents, the payout rate is really not worth the graphic file.
Is it great for a fan? Hell yeah! Bunches of tunes, a few ads, get it on my mobile. It’s awesome, until it’s not. Until you do not want to pay $5 or $10. Then what? By that time, there may be NO MORE CDs printed of those albums and certainly no stores that sell them. (RIP Borders). As a fan, I hope you understand that if you kill the CD, you will HAVE to buy music monthly to have any. That is kind of scary to me.
So, as a savior for the majors concerning revenue, it’s gonna totally help. For the whole music industry meaning the other 60% of the music that you never hear about or see in an RIAA report or Billboard chart…. it’s going to kill it.
Ooooh, Old Billy Idol. Wow Flesh for Fantasy cool! Back to Spotify. HA!
All Of The Arguments About Digital Music, Summarized
blogs.villagevoice.comMe at Sound of the City, listicling the things people say in the neverending cycle of arguing about piracy / digital music / stealing music.
Rant: Bob Lefsetz' New Article on Taylor Swift.
Bob Lefsetz - the idiot critic who inspired “Mean” - just posted a new article about Taylor Swift today.
And I don’t want to say this.
But he has a point. A very valid point.
Of course he says things that are completely uncalled for and unnecessary (and says “shelf-life” 500000 times in the article), but he unfortunately brings up some very interesting points:
- “First there’s the single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” one of Max Martin and Shellback’s best…The only problem is country radio wouldn’t play it, not for long. It wasn’t made for them but Top Forty radio. But Top Forty radio is fickle, loyalty does not exist…“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” may have set sales records, but it seems to have the shelf life of a cup of yogurt. Well, not that short, but in a world where some tracks fester in the public consciousness for the better part of a year, like Cee Lo’s “Forget You,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” seems more like a flare than a lasting light.”
He is 100% correct. Pop radio IS a fickle thing. Pop songs are popular for a few months, and then replaced by the next best thing. That’s how it is. As much as I wish this wasn’t true, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” isn’t going to be popular for much longer. They’re already planning “I Knew You Were Trouble” as the next single. Why? Because pop radio is a fickle thing. He’s not insulting the song; he’s stating a fact.
- “And then there was last night’s CMAs. Where not only did Taylor get shut out, going 0 for 3, they made jokes about her love life from the stage.”
I don’t even want to talk about how rude and uncalled for it was that Brad and Carie totally shit on Taylor during the opening monologue, so let’s talk about how she didn’t win anything. No CMA award is fan voted, and from Taylor not winning anything last night was the CMA voters sending Taylor a message: We don’t care how many records you sold - if you keep this crossover act, you’re not getting anything from us. Is that fair? Absolutely not. But that’s a rant for another day.
“The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists.. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.”
—Banksy
Arcade Fire's Manager Respondes to Grammy Criticism
Scott Rodger, manager of the Grammy Award winning band Arcade Fire (Damn it feels good to type that), has written a letter to the ever finicky Bob Lefsetz and music executive Steve Stoute about their sneaking suspicions over Arcade Fire’s second performance at the end of the night.
It reads as follows.
Bob
Arcade Fire had the final slot on the Grammys as the ratings are low at the end of the broadcast. It really is that simple. We were one of the least known acts on the bill for a network audience. Don’t you think I wanted a better slot for the band?
The reason we got a second song was also simple. No big plot. We had no guarantee of air time, but it was simply to play out the end credits of the show, if we’re even had that much. The show never runs like clockwork to an exact time so the end is always loose. As it happened, the broadcast was covered by sponsors messages and the end credits.
For the Grammys international broadcast our main performance, along with that of Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers was completely cut from the show. Our end title performance was bastardised because they cut out ads/sponsor messages completely. It was a bit of a farce. You’d think we’d be given a little more after the fact.
Arcade Fire deserved the win this year. They made the best album. If the award was names “Album Sales Of The Year” award, there would be no discussion. Stoutes letter was nice piece of self publicity. Did he see Kanye’s tweets when we won and the praise he gave us?? He needs to tune in. Eminem made a big selling album but it was far from being his best work. Katy Perry made a big pop record that simply didn’t have weight or credibility. Gaga’s repackage, great album but it was a repackage of the main release. I think everyone felt it was going to be Lady Antebellum’s moment having won 5 out of 6 awards to that point. We all felt that way too.
I’m proud of this band and what they have achieved. We didn’t lobby any organisation for this nor did the band play the game. We paid our own overhead to do the event, thus the lack of on stage gimmicks. No label picked up the tab.
Arcade Fire are now one of the biggest live acts in the world. It’s not all about record sales. It’s about making great records and it’s about building a loyal fan base. Ther band make great albums, they’re not a radio driven singles band. On top of that, they own their own masters and copyrights and are in complete control of their own destiny. Things couldn’t be better.
Excuse any typos as I’m on my blackberry
Best regards
Scott Rodger
All I can say now is this. Arcade Fire has a great manager. To pull together a letter in response to the criticism that feels less angry, and more honest as quickly as he did is very impressive. Well done Scott.
~ Michael Rodino
“Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. If she doesn’t get your willy moving, you’re gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that!)... Come on Grace Potter, write one irresistible song! We don’t want to sleep with airheads, not more than once!”
—Another one from the music industry’s “number one pundit.”Lessons we can learn from Rebecca Black by Bob Lefsetz
1. Selling recorded music is not the only way to make money in music. Ark Factory came up with a new way, ripping off the parents of little kids. Let this be a lesson to you, rather than complain that the old model is dead, innovate.
2. Old media loves to piggyback on new media. “Good Morning America” featured Rebecca Black as did “The Tonight Show”. Make noise and old media comes running.
3. Old media is last.
