Lefsetz Nails the State of the World

[Anderton]

Bob Lefsetz did a long blog post that some might find depressing, but I find it an accurate summary of what's happening. And to me, an accurate summary is better than an unjustified rosy outlook, because then you can plan based on reality instead of fantasy. I think this is nothing if not through-provoking, and is worth the read. So, take it away, Bob...

 

We're in the post-internet era.

 

What do I mean by that? The innovation, the bubble, is over. As for cryptocurrency, it took so long to mature that the governments are now involved, regulating or talking about doing that, whereas the goal of crypto was to obviate the need for banks and governments.

 

Let's see. You were on AOL. You got a high-speed connection. You got a smartphone. You're on social media. There was tumultuous change and now it's over, not that you'll hear this from Silicon Valley. Expect minor steps, not great leaps forward, techies were sideshows in the seventies and early eighties and they're going back to that role. I mean why should we be listening to Marc Andreessen, who told Zuckerberg to stand up to the criticism of Facebook. It's a family, it circles the wagons, and you're not a member. In other words, these tech billionaires are the enemy. And if Elon Musk doesn't stop acting like an evil buffoon, he's going to wreck Tesla. I mean who wants to be associated with a company run by a guy like that?

 

And then there's Belarus. Where the president installed his girlfriend in the government. Only reminded me of America, where Trump pardoned Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, it's gotten so bad we just shrug our shoulders. And we wonder how Germany got away with the Holocaust...it was in the news, but the average person just didn't care. As for governments...

 

The U.S. can't even manage Covid, what are the odds it's got a lock on anything else?

 

That's what Covid has taught us. If there's anybody home, they're not in control. Hell, the CDC shortens quarantine days because of pressure from business. And they ask doubters to respect the science?

 

Yes, no one is in control, no one has that much power, and those who had power and control in the past don't want to admit this, never mind see it publicized.

 

TikTok had more traffic than Google. Think about that, once upon a time Google was a panacea. Now no one goes beyond the first page of results. As for TikTok...you know it's time-stamped. Social networks are cool and then they're not, they're fads. When it's still new, when the buzz is still occurring, everybody wants to make videos for TikTok. But once they realize views are low, considering the amount of effort involved, they're gonna stop. Happens each and every time.

 

But my point is these people on TikTok are today's stars. Certainly not actors, who can no longer open a movie, and certainly not musicians.

 

The record industry. Quick, who runs the companies? And if you know that, and even insiders in the music industry don't, you can't name the VPs. Because they're irrelevant, they're worker bees, that paradigm of the all powerful record company, changing the culture, is kaput. All of its controlled tools faded away. First, record stores. Then TV. Then terrestrial radio.

 

Those were the good old days, the days of record stores, BECAUSE IT WAS A CONTROLLED UNIVERSE! Not only was distribution a huge hurdle, floorspace was limited, which meant most legacy acts were not stocked whatsoever, or had just a greatest hits package, today was unthinkable, when 66% of streams are catalog. I mean just try competing against Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. As for those inured to the 808... God, you're using a forty year old fake drum/clap sound and trying to pawn it as hip? Who do you expect to believe this?

 

And then you've got the oldsters, still fighting the old wars. Streaming, payments. These topics are already dead, and soon those bitching about them will be too. The classic rock acts can't get arrested with new material and SiriusXM bumped Sixties on 6 to channel 73. After all, if you remember the sixties exactly how old are you?

 

While we were focused on Trump, and then Covid, the whole world changed. It became further decentralized, and not only in politics. There is no such thing as universal reach anymore, every act/band is a cottage industry. You try to grow your audience...AND THAT'S IT!

 

There is nowhere to cross over to. Terrestrial radio is a backwater riddled with commercials that is only listened to by the aged and the cheap. These are people who don't even have a streaming music subscription. You should just forget them. They're not active consumers, and now it's all about the activity. They've got to listen, they've got to buy tickets and merch, otherwise the economics don't work.

 

As for TV... SNL and "CBS Sunday Morning" move the needle a little, but the rest of the late night programs are worthless for spreading music. Hell, look at the ratings, not only are there too many talk shows, there are too many shows period! And the thought of watching them in real time... If anything good happens, we'll hear about it the next day and watch it online. That's the game late night TV is playing. As for having your own TV show... Ratings are bad and so is the pay. All those old goals you were building towards...they've been lopped off, they mean almost nothing.

 

As for TikTok...it's about creativity, it's not static. Music can contain these elements, but it has not changed with the times. Recorded music is static. Want to satiate your fans? Constantly release alternative recordings/mixes/new tracks. Don't spend so much time getting it exactly right, the idea is paramount, as it always is in pop culture. Don't bother comping the vocals, no one cares.

 

So everybody on TikTok is a star. There are fewer barriers to entry than there are in traditional entertainment. You make it on your identity and charisma, the penumbra is irrelevant. That's how it is today, you're selling YOURSELF!

 

And everybody on TikTok thinks they're equal to the recording stars, the politicos, the so-called rich and famous. They know they've been excluded from that game, but without their purchasing power the old game doesn't exist, but they still get no respect.

 

So no matter who you are online, a saint, you're gonna have haters.

 

And then there are those gaming the system, trying to get ahead. Hell, they can't even eradicate spam, what are the odds they're gonna get rid of the scamsters? Your "bank" texted you for your password recently? As for less spam in your inbox, that's at the price of the good stuff being weeded out. You hear all this talk about the power of newsletters, but everybody with a newsletter knows it's almost impossible to reach the public. Gmail puts your missives in spam and...god forbid you use profanity, then you're toast, nothing will get through.

 

As for Substack... Ever check the numbers? They're anemic!

 

As for building an audience...that's the hardest part. A household name sports outlet went deep on podcasting, but they were lucky if the podcasts hit four digits. That's right...A THOUSAND LISTENERS!

 

As for the people you think are stars... You don't have to hear Billie Eilish if you don't want to, never mind Adele. You're not exposed the way you used to be, never mind AM radio in the sixties or MTV in the eighties. There is no center anymore!

 

That's what Covid has taught us. Today, the "New York Times" printed a chart showing that most Covid infections per capita are in red states, where vaccination rates are lower. It's not rocket science, but the truth can no longer compete with fiction. Then there's that woman who went to an antivax rally and boasted she had Covid and her husband was in the hospital for it, but it was harmless. You can't make this stuff up, or maybe this story was fake, despite the footage, how do you know? I mean those people with incredible editing skills on TikTok are CHILDREN!

 

And the biggest star to die is John Madden. Bigger than the passing of Harry Reid. And you know why...BECAUSE HE WAS HONEST! He didn't censor himself, he went deeper into the game, we crave authenticity and knowledge, but this is what the old media barons say we can't handle as they manipulate us. Duplicity is rampant in America.

 

So, despite being able to find likeminded people online, don't get the impression that your club is known outside its borders. Just because Phish sells out arenas, don't get the impression there are millions of diehard Phish fans, hell, there may only be 20,000, going to each and every gig! But at least Phish engenders this belief, most new acts do not, and then they wonder why they're not rich.

 

First and foremost, you can't get rich making music. Hell, it's hard to get rich at all. Used to be you could start at the bottom and then ring the bell at the top, now you're playing the lottery, there are too many barriers to upward mobility.

 

And it's only going to get murkier.

 

This is the new reality. An overload of input that no one can make sense of. We want order, which is why people vote for authoritarians, but the truth is there can't be, there's just too much stuff in the pipeline. You've got your life, your career, and that's it. There's almost no context. You're on your own. And you can feel as good about yourself being a star online as you can plying the boards as a traditional entertainer. Never forget, most musical stars make the music themselves and it's a hit online before the label signs them. The label is a MARKETING ENTERPRISE!

 

As for live... There's nobody everybody wants to see. Let's see, you go on a nationwide stadium tour. Fifty dates at 50,000, even though no one can do that. That means you played to 2,500,000 people, in a country of 340 million. Not too good. And Garth Brooks has proven this. To keep prices low he plays as many gigs as are needed to satiate demand. And then he has to move on, there's no one else left who wants to see him!

 

And Garth was built under the old model.

 

Today's stars are laughable compared to those of yore, flavors of the moment like Dua Lipa. Next year it will be someone else, but the point is you can't reach everybody if you're just selling entertainment, you've got to sell more, excellence and gravitas, and then you still can't reach everybody!

 

The Tower of Babel is here. Right now. It's arrived. There's plenty of money to be made serving a relatively small audience, but if you think you can reach everybody, you're out of touch and dreaming. And it's not going to get better, only worse. Hits are gonna shrink. Because everybody has their own taste and limited time. Choices are seemingly endless. And if it's not on demand, at a low price, it's a nonstarter.

 

But you won't hear this from the purveyors.

 

You won't even hear it from the government. Elected officials are afraid of offending...exactly who? No one really knows. Is this a center right or center left or progressive country? How big is the right? Polls are more inaccurate than ever before. Everybody's planning their actions on false data.

 

The past keeps sliding by. The year 2000 was TWO DECADES AGO! If you're in college today not only do you not remember 9/11, you don't remember the meltdown of 2008! Yes, everything changed while you weren't looking. And it's going to continue to change. Unless you live in China, where you can only play videogames for so long, they persecute religious minorities to extinction and they can build infrastructure in nearly a minute. It's the iron fist of Xi. Which many people want in America. They want someone to make sense out of the chaos. And when someone comes along and says they will, watch out. Because people are sick of the mealy-mouthed and always prone to the deceptions of snake oil salesman.

 

We are not going backward, this is where we are, forget the past, it's nearly irrelevant, everything's up for grabs in today's society, it's utter chaos, and unless you accept this you're doomed.

[KuruPrionz]

Bob Lefsetz did a long blog post that some might find depressing, but I find it an accurate summary of what's happening.

 

now you're playing the lottery,

 

I do play the lottery, it is just about the only way I'll ever become financially wealthy.

"Making It with music" has been impossible for a LONG time and it isn't going to get better.

You've a better chance of making it by just being a total asshole, as long as you are somewhat amusing - Flavor of the Day.

The blinders have been off for a LONG time, I was probably born skeptical.

 

Thanks for posting this, it ain't pretty but he is not lying.

[Doerfler]

Holy moly, what a read. Off to work now.

[Strays Dave]

Maybe this fits in, and maybe it doesn't.

 

I happened to catch part of an Eric Schmidt (Google) interview regarding AI (artificial intelligence). He quoted E.O. Wilson as saying "We have paleolithic emotions, with medieval institutions, and god like technology". I googled E.O. Wilson - he just died - he was sometimes called "Darwin's natural heir".

[David Emm]

Leonard Bernstein was once asked how he and his musicians responded to all of the horror in the world.

 

He replied "We respond by creating more beautiful music."

[Anderton]

Maybe this fits in, and maybe it doesn't.

 

I happened to catch part of an Eric Schmidt (Google) interview regarding AI (artificial intelligence). He quoted E.O. Wilson as saying "We have paleolithic emotions, with medieval institutions, and god like technology". I googled E.O. Wilson - he just died - he was sometimes called "Darwin's natural heir".

 

Sure it fits

 

Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider once commented about television by saying something along the lines of "You have the most powerful education technology of all time, and you put cowboy shows on it."

[Anderton]

Chaos isn't necessarily bad, good things can come from realignments. Or, we could end up with Idiocracy.

[KuruPrionz]

Chaos isn't necessarily bad, good things can come from realignments. Or, we could end up with Idiocracy.

 

"Could?" As a people and a "civilization" we are well beyond an idiocracy.

 

Do amoebas have IQs? (just a rhetorical question, no need to answer!

[Anderton]

Chaos isn't necessarily bad, good things can come from realignments. Or, we could end up with Idiocracy.

 

"Could?" As a people and a "civilization" we are well beyond an idiocracy.

 

Do amoebas have IQs?

 

No, but they have what plants crave...they have electrolytes!

[Dave Bryce]

I saw a commercial recently on NBC for an American Gladiator/Fear Factor looking show where all they were doing was hitting guys in the balls. Swinging big ol" hammers at guys standing in their heads with their legs spread, shooting tennis balls at their crotches (adorned with spangled targets), dropping them spread-legged on to different thing. Touted it as a 'nutcracking spectacular'.

 

Yes, 'Ow My Balls' is now a real actual thing.

 

Not sponsored by Brawndo, thoughâ¦

 

â¦not yet, anyway.

 

dB

[analogika]

Chaos isn't necessarily bad, good things can come from realignments. Or, we could end up with Idiocracy.

 

"Could?" As a people and a "civilization" we are well beyond an idiocracy.

 

Do amoebas have IQs?

 

No, but they have what plants crave...they have electrolytes!

Pfft. CBD⦠Ivermectinâ¦hydroxychloroquineâ¦bleach⦠on the night of Tr*mp's inauguration, Franco-German public TV station arte showed âIdiocracy'.

 

They weren't kidding.

[Notes_Norton]

My father used to breed tropical fish and sell them to pet stores. It was more of a hobby than a business, as he was a printer by trade, but he enjoyed it, and it made some extra cash.

 

At one time we had over 50 huge tanks.

 

One thing we learned, is that when there are too many fish in any tank, the orderly, peaceful environment gets chaotic. Normally peaceful fish start biting each other, often killing them, diseases spread like wildfire, the filter system can't quite handle the pollution, and the fish all appear to get very tense.

 

IMO there are too many human 'fish' in 'aquarium earth' right now. It's resembling the overcrowded aquarium.

 

To simplify it, "too many people had and are having too many babies".

 

I'm still making a living doing music, and nothing but music, but those dreams of getting rich at it have long since vanished. I'm an old guy, playing old music, for old people right now. And I'm OK with that. Any young music I play gets put into my Band-in-a-Box aftermarket styles (and they aren't my best sellers).

 

But I'm having a happy life, and that to me is the greatest success you can have as a human. I just have one wish, if I die on stage, it's not while I'm playing "Yakety Sax"

 

Seriously, I'm glad I was born when my parent's had me. I saw the USA when it was at its peak, I toured the USA playing music, I got a touch of fame by being the opening act for major stars in concert, I had intimate relations with a lot of pretty girls, I made/blew a lot of money back then, and I saw natural areas like The Everglades before the >90% reduction in wildlife.

 

Other than a couple of wage slave jobs I took while investigating what normal was all about, I'm making a living doing music and nothing but music, on my own terms, and although not rich, I'm not in debt either. The mortgage is paid off, I have a wonderful, beautiful wife who is also a musician, we're in a duo together where I make my own backing tracks, so we are dependent on nobody but ourselves. We have traveled to 6 out of the 7 continents (haven't done Antarctica yet), and we smile and laugh every day.

 

Right now the richest of the rich, the 1%, have about 50% of the wealth in the USA. They indirectly make the laws to keep them the wealthiest (the politicians are their puppets), they either directly or indirectly run the media and supply content that keeps the other 99% fighting amongst ourselves, so that the divided house cannot pose a threat to them.

 

The Kings of England, the Tsars of Russia, the Popes of the Catholic Church, and so on ran their worlds. It's no different today, the plutocracy instead of the monarchs run our world, and run it to their advantage. Nothing changes but the technology.

 

Gates, Job, Zuckerberg got rich riding the crest of a new wave. They were early players in their emerging and exploding market. The same thing happened to Elvis and the Beatles. If you can successfully pick the next new wave, get in on the ground floor, and have a little luck, you, too can be the next billionaire. But your chances are about the same as winning a lottery.

 

Or you can do what I did, "X out of the system" and survive by doing what you love to do, and drive that dodge instead of that Benz.

 

I get up in the morning, go to sleep at night, and in between do what I love to do. In my book, that is success.

 

Insights and incites by Notes â«

[analogika]

My father used to breed tropical fish and sell them to pet stores. It was more of a hobby than a business, as he was a printer by trade, but he enjoyed it, and it made some extra cash.

 

At one time we had over 50 huge tanks.

 

One thing we learned, is that when there are too many fish in any tank, the orderly, peaceful environment gets chaotic. Normally peaceful fish start biting each other, often killing them, diseases spread like wildfire, the filter system can't quite handle the pollution, and the fish all appear to get very tense.

 

IMO there are too many human 'fish' in 'aquarium earth' right now. It's resembling the overcrowded aquarium.

 

To simplify it, "too many people had and are having too many babies".

By and large, these past 75 years are probably the most peaceful times in human history.

[Anderton]

I saw a commercial recently on NBC for an American Gladiator/Fear Factor looking show where all they were doing was hitting guys in the balls. Swinging big ol" hammers at guys standing in their heads with their legs spread, shooting tennis balls at their crotches (adorned with spangled targets), dropping them spread-legged on to different thing. Touted it as a 'nutcracking spectacular'.

 

Yes, 'Ow My Balls' is now a real actual thing.

 

Tell me you're joking. Please, Dave...tell me you're joking.

[Dave Bryce]

I saw a commercial recently on NBC for an American Gladiator/Fear Factor looking show where all they were doing was hitting guys in the balls. Swinging big ol" hammers at guys standing in their heads with their legs spread, shooting tennis balls at their crotches (adorned with spangled targets), dropping them spread-legged on to different thing. Touted it as a 'nutcracking spectacular'.

 

Yes, 'Ow My Balls' is now a real actual thing.

 

Tell me you're joking. Please, Dave...tell me you're joking.

I"m really actually not.

 

I couldn"t find it on YouTubeâ¦but I did record it. I had some of the details wrong - TBS, not NBC. The name of the show is The Big Show. They say nutcracking is their jam.

 

You need a copy, so I just sent it to you.

 

dB

[GovernorSilver]

He is bitter because he cannot make money off TikTok

 

I occasionally converse with a fitness coach who has been trying to expand his business by expanding his TikTok presence. I think you need the patience of a Saint and skin of titanium to deal with TikTok denizens.

 

I've been talking as well to another guy who is wildly successful there. He just has the "it" factor that works there. Can't quite put a finger on it.

[David Emm]

I was horrified the first time I saw "Idiocracy," because I feared I could live to see it become fact. Guess what? The amount of pre-filtering of potential crap I have to do to be online is a close cousin to that monster TV in the movie. The show is a small screen in the middle of triple the screaming ad space. The population knows jack about even rudimentary Science and the President is a grandstanding blowhard. Sound familiar? I can't even turn to pop entertainment for relief. I find myself agreeing with Rick from "Rick and Morty" when he makes any existential pronouncement and I could go for one of those coffee mugs from "Hawkeye" that read "THANOS WAS RIGHT." Not healthy!

 

Worse yet, I caught the tail-end of "The Wizard of Oz" in passing the other day. What a tragedy!

 

Dorothy leaves the land of magic and color, to return to dusty, effing B&W ol' Kansas.

 

No wizards or adventure, just a witch and farmhands she'll have to outrun in a couple more years. Aiieeee!!!

[Anderton]

He is bitter because he cannot make money off TikTok

 

Lefsetz never was an "industry person." I would be that he hasn't even tried to get on TikTok, let alone make money from it. I don't see anything he's saying that's not true..

 

Yes, the internet has democratized everything, but it's kind of like having an infinitely large bar, with free alcohol, no bouncers, and it's too far from the local police precient to have them patrol it.

[Anderton]

Franco-German public TV station arte showed âIdiocracy'.

 

They weren't kidding.

 

I was in Germany several years ago hanging out with about a dozen friends. I mentioned a quote from "Idiocracy." Half of them collapsed laughing, and the other half gave me a "WTF?" look.

 

I explained that "Idiocracy" is a movie. It used to be considered a comedy, but now it's considered a documentary.

[Anderton]

Dave sent me the clip he mentioned.

 

IT REALLY IS THE "OW! MY BALLS!!" SHOW FROM IDIOCRACY!!!

 

Clearly, the end of the world is near. Or at least civilization as we used to know it.

[GovernorSilver]

He is bitter because he cannot make money off TikTok

 

Lefsetz never was an "industry person." I would be that he hasn't even tried to get on TikTok, let alone make money from it. I don't see anything he's saying that's not true..

 

Yes, the internet has democratized everything, but it's kind of like having an infinitely large bar, with free alcohol, no bouncers, and it's too far from the local police precient to have them patrol it.

 

Generalizing any population, like TikTok users, with such a broad brush, is inherently flawed.

 

I now bow out of this conversation. Sorry to see you and others are starting the New Year feeling down like this. I sincerely hope better things will happen for you in 2022.

[Anderton]

Sorry to see you and others are starting the New Year feeling down like this. I sincerely hope better things will happen for you in 2022.

 

Thanks for the kind wishes. The world has changed, and I think it's important to understand how it's changed so we can get a handle on it. Only then can you come up with strategies to take advantage of what works, and avoid what doesn't.

 

For example, it's pretty clear it's very difficult to make a living as a musician. But, there's nothing new about that -it's always been difficult. The way in which it has become difficult to make a living as a musician has changed. Streaming is not the same model as selling records. Virtual media is not the same as physical media. It used to be you couldn't give vinyl away, now it's the most profitable item on a band's merch table.

 

OTOH, the explosion of content means there are more options for licensing music than ever before. So anyone who really wants to make money from creating music needs to look into that. And, I still think that there's significant pent-up demand for live music. If you have an act ready to go when covid isn't such a big deal, you may be able to supplement your income nicely on a local level (sort of like what Notes is doing now, but on a wider scale).

 

The reality, though, is that we have to circumnavigate obstacles that haven't existed before. If you find those obstacles insurmountable, then you're going to think things suck. If you can find ways to get around them and find smooth sailing in other waters, then you're probably going to be okay. But, you'll never be okay if you don't identify the obstacles so that you can avoid crashing into them.

[Notes_Norton]

I think it's definitely more difficult to make a living playing music that it was in the past.

 

Musician's now have the ability to self-publish, but without the control of the 'labels', there are so many players in the field, that making a living through recordings is more about marketing than playing music.

 

Fortunately, there is still a demand for live music. I've been a live performance musician all my adult life. My first paying job was when I was in junior high school and it's still the most fun I can have with my clothes on. I've done some recording, it was fun, I got paid flat-rate as a side man, but it isn't anything like getting the feedback from a live audience focusing on me and my bandmates.

 

But live is only for the older audience today. The young people like DJ music for live events more than a band. Changing tastes.

 

Since 1985 I've catered to the >55-year-old audience. Yacht clubs, country clubs, retirement developments, condominiums, and commercial venues that want to attract that age group. Until COVID came around, I had to block out weeks for vacation early in the year, or before I knew it, I wouldn't have any weeks off.

 

COVID came, and we had a year and a half off, but it's slowly coming back. We've gigged every week since October, and will probably do so until the end of our tourist season. We're not doing as many days per week as we did Pre-COVID, but it feels good to get back to it every week.

 

Making a living doing music and nothing but music is definitely past its peak, whether you are playing live or in the studio. I think it still can be done, but fewer people will be able to do it as their sole source of income. Those that succeed, will need to be very good at marketing themselves. The Internet is full of musicians trying to be heard, so creativity and social media skills are a must. The local scene has more supply than demand for live music, so you have to be better than your competitors and promote yourself wisely.

 

We run a newsletter to 500+ fans, keep our website up-to-date and keep in touch with our loyal following by telephone. Thankfully, we were well established here when there was still a strong demand for live music. Our fans spread the word for us too.

 

And we work to be better performers than our competition.

 

Self-employment is tough in any business, music included, but the ones that can figure out how, can live life on their own terms and not be a wage slave to some faceless corporation.

 

Insights and incites by Notes â«

[Strays Dave]

 

Those were the good old days, the days of record stores, BECAUSE IT WAS A CONTROLLED UNIVERSE! Not only was distribution a huge hurdle, floorspace was limited, which meant most legacy acts were not stocked whatsoever, or had just a greatest hits package, today was unthinkable, when 66% of streams are catalog. I mean just try competing against Led Zeppelin and the Beatles. As for those inured to the 808... God, you're using a forty year old fake drum/clap sound and trying to pawn it as hip? Who do you expect to believe this?

 

There is a lot to unpack in Bob Lefsetz's piece. I thought he offered some keen observations. One thing sometimes mentioned on Antiques Roadshow (on PBS) is that scarcity adds value. Back when I was a kid, buying even a 45 RPM single record involved the delight of taking it home and playing it - 2 sides - 2 songs. Now there are millions available. Scarcity has long disappeared. I still keep thinking that the one thing we musicians' still have is our physical presence - live performance. I keep having thoughts that when the skills of playing an instrument and singing have fallen out of favor and largely (or partially) died out and disappeared, THEN live performance skills may be valued again. Scarcity. Currently my live performances (piano) are for the dead and dying - assisted living facilities.

 

My other thought: Am I the only one who keeps thinking that the electronic percussion sounds that have become so ubiquitous will become horribly cliched sounding one of these days ? I'm thinking of what sounds like old Venetian blinds having a hand running down them to create drum/percussion sounds.

 

And don't get me started on the tired formulaic singer songwriter and EDM - 4 CHORDS repeated over and over. And over and over. Maybe one day a new appetite for inventive harmony and chord changes will sprout and grow - after a prolonged period of scarcity.

[Anderton]

I still keep thinking that the one thing we musicians' still have is our physical presence - live performance. I keep having thoughts that when the skills of playing an instrument and singing have fallen out of favor and largely (or partially) died out and disappeared, THEN live performance skills may be valued again. Scarcity.

 

And don't get me started on the tired formulaic singer songwriter and EDM - 4 CHORDS repeated over and over. And over and over. Maybe one day a new appetite for inventive harmony and chord changes will sprout and grow - after a prolonged period of scarcity.

 

It's not your imagination, I often reference a study about pop music. IT's become less varied, louder, with fewer sonic differences. Every time someone reaches for a Minimoog bass sound, they're contributing to the problem

 

Robert Plant made an interesting comment when asked to what he attributed to Led Zeppelin's success. He said it was because they were a band. I know what he means - how often is music done by a "star" surrounded by hired guns?

 

However, it's important to remember that people making money from entertainment hasn't gone away - it just doesn't involve music. Look how much gamers pull in from YouTube live streams. I think you've hit the nail on the head about scarcity. All music from all time is now available for free, or close to it. That means music has less value, and also, there's less incentive to make music because you can't compete with every successful musician since music started being recorded.

 

But then again, is music SUPPOSED to be big business? Or is it something that people can enjoy to express themselves, de-stress from the day, and entertain their family and friends? I keep pointing out that until a little over 100 years ago, music was totally evanescent. As soon as it was played, it was gone forever. We might be returning to music crossfading from a group experience to a personal one.

[SteveCoscia]

I read the Bob Lefsetz "Everybody Is A Star" piece the other day.

 

FYI, Lefsetz conducted terrific interviews last year with Tommy James, Stevie Van Zandt, John Sebastian, Paul Anka, Suzi Quatro, Rod Argent, Rick Beato, Harry Wayne Casey,.... and many more.

 

Even if you're not a fan of the above, you will be hooked in the first few minutes. Listening to stories about how legends got started is inspiring and informative.

[Notes_Norton]

<...snip...> I keep pointing out that until a little over 100 years ago, music was totally evanescent. As soon as it was played, it was gone forever. <...>.

 

I've been a live performer since I was in Jr. High School, and this is the way I have lived the majority of my life. I've done some hired session work, usually one take, sometimes two, with a rhythm section that I never met and recorded their tracks a week ago. But that's the exception, not the rule.

 

For most of the time, I'm up there playing to a live audience. Actually, "playing to" is the wrong term, it's playing WITH. It's not a lecture, it's a dialog. I send energy out to the audience, they send energy back to me, that influences what I am playing, which influences how they react and so on. It's a feedback loop.

 

How I play and/or sing a song depends on the audience, my mood, and a number of other factors. A song is never quite the same twice, and sometimes it's radically different.

 

It's PLAYing music, and it's FUN. If you aren't having fun up there, the audience won't have fun either.

 

I know and know of a number of musicians who are great live performers who can't make what I feel is a good recording. I guess they realize that a mistake would be heard forever or something, and they get too careful in the fishbowl. Too many lose the FUN aspect once the virtual tape is rolling.

 

The problems of the recording industry never affected me. I get on "stage", I play WITH the audience, and I have fun while I'm doing it. At the end of the gig they give me money. What a job!!!

 

I was in a band that almost made the big time once, but that fell through over money and royalties. After some time, I realized I'll probably never get rich playing music. However, I'm having a happy life, I make enough to have paid the mortgage off, take vacations, and although not in the lap of luxury, I'm not in the sorrows of poverty either. I'm living a happy life, on my own terms, not answering to anyone else, and learning by my successes and failures. I get up in the morning, go to bed at night, and in between do what I want to do, what I like to do, and what I love to do. In my opinion, that is THE definition of success.

 

Put me in front of an audience, let me make enough to pay the bills, and I'm happy. And if I got the chance to do it over again, I'd be a live performing musician,

 

Life is good.

 

Insights and incites by Notes â«

[Piktor]

Leonard Bernstein was once asked how he and his musicians responded to all of the horror in the world.

 

He replied "We respond by creating more beautiful music."

This.

I admire anyone who wills a career in making music into being. For most, it seems not to be an easy life. Now in my sixties, I have seen a number of people in my music circle who could not even afford to pay for regular dental maintenance. Lord help them if they should run into more serious health problems, And that was before the virus.

Many of us made the choice to pursue our art in what ever ways that we could by taking the day jobs. Social media, exposure, wide or even narrow recognition be damned. Obscurity and meaninglessness may seem like nightmares, but if you are compelled to make art (whatever that means to you), you must do that. Charles Ives had to toil in the evenings after work. Messiaen composed and debuted Quartet For the End of Time under the worst conditions. If even one person appreciates something that you create that has meaning to you, that has to count for something. Whatever I work on, I start with the knowledge that most people do not (a) have patience to sit through it and (b) do not like unfamiliar music by unknown "artiststs". Oh, and there IS that fantasy that in 50,000 years aliens will unearth something that I did and proclaim me to be a genius. ð

[Anderton]

Obscurity and meaninglessness may seem like nightmares, but if you are compelled to make art (whatever that means to you), you must do that.

 

For me, and I think many of the people here, music is a biological necessity. You can't go wrong if the goal of making music is simply to make music. If the goal is to become rich at it, then that becomes difficult. A lot of it is up to chance as well. Think of all the stories where someone heard something, stuck it in a movie or commercial, and it revived a career.

 

My sense is that if you're meant to be successful at music, then it will happen somehow. But the odds against it are astronomical. It's no different from wanting to, for example, be good enough at baseball to play in the major leagues. Ain't gonna happen.

 

Whatever I work on, I start with the knowledge that most people do not (a) have patience to sit through it and (b) do not like unfamiliar music by unknown "artiststs".

 

Some people really like my music, which is enough for me. But, although this may sound odd, the main reason I make music is so that I can listen to it. It's the kind of music I enjoy. If someone else made it, I'd listen to that instead

[KuruPrionz]

^^^All good stuff above.^^^

 

And, Van Gogh was a nobody until he was dead - then he became one of the world's greatest artists.

 

My sense is that if you're meant to be successful at music, then it will happen somehow. But the odds against it are astronomical. It's no different from wanting to, for example, be good enough at baseball to play in the major leagues. Ain't gonna happen.

 

Or, one might win the lottery. It is impossible but people do it. Just money but money can buy freedom (allow you to hire a great band and a great studio and just crank out whatever comes to you, just for one...).

 

I have to have music. I love guitar but I often just sing whatever comes out while driving (I never play other people's music in the car). I will play beats on anything and everything, depending. I'm not a great (or even a good) drummer but I can fit beats together, it just comes to me from somewhere. I don't want to know where, I don't want to know why, I just need music.

 

I think it is a universal human condition, no human civilization has existed that did not have music. Animals have it too, their music inspires our own. One of the most beautiful symphonies I've ever heard was coyotes singing in the canyons, the echoes made them keep singing, the moon was full and the sound was magnificent.