I remember when there were live concerts on the radio and I could copy my friends tape until I got my own copy, concert ticket and tshirt. Now it seems the band wants to make millions on everything and end up with nothing. Try letting file sharing go on, manage bands, don’t dictate, and see what happens. No one likes bootlegs, they just don’t want an album with one good song. They want liner notes.

When I read this, it occurred to me that, yes, this was the old paradigm of doing business that the “new” music business was supposedly reacting against. It also bore an amazing resemblance to the way one of the most successful companies of the last two decades does business: Google.

As long gone as the record industry it served.

Through the rock and roll era, the bulk of the record industry’s business was monetized by a few products. For every Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, or Madonna shifting 10,000,000 copies of their work, you had 19 Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Norm Nardini and the Tigers, and Adele Bertei’s getting signed, allowed to work for a couple of albums, but selling “disappointingly.” These artists, however, were able to build up enough of a following to earn a living playing music, even without the major label support.

This didn’t represent an industry just doing things they liked, though there was more of the thinking if I like it, someone else probably will. These artists all had to potential to do very well, but for whatever reason, they didn’t. As long as they had artists making them money, they could take a chance with artists who might or might not. They got it right about 5% of the time. Similarly, Google often throws ideas out there because they’re interesting, because there is the potential for profit there. Then they see if they catch on. The main difference there is that, when something doesn’t catch on, they try to figure out why.

Is Google the future of the music business, or is the music business a cautionary tale for Google?

When Google copies another company’s ideas for the sake of copying (c.f. all of their attempts at social networking), they’re never as successful as when they innovate. This is one of the reasons so many people are interested to see just what it is they’re planning for the music space, and how/whether it’s going to be any different from anything else out there, aside from the fact that it’s done by Google. This is one thing the record business never really got. Certainly, a lot of great bands got released when, for example, Nirvana topped the charts and suddenly everyone had to have a grunge band (or two). A few of them even did well, and many continue to be able to tour and support themselves making music. But a lot of pretty awful music got sucked up in that vortex as well.

They let ideas spread largely by word of mouth. Have you ever seen a paid ad by Google, at least about a new Google product? The early days of an artist’s release might have seen a trade ad, but most didn’t have that kind of a marketing budget. In fact, one of the key reasons (IMHO) for the collapse of the industry is the record companies got lazy – They had depended on radio to be their means of disseminating information, and as playlists got more and more restrictive, fewer and fewer artists got the work out. If a record ships and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? These days, less than 0.2 percent of music accounts for over 50 percent of sales.

So what can the record companies learn from Google? I’m actually not to sure. The fact that Google is getting into the music business at all reminds me of the old riddle – How do you make a small fortune in the music business?
You start with a large fortune. What I’m wondering if Google will learn from the record business’s mistakes.

The book in question

Okay, here’s the deal.  I found a link to my book Dirty Little Secrets of the Record Business: Why So Much Music You Hear Sucks as a “Xmas Bonus” on a site called Fair Play for Music.  Instead of a cease and desist, I’m going to see if Chris Anderson is right, and I can drum up business by giving it away (If you haven’t read “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” it is never anything less than intriguing).  So, the link is attached. Enjoy!

http://fairplayformusic.com/xmasbonus/DirtyLittleSecretsOfTheRecordBusinessWhySoMuchMusicYouHearSucks.pdf

The following is from the Hollywood Reporter:

Why did Billy Joel cancel his memoir a little more than two months before it was slated to hit shelves?

One music industry source tells The New York Post his failure to confront his past — including his battle with alcohol and a high-profile divorce from Christie Brinkley — likely played a role. “He never fully confronted the 800-lb. gorilla in the room,” the source says. “There needs to be a lot of dish in rock memoirs.”

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Elton John also said Joel has never fully confronted his problem and was still wrestling with his demons, calling Joel’s stints in treatment as “rehab light.”

The bio (titled The Book of Joel), which was due in June, was being ghost written by Fred Schruers, a celeb profiler who once worked at Rolling Stone.

Schruers would not comment on Joel’s decision to back out.

Joel has agreed to return a portion of the $3 million advance he received from Harper Colllins.

The Joel book was signed by Harper Collins Executive Editor David Hirshey and represented by Amanda Urban at ICM.

Neither have commented.

It’s not the first time Joel has nixed a book project: The Post reports that he scrapped a book on classical music for the Riverhead imprint of Penguin several years ago.

The last sentence is only half true.

This is from my book, Billy Joel: Life and Times of An Angry Young Man. As luck would have it, the new Second Edition of the book comes out this week! This is from the Afterword:

Up until now, there has been no really in-depth biography of Billy Joel. I now understand why. Billy is intensely private and has become even more so as time has gone on. If anything, this has fueled the public’s fascination with him as a person and a performer. How many other performers who haven’t recorded a new song in over a decade could sell out arenas—at $300 a ticket—on a regular basis?

This is not to say that the idea has never been considered, even by Billy himself. Peter Skolnick, now an attorney in New Jersey (he represents David “The Sopranos” Chase, among others), was a literary agent in the early ’80s. “Billy was, at that point, still with Frank Weber,” he recalls. “I was approached by Jeff Schock, who had recently joined Frank to take care of promotion and marketing. Jeff and I talked about an authorized biography. I went out to Frank’s office to meet with Billy. I must have gotten there early, because I’m standing outside there, having a cigarette, when Billy comes roaring up on a motorcycle. He doesn’t know who I am. He goes into the office. Then I came in.

“What I found fascinating and wonderful about the very short meeting we had is he said to me, ‘Why would anybody want to read a book about me?’ I was amazed. Everyone was fascinated by him. He told me, ‘I will do this book if you can find a writer who is so good that he could write a book that is so good, that if the reader had never heard of Billy Joel, he would still say, “Boy, what a terrific book.”’ That was a very tall order. I actually think that I found such a writer, but at the point when I started putting that all together, Billy famously had his falling out with Frank. That book never happened.

“Billy was genuinely humble. His question about why would anybody really care, I think it was a sincere question, and his whole notion that he wanted a book so good that even if you’d never heard of him, you’d think it was a great book, it was kind of refreshing.”

I don’t pretend to have written that book, though that was my goal. That’s my goal whenever I sit down to write: To make what I know of a subject interesting enough that even someone who doesn’t care about
the subject will enjoy the book. My test market in such matters is my father, who might have heard the names of many of the people I write about but goes out of his way to avoid the music.

This is not to say that I wanted to do a hatchet job on Billy. Despite his protestations, he is a fascinating enough subject without having to resort to that. During the course of writing this, I came to admire him a bit, and discovered that even people he’s vilified in the past—Artie Ripp, in particular—had very little bad to say about him. Billy just tries to live his non-professional life as best he can, out of the public eye, despite being in a profession that is intensely public.

If you were looking forward to reading The Book of Joel consider giving my book a glance.

Tour Link Session

“We’re just a bunch of roadies,” production manager extraordinaire Charlie Hernandez said.  He then demonstrated how powerful a bunch of roadies could be.  After the Haitian earthquake last year, Hernandez got on the phone, got the use of a private jet from one client/acquaintance, got building materials, supplies, food, volunteers, and was on the ground in Port au Prince working while most organizations were still mobilizing.  Roadies work quick. Roadies build cities.  Every night.

Around 500 roadies and people who support the road crews spent three days in Scottsdale for the Tour Link Conference last week, and the power of the roadie was in full effect.  Everyone involved in putting on a concert, with the exception of the artist and the promoter attended, and did what they do best – partied hard.

They also learned, networked, and met some of the legends in their field.  Folks like Dinky Dawson, who has been on the road since the early 60s, and Benny Collins, who worked on Michael Jackson’s road extravaganzas for years.  This is one of the high points of Tour Link.  Everyone is available and accessible, and a maximum of two degrees of separation from you.  The show is intimate – even a first timer like myself (albeit working on the staff) – could meet and talk with pretty nearly anyone there.  No one thinks of themselves as “too important.” It was not unusual to see younger tour personnel hanging out with people who have come up through the ranks to positions of responsibility and their own companies.

Put on by the folks who put out the Road Book, Venue Book, the Mobile Production Monthly, and the

Larry Smith Holds Court

mobileproductionpro.com website (in the interest of full disclosure, I’m one of them) this is all the brainchild of Larry Smith, who was Senior Director at Performance Magazine and the Summit Conference back in the day.  To hear everyone tell it, this year’s Tour Link eclipsed the old Performance conferences in scope, spectacle, and attendance.

Most people don’t think of the professionals behind the scenes when they go to a concert, but these are the guys who make the modern concert experience what it is: The truckers and freight companies that haul everything, the bus drivers, coach companies, and private jet charter companies that haul everyone, the hotels where they stay, the riggers, lighting peeps, video peeps, backline techs, caterers, tour designers, tour managers, tour accountants, two-way radio companies, and on and on.  That’s who Tour Link celebrates.

And celebrate they did. The highlight of the concert is the Top Dog awards show.  Here, the best caterers, video and lighting companies, hotels, road managers, everyone who puts the show on, has the opportunity for recognition.  Like the Grammys, The Top Dogs are voted on by their peers.   The tour that took the most awards this year was Bon Jovi. The party ran until three in the morning, and beyond.

In the Portable Closet

By the way, the second edition comes out via Hal Leonard in April.  Lots of new information, six new chapters and lots of updates!

Pei R Triangular: The Rock Hall Building

Often, I have issues with the Picks the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame makes for their inductions.  I won’t go into them now, except to say that they are mostly sins of omission (Ohio Players anyone? The hall is in Cleveland).  This year marks the Hall’s 25th year, which means, according to it’s bylaws, it can induct itself.  Don’t put it past them.

He's in the Hall...

At the 25th anniversary induction ceremonies, Darlene Love, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Tom Waits and Dr. John will enter the pantheon as performers,  Jac Holzman alnd Art Rupe as non-performers, and Leon Russell as a sideman. These are great, and in a couple of cases even heroic selections.  For, while Neil Diamond turned into the kind of schlock later in he career,  the period Chuck Klosterman describes as “cool in the kitschy, campy, ‘he’s so uncool he’s cool’ way…”, he also had some of rocks more enduring hits, hits that transcend generations, like “I’m A Believer,” “Red, Red, Wine” (which also transcends genres) or,  if you’re a Red Sox fan (Booooooooooo!), “Sweet Caroline.”   Similarly, Tom Waits s a great choice, despite a lack of “hits” or sales.  A musicians musician (like fellow inductee Frank Zappa), he has explored some of the far reaches of rock.

... And they're not.

As to Darlene Love and Dr. John, they fall into the “it’s about bloody time” category.  Both have had long careers, might hits, and epitomize all that is right about rock.  On the same note, Jac Holzman has been at the forefront of the popular music business from the time he founded Elektra to his current project Cordless Records, Warners “E-label” (was “Elektric Records” taken?), half a century give or take a week or two.

The brickbats are going to start flying, but I want to offer at least one “Bravo.”

Pei R Triangular: The Rock Hall Building

If you haven’t seen it, you can check out Pat playing it and explaining it here:

Pat Metheny – Orchestrion
Uploaded by patmethenymedia. – Watch more music videos, in HD!
I’m not sure exactly what the producers, Pierre and Francois Lamoureux, and Pat have in mind for the shoot, but the set up demands 3D and it’s great that everyone agreed on that. The Lamoureuxs were at the forefront of HD, so it makes sense that they pioneer long form music in 3D as well. You really need to see the Orchestrion at work to appreciate what’s going on, and keep in mind – nothing here is pre-recorded (in fact, it’s immediate genesis is a reaction to playing with tapes) or even greatly pre-programmed. Pat creates pretty much everything on the fly. I rather hope that they decide to show the “Demonstration Mode,” Pat creating a fugue for the elaborate Orchestrion to show how the instrument (and it is one, very large, very elaborate instrument) works. The whole thing is pretty amazing and should make for a terrific 3D musical documentary.

... say it in broken English.

When I was 19, and interning at the late, lamented

... as tears go by.

Record World Magazine, I walked past the office of the person responsible for the album reviews, Sophia Midas.  The music I heard stopped me in my tracks.  The sound was new wave cool, but the voice had a quality I can still best describe as scarred – pain came through that voice.  I asked Sophia what it was, and she said, “That’s Marianne Faithfull’s new record, Broken English.”

“The Marianne Faithfull of ‘As Tears Go By’?  Mick Jagger’s girlfriend?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Jeez, what happened to her?  I mean I love this record, but her voice sounds like it’s been through the mill.”

“It has.  You can’t expect someone who has lived like

her to sound like she did in her 20s.”

“In a way, I like this better.  I always found ‘As Tears Go by kinda bland.”

Sophia smiled, “You would.”

This impression coalesced that weekend when she appeared on SNL.  She missed notes,  opened her mouth and nothing came out once or twice.  She wore every line on her face like a badge.  She was amazing.

Whitney then...

This bit of ancient history came to mind while researching a possible project on

... and more recently

Whitney Houston.  The press throughout Europe, particularly in England, seems to relish the fact that Whitney in her 40s isn’t Whitney in her 20s.

I think Liz Smith has it right.  Can anyone be expected to perform in their 40s like they did in their 20s?  Can anyone be expected to look as good?  What do my English compatriots expect?  Sure, Whitney abused the instrument, and would be the first to admit that.But look at Frank Sinatra, Elvis, or David Crosby (ever expect to see those two mentioned in the same sentence?) — even after abuse, weight gain, vocal changes, all the things the for which Whitney is being derided they went on to have long careers.

So maybe this is ageist as well as sexist?

MORE RESEARCH SAYS FILE-SHARERS BIG MUSIC CONSUMERS
There’s been loads of research over the years that shows that those pesky file-sharing kids are also some of the entertainment industry’s best customers. But hey, there’s always room in your CMU Daily for another report saying much the same stuff as all the other ones.

That file-sharing music fans might invest their pocket money into gig tickets, t-shirts and other more tangible band-related gubbins is unsurprising, though the latest bit of research on this issue suggests file-sharers are also pretty big customers of the sorts of content-based products they are actually nicking off the net, which presumably backs up the much touted theory that many use file-sharing for the purposes of previewing before purchase. That said, the new research from the University of Amsterdam says that file-sharers subsequently spending money on content-based products is more common in the film and gaming space than with music.

But even in music, where easy access to free tracks via online sharing networks probably is in part responsible for declining record sales, money consumers save by nicking digital versions of albums is often then spent on other music products, or so reckons Professor Nico van Eijk. Although based primarily on a study of Dutch file-sharers, his report also looked at the Swedish industry, where record sales have, until recently, been steadily declining amid rampant online piracy. But, van Eijk says: “Total revenues [in Sweden] from recorded music, live concerts and collecting societies remained roughly stable between 2000 and 2008″.

Of course, a boom in live and merchandise revenues is no good for record companies, whose interests are solely in recorded music, but, as we have rambled on many occasions before, that’s mainly the fault of labels for not diversifying their interests ten years ago when it first became clear that record sales were going to go into terminal decline.

Looking back at the record industry’s initial mad panic when the internet arrived on the scene, van Eijk is predictably critical, writing: “Labels tried to stem the tide of unlicensed music file-sharing with their conservative strategy of abstaining from innovation, promoting legal measures against supposed offences, and digital rights management. This strategy resulted in the current backlash, providing space for a new entrant establishing a major brand in the online music business: Apple’s iTunes. Reinvention of the business model looks like the only way out for the traditional players in the music industry”.

Of course, such reinvention has been underway for a few years now, even if it’s taking quite a bit longer than everyone would like. It’s certainly too soon to say which sorts of new business models are going to work, and van Eijk doesn’t give any real opinions on that issue, except that current digital price points are almost certainly too high.