The Grammy's

Image via Wikipedia

There was an interesting piece in the "New York Times" asking whether it was more important to win a Grammy or appear on the telecast. In other words, do you remember who won Album of the Year or do you remember Pink flying high in the sky? (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/arts/music/29grammys.html)

For those expressing displeasure with the Grammy telecast, I remind you that we no longer live in a monoculture. It was a very brief period, two decades at most, when mainstream and alternative merged, when MTV dictated the hits and radio fell in line behind. But now, you get to choose what you want to listen to from a plethora of choices. So if you tune in a telecast like this you're dumbfounded. Who are these people? Does anybody really care?

Beyonce prancing. Black Eyed Peas marching. Eminem and two guys you've never heard of ranting. Is this music? What kind of hole have we fallen down?

Relax. To say the Grammys are a reflection of music today is akin to saying what airs on NBC defines America. It doesn't. People have more passion for niche channels like Discovery than those trying to appeal to everybody networks.

But there's a limited channel universe. And the networks bought up the niche channels. What's going on in the music business?

Chaos.

What's ironic is that NARAS was the ultimate niche operation. What I mean by this was there was a category for every genre, it delved deep into music some were passionate about, but few cared about, which is exactly what's happening today. But the TV show is the opposite of this. With fewer awards given and only the most mainstream acts featured. Now is the time for NARAS to flourish. But beholden to the old major label structure that is crumbling, NARAS is teetering too. Overspending while membership is declining. Isn't this like trying to get people to buy albums on CD when you can cherry-pick the desirable singles on Napster?

But leading would require vision. And NARAS has none.

But who gives a shit about NARAS anyway.

I'll say that I was impressed with the Michael Jackson tribute. No, not his kids, who certainly aren't his biologically, and acquitted themselves quite well, but the performances... Everybody could sing! Could almost make you a Celine Dion fan. Especially after experiencing Taylor Swift.

How awful was she?

Dreadful.

"Fearless" deserved to win Album of the Year. I was glad it did. Scuttlebutt was it was DMB's year, but to say "GrooGrux" is good is to be a tie-dyed hippie hanging out in the parking lot before a show that features great playing but mediocre material. "GrooGrux" sold to a small coterie, most people don't care. But Taylor Swift is as mainstream as you can get. Triumphing in two formats. Speaking her truth to her audience. I love "Fearless". You can play it from start to finish, again and again, it's honest. But last night's performance...

Do you remember Billy Squier's pink video? Which killed his career overnight? Take a peek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI What was a hard rocker doing prancing around in a pink tank top? What was a neophyte artist doing sharing a stage with a legend who made it before auto-tune, before studio tricks could make anybody a singer?

I don't need to analyze the performance. (Hell, what I don't get is how Taylor rearranged her own hit song.) But what I am interested in is the impact. Because now, everybody knows that Taylor Swift can't sing. Is this what they'll remember?

Now unlike Billy Squier's pink video, there won't be endless repetition on MTV. And one can question how much of the target audience saw this performance. But the cognoscenti did, and to what degree do they now want to distance themselves from Ms. Swift?

In other words, did Taylor Swift kill her career overnight?

I'll argue she did. Oh, I'm not fully convinced of that, but let's start from this position.

She'll be even further hated in Nashville (and what kind of fucked up world do we live in where the CMAs are better than the Grammys?) I'd love to say whored out Top Forty radio stations will ignore her, but this is doubtful, still...

In one fell swoop, Taylor Swift consigned herself to the dustbin of teen phenoms. Who we expect to burn brightly and then fade away. From New Kids On The Block to Backstreet Boys to Miley Cyrus. A wall is created, stating you can't come any further. Debbie Gibson can appear in shows on Broadway, but she can't have a hit record, the powers-that-be won't let it happen.

Taylor's too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made. And those surrounding her are addicted to cash and are afraid to tell her no. But last night Taylor Swift SHOULD have auto-tuned. To save her career.

They say it's easy to fake it in the twenty first century.

But one thing we know is the truth will always come out.

It's hard to be a singer if you can't sing.

Ultimately, we want our stars to be genuine. Without this credibility, your time atop the charts is brief.

Taylor Swift shortened her career last night. And since she says she calls all her own shots, she has to shoulder the blame. Yes, her dream came true, she made it, she's a star, but the real test is longevity. Elton John can play with GaGa decades later. Will Taylor Swift be duetting with the stars of the 2030s? Doubtful.

Rock Stars

Did the Beatles plan on dominating the world?

No, they just wanted to escape a life of drudgery in Liverpool.

But their music became a mania. Suddenly, not only were they rich and famous, they had innumerable groupies beckoning.

Like Tiger Woods.

When the Beatles hit, even into the heyday of Led Zeppelin in the seventies, if you wanted to get rich, you were a rock star. Baseball's reserve clause had not yet been broken. The NBA did not yet have Magic and Bird, never mind Michael Jordan, it was almost a sideshow. As for golf... Arnie Palmer was a swinger, but he was more about endorsements than lifestyle, and at the time, nobody wanted to be icy, pudgy Jack Nicklaus.

No, you wanted to be like the English cats. Or the players from San Francisco. Who'd practiced for years so they could now get up at noon, do drugs and get laid seemingly whenever they wanted.

It all came down to the music. Jimmy Page didn't pick up the guitar with a desire to be famous. No, music was a calling. And after seeing the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan", boomers picked up instruments, took lessons. They did not get plastic surgery to appear beautiful, take media training so they could expose themselves well. It was all about the tunes.

It hasn't been about the tunes in eons.

Sure, there were starmakers all the way back to the days of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis. But what drew us to the stars of the classic rock era was the seeming lack of manipulation. Playing by no rules, creating opuses sometimes an album side long, these musicians put the music first. Unlike athletes shilling for Aqua Velva.

Things turned bad with corporate rock in the midseventies. Too calculated, it was supplanted by disco and then in late '79, the whole business imploded, only to be resurrected by MTV, which evidenced completely different values from the FM radio that preceded it. Suddenly it was all about image.

And now MTV might be dead, but conventional wisdom is image triumphs. That's what TV wants. That's what the magazines want. That's what TMZ and Perez want. Radio was something you listened to. All the foregoing media enter through your eyes.

So right now, Mariah Carey might be parading around Aspen, but she's not staying there based on her new album's sales, they stink, she's living off the past. Even Alicia Keys. All these heavily-hyped artists, the Cliveisms, they're built for stardom, but today stardom doesn't permeate every nook and cranny, and so many are turned off by the hype, and music sales suck. And seemingly the more popular you are on the hit parade, the fewer people want to see you live. Dave Matthews hasn't had a radio hit in eons, but he was the biggest tour grosser of the decade.

But, of course, Dave Matthews has been around for fifteen years, he was the beneficiary of the old game. What about new artists?

What about new artists?

If you want to be a "rock star", be an athlete. Or a tech entrepreneur. That's where the money is. And groupies like money.

If you want to be a musician, you must flush image down the toilet, be three-dimensional, write from the heart and make yourself accessible to fans.

Yes, today's musicians are the opposite of the titans of yore. As opposed to being crafted with no edges, sculpted to perfection like Janet Jackson, who also can't sell a record, they're lumpy, with warts, they're completely human. And they write about their humanity. And they make themselves available on Twitter and other social media.

I'm not talking marketing. This isn't so much about selling as a redefinition of what a musician is. Sure, first and foremost you play music. But how do you get an audience?

How do you get friends? Real friends?

It's very difficult staying alone in your room, not interacting online. If you want to be part of the community you must venture out, whether it be into the real world or cyberspace. You must make yourself available. You must be ingratiating. You must be open and willing to share.

Who does it right?

Taylor Swift. Her songs couldn't be more personal. They're not bland statements denuded to the point where they can be sung by and related to by everybody, rather they're distinctly her.

John Mayer tweets his personality. Go to http://twitter.com/jOhnCmAYer and read, you'll end up thinking you truly know him. Furthermore, on his blog he stood up for James Cameron, who called a fan an asshole (http://www.johnmayer.com/blog/permalink/5379). Mayer didn't believe it was a fan, but an e-Bay whore. But the point is, Mayer took a stand. That's how you grow your audience, by having a personality, just like them.

Will musicians ever become rock stars?

Not like the athletes. The athletes have got all the money and all the TV time. If you want to get rich and screw, start shooting hoops. And isn't that fascinating, no one thinks they can play in the NBA without a wealth of court time, but people think they can succeed in the music game without paying their dues whatsoever.

And athletes don't succeed by revealing their inner lives, they make it via their robotic skills. The opposite of musicians. And did you ever think that whoring yourself out to corporations works for athletes but not musicians for this very reason? Because it's not about who athletes are so much as how skilled they are at their sport?

In other words, if you're pursuing the rock stardom that's bandied about in public today, you're pursuing artistic and commercial death. A "rock star" today is someone who's winning in the commercial world, which is the opposite of art. A true rock star is beholden to nobody. Hell, these athletes play for a team, or their sponsors. Which is how the major labels killed music. Because you were playing for them instead of playing for yourself.

Sure, eventually new acts will grow and dominate. But the ascension will be very slow. The rocket to outer space paradigm of MTV is history. Shit, isn't that the point of reality TV? Anybody can be famous for fifteen minutes?

You want to be famous for much longer than that.

Old thinkers will use the old tools. Radio and TV.

You're not opposed to those, but you focus on a direct connection with your fan.

Do your friends abandon you willy-nilly?

Of course not.

Then again, you think twice before you screw a friend, before you cancel plans.

So put your fans first. Establish trust. And practice!

Because it begins and ends with the music.

TAYLOR SWIFT RESPONDS

Image via Wikipedia

First time I was in the shower. When I listened to the message toweling off, I thought she said "Erica". Listening again it was clear it was Ms. Swift, who sounded troubled, like there'd been a misunderstanding involving love. And maybe that's the case. She felt I loved her, had I turned against her?

That's what she said when we finally spoke. That she thought I got her. And it frustrated her to think that I believed she used auto-tune.

She denied it. Emphatically. As only as a nineteen year old can. I believed her. But it still didn't address the underlying issue. Could she sing? Exactly how good a singer was she?

I told her I couldn't talk right now. That I was rushing out to a doctor's appointment. If she wanted, we could speak about two hours hence, when I came back. But there was the eight hour time difference, and the day was evaporating. Although she'd left me her cell phone number, unfortunately one digit eaten by the machine, I told her to e-mail me with her address, and as soon as I got home I'd let her know, we could talk.

But then doing the math, worried we'd be unable to connect, having to get up early to do interviews, Taylor got into it. How she didn't even know how to use auto-tune, had never used it. Then again, she admitted to fixing some mistakes in the studio.

Then I asked her, what about those high-priced concert tickets online? What was going on there? I'd printed an e-mail saying in Philadelphia that tickets were going for far in excess of a hundred bucks and then, within minutes of my publishing said letter, the whole tour page disappeared online, replaced with dates that had already played as opposed to those coming up.

She told me she had no idea. She'd have to check into it. And I ran out of my house and got behind the wheel.

This was not the first contact I'd received from her camp. I'd gotten a long e-mail from her father. Not histrionic, not criticizing me, but also emphatically denying she'd been auto-tuned live. That was off the record, but now since his daughter has weighed in...

And maybe that was true. Because she was so horrible in the opening of the CMAs. Oh, that's a strong word to use. It's just that she was so far from perfect, anywhere but on the note, on pitch. She was definitely naked there.

As she was during the first song on SNL. Not the opening segment, wherein Taylor said, like many writers to me opined, that she was trying to imitate Phoebe from "Friends", but the full band number. She wasn't quite as bad as she was on the CMAs, but she was not up to the level of a professional. The second song was better, but the backup vocals were covering up quite a bit.

So, like I said. Even if she didn't use auto-tune, there was still the underlying issue, could she sing? She admitted fixing things on record...

Then, after my appointment, I got an e-mail from the guy who leases the audio equipment for her tour, one Everett Lybolt, GM of Sound Image. This was pushing me over the edge. They protesteth too much! Furthermore, Mr. Lybolt went on to criticize other performers on the CMAs for not being live.

Who the fuck knows.

Taylor said I could come to the gig, check all her equipment out.

Like I'm really going to do that. Like it would prove anything. And I never wanted to be a member of the CIA.

And then I get home to a hanging tag from FedEx. My new laptop has finally arrived from China. I missed the delivery by fifteen minutes. I call the delivery service, asking for a resend, and while I'm being transferred between operators, another person is looking for me. But they hang up, then ring again. It's Taylor. Who I tell to hold.

This was unexpected. I figured she'd accomplished her mission.

But she wanted to get back to me with information on the tour dates. As a reader had informed me, the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia does not use Ticketmaster, Comcast sells the tickets. And isn't it funny now that Comcast has joined the Ticketmaster/Live Nation cluster fuck, with Irving supposedly offloading assets to the Roberts-controlled venture so the merger can go through.

Taylor told me her site had been hacked. That the link should have been to comcasttix.com. But the hackers had redirected buyers to gotthetix.com. That's why ducats for her show were priced far in excess of a hundred dollars. She implied that this had been discovered days ago, but in any event, she said it had now been fixed. Anyway, if you go back to her tour page now, the spring dates have reappeared. With Philadelphia and most other markets being shown as being sold out.

The truth?

Who the hell knows.

But there's your story.

But what about our earlier conversation. About Taylor's singing?

I told her she was quite good in the skits on SNL. And she was. Best non-actor guest host in recent times. But I told her, like that CMA opening, the first song...her voice was not good.

Taylor laughed. Said she could handle being criticized for having a bad voice, for missing notes. But she couldn't live with being criticized for being inauthentic.

Those songs are written in real time. About real people. Her co writers edit more than contribute. Her next album she's not planning to write with anyone. Not now, anyway.

And speaking of collaboration, she said she's got no manager. That she and her team have weekly meetings, where they go over career details. If she's on the road, she's conferenced in. The decisions are hers.

Like playing Gillette Stadium?

Absolutely. It's something she always wanted to do. She figures she'll do two or three stadium gigs next summer, that's all. She's salivating over building the show, deciding who will appear with her.

As for SNL, the call came through William Morris. They phoned and told her to hold for Lorne Michaels. Her heart was palpitating, she didn't figure it was about hosting SNL, and when she got the word, she was flying.

Then we discussed her career. And music.

I felt I was getting some stock answers. As I listened, I put myself in her shoes, wondered what it must feel like to get asked the same damn thing again and again. But I wanted to know. Did she see herself as a singer, an actress or..?

Definitely a singer. With a body of work that delineated the various periods of her life. Her first album was about being 13-16. Her second...

So I asked her what her favorite album was. Not because I was making a list, but because I wanted to know where she was coming from.

She thought for a moment, then said Shania Twain's "Come On Over".

I said Mutt Lange was the best living record producer, a true master. But had she ever listened to Joni Mitchell?

There was some hesitation. Then Taylor said no.

I told her to buy "Blue" tonight. Quoted her some lines from "A Case Of You".

And quoting that classic number, I went on to recite lines from Jackson Browne's "The Late Show". Told her I didn't want to overload her, but she should buy "Late For The Sky" too.

Taylor told me she'd seen Jackson live acoustic.

I guess I wanted to know if Taylor Swift wanted to be a star or an artist. That's why I wanted to know her favorite album, I wanted to know her hopes and dreams. Did she need to be in the spotlight, or was it about the work, testing limits?

She's the one who's got to figure it out.

Right now, she's the biggest star in America. Trumping U2, Springsteen, even Kenny Chesney and the Stones. And it's all based on these songs. Straight from the heart. That's why the little girls relate.

One day those girls will be women. A cusp where Taylor Swift is presently residing. Will she make the wrong choices?

I told her you can't say yes to everything. You can make some mistakes, but too many wrong steps can crimp your career.

Then again, I'm fifty six and she's nineteen. Growing up is about taking chances, making mistakes. But I didn't want her to listen to oldsters, telling her what to do, telling her it didn't make any difference as they skimmed from her pond.

We talked about Louis Messina and American Express. This was not some backwoods bimbo, an uneducated nitwit who was clueless when it came to business, but she knew only so much of the inner workings. But that which she did speak about she had a command of. When I broke new ground, she could follow. Taylor Swift is smart.

So where does that leave us?

Did Taylor Swift work me?

I've been worked before. I recognize it when I see it. Tommy Lee insisting I print his e-mail before he responds again. He was looking for publicity. Taylor seemed to need set the record straight. For herself.

Then again, there's an entire career in the balance.

But songs trump singing all day long. Anybody can sing, especially in this auto-tune era. But being able to write a great song, one that grabs fans lyrically and melodically, that's truly tough. And Taylor Swift has accomplished that.

So, I'm a huge fan of the albums.

And I'm convinced she's vocally challenged. But the way Taylor handled that in our conversation, by not skipping a beat, by admitting she's less than perfect, that she can handle the criticism, won me over.

The CMA Opinion

Image via Wikipedia

What kind of crazy screwed up world do we live in where the CMAs are better than the VMAs?

One in which the big winner is an MTV castoff, considered to be too old and too unhip for the mainstream.

No, I'm not talking about Taylor Swift, I'm talking about Hootie! Yup, Darius Rucker!

He may have only won Best New Artist, but he won the evening, he was the only award winner to get a spontaneous standing ovation, for not only his achievement, but the sincerity and honesty of his acceptance speech.

Darius was the anti-Kanye. Without going all Uncle Tom, he spoke of acceptance by the community. Like Nashville and country radio are really going to embrace a faded black rocker from South Carolina? And he thanked his wife and three kids. For being understanding while he was gone, on the road, trying to earn a living. And believe me, that's what it takes. Show me a divorced country singer and you might find evidence of infidelity, but the true breaking point was the absence, the lack of contact, as the performer traipsed around the country, in much less glamorous circumstances than the public believes, hawking himself and his music, just to stay in the game. And Darius thanked Doc McGhee. Isn't it fascinating that Bon Jovi's old manager had Nashville success with a rocker with one tenth the footprint of his old client and Bon Jovi failed miserably in the country sphere? Maybe because Darius Rucker seemed to play by Nashville's rules. Rather than just add a banjo, he focused on songwriting, telling stories, not looking to crash the party so much as gain entrance.

And for all the flash on the VMAs, isn't it honesty and human emotion that truly sells music? Whilst the rappers are beating us over the head, telling us how great they are, in Nashville you lead with your music. Mr. Rucker played by the rules and won. A heartwarming story.

And although hokey, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood were great hosts. Made me wonder whether musicians should act, play roles, read lines at all, but they made the most of it. Rather than being wooden, they played along with the script, almost seeming to exist outside of it. To the point where you felt like members of your family were on stage performing. And stunningly, since they seem to fail in every awards show in which they're used, their comedy songs were actually funny, and endearing.

The performances?

Too many acts were hyping their next single as opposed to the hit fans wanted to hear. Instead of being a celebration, it was a marketing opportunity.

And then there were strange choices. Why did Zac Brown and his band perform "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"? I expected Charlie Daniels to come out on stage. But he didn't. At least not in the fast-forwarded images that flew by on my screen. You couldn't play "Chicken Fried" or "Toes"?

And there's something about Ronnie Dunn that just bugs me. I guess it's the hair most. How much time and goop did you expend getting it to look like that? And while I'm at it, what's up with Kix Brooks' porn star moustache? Still, they truly rocked. And my buddy Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top sat in with them. Although their regular guitarist got most of the licks. Which is deserving, since he's on the road and the band is expiring. For how long? Who knows? You know the comeback is near...

And speaking of comebacks... How weird is Naomi Judd? Hi-def makes those facelifts unmistakable. And Wynonna, I feel for you, having that mother. But can you spend a little less time in the tanning booth? Or just have them spray on a lighter layer of brown/gold?

Tim McGraw needed a better song.

Miranda Lambert performed better than when I saw her in that club, but "Gunpowder & Lead" was a scorcher, a "Tumbling Dice" with "Rocks Off" speed. "White Liar" may be a single, but it's an album track.

And Carrie, you're lovable, but can you release a different album? The formula is so curdled, even a baby couldn't swallow this milk. How about a down and dirty record about how you really feel. How about a little Loretta Lynn with the gloss.

And speaking of rockers, Dave Matthews got a big ovation sitting in with Kenny Chesney. Dave can't get arrested on MTV, but he does boffo at the b.o., and his fans scooped up more of his new album than that of almost any MTV star. Who's the winner here? Certainly not the flavor of the moment on the VMAs.

And it wouldn't be a CMA Awards show without Kid Rock, who handled himself admirably. But what's up with the seventies sunglasses? Are they coming back?

And I like Lady Antebellum, but who could love them? Their material is so bland. Kind of substandard Brewer & Shipley. But credit Gary Borman. He built them into award winners. And Keith Urban is on a juggernaut!

I guess you're wondering how good the show could have been if I'm making these criticisms.

Yes, too much of today's country is formula, not exceptional.

But at least they're promoting songs. Which you can sing along to, however evanescent they might be.

And Taylor Swift is the entertainer of the year. Not only in country, but America at large. When you're nineteen, and everybody tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them. But they'll forget about you soon if you don't keep working, keep delivering the hits. Her performance of Fifteen was absolutely horrible...where the hell was the Melodyne program last night? That's the reality Hootie spoke of.

And that's the truth.

Louis Messina Strikes Back

Image via Wikipedia

My head is spinning.

First Greg Wells, now Louis Messina?

Used to be you denied, denied, denied. Now you just admit your behavior and throw it back at the accuser, saying you're innocent and really, it's the accuser's fault!

Greg Wells admits parts of Mika's show are on hard drive. Now, Louis Messina says Taylor Swift's deal with American Express, ultimately allowing cardholders to buy the best seats first, is a good thing. Huh?

So, AmEx buys full page ads in major newspapers. Is that really the problem? That no one knows that Taylor Swift is going on tour? They've got to get the word out?

Chances are, if you need that level of advertising, you're not gonna be able to fill the building. And that's not the case with Taylor Swift. She can sell every damn ticket over and over again.

Then, when Taylor Swift says she wants tickets to be $20, so all her fans can go to the show, Mr. Messina says: "Taylor, you can't do that 'cause you can't afford that. It would cost you so much money." Huh?

Only a promoter could think this way. What he's really saying is, if you don't charge more, you'll make LESS money, and I'LL make less money! Notice he doesn't say Taylor is going to LOSE money! Because she's not!

Listen, Taylor is better than most. This is not about her. The whole ticketing fracas is not about individual acts. It's a cancer endemic to our industry that is only harming us. Because you lose the trust of the consumer and you have no business.

Talk to anybody putting on shows right now. Business is TERRIBLE! Don't listen to the press reports. The public is staying home. And acts are not lowering their prices. And those on the talent side want to make as much money as ever, even though recorded music sales in most cases have tanked and the public has little money. This is a recipe for ongoing business success?

It's when Louis says there should be a government solution that I get pissed. Just like the government should solve the file-trading problem, which has gone on for a decade. Business problems require business solutions.

The scalpers are a problem, but they're not THE problem!

The problem originates with the talent.

The talent could charge a fortune for the tickets. But they're worried about blowback, the public's perception of them. They don't want to APPEAR greedy, so they revert to subterfuge. So, they don't LOOK greedy, even though they ARE greedy.

That's what scalping your own tickets is all about. That's what AmEx deals are all about. In many cases, that's what fan clubs are all about.

Heinous Ticketmaster fees, if not kicked right back to the artist, which happens in the case of many stars, go to the promoter, so he can make some money. Artists could include the fees in the overall price, eliminating customer anger and confusion, but they don't want to appear greedy, they'd rather that Ticketmaster take the heat.

So what do we need?

An all-in price. Having the customer angry at Ticketmaster and Live Nation does not bode well for the concert industry in general, because this is where the transaction takes place.

Acts either have to charge fair market price for the tickets, or insure that the true fans get ahold of the good tickets at what is essentially a price below fair market value.

If you want to sit in the front row, pay a grand, maybe two. But don't tell everybody they can sit in the front row for twenty five bucks when in reality all the good seats have been siphoned off, sold to those who are willing to pay more.

No one expects a BMW for the price of a Hyundai. Price the tickets fairly, at their real value, and scalping is to a great degree eliminated. Then again, the acts are fearful of charging a grand for a seat, they're afraid the public is going to see them like they see the bankers on Wall Street. Unfortunately, this would not be inaccurate, both are incredibly greedy (although the banker does make more).

Or, institute systems that allow the fan to get a good seat at a cheap price. Like putting the name on the ticket, a la Nine Inch Nails.

Now don't think everybody involved is stupid. Greedy, yes, but not stupid. Irving Azoff is aware that scalpers use low value credit cards to get around paperless ticketing. He couldn't get the credit card companies to play ball with him, they couldn't see the problem. But now they do.

And Irving says he's got the technology and the willingness to show exactly what tickets are on sale for a gig, and will soon have the ability to auction them off/variable price them like airline tickets.

But instituting the procedures and having acts use them is something different. Does an act really want to let people know that 1/20th of the tickets are actually available to the general public on the on sale date?

I say if you've toiled hard and long in the alley, you're entitled to make the dough. That's your choice, charge up the yin-yang. Or, leave a little in order to insure future good will, keeping the relationship with your fans by allowing them good seats at low prices. But the acts want it both ways, they want to maintain the good will and make all the money. And that's where I've got a problem.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11487313

Tuesday night's report: http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11481431

More Horse****

Image via Wikipedia

That's HORSESHIT!

No, I'm not afraid of putting that in the title. It's just that if I do, this missive won't pass through your spam filters. Hell, for those of you working at companies hyping supposedly limit-testing acts, it probably won't pass through your company filters now that I've actually spelled the word out in this missive. Because that's how afraid of plain English this country is. And if you are protected from reality, how can you know the truth?

And speaking of the truth...

Every time I write about Taylor Swift, and let's be clear, I've foamed at the mouth plenty, I get e-mail from people, true pros, people I know, with big jobs, that she's auto-tuned to death, not only on record, but live. Sour grapes? None of these people are involved with Ms. Swift.

But now I know they're right.

Because I just caught Ms. Swift's opening monologue, a song, on SNL.

Holy shit, she can't sing a lick.

It's like when you're in the car and someone pipes up, singing along to the song on the radio, and you start to cringe, and ultimately need to say something, telling them to shut up, because their voice is so bad.

Believe me, I know I've got a bad voice. But I don't try to be a professional singer.

And we're not talking Bob Dylan here. Forget about the goose farts on his Christmas album (notice how now that it's dropped no one is saying a word...it's just that bad), Dylan was a student of the art, and in his heyday could sing rings around Ms. Swift. Ms. Swift couldn't even make the high school glee club. Not even the junior high version. Hell, I know, I made it once then got kicked off.

What were they thinking here?

I could blame Ms. Swift, but she's not old enough to know better.

But her handlers are.

Why reveal the truth? They almost even had me faked out. But watching this execrable performance I'm questioning the entire product. She can't sing, there are co-writers... Sure, she's got pure desire, but how much is real underneath?

Believe me, the albums are great. But what kind of screwed up world do we live in where to make it as an act, you don't even have to sing well?

I mean it's one thing if you're doing comedy.

Then again, My Son The Nut, Allan Sherman, had a better voice than Ms. Swift.

But the handlers got too greedy, they didn't know their limits. Like Master P, trying to play professional basketball. Worse, Michael Jordan trying to play professional baseball. But at least Mr. Jordan was a professional athlete.

This is the greatest case for preserving mystery in the Internet era. Hell, you didn't see J. Lo singing on SNL. Why deflate the golden goose? Do you really need this victory lap?

Call it hubris.

Not the first time we've seen this in the music business.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/107502/saturday-night-live-taylor-swift-monologue

Image by midnightglory via Flickr

That's why I'm here. In Nashville. I'm speaking at the International Entertainment Buyers Association. Or, I just did. You missed it!

What a fascinating crew. So many of the buyers are from fairs.

I just got a long lecture on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. A bunch of 'ropin and 'tyin and then live entertainment, twenty nights straight! They've had Rascal Flatts, ZZ Top, the Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift...

In other words, there's a whole 'nother world out there between L.A. and New York. Which might want to see people like Phil Vassar. Who performed just before me in the ballroom. I'm a fan. But he looks like a guy you'd be sippin' a beer with down on the dock. No harm meant, it's just that I expected some wiry guy who barely ever saw daylight. Or maybe it's just that it's a disconnect to experience someone so talented, who can sing and write, who looks completely normal. It's a beautiful thing.

The way the band plays. The way Phil works the audience.

You see in country music, being able to play is not enough. You've got to entertain! You've got to sing for your supper. Or, as Chubby Checker said last night, it's all about the audience. Yes, he was angling for gigs, but it was fascinating to see him work this inside crowd. He got 'em up on stage twisting, singing along, laughing, having a good time. And a good time is what it's all about, right?

Well, I'm not sure it's about a good time anymore.

Is it a good time buying a car? It's so expensive. You're afraid of being ripped off. If you make a mistake, you're not going to be back in the market for years. Kind of like buying concert tickets. Huh?

I just had a fascinating conversation with gentlemen who run an amphitheatre in Virginia. They spoke of the problems outside the metropolis.

They have a deal with Ticketmaster because so many of their customers pay cash. Ticketmaster has outlets, where they take cash. Yup, you may hate the ticket fees, but Ticketmaster is not always the bastard.

Then again, like Live Nation in New Jersey, these promoters charge a parking fee on every ticket. A buck. It's a pass through, goes straight to the city, for cops, other infrastructure. So when customers arrive, they don't have to pay, they just park.

But getting customers is not that easy. Because people just don't know about the gig!

That's their number one problem, getting the word out.

And they said that radio, newspapers and TV don't work.

In other words, they've got a marketing budget, they just don't know where to spend the money!

The days of tying in with a radio station and having the word get out are done. Now we're in the murky land of social media.

Yup, these guys have been FORCED to employ Facebook and Twitter. Because that's where the people are. No one's paying attention to old media.

You've got to have someone under twenty five working all these angles. He could be your number one employee!

And then there's pricing.

They talked about a Coldplay show, not theirs, where lawn tickets were ultimately blown out cheaply. People complained. Sure, they were mad at Live Nation, but they were really mad at the act!

Ticketmaster may have shielded the artists for a while, the public may have been too stupid to know performers have been scalping their own tickets, but the artists are now taking the hit for discount tickets. If you paid thirty dollars to sit on the lawn and somebody else paid ten, you're pissed! You may never want to see Coldplay again.

So who's going to fix this problem?

It's got to start with the acts. The days of exorbitant guarantees are done. The acts can't afford the blowback. I can't get the tickets I want, they never went on sale, and now someone paying less than me is sitting closer than me? Huh?

So far, promoters have been taking the hit. Live Nation is selling discounted tickets to fill their buildings while the artist has sat on the sideline and laughed. No longer.

That's the story of 2009. How the act suddenly has less power.

Kind of like the movie business. The $20 million paydays are through. There's just not enough money left. DVD sales have tanked. If Live Nation, if no promoter can survive, who is going to pay all these acts?

We don't have a promoter crisis, we've got an act crisis!

Sure, the promoters have issues, but the acts are not immune. They've got to give promoters tools to work with. Like lower guarantees and a share of the upside.

The major problem is getting people in the building.

Some day there might be a site telling everybody who's in town. But so far, no Internet location has broken through. Because every listing site is about money first and the customer last. Too much advertising, too much focus on profit. The Google way used to be the music business way. Build it first, figure out how to monetize it last. Be a great band first, figure out how to make all the dough last.

Speaking of dough, these Virginia promoters had multiple jobs. The days of grand slams in concert promotion are done. The margins are too thin. One of these guys is both a promoter and a manager!

The glory days of the music business are history. They'll only return when the glory days of music come back. That's in process. But it's going to take a very long time, especially if the usual suspects have their way...baby boomers who focus on getting rich first and care about the consumer last, if at all.