Magnificent

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That was FANTASTIC!

Metallica lacked the bottom, that visceral pounding on your chest that you get at a live gig. They proved conventional wisdom, that rock and roll doesn't work on TV.

I stumbled into last night's 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert during Paul Simon. When Crosby & Nash joined him to sing "Here Comes The Sun" I felt warm all over. I remembered playing the track two months after "Abbey Road" was released, when it finally stopped snowing after two days and the glowing orb emerged. George Harrison seems to have been forgotten, this was a fitting tribute. And it reminded us of a time when rock and roll drove the world, when nothing more important was happening than the Beatles.

Everybody took up a guitar. Everybody listened to the radio. We needed to get closer. This was no Facebook, this was something fully alive, that got inside and made you feel powerful, allowed you to transcend your problems, you just wanted to get closer.

And when Art Garfunkel came out and joined his old partner I marveled that "Sounds Of Silence" was a hit fully forty four years ago, at this exact time of year. To listen to the two men sing was to feel young and old at the same time.

Then the rockers hit the stage. Ray Davies was out of voice, the Lou Reed number didn't quite come together and Ozzy was hilarious but he looked younger than anybody on stage, having had way too much work. They all tried. But this was what it appeared to be, a special event, pairing buddies both old and new and leaving us...sadly somnambulant. We were watching TV, we weren't feeling TV!

Then came U2. "Vertigo" was botched so badly at first I wasn't even sure what song it was.

But one thing was clear. In this context, where you could see him, it was indisputable that Bono was a phenomenal front man. The moves, the words, they were beyond charisma. Charisma is what an actor has, something surface, something vapid. Whereas we want to get inside our rock stars, we want to see what makes them tick.

And when the number ended, Bono started to rap. About going to Yonkers, to Queens. But then he and his band took us higher than that, lifted us up over Madison Square Garden to the point we were hovering over the entire isle of Manhattan.

This was the treated guitar intro introduced on "Achtung Baby". The dark sound that dared us to come inside, to join the experience. And then the twiddling lead, like a blinking star in the sky inviting our attention. Then the rat-a-tat-tat of Larry Mullen, Jr.'s drums. Eventually I saw Vinnie Colaiuta pound the skins behind Jeff Beck, but I enjoyed Mr. Mullen more. Because just like Ringo, he perfectly complemented his band's sound. This was an attack, Larry was pounding bullets, imploring us, driving us forward.

And then Bono starts to sing like he means it. They're his words, not the rhymes of some hack in a back room. He was feeling it, and as a result we felt it too.

Everything I thought I knew was wrong. Not only soft music could work on TV, U2 was killing it! Unlike what had come before, this was not nostalgia, but alive and kicking. This was rock and roll!

Bono wasn't playing to the back row of a stadium, seeming miles away.

He wasn't playing for the YouTube audience.

He was playing just for us.

But it was better than that. He wasn't trying to convince the audience, he was showing the audience. That's what the Who specialized in, a veritable assault. You didn't nod your head and smile, singing along, your hair was blown back, you couldn't believe what you were seeing.

This number was brand new. But it fit perfectly in U2's canon, with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Until The End Of The World".

Mick Jagger took the stage and one could see the lineage, of someone who took over and demanded your attention, Bono was in a long line...well, maybe a short line of commanding performers. And Fergie was better than could be imagined, but "Gimmie Shelter" never gelled, because unlike "Magnificent", it was never haunting, it lacked the ethereal quality of the original.

And Bono's duet with Mick fell flat too, the song just wasn't good enough.

But "Magnificent" was. I couldn't speak. My eyes were glued to the tube. I remembered what made me a believer.

From there it was downhill.

Until Sam Moore took the stage behind Bruce Springsteen's amalgamation and took a bizarre victory lap that rang so true, as he poured out "Hold On I'm Comin'" and "Soul Man".

But it's "Magnificent" that stuck with me. Because it encapsulated exactly Bono's description of rock and roll. Liberation!

COPYRIGHTS & WRONGS-A Guide to protecting your music....3

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REGISTER FOR CASH

Let's say you've composed a song, gotten it exactly how you want it, and have written it down or recorded it. It's not plagiarized and it has some creative spark. Under current U.S. copyright law, satisfying these criteria alone means you have a natural copyright and your work is protected. It's advisable, however, to register your song with the Library of Congress as soon as possible to establish a public record of it. In most cases, it must be registered before you can sue someone for infringement or collect compulsory mechanical-license royalties.

The Library of Congress Copyright Office classifies your new song composition as a Performing-Art Work. Fill out Form PA to register a musical composition only. This is useful for artists who are strictly songwriters. Send the completed form, a nonreturnable copy of your material and a $45 registration fee to the Library of Congress Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. For compositions, acceptable materials include a manuscript (lead sheet, full sheet music, or orchestrations) or a phonorecord (tape, CD, MP3 on disc). Make sure you include the entire song--everything you want protected--in your submission.

Your registration becomes effective when the Copyright Office receives it. In a few months you will receive a certificate of registration.

Those who are both writers and recording artists may register their composition and the accompanying recording at the same time and for one fee by using Form SR. In that case, you would send your song on a phonorecord only.

Also use Form SR to register sound recordings only (ideal for performers who don't write their own music). The application process and the fee per submission are the same as for musical compositions. Remember that the material you send for a sound recording must be a phonorecord and can't be a manuscript or audiovisual work such as a movie, music video or other multimedia format.

More tomorrow...

Jon Bon Jovi / John Mayer, What's The Difference

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If older folk still buy music and younger people steal it, why did John Mayer sell almost twice as many albums the first week out as Bon Jovi?

Yes, according to hitsdailydouble.com, John Mayer sold 301,204 copies of his new album, "Battle Studies", this week. Whereas last week, Bon Jovi moved 165,871 copies of "The Circle".

Ready for some truly horrifying news? This week "The Circle" fell all the way to number 19, selling 50,153 copies, a whopping drop of 70%. Whew!

What's the difference between John and Jon?

One is living in 2009 and the other is living in the last century.

Jon Bon Jovi was positively old media, tying in with NBC.

John Mayer was new media, appearing in concert on Fuse and tweeting up a storm.

It doesn't matter the total reach, it matters who actually watches and what the perception is.

Fuse would be canceled, the entire channel, if its programming was on NBC. To say the ratings are anemic would be charitable. But Fuse airs music, unlike MTV. And most people watching the shows featuring Bon Jovi on NBC don't give a shit about the man's music. In other words, Jon's shoving it down the wrong people's throats.

Jon Bon Jovi has a fawning documentary on Showtime.

John Mayer is all over Twitter.

Did you watch any of the Bon Jovi doc? Shot like it was footage for "America's Next Top Model", everyone looked beautiful and spouted humble platitudes, like we were still living in the eighties and rock stars were established on MTV and made a freaking fortune. Whereas the truth is everybody's scrambling, giving concert tickets away in some instances. Bon Jovi reflecting is like Lloyd Blankfein saying Goldman Sachs is doing "God's work". Huh?

Laughable.

If you Google "Bon Jovi Twitter", the first result is: http://m.twitter.com/backstagejbj a page that doesn't exist. The second result is http://twitter.com/bonjovimerch

Wow, someone in JBJ's camp doesn't understand Twitter. It's not for selling, its for CONNECTING!

Meanwhile, the Bon Jovi merch page has 1,540 followers.

Google "John Mayer Twitter" and you get the following page: http://twitter.com/jOhnCmAYer

John Mayer has 2,657,425 Twitter followers. Furthermore, he's following 72 people, so you get an idea of what he's into.

Bon Jovi's old school, playing behind a wall, just like Doug Morris and Jimmy Iovine, rarely coming out to play and only in circumstances they can control.

John Mayer is new school. Putting it all out there unfiltered, getting into arguments with Perez Hilton, never backing down, not afraid to look like a tool.

It's the honesty that grabs you. That's why people are following John Mayer, that's why they care about him. Furthermore, in an era where album sales represent only a fraction of your fan base, you want to get attention where you can. Not by batting people over the head, telling them they must endure you, but being so provocative, so interesting that they want to tune in.

Nobody plays the new media game better than Mr. Mayer.

He makes a deal with BlackBerry and it looks cool. Kind of like a rapper, ripping off the man, because you know he uses a BlackBerry anyway! Whereas U2 makes a deal with BlackBerry and you see dollar signs, you see promotion, you see a deal. If you endorse a product you truly use is it a sell-out?

The classic rock acts would probably say yes, you don't want to tarnish your image.

But Mr. Mayer is at the bleeding edge of a new paradigm, where the rules are being made up as we go. He's so overexposed that he's establishing a new way of doing it, you almost feel like he's a guy at your high school, that you know him. Does anybody really know Jon Bon Jovi? Who never has a bad word to say about anyone?

Old school: You're afraid of pissing anybody off, you're Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl, apologizing.

New school: Dixie Chicks. Screw with me and I'll give you the middle finger.

In other words, it's been a long strange trip, but we're suddenly back in the sixties. It's about artistry, it's about music, it's about honesty. You don't triangulate, construct a phony identity for public consumption. You're better off being your real self. Hell, the Internet will tease out your flaws anyway, why not admit them?

Jon Bon Jovi utters irrelevant platitudes and John Mayer sings "Who says I can't get stoned?"

Politicians have to lie about doing dope. But artists are supposed to speak the truth, and the public has to deal with it. Which is why we love our artists more than any political figure.

"Who says I can't get stoned
Call up a girl that I used to know
Fake love for an hour or so
Who says I can't get stoned?"

A weird variation on drunk-dialing. Maybe her number is still in your cell. Maybe you've got to IM her, maybe you've got to pull up her Facebook page. But you're sitting at home, thinking about what used to be. Can you act on it?

That's a question confronting everyone online. Do you make contact or let the sleeping dogs of the past lie?

Bon Jovi, Mimi, all the stars of the MTV era are still living in it, oblivious to the fact that the nineties were ten years ago, and that in Internet time, a decade is equivalent to a century. It's not a three year cycle, you're on a day to day regimen.

"Any tweet that takes more than 90 seconds to write is not a tweet worth sending."

John Mayer

Yes, we used to make records in an afternoon and get them on the radio in a week. Now, TV and movies are more topical than music. Let it out, go knee-jerk, don't massage, don't focus on the marketing plan, focus on the music.

And stay in touch with your audience CONSTANTLY!

"Who Says": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZwVjys2bQI

COPYRIGHTS & WRONGS-A Guide to protecting your music....2

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IN THE WORKS....

Musicians, songwriters, and recording artists typically encounter two types of copyrightable work: the first is the particular arrangement of notes and lyrics; the second is, the song itself. This is usually referred to as a musical composition, an underlying work (when referenced in relation to a sound recording), or just a song.

A song may have multiple writers, lyricists and arrangers, and the copyright can be split among them on a percentage basis. If you are writing with a partner or you involve others in your creative process, be sure to discuss early on how or if you will divvy up the copyright. Some songwriters assign all or a portion of their copyright to a music publisher who has agreed to market the song for them.

The second type of work you need to protect is the sound recording itself. A song may be recorded by any number of people so each recorded rendition is copyrightable. Even if you write as well as record the song, you need to protect your composition and your recording with separate copyrights. And, as with a musical composition, there may be others involved in the recording process, such as producers, who are entitled to a portion of the copyright. When an artist is signed to a record label, the label often retains the copyright of the master recording.

More tomorrow....

COPYRIGHTS & WRONGS-A Guide to protecting your music....1

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Well, the Music Publishing series went well and there were many responses clearly indicating that it is information that was useful and very much wanted. Today we will begin our series on Copyrights and Wrongs. There will be 7 editions to this series so keep a look out for them over the next 10 days, not counting the holiday coming up.

As an artist, your creative works are the lifeline of your business. By protecting them through copyright registration, you can control how they're used and ensure that you receive the income from them that you deserve.

To make the system function for you, you have to understand how it works. To that end, we'll explain a number of important music-copyright issues, such as what constitutes a copyrightable work, how to properly register a work, what rights you have if you're hired to write a song, and what happens to your copyright when you die. But remember, if you have copyright questions, consult a qualified attorney; this series should not be considered legal advice.

Just the fact...

In its most rudimentary definition, a copyright is actually personal property. But like trademarks and patents, a copyright is regarded as intellectual property, which is created from the minds of its authors. Copyright protection applies to literary works, musical compositions and recordings, dramatic works, choreography, and visual arts.

When you own the rights to a song, you control its use. Ownership gives you six exclusive rights: the right to make copies, creative derivative works and revisions, publish and distribute your creation, perform the work in public (or display it, in the case of visual art), and, in the case of sound recordings, perform it in public through a digital transmission (currently this refers to songs played on the Web). As an owner, you can even assign the whole copyright or shares of it to others.

For a song to be copyrightable, it must meet three criteria. First, your work must be fixed in a tangible form--it must be written down or recorded, so others can perceive it. Second, it has to be original, meaning that someone else hasn't already created it. And, third, it must demonstrate at least a modicum of creative expression...


More tomorrow.....

Bon Jovi Circle

Cover of Lost Highway

How do we want to spin this? That few want Bon Jovi's new music or NBC is in the crapper?

Yes, follow the stories. NBC/Universal may end up being controlled by Comcast. This has got more to do with Vivendi exercising an exit clause than NBC sucking, but the network does. Blame it on Jay Leno at 10 or a general lack of creativity, but the ratings are terrible, the network is far-removed from the leaders of the pack, just like Bon Jovi is far-removed from the audience.

Jon Bon Jovi even did the Actors Studio. I guess it speaks more to the lost credibility of James Lipton than the becoiffed one's lack of a distinguished film career, but still...what's next? Bon Jovi suiting up for the Jets? Or the New England Patriots?

You've got to give us a reason to care. And most people don't anyway. So, you're speaking to your core audience at most, and it turns out these people don't want new Bon Jovi music, they just want to hear that Tommy used to work on the docks.

In case you missed the memo, "Circle", with all its shenanigans, the incredible hype, the $3.99 offer, sold 163,000 copies last week. Which might sound somewhat impressive, since the album debuted at number one, but their 2007 country effort, "Lost Highway", also entered at the top of the chart, yet it sold 292,000 copies! Meaning that even though they were selling out, being crass commercial marketers, going country was a better idea than playing the mainstream game. Sure, sales have dropped in the past two years, but not THIS much!

Bon Jovi got it all wrong. They should have put out ONE song. Woodshed until they got one right. Then licensed this one cut to the NFL or ESPN and had it banged ad infinitum. Most of the NBC hype fell on deaf ears. Today's story is we avoid anything we're not interested in. We had to sit through Bon Jovi on MTV in the eighties, today we flip the channel or surf to another site.

Speaking of sites, Bon Jovi even advertised on CNN!

Who took the band's money? Who is so out of touch with today's market conditions? In a time of upheaval you don't play by the old rules, you revolt and do something completely new. And believe me, lining up with a major TV network is positively last century. That shotgun approach, hit everybody and hope they're interested, leaves you with a ton of wasted impressions, people who don't give a shit.

It's all about the tour. That's where the money is. So, I'd juice up the tour. Whether it be by playing "Slippery When Wet" from start to finish, the only album people truly care about, or creating a live extravaganza like Kenny Chesney's multi-bill stadium shows. Every hair band come back to life! You know the female Bon Jovi audience, the act's main driver, loved Slaughter and Cinderella and Winger and White Lion too...

And where's the online contest? Find the right clues, and you get a song written just for you, the winner!

Where's the promotional tour where you show up at diehard winners' houses? Yup, you compete online and then Jon and Richie show up unannounced, like the Publishers Clearing House, and perform "Wanted Dead Or Alive" in your living room.

And speaking of "Wanted Dead Or Alive"... Where's the live rendition from Phil, from "Deadliest Catch"? With a video to match? This barely alive skipper with a Marlboro habit should be featured, just like the song that leads off this series so well.

In other words, where's the creativity? Shit, Josh Freese got more ink and had more penetration of the public consciousness with one good idea than Bon Jovi achieved playing by the old rules.

Because creativity rules. And when you get to superstar level, the acts are creatively bankrupt. Just playing by the old rules, looking for a paycheck. Even though so many broke the rules in order to achieve their success.

You've got to risk. You've got to take chances. You've got to realize we live in 2009, not 1989.

Used to be music was the cutting edge artistic medium. Then, you had a better chance of seeing present-day reality in "Law & Order" than hearing it on a record album. Shit, "South Park" still takes chances. Why can't Bon Jovi?

The best Bon Jovi bit of the last ten years, eclipsing all of their music, was their interview with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Why didn't they have Triumph do their new interview? Make a deal with YouTube to get it on the home page?

As for the album itself... It may trigger a revenue-producing event, but it's a circle jerk between the act and the label. It's about music. Create some music that we truly want to hear, that we can sink our teeth into. Otherwise, it's all just marketing. And you can't sell what the public doesn't want.

Bon Jovi and NBC Universal Team Up For First-Ever Artists In Residence Project: http://www.nbc.com/news/2009/10/15/bon-jovi-and-nbc-universal-team-up-for-first-ever-artists-in-residence-project/

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1z09v_triumph-the-insult-comic-dog-bon-jo_animals

Paper Sheds New Light On Music Listening Habits

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A good friend of mine shared this information with me and it was important enough to share with you. I field 100's of questions a day asking the big question, "how important is radio today?" Here are some facts you can use as you try to determine your various strategies on promoting your next single.


Paper Sheds New Light On Music Listening Habits
November 03, 2009 -
Digital and Mobile
By Glenn Peoples,

Nashville: A new paper by Council for Research Excellence (CRE) with support from the Nielsen Company dispels many of the myths about how people today listen to music. From broadcast radio to MP3 players, some popular notions about listening in the digital age appear to be horribly off the mark. "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio" is the result the tracking of 752 days of audio media usage of participants in five markets -- Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Seattle - in parts of Spring and Fall of 2008. The study includes both users and non-users of media devices.

Myth: People don't listen to the radio anymore. According to the study, broadcast radio by far has the broadest reach and commands the most listening time. Broadcast radio has a 79.1% reach and gets an average of 122 minutes per day from listeners.

Myth: Young people don't listen to radio less than older adults. The CRE found that 79.2% of listeners from 18 to 34 listen to broadcast radio, and they average 104 minutes per day. Radio's daily reach amongst younger listeners is only slightly lower than its 80.6% amongst 35 to 54 year olds. That older group averages 107 listening minutes per day - just three fewer than younger listeners.

Myth: Nobody listens to CDs anymore. CDs and cassette tapes are second in reach (behind broadcast radio) and get an average of 72 minutes per day from users. CDs represented 16.1% of daily listening time in the study, over twice that of satellite radio and over three times the share of portable MP3 players. CD listening is higher for consumers with lower incomes and less education. However, the reach of CD listening is the same whether or not the listener is technology oriented.

Myth: Young people are over CDs. Young listeners actually listen to CDs more often than older listeners, according to the study. Just under half the 18 to 34 age group listen to CDs every day, and they average 78 minutes per day. Only 36.2% of the 35 to 54 group listen to CDs daily, and they average just 74 minutes per day. Myth: The iPod has killed off radio and CDs. Portable MP3 players had only an 11.6% daily reach and a 4.9% share of all audio. Even among the 18 to 34 age group, MP3 players account for only 7.5% of each day's listening time.

Myth: The computer is the new stereo. Only 10.4% of the sample used their computers to listen to a digital file while only 9.3% streamed audio on their computers.
Myth: The Internet is where people discover music. The two ways to listen to music on a computer - a saved file or streamed audio - represented very little of the study's listening hours. Files accounted for only 4.1% of the study's total daily listening. Streamed audio amounted to only 3.8%. The daily reach of each was about 10%.

Myth: The digital crowd has given up on other formats. Over four-fifths of people who listen to MP3 players listen to broadcast radio and they average 97 minutes per day. People who stream audio on their computers average 98 minutes of broadcast radio per day.

CAN I SEE YOUR LICENSE - MUSIC PUB SERIES

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When you finally get a call from a company wanting to use one of your sopngs, you'd better have your license forms ready to do business. Prepare all the license forms you expect you might need ahead of time, leaving particulars such as signatory names, song titles, dates, royalties and fees blank. They'll be fiolled in following negotiations.

A mechanical license is used to authorize phonorecords of a song to be recorded and distributed. You'll want to prepare a separate mechanical license for authorizing digital phono record delivery, also known as Internet Download.

You'll need two different forms of streaming licenses to authorize streaming songs on the Internet: one for fee-based streaming on demand, and the other fro promotional streaming such as that used by recording artists on MySpace. A master-use license permits all or some of a demo's recorded track to be used in a new recording or placed in a film or on TV. You'll also need to prepare separate synchronization licenses (permitting the song to be synchronized to picture) for placements in film, TV, and commercial advertisements. Additional licenses include those for use of your songs in video games and ring tones.

You could have a music-business attorney draw up these documents, but it'll likely cost you thousands of dollars, especially if license terms need to be tweaked during negotiations. A good entertainment lawyer typically charges between $150-$750 per hour. Anyone can learn to understand and write the legalese required to fashion their own licenses, by studying the right books. Remember in our last session "A Good Education" is my recommendation on required reading.

Once one of your songs is recorded, you'll need to register it with your PRO. If you don't they won't know who to pay performance royalties to when the song title appears in their sample surveys of radio broadcasts and the like. Go to the PRO's web site to download the proper registration form.

More on Monday....

TAYLOR SWIFT RESPONDS

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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.

A GOOD MUSIC EDUCATION IS PRICELESS

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To be successful, a music publisher must be thoroughly educated about the complexities of the music business. Here are three books I recomend:

All You Need To Know About the Music Business, 6th ed., by Donald S. Passman (Free Press, 2003). This is a must-read for music publishers, especially those who are also performing musicians or aspiring recording artists.

Music, Money and Success, 5th ed., by Jeffrey Brabec and Todd Brabec (Schirmer Trade Books, 2006). Reviewed in November 2007 issue of EM, this is the most comprehensive reference book for music publishers and other industry professionals I've read to date. The last chapter contains five sample contracts.

This Business of Music, 9th ed., by William Krasilovsky and Sydney Shemel (Billboard Books, 2003). Considered by some to be "old school" and short on dollars-and-sense advice, this book never-theless includes excellent chapters on copyright law.

We have 3 more segments to complete this music publishing series. Following that we will begin a series on Copyrights and Wrongs and for those of you interested in our real estate series, we will do that simultaneously.

If you have friends that are on your MySpace, FB or Twitter pages and feel that they would benefit from this series, please feel free to email them with a link to share this valuable information with them at http://composer62.blogspot.com

More tomorrow....

GIRL CAN'T HELP IT

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There are so many things wrong with Sirius XM I don't know where to begin. But it all starts with the programming.

Distribution is king. But arrangements have already been made with all the car manufacturers. Sure, it's important to get on new platforms, but if Sirius XM is banking on its iPhone app for profitability, it might as well go bankrupt now.

XM used to be a cult. Millions strong, people frothed at the mouth when they discussed it. Did you hear this? That? Now, we hear too much of what we already know, which we've already heard. What kind of crazy screwed up service is it where there are a hundred plus stations and everybody complains they're hearing the same damn songs over and over again?

I tried to battle perception, to fight the tide, because despite its failings, Sirius XM is still my listening of choice in the car. I don't talk on the cell, I just want to bask in the music. But how many times can I hear Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy"? And the promos... They're just as bogus as what's on terrestrial radio, as if we need to be sold on the service, as if they're programming for theoretical aliens who've never heard music before. The stations are riddled with every radio cliche known to man. Exactly the crap that Lee Abrams excercised on XM. It's so jive.

Still, some of the XM stations are still brilliant. Like Deep Tracks. And the Loft. But Outlaw Country is a shadow of XM's X Country. And the regular country station is riddled with repeats. Worst is the Bridge. Even housewives like to have sex. Listen to the station, all the rough ends have been shorn off. I like soft rock, but when I hear the promos, I wince. I want surprises. Delivered by normal people, who believe in music, not research, who don't follow the trades, but spend time checking out music themselves.

And then I stumble upon something like "Girl Can't Help It".

They've neutered the decades channels. The same damn songs again and again. Nothing unknown, and ultimately, nothing unexpected. But then you hear something you don't know, or barely know, and you have that magic radio moment, when you feel like you want to point your car towards Reno, some destination unknown ten or twelve hours away, just so you can be alone in the car, listening to the radio.

Where do we want to begin with Journey?

Do we want to state it was a completely different band before Steve Perry joined? Or say that we hated the people who loved them? Or that so much of the music was meaningless?

Or do we just want to say that Steve Perry had an incredible voice?

One of my favorite Journey songs is a Steve Perry solo work, "Oh Sherrie". And I'll admit to even coming to like "Wheel In The Sky", "Any Way You Want It" and "Lights" in their heyday. But I threw out the "Escape" cassette someone gave me. I was afraid someone would see it in my glove box.

And then came the "Sopranos" finale.

Not much was happening. Everybody was having dinner. Maybe Tony was about to be clipped. All we know is there was tension. And playing over this creepy moment was a powerful, sunny song by a band we'd never align with the best TV series of the twenty first century. Then again, Tony did not have eclectic tastes. He was positively mainstream. He remembered his eighties heyday, getting high, driving along to the tunes. So, maybe "Don't Stop Believin'" was a perfect fit.

What we do know is overnight Journey became legitimized. Enough time had gone by for the haters to admit their guilty pleasure. We could all admit this was a damn powerful song. We didn't want to stop believing, in the power of great art like the "Sopranos", of powerful rock and roll like "Don't Stop Believin'".

So I'm about a mile from my house, pushing my satellite radio buttons. And I hear a somewhat familiar hook. I know I've heard it before, but I can't really place it. I look down at the radio readout to see it's Journey's "Girl Can't Help It". Huh?

The song keeps building. It's missing some of the perfection Clive Davis insists upon. But when the tension is released, it's exactly like coming. That's what a great record is, a sexual moment.

"Ooh, there's a fire in his eyes for you"

Who knows why you broke up. But you can't seem to get it back together. You'd talk about her more, but your friends are gonna avoid you if you do, and you need them to get through. Still, you lie awake at night, thinking only of her.

"And when he calls her
She tells him that she still cares"

That's the problem. You know it's going to hurt. But you can't help but try and connect. And the problem is the feeling is about as good as ever. But the conversation doesn't end up with you getting back together, but still apart, your guts ripped open once again.

"Girl can't help it, she needs more"

The curse of modern society. No one wants to settle, no one wants to get less than he deserves.

"Hasn't found what he's lookin' for"

He felt that when they broke up he would crawl from the wreckage into a brand new car. But he didn't realize how much they truly shared, how hard it is to get that far with anybody.

"Ooh, nothing stands between love and you"

Except everything.

There are millions of members of the opposite sex. You're surrounded. But you feel positively alone, you're lonely. What to do?

Turn on the radio. Listen for that song that describes your plight.

And oftentimes, when the track's a hit, when you first love it, the words don't apply at all. And then, in your moment of despair, you rediscover it.

These are the moments I'm looking for. The unexpected. "Girl Can't Help It" is not a Sirius XM staple, I heard it at eleven p.m. on the west coast. There's no problem hearing "Don't Stop Believin'", but that won't get you through the night. You need something just for you. And radio, when done right, is just like that. A hot medium, where you get the impression you're the only listener extant, and the deejay is spinning the records just for you.

If Sirius XM is going to recover from its tailspin, it's going to be as a result of its programming. At this point, even Dell and HP make slick computers. But Apple triumphs because of the software. Not only the clean OS, but the built-in apps. Just open your ears, you can't avoid the cacophony of lemmings testifying. Satellite radio's throng was never quite as large, but it was just as rabid. But now it's like the Sculley era, the late eighties and early nineties in Macville, when only the true believers held on. Until Steve returned.

I'd say to bring back Lee Abrams.

Because to Lee, it wasn't about picking records, it was about a love for radio. The experience of tuning in and finding your one and only friend.


You can hear "Girl Can't Help It" by Googling it and clicking the LaLa button to play it.

Or you can go to YouTube to hear the same studio version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6mxYRwA0FI

Or, you can dial up this "live" take: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoD-ex6LMwA

Yes, that's the dogg himself, Randy Jackson, playing the bass. Check the hair!

And yes, that's still Neal Schon on guitar, who started off with Carlos. As in Santana.

And fronting the band is the guy in tails, with the 80's 'do, Steve Perry.

But what you want to check out most is the crowd.

We used to have no problem pulling tens of thousands to the gig. When you didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to get in and the songs literally drove the culture.

"They're still standing in the rain
He can't help it, and she's just that way"

We're still waiting. We remember the power of music. We're waiting for it to come back. To be about the music as opposed to profits.

They're just that way. Like the bankers. Worrying how to make their nut, which has got many more zeros than that of the listeners.

Used to be the music was enough. To not only satiate the audience, but rain coin on the players and their handlers.

It's still enough.

We don't have a theft problem, we've got a music problem. What's the modern song that's going to end the "Sopranos"?

"Ooh, there's a fire in his eyes for you For you she cries Ooh do you know she still cries for you"

The businessmen don't talk about the music. And the players are either concerned how to break into the chart, get paid, or are so busy doing solely what they want that no one else can relate.

Still, right now, I don't give a shit.

Because when you listen to a song as great as "Girl Can't Help It", no matter how flawed it might be, its magic lifts you up from your seat, causes you twirl around the room like Stevie Nicks, makes you feel like it's JUST GREAT TO BE ALIVE!

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

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After you have a few song demos ready to pitch, its time to develop a list of contacts who will be willing to listen to them. This is the most difficult aspect of music publishing, as literally tens of thousands of people vie for the attention of the industry's decision makers, who can't possibly communicate with them.

There's no one way to make industry contacts, but here are some strategies in brief. Enter your best songs in prominent songwriting competitions (see the online bonus material "They're Playing My Song" at emusician.com); a contest win will often give A & R managers and producers incentive to listen to an otherwise unknown writer. Try to perform at one of the songwriter showcases sponsored by your PRO; industry contacts often attend these and may approach you if they are impressed by your performance and writing skills.. Attend songwriting conferences at which A & R reps and producers are scheduled to participate. And ask any well--connected friends you might have to introduce you to their contacts. Networking is a must.

Several excellent industry directories are available that list contacts' names, job titles, addresses, and sometimes direct phone numbers (see the sidebar "The Direct Approach"). Make a separate list of the personal contacts you've already made, and update it often. Present this list by any polite means possible to those new contacts you want to make. Everyone wants to hear a writer who is already being listened to by other top dogs in the industry. Your list will grow in rolling-snowball fashion.

Unless you're already extremely connected, you'll need to subscribe to tip sheets (also known as pitch sheets) that list which artists are currently looking for songs to record for upcoming projects.

A song typically has to be a hit before it has a shot at being used in a national advertising campaign. The exception is a song that is a "work made for hire," or one written by an employee or subcontractor for a production company handling the ad campaign.

To get an unknown song placed in a TV or film project, you need to know what projects are in development or production. A list of domestic and foreign projects can be found at variety.com. Successful placement is also likely predicated on your living in or near Hollywood, where you can form the necessary relationships with TV and film studios, music supervisors and the like.

Alternatively, seek out a music publisher who already has film and TV industry connections and negotiate a revenue sharing agreement in return for them placing your songs. Just be sure to limit their entitlement to only those revenues generated from the TV and film placements they negotiate (and possibly any album). A good directory for finding film and Tv oriented publishers to collaborate with is the Music Industry's Film & Television Music Guide.

More tomorrow....

I WANT YOU BACK AGAIN

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The Valiants played "She's Not There" at Ilene Kramer's bat mitzvah party. Held at Hillandale Country Club on a gray February day, I actually danced a few times. I'd recovered from being snubbed by Nancy Moss at Bert's party the month before. But what I remember most is sitting at that round table, listening to the Valiants, the best bar/bat mitzvah band in the land.

During slow numbers like "She's Not There" you danced close. This was just before you put both limbs around your partner, when you still held one arm stretched out straight, hands clasped, like you learned in dancing school. I guess we could feel tits, but although we talked about them, we were not quite as infatuated as we'd later become.

The party started at four p.m. The sun slowly set. I remember distinctly hearing this Zombies tune.

I spent last night catching up with Tom Petty's Superhighway Tour. Seemingly every day, they make another track available for download, or streaming. You can take it in MP3, you can download in FLAC. There are no restrictions, you pay, you truly get all access. Dribbled out over weeks, until the actual release of Tom's multi-disc live album, when you can have the rest of the tracks.

But to get it all at once would be unfortunate, because there's too much to digest.

You see on every page, there's a little story about the track. A complete set list from the night it was recorded. Reviews. Sometimes not complimentary. And extra pics. And fan photos.

And commentary.

On every track, the three (okay, occasionally only two) key band members tell the story behind the recording. Sometimes it feels like Tom's going through the motions. Other times it's positively riveting. And fascinating.

Did you know that Tom Petty's wife has "The Wild One, Forever" on her answering machine? That Mike Campbell was stunned the audience knew the track "Nightwatchman" just moments after the album came out? And that this wouldn't happen today? In an era when the audience is overloaded and only concerned about the hit?

And there's a plethora of information on the Superhighway Tour. You almost have to clear the decks and not pay attention to anything else, you won't have the time!

But going cut by cut you're confronted with masterpieces!

Like the band's performance of "Oh Well" at Bonnaroo.

I never saw Peter Green play it. Lindsey Buckingham does an incredible version with today's band. But it's not in the LEAGUE of this Heartbreakers take. It's the pure ENERGY! Sure, Mike hits all the notes. But it's more than that, there's the TONALITY of the guitar! This rendition is STUPEFYING!

I'd say to release a single disc package of all the covers, of all the tracks that have never seen the light of the day. That's the essence of the collection. Not the live renditions of your favorites, but the revelations. Like "Goldfinger". Huh?

And there's this unreleased gem, an original entitled "Lost Without You" that sounds like a drive on a hot Florida night. Like the sweat is sticking to you, that time is moving slowly, almost too slowly, but this is your one and only life.

But the piece de resistance is the Zombies' "I Want You Back Again".

I thought maybe it was a variation on the Jackson 5 hit. I was more interested in hearing the cover of "Friend Of The Devil". But as I played the song and then listened to the commentary, I got hooked. By this cover of a lost gem.

Mike says the guitar on the track is understated, that it's a Vox twelve string, which captures the exact Zombies sound from the original record.

Benmont admits he didn't even know the record, that it slid right by him back in the day, even though he was a Zombies fan. Me too, I'd never heard of it, never mind heard it.

Tom says "I Want You Back Again" is his second favorite track of the collection. That he knew the song from the radio, and it played in his head for ten years until he found the record.

Which is pictured on the site! You click and you see that Parrot label. Distributed by London Records, home of the Stones. The credit on the label says "Directed by Ken Jones". And the time is 1:58!

I immediately pulled up the Zombies take on Spotify. The song was new to me, I needed to hear the original.

But it paled in comparison to the Heartbreakers' remake, which I immediately went back to and couldn't stop spinning. It had a driving, slashing groove, and Tom sang with that intimate intensity he specializes in.

"Somebody help me
I've got to eat
Somebody help me
To stand on my feet"

There's nothing worse than residing in the heartbreak hotel. Nothing else matters. Not work, not play. Just her. And Benmont's keyboard conveys the feeling of climbing the walls, which is exactly what you're doing!

"Since you have left me
I'm all alone
I need your help
I can't stand on my own"

There's that same mid-sixties darkness. When the movies were still in black white, before the technological revolution, when the U.K. was still emerging from the shadow of the war, when you wanted to avoid a life of desperation by playing music.

"I want you back again
Oh, oh, oh
I want you back again"

They say you can't deny your history. I spend too much of my life searching for it. Used to be it was deep in the darkness of the past. But as a result of the magic of the World Wide Web, you can find old haunts, old people, it's like the past is riding shotgun with you today.

And some elements of those days gone by still pull. Before we were adults, when we were still kids, with time to waste, to listen to these records over and over again.

Listening to Tom's take on "I Want You Back Again" ad infinitum, I decided to check out the original once again.

This time it was different. I knew the song so well, I could hear beyond the song, into the record. It feels like it was cut in an alternative "Hard Day's Night", underground, where there was no chance of advancement, yet there was still a glimmer of hope. For what, I'm not sure. But that's what music does. Give you gumption to face incredible odds.

"Oh baby don't it feel like heaven right now Don't it feel like something from a dream"

The waiting is the hardest part. For your life to unfold. Then, suddenly, too much is in the rearview mirror, you want to put on the brakes.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers know those days are done. When we fought over list price of a vinyl record, when fans lined up on the date of release with hard-earned cash and after purchasing the record spun it into oblivion, until they knew every lick and every word, being unable to afford anything more.

But no one's getting plastic surgery. No one's working with Timbaland. They did do the Super Bowl, but I'd like to see that as a momentary indiscretion. You see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers was never everybody's band. They were our band. However large "our" might have been.

Although composed of live cuts stretching back decades, the "Anthology" recordings don't sound calcified. Listening is akin to opening up a photo album with an old friend, someone who is in the pictures too. Not reliving the past silently, but commenting on it.

Yes, it's the commentary, the extras on the Superhighway Tour that make it all work. Sure, this was a way for the band to generate extra cash, but you know that constructing this site was FUN! The way music used to be. We dedicated hours out of love, to get closer, not because we were interested in a paycheck at the end.

Check out a free sample of the Superhighway Tour here:

http://www.tompettysuperhighwaytour.com/shows/1981/06/28

THE DIRECT APPROACH

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Industry directories are a must-have for music publishers. While they do not guarantee successful relationships with important industry decision makers, they do provide you with the information you need to make that first contact. The following list provides the name of each directory, its publisher's web site, and, where applicable, notes of interest.

A & R Registry, the Music Business Review (www.musicregistry.com). A comprehensive international directory of A &R staff and company executives for major and independent record labels. It also includes a useful list of music conferences and conventions.


Music Attorney, Legal & Business Affairs Registry, the Music Business Registry. A comprehensive international directory for contacts working in entertainment law.

Film & Television Music Guide, the Music Business Registry. An international directory of record labels, music publishers, film and television music departments and trailer houses, music supervisors, music placement and video game companies, composers, composer agents, orchestras, music editors, score mixers, music clearance departments, and more.

In Charge, Music Row (www.musicrow.com). This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date directory for the country music industry I've seen. Subscribers to the company's excellent Row Fax tip sheet also gain access to Music Row's expanded online directory.

Pitch This Music Directory,Pitch This Music (www.pitchthismusic.com). While this is a very limited directory for the Nashville area, it contains some exclusive, invaluable listings I've not seen elsewhere.

Producer & Engineer Directory, The Music Business Registry. Contains thousands of domestic and foreign listings for producers, engineers, and their agents.

Music Publishers Registry, the Music Business Registry. Do-it-yourself music publishers will find this international directory helpful in locating publishers for sub publishing and administrative deals. An administrative publishing deal is essentially one where a larger company handles royalty collections and disbursements, and sometimes licensing and promotion, for a smaller company such as your own.

Signing off for the weekend. More on Monday....

DEMO PRODUCTION

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An entire book can be written on the subject of producing demos, so I'll focus only on some of the points you're less likely to read elsewhere. First of all, don't let anyone tell you that production values don't matter and that the song's quality will be heard regardless of your demos sound and arrangement. A producer or A & R manager might listen to 100's of demo's each day. Which one do you think will grab their attention, the one that sounds like a hit record or the one that has an out-of-tune vocal sung to a lone acoustic guitar recorded with a Radio Shack mic?

Production is of paramount importance. Whenever possible, compose catchy instrumental hooks for your songs before recording them. Make the intro short--no more thN 10 seconds if possible. Keep solos to a maximum length of 8 bars or cut them out completely. The more deliberate, fast paced, and powerful your arrangement is, the more the demo will retain the listener's attention and sell the song.

Unless you're Prince, resist the temptation to play all the instruments and sing all the parts on your demo's. Having ace union musicians and singers perform on your demos can make them sound like hits. That said, doing so will also likely eliminate those demos from being considered for placement in film and TV projects. To use any of the instrumental tracks played by union musicians in a synch-to-picture (film or TV) placement, they must first be upgraded to "phono" status with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Phono status essentially makes the demo recordings eligible to be used in new media (film, TV, record release, and so on) as well as a "new use." The upgrade from demo to phono status requires that all musicians on the session be paid master scale, which equals roughly double the demo scale rate you already paid them, and be given pension-fund payments for the entire session. This is required even if you will use the demo recording for only one song recorded during a multi song session.

The production company must convert the demo recording to motion picture use (a new use)at considerable cost. Yet they cannot do so unless and until the demo recording is upgraded to phono status. They will typically insist that you pay for the upgrade. The production company may also ask you to make any required "additional payments" (royalties) to union musicians in connection with the song being licensed, which you should refuse to do.

All this haggling may be moot, however, as many TV placements must be negotiated from soup to nuts during your first phone conversation with the shows producer, in order to meet an imminent air date. Therefore, most producers feel there is no time to work our AFM arrangements. In most cases, they want a song whose rights are already "cleared." Similar issues arise with demo singers who belong to SAG (Screen Actors Guild). So if your main thrust as a music publisher will likely be film and TV placements, make sure your demos are either completely performed by yourself or by nonunion musicians and singers whose talents are contracted fo in a one-time buyout.

I am overwhelmed by the response to this series. We obviously listened to you, found your topic of interest and got into it. I can tell by the forwarding of these writings to others and that's awesome. Remember, it is only "applied" knowledge that gives you power to excel.

More tomorrow....

The CMA Opinion

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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.