shorturl.at/13PRo
Is this like refusing to sign with a major label?
The election taught the news business that not only was it out of touch, it had lost control of the viewing/reading public. People had detached and gone to podcasts and social media.
TV is produced. Very professional. Great sets, great makeup, and always short-form. Even long-form is short-form. "60 Minutes" will give you twelve minutes, Joe Rogan will give you HOURS! Sure, we all want to graze for the headlines, but if we want to go deeper...
Top Forty and the Spotify Top 50 are like grazing for headlines. Only it's worse in the music business, BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE DON'T CHECK THEM OUT WHATSOEVER!
Think about that, your primary product is ignored by most of the available customers.
Now this works if you're Mercedes-Benz. As a matter of fact, MBZ has gone further upscale, they're removing their cheapest offerings and focusing on the profit of expensive models.
We can't do this in music, where every song is worth essentially the same.
But is Top Forty CNN?
Absolutely. The major labels devote an inordinate amount of money and time on terrestrial radio. This is what they know. It reaches the most people. But that audience continues to drop. The ratings for CNN, MSNBC and even Fox are anemic. But online?
A million people watching a cable news channel is about average. By October 29th, Joe Rogan's podcast with Trump had 38 million views. Apples and oranges. Even online influencers, constantly derided by the mainstream media, reach many more people than the old guard does.
But what are people consuming?
Well, as stated above, longform. People want to sink their teeth in. You may be focusing on the hit single, but never has the hit single meant less.
Let me explain. A hit single is always a driver. But if there's not a lot of material underneath, a story, people are not going to be invested, they're going to move on. What does it take to get people invested?
So the major labels sell hip-hop and pop. And let's be clear, there's a huge audience for those. But the biggest act in recorded music today is in country, Morgan Wallen. And seemingly every act of stature wants in on that world, from Post Malone to Beyoncé. What is going on in the country world?
Authenticity. Credibility.
Oh, don't tell me about beers and trucks and... Of course there's a lot of country music that's a trifle. But almost all of it is relatable. It's not I'm richer than you living a better lifestyle, let me tell you about it. It's earthier. Rootsier.
Is this what the public really wants? Are the major labels delusional?
Now one of the creators of magic in podcasts is they're off-the-cuff, unedited, the exact opposite ethos of the major label work, which is rewritten and remixed to death. Good luck even finding a mistake. But it turns out mistakes are not the turnoff the industry believes, mistakes make you human, other people love vulnerability.
Harris was afraid to commit a faux pas. She was scripted, hard to penetrate. Trump was all over the map, lyin', cheatin', hurtin'...and the people loved it! They overlooked the flaws and saw someone living in the moment, just like them. Making mistakes just like them. They could relate.
Don't bark back. Trump won.
I'm not saying no one wants hip-hop and pop, I'm not saying no one wanted Harris, but I am saying the major labels' focus is wrong.
But if they change the focus...
They're lost. So they keep doing what they do, over and over again.
It's not like the signposts are not there. Zach Bryan sold out arenas and could have sold out stadiums BEFORE HE HAD A SPOTIFY TOP 50 HIT! How did people find him?
Obviously not via the usual avenues. The word was spread by the public. Which is hard to manipulate. So what you need is something that spreads, and me-too doesn't spread.
Now let's be clear, Bryan is his own worst enemy and has been recently blowing himself up, in a bad way, but the paradigm sustains.
Chris Stapleton... Shows that you don't have to be a teenager to succeed. You don't have to look like a movie star. It's about what you hear as opposed to see.
Music did not move the needle whatsoever for Harris. Why? Because nobody singing was credible. Or they'd lost their credibility along the way. They were seen as icons, not relatable people. And in the internet world we're all in it together. Have airs, tell us what to do, and people will tear you down and not believe.
Now will Chris Wallace be able to make it in the podcast/streaming world?
Well, unlike a good musician, he doesn't know who his fans are, he has no mailing list, data is everything.
And he's 77 and appeals to an aged demo, the average age of a cable news viewer is over 65. Are these the digitally-savvy people?
Well, you'd be surprised how many boomers listen to podcasts. And everybody's always looking for something new and good. The dirty little secret is most podcasts suck. Two or more people bloviating about their personal lives. Where's that at, if you want me I'll be in the bar.
So if you're good...
But Wallace knows it's about longform. The quick hit does not bond you to people anymore.
And Tucker Carlson does not get as much ink as he used to when he was on Fox, but he has finally figured out a way to reach a substantial audience online, to become part of the conversation.
And it's no longer about the chart anyway. Yes, the three big cable news networks arguing over ratings is akin to the moribund major labels manipulating the "Billboard" chart. As if anybody but the act itself cares what is number one. How are people even going to find out, it's printed in the newspaper, but they don't read the newspaper! They really only care about chart position when their favorite act implores them to buy excess vinyl or files to make them number one, talk about a spiral to the bottom, screwing your fans.
Wallace is jumping into the abyss, with no safety net. As the story has played out today, some people say he was going to lose his job in a cutback, but he jumped before he was pushed. The music industry used to jump all the time, it's been staid since...
Certainly the nineties. Formulaic divas and formulaic hip-hop.
But the story of the past few years is indies. Oftentimes built live. The recordings are nearly superfluous.
How do we regain the power of music as the foremost art form?
Oh, let's be clear, there's a music business. But if you want to know which way the wind blows, you're not going to listen to a record. That's not where the people are at. And Kendrick dissed Drake and Questlove said it was the end of hip-hop, an insular battle that is ultimately meaningless.
Now in truth people are jumping, taking risks, doing something different, all the time, as we sit here. It's just that one day you wake up and see that they control your business, that they have stolen it while you're asleep.
And that's a good thing, it reinvigorates the industry.
Now in truth the election illustrated that America is a vast country where people get their news and information from a cornucopia of outlets and there is truly no center.
There is no center in music either. Like I said, number one really doesn't matter.
And that's a good thing.
Want to win in the new world?
Be you, authentic. Don't look at what other people are doing, speak from your heart. Being able to play your instrument helps. And being able to write songs with melody and changes does too. If your audience can sing along, that goes a long way to embedding you in their heart. Sure there are songs that are great to dance to, but most of them are inherently dispensable. Hell, the music is just the grease at an EDM show.
We have to sell the music as paramount.
And that needs a refocus, a redirection.
By the big boys (and girls!)
The little ones are already doing it.
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