I really like straight shooters, like really, really. It is probably because that is how I am wired. So, naturally, I like people like that. I do find, however, that men are okay with men being straight shooters but when it comes to women, they expect you to reconfigure your DNA to accommodate their egos and dumb it down. This is painfully obvious when I deal with Nigerian men. But you all already know my response, “deal with it. Too bad so sad.” I’d get a tension headache and probably die young if I was anything but myself.
But, I digress. Back to my main point, I like straight shooters and when it comes to straight shooters in the music business, on the USA side of things, nobody does it the way Bob Lefsetz does. Here is an excerpt of a recent article he wrote on Jimmy Lovine, who is current chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.
“Although this song is specifically about Jimmy Iovine, it could be any record label honcho. You see the label and its execs need the money, to protect their lifestyle, to try and succeed in their failing race to keep up with the bankers. Selling recorded music ain’t what it used to be, and they’re not gonna suffer, the acts must.
But what is fascinating is that the acts know it. And despite all the nitwits signing up for this misadventure, the purveyors of the number one album refuse. Because it’s a bad deal. They’re not stupid, they want to be bankers too.
And one can comment on the dog eat dog world the music business has become. There used to be cocaine for everybody, now that’s gone along with the private planes and the parties and the swag… But what’s more interesting is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have decided to strike out on their own, biting the hand that used to feed them.
Used to be in the music business if you said no, the powers-that-be would say they were going to destroy you, you’d never be successful. But Jimmy Iovine is powerless against Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Now, artists are in control of their own destiny, if they choose to be.
We’ve heard continuously this century that no act has broken via the Internet, that radio is still king, that you need a major label to succeed. But we keep getting exceptions. They’re more frequent than ever.
This is the future. Doing it for yourself. Or doing it with someone who deals with you equitably.
This isn’t Jimmy Iovine’s worst nightmare, it’s Warner, Sony and Universal’s. Jimmy’s already exited the building, with Beats. . .”
Lefsetz Letter has the full story.
-Uduak
Twitter: @uduaklaw
Photocredit: Wikipedia/Wikicommons
Jimmy Lovine
Bob Lefsetz