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The Act You've Know For All These Years
September 11, 2009
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"People are still looking at Picasso. People are still looking at artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original. In the form that they worked in, in the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive than The Beatles were."
-- Robert Greenfield, a former associate editor at Rolling Stone magazine.It was Beatlemania all over the world again this week.
With the release of the remastered Beatles CD catalog and The Beatles Rock Band, it was impossible not to pick up a newspaper, magazine, or turn on a news show and not hear something about it all.
"At Amazon, the stereo and mono sets ranked first and second on the list of music best-sellers, even though the site's allotment sold out the week before and new orders won't ship for up to six weeks. The Beatles held 15 spots in the top 20." and "Midnight launches at Best Buys in 10 cities drew enthusiastic turnouts. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/rbtrfa )
I've often mentioned that the greatest test for any creative art is the test of time. It's 46 years since The Beatles music first made it way to our shores and changed everything in pop music from that point on. In just a few short years, they literally transformed the retail record landscape.
As I wrote back in 2004, "When The Beatles released 'Rubber Soul' and made the decision that there would be no single released from the album for radio or retail (much to Capitol's dismay originally), radio programmers simply put "Michelle" on their stations along with "I'm Looking Through You," and about four other tracks from the album. The Beatles ruled at retail and requests, so radio had to respond. But the fact is, NOBODY had ever achieved that kind of airplay (album tracks) at Top 40 radio previously. The Beatles were the first. Of course, 'Rubber Soul' wasn't the only album they released without a single for radio/retail. 'Sgt. Pepper' (the first rock "concept" album) didn't have a single and neither did their double-album 'The White Album.' But it made no difference ... they were all over Top 40 radio. "
What's happening at retail now isn't happening because of hype or because hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in advertising. The Beatles CDs and the Beatles Rock Band are selling in such great quantities because their music has never failed to capture new audience year after year. It's just that good. (And for any readers who still "don't get" The Beatles, then I suggest you stop reading here)
There has far too much said about The Beatles this week in the media, and far more has been said in books, films, TV documentaries, on DVDs and more. I'm not going to attempt to dissect any of the many things being said, I just included the links to a few great news articles about the events that happened this week below.
Both of these events (the remastered CD catalog and The Beatles Rock Band) have done more to engage the audience at music retail, outside of the early deaths of music icons that always spur sales. (e.g., the recent death of Michael Jackson)
This is indeed a good thing. Not because people are buying so many CDs again (which makes EMI ecstatic no doubt), but because they are buying a catalog of albums not just a 'Greatest Hits' album. Each Beatles album can be played from start to finish and every song is great. There is no disposable music from The Beatles. Their early albums might contain more boy-girl love songs, but some of those songs even contained many qualities The Beatles would later use as they progressed artistically.
The industry would do well to learn from what's happening from "the act you've know for all these years."
What would EMI be doing today to generate such revenues without the remastered catalog? Will anything they do next year and beyond provide the revenues that can be generated from a catalog from a group that stopped recording together in 1971? Nope. It ain't gonna' happen.
How many artists that rule the charts today will be generating such a global impact at retail in 40 to 50 years and still be relevant? Can anybody name one possibility? (If so, by all means e-mail me your nominees)
Yes, "it was a different time back then" in the '60s and '70s." I've heard that too many times from too many record execs who think it's different today because things have changed in so many other ways that have affected peoples' music buying habits. Maybe. But the real reason albums don't sell like they used to (aside from illegal downloading, which certainly hasn't stopped Taylor Swift from selling gazillions, read on to 'Track 2' below) is because THE MUSIC ON MOST OF THEM JUST ISN'T THAT GOOD. Asking people to spend $10 on a CD that contains one or two good tracks is simply short-sighted hope.
As I mentioned above, The Beatles didn't want to release singles on many of their albums. It didn't make any difference because they wouldn't put out a new album until they knew they had 10-12 great songs they were satisfied with. Great songs that made the entire album one that listeners would want to play over and over again. Today, outside of the real artists who make every effort to make an entire album worth listening to, the albums that get played over and over again by many are the "Now That's What I Call Music" compilations. Why not? Every song is hit. And almost every song was a hit on every Beatles album whether it was a single or not.
I've been listening to "Abbey Road" tonight as I write the newsletter, and of course the medley (originally on side 2 when it was released on vinyl) came crashing through my speakers as vibrant, crisp, and as fresh as anything out there today.
Millions more people will be listening to The Beatles music for the first time because of all that's going on, millions more will be re-listening to albums they probably haven't played in their entirety in quite some time.
For those listening, "a splendid time is guaranteed for all."
(Note: For anybody that is a real Beatle fan, one book that I've found fascinating year after year, is 'The Beatles Recording Sessions, 1962-1970, The Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes' by Mark Lewisohn. You can find it on Amazon from several sellers)
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 2
TAYLOR SWIFT PROVES QUALITY SELLS ALBUMS, EVEN WHEN BIZ IS BAD AND ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING REMAINS RAMPANT
Taylor Swift has surpassed the 10 million mark for album sales, according to Big Machine Records. That figure represents albums actually sold. But that's not all: Taylor has also sold more than 20 million paid song downloads, and that's more than any artist in Country music history.
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THE 'A-SIDE' - TRACK 3
A PERSONAL NOTE OF CONGRATULATIONS TO A TRUE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL
Back in June I wrote, "When VNU (now the Nielsen Company, and owner of ACNielsen, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, many other publications and Nielsen BDS airplay data) bought R&R back in 2007, I wondered how long it would take for them to fold a lot of the radio charts and information into Billboard."
When they folded Radio & Records, like many people I was saddened that so many great people I'd come to know over the years at the publication would be either out of work, or in some holding pattern. One of those people was R&R's Triple A Editor, John Schoenberger.
I've known John for almost four decades, we both did local promotion together in Miami, and when I became VP/Promotion at MCA Records, John was the very first person I hired as my head of Album Promotion. I knew his passion for music, and his knowledge of it were extraordinary, and that he was a consummate professional. Every radio person who ever worked with John loved him and when I hired him my phone rang off the hook with a bunch of them telling me what an asset John would be to the label.
John later went on, like so many other great radio and record people, to join the great family at Radio & Records. Bob Wilson, R&R's founder, had a tradition of hiring music people that carried the torch, and even though Bob was no longer at the paper, his tradition carried on, and John became the paper's Triple A Editor.
When I had a car accident back in 1994 that put me in the hospital for a month, I awoke one afternoon out of a drugged sleep to find John sitting next to me, waiting to talk to me. I don't know how John found about the accident, and how he found out what hospital I was in, because I didn't tell anybody the accident until after I was released, but he was there. That's the kind of friend John is, and that to me speaks volumes about his character.
This week, I received the news that John is now the new Triple A Editor at ALL ACCESS. (www.allaccess.com).
This from All Access: "Noting the significance of this move, ALL ACCESS President & Publisher JOEL DENVER said, "JOHN's hiring represents a very strong addition to the ALL ACCESS editorial staff, and adds another active music format to the ALL ACCESS presence in the Radio and Music communities. "I have known JOHN for many years and have the utmost respect for his creativity, integrity, relationships, and his passion for the artists and music in the Triple A format. I am very confident that JOHN will continue to grow the importance of the Triple A format here at ALL ACCESS for many years to come."
John noted, "There is no question that ALL ACCESS is the epicenter for news and information for the Radio and Music industries. I am proud to join JOEL, (VP/CFO & Operations) RIA and the rest of the team and to bring the Triple A format into the fold with all the other great formats ALL ACCESS already represents. I remain the Triple A warrior!"
A warrior indeed. And that's what our industry needs more of in these most challenging times.
Congrats John!
The Beatles: Still Relevant After Decades
The Beatles are one of a handful of groups whose music has never been approved for sale by Apple's iTunes, and the timing of the announcement has fueled speculation that could finally change -- or even that specialized Beatles iPods, like the ones sold in 2004 loaded with U2's music, could be in the works.
It's a remarkable amount of buzz for a band whose roots stretch back nearly five decades. And it's a clear sign, observers say, that through time and a multitude of cultural shifts, the group's hold on the public's imagination has endured.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Giles Martin on Beatles 'Rock Band' and Remasters
LONDON, England (CNN) -- The video game "The Beatles: Rock Band" is set to be released by Harmonix on Wednesday. Modeled on the already popular "Rock Band" game, and closely supervised by The Beatles and their estates, the game lets players sing and strum along to a huge list of Beatles classics over scenes ranging from Liverpool's Cavern Club to their final performance on a London rooftop.
CNN's Peter Wilkinson went to EMI's legendary Abbey Road studios and spoke to Giles Martin about the project, for which the son of former Beatles producer George Martin mixed the music.
Read more about it by clicking here.
The Beatles
Stereo Box / In Mono"In any case, the sound of these remasters, mono or stereo, is exceptional. I've always felt that the sound quality of the original 1987 remasters was slightly underrated. The CD issues were well received at the time and were considered state of the art, but as the years wore on and the label never did anything to improve them, resentment set in and people began to focus on their flaws. Fair enough. But whatever you think of the 1987 remasters, these new versions are a marked improvement. In terms of clarity and detail, they are consistently impressive. But they're also successful for showing restraint."
Read more about it by clicking here.
Apple's (The Other One) Big Event
Apple Computers had an event on 9-9-09 as well, but it wasn't to announce The Beatles were finally coming to iTunes.
Apple unveiled new iPod models and iTunes -- a project that will attempt to revive the album experience on a computer -- at its "It's Only Rock n' Roll" press conference today in San Francisco. All that and more ... check out the new features to the iPods.
Read about the event with a minute-by-minute account of what Steve Jobs had to say about the new iPods, the lower prices, and see some photos as well.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Smule's New T-Pain App Provides The Auto-Tuned Voice You Always Wanted
There are lots of music fans out there who aren't happy about the frequent use of Auto-Tune technology in songs -- a viewpoint expressed in Jay-Z's song "Death to Auto-Tune." But if Auto-Tune haters were unhappy about the cultural landscape before, a new iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain" will really drive them crazy.
Auto-Tune was developed by Antares Audio Technologies to correct the pitch of a musician's singing, giving it a distinctive, mechanical quality; you can hear it in the "I am T-Pain" demo video. The technology was first released more than a decade ago.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Streaming Radio's Revolution On The Web? That's Last Year, The Future Will Be Mobile
The New York TimesStreaming radio site Pandora just released its application for phones running Google's Android software, and is available for download in the Android Market. Now available on the iPhone, BlackBerry and Palm Pre, Pandora sees the future and it's mobile. Indeed, most of Pandora's new listeners are listening on their phones, either on the go or -- of particular note -- by plugging the devices into home and car speakers. What's more, of the 65,000 people who register for a Pandora account each day, 45,000 do so on mobile phones, the company founder Tim Westergren tells The Times.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Courtney Not In Love With Guitar Hero, Then Again...
Actress-singer Courtney Love used Twitter to rail against what she claimed was the unauthorized use of Kurt Cobain's likeness in the video game Guitar Hero 5, going so far as to threaten a lawsuit.
But Activision, the maker of Guitar Hero, said the company is in possession of an agreement signed by Love that gave it the right to create an avatar in the likeness of the former Nirvana front man. At this point who knows who is in the right, but what is certain is that Love -- widowed when Cobain shot himself in 1995 -- didn't present a convincing case by issuing meandering, disjointed, caustic and barely readable Twitter posts.
Perhaps she came to the same conclusion. On Thursday evening, Love blocked public access to her Twitter account.
Read more about it by clicking here.
BEE GEES READY TO DO IT AGAIN
Robin Gibb tells the BBC the Bee Gees will reunite for live shows in the near future. Gibb says he and Barry have "got through the breakwater of emotions" after the 2003 death of their bandmate and brother Maurice.
BYE, BYE PAULA, HELLO ELLEN
For any of you that might not have already heard, Ellen DeGeneres has been named the replacement for Paula Abdul on "American Idol." The ninth season of "American Idol" premieres January 2010 on FOX. DeGeneres will join the judges' panel after the auditions, which will feature appearances by guest judges Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Joe Jonas, Neil Patrick Harris, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry and Shania Twain.
SPRINGSTEEN GETS KENNEDY CENTER HONORS
Bruce Springsteen will be joined by fellow honorees actor Robert DeNiro, director Mel Brooks, jazz great Dave Brubeck and opera singer Grace Bumbry at this year's Kennedy Center Honors Gala ceremony, which will air December 29th on CBS.
LIL' WAYNE BIG TOUR
Lil Wayne's 2008-2009 tours supporting "Tha Carter III" have been named the highest-grossing hip-hop trek of the year, racking up $42 million according to Billboard, besting tours by Jay-Z and Kanye West.
SNOOP GETS A REAL JOB
Snoop Dogg has been named Creative Chairman of EMI's Priority Records. He'll also record a new studio album, "Malice N Wonderland," which will be the label's first release, according to a press release.
STONES GET YER YA-YAS OUT AGAIN
"Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out," The Rolling Stones documentary of their November 26th and 27th, 1969 shows at Madison Square Garden, will be released as a deluxe box set and a super-deluxe box set. The deluxe box will be a 3-disc set expanded to include the five songs from the show not included on the original album -- "Prodigal Son, " "You Gotta Move," "Under My Thumb," "I'm Free" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," plus the sets from the support acts B.B. King and Ike & Tina Turner. The DVD will feature footage of the five previously unreleased tracks. It will also feature a documentary from Albert and David Maysles with footage of the making of the album cover featuring Charlie Watts and the donkey. In the concert clip of "Satisfaction,"you will see Janis Joplin at once stage dancing on the side of the stage.
BUT MANILOW ISN'T AT MANDALAY BAY ... HE PLAYS THE HILTON, MIKE
R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe's film production company has purchased the rights to a romantic comedy that will focus on a batch of Barry Manilow fans as they journey to Las Vegas to see Manilow perform at Mandalay Bay, Variety reports
VAN HALEN TO "JUMP" AGAIN IN 2010
According to Rolling Stone, Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff unexpectedly let news of a 2010 Van Halen tour slip out during a Q&A session at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Conference this week.
VMA UPDATE
MTV's Video Music Awards will take place this Sunday, September 13th, at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The VMAs will include performances by Green Day, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Alicia Keys, Muse, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Wale and Pink, trailers for "This Is It" and "New Moon," and a special Michael Jackson tribute featuring Janet Jackson.
Quotes of the week
"When The Beatles: Rock Band really clicks -- when you're pounding out "Helter Skelter" hard enough to get blisters on your fingers; when you're loping through the bass line of "Dear Prudence;" when it starts feeling like you are, in fact, the Walrus -- the experience is almost eerie. It begins to seem like the Beatles didn't write and record these songs so much as construct them ... so sturdily that they translate with absurd ease to an interactive format that was four decades away."
-- From Rolling Stone's review of The Beatles Rock Band."We should all believe in something and I believe it's time for another shot of tequila."
-- Justin Timberlake, treating everyone at Palazzo Las Vegas's Lavoto nightclub to a free shot of his 901 tequila"Maybe my crazy time is coming up . . . Maybe I'm just a late bloomer."
-- Gwen Stefani, on not yet being a tabloid item"I stand on principle where many people stand on money."
-- Paula Abdul, explaining why she left "Idol," to TV Guide. Uh, yes Paula, but the principle this time was about principal.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
THE ONION (www.theonion.com) STORY OF THE WEEK:
Next Tarantino Movie An Homage To Beloved Tarantino Movies Of Director's Youth - September 7, 2009
MADRID-While attending a European press junket Monday for his film. "Inglourious Basterds," director Quentin Tarantino announced that his next project, "Jack Rabbit Slim," will go into production this fall, and will be an homage to his favorite director and screenwriter of all time: Quentin Tarantino.
"I've been a Tarantino fan for as long as I can remember," said Tarantino, who repeatedly referred to his hero as "The Master." "Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown -- those movies were basically my film school. I mean, the ability to take a genre or a subgenre, embrace it to its core, and then blow it up and make it your own is something that has to be admired."
Read the rest here and laugh: http://tinyurl.com/lgcudb.
THE RADIO INTERVIEW on 'THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE' - From newsblaze.com
"Steve Meyer is on the front line of global music sales and distribution which he expects will soar to pocket-bursting levels. What's more, he shares his insight and ingenuity with us. Steve gives us both historical perspective and futuristic vision as he chats with Judy about the love of his work, trends of the business and his personal points of view about success, happiness and blending life with the lust for life. Steve joins Judy and helps us discover the thrill of having it all with a sense of balance and purpose. "
You can listen to an interview I did with Judy Piazza of 'The American Perspective' by clicking here: (It runs about 15 minutes)
http://www.thesop.org/index.php?id=10306.
The Blogs
Check out Jerry Del Colliano's (the founder of INSIDE RADIO) daily blog, by clicking here: http://www.insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com