who is Bob Lefsetz?

album oriented lefsetz

If you want to know exactly why the music business is how it is, Lefsetz seems like a good guide! If you want to know what current reality looks like or the future, not really.

i mean you can learn something about the industry as a critical reader of Lefsetz, not so much as a credulous reader like Godin seems to be

It seems like Lefsetz is going broader culturally now in the most recent posts, since getting the boost from Godin.

Nah, same as he ever was

That's Godin in a nutshell - a man who's shocked when a musician doesn't read Lefsetz.

And if you wanna get laid...you know where to go, what station to play.

WBALLS

Just realized I'd like an audiobook of Marc Maron reading Lefsetz.

who do you end up having sex with if you follow lefsetz's musical path?

glenn frey

well, yeah.

Not Steph, apparently.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2015/05/29/rhinofy-yer-album/

We live online. Our power is online. That's where you spread the story, that's where you break the bands.

And what resonates online is truth, justice and the American Way.

And we haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Well, yeah.

So I ordered an Apple Watch because I'm sick of living in the sixties.

That's why I ordered a Pepsi Free.

I'm thinking about returning it.

1. IT'S A LOUSY WATCH

I'm addicted to time, I want to know what it is, and the Apple Watch performs this function very poorly. In that its face is not always on.

But I could live with that if it came up when it was supposed to, every time I flipped my wrist. But it doesn't, especially when I'm lying on the floor doing my back exercises, it can't cope with that.

Even worse, I can do no timing. Because the damn thing shuts off almost instantly, or at best stays alive for twenty seconds, and most of my back exercises are thirty seconds. So, how can I study the watch when I can't see it? And oftentimes can't touch it, because my hands are holding my knees! And when I'm in the bathroom, I can't time how long to clean my contact lenses, nor can I prop it up while I'm in the shower to see how much time I have left before I've got to leave. All things I can do with my Rolex. Or even the cheap Timex I wear to third world locations.

Ha, that's funny

he's not wrong!

it's Lefsetz vs. the Apple Watch, i'm incapable of picking a side to be on tbh

I’m going to print Musk’s explanation of the Hyperloop below, because although it seems like science fiction on the surface, once you get into the details it seems…possible. Then again, I’m just an arts guy and don’t know much about science. But I remember the sixties, when John Glenn orbited the Earth and we were all enthralled and inspired by science.

i don't know much about science, but i remember the sixties.

I don't know much about science but I'm aware it exists and it can do some pretty cool shit like in that movie The Right Stuff.

Lefsetz otm

Or to quote the bard of the Hollywood Hills, “we haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.”

Hahah talk about making yourself look good:

I don’t know what went through Taylor Swift’s mind. Notice, she didn’t weigh in immediately, this indie/nonpayment for three months story has been percolating for a week. But once she digested the issues she said her piece. In other words, you don’t have to shoot from the hip. But if you’re waiting for every fact to come in, to test the wind to see what public opinion is, if you’re more worried about your career than what’s right, you’re limited.

how dare she digest the issues.

i think tay-tay's singular talent is that she can digest WHILE shooting from the hip. she's like a point-and-shoot camera, except she's digest-and-shoot.

there's an album cover for you

I can't wait for the "Mean" sequel.

Enjoying Lefsetz on tech more than Lefsetz on music.

do you not know a lot about tech then? this isn't meant as an insult, just that his bloviating is pretty ill-informed across the board

I just like him taking home gadgets and staying up late writing about them. Hoping he does a Dyson vacuum cleaner next, or a coffee maker.

I wanna hear the Lef pontificate on his Ninja blending system.

Possessions mean less as you age. You can’t take them with you. Furthermore, we’re evolving into a no possessions era. One in which you can rent a ride and you don’t even have to own a car. Experiences are everything.

Have you ever heard of Bob Moses? Certainly not I. Wasn’t he a basketball player, or a jazzer? But his track “Talk” reminds you of the Beatles testing limits in 1966, only the Beatles were there first, so this is not a brand new sound, but it is very good, but how can it compete in a world where stuff is hyped ad infinitum, like Ms. Musgraves and Jamie xx.

And I certainly don’t believe in Donald Trump. But a lot of people do, the same way we believed in the Beatles.

Apocalypse

In a broken recorded music world whose retardation rests squarely on the shoulders of Taylor Swift, David Byrne and the rest of the music-making agitators who believe they’re just not getting a fair deal. These vocal players, many of them with anemic fanbases to begin with, have done an incredible job of turning off customers. If it were 1981, they’d be responsible for an I DON’T WANT MY MTV! campaign.

um...

never let facts get in the way of making a lefsetz point

i'm trying to imagine what would have to happen for me to find myself railing against "agitators"

"This is the same media that keeps telling us Trump’s campaign is history when the polls ultimately tell us otherwise. Turns out the media is out of touch, a fourth estate in love with its own power."

for someone who doesn't believe in donald trump this guy sure fawns over him a lot

pretty sure the only thing that has rested squarely on byrne's shoulder over the last decade or so is the lack of a talking heads reunion tour

not that byrne hasn't shared some food for thought but imo anybody who'd bother to read an op-ed about the music industry isn't about to stop consuming its wares any time soon

otm, he is very much preaching to the choir although he has a strong niche

lefsetz getting mad at david byrne's corner of the music/arts world is very much him being threatened by any non-lefsetz opinions even existing

At best we can argue stars are built on YouTube. Like PSY.

Yeah, you can't get away from that guy. Curse you, YouTube!

It's true though, isn't it? Spotify etc. hardly important players compared to youtube? Video killed the radio star etc.

I'm clearly not getting why this Lefsetz is such a sucker, polemics aside his points seem as valid as so many others.

come to think of it, did the music video outlive the album in the digital age? do more people know what taylor swift looks like in the Shake It Off video than can mention an album cut from 1989?

I'm clearly not getting why this Lefsetz is such a sucker, polemics aside his points seem as valid as so many others.

― niels, Monday, August 10, 2015 10:26 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

keep reading!