If you’re familiar with The Lefsetz Letter, you’re aware of the fact that this guy knows his shit, and he’s knows your shit. He’s the Roto Rooter of the music world, sifting through everybody’s shit and cleaning all the pipes.
I’m a little late on this, but Lefsetz issued his 2007 Predictions last week, basically the first music-related must-read blog of the year. Among his saying of sooth:
31. Respect
The key to the future.
And we haven’t had that spirit since 1969.
It’s a more close-knit society. Everybody’s equal on the Web. If you’re not concerned with the experience of your customers, you’re doomed to death. Give people something that touches their souls for a fair price and they’ll give you ALL their money. Rip them off with shit and they’ll tell everybody they know and decimate your enterprise.
Right on, Bobbo. Couldn’t have said it better myself, which is why I didn’t say it at all. Make it a point to get on over there and see what lies ahead…
3 Responses
i agree with almost all of it, but there’s a lot of low hanging fruit on that list. take number 1 for instance. you don’t need to have you’re ear to the track to come to some of these conclusions, you just need to be on the damn platform.
but i do think he’s dead wrong about this:
In other words, that SoundScan chart with the albums of acts with hits on the Top Forty??? It’s gonna look completely different in the future. That paradigm won’t die, but it will diminish in domination. It will be about the outside, the cult, the LESS THAN HYPED!
then this:
We’re not in the age of Aquarius, but cacophony. There WILL be a new mainstream, we just don’t know what it is right now. AND, it will not be as dominant as the OLD mainstream. And astride the mainstream will be a bunch of narrowcasted worlds.
i just don’t buy it. the top 40 is a teeny wasteland. that’s not going to change. peoples interest in music is so completely splintered these days exactly as lefsetz says “People will own MUCH more music than they did in the physical era.”
i take my friends….back in the day we listened to the same thing and talked about it. nowadays we still have the same taste but we’re all listening to completely different things. because there’s so much music in people’s archives these days, tastes are going to continue to splinter. mainstream will still be owned by the little kids. and you know what…that’s a-okay with me. by definition the less hyped can’t be the mainstream.
You know, I don’t disagree with that last point by any means. I think we’re witnessing something similar happening with television — 700 channels? Allright! As a result, everything’s splintering, and it’s much tougher to attract and keep an audience that way. The gems then fall through to those that mine for them, and it’ll always be that way.
But perhaps there could be a new mainstream…I think we just have to tweak the definition of mainstream to fit these splintered times. I mean, is it that far-fetched to think that My Morning Jacket could be considered mainstream in 18 to 24 months, after all the blog hype successfully anoints them “best band in the country,” after they drop yet another sick album? If Taco Bell can be the mainstream restaurant in the future like Demolition Man predicts, then someone like MMJ can be on everyone’s iTunes and iPod. And that can shift the whole FM dial. Teenies be damned. I’m stoned.