Dear Bob,
The private equity industry has evolved from being a helpful catalyst of change in the late 70s to being parasitic today. They don't build the economy, they harvest it by converting decades of capital investment and brand building into cash. Not every PE firm does this, but the biggest ones do it aggressively. They often do it so aggressively that the target company fails. Jobs are almost always an early casualty. Communities suffer. So I think Warren is right about the issue.
Warren cites Taylor Swift for the same reason you do: her story cuts through the noise.
To appreciate Swift's position, it helps to think about the ways it is similar to the current debate over privacy. Some privacy activists argue that personal data is an asset that each user should own. Others (like me) believe personal data is a human right, not an asset, and no one should be able to monetize it, including the person from whom it is taken.
Swift appears to be arguing that she should have some say in what happens to her copyrights. She views that as a human right.
Music copyrights are different from personal data because artists monetize them as part of recording and publishing deals, but it is not crazy for Swift to ask for a conversation about whether there ought to be limits.
Private equity firms will try to convert the copyrights into cash right away, by borrowing against them, and there is some chance of insolvency. Under what circumstances should artists have a say? Should they have any right to purchase?
Roger McNamee
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From: Tom Ross
Re: Warren Defends Swift
Great article and you are absolutely correct on most of your premises! Bankers and funds are more and more controlling the business of the arts when we know it's all for future income streams. And why would mid-level executives work for the man when there is no upward mobility in the fruits of their hard work and time invested in developing new artists. The current business models are bent too heavily to the top of the food chain and like our country, the worker bees will get stung! Thank for bringing these issues into the open. Cheers, TR
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Subject: Re: Alan Hamel-This Week's Podcast
Al was indeed famous in Canada. On that kids show he mentioned - Razzle Dazzle, which I used to watch faithfully as a kid, one of his co-hosts was Trudy Young. After the show ended she fell off the radar until one day Bob Ezrin brought her into the studio where I had just started as an engineer - Nimbus Nine studios in Toronto. I was star struck - the beautiful blond from Razzle Dazzle!
We had no idea why he brought her in that day - was she a singer too? What project was this? We thought we were working on his new top secret album that had blown our minds the day before when he played us the 24 track tapes that he had brought in from France. Bob told my engineering partner Ringo Hrycyna and I that we were in fact going to work on the Secret Project, and to set up some mics in different areas so that it would sound like a person was walking from a living room into the bathroom. Not the craziest thing he had ever asked us to do, so we shrugged and put one Neumann U87 mic in the dead vocal booth and another in the nearby live hallway.
While we were setting up it looked like he was writing lyrics on the spot and showing them to Trudy. I asked him which mic she was going to sing into first and he said "she's not singing - she's acting.... she might improvise, and she's not going to do a run-through for you guys to set the levels. Just hit record and whatever you do DON'T FUCK IT UP!"
I said to Ringo we have to set the compressors on "stun" because we might only have one chance; we had no idea how loud she was or what the hell they were going to do; and I would rather die than let it distort the tape and let Bob down.
I think she did it in one take. It's the famous hotel groupie scene in the song "One Of My Turns" from Pink Floyd's The Wall.
Michael McCarty
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Subject: Re: Sydney
Hey Bob, hope you're still enjoying Sydney!
I've been meaning to write to you for years; you've written about a couple of projects I've been involved in--first it was "Something About You" by Hayden James and then ODESZA. (I did additional production and mixed Something About You and mixed the ODESZA album.)
Your letter has helped me feel connected to the rest of the music world even while I've been thousands of miles away. Thanks for that.
The super quick overview: I'm originally from NJ then NYC, Stockholm and LA, and now Sydney for the last 10 years. I started in the music business as Arif Mardin's assistant in my early 20's and worked in studios in NYC as an engineer. They don't make them like Arif anymore. He was a legend in every sense of the word. Learned so much.
I was also a singer in a band and had a couple of failed major label experiences. Then wound up in Stockholm working with a pop singer, married her and she got signed to Atlantic US. Then moved to LA, worked with the band Weezer on a Rick Rubin produced album, got divorced, met my current Aussie wife and moved to Sydney to have our first son.
At that point I figured it was all over...I started working with random rock bands and tried to keep learning. I linked up with a label here called Future Classic and started making records with them (one of those was "Something About You"). Mixed an artist named Chet Faker and then started working with an electronic artist named Flume. All of sudden I was a 38 year old rock guy from the tri-state area working with one of the most groundbreaking electronic artists in the world. The combination of old school and new was a good one and resulted in the Flume album called Skin (I mixed it). Skin won a Grammy for best Electronic album...back in LA, which was nice! That led to lots more in the electronic world, like ODESZA's "A Moment Apart". That album in particular felt like a great blend of the analog and digital, which is why I was so happy to see that you connected with it. Now I'm more excited about music at 44 than I was at 24. So many possibilities. No rules.
All the best,
Eric J Dubowsky
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Subject: Lucinda
Bob —Just wanted to say belated thanks for the piece on Lucinda. Very much appreciated. The original plan was to do 10-15 of these CW shows and move on but word of mouth spread and promoters started calling and asking for them so it turned into an entire year —oddly enough to the day. We are still stunned by the response. I have to tell you that what she thought was the coolest thing you said was that you weren't really fan and came to the show anyway. She loves that kind of honesty-that's what she's all about -sometimes to a fault. And yes the girl has backbone to burn. When you've been kicking around for as long as she has you know that there have been a lot of different "names" for women with backbone. Thanks again and hope you doing better with your recent health issues. As Lu likes to say, "this getting older thing ain't for sissies".
All the best,
Tom Overby
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Subject: Bill and Shep
I am very new to podcasts but these two sucked me and i fell in love with two dear friends once again. Shep managed me for a year
and Bill is a close pal….I'm a big fan now./
Chris Difford
Firle, East Sussex.
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From: Millie Millgate
Subject: 10 lessons for Disney, Apple and all the new streaming companies - Vox
This year, TLC's "Dr. Pimple Popper" was more popular with women 25-54 in its timeslot than the Shonda Rhimes series "How to Get Away with Murder," which stars Tony and Academy Award winner Viola Davis.
www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/12/20959837/streaming-wars-10-lessons-matthew-ball-alex-kruglov-disney-apple-amazon-netflix
Millie
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