It's never been about money, it's always been about power.
But money can buy you power.
You didn't used to be able to become rich as a musician. As for the Beatles and the British Invasion, all those acts did it on a lark, they did not expect lifetime employment, never mind lifetime riches.
But then John Lennon said the Beatles were bigger than Jesus and...
All hell broke loose.
Lennon wasn't being anti-religion, he was making an offhand remark, which was defensible, especially amongst the youth in an era where "Time" magazine asked on its cover whether God was dead.
But the establishment couldn't handle it.
The names of the members of that establishment, the pastors and politicians imploring the burning of Beatle records, have long been forgotten, but not John Lennon, even though he's been dead for more than forty years.
That's the Lennon/McCartney conundrum. It's hard to survive the iconized dead, but the reason Sir Paul is always climbing the mountain when it comes to his old bandmate John is not because of melody or changes but viewpoint, John constantly poked the eye of the establishment, he never wavered. He was the punk who always made trouble, who didn't get along, no one was going to tell him what to do, and this was reflected in his music.
And the Beatles not only changed music, they changed hearts and minds. Drugs were anathema in suburbia before the Beatles. As for war, John Lennon kept advocating for peace.
That's the power of music, the power of art. Something that has been sacrificed in today's dash for cash world.
But it's even worse, whatever message artists have cannot be spread to the masses, not in any cohesive manner. Every act is a silo, from the biggest to the smallest. What is happening in one camp is unknown by another.
And the business is not doing a good job of counteracting this. We used to have the media, most especially "Rolling Stone." But that magazine now behind a paywall has completely changed its construct, now it's about politics, about everyday culture, making high level clickbait. Never has the magazine been less influential. As for "Billboard," who knows what that is anymore, a consumer-facing tabloid with one foot in the industry satisfying no one, with some facts, but no truth in analysis. The "Bible" still doesn't challenge the established players, the hand that feeds them.
Look at it this way, instead of talking about national issues, moving the needle on where people and this country are and should be going, all the press is about ticketing, AND THE MEDIA CAN'T EVEN GET THAT RIGHT! And if the media can't get ticketing right, and Congress can't either, what are the odds that one act can penetrate the national consciousness and move the needle. Low, without industry and media support. Radio used to be music's medium, but that's long gone, ever since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and station consolidation and the loss of localized programming. It's a veritable Tower of Babel out there. And it's not like the streaming companies are taking any responsibility, they just see themselves as faceless distributors.
Like Spotify and Joe Rogan's antisemitic comment.
If you don't take action, you're endorsing. That's a basic principle.
But it's worse than that. Because it's not only in music that we don't have a unifying force, but in the world at large. The most powerful are the billionaires, with ink, and they're inherently biased.
Fox News built its right wing ignorant audience and Trump glommed on to it and now they're in a tug of war for power.
And don't tell me Fox News doesn't purvey falsehoods and spread ignorance. That's the essence of the channel! Look at all the right wing stalwarts, true red constituents, who've abandoned Fox and Trump, from George Will to Bill Kristol to Rick Wilson to Steve Schmidt...the list is endless, they believe the lunatics have taken over the asylum, and they're pushing back.
But they don't have the platform of Fox.
And the platform is everything.
And Rupert Murdoch controls the platform. And Murdoch is more powerful than almost any politician, because he (or she) who controls the news controls the public consciousness.
Murdoch owns Fox, never mind "The Daily News" and other media outlets, and Rupert has an agenda. And included in that agenda is not truth, but ratings, income, and a personal agenda that befits...people like himself, billionaires, who want no regulation, who want to be able to act willy-nilly, with no consequences.
Yeah, all the "little folk" railing against regulations. Wait until their building collapses in an earthquake, or a train derails...then they're clamoring for regulation, but it's too late.
And now Elon Musk owns Twitter. And he's a free speech absolutist.
If you're a free speech absolutist does that mean you can cry FIRE! in a crowded theatre? That's something that the government won't even protect. Yes, the government is not a free speech absolutist, that is not the law. As for businesses... There's no obligation of "freedom of speech." No shoes, no service. Ditto no shirt. Or dirty, stinking clothing. But you should be able to say whatever you want on a corporation's platform?
No.
But Elon Musk owns Twitter and he's beholden to no one.
And everybody's afraid of him. He's challenging the government, breaking its laws time and again. But there's no unity of response, because now Musk is a national hero amongst the right. Kanye is a national hero amongst the antisemites, does that mean he should pay no penalty?
Kanye's paying quite a penalty. And Adidas is sitting on $500 million of Ye merchandise that it can't sell.
But not only does Elon Musk pay no price, he's weighing in on issues concerning others.
Scott Adams makes racist comments and the media outlets WHICH PAY Adams, HAVE CONTRACTS with Adams, have booted him and his cartoon "Dilbert." Sign a record deal, be on television, your contract will have a morals clause, violate it and you pay a penalty, the contract is terminated. But somehow this should not happen with Scott Adams because...you should be able to say whatever you want with impunity? Where does that work, NOWHERE!
Unless you're Rupert Murdoch or Elon Musk.
Murdoch might be nailed by Dominion. As for Musk... Why isn't this guy a national pariah? Instead, he's a hero to the right. Mostly impressionable young men, the same ones who don't have good jobs and can't get laid. They're angry at the establishment, in some cases justifiably, but they're being steered astray by those who have an agenda detrimental to society.
What's next? You can insult your boss and you're a hero?
If you want to be unrestrained, you need to be an artist. And don't equate financial success with artistry, sometimes they're the same, oftentimes they are not.
An artist speaks for themselves, they gather information and filter it through their heart and mind and speak their truth, unfettered. They don't care about the consequences. A great artist is the antidote to society, the guardrails and the leader. And oftentimes artists challenge the status quo, they're ahead of the public.
And sometimes it's in their lyrics and sometimes in their identity and public behavior and sometimes it's both.
"Money doesn't talk, it swears"
Bob Dylan wrote that before "Like a Rolling Stone" broke on AM radio. Sure, he liked the money he made from covers, but even more he wanted to speak the truth, following in the footsteps of his hero Woody Guthrie.
Who are the heroes speaking truth today? Who are the mentors?
TV contestants want to be Mariah Carey, who is in many ways a national joke.
Ice-T and N.W.A. told us tales form the 'hood. When the L.A. riots broke out, we could see everything they were saying about the police and conditions in Compton was true. It changed public perception.
But that was pre-internet.
Now, nobody has that reach or that power.
But they could.
First and foremost we need the artists. We've got a few, but we need to laud artistic success before monetary success. If you're not willing to leave money on the table, you're probably not an artist.
The only way to stand up to the billionaires is via art and identity. But instead of challenging the billionaires, today's performers want to be billionaires! That's like winning the lottery, almost impossible.
All it takes is one great artist to lead the way.
But that artist has to be found and amplified.
That's not the game music is playing today. It's all about the money.
Music has power that can stand up to money, that can change hearts and minds. But it has to be embraced and spread. And right now the performers and the infrastructure are doing a piss-poor job of it, TO EVERYBODY'S DETRIMENT!
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