It's over.
The media can't get over the fact that no one is paying attention to it. That the "New York Times" is an echo chamber, Fox News too. These baby boomers and Gen-X'ers are functioning in a different era, when one could reach everybody.
You can't reach everybody anymore.
The Police started this paradigm in music. Stewart Copeland's dad was a spook who'd been stationed in out of the way places and Stewart and his brother, the band's manager Miles, decided to take the act to the hinterlands, after all, people are people, you can make fans everywhere.
And this is how the music business has operated ever since. You cut an album every three, four or five years and then go knocking on doors all over the world, trying to drum up interest and convert people. But if you're doing that today the joke is on you, the cycle moves too fast, new product comes every hour, never mind every day, and if you're not busy creating you're being left behind.
But that's just to stay in the game.
Winning the game?
Lower your expectations.
In a world where even the NFL's ratings are taking a hit, where vaunted TV shows don't crack double digit millions in viewers, the truth is attention is scattered and you just can't gain it.
Now you can rebel against this, to no effect. This is what the oldster musicians have been doing for a decade and a half. Their main message is who let the dogs out? Not only the public expecting all the music for one low price, if not free, but the other acts they're now competing against. With the barrier to entry essentially nonexistent, new acts are climbing the wall and invading. And the same thing is happening in news. Everybody's a reporter. And the old guard just can't understand why consumers don't drop all the newbies and pay attention to THEM!
Hmm...
How does it all work out?
I DON'T KNOW!
But the biggest act of the year was the election. The debates garnered audiences unheard of previously, the numbers were especially staggering seeing how bad most entertainment products do these days. Let that be a lesson to you, when it's about life and death, about your future, people care. And fakery's got no place in the game. If you're DOING it for ratings, if you're DOING it for the money, you've missed the plot. That was one of the Donald's hooks, he was funding his campaign HIMSELF!
This is important. Because as Bob Dylan said, to live outside the law you have to be honest.
Which is why the techies triumphed. Their products were based on 0's and 1's. There was little human emotion involved. And they created items that everybody needed. Which is why techies became the new rock stars. Everybody had a Facebook page, everybody had an opinion on the service. And now there's Snapchat and...
The truth is this tech thing is long in the tooth. It's hair bands about to be replaced by hip-hop and grunge. But the lesson still stands, in order to dominate today you've got to deliver what people NEED! And just telling them they'll need it won't get you there. It's about virality, word of mouth, heat.
And the product must be palatable to most.
Which is why Adele's "21" was such a hit. Everyone's got a soft spot for artistry. We like good voices, hooks, melodies. "21" outsold everything else by a huge multiple. Then she and her team shot themselves in the foot by refusing to put "25" on streaming services and making an album that just wasn't good enough.
You want your stuff to be everywhere. The techies wrote this rule. Acceptance is key, monetization comes thereafter. But the entertainment business is a greedy, street one, it focuses on money first and leaves too much cash on the table.
But the truth is we're only interested in great. It's a world of 9's and 10's only. Sure, you might be able to gain an audience for a 7 or 8, but you can't grow it significantly, because people are overwhelmed, they don't have time for mediocre.
So you've got to lower your sights. Most people and their endeavors will not reach critical mass. And a few will triumph, but then comes the question, WHAT WILL THE REST DO?
Driverless vehicles are going to decimate the ranks of professional drivers overnight, millions of truck drivers are going to lose their jobs, and they're never coming back.
And the internet has made it so only a few musicians are wealthy.
And only a few news outlets are profitable.
So if you're in it for the long haul, climb to quality.
But know that it's almost impossible to reach critical mass.
Everybody likes something different, everybody's got a different opinion.
Fake news didn't get Donald Trump elected, angry, disenfranchised voters did. And it's hard for the media to accept this, believing it is an all powerful ruler. Just like the music business believed it could corral consumers into buying overpriced CDs.
Most people don't know Taylor Swift's music.
Most people have never heard of Drake.
Most people don't read the "New York Times."
AND MOST PEOPLE DON'T CARE!
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