bob lefsetz: about connecting with people

´´We all want to belong. Be a member of the club. Participate. That's what bringing everybody to MySpace and Facebook, never mind dating sites. We feel the connection will cause our lives to make sense. Rock and roll made my life make sense.
I feel the gulf between today's musical artists and the audience.
...And we want the story. In the lyrics. In the mental movies the music generates. And the history of the music makers underneath.
It's not about the gotcha moment, topless and drunk at the beach, but the events that caused them to write these songs, their and ultimately our personal truth. How did they get from here to there? What can we learn from the journey? Sure, there's fame involved, but also reverence.
To be revered you have to get in bed with your audience. You cannot keep people at arm's length. You don't belong to your record company, to radio, but your fans. This doesn't mean you have to be without edge, just that you know without this relationship you've got nothing. Truly. Listen to the country stars. Not only do they thank their fans from the stage, they tend to be available, whether it be at Fan Fair or another event. The audience thinks they own them. And rewards them with longevity. I don't think I own Mariah Carey. Or Madge. Or Fitty. I think the dollar owns them.
They're beholden to the money and the fame. And they feel entitled to continued success. But it doesn't work that way, we determine whether you get to continue to play. Live Nation may say Madonna's tour is an almost instant sellout, but they don't tell you they had two additional dates on hold in Boston, that will never go on sale.
This music is not evanescent. It's part of our collection. We carry it in various formats, everything from vinyl to cassette to MP3... Not that we truly need a copy, because it's embedded in our brain, our DNA, it's part of us.

That's what the classic acts had over today's...belief. Sure, it was a different era, they were making it up as they went along. But maybe that's why we stayed with them, we felt part of it. We weren't being sued by the RIAA, we weren't being ripped off by TicketMaster, we weren't being raped by the bands themselves with exorbitant merch fees. We don't want to steal from you, we want to own you. Every little bit of you. We need you. To keep going.

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/