Bob Lefsetz-The Music Critic Everyone Loves to Hate

Bob Lefsetz is a renowned music industry insider and critic who has spent the past 25 years shaping conversations through his widely read publication, The Lefsetz Letter. Known for his direct, no-nonsense commentary, Lefsetz takes on everything from the changing nature of music distribution to artist development and offers hot takes unlike anyone else. This is my first episode of my new podcast called The Beato pod, which will ultimately live on my second channel. Rick Beato 2 so hit subscribe on both channels, here’s my interview.
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[@MattGrayC64]

The big point in here, which anyone who puts music they actually own the recording rights to on Spotify knows, is that the big record corps are literally getting fortunes for old rope with their back catalogues. If you had a record deal back in the day pre streaming, they'd give you an advance and advance money for recording sessions, etc and you won't see any more money until those advances are recouped from YOUR end of the royalty income. So if you or your band did ok you'd have paid the record company back their costs but THEY will still own the recording rights to your records you cut under the deal. And they'll own it almost forever. It's like getting a mortgage to buy a house, you pay off the mortgage but the house is still owned by the bank. This is why so many household names of the past are getting millions of streams a month on Spotify and earning next to nothing whilst their old record companies, who dropped them years ago, are making passive fortunes for themselves and one man who owns the streaming service and currently worth around 8 billion dollars. And if that isn't enough, everyone who played on every track available on Spotify who wasn't a featured artist but a session musician (and there are thousands of these talented people) get a big fat ZERO every time a track they played on is streamed. If it's played on tv or radio they all get a royalty. A small one, but something all the same. The great injustice is that almost everyone making the most money from music streaming are people who had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of these millions of records and they are making billions, whilst the musicians and singers they are exploiting, who did make hits that are remembered, are largely fkd financially for good. It's the same across so many facets of life. All the money is being sucked up by a tiny percentage of people away from everyone else.

[@slartibartfast1268]

This is a perfect example of what is wrong with capitalism. The money always flows to the top. The people that actually create the thing that made the money end up with very little, and get treated like dirt by the people at the top who get the money. And to add insult to injury, the people at the top think they should get credit for work they never did.

[@davidmcleandamrecordings3673]

Not sure if that whats wrong with capitalism or ignorance. Saying you're a musician and not understanding the legality involved is foolish. Protecting your publishing and copyrights is the earning side of the music business. Any schmuck can play a song but it's the guy who understands where the revenue comes from and monitors and protects their product that will be in that revenue stream. If your not aware of how it works you can't make money without the risk of imminent disaster.

[@MattGrayC64]

@@davidmcleandamrecordings3673 But we are not talking about music that was signed recently. The vast majority of tracks were made years ago before streaming even existed. The record companies have made up new rules back fitted to old contracts based on record sales and radio or tv performances. They charged the artists for all the recording costs and PR, etc and kept the lion's share for themselves. Record co bosses now are just leaching from artitsts they dropped years ago and artitsts who died years ago. And one man who had the forethought to get in bed with the big 3 corps is now a multi billionaire on the back of thousnads of creative people who created the product. The shareholders of big streaming companies don't need any new music created. They've already got the back catalogues of the greatest music ever made or likely to be made. They've got the whole pie with a great big cherry on top and they couldn't give a rat's ass about all of the people they have robbed blind to get it.

[@Lezetmusic]

going off on a tangent here, but I would like to thank you Matt for doing so much exceptional music that's ingrained in my DNA

[@slartibartfast1268]

@davidmcleandamrecordings3673 Not being ignorant in how the system is being gamed doesn't remedy the fact that the system is in fact gamed. Who made the rules in the first place to make it so that a very few at the very top, ie., the music executives, vacuum up most of the wealth? Not being ignorant does not remedy the fact that, for example, the CEO of Spotify makes $7.5 billion off the creativity of others, the vast majority of which make little to nothing. Same story for the labels. Sure, most artists on Sporify are not musical geniuses and will never be giant hitmakers, but without these lowly artists Spotify would quickly become a very boring place. Who wants to listen to the same few top artists all day long? If that's all that was streamed, Spotify would quickly go out of business. The lowly artists do have value, a lot more than they are compensated for. The proof is the obscene wealth the top executives have made from these lowly artists in their entirety. Steaming companies and labels as they currently exist are nothing but parasites sucking the juices of all the creative artists, hitmakers or not. Surely there is better and fairer system out there, but unrestrained capitalism will never get there.

[@verbone]

Almost all musicians today are "Spotify musicians" by default. There aren't many options for most artists. But I would argue we could definitely do with fewer music critics who think 1/3 of a cent per stream is too much.

[@zapveresepa1]

@verbone 100%! This critic's attitude throughout this video is, "Are you struggling as a musician? That's 'cause you suck!" Then he calls Dylan the greatest lyricist of all time? He has NOTHING but opinions, but he thinks he has facts.

[@verbone]

@@zapveresepa1 No, a music critic with cultural biases and who's judgmental? Couldn't be lol.

[@carlosgaspar8447]

@@zapveresepa1 thing is, dylan can sing. just listen to the johnny cash show when dylan sings a duet. (though i think cash didn't put too much effort into every song).

[@rockinmel1]

What about the ones who know the fact that there's actually no per-stream payment, but a pie you share with Taylor Swift, The Beatles, and Beyonce, like these guys? (Welcome to the reality that the "share" of a marginal musician is tiny and shrinks more every time a blockbuster song comes out. We members of ASCAP have known how that works for decades.)

[@tekharthazenyatta2310]

@@zapveresepa1 The music today does suck though.

[@sh1tster]

Talking about bands not getting along, I was a solo act and we couldn't get along!

[@mikepaulus4766]

You're your own worst critic.

[@sh1tster]

@@mikepaulus4766 "Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

[@chadmiller8725]

Same here and my solo act was called Yin & Yang... go figure.

[@sh1tster]

@@chadmiller8725 I'd heard of you, but I had mixed feelings

[@mdarrenu]

who won the lawsuit?

[@jamesherseymusic]

I respect Bob, not only cause he wrote about me (like a decade ago, lol i'm old) but he's missing a very simple point: artists should be paid PER STREAM, period. Whether you have 2k or 200k or 20M streams should not influence how much you make per stream. 1 cent per stream, that's all we're asking for.

[@nerbuhc]

Bots are a thing, it would be easily exploited and already is

[@SamSwinnerton]

@@nerbuhc I'm supposed to believe that spotify's per-stream payment is as low as it is to combat... bots? Spotify exploits artists for their own safety? Get real.

[@floodryan]

I stream well over 100 songs per day which would be $1+ per day. Most people aren’t going to pay $30+ per month to stream music. I kind of do since I have Spotify, Apple, and KZbin Premium.

[@joeruto]

@@nerbuhc Thats a spotify problem

[@budgetguitarist]

@@joeruto EXACTLY.

[@LucaGiampietriMusic]

Not wanting to be disrespectful, but this guy looks so out of track with many things. Bands and artists with potential have no time to become good, nobody will promote them for 3/4 albums waiting to become world class acts. They have no good places to play, they cannot sustain by selling physical copies at shows, they cannot pay for good producers and good mix engineers by themselves. Maybe the best ones get 50/100 dollars for some songs that miracoulously make 50000 streams and then runs out of money and time to continue. That's a nice game here, rich people takes all the money and the blame is on the workers if they are poor. Nobody wants to work anymore huh? This is bullshit, the system got screwed and not by musicians, but by some greedy people that now blame us.

[@croulantroulant3082]

this is all true but you forget one big fact: young people don't listen to live music anymore. DJs and rappers make up the bulk of new artists.

[@pickles224]

@@croulantroulant3082 it’s not 2018 anymore. Rap music has been burning itself out for years now. Pop-folk and country are the biggest things now.

[@Infinite_AM]

I don't think anyone is saying they should get paid if no one is listening. And were not "looking at the old days" because those days are long gone.

[@andreysegura2510]

Right. It's more 'we should be paid more'. The Spotify business is there to make Spotify money and no one else. People only choose Spotify because of the all you can listen to model,

[@marco31]

Why should bad "musicians" be paid better?

[@kemywa7787]

@marco31 because they get paid when people listen to them, they should be paid more for the listens they get, simple, plus music is subjective

[@kemywa7787]

@marco31 why should spotify get paid so much

[@chrisanderson1515]

@@kemywa7787payola exists on Spotify

[@davidwtaylor7180]

I subscribed to Bob's Lefsetz letter for a few years and eventually got tired of listening to his bullshit. There's no doubt that Bob has vast experience and knowledge about the music industry. But to hear him bray on about how "it's not the labels fault, it's not Spotify's fault, it's not an algorithms fault - the fault is that no one can write and record good music anymore!!!" That's when I have to turn off his pontificating, egoistic noise. I never seem to hear Bob offer solutions involving industry change. His bottom line solution always seems to be that "the artists just suck and if they'd just stop sucking, everything would get better". Granted, I fully agree with him that only a small percentage of artists truly deserve to find huge success. But I think that he completely misses the mark on finding creative solutions that would pull the industry out of it's current doldrums. It's easy to blame, it's hard to come up with meaningful solutions.

[@johnnyxmusic]

Thank you. I heard a few minutes of his bloviating… This is one of those people who is always right… And I know it all. I’m certainly knows more than I do. I don’t know what the solution is… Maybe the whole history of recorded music which is about 100 years old may be a little bit longer or older… It’s just a blip in the history of music. And the real money is in sheet music. I laughed.

[@jklight3795]

100% base! Thank you man!

[@mkultra_vii3283]

@@davidwtaylor7180 It’s an old adage in the journalism industry - if you criticize or point out a shortcoming without offering a solution, you’re just bitching.

[@crouchingtiger9108]

My dad has 4.5 million combined monthly listeners between his band and solo on Spotify. He makes more money from his own KZbin channel than all of the other streaming services combined. That is bang out of order. Even more established artists with 20+ million monthly listeners don't make the money they should be making.

[@jackmuratore9424]

KZbin places an ad. They should pay more. Is Spotify had an ad for every song, people would change services. Perhaps some of your dad's success on KZbin was supported by Spotify.

[@jonaskarlstrom4152]

Can i ask, who is your dad?

[@ignaciomendozagonzalez6067]

@@jackmuratore9424My guy KZbin is free, and Spotify does have ads in the free version, if you pay for KZbin premium you stop seeing ads just like Spotify

[@ultrapoci]

​@@jackmuratore9424 Spotify is a paid service, and the free version does have ads. Spotify should pay artists that literally make the platform possible using the money it gets from subscriptions.

[@GoodTargetGuitar]

Me

[@HolidayInGuantanamo]

This guy is really just a tiresome troll who's managed to be controversial enough to get attention while not antagonising the hands that feed him. I mean, what pill does Bob take that makes his opinion so important. He's not being victimised by the system so its easy for him to scoff at the musicians who are no longer able ro make a living from their recordings.

[@AlfredoRichner]

Bob is so lost in this Spotify argument he can’t see a way out of his own nonsense… not his most ridiculous moment (that would be the whole Tay Tay thing he likes to keep dragging), but perhaps his most dangerous and anti-artist opinion.

[@danszyller]

Didn’t agree with nothing this guy said about spotify… The real problem is that indie musicians don’t have money to promote music… Hence you have a bunch of people making some bucks and a ton of talented people not making anything… usual…

[@exasperated]

*Music critic goes on extended disdainful tirade about musicians* A tale as old as time, and predictable as things that go up finding their way down.

[@seantblackwood]

And he's a guy who probably never played a note of his own

[@FromTheRightAngle]

Uh ‘disdainful’? I took his tirade to be against the music business as a whole. In his defence, most top artists on Spotify ARE 💩.

[@JasonMauer]

Whether an artist has 10 listens or 10 million, streaming services are still making money off of their creations. Just because someone in the 50's couldn't get a record deal or publish music online isn't justification for ripping artists off today. One of the main issues with how Spotify and other streaming services pay royalties is paying out as a single pool of money instead of by actual individual listens. Let's say a Spotify subscriber is paying $12 a month and about $8 of that goes to royalties. If in a given month all that subscriber listens to is Khruangbin, it's not like Khruangbin gets that $8. They get fractions of pennies while most of that money goes to Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. There is no reason why they can't pay royalties based on actual listens -- this isn't radio, they have the all the data. It would be harder to rip off artists though if they didn't aggregate, which is of course why they do it.

[@fallenshallrise]

For real. I wouldn't even mind paying some company $15 with the promise that they are going to take $10 of that money and hand 1 cent per stream to the artists I ACTUALLY LISTEN TO. If I stream more than 1000 songs then feel free to bill me extra that month or prompt me to add an extra dollar to my account or whatever. Then if some small band has 2M listens each month they are actually making bank. It's crazy that Spotify lets people stream music for free and make money off ads and keeps all that money. If they pay anyone it's in bonuses to the 3 or 4 artists that give them relevance to the smaller artists that look up to them.

[@bgrigg07]

While I agree with most of your comment, 10 listens = $0.03. Spotify would lose money processing the payment.

[@JasonMauer]

​@@bgrigg07 That's probably why they don't do that, and instead they payout monthly when an artist's balance amounts to $10 or more.

[@Nemion]

The contracts Spotify has with the Major Labels prevents them from collecting and paying based on individual listeners.

[@selkoafparamo]

@@fallenshallrise same over here. Money should go to the artists we are actually listening. This should be common sense.

[@rhettmcdanielmusic]

He can make valid points, but no one loves to hear Bob talk more than Bob. He’s exhausting to listen to. He’s better to read than listen to. I bet he’s the guy everyone tries to get away from at a party.

[@Murphonics2024]

I always loved Bob until he started talking. Great writer but nobody needed to hear him speak. Except for him apparently.

[@GeorgeVCT]

Bob Lefsetz is the walking definition of "Old man yells at cloud." If we pulled a breakdown of speaking time on this video, I’d bet he dominated 90%-10%. But the real kicker? The sheer volume of things he got wrong-is amazing. Let's just look at his "take" on Taylor Swift’s Grammy performance that eventually gave us the song "Mean" that he mentions. His exact words that night from the email he sent: "Did Taylor Swift kill her career overnight? I’ll argue she did… In one fell swoop, Taylor Swift consigned herself to the dustbin of teen phenoms." Not only was this wrong-it was spectacularly, hilariously off. Not even close.

[@kellypeterson2625]

Do you know anybody who steals music anymore? That question is a complete red herring. Nobody needs to steal it anymore cuz it's all f****** free!!!

[@mdarrenu]

word,

[@popoff7808]

I plenty who do "file sharing". Ironically Napster and it's users originally wanted to work with the labels for a paid system. But the labels in their infinite lack of wisdom balked at them, got pissy, and shut them down. And the kind of system these Napster fans wanted was ultimately created by somebody outside the music world named Steve Jobs. LOL! And when people tell they pay for music because they have a streaming subscription, I remind them that they are not paying for music at all. They are paying to not have ads.

[@JesseNorellMusic]

All fixed! 😭

[@redmed10]

That's what he's saying.

[@LouisA-q3r]

There are still many "youtube to mp3" apps and websites available. So even if people aren't listening to streaming they're still able to download music for FREE!

[@gr8tnowwhat]

He makes some good points in his interview but hands down, if you are an artist, you created the music and you earn next to nothing while someone else makes more, that's wrong.

[@robinschell8767]

Two wrong assertions: 1. This idea that 'the cream will rise to the top'. Not true, because how on earth will anyone hear a truly great song when it's really just a grain of sand in the Sahara desert of 'content' being cranked out every minute??? Bob thinks somehow the great songs will reach him telepathically or something, no, they may be out there, buried with no hope of being heard. 2. The power the major labels had was not distribution, it was the ability to get their artists played on the radio.

[@AK-ep6ik]

exactly correct!!

[@rickmccl71]

telepathically, because people don't talk to each other? Isn't word of mouth the implication? Like at about 24:30 where he says it out loud?

[@MarkPeotter]

@robinschell8767 Spot on! Until streaming became the norm, Radio was the main way that we heard new music, followed by MTV in the 80's. Major Record labels had the power to push their artists into Radio and Television.

[@pickles224]

@@robinschell8767 also, I think the way certain music gets popular is a complicated social science worth experimenting, but it’s even more interesting now that the internet can literally make any music popular through memes, trends, dances and literally any other media in the cultural zeitgeist. A lot of today’s big stars blew up over social media like TikTok and stuff. Since the charts and the radio just kinda take to it if it’s viral enough, sleeper hits are more common than ever, making this an era where the public have just as much power over what gets popular than the labels do.

[@robinschell8767]

@@rickmccl71 People will not talk about something they never hear in the first place. His assertion is silly and denies reality.

[@frenchfry5675]

The music industry has a long history of corruption and criminality, why musicians in more recent times went indie.

[@189pinto]

Bob is incredibly knowledgeable and able to articulately express himself, but the interview reaffirms to me why music critics really don't have anything to offer me.

[@ajsantiago78]

This is a fascinating example of someone who had perfected the art of conversation (Rick) talking with someone who has no idea how to have one (Bob). A conversation is an exchange of ideas that flow from each other based on what the other person is saying. If you want to monologue without response write a blog. If you want to disregard the questions you're asked and go down a rabbithole of tangents, smoke a joint and write a blog. Bob was a lot of fun, in a highly caffeinated sort of way, and made a few good points, but this was quite painful at times.

[@eyeheartsushi2212]

Thank you for saving me an hour and 20 minutes!

[@ginapainter]

He was quite loquacious: we took it in two sessions but he did offer important points about artistry that should not go unnoticed. He has a lot to say-some people just take a while to spit it out. At the end he asked Rick about himself and his own dreams - never heard any of rick’s other guests doing that.

[@cree8vision]

I almost never listen to music on Spotify. I listen to all my music online on youtube. I like the visuals as well as the music.

[@TRAVIESO_NA]

I am the same. I’m over any version of streaming Music. I gave up on Apple Music, and Spotify

[@avatarofdeath]

I pay 10 bucks for KZbin Premium so I get KZbin Music which is just spotify/apple music but better

[@pifrei3272]

Please support the artists and buy CDs/Downloads from their webpages, or at least over services like qobuz!

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

👍 ​@TRAVIESO_NA ive never got into it .. spotify or apple music..

[@alancolazzi4975]

Same hear.......

[@Push-Pull]

Poor Rick thinks he was going to be discussing stuff, instead he got fillabusted

[@ovivan79]

And this is why Rick is the best interviewer these days. Rick points in a direction and then lets us hear all of what the guests have to say. It's so refreshing.

[@SimpleSlave]

@@ovivan79That’s not always a good thing.

[@garaged]

@@SimpleSlaveit’s so rare that is refreshing and welcomed by most of us his listeners

[@BuckFu]

Good stuff though.

[@LibraALLWoman]

@Push-Pull My thoughts, exactly.

[@ytube777]

I know the Taylor Swift song where she says something like she's never ever ever ever something something something.

[@mkultra_vii3283]

In this video: Yet another jackass who doesn’t create trying to decide the value of those who do, based on his own biased opinions. Music critics and their inflated sense of self, at least that’s still like the old days.

[@CloseUpLover]

cannot agree more!

[@bruford911]

That’s what I meant.

[@LouisA-q3r]

YES! 👍😏

[@jklight3795]

+100!

[@fortwilsonriot]

A lot of good points of course, but his initial point about musicians with marginal numbers not deserving to get paid is a bit over simplified. Even if you have an incredible band, the chances of getting signed to a label have always been relatively low. Higher in some past decades perhaps, but everyone knows about bands that were ahead of there time that didn’t develop a wider following until well after they disbanded. I was in a band that toured in the days of MySpace when the only way for people to get our music was to buy our cds when we came into town. We were able to sustain a career that way for about 5 years. We didn’t get signed even though we did develop quite a following in many of the cities we traveled to. But now I can’t even imagine how anyone could do that when no one needs to buy your music to hear it. Let’s remember that the 90’s grunge era that Rick loves to glorify was really driven by diy bands and labels that were able to build careers that way, and develop there sound, which then lead to them getting signed. Almost impossible to imagine that model working now.

[@gavinmacfarlane7044]

To be fair the big grunge bands had mostly done diy gigs, tours, self released or worked with local indie labels for years… therefore proving to any major label investor that they had the following, the talent and the aptitude to get bigger.

[@BobbyGeneric145]

The era you mentioned was mire like "oh you're all living in Seattle? SIGNED!"

[@thebluesrockers]

It's sad to think a band has to become a merch seller to make a profit. New bands don't stand a snowball's chance in hell these days. MTV has became movie television. Nobody is promoting bands. People being signed make very little and go through hell to make a minimal amount. But I have to disagree on "Most of the bands in the 90's were diy bands signed to poor labels. There has been a music monopoly going on for over 75 years. Most musicians these days should know that but people generally don't try looking into the business history of the labels. The news is a business too. But most people don't know that a small group of people control the worlds news. I think Neil Peart said it best when he said "All the world's indeed a stage We are merely players Performers and portrayers Each another's audience outside the gilded cage" They definitely keep us unaware of what's going on inside that gilded cage don't they?

[@elponchex]

What's more important. Can this guy that Rick is interviewing play anything? I mean, the great thing about this channel is that Rick himself and the people who KNOW their stuff and have the chops to prove it, so it's a delight to learn from them. This seems like a guy who just... Talks a lot? He was born early enough that he doesn't post this on a blog but instead wrote it in a magazine, and knows people in the industry, but that these are meaningless credentials for a channel like this. If it's just going to be dudes who Rick likes, that's not really up to level.

[@kw9172]

Exactly my experience. The problem with spotify is not that it pays little, the problem is that it killed CDs as a significant income stream. You could be a niche band and be totally fine if you toured your ass off and played great shows. Now you can have 750.000 subscribers on youtube and still loose 15.000 punds on a tour. Hooray! As Tim Pierce said, only nepo babes can afford to put in the time and work to "make it" any more.

[@iseeu-fp9po]

Everyone deserves to be paid per stream, not just the mainstream artists.

[@automachinehead]

it's like every one who plays in a band must have record deals. only 1 out of 100 songs are worth a blip. the rest are just tiktok rubbish.

[@yens99]

Is a stream a radio play or a sale of a record? Before streaming you got paid for radio play, you also got paid for records sale. This would happen even if your music was a sub-genre and the amount of plays was few, it was not a lot of money, but is was real money. On Spotify you have to have more than a 1000 plays to even be considered any kind of pay. I am here talking about independent musicians. You can not compare the economic models. We are being scr*wed more now.

[@DavidThompson-z6e]

“Needle-time” (radio play) has historically generated revenue for artists EXCEPT in the US (broadcasters have fought needle -time tooth and nail) and a small handful of other countries. Having said this,I respect that things may have changed while I wasn’t paying attention.

[@adriandoom7863]

I’m sorry, but I really wish we would stop giving out-of-touch dust clouds like this guy a platform to speak on topics he can barely think through, let alone articulate properly. Nothing like hearing a non-musician punch down on actual musicians, who dare to suggest that they should be able to make a livable wage.

[@Electric.Spaghetti.Neon.Studio]

I’m with you. This ain’t it.

[@jklight3795]

Indeed. 100% agreed

[@supasoulproductions]

Napster wanted the major labels to buy them as a streaming platform to distribute their music. But the labels foolishly/greedily thought they would just crush them and keep the digital genie in the bottle. Greed did not work out so well for them.

[@popoff7808]

And ironically what Napster and it's user wanted was created by somebody outside the music world name Steve Jobs. The labels were so pig-headed in their greed and got even more so after iTunes because they were butthurt. I have read enough books on the music industry at this point to know at least after the 1950s or record labels were almost NEVER about artists first.

[@garygarry]

Oh yes it did! Spotify just paid them $10 billion for 2024... they are raking it in

[@N.SLASH.A]

TL;DR - “Inconthhhhevable!!!”

[@johnparker4366]

😂

[@_Studio184_]

Equal pay for equal play. That's all artists want. Hard to tell if he actually thinks people want to be paid for not being played or if he's just clickbaiting. But the entire "wouldn't have been signed" is such complete BS as there is no shortage of artists who are popular because of open platforms, who never would have been signed. Extra irony points for spewing this on a channel that wouldn't exist if Rick had needed to be 'signed' by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or any other traditional media outlet. And even more bonus points for pretending like record labels were these philanthropic organizations who only signed high quality musicians whose material would benefit humanity, rather than the reality of them being pure profit motive thinly veiled organized crime.

[@Vincent-uf7eh]

He came to do a talk at my university in 2023 and said no one cares what you’ve done before. All that matters is what you do now and too many people get hung up on their past failures

[@Vincent-uf7eh]

@ you’re right I should of been more specific. I meant no one as in like what people like in general. If you make something good, whether it’s your first song or your 1000th, people will just like it cause it’s good

[@TheIgnoramus]

@@IncredibleGoliathhilarious isn’t it? His perspective is not of a creator.

[@slartibartfast1268]

​@@IncredibleGoliathRick's guest makes lots of weird points.

[@slartibartfast1268]

A lot of sweeping generalizations being made in this podcast. Bleh.

[@zapveresepa1]

Normally I love Rick's videos, but this critic is getting on my nerves. "Songwriters are bitching about blah, blah blah." I don't think I can make it to the end.

[@fran6b]

A critic without a sense of self-critic is it really a critic? I'm 25 minutes in and I confess, it's heavy. I'm not gonna make it to the end.

[@purplecow5150]

the truth hurts

[@purplecow5150]

he is essentially talking about the antithesis of the participation trophy era, and people from that era can't handle the truth. not everyone's kid is going to make it to the big leagues. the big leagues are reserved for the greats.

[@thelolguy007]

Couldn’t agree more, couldn’t make it by 5 mins with this fool

[@Jazzguitar00]

He's actually just spitting truth; you can't be nostalgic for the good old days when you don't know what actually went on in the good old days. A lot of artists had "support" from their labels but made little money.

[@BungleJoogie68]

"People that make less money than me are overpaid" is a bizarre opinion

[@treylee7791]

I respectfully disagree to some extent. One great thing about this era is that nearly anyone can monetize their craft, regardless of the revenue. Social media has made it much easier for smaller artists-whether they’re musicians, singers, producers, graphic designers, painters, writers, actors, or filmmakers-to showcase their work and reach an audience. For lesser-known artists in particular, I have no issue with them making significant money as long as they’re genuinely passionate and committed to their craft. Ultimately, art remains art, even if a particular style doesn’t resonate with you or if you personally don’t consider it “good.”

[@matthewdeheus3124]

One of the worst guests you have had on, Rick. Hope this isn't where you are going with the new podcast. There is a reason most people disagree with him.

[@ArtHoward]

Before Beato, Bob Lefsetz' blog was absolutely huge and linked everywhere. (Maybe he's better to read than listen to?) Rick sort of put Lefsetz in the shadows because he can shred Holdsworth licks and does his show from a recording studio he built himself, so he has evidence he knows what he's talking about. Still love Bob, though.

[@mikeellis4345]

Good grief.. imagine being in a meeting with that guy !! Ughhh

[@chipper2462]

I was exhausted 10 minutes in...haha

[@dmazza7187]

Good thing he doesn’t play an instrument.

[@gtm1967]

Okay 2 more thoughts :) “I can listen to your crap or I can listen to Joni Mitchell.” Joni Mitchell did not just fall out of the sky and was in one fell swoop brilliant. People have to be nurtured. When the Beatles first started they weren’t writing Yesterday or Sgt. Pepper. Someone had to see or hear something in them and nurture it. So, I think it is a bit of BS to say that if you are brilliant, we will find you. Brilliance doesn ’t just happen. It doesn’t work like that. Another point is that there seems to be something contradictory in what Bob is saying when he talks about the lack of talent and the paradigm shift. There might very well be a lack of talent out there but I think that this might have a lot to do with the fact that people are not sitting in their room with real instruments practicing and writing. They’re on social media trying to sell themselves. The lack of music education in schools is also a big thing. So, it might very well be that we have created a technological world in which there is much less opportunity to nurture your own talent.

[@jklight3795]

Facts!!

[@joeruto]

Well promotion is not free! You cant compare a label with million dollar budget for billie eilash new single. And posting your song as an indie musician song into the void and expect you'll get the same result? There are a ton of videos on youtube of indie musician running campaigns with 200-700 dollar budgets that get 100k streams max and you know how much that makes on spotify 200 stupid dollars.

[@HumanWrites-xi5ef]

Why don't you name the names of the psychopaths behind music industry slavery, and the strange deaths of Michael, Prince, Sam, and Buddy, to name a few? Guess what those artists all had in common? Yeah, they fought against slavery.

[@iivin4233]

It would be hard to pay them less. Anyway. I don't care what field you're in. Never let anyone tell you you should be satisfied with what you have when they have all the money and all the cards. You have one card: your talent. If your talent truly is insuffecient, then they won't pay you more no matter what you say. But if your talet is sufficient, they will pay you more or suffer the consequences of your absence. Do not let the elderly steal from you. Give your time, love and money to your own grandparents. Do not give these things to someone else's grandparents.

[@FALCOY]

What about the "ghost musicians" Spotify promotes? Ted Gioia talks about how Spotify promotes these no name people above established artist to get a kick back.This is modern payolla!

[@larrysmith5249]

This was an interesting interview. Bob had a lot of interesting thoughts and stories. However, and maybe it was me, it seemed like many thoughts and stories were unfinished because he moved on to another story before he finished his story. It was like listening to someone playing ping pong with themselves. I listened all the way to the end, however if I were asked what I learned about the music business from this interview, I’m not sure what my answer would be. It was a firehose of information. Sometimes less is more. You could make a drinking game for every time he said “having said that”.

[@KowankoMusic]

or "what people don't understand is..."

[@TerryOkeyTunes]

Exactly. "ping pong" = perfect

[@TerryOkeyTunes]

And too bad not one mention of intellectual property rights which is a big part of the issue.

[@CatPhil]

Lots of talking but not saying all that much

[@smoothtalkerguitarsuk4431]

Loves to hear the sound of his own voice and now he has a ton more listeners because of RB

[@angellacanfora]

I waited 45 minutes for this guy to finish a sentence.

[@curtvona4891]

Thank you for your patience.

[@veronaraven3099]

Lefsetz was an attorney in the business.... i think he knows a lot.

[@angellacanfora]

@@veronaraven3099 Where in my comment did I say he doesn't know anything? I was joking about his freewheeling manner of speaking.

[@jesusislukeskywalker4294]

​@angellacanfora a smiley face emoji 😬 is necessary when using sarcasm. . i find people misunderstand my sense of humour.

[@bradspringer2372]

​@@jesusislukeskywalker4294I understood his sarcasm without the emoji.

[@popoff7808]

I am also going to say this, complex does not mean better. It just means complex. I like Rick and his interviews with all the music theory. But- just because a song has more modulations or dynamics DOES NOT make it better. We have decades of blues and country and folk to prove that. It just makes it more complex. That is the ONE area I feel Rick is a little bit pretentious on.

[@Robert-pe3zy]

I’m not sure Rick would disagree with you.

[@jklight3795]

I don't like Rick! This guy legitimizes the spotify scam in every video.

[@itsrob2321]

All of the streaming platforms exist and profit from an inventory of music they don’t pay for. Then they run their business, make a profit, and throw a few scraps to the people who invest all the time, labor, into intellectual property. Everyone tells the artist, go make money over there, but nobody wants to pay.

[@estebanb7166]

This guy takes forever to get to his points.

[@74kevin1]

The problem now is that talent and creativity need to be nurtured, and the conditions to allow that have all but evaporated.

[@patrickwrx]

I can name a few Taylor Swift songs, but they are all from 15+ years ago when I still listened to pop radio in the car occasionally.

[@T_oddsoul]

Songwriters know we aren’t going to get paid like we did for physical album sales, and we’re not asking for that. We never got paid for an album track in the same way as a hit because the hits got the radio play. What we are asking is that we get paid the same for a stream as we would for a radio play. AND, don’t tell me radio pays more because it’s ad supported. Subscriptions more than make up for add revenue. The fact that you’ve been friends with the Spotify guys since before Spotify tells me all I need to know.

[@TheUnfoundPodcastChannel]

This all reminds me of when the first 3 chip digital cameras came out in the early 2000's. Canon XL1, etc. And the belief within the indie filmmaking community was "This is going to democratize filmmaking. No more film costs. No more developing costs. No big lighting rigs. Etc. Etc. Etc. It's gonna be so cheap. This will be the end of the big studios. We will bring them to their knees." What happened? All the public got were more bad movies.

[@Ancientreapers]

6:40 Correct me if I'm wrong, but even going back to the 70's and onward, the band or artist would get fronted the money by the label for making the record. When it was done, and the record was released to the public, the label handled the advertising and getting the selected hit song out to the radio stations. The band or artist made very little from that part of the record deal since they had to pay back the label for the studio time and other stuff the label had to do. That's where touring came into play. That's how the band or artist would make their money. So, if you were a band that could sell out 50,000 seat arenas along with merchandise sales (tee shirts etc.) at those venues, you were waking away with a lot money. Minus the cost of the touring.

[@RAEckart22]

Right, and that's why when Van Halen came home from two world tours for I and II, they OWED the record company $2 million

[@Ancientreapers]

@@RAEckart22 Needs a bit of context for that. That's because they were spending way more on those shows than those shows or even album sales combined were making. The label was fronting them the money for the overbudget of each show. All goes back to the contract they signed with the label. To Van Halen's credit all that was corrected and they finally began making the money from their tours.

[@LouisA-q3r]

Before music went digital bands did concerts to sell albums. Any money they made touring went to transportation, food, and lodging. Now it's reversed, there's no more record sales so ticket prices had to be increased to pay for things that record sales used to pay for.

[@RAEckart22]

@@LouisA-q3r TBH, most artists were ripped off in the pre-digital era. The only chance an artist had to make money was probably in publishing rights (if they weren't signed away). Their record contracts funneled all money to the labels/distributors first. There might be profit sharing after, but the label usually got the majority there & also controlled the accounting. Touring was not in the contract & was wide open. Most bands made their money touring, plus it kept the label happy for the free promotion.

[@IndigoSunshine77]

One of the big problems with shitify is that they try to shove the worst garbage down your throat; their recommendations do not reflect what the user listens to and what the listener marks as "not interested". Their recommendations reflect what the industry is trying to push. With the exception of tidal the alternatives to shitify don't get enough attention imho.

[@t.seank.529]

I can easily name dozens of Beatle songs, Zep, Hendrix, etc. Music was the center of culture then. I couldn’t name an influencer with a gun to my head. Different time, different lives.

[@smoothtalkerguitarsuk4431]

You aren´t meant to be able to. Kids that are now the age that you were into Hendrix, Zep stuff, they can name you all the taylor Swift tracks you wanna here. Coldplay everyone can name a tune etc etc etc - that was a bllshit story in the interview.

[@larrydavis5880]

I have a question. If someone with low numbers on Spotify shouldn't be paid then by the same logic should those with mid tier numbers not be paid since they don't have high tier numbers? Just a thought.

[@Funkybassplayer]

Hey Rick. You hit a nerve with this interview. Lots of people that disagree. but I like Bob. I have to watch the interview a couple times more to fully understand what he has said. There’s too much information but it’s nowhere long winded. I think I agree with him on a lot of things. Great interview Rick. 🙏🏻🙏🏻💪🏻💪🏻 I like his questions at the end. Wow, 10 000 000 subscribers? I hope it happens. Greetings sir. 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

[@dchance75702]

If I were to do a hour+ monologue and cut it up into 180 20-second clips and then put it in a randomizer, I would have this video. I still don't know what this guy said; it was so scatter-brained.

[@anisakid-kg3zn]

I thought I was the only one. I got nothing out of this discussion. No coherence or organization. Rick's material is usually very easy to understand but this guest is just a giant word salad.

[@davejanson8137]

it was a bit scattered

[@LouisA-q3r]

😂🤣😅👍

[@Miles_ethan]

Im on spotify and I compose, write and perform all the instrumentation (guitar, bass, piano, drums and vocals etc) and there are many singer-songwriters like me that deserve much more then is given to them.

[@CatPhil]

Ok

[@mdarrenu]

curious, what do you think you deserve?

[@saulgoodman.exe_]

If you have any artistic integrity, you wouldn't be asking for anything. I make music for myself and could honestly care less about making money off of my creative output

[@DA-lt9tg]

@@saulgoodman.exe_ No offence, but if you had some integrity twards your artist, you would let them starve.

[@saulgoodman.exe_]

@@DA-lt9tg Speak english bud

[@wildvinesmusic]

We need more Rick Beatos... no agendas, just music!

[@berniebro420]

Bob Lefsetz was born a ramblin man 🥱

[@petergrant7173]

Every time he says “that being said” he contradicts himself. Also Spotify is a terrible business that can’t scale but their stock keeps going up and the owners are billionaires. Distribution is king and content makers are whiners! Unbelievable!

[@aarong5716]

I've heard this "no one knows Taylor Swift" argument several times, and I'm not sure I agree. I'm vaguely aware that Garth Brooks and Shania Twain were the two biggest Country stars of the 90's, but I barely know any of their songs, either. Country is an extremely niche genre, and Taylor in particular seems to be targeted mostly to women. I also think music ownership is more alive than these two realize. I like owning music because I've seen way too many albums disappear, get altered due to licensing issues, get terrible "remasters", etc.

[@werkzeugmann6224]

These daze ALL music is niche!

[@Oberkobold]

As someone who has never actively listened to any of those three artists, I could name you 0 Garth Brooks songs, 1 Shania Twain song and 4 Taylor Swift songs off the top of my head

[@guitarplayer5932]

@@aarong5716 albums technically only get remastered because of ownership/ end of contract issues , you wont even hear a difference , they only have to ever so slightly change an eq/ compressor setting to call it remastered and then the artist can take 100% of the revenue thats why they do it not to make it sound better or different

[@erics7992]

Were you around in the '90s?

[@nonyabuzznus2017]

"No one (over the age of 50) know Taylor Swift" is what he said

[@maxhobbs5512]

This guy is completely out of touch and has no idea how much amazing music is being made, including at the highest level

[@orlock20]

The general population wants their music spoon fed to them. There are no boarders and gatekeepers anymore so those people are stuck in the past.

[@pianospeedrun]

was my thought too

[@LouisA-q3r]

I agree. I've discovered so many great new bands just this week. The top 20 are always going to be determined by teens and 20 somethings because they do the majority of listening to their favorite artists. Just like in the top 40 radio days. I don't listen to pop songs that are only 3 minutes long, I listen to prog rock/metal songs that are 10 minutes long

[@BonzoDrummer]

Rick stepped into the void left by the death of the music media and became the music media. Why would an artist want to talk to Fallon, who's going to ask superficial questions, when he could talk to Rick, who knows what key all the parts are in?

[@popoff7808]

Well they would want to talk to Fallon specifically because he won't bring up modulations. Some "musicians" don't know a lick about music.

[@Daldaren]

Man this guy never finishes a sentence or idea. I normally love your long form content with people just chatting Rick, but this guy is not it.

[@rogerquaif7640]

I could not follow this guy either.

[@thundernels]

I just sat back and appreciated it as performance art.

[@nonyabuzznus2017]

TLDW: the beatles are great, why can't there be another beatles, blah blah blah blah blah.

[@LouisA-q3r]

Yes, the guy reminded me of "dementia Joe" all over the place

[@marcos061059]

Modern Country is a far cry from "real" Rock. Modern Country doesn't know what it is posing as pop/rock.

[@orlock20]

I remember when people bashed country music for adding drums. You don't take a drum kit to a camp fire.

[@pickles224]

@@orlock20yeah and country music has had that since the fucking ‘90’s and we’ve been perfectly okay with that since.

[@rickmccl71]

You have me confused, name an artist

[@drewpearsonmusic]

Subscribed! Cant wait to hear more boomer opinions on the state of the music industry. Spotify pays less per stream than it did 5 years ago and will continue that downward trend. It’s the tech bro way of subsidizing a service service to grow as big as you can without making a prophet. Then figure out the business part after you’ve disrupted the industry

[@christopher9152]

A lot of strawman fallacies and generally ill-spirited ranting from someone who is clearly running interference for music industry execs.

[@trafyknits9222]

I met Larry Gatlin many years ago and he said the Gatlin Brothers had a number one hit (in the early days) and never made a nickel. They had no marketing and the label essentially kept all the money.

[@jerrybeirnemusic]

I expect a very similar thing to happen to Hollywood. Anyone will be able to create an entire movie themselves using AI. There will be thousands of movies being released every day, most of it horrible, just like most music is today. Making money as a grip, actor, screenwriter or cameraman will be very tough. The parallel in music is more about software helping with the tracks, rather than AI, but I think it'll be similar.

[@orlock20]

Hollywood has to compete with other countries, b-level movies from independent acts and even its older works so it has a lot in common with the major labels.

[@Gguitarist1]

The labels used to own and control most, if not all media outlets. Even if they put out crap, they would tell you through every portal that it was great until you believed it, or just couldn't avoid it. That's not the topography anymore. There's great music out there. There's great art. But it can't break through when the landscape is so splintered. There are exceptions, but there are too few to hold up as torches of hope.

[@dhpbear2]

I believe why few know the names of these acts. They hear it as 'background music'. In the 'old days', you'd hear a great song on the radio and the DJ would announce the song's title and artist (if you were lucky :) )

[@fredrikio]

It’s kinda funny that the opening ep is with the Larry David of music 😂 Great with a podcast. Thank you for all the great content you share.

[@violinimpulse]

There's no good music being made? Spotify is paying artists too much? This guest is arrogant, out of touch, and wouldn't know good music if it punched him in the glasses.

[@craigtoots3391]

There is no valid reason why Spotify can't/won't pay per stream. Change my mind.

[@bartelunion]

Couldn't get through 10 minutes. Lefsetz is too bitter for my taste. I'm glad most of Rick's content is more optimistic and productive even when he doesn't like something. Love your channel Rick, just not this kind of stuff.

[@KelvynTaylor]

At least I know my music's not good enough 🤣 Great interview, enjoyed every minute!

[@poochpalace627]

I, me, me I, I, me me,my,my I,I,I,me me me me me I me me. This guy is tiresome Also, EVERY SINGLE TIME

[@Schmuddel]

The happy merchant hates country, nothing new.

[@christopher9152]

Shocked! I was shocked, I'm telling you. (okay--not so shocked).

[@seantblackwood]

Exactly

[@maidende8280]

Early life, ofc…

[@rpete2733]

This is one of those people that if you are at a party and end up talking to this guy, after 1 minute you're going to have to move away...and stay away from for the remainder of the party. I would also try to be out of earshot. Certainly not watching this 1 hour 17 minute interview.

[@Mark-gj9po]

Can you get Enya in for an interview?

[@mab2112]

U2 played 40 shows in 2024 at the Sphere in Las Vegas in front of 663,000 and grossed $244.5 million. The vast majority of all active bands would do anything to emulate this success. How did U2 "squander their career" and why do they need to "pack it up"? Almost all of the remaining bands from the rock era are "nostalgia bands". U2 sell out every show they play in whatever venue they play.

[@matthewsnyder6127]

They’re not talking commercial success, they’re talking about U2’s artistic demise.

[@mariocontreras1911]

Amen to that. I own all of their releases and that statement caught my ear. U2 just rocks the house and that’s fine for me.

[@rickmccl71]

Wait are you saying U2 isn't a "nolstalgia band"?

[@Svein-Frode]

What a hoot! It's not often I laugh out loud watching KZbin, but this was fun, and more importantly, loved Bob's perspectives on how "the industry" has changed over the years.

[@krusher74]

40,000 songs a day are uploaded to Spotify, it would take you over 3 months listening 24hrs a day to hear them all.

[@Jz2CoolDude]

It's actually over 100,000 songs uploaded to Spotify per day!!!!!

[@theragingdolphinsmaniac4696]

I have a lot of hope for music going forward. I teach college courses and work at Barnes & Noble…I see more teenagers and young people interested in 60s/70s/80s music along with physical media of all types both digital and analog. No young people listen to the crap the media promotes today except maybe Swifites.

[@pickles224]

You really haven’t spent any time in middle schools then.

[@tragicallymalicious1]

Coheed and cambria Not at all a hit band but they keep putting out great music and touring without ever having a hit

[@MonkeyKidd]

This falls into the King Crimson category they mentioned

[@Vordb666]

@@MonkeyKiddyeah but Rush, Yes, Toto, Genesis etc all had progressive stuff and catchy successful pop singles too. but that being said rock music was still a new and fresh genre back then so maybe the average listener just isn’t sold on it as easily in 2025

[@patpuckett240]

And their ability to earn money was drastically impacted by not being able to sell records

[@ginapainter]

Say what you will about “ole Bob” but he was the only one who asked Rick about himself and his own dreams. Of course you would have had to wait until the end, lol.

[@tadmorrison]

I say much about the live scene. No Band goes to a club owner and says, “We would like to play here this weekend. 200 people will show up and pay $30 at the door. They’ll come early, stay late, and you’ll gain some repeat customers. We don’t want you to pay us anything, we’ll just take the door.” Why doesn’t this happen? Is it because people don’t wanna hear good music? Or maybe club owners that don’t want free entertainment? No, it’s bands that aren’t good enough to draw 200 people who will pay $30 at the door. “

[@greggsummers5944]

Loved this interview! He is really interesting and could listen another hour.

[@jabrockobiden9434]

Authenticity is the new currency

[@dank1292]

I loved it at the end when Bob became the interviewer and Rick was in the "hot seat"and I enjoyed the lack of B.S. about the music industry . I had many "Aha" moments. Thank you, Rick, I was enthralled from 1AM till 2+AM

[@Soberdrummer321]

I love how Rick looks on the verge of cracking up the whole time 😂

[@ArtHoward]

I think he's wilting inside, wondering how he's going to edit this into something listenable.

[@rickmccl71]

He's imagining this comment section

[@spotlightfloodlight]

Rick. Please do a summary, or your own reaction video of this. I think there are some interesting points and ideas here, but most of us cannot listen to Bob for more than 5 minutes. It wasn’t a conversation. He didn’t let you say anything.

[@suitestheband]

An example that aging doesnt mean you cant pay attention to new music. With knowledge and experience you can connect the dots. I love XMU used to find a lot of music that way. That music scene still has a lot of fans - they still call it Indie music.

[@strangedays871]

Yeah, I've found a lot of great music because of XMU.

[@jamahlrashid3287]

From a hip-hop perspective, what Bob says around the 43 min mark is what I've been telling people. When I started producing beats in late 80s/early 90s, every rapper had a long list of things they promised they would never do (i.e, "go pop", "sellout", etc.) On top of that, they all either wanted to be the best or thought they were already the best. Nowadays, they'll do anything to make it (i.e freak-offs, murder for hire, etc.) and strive to be just average.

[@darkogav]

An entertaining interview, but a number of inaccuracies in this interview. First of all, Susan Tedeschi was quite a successful and established artist on her own right, in the genre of music she was working in way before TTB. And Derek Trucks did a lot more in his career than just being the guitarist in the Allman Brothers band once. Both of them combined had released over 15 releases before the TTB started. Secondly, it’s ironic to take a dump on bad decisions and the career trajectory of U2 while in the same interview praise Aerosmith. I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who has a clue what Aerosmith released after the Pump album from 1989 and that one big single from Armageddon soundtrack.

[@flazjsg]

He said she had a following. She was a club act.

[@LodvarDude]

@@flazjsg That's the best kind of act. I'd rather listen and see that than a whorshipped poser on a stadium.

[@darrylsobol583]

You completely missed his point He was actually complimenting TTB career and criticizing how record companies would handle that type of artist

[@m0j0b0ne]

Talent is a given. You need a LOT more than that. The highway is littered with the careers of the talented, but difficult. Bob knows what he's talking about; complainers are living in the past, and the past wasn't so good. There USED to be a middle class of musicians; if you could save two grand, you made a CD, you sold it at shows, you made money at 10 to 16 bucks a pop. But what you DIDN'T have was distribution; you could NOT get your CD on the shelf at Best Buy or at the mall, because the major players BOUGHT all the shelf space-it's why Bob says distribution is king. Today, distribution is damn near free, but where I part ways with Bob is when he says you can make a hit record on a laptop for nothing-that's just wrong. (it's maybe a little right, but just sometimes, and very rarely-I mean, I could make a hit record on a laptop, but you can't and either of us would have to start with a hit song) There's an opportunity cost in all the time it takes to learn an instrument, learn to write music, learn to record the music, to mix the tracks, hells, even learning to use the computer. And a laptop is NOT a recording studio; even if it were, it doesn't come with a team of professionals dedicated to helping you make the best record possible. I still don't have a network that can bring me the opportunities, now that I have the means to produce great music. So hey, if you know somebody...

[@OperationNorthwoods]

Regarding his statement about Ticketmaster fees being due to the appeal of the acts. By that logic, shouldn't my $10 ticket to see Zeppelin in '77 have been $50? Or my $5.98 ticket to see RUSH/Pat Travers/Head East together in '78 instead being $50? Ticketmaster fees are exorbitant because it has a monopoly on distribution.

[@TheNudeBrewer]

His "right/wrong" ratio is about 70/30. But the things he's wrong about ... omg he's DREADFULLY wrong about. There is absolutely zero defense of Ticketmaster. ZERO.

[@OperationNorthwoods]

@TheNudeBrewer Correct. I don't see how anyone can, honestly, defend TM. Excluding its shareholders, of course.

[@nellcote69]

The artists get the added on fees. Read the Lefsetz Letter, it's free

[@popoff7808]

@@nellcote69 Do they really though? Because when I getting my Bjork ticket it was like $50 is fees, so $250. I am so buggered by the fees I decided to wait until the day of the show and go to the box office. I got my ticket for $199. If those fees were what the artist wanted and requested where are they at the box office? Or rather why are they not at the box office, if it was really about the artist getting that money?

[@HolidayInGuantanamo]

The whole dynamic pricing on tickets is just such an American solution to scalping. Instead of restricting the resale to only authorized outlets (and you can do it easily since its all trackable now), and limiting the price you can resell for, they institutionalized scalping. Artists love it, because they also get a cut. TM takes the heat and serves as a buffer for the artist. Consumers get screwed, but now its legal and the new normal.

[@DaleRC75]

That was absolutely brilliant! Rick, THANK YOU! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Charlieh1989]

If you're doing an episode through the internet, is there a way that you can get them to record their own audio separately in high quality then send to you to sync up in the edit?

[@ocgabe]

Great interview, Rick. Of all of the interviews you've done, this ranks way up there. I appreciate the business insight. I am always trying to figure out the music business today and why music has gotten so mediocre. I like his statement, "Rock is alive only they're calling it country music." Since I've moved out to rural country (Upstate South Carolina) from Los Angeles, I have begun listening to country music - a genre I have always trashed - and have taken a liking to it. Now I have justification for my current listening choices, lol. Peace.