Lefsetz on Artist Development

Bob Lefsetz pisses me off more often than not, but that's because he's been telling me things I don't want to hear. I'll get over myself.

But as I've been reading him over the last year or so, it seems we're saying the same thing: it's finally coming back to the music.

Lefsetz writes:

It’s back. And its return has nothing to do with a change in record company strategy, no big time thinking on the part of managers or acts, but a change in the marketplace.

It’s just about impossible to be ubiquitous. And the cost of mainstream acceptance is prohibitive, not only in dollars, but career. If you push an act down people’s throats, some might buy it once, but most will walk away, doing their best to get out of the shitstorm.

You can go read the rest (and if you're in this business, you should have his blog in your RSS reader.)

I've spoken about a plethora of evangelists seeking new music to tell people about. This is the change in the market - this is what we never had before. Now we do, and we can finally break free from all the anxiety surrounding self-promotion and just create amazing music. Nothing else matters.