From: Peter Wiley
Subject: Spotify Discovery Mode
Hi Bob, thought this Tweet thread was a solid (and concise) look at Spotify's Discovery Mode. I work for a label distributed via Sony's Orchard and Sony will not participate in DM, nor allow any of it's subsidiaries to opt in. There's a real concern that their unilateral decision, preventing an independent, privately owned company from participating is hurting our business: not only for our current artists/catalog but also putting us at a competitive disadvantage when going up against a competitor who can participate in Discovery Mode. Managers are hip to Discovery Mode and it's advantages for their artists. We all have a myopic obsession over Spotify, it's how we put points on the board and judge our campaigns.
The one thing not mentioned in this Tweet thread and is hugely important to the discussion is that Discovery Mode only reduces your per stream pay out in those instances Spotify serves up the opted in song via their "radio" algorithm, not on streams coming from fans who play the song from their own playlists or pressing play on the opted in track via the artist's page, etc. So, the reduced per stream pay out is only on incremental, new plays, which is why it's hugely popular. You are paid the exact same for all organic or already-earned plays, the reduction only occurs on the new, never would have occured streams had you not opted in. Forgive me if that is redundant.
twitter.com/AbelowRob/status/1641455112345493506 ___________________________________
Jamie Lee want's to have rock n' roll matinee shows:
Kent Black was pretty much spot-on with his (normal) show-day production set-up times.
The ideal scenario (particularly if it's a "teen-appeal" act involved - and I've worked with many) - is when the act is fortunate enough to be able to sell two shows in the same city, those being (ideally, again) Friday and Saturday nights, with the Matinee on the Saturday afternoon. Same could be said for Saturday and Sunday evening shows, with a Sunday Matinee.
National promoter's (and local schools within the area of the show!) are historically uneasy about booking Matinees on weekdays!
I can honestly attest to have been involved with a show (and travelling on the crew buses, to give moral support) which "back-to-backed" out of an evening arena show in Birmingham's (UK) Resorts World Arena directly into Leeds First Direct Arena - with a Matinee on that same day. Absolute Madness (and dangerous). There will be a "H&S law" against that in the future - if it's not already in place. Moral of the story? - Take care allowing an agent to become over-involved in the routing of a tour.
Jake Duncan
Tour Accountant Extraordinaire
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From: Hugo Burnham
Oh, and Kent Black assumes the only acts Jamie Lee Curtis wants to see are arena acts. Meh… we’d play at 10-in-the-f*cking morning for her.
H
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My next-door neighbour (with whom I had an uneasy relationship at best) died last year, victim of his own alcoholism. He was an avid Trumpster, and once called me a “tree-hugging libtard” when I dared buy a Tesla! When they cleared the house, they found 2 large gun safes: one contained at least a dozen pistols, the other, 3 high-velocity rifles. They also discovered a trap door to his cellar, at least 2 flak-jackets, massive amounts of ammunition and - and THIS is the kicker - they found prescription medication for both schizophrenia and dementia!
How did he manage to buy so many guns? ANY guns! My neighbours and I all agree he could’ve gone “clocktower” on any one of us, at any time.
Guns are not “boy toys!” They are instruments designed to kill living beings, be they animal or human.
I am not sure what cataclysmic event will eventually bring about gun control, but something radical needs to happen: NOW!
Best, Charlie Morgan
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My family and I were at the Highland Park Parade on the 4th, it is something we are still dealing with 9 months later and will likely be dealing with for the rest of our lives. My 5-year old and 7-year old son are still asking us if they are safe and why the 'bad guy' did that. It is sad to see that a shooting at a school, parade or you name it is no longer a shock, but the norm, not even lasting in the news cycle over 24 hours. We are all complaining about something getting done and yet it doesn't. You nailed it on the head in the middle of this e-mail, who says 'arms' means all guns and going on to talk about how so many of these crimes are committed after a recent purchase. There is so much anger still in my hometown of Highland Park. We are staying positive, continuing to call our elected officials and hoping that others do the same. This is not a 'us vs them' problem, this is an everyone problem.
Jeff Leibovich
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I was in a mass shooting event in 2018 in Nashville. The restaurant I was in was shot at 20-30 times. We hid in the back hallway by the restrooms not knowing if the gunman was coming in the front door or not. When the police told us it was ok to go, there was the moment of, is it really ok? Am I really ok?
I wasn't in a war zone. I wasn't even the target. But this feeling never leaves you. A random firework goes off and I am immediately brought back to that place.
Now imagine those kids. If they survive, this sh*t will f*ck up their brains forever.
Everyone knows someone that's been in a shooting now and still, nothing. I can vote blue all day but the knuckle-draggers keep holding us back.
Bobbo
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Thank you Bob for writing about Nashville.
The shooting at Covenant School happened less than a mile from my house.
My daughter's school is a block away from our house and her school was locked down as well.
There are no words to explain the sadness our city feels right now.
I truly hope we can find a solution or at least a middle ground.
Children should not be killed in their classrooms or anywhere for that matter.
marcie allen
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You are 100% right with this Bob. I have 3 kids - one in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary school. I get nervous all the time when they leave the house in the morning, and we live in a small town with very safe schools. Today my 8 year old just didn’t wanna go to school. He was adamant. We forced the little guy up from bed and made him go to school, all the while I’m thinking in my head, what if he’s got some weird feeling that he shouldn’t be there today? And what if, god forbid, something terrible happens and I was the one responsible for forcing him to go? I can’t fu**ing believe we are living in this nightmare right now. And I was getting hopeful that the old farts who don’t care about about the mess they’re leaving were going to die off soon, but now seeing this insane generation that’s my age coming up through our awful government is leaving me hopeless.
And this all just boils down to one thing: MONEY - the absolute godforsaken root of all evil. I don’t believe that any of these soulless “politicians” who support the 2nd amendment crap even buy into it. It’s all just absolute pandering. And why? To protect their jobs & power because without their cushy government job they’re nothing. Losers. Nobodies. But say that you support AR-15’s? Job for life!!! I honestly believe that someday one of these nutjob shooters will end up taking out an entire school of hundreds of people and it’s absolutely terrifying. I just tell myself over and over: the odds are in my favor that my family will never be in one of these situations. But I fear those odds are growing smaller each day.
Please keep using your platform, if not for anything, to at least give the hopeless a voice.
Thanks Bob.
Rob DiFondi
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Why? Because the politicians are scared. Of their base. Of the NRA. Mostly of losing their job, their power, the perks, the money, their relevancy. That's why these geezers stay so long in Congress. They can't give it up.
I live in rural Texas. I've been around guns my whole life. I have a few, and unlike most gun owners, I use them frequently as the tools they are, mainly for feral hogs. (In fact, between a lifetime of playing amplified music and regular shooting I've got some pretty severe tinnitus -- wear hearing protection young'uns, your 60-year-old self will thank you.)
Anyone who tells you they need a high-capacity semi-automatic rifle for "hunting" is full of sh*t and a poser. Same for self-protection in your home. No regular person needs an assault rifle for any reason whatsoever.
The right likes to talk about sheeple. Well, that's what America has become, like the frog in heating water we've just grown complacent that for some reason we can't have the civilization enjoyed by much of the world. Oh sure, we can have gadgets and grocery delivery, but we can't have healthcare or safety from gun violence, or even a viable planet for our grandkids.
The French president tries to do an end-run to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 and France grinds to a halt with coordinated mass strikes and protests, while America sits by watching our children get slaughtered saying, "There's nothing we can do."
Yup, we boomers dropped the ball and now we're too old and too comfortable to get out in the streets. It's going to require a general strike in this country. But when you kick 'em in the corporate wallet you get results. It's up to you, kids.
Todd Jagger
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You have great points that don't need my validation, but one thing I want to illuminate is that when the 2nd Amendment was written and first implemented, if my facts are correct, it took about 4 minutes to reload and shoot the second shot from a musket...to even approach something like a semi-automatic weapon, you had to carry, say, three loaded muskets, but then you're still back to four minutes, minimum, to reload and shoot again. The guns of the late 1700s are not the same machines we have today. And one more thing, we wouldn't want people driving cars that weren't registered or insured, and if you purposely kill someone with a car, you may not be allowed to drive for a long time if not, ever again. Let's adapt!
Sam Scozzari - NYC & Suffield CT
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Obviously, I am disgusted with this month's school shooting (I say this month, because there will probably be one next month too).
Full disclosure, I am a former Republican. I hesitate to say former because that implies I am now aligned with the Democrats. I am not. While I have found myself more in line with much of what the Democrats are about as I am approaching 50, I would not legitimize either party with my support at this point.
Growing up, your generation identified with politicians. You felt you could relate to them, JFK being the most obvious example. As a Gen Xer who grew up in the late 70's through the 80's, I believe my generation felt a sense of respect for politicians as leaders, but I don't know that we related to or identified with them. Like our teachers, they were all old and from a totally different era.
My point is this. The Republicans are batsh*t crazy and MOST of us who consider themselves to be moderates see that. We just can't believe that the Democrats can't find ONE candidate that leads with common sense and isn't rife with hypocrisy. When Trump was running against Hilary the tagline from the Democrats was, "Old, rich, white men have ruined this country and we need a new perspective." But then they give us Biden.
People don't feel they can relate to politicians and I believe that is why there is a reluctance to stand up. People feel defeated. They are overwhelmed by a sense of pointlessness.
I have an 11 year old son, so the topic of school shootings is not lost on me. It scares the sh*t out of me. I don't own a gun. I understand why someone would want to, for various reasons. But I also understand that as a parent I shouldn't have to worry about my child's safety when I send him to school.
Neil Johnson
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It takes months for a restaurant to get a full liquor license, maybe even a year, and costs $100k but that jackass down the street can buy an AR-15 in 24 hours? And local municipalities cannot create their own laws because Federal government has something to say about gun rights? Lisbon isn’t a crazy idea
Tim Hyde
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Hi, Bob. No place is perfect. But America has gone downhill in the last 40 years . It was a great place when I grew up there in the 60s. I swear to you. Even if you gave me 10,000 dollars a day I wouldn't live there again. I just visit my daughters and grandchildren once a year. Okay. I don't want to sound pretentious. Americans live in a myth that they have the best country in the world. Most Americans have never been out of their country to see the world. There is no democracy in the US. You are guilty until rich. Corruption is overwhelming in our government. The problem is there is no CAP on Capitalism. The simple truth is, the U.S. is at war for continued hegemony over the planet, for the preservation of the imperial system and its finance capitalist rulers. In such a war, everyone everywhere is a potential enemy, including the home population. I'm a Vietnam vet 3rd Marine Div. from 1967-70.“The U.S. is no longer an economic superpower; it can only intervene decisively in global affairs by force of arms and military intimidation.” America is exposed now in the world, as a sore loser. I doubt if Americans will wake up while I'm still alive. One thing is we can't go on like this forever.
Best of health. Take care.
Tom Riviere
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I would imagine the most frightened segment of society in America every day would be the mothers and fathers--the parents--who have kids attending both public (and private) schools. They must wake up up feeling dread every morning..."Could it happen to us?" They are an unwitting block of voters and voting constituents. And have numbers and power. It's a huge constituency.
If they ever got fed up enough and banded together, especially the suburban parents of kids, it could spell the end to Republican/NRA gun politics.
If the right wing believe the basic minimum role of government is to militarily protect society (and its money) and keep it safe from external threats, shouldn't the same logic of protection extend to internal threats as well? Isn't citizens' life and safety an inalienable right that trumps rights to bear arms? Criminal options are drastically reduced by removing the gun option from their hands.
Eric Andersen
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