This is so refreshing, Ted. I few like I’m getting personal McKinsey style insight from someone whose values actually align with mine. There’s so much to learn but such a resonant context. Thank you.
I agree completely with your analysis of Apple post-Jobs in both instances. And yet, if he hadn't been friends with Woz, who gave him a product to sell and to build a new company around, he'd never have climbed ANY corporate ladder. Nolan Bushnell tells the story of how Jobs had such bad b.o. and breath that nobody else at Atari would work with him, or even sit by him - but Bushnell still felt the kid had something. So he pulled Jobs aside and told him he was promoting him to night supervisor - except that the entire night crew at Atari consisted of Jobs and Woz. ;-)
Send these folks to us. Gioia inspired me this spring to become his Miles Davis of 21st century music biz. Though in my case. It's more like Buddy Rich and Tony Williams.
TED....love this and other essays by you. Saw you on Rick Beato months back, and was inspired. I am in 1st round financing for my DHARMA DAWG Productions LLC [Multi-Media & Advocacy] in Austin, Texas. Have hired an IBM code project leader, to help me start and scale up to 'cloud' your notion of 'block-chain' music/intellectual property etc .. if you see this, I would so love your input. Tom Friedley at radiozeitgeist@protonmail.com thanks much for being you!!
Hi guys. We're rare breeds in similar boats - music b/g and very early in blockchain/NFTs here. Apologies for this aside in comments. Going to email you both to stay in touch. Wanted to give a heads-up in case of spam filtering.
Wow, mega-thanks Brother, tell you what future partner, you get Arturo for me, to record with our JAZZ ILLUMINATI sessions, summer 2023, I will personally hand wash your car, for a year!.. [he's been on my 'music recording bucket' list since my NTSU jazz program 1980s..!!] Tom F 512 867 5445, or my Sen VP Artist Relations, Cohen 817 909 4547
I think the music industry - the record companies - was ripe for disruption, and it got disrupted by the big combines you mention, YouTube, Apple, etc.
AND, these guys are also ripe for disruption. They will be disrupted by organizations and structures made with the music in mind, by people who do it and like it. We already see some of that, we will see more.
I even wonder if it would have been possible to do this in one step instead of two, if indeed it only takes two steps. I'm not sure it would have.
But there are so many threads pointing in the same direction. Between Kickstarter and Patreon and Substack and Bandcamp, it seems clear that there's another future out there that is a lot less siloed.
Ted, oh, I love your stuff, you just gave Steve Jobs a pass. The iPhone is the single most destructive force in world culture today, including American guns, and nuclear armament.
Ted, while reading about Barnes & Noble and the employees' comments and views, two thoughts arose:
-> This new CEO Daunt seems to be taking the approach of Employees First, Then Customers, Then Shareholders - which in my experience often produces successful organizations through a virtuous spiral. Happy employees are more likely to work harder, provide better service, make better products that they actually care about, which leads to happy customers, which then improves company performance.
-> Daunt seems to have found the right leverage points to push on. If you haven't read Donella Meadows' great book Thinking in Systems, I think you would love it! All about creating great change by understanding systems and finding the leverage points.
(I mean, Steve Jobs didn't take a "happy employees first" approach and he built a great company anyway, so that's not the only possible approach. He was pushing on different leverage points - and they also worked.)
Loved this. For so many reasons. And: my brother-in-law is now a VP in software. He was a theater major, got his MFA in theater, the whole thing. He's in a Shakespeare-in-the-park production in his city once every couple of years. And has survived rounds and rounds of layoffs.
Miles Davis wouldn't have survived till noon! I laughed so hard at that one. This is a great look at corporate structure. But I'll tell you that poets are RUTHLESS. Take a look at The Poetry Foundation's business practices of the last few years.
I worked at Barnes and Noble for several years under the old leadership. I’ll never forget how “fast cashiering” and “always put the book in the customer’s hand” were supposed to be our main objectives. I love books, but sadly, that was not valued by management. It sure feels like something as uninspired as “fast cashiering” is the primary objective of what’s left of the music industry.
I once worked at Borders headquarters in an early job and heard from people who used to work in the stores: there was once a test about literature and books in order to be hired to work in the stores! That had fallen by the wayside. Many things fell by the wayside there. I think one of the most damaging things was a move from the downtown offices (which were connected to Store #1, so buyers could see firsthand how their decisions worked in the store) to a nondescript office park miles away from Store #1. Just my opinion, of course.
Hi Ted, I shared the original Barnes and Noble story with my teammates (we work in the publishing industry). Someone replied saying that this B&N information didn't really match the narrative, that total revenue was basically flat between 2021 and 2022: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BNED/financials?p=BNED. I'm basically illiterate when it comes to understanding this number. What would be your take on this?
Great piece, Ted! I’d say it’s a pretty big “if” about Miles surviving the kowtowing etc. I doubt it. I’m reminded of a story I heard (from his then-girlfriend) about bassist Teruo Nakamura in the 70s. He allegedly went into a contract meeting at Columbia Records, put his feet up on the desk and said, “tell me how you plan to f**k me over.” The meeting ended quickly and he never recorded on Columbia.
Beautifully & eloquently written Ted. A company founder or CEO needs to be able to both lead and inspire, helping each member of the team use their best talents, that combined produce magic. Sadly we live in the world where profit is placed above anything else
The resume of Wojcicki could hardly be worse, if you were looking for someone passionate about qwerty to run a company that was passionate about qwerty. Unless qwerty is something easily quantifiable that can be mass produced somewhere for the lowest costs per unit.
But then again, YouTube isn't really a music company now is it? And parent company Google, excuse me Alphabet, isn't really passionate about anything. Except maybe shareholders.
Most of this will get worse until it gets better, but the beatings shall continue until morale improves!
You know, I am a former early Google employee and I demur a bit. Larry and Sergei were passionate about search. Very much so. It's easy to forget just how different the world was without a good search engine.
Google now is maybe not quite as good a user experience than it was when there were no paid search results. But it's still soooo much better than Alta Vista ever was. Or the world without search.
I think the biggest negative impact of Google, and this has to do with advertising, for sure, is that they completely wrecked the business model of many magazines and/or websites. The idea for many of these were to deliver a good demographic - one that was hard to reach. But Google wrecked that all by supplying its own method of reaching demographics that were much more fine grained that magazines could ever do. That wrecked a bunch of magazines and websites.
My feeling is that if Google hadn't done this, someone else would have. Lord knows, they were trying to do it. Advertising as the way of monetizing ventures on the internet has turned out to be a not so good idea. But it had to be tried, I think.
I don't have a crystal ball. Maybe it's what's happening now? We're on a substack. Some of us get this for free, and others pay and get some more content. There are Patreons galore. There is Twitch - streaming with strange interactions with viewers - this is a very new way of interacting that has something in common with busking.
There is Bandcamp, which I already mentioned elsewhere.
Maybe in the future we will see aggregators - people who bundle a bunch of small-payment channels and simplify payment and authentication? And they will try to create silos of exclusive content because human beings....
Love this Ted! Totally agree that CEOs really need to understand the fundamentals of their businesses especially in the cultural haven that is American culture! Please more CEOs that just ultimately make employees happier! It’s really that simple!😉😉
This is happening across cultural industries. Impacting the TV business too now, historically a "go-with-your-gut" approach. This is about the Global Head of Television at Netflix, which now informs, what, 85% of what people watch?
This is so refreshing, Ted. I few like I’m getting personal McKinsey style insight from someone whose values actually align with mine. There’s so much to learn but such a resonant context. Thank you.
I agree completely with your analysis of Apple post-Jobs in both instances. And yet, if he hadn't been friends with Woz, who gave him a product to sell and to build a new company around, he'd never have climbed ANY corporate ladder. Nolan Bushnell tells the story of how Jobs had such bad b.o. and breath that nobody else at Atari would work with him, or even sit by him - but Bushnell still felt the kid had something. So he pulled Jobs aside and told him he was promoting him to night supervisor - except that the entire night crew at Atari consisted of Jobs and Woz. ;-)
Many musicians hated or hate the business. They needed to make a living yes, but disliked the moguls who were in it solely for money.
I certainly hated it ( the Bizz end).
Didn't Keith Richards say - "I love Music, it's the Music Bizz I hate).
Send these folks to us. Gioia inspired me this spring to become his Miles Davis of 21st century music biz. Though in my case. It's more like Buddy Rich and Tony Williams.
Radiozeitgeist@protonmail.com or 817 909 4547
TED....love this and other essays by you. Saw you on Rick Beato months back, and was inspired. I am in 1st round financing for my DHARMA DAWG Productions LLC [Multi-Media & Advocacy] in Austin, Texas. Have hired an IBM code project leader, to help me start and scale up to 'cloud' your notion of 'block-chain' music/intellectual property etc .. if you see this, I would so love your input. Tom Friedley at radiozeitgeist@protonmail.com thanks much for being you!!
Hi Tom, we’re doing something similar for jazz artists & musicians, happy to discuss. See JAXblast.com
Hi guys. We're rare breeds in similar boats - music b/g and very early in blockchain/NFTs here. Apologies for this aside in comments. Going to email you both to stay in touch. Wanted to give a heads-up in case of spam filtering.
PLEASE do Bruno, our 'future partner'..! radiozeitgeist@protonmail.com Tom at 512 867 5445, or my VP co-producer Cohen at 817 909 4547
Wow, mega-thanks Brother, tell you what future partner, you get Arturo for me, to record with our JAZZ ILLUMINATI sessions, summer 2023, I will personally hand wash your car, for a year!.. [he's been on my 'music recording bucket' list since my NTSU jazz program 1980s..!!] Tom F 512 867 5445, or my Sen VP Artist Relations, Cohen 817 909 4547
I think the music industry - the record companies - was ripe for disruption, and it got disrupted by the big combines you mention, YouTube, Apple, etc.
AND, these guys are also ripe for disruption. They will be disrupted by organizations and structures made with the music in mind, by people who do it and like it. We already see some of that, we will see more.
I even wonder if it would have been possible to do this in one step instead of two, if indeed it only takes two steps. I'm not sure it would have.
But there are so many threads pointing in the same direction. Between Kickstarter and Patreon and Substack and Bandcamp, it seems clear that there's another future out there that is a lot less siloed.
BANDCAMP! Thank you for mentioning this outlier. The future of the music industry needs to look more like Bandcamp.
Ted, oh, I love your stuff, you just gave Steve Jobs a pass. The iPhone is the single most destructive force in world culture today, including American guns, and nuclear armament.
May I add, as a father of two teenagers, that the smartphone is also doing immense damage to the psychology of young people the world over.
Ted, while reading about Barnes & Noble and the employees' comments and views, two thoughts arose:
-> This new CEO Daunt seems to be taking the approach of Employees First, Then Customers, Then Shareholders - which in my experience often produces successful organizations through a virtuous spiral. Happy employees are more likely to work harder, provide better service, make better products that they actually care about, which leads to happy customers, which then improves company performance.
-> Daunt seems to have found the right leverage points to push on. If you haven't read Donella Meadows' great book Thinking in Systems, I think you would love it! All about creating great change by understanding systems and finding the leverage points.
(I mean, Steve Jobs didn't take a "happy employees first" approach and he built a great company anyway, so that's not the only possible approach. He was pushing on different leverage points - and they also worked.)
Loved this. For so many reasons. And: my brother-in-law is now a VP in software. He was a theater major, got his MFA in theater, the whole thing. He's in a Shakespeare-in-the-park production in his city once every couple of years. And has survived rounds and rounds of layoffs.
Miles Davis wouldn't have survived till noon! I laughed so hard at that one. This is a great look at corporate structure. But I'll tell you that poets are RUTHLESS. Take a look at The Poetry Foundation's business practices of the last few years.
People always forget that poets are also EDITORS. And yes, ruthless ones at that.
I worked at Barnes and Noble for several years under the old leadership. I’ll never forget how “fast cashiering” and “always put the book in the customer’s hand” were supposed to be our main objectives. I love books, but sadly, that was not valued by management. It sure feels like something as uninspired as “fast cashiering” is the primary objective of what’s left of the music industry.
I wonder who music’s James Daunt might be?
I once worked at Borders headquarters in an early job and heard from people who used to work in the stores: there was once a test about literature and books in order to be hired to work in the stores! That had fallen by the wayside. Many things fell by the wayside there. I think one of the most damaging things was a move from the downtown offices (which were connected to Store #1, so buyers could see firsthand how their decisions worked in the store) to a nondescript office park miles away from Store #1. Just my opinion, of course.
Hi Ted, I shared the original Barnes and Noble story with my teammates (we work in the publishing industry). Someone replied saying that this B&N information didn't really match the narrative, that total revenue was basically flat between 2021 and 2022: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BNED/financials?p=BNED. I'm basically illiterate when it comes to understanding this number. What would be your take on this?
Looks to me as though BNED is not the bookstore but a different business. I think Ted mentioned that the B&N bookstore business is privately held?
Ah, interesting, thanks for that. Do you know if private companies disclose their financial statements at all?
Great piece, Ted! I’d say it’s a pretty big “if” about Miles surviving the kowtowing etc. I doubt it. I’m reminded of a story I heard (from his then-girlfriend) about bassist Teruo Nakamura in the 70s. He allegedly went into a contract meeting at Columbia Records, put his feet up on the desk and said, “tell me how you plan to f**k me over.” The meeting ended quickly and he never recorded on Columbia.
Beautifully & eloquently written Ted. A company founder or CEO needs to be able to both lead and inspire, helping each member of the team use their best talents, that combined produce magic. Sadly we live in the world where profit is placed above anything else
The resume of Wojcicki could hardly be worse, if you were looking for someone passionate about qwerty to run a company that was passionate about qwerty. Unless qwerty is something easily quantifiable that can be mass produced somewhere for the lowest costs per unit.
But then again, YouTube isn't really a music company now is it? And parent company Google, excuse me Alphabet, isn't really passionate about anything. Except maybe shareholders.
Most of this will get worse until it gets better, but the beatings shall continue until morale improves!
You know, I am a former early Google employee and I demur a bit. Larry and Sergei were passionate about search. Very much so. It's easy to forget just how different the world was without a good search engine.
Google now is maybe not quite as good a user experience than it was when there were no paid search results. But it's still soooo much better than Alta Vista ever was. Or the world without search.
I think the biggest negative impact of Google, and this has to do with advertising, for sure, is that they completely wrecked the business model of many magazines and/or websites. The idea for many of these were to deliver a good demographic - one that was hard to reach. But Google wrecked that all by supplying its own method of reaching demographics that were much more fine grained that magazines could ever do. That wrecked a bunch of magazines and websites.
My feeling is that if Google hadn't done this, someone else would have. Lord knows, they were trying to do it. Advertising as the way of monetizing ventures on the internet has turned out to be a not so good idea. But it had to be tried, I think.
"Advertising as the way of monetizing ventures on the internet has turned out to be a not so good idea. But it had to be tried, I think."
I like the level-headed perspective you shared here. I'd like to follow up with a question though:
Now what?
I don't have a crystal ball. Maybe it's what's happening now? We're on a substack. Some of us get this for free, and others pay and get some more content. There are Patreons galore. There is Twitch - streaming with strange interactions with viewers - this is a very new way of interacting that has something in common with busking.
There is Bandcamp, which I already mentioned elsewhere.
Maybe in the future we will see aggregators - people who bundle a bunch of small-payment channels and simplify payment and authentication? And they will try to create silos of exclusive content because human beings....
Love this Ted! Totally agree that CEOs really need to understand the fundamentals of their businesses especially in the cultural haven that is American culture! Please more CEOs that just ultimately make employees happier! It’s really that simple!😉😉
This is happening across cultural industries. Impacting the TV business too now, historically a "go-with-your-gut" approach. This is about the Global Head of Television at Netflix, which now informs, what, 85% of what people watch?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/16/how-much-more-netflix-can-the-world-absorb-bela-bajaria
Very non-communicative about her own taste and sense of quality...
Wonderful article Ted! But what is to be done?