The Corsair
Bob Dylan, TicketMaster and the Times They Are a Changin’
The music industry as a whole appears to be still living somewhere in the mid 1977. If the music industry were a person, it would be rocking a “Keep on Truckin’” t-shirt and pretending to be bionic. What, pray tell, is one to make of the patent ridiculousness of corrupt, old, anti-competitive TicketMaster standing athwart the will of the earnest, young Swifties? And how can the Swifties lose when they're so sincere?
TicketMaster, seems to have utterly missed the point of the social media ecosystem revolution altogether and, further, was completely overwhelmed by the very problem its business model sought to have solved. Why are any Taylor Swift tickets in any universe priced at $22,000? Is the free market broke? Or is that the correct valuation? All of this, by the way, happened in the perfect political storm of energized and enraged young potential voters turning against the wicked antitrust behavior of the old order. And the old order, President Biden correctly surmised while sticking his finger into the wind, changeth.
After all, who among us has a preference for bots in the online ticketing marketplace? As a result of these changing times, the Justice Department is opening an inquiry into the practices of the organization’s parent company, which — mirabile dictu! — owns more than 70 percent of the primary ticketing and live event venues market. Charmed, I’m sure.
Speaking of changing times, Enter: Bob Dylan.
Dylan, whose career has spanned more than 60 years, also appears, businesswise at least, stuck somewhere in the 1970s. He was caught this week with his bellbottoms fastened around his ankles (eeeew), “signing” expensive copies of his new book with an auto-pen, the sort of garbage behavior that bands and music companies used to commit against naïve fans all the while overcharging them for stupid-ass merchandise (KISS casket, anyone?). It speaks to a fundamental disrespect towards fans that occurred during the decades after the 50s, especially, but does not fly at all now in an era of social media and direct interaction vis-a-vis fans without the mediation of sleazy A&R guys — always guys, btw — and radio djs (also always horny dudes with bottomless pockets).
“Fans who paid $599 for one of 900 copies of the music legend's new book ‘Philosophy of Modern Song’ shared their outrage after comparing notes online and realizing that the books contained identical reproductions of the star's signature,” writes CNN’s Toyin Owoseje. Silly rabbit; in an age of social media, tricks are for kids! Dylan duly apologized and admitted to an “error in judgement.”
OK, Boomer.
But the judgement on the elders of the music industry, will continue. And the hammer will fall harder and louder with each infraction as it reverberates over social media. The Dylans and the TicketMasters have been greedy, fat and complacent for a while now. The boomer contest to sell off music catalogues, and to get top price as a status fles was particularly sickening to watch during COVID lockdown.
I imagine that we will see a lot more stories of aging music stars and clueless music companies run by dudes committing more social misdemeanors and even felonies, awkwardly navigating this new era in which fans are no longer nubile, eager ATM machines to be used at will.
“Trust me, there’s nobody that hates the fact that I’m human more than me. And just finding that space for myself within myself to be human. It’s like, I want, I’ve always wanted to be Superman.” (Will Smith/THR)
Twitter ended its COVID-19 misinformation policy. (SEMAFOR)
“Her curling grin, punctuated with a sharp incisor and directed out of frame, harnesses an indelible kind of lonely, batshit crazy you often see in club bathrooms and hotel bars.” (Dirt)
A family in Fort Worth, Texas, has been reunited with their daughter who was kidnapped as a baby more than five decades ago thanks to a DNA match from the ancestry service 23andMe, the family announced Sunday. (CNN)
My cousin, June Wainaina, is Executive Producer of “Villains in the Metropolis.” “A brilliant young medical doctor, stunningly beautiful, morphs into a heartless murderer after a positive pregnancy test, and a cheating lover.” (YouTube)
My favorite Christina Oxenberg, on learning Serbian. (YouTube)