My partner, Sean Moeller of Daytrotter, killing it on NBC’s Press:Here:
I do take issue with the idea that he became a powerful music executive by “accident.” Don’t recall that part of the ride.
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Tags: Daytrotter, nbc
I’m working on a longer article about this topic for Berklee’s Music Business Journal, but it’s a theme, I think, worth exploring from a variety of vantage points. [UPDATE: Here's the article.]
The main thrust of my journal article is that social media has failed to live up to its promise. Essentially, the guttering candle flame that looked as if it might ignite an entire “markets are conversations” moment, has been extinguished, and in its place…
Well, there’s the rub.
It seems most can agree to feeling, at best, frustrated by social media in its varied incarnations. I don’t believe a day goes by for me where I don’t hear someone talk about how they’re tired of Facebook, etc. However, people are loath to abandon it (the cost of quitting – moving/losing all those photos – is too high). Related, no alternative has emerged.
I’m not sure, however, that it’s just fatigue that is making people dissatisfied. Rather, I think it’s an unfulfilled promise. For a moment, FB (etc.) seemed to offer authentic connection, and, thus, hope with respect to our greatest collective fear: loneliness.
As those connections — once co-opted — became increasingly less authentic, the value of these social networks fell. The promise of not-lonely disappeared.
There are moments of authentic connection out there, however. It takes some looking. It takes following the bread crumbs (often originating on FB).
One such example that works for me is the newly-introduced live stream sessions on Daytrotter. And, yes, full-disclosure, I’ve been working with Daytrotter for ~4 years now.
Why these work for me is their authenticity. You hear the artists creating in real time…warts and all.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” and this to me is magic. The tech disappears. The intimacy re-appears. For the time that the artists put themselves out there, there is a bond between listener and artist. For this time, we’re not alone, and we’re not lonely.
Tags: berklee, cluetrain, Daytrotter
I overheard my partner Sean (aka Mr. Daytrotter) saying to someone who asked who I was, “That’s George, my partner, he does the hard stuff.”
The interesting thing about this is that I’ve said the same thing about Sean. I truly believe that it’s Sean who does the hard stuff.
To me this is in important element of a partnership.
If both partners think they do the hard stuff, or, worse, if one thinks *they* do the hard stuff, and their partner does the easy stuff, it ain’t gonna work.
Almost as bad is when both do the same stuff, and neither can do certain things. At that point, why have a partner at all?
This is true in biz and in relationships. I know definitively that my wife does the hard stuff by being a stay-at-home Mom with a husband who travels as much as I do.
I also know that while she could do what I do better than I do it, that she knows that I too do some hard stuff that she would rather do less than what she is doing (being a rock star Mom).
Value alignment is what makes relationships and businesses work. Having your values in line doesn’t mean you are the same as the other person, but rather that you understand and value your partner; that you have empathy, and that you are not ego driven, but rather driven by what you’re building – be it a biz or a family.
[apologies for typos and other crimes against grammar/prose - this was written on my phone while sitting at a bar during SXSW.]
Tags: Daytrotter, family, Marci
I’m going to just toss it out there (and, yes, he’s one of my closest friends, and I have the unbelievable honor of working with him at Daytrotter): Sean Moeller is the best active writer of music out there.
Now look, I’m not sure what you consider good writing on music, but for me, the bar is set by people like: Greil Marcus, Nick Tosches, Peter Guralnick, Ratso Sloman (at least in his On the Road With Bob Dylan), Studs Terkel (on jazz), and some others I’m forgetting.
What Sean has in common with all these brethren above (and, what’s up with it being all brethren? … someone, please, hip me to some great distaff music writers), is that it’s not about reviews, it’s not about – God help us – ratings/other qualitative horseshit.
Rather, it’s about context and it’s deeply personal.
This is what pisses some people off about Sean (and all the others I listed above). Reading through, for instance, Mr. Marcus’ The Old, Weird America, is just not feasible for some people. It’s not clear cut, it’s not obvious, it’s not handed to you on a silver platter…you gotta work for it a bit.
But, you know what, for those of us who are deeply, deeply infected by this music thing, anything less than the above (i.e. writing that is dumbed down, obvious, cliched…easy) is like eating fast food when you’re palette demands…I don’t know…Al Forno (I’ll leave the damn similes to the above).
Justifiably, Daytrotter gets a lot of attention for the curation of music and for the art…but, the writing’s part of the triumvirate, imho.
It ain’t for everybody (the writing on Daytrotter, that is). Some people leave negative comments. But, you know, I think that only proves the point. Do we want it to be for everybody? Do we like stuff that’s for everybody? Really?
Nah…we want the stuff that some people just can’t/won’t get, because we (and you know who I’m talking to) do get it, and need it.
Tags: Daytrotter
We inch closer. Something’s going on, and it’s starting to emerge. I’ve been prattling on about it for eons, but we’re starting – just starting – to see a big important shift in the music business that will move us closer to a workable system.
What?
Yeah: labels, content holders, etc. are starting to realize that it makes sense to sell their content from everywhere, rather than limit it to a few online retailers (iTunes, Amazonmp3, etc.).
This is spurred on somewhat by the ability to reduce transaction costs.
More, however, by a growing psychological understanding (finally) of how the Internet works.
Smart ones are (finally) realizing, you can’t create a community; they already exist. All you can do is identify them, and put your crap in front of them, and then – in the words of this dude – provide elegant organization
All of a sudden, those who have given people a reason to show up — because they’re a trusted source/a filter — become real powerful.
Not there (quite) yet, but soon come.
Tags: Daytrotter, marketing, music business, Wolfgang's Vault