Some lawyer or some manager somewhere knows why VH1 can’t be streamed outside the U.S. As my mother would say, way to win friends and influence people.

The reason the old infrastructure is dying, the reason I laugh when Doug Morris and the old farts make pronouncements, the reason legal solutions are not the answer, IS BECAUSE THE PUBLIC IS SO FAR AHEAD!

God, if this isn’t an advertisement to go indie.

You can’t buy stuff from iTunes outside your home country.

You can’t do SO much, yet in reality you can… Because you can steal/circumvent the obstructions of the clueless old men and ultimately get what you want. (See the last e-mail below.)

The Police proved it was a worldwide business almost thirty years ago. Tour everywhere, people everywhere have got money, you’ve got potential fans around the planet. Online, you’re just a click away.

It’s almost nine years after Napster and the old players STILL don’t get it.

Bob:

Read your column and tried to click through to the videos but found they’re inaccessible from Canada! What’s that about?

I guess VH1 doesn’t care since they don’t broadcast beyond US borders, so no revenue to be made, but what’s the harm in letter people outside the US see it? On the web, no less. It’s not like it’s going to be rebroadcast here (at least, I doubt it) anyway. And it’s certainly doing the bands no favors.

Oh well, off to watch it on YouTube, I guess.

Eric Wredenhagen

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Greg Van Bastelaar:

Bob,

I’m a huge PJ fan. Always have been. I enjoyed what you wrote about the band; I just wish that I could WATCH what you wrote about. The VH1 site doesn’t allow those videos to be viewed outside of the U.S.

Just another example of how some people are still fucking up the Internet…

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Steve Ostrom:

Gee thanks, the videos are only accessible from the US.
Now I gotta find a way to see them

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Thanks Bob.

"Videos accessible in the US only"….

Wim Reijnen

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Bob,
What a load of shit! VH1 doesn’t understand what the first "w" in "www" stands for. The video can only be viewed via a US connection. I’m in Canada. Talk about dropping the ball. They claim to be an international brand…yeah…

By the way, check out Paul McCartney live in Quebec City this past Sunday. Over 200,000 people. I know you have your reservations, but it was a great performance by a legend. And what a killer band he has with him. Sir Paul was there to perform for Quebec City’s 400th anniversary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XN0Ji5_HZQ

Cheers!

Patrick Turgeon

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Dan McCluskey:

Well Bob, I would watch…if only VH1 would let people outside of the U.S. watch. We’re not allowed - though we’re permitted to watch the commercials…

Dan

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So, here’s the problem in a nutshell. I read your piece on the VH1 awards, and I think that maybe I better take a listen to Pearl Jam doing The Who. After all, I have Green River, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog and I bought "Ten" the day it was released, before the hype, because I already knew what most of the band could do before Vedder arrived on the scene. So, "click" and off my browser goes to VH1 land, and…

"This video will not play outside the United States". WTF is that. When will the USA learn that WWW stands for WORLD-wide Web? I can get Euronews no worries here in Australia. BBC videos, not a problem. But the USA in its egoethnocentric way, once again, seems to think that outside the 50, and maybe 51, 52 & 53 (Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico) simply does not exist, or merrily marches to the very off-beat of its drum. Are American tv executives worried that someone in Swaziland might see Pearl Jam playing covers? Maybe one of ‘dem terrorist homeboys will disguise himself as Stone Gossard and play Sufi meditational music in front of the USA’s embassy in Uryguay?

That cultural ethnocentricity is a lot of the root cause of the problems in the American music industry. Have you looked at the music scene in the former Warsaw pact countries or Scandinavia? It is thriving. Bands are creating new music, original music, and you know, Radiohead, despite the hype, were nowhere near the first band to give away their music and ask fans to pay what they think it is worth. I’ve been getting stuff from Sweden, Poland, Germany and Britain like that long before "In Rainbows" came out. People give their music away. They hold real jobs and treat music as a creative outlet until it can pay a decent wage. They innovate without fear. Bands like Norway’s Ulver, who make Madonna look like the pathetic pop slut she is when it comes to re-inventing themselves. From death metal to avante-garde jazz, back to techno for the mind. Look at Iceland. Population for the COUNTRY of about 300 000, and they produce Bjork, Sigur Ros, Mum, Amiina, Aparat Organ Quartet and more. Less than 1/3 the popualtion of North Dakota. How many international acts ever came out of that state?

The same "might is right", culturally superior atitude that has made the USA the nation recognised by the majority of other nations on the planet (including major powers like Germany and Sweden) as being the greatest threat to world peace and stability pervades your established music industry as they blithely tell everyone how right and great they are while the rats have already started gnawing on their bones.

Your nation needs to wake up. Your music industry needs to wake. VH1’s web programming directors need to wake up. You’re a part of the world, not vice versa.

Peter Ryan
Melbourne, Australia
It’s another country, like 220+ other nations in the world, of which the USA is but one.

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Thanks Bob - although the video links you sent through only work in the US .. I’ll find it on Youtube - never fear.

Cheers from down under, Andrew.

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Piece of shit VH1. They stream the commercial you have to sit through then tell you can’t watch the clips outside of the US.

John "Wheels" Hurlbut

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Aaron Stanton:

Videos not available outside the US….

__________________________________

So I click on the link below, idle through two commercials and then get a message that the videos are only available in the US, which is no help to this Canadian.

My next step of course is to find the clips, hell maybe even the whole show on a torrent site.

This is what is wrong with the music business.

Thanks for the article regardless….

Bob K

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Alexander Mair:

FYI, the videos on VH1 are only available in the US.
__________________________________

Chris Chapin:

You can only view these if you are in the us.Too bad!
Why they would restrict it is beyond me.

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Paul Flower:

I was looking forward to seeing that PJ vid. Unfortunately the VH1 website says the vids are only available to people in the states. I know it’s possibly a license issue but for streaming? How forward thinking of them. I guess I’ll be looking for it on youtube.

P.S. Found and viewed within five mins for non-us residents.

Pearl Jam- Love Reign O’er Me and The Real Me

Found and viewed within five mins for non-us residents.

I was thinking that music should be banned from VH1, then I saw Pearl Jam.

I read this great quote. How did they decide to honor the Who? Well, they were thinking of someone else, but the Who were available. They were creating a TV show! Maybe that’s how they ended up with this ridiculous cast.

I’ll admit to liking "Learning To Fly", and Dave Grohl is certainly charismatic, but if the Foo Fighters aren’t the most forgettable major act ever… Shit, Grand Funk RAILROAD had better material.

And aren’t Incubus has-beens? Who’s owed a favor here?

As for the Flaming Lips, Wayne Coyne’s laughing all the way to the bank. He got to do his roll in a ball act on national TV!

Tenacious D did their cover of "Squeeze Box" o.k., but if Jack Black wasn’t a movie star, they wouldn’t have even made this bill.

And speaking of movie stars… I don’t give a flying fuck what David Duchovny has to say about music. That’s like asking Katherine Heigl who is going to win the World Series. As for the reverential talking heads… Can Cameron Crowe ever say anything NEGATIVE? He needs to if we’re going to take his gushing seriously. Only Mick Jones had any cred, because he deigned to appear as himself, an old man, ravaged by age and time. That’s what happens when you get old, you lose your hair and…your voice?

Pete Townshend is magic. You watch him windmill, you see his everyman countenance and you tell yourself…THIS IS ROCK AND ROLL!

As for Mr. Daltrey… I ultimately had to fast-forward, it was too painful.

And who chose their material? Although Roger sang the final number, from their recent album, well, it’s a mediocre track. Only marginally worse than "Who Are You"? EVERYONE knows that the band took a huge slide downhill after "Quadrophenia", and if you’re going to play later material, at least do "Eminence Front"…

I wanted the Who to be great. Adam Sandler had primed me, the lasers got my heart palpitating, and then they disappointed me. What can they do? They’re old, and they’re missing Keith Moon and the Ox. Who truly can’t be replaced. If you ever saw them together, you know of what I speak. I’d rather see Pete solo. How about "A Little Is Enough"! But not many people will pay for that, so we end up on an endless victory lap, that despite Pete’s simultaneously irreverent and sincere attitude, is creepy.

Speaking of the intro, Adam Sandler was FANTASTIC! He did more for the cause of music education than Guitar Hero and Rock Band combined! Yup, up there on stage solo, Adam picked the notes on his Les Paul and got the exact sound of "Magic Bus"! I was waiting for him to fuck up. But obviously, when not making movies, he’s been PRACTICING! I’m sitting there, thinking… If I bought an electric guitar, if I got the right effects pedal, could I make this exact same sound? Couldn’t be THAT hard, after all, Adam Sandler’s doing it! This was a highlight, watch it! As for the new lyrics, pretty good. Adam was electric in a way the Who ultimately wasn’t… But he was blown off the stage by Pearl Jam!

Actually, Pearl Jam was on first, before Adam. And there’s something that bugs me about Eddie Vedder. He takes himself too seriously and I would like a little sweetness in his voice.

Speaking of serious, they opened with a seemingly endless take of "Love Reign O’er Me". Great track, but the evening demanded more energy.

Then they tore into "The Real Me". It was a REVELATION! I’m tingling just WRITING ABOUT IT!

Rock and roll is something that can’t be quantified, sometimes it’s not even something you hear, but FEEL!

Pearl Jam looked like they just came from lunch, wearing their everyday clothes, like a band from the seventies. The drum hit, the guitar slashed and the bass started DANCING at the bottom. Shit, THIS IS THE EXACT SAME ENERGY THAT OPENS QUADROPHENIA! You know, after the overture, "Real Me" EXPLODES out of the speakers.

Shit, I’m watching the video now. Pearl Jam’s drummer and bassist should have played with Roger and Pete, not the impostors they’re employing. Moon played with a manic energy. He wasn’t thinking, but purely running on instinct. Hitting everything in his path. But somehow, it all sounded right. The pure volume of sound, the cacophony, it was MESMERIZING!

And speaking of mesmerizing… Jeff Ament is positively channeling John Entwistle. His fingers are dancing all over his bass. He’s moving just a bit more than the Ox, but he’s still in his own world, not just pinning down the bottom, but creating a WHOLE WORLD down there!

As for Mike McCready, he’s doing a modern day Townshend. So possessed by the music that it’s taken over his whole body, he’s jumping, he’s splitting. You know how you dance around your bedroom? When no one’s watching, when you feel the music completely? THAT’S MIKE! But he’s getting every sound exactly right.

I went back to the doctor
To get another shrink
I sit and tell him about my weekend
But he never betrays what he thinks

That’s what my first shrink told my parents. That all I wanted to do was stay home and listen to records. But at least I wanted to do SOMETHING!

Can you see the real me?

The real me is someone who’s never sold out, who’s followed the music, to here. Been a rough ride, but I had no other choice.

A real musician has no other choice. The stardom is secondary, as is the bread. You do it because you have to. You only feel good when you’re playing. It’s what your life is about. And when you get to do your act, the audience can feel it, your dedication, your PASSION!

Pearl Jam is not really playing for the audience, they’re playing for THEMSELVES! Your goal is to get closer, you want some of what they’ve got, that energy, that FEELING!

Now I know why Pearl Jam sells out arenas long after their last "hit". People who go know. That they can only get this feeling at their show. Sure, there are some other acts that deliver. But very few. And most of them are old, from an era when music still mattered, they’re running on fumes.

But Pearl Jam is not running on fumes. Watching this, you’d think they’re the most vital band in the land. You’d believe there’s still hope for rock and roll.

"The Real Me"

Adam Sandler

(Pick the other elements of the show from the menu on the right.)

TRACKS

1. Katy Perry "I Kissed A Girl"

Sales this week: 162,951
Percentage change: -7
Weeks on: 11
Cume: 1,487,745

She only sold 31,971 albums total. And, of those, 6,233 were digital.

Seems like a hit today is the track and the track itself. I think the sale of one and a half million copies is significant. But it shows that although the oldsters want to sell albums, the little girls not only don’t understand, they don’t care.

3. Jonas Brothers "Burnin’ Up"

Sales this week: 103,453
Percentage change: -12
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 404,906

But they’re only number 32 on the digital albums chart. With a mere 2,163 sold.

Now they sold 20,264 PHYSICAL albums and this makes me think… If you’re truly young, and you have neither a credit card or an iTunes account, you nag your parents into buying you the CD. They only understand the CD. But if you’re just a bit older, and trusted by your parents, you’ve got an iTunes account and you buy the track… But you don’t want the album…

To give you an idea, one third of John Mayer’s album sales were digital. And about twenty five percent of Coldplay’s. So, ten percent of a kiddie act, a generation that is inured to digital/computers, is significant. Given a choice online, kids only want the track.

8. Metro Station "Shake It"

Sales this week: 78,049
Percentage change: -5
Weeks on: 17
Cume: 997,578

This is where I come out of the closet and admit I have no idea who this band is. I could fake it, I’ve done some research online, I know where they’re coming from, but what’s important here is this is not your father’s record business. Even into the nineties, a pro knew every record on the chart. Anybody who says he does now is a lying sack of shit who should not be trusted.

That’s almost a million singles. People know who this band is.

But they don’t quite believe they’re keepers yet. Because Metro Station has only sold 143,749 albums. (Nearly ONE THIRD of which were digital!)

The question is, how do you convince the audience that you’re here for the long haul? How do you get them to invest in you? (A dollar is not an investment, it’s a lottery ticket at best…)

15. Jason Mraz "I’m Yours"

Sales this week: 49,358
Percentage change: +11
Weeks on: 20
Cume: 495,966

Only TWO tracks have been in the Top 15 longer. Leona Lewis’ and Natasha Bedingfield’s. But Jason has gotten tons less hype. Isn’t he that has-been who did that track with the Matrix?

Since he’s not today’s poster boy, word is still spreading on this track, notice the upward movement (last week it was number 19), the increase in sales. Point is, anybody can be revived if they’ve got a good enough song. And, if you’ve heard "I’m Yours", you know it is good enough.

Nearly a third of Jason’s 236,173 albums moved to date were sold in a digital format. But, Jason’s digital ALBUM sales were down thirty percent, so it appears that singles traffic is casual buyers, for now…

22. 3 Doors Down "It’s Not My Time"

Sales this week: 40,648
Percentage change: -8
Weeks on: 21
Cume: 655,022

But they only sold 1,977 digital albums. That’s not even enough buyers to fill the Wiltern, an average-sized theatre. Furthermore, that 1,977 is less than ten percent of the 21,829 cume of album sales.

Hard rock fans still want the CD. And it appears that those buying the digital track are newbies, getting their feet wet at best.

27. Madonna (featuring Justin Timberlake) "4 Minutes"

Sales this week: 35,751
Percentage change: -17
Weeks on: 17
Cume: 1,904,262

Stunningly, the album, "Hard Candy", didn’t make the Top 50 digital album sales chart this week.

Overall album sales are 589,961, with the package residing at number 63.

Sure, you might say she was always a singles artist. But she used to move millions of albums. Now, people only want her single.

29. Colby O’Donis "What You Got"

Sales this week: 34,564
Percentage change: -9
Weeks on: 20
Cume: 660,587

THERE IS NO ALBUM!

Maybe there never should be…

This is selling because Akon is on it. Why waste money on nine more tracks?

Welcome to the modern music business.

And don’t lie, you had no idea who this guy was either…

47. Carrie Underwood "Last Name"

Sales this week: 23,573
Percentage change: -11
Weeks on: 14
Cume: 417,891

The album did sell a measly 12,657 copies last week. But there is a cume of 2,230,538.

"All-American Girl" has moved 659,824 singles in 28 weeks and resides at number 91…

Looks like Carrie needs a new single.

Looks like no one’s moving albums with Carrie’s "Carnival Ride" at number 36 with such a piss poor number, the aforementioned 12,657.

But, it appears that it’s true, country fans have gotten the digital memo last, since the album isn’t even in the Top 50 Digital chart.

93. Lynyrd Skynyrd "Sweet Home Alabama"

Sales this week: 14,396
Percentage change: -7
Weeks on: 19
Cume: 1,154,674

I’m thinking Kid Rock sold these.

I still don’t understand Bob’s reluctance to be on iTunes… He’s talking about the acts not being able to make any money. Isn’t that HIS LABEL’S fault? Not iTunes’? Which coughs up in excess of sixty percent of the revenue?

I’d say Bob’s leaving money on the table here. With the song of the summer, he should be able to sell in excess of a million singles, which is the equivalent of 100,000 albums…

97. Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead Or Alive"

Sales this week: 13,798
Percentage change: +26
Weeks on: 29
Cume: 875,566

"The Deadliest Catch", right?

It’s the theme song for those not watching or scoring at home… (I guess if you were scoring, you wouldn’t have time to watch this reality show…)

Pete Townshend paved the way. License your classics as theme songs…and not only will you make money, but people will want to see you live.

But you must be old and classic and have a bunch more hits.

And you must sacrifice your credibility. (Actually, it’s right there in the contract, clause 18, "make this deal and be seen as a whore forevermore".)

102. Kenny Chesney "Better As A Memory"

Sales this week: 12,244
Percentage change: -18
Weeks on: 12
Cume: 186,035

This is utterly astounding. This was a NUMBER ONE RECORD, and it only sold 186,035 copies?

Obviously, the country music business is on the verge of turmoil. Because once its audience gets computers and iPods the Nashville cats are gonna lose control. They’re still living in the nineties, thinking it’s all about radio dictation. But when one gets an iPod, one’s tastes/desires broaden and one is no longer limited to what’s being forced down one’s throat.

107. Mariah Carey "Bye Bye"

Sales this week: 10,851
Percentage change: -32
Weeks on: 13
Cume: 375,895

How prescient of her. She’s almost gone from view.

You’re only as big as your last hit single, if you’re in the singles game.

110. Colbie Caillat "Bubbly"

Sales this week: 10,394
Percentage change: -5
Weeks on: 52
Cume: 2,483,613

If you hear a definitive hit single and nothing else…SIGN THE ACT ANYWAY! That one hit single can generate a ton of bread… This single has done the equivalent of 248,000 albums! Add that into the 1,679,778 real albums sold, and you have quite a payday. In the future, will people even bother to buy the new album without hearing it first? I doubt it. That’s old wave action that people are being cured of.

ALBUM CHART

1. Beck "Modern Guilt"

Sales this week: 31,404
Debut

That’s MORE than one third of the 84,531 copies moved in toto.

In other words, Beck’s audience is COMPUTER-SAVVY!

As for Beck’s singles… He’s got one at number 158, entitled "Gamma Ray", which has sold 7,651 copies.

Bottom line, Beck’s got a hard core audience, that believes in him and wants everything he does. But it’s very small. And newbies are not checking him out.

8. Nelson/Marsalis "Two Men With The Blues"

Sales this week: 5,085
Debut

That’s basically twenty five percent of the 21,664 albums moved.

In other words, the jazz audience is computer-savvy too.

Needless to say, nobody wants a single. Only believers are interested in this combo.

10. "Mamma Mia"

Sales this week: 4,592

This is a souvenir. Nobody wants a single. They don’t even want an ABBA original single, there’s none on the chart.

13. Blind Pilot "3 Rounds & A Sound"

Sales this week: 4,444

There is no physical album.

It’s only $7.99 on iTunes and was released on the indie Expunged Records.

I’d say this is the future.

Word spreads online, people buy it online. No sales department, no returns, no accounts issues. You may not know about this act, but they and their label don’t care. They’ve got fans who believe they’re credible (no singles on the chart) and they’re on their way to making money, since their overhead is so low.

Either you sell the act, making people believe they stand for something and will be here tomorrow, or you sell the single. There’s more money in the album, but the public, especially the young, net-savvy public, has been burned so many times, it’s wary of albums. Or, it just doesn’t believe in albums, viewing music as evanescent grease. Make them believers if you want to establish a retirement account.

If I get one more e-mail about Shazam, I’m going to explode!

What’s worse, hating the iPhone cult or secretly wanting to join?

Seems like Apple’s winning this war. Haters said the computers were too expensive, incompatible…but now the haters are a cult, because everybody’s shifted to the other side, Macintosh computer sales are through the roof, all because of the iPod and iTunes. Computers are supposed to be complicated, daunting, they’re supposed to display incomprehensible error messages, they’re not supposed to WORK!

But iTunes does. As does the iPod. This is what the labels can never seem to understand! Let’s just license somebody else, we’ll bring Apple to its knees! I love Rhapsody in conception, but the interface sucks. "Intuitive" is not a word that comes to mind. As for Amazon… You can download an app that will install what you buy in your iTunes library… Or, since you’re afraid of computers anyway, you can pay a smidgen more, and just buy the track from iTunes and there’s no additional software to purchase, it just SHOWS UP! Furthermore, if you’re bothering to pay for music, you don’t really care that much about the copy protection. It’s the people who are STEALING music that truly care about the DRM. I’m saying it should be gone from the iTunes Store, but that’s not the major issue holding digital music sales back, rather it’s the PRICE! Since the store allows you to cherry-pick, only get what you want, you’ve got to lower the bar, encourage people to buy more/experiment by making tracks cheaper (it couldn’t be any easier on iTunes). But the major labels want to fight some war conceived a decade ago, raising prices and bringing Apple to its knees. If Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft can’t bring Eric Schmidt’s Google to its knees, what are the odds that Doug Morris can bring Steve Jobs to his knees? NONEXISTENT! And isn’t it interesting that Schmidt is on Apple’s board!

Don’t fight wars you can’t win. That just wastes money. And invest in R&D, don’t rest on your laurels, otherwise you could be Palm… How much life is left in THAT company? As for RIM… Phenomenal e-mail service and that’s it. I’ve got 3G capability on my BlackBerry but surfing is not easy, it’s something you only do if necessary. But on an iPhone, it’s FUN to surf! And now you can do it at high speed, anywhere! (Well, not anywhere, but in major metropolises.)

And the problem here is that although the mainstream media is going on about Apple’s server meltdown of last Friday, lamenting the absence of cut and paste and an upgraded camera, the legions of iPhone users are evangelizing 24/7. I know, because they keep on e-mailing me!

Now it’s about the App Store. Most specifically, this App, Shazam. You hear a song on the radio you don’t know…you hold up your iPhone and it tells you what it is and remembers it! This is what satellite radio promised would revolutionize the sphere, but Sirius implements lamely, it can take forever for the titles to come up, if at all, for $12.95 a month, and Apple and Shazam deliver FOR FREE!

While you’re debating the "New Yorker" cover, those truly driving the culture don’t care and are invested in the future, not blame. I’m not telling you the iPhone will rule the future, but something like it will. And right now, it looks like the iPhone will win, because of the underlying software, the OPERATING SYSTEM!

Remember a year ago, when the iPhone came out, and it was the talk of every party? Now, 3G Web-surfing and endless apps will be entertaining the throng. You’ll want one.

And I want one, but I’m not switching. Because first and foremost it’s got to be a phone, and AT&T sucks. Just like Walter Mossberg said:

"One side benefit to 3G is that in some areas, voice coverage improves. At my neighborhood shopping center, where the first iPhone got little or no AT&T service, the iPhone 3G registered strong coverage. But I still found that calls regularly broke up on some major streets. In New York City, riding in a taxi along the Hudson, one important call was dropped three times on the new iPhone. Finally, I borrowed a cheap Verizon phone and got perfect reception."

Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G

Shazam for the iPhone