The gap between rich and poor doesn't matter

January 31st, 2010 Le Admin

There has been a lot made recently about the gap between rich and poor getting bigger. In the UK, the opposition Conservatives blame Labour who have been in power since May 1997. Labour of course blames the Tories saying this is one of the legacies they inherited. Specifically they blame Margaret Thatcher, that bastion of evil, the wicked witch of the west. Their words not mine. OK I’m paraphrasing here but those may as well be the words they use seeing as Mrs Thatcher is blamed for pretty much everything that has gone wrong in the UK since 1980. Considering that she hasn’t been in power since 1990, you’d have to say her powers of destruction would be up there with the Dick Dastardly, Lex Luthor and all other super-villains rolled into one.

Funnily enough plenty of research will support both arguments, but my thinking is that the premise doesn’t matter at all! Why should society care about the gap between the rich and poor when in fact we should only concern ourselves with the poor?

I believe that it’s the level of poverty in our society that really should be the focus of government and by extension the society itself. If opportunities are made available to the poor (I don’t mean benefits and welfare!) and our leaders are able to mobilise society to reach for those opportunities by being aspirational, then I think we will be in a better place.

I know that others also rail against aspiration and say it’s overrated. That’s correct if by aspiration you mean getting the cars, bling, flat-screen TVs and Armani jeans. No my friends. Wanting to get those things is NOT aspiration. That’s just being materialist. Aspiration is when a person wants to make a lasting difference to their WAY of life, which results in material benefits being a by-product of the hard work that’s been put in and the success it brings. As one commenter put it the article linked to above

If the top of society becomes too rich, (which I don’t think there is such a thing) then that’s not a bad thing. What matters is how poor the rest are and whether or not the rich do not take advantage of them. Should you care that Richard Branson has x billion in the bank when you and your wife have a combined income of 40 per yr, your kids go to a decent school and providing they work hard they can make it through university? That would be just stupid right? It’s bordering on envy, and that’s pretty much where this whole debate on the gap between rich and poor seems to lead to.

Coincidentally university education, which is one of the traditional means for aspiring working class kids to uplift themselves, has been made way more expensive by the self-appointed working class party. Labour. It’s ridiculous to blame the Tories for the society gap which supposedly increased more during the 80s because Thatcher brought this country up to date economy wise. By spoon feeding the poor Labour has stagnated the living conditions of the bottom 10% which I believe is the true crime. I won’t go into that debate too much right now, but I believe Labour (and the Tories when they get in) should just concentrate on providing opportunities to the poor and making the conditions that will enable us to help ourselves.

If the rich get richer during that time, I couldn’t care less. And that is why I don’t begrudge the bankers, footballers and other high earners. Just so long as you all can be a banker, doctor, footballer or MP, had you wanted and been able to.

 

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Michael Jackson: The picture that says it all

August 27th, 2009 Le Admin

It's not like how I dreamt it would be.....

It's not like how I dreamt it would be.....

I stumbled onto this picture of Michael Jackson on Ledisi’s blog the other day. For me it conveys a lot of what we outsiders saw in him.

  • The boy dressed in his Peter Pan fantasy outfit. Seemingly shutting out reality.
  • The boy we knew, who now has a freaky, whitened face. Still recognisably him.
  • The sad look on his boyhood face.
  • The half-smile, half-sad adult face.

I’m posting this as it captures the essence of what I try to say on this blog. Whatever you do, business, music, politics and most importantly in life, pay attention to the reality of the situation. Too often we think and dream of something and when it’s time to do it, reality bites us in the ass.

I believe Michael Jackson was Stunted by Reality. What does the picture say to you?

 

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iLike didn’t believe the hype

August 21st, 2009 Le Admin

Nic Brisbourne the London based venture capitalist yesterday blogged about the lessons of iLike’s low valuation. The gist of the article was that iLike, a business based around a Facebook app that allows users to share and interact around music, had been sold for the relatively low figure of $20 million. Nic says;

It seems to me there are two big takeaways here.

1. It is important to build value as well as traffic

Ultimately the true measure of value is net cash flow and it seems that despite being profitable there simply wasn’t much scale to iLike’s business in revenue terms.  I would speculate that is partly because not all their 50m users were very active (it is telling they always quote total registered users not active users) and partly because the inventory they do have doesn’t monetise that well.  Widgets on social networks suffer from the double whammy of limited real estate in an environment where ads perform poorly.

It is worth noting here, as David Pakman of partner at VC firm Venrock points out, that traffic is often a good lead indicator of value, just not always .

2. Dependence is a weakness

The other big problem for iLike seems to have been that 70-80% of its traffic came from Facebook, making them vulnerable to changes in FB’s terms of service or if FB decided to launch their own music service.  So iLike was dependent for its future on the good will of Facebook, and If there is even a small chance that iLike could have its ioxygen (sic) cut off nobody is going to risk paying too much for the company.  This problem is all the more acute when the company you are dependent on hasn’t sorted out its own business model and is somewhat unpredictable

These are very valid points for any web-based business to take on board. Nevertheless I’m just not sure they apply in the case of iLike and I commented to that end. (Updated: Nic has commented below with more insight and futher clarifying the background information. Be sure to read that.)

I’m guessing, but I think iLike’s founders and investors probably knew the value of the company they were building. That they cashed out a slightly profitable company at $20 million, with other bidders on hand seems to suggest that they got what they were looking for and where not unhappy with the price. It would have been easy for them to move along thinking they’d grow and/or get more down the line.

This however, is a lesson to the tech media, analysts and all those who build copy cat businesses. Hype does not equate to a high valuation. It seems iLike (quite rightly) didn’t believe the hype.


 

Posted in Business, Music Business, Technology
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let the bankers get their money

August 16th, 2009 Le Admin

Cut the bankers some slack. Greed is good.

Cut the bankers some slack. Greed is good.

I’ve just been reading about George Osborne (the opposition Conservative’s Shadow Chancellor) statements about how bankers’ large pay awards were “unacceptable” for any bank backed by state guarantees. I was stumped once again because I’ve heard this before from him, the press and the Man On The Street.

The Conservatives are making some mistakes on their journey to government. They’ll get there despite themselves and because of Labour’s ineptitude. However, this banker’s pay issue is not going to be responsible for the Conservatives attracting voters and as such they should just stop taking vote-buying stances like these. The public is disillusioned by the banking sector, amongst other things, but thems the times we live in. All of a sudden the Man On The Street is not talking about Osama Bin-Laden, Kandahar and the Tora-Bora mountains, but about quantitative easing and the stimulus package. This doesn’t mean the Man On The Street is adequately informed as I’m about to point out.

For me to believe that the self-appointed party of business is sincere in not wanting the banks to issue big bonuses is quite hard. Why? Because we have to look at what a bonus is in the first instance for us to think about whether or not the practise is a good idea.  By definition a bonus is a reward for greater than expected performance. Success, in other words. Anyone who owns a business should be glad if they have to pay out a bonus. Simply put it means that things are going well and that the people responsible are being rewarded for helping to bring about that success. By extension large bonuses are probably a result of big success. I hear that HSBC delivered almost £200,000 in net earnings per head in their investment banking arm the other week. That was just for one quarter by the way. Stunning.

The only issue we should be arguing about is how bonuses are structured. Fred Wilson on AVC.com touched on it some time ago, though I didn’t agree with all his points. Among the contentious issues I’m against that he pointed out are;

  • Guaranteed bonuses – This, I believe, was a big part of banking remuneration practise prior to the crisis. Guaranteed bonuses are not in anyone’s interest other than the person receiving them. No company has any business guaranteeing a bonus, though I understand the thinking behind it.
  • Contractual obligations – “all bonuses should, at the end of the day, be subject to board and compensation committee approval (even if the goals that trigger the bonuses have been met). The board has a fiduciary responsibility to look after the stockholders first and foremost. If paying the bonuses (even if they have been earned) puts the company in trouble, then there needs to be a mechanism for the board to avoid paying them. Compensation committee and board approval does that.” Where the compensation committee has approved remuneration they should not however, backtrack as happened with RBS and their former CEO.

Having taken into account the above two scenarios I believe bankers (and any other worker) must be given whatever bonuses their success dictates. If that bonus is large and based on a percentage of the business they’ve brought in, so be it. The bonus just has to be measurable and the business they’ve bought in, traceable.

Mr Osborne thinking that large bonuses are a bad thing is just something I can’t buy into. Maybe his, the Man On The Street and the press’ sentiments are driven by the prevailing economic crisis, but I think that it’s misguided and an over-reaction. On the contrary, some of these troubled banks like Northern Rock and Lloyds could do with attracting as much top talent as they can to get them out of the messes they’re in. How do you think they can do that?

Of course the Man On The Street is also a voter (probably a former Labour one at that) and thus Mr Osborne wants to be on his side. But hey, I believe voters are a stupid bunch anyway. Mr Osborne doesn’t need to placate them by giving them the bankers’ heads when he may just need those same bankers if he gets to government.

 

Posted in Business, politics
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Major Lazer – the birth of electro dancehall

August 11th, 2009 Le Admin

So I’m reading this Guardian article about pop artists’  nominations for worlds best artist, period. And Mike D from the Beastie Boys mentions Major Lazer before eventually nominating a different band. Now I was intrigued enough to find out about this Major Lazer dude and set about following the links trail, as one does.

The story behind Major Lazer is an interesting one about him being a “Jamaican commando who lost his arm in the secret Zombie War of 1984.” All very imaginative, but in effect he is the creation of Diplo and Switch, two producers who met whilst working on M.I.A’s Paper Planes album and discovered that they both had a love for Jamaican Dancehall. They then went out to Jamaica and tried to convince Dancehall artists to feature on their tracks. Unsuccesfully at first, though in the end they managed to get Vybz Kartel, Mr. Lexx, Baby Cham, Wayne Marshall and even Elephant Man.

The beats they were pushing were a mix of Dancehall, House, Electro and I can say being a fan of all three, I love the results. They’ve kept the bassy drums of Dancehall and infused some electro riffs and samples that manage to be distinctive and yet not detract from the Dancehall elements.

Of course Dancehall has been here before with Jungle which in the end turned out to be shortlived though I liked that when it was around. What can I say, anyone who knows me knows I love bass. Bass guitar, drum & bass, that Jack White bassy riff. Anything! However I feel that this could be a new genre we’re witnessing.

Like any new genre it still needs other artists, especially up and coming ones, to be inspired enough by it to go down the same route.

Major Lazer, I salute you.

Major Lazer (Feat. Prince Zimboo & M.I.A.) – \”Baby (Switch RMX)\” MP3 via Stereogum

 

Posted in BS, Music
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pay attention to anyone who likes what you do

July 20th, 2009 Le Admin

This morning I read an article called Beware of Fringe Fans: Appreciate Them, But Don’t Let Them Distract You on MusicThinkTank. The gist of the article is that ‘fringe fans’ are not the author’s “ideal customer. And while (he) welcomes suggestions and respects a diversity of ideas, (he) won’t lose any sleep over” such fans. And the author, Bob Baker, goes on to advise musicians not to be distracted by them.

I couldn’t disagree more with that thinking. Musicians, artists and anyone who produces, sells or puts out anything for other people, really should be paying attention to anyone who pays THEM attention.

I commented to that end on the original post and am going to repost it here because I think it needs to be said as much as possible otherwise we’ll carry on fuelling the multitude of big-headed musicians, sports people and businessman that there is. Not to mention that anyone who wants to succeed in life really has to have a good way of selling themselves. (I’m not talking about pimping here!)

Basically, there’s no such a thing as a fringe fan. A fan is a fan, however all of them have different thresholds to consuming your material. That threshold is dictated by things like;

  • the quality of your output,
  • money (I’d buy this song if it were xx cents),
  • time,
  • general availability of access to your output and a few other things I could come up with.

Generally, what the industry calls ‘core fans’ have a much lower threshold to consuming an artist’s material than  other fans. However ‘fringe fans’ also have a point at which they will consume your material. That point is just higher than that of your ‘core fans’. That doesn’t mean to say it can’t be lowered at some time in the future. Let’s face it, we all wish we had fans and customers whose consumption threshold was so low that they’d pay for our stuff no matter what!

For example, I could get a new, higher paying job and all of a sudden I’m able to buy albums having only heard 1 or 2 songs. Whereas, previously I may have had to think about every dollar I spend, my new, lower monetary threshold is now enabling me to consume that artist’s music on a whim.

In my mind, just about anyone who is willing to spend their time consuming a musician’s material is their fan. In using the word ‘fan’, I also include all those who attend gigs on corporate tickets! The press round on them, performers too and moreso the paying fans, however all considered they are as much of a fan as anyone. After all they’re giving up their time, (out of their way to do it), after which it’s an artist’s job to LOWER that fan’s consumption threshold. Remember time is money and I’m sure there are plenty of gigs you would not go to even if they were free.

The idea of consumption thresholds applies to all industries and funnily enough I believe banks do a great job playing the theory behind it very well!

In relation to your industry, the question would now be; Can you identify your fans’ consumption threshold and where you can, is it economical (time or moneywise) to overcome any barriers that exist?

 

Posted in Business, Music Business
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KO the Korean rapper – Why rappers shouldn't say the N word

May 20th, 2009 Le Admin

Yesterday I saw a link posted by Ty one of my favourite UK rappers. Actually, one of my favourites, period. It was a link to a YouTube clip and his comment was “is this for real?”, without actually saying what he was linking to.

Now I’m as curious as anybody, so I clicked through and watched a clip of a young Asian rapper talking about n1ggaz and hoes in that animated style you’d normally associate with ‘gangster’ rappers. In fact I’d say he was biting off of DMX’s song (What’s My Name? I think?). Those swear words were used quite a lot and to bad effect, because the rhyming and lyrics were really off. You know what, just watch it yourself. Here’s the video.

That was Here we go by KO; Too bad you don’t get rap skills from taking steroids!

Anyway, I’m sure most people would agree that it was interesting! I must admit the video is kind of funny because the song is so bad. Of course it doesn’t start off funny because each time he says n1gga it feels like a slap to me. Ideally you’d want to tell him to stop using it, until you realise that a great number of today’s rappers use that word; so how are we going to tell him to stop when this is most of what he sees in hip-hop. Furthermore, no rap album or DVD is going to come with a pamphlet explaining the history of the word and why it’s offensive.

Now I know quite a few black people who would be offended by this song, but I’m not one of them. I actually think that our more prominent rappers are perpetuating this sort of thing by their common use of the word n*gga in their songs. Therefore I’m mad at them. That’s also not a new thing, because I’m sure they’ve all heard it before and probably from people with way more clout and reason than me.

The only thing I’d like to say is that rappers need to have a look at this video to see how much of a caricature THEY have become and by extension us black people. This is all because of the unnecessary use of a word that we really don’t need to appropriate. Yes, I use the word from time to time (rarely in fact), but in all honesty there will never be a day when black people can truly say we have gotten rid of the negative connotations of that word. I remember watching Oprah once and she mentioned that it was like calling your kid a b*stard. You can say it, but you wouldn’t want anyone else saying it. I agree with that, especially since we all know that b*stards will never manage to appropriate that word too!

Now it’s entirely possible that KO made this video as a joke, whilst still appreciating hip-hop music, but that just shows even more deeply how these ‘gangsters’ need to check themselves in the mirror. Anyone who’s comfortable being emulated like that, joke or no joke would really have to be insane.

That actually brings me to my proposal for getting rid of the N-word. Any rapper/singer/actor (yes you Samuel L Jackson) who wants to use the word n1gga in their video, film or whatever, MUST be made to have a duet with KO!

Not forgetting all those video girls who are comfortable being called hoes and b*tches. They should be made to share the stage with KO’s Juicy-wearing hoes. I’m sure no-one will choose that option, or will they……


 

Posted in BS, Music
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neither facebook status nor twitter was enough

May 16th, 2009 Le Admin

So I’ve been using Twitter for the last year or so and have found it OK. For those that don’t know it’s a micro-blogging platform. Basically, on Twitter you say what you want to your “followers” in 140 characters or less. Your message is open for all to see on the net, but your followers get a constant stream of what you and their chosen personalities have to say. In my opinion, it’s a bit of a glorified group-text messaging service, but one that can be useful. In my case that usefulness was in trying to evangelise for my business, GigPay.

Personally I always try to say something engaging in my tweets. For example, instead of saying “there was a lot of traffic on the way to London”; I’d prefer to talk about my thoughts with regard to traffic. Bare with me, it’s just an example, and yes, people do tweet mundane stuff like that. Instead my tweet would be something along the lines of the government’s traffic policy or my perception of people’s traffic habits. Like I said, something engaging. Short, but enough to get whoever is reading it, thinking or even responding.

Now, there are two issues with this. Firstly Twitter is not really brimming with that sort of user. Second, sometimes their 140 character limit is not enough to put across my sentiments. Therefore, I’ve lately been feeling the urge to express myself more than I could on Twitter. Yes, I have a partner (in the traditional sense of the word!) but that’s just not enough, especially as she doesn’t agree with most of my thoughts. So today I thought, well maybe I should start a blog. However, as far back as two months ago I didn’t think I had anything to blog about. I do like reading and writing, but I was convinced that the world doesn’t need to hear my opinion. There are quite a lot of loud-mouths, smart-ass*s and armchair critics already out there, and if I look around it’d be easy enough to find someone who actually says the things I want to say much better than I do!

Needless to say none of those issues stopped me slowly coming round to the idea that I might just be that guy who says things that someone else out there wants to say. Talk about having an ego! To top it all off, despite not being a celebrity, I went and named the blog after my surname. Whew!

So who am I? My name is Joe and I’m a budding entrepreneur living in the UK. I love business and I love culture.

Anyway, here we are and I want to say stuff in a little more than 140 characters. Stuff about the music business (I know, I know), business, politics, life, and whatever other BS I wanna spout. I hope to write short articles, but I’ll certainly try to make them all entertaining. Even the business ones! I’m only assured of one reader, my sister Charmaine, but that won’t stop me. I hope to post at least once a week and I promise not to abandon this blog. Otherwise I might as well have stuck to Twitter!

 

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