music Lefsetz of Center
Music industry analyst Bob Lefsetz will share his controversial opinions during his October appearance at the MIC summit
The New Times Interview By Matt Mumau
I
t wasn’t hard to elicit music industry writer Bob Lefsetz’s most controversial, recurring point during a Sept. 14 phone
interview. Asked what topics have most often been the center of discussion dur- ing his many recent speaking engagements throughout the country at music festivals and industry conferences, Lefsetz kept it simple: “Most of these acts suck!”
That blunt opinion should come as no sur-
prise to those who have followed the author’s Lefsetz Letter, a missive that has assumed a variety of publishing formats since the former music industry lawyer turned pundit in 1986. Lefsetz explained that his career in the
music business began as it should: with his love of music. “Generally speaking I listened to a lot of records,” Lefsetz said. “When you listened to the records {back then} you wanted to get closer to the music. I listened to a lot of Beach Boys records. After I had come to California it turned out the dream was alive, and I followed my dream.”
Lefsetz soon after attended law school,
not so much because he had any deep love of the law, but rather so that he could get closer to the musicians he’d grown to admire. “I went to law school because at that point in time there were always shifts in the industry, just like labels have less power now than they used to. Most labels were being run by lawyers in the 1970s. I don’t have any rela- tives in the business, so a good way to break in was to go to law school.” That led him to a short stint with Sanctu-
ary Records Group, a label founded by Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor. But by the time the label was bought in 2007 by Universal Music Group after a rocky road of its own, Lefsetz had been long gone, and he has rarely practiced law since. After some soul searching the lawyer reinvigorated his passion for writ- ing, which he had abandoned since college. Initially Lefsetz’s state-of-the-business addresses were sent through snail mail via a paid subscription service. To his surprise
many of the biggest players in the biz signed up to soak in Lefsetz’s knowledge. Over time, the letter picked up thousands more loyal fans who tuned in to see what opinions Lefsetz had on the hip acts of the time, as well as what was or wasn’t going wrong at the upper echelons of the recording industry. In 2000 Lefsetz plugged in by turning his
printed newsletter into an e-mail newsletter, and later a blog at
lefsetz.com/wordpress, subtitled “First in Music Analysis.” Always keen to cuurent trends, Lefsetz writes almost daily about technology, the financial machinations of the modern music scene, the driving force of inspiration (or lack thereof) found among modern bands, or about anything else he damn well pleases. Liz Nowak, MIC’s organizer as well
as president of the Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Music Awards (Sammys), explained that she sought Lefsetz’s appear- ance especially because of his edgy nature, as well as the fact that so many local musi- cians have cited Lefsetz’s writing as inspi- ration. “I really respect him, and I really love his stories,” Nowak said. “Through my experience as a promoter in the mid- 1980s I see the multifaceted angles of this industry. I can see why a young band might not make it because they have the chops but they don’t have the technical skills in the industry. He’s highlighted the transition of the music industry from major record label deals to the new DIY model.”
Lefsetz will be a keynote speaker at
MIC: Meet Interact Connect, a newly envi- sioned music conference to take place at the Onondaga County Convention Center (Oncenter), 800 S. State St., on Friday, Oct. 8, and Saturday, Oct. 9. Visit micnys. com for more information about the event, which will feature a wide variety of indus- try speakers, as well as cutting-edge bands from around the country at area venues. Lefsetz will speak from 3:20 to 4:50 p.m. on Oct. 9 in the exhibit hall. Admission to the speech will be granted
to MIC badge holders only. VIP MIC badges may be purchased for $150 from the MIC website via PayPal; these will include access to a variety of special functions at the conference. Standard MIC badges are $50 and may be purchased through the Oncenter’s Ticketmaster page. For more information about the conference, e-mail Liz Nowak at
lnowak@micnys.com.
Q A
: A lot of people on the busi- ness side of the music indus- try don’t trust writers. Was it a
change of heart to go into writing?
: I think in my particular case, with- out going into all the details of my life and work experience, I’m first
and foremost into the music, and I’ve found a lot of these people were making business
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family times NewTmes SYRACUSE The Parenting Guide of Central New York WWW.SYRACUSENEWTIMES.COM Syracuse New Times September 22 - 29, 2010 13
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