Business can rock

Two books extrapolate business insights and lessons from the world of rock 'n' roll.
BY RICHARD PACHTER

As much as I am obsessed with biz books, I often find business wisdom in tomes that seem to have nothing to do with commerce. A few years ago, for example, I reviewed a book about the underground culture of pick-up artists, since many of their principles and practices were applicable to sales, marketing, promotion — even human resources.

I once read a biography of Neil Young strictly for pleasure and realized that it, too, was a biz book, with lessons on branding, product development, marketing, logistics and more. Plus, he owned Lionel Trains at the time. I switched gears and reviewed the biography from a business perspective and got a lot of great feedback. The review was picked up by newspapers all over the country; even in Australia, much to my surprise and delight.

Here are two recent books from people who learned valuable business lessons from their rock 'n' roll experiences.



Jam! How to Run Your Business Like a Rock Star. Jeff Carlisi, Dan Lipson, Jay Busbee. Jossey-Bass. 254 pages.

Jeff Carlisi was a guitarist and songwriter in the Jacksonville-based band .38 Special. I'd worked with him a few times and was always impressed with his positive, professional demeanor. It should have been no surprise, then, to read this upbeat book that uses his career trajectory as the basis for some very smart and practical business and personal guidance.

Carlisi, now a principal in a corporate consultancy specializing in team building, is joined here by his partner, Dan Lipson, and professional writer Jay Busbee. The trio tells the story of how the band got started and developed, up until he left in 1997. Carlisi's carefully selected anecdotes emphasize hard work, collaboration, tenacity and other vital attributes. While there are few, if any, surprises herein, his breezy and entertaining text presents a solid primer for success in most any profession or endeavor. I'm sending a copy, in fact, to an itinerant musician I know who might benefit from learning these fundamentals.



Rock to the Top: What I Learned About Success From the World's Greatest Rock Stars. Dayna Steele. Brown Books. 135 pages.

Steele was a rock jock and radio station music director in Houston and her book is a bit more nuts and bolts that Carlisi's. She also utilizes an impressive résumé in an entertaining and instructive way, but her unique perspective -- from both the talent and the business end -- offers a view from each side of the stage.

The glitz and glamour of the music business during the latter part of the last century belied much its hard economic realities. Nowadays, it's far from uncommon to encounter entertainers who are more involved in their business than in their art. Steele's observations from the back and front of the stage are witty, incisive and applicable to a variety of situations. True tales of encounters with Michael Jackson, Sammy Hagar, David Crosby and others add flavor and atmospherics but the real value of this book is Steele's levelheaded and intelligent insights and extrapolations.

Gene Simmons, relentless marketer and TV personality, contributes the book's foreword and he was either paid a fortune to do so or recognizes and respects the author's expertise. My money is on the latter.

Published 05/25/09 in The Miami Herald

Marketing with Neil Young

Neil Young has been promising — and working on — a release of his archival recordings with all sorts of extra material in a variety of formats.

Now, when it's ready for release, the economy is tough. Disposable income ain't what it used to be.

But Neil Young fans — like me — remain interested.

So canny old Neil provides an online demo. Nice.

No surprise. Neil knows business.

h/t to Bud Scoppa!

New Neil Young leaked

Quick review: not bad but not his best. The title track is my favorite. A clunker or two, too.
You can stream it on MySpace here.

More New Neil Young "Light A Candle"

>

Neil Young "Johnny Magic"

From his forthcoming album, "Fork In The Road," due April 7.

New Neil Young

Fork in the Road



Got a pot belly. 
It's not too big. 
Gets in my way 
when I'm driving my rig.
 Driving this country
 in a big old rig, 
things I see
 mean a lot.



My friend has a pickup.
 Drives his kid to school.
 Then he takes his wife
 to beauty school.

 Now she's doin' nails.
 Gonna get a job.
 Got a good teacher.


There's a fork in the road ahead.
 I don't know which way I'm gonna turn.
 There's a fork in the road ahead.

Forgot this year, 
to salute the troops. 
They're all still there
 in a fucking war. It's no good.
 Whose idea was that?



I've got hope,
 but you can't eat hope. 
I'm not done. 
Not giving up. 
Not cashing in.
 Too late.

There's a bailout coming but it's not for me. 
It's for all those creeps watching tickers on TV. 
There's a bailout coming but it's not for me.

I'm a big rock star.
 My sales have tanked,
 but I still got you.
 Thanks!
 Download this.
 Sounds like shit.



Keep on bloggin' 'til the power goes out,
 and your battery's dead.

Twist and Shout. 
On the radio.
 Those were the days.
 Bring 'em back.

There's a bailout coming but it's not for you.
 It's for all those creeps hiding what they do.
 There's a bailout coming but it's not for you.
 Bailout coming but it's not for you.

Got my new flat-screen.
 Got it repo'd now. 
They picked it up.
 Left a hole in the wall.
 Last Saturday.
 Missed the Raiders game.

There's a bailout coming but it's not for you.
 There's a bailout coming but it's not for you.
 It's for all those creeps hiding what they do.

Still Shakey

I was in the music business for a long time. I started as a clerk in the record department of Sattler's department store across from the Broadway Market in Buffalo, dropped out of college to work at the Buffalo One Stop, became the promotion guy for Best & Gold Distributors in Buffalo, then the local A&M guy, moved to Florida (still with A&M), and finally became an AOR indy. Then I returned to being a full-time fan, which is how I'd started out, spending my allowance on singles at record shops and department stores in Flatbush.

I'm not a musician (as those who've heard my guitar playing will attest) but music flows through me like blood — a Beatles tune, a Miles Davis solo, a melody from a long forgotten jingle or something I heard on XM this morning — even when there's silence, the music plays.

I just got a copy of Don Felder's no-doubt sour grapes Eagles memoir. My wife and mother read Barbara Walters' book and this is my equivalent. No excuses. It's schmutz, I'm certain. Gossip. Fun.

A few years back, I reviewed Jimmy McDonough's biography of Neil Young, Shakey, as a business book. I laughed to myself for pulling a fast one but got my comeuppance in the form of a congratulatory note from Herald Executive Editor Tom Fiedler commending me for doing so. Damn! I got back at Tom by writing and directing him in a rap video a few years later. But that's another story.

Here's the Shakey review, which also got picked up by Australia's Sydney Morning Herald.

Helpless? Anything but
By Richard Pachter
1/10/03

Wait a minute. The biography of long-haired hippie rock-'n'-roll burnout Neil Young is a guide to good business? Of course.

Young owns Lionel Trains (the company, not just a clutch of little locomotives) with a couple of partners. Also, he's had a remarkable career that serves as a solid case study in small-business and career development.

As a business book, in fact, it's probably more valuable than recent autobiographies by Louis Gerstner, Sumner Redstone and Jack Welch.

All over the world, young people struggle to succeed as professional musicians. Most fail, although "successful" ones are often relegated to performing Top 40 hits in bars (or bar mitzvahs).

It's partly an artistic issue, of course, but mostly, it's a business challenge, involving sales, marketing, promotion, finance, human resources, productivity, technology, logistics and more.

Jimmy McDonough's book Shakey: Neil Young's Biography ("Shakey" is one of Young's various nicknames) shows how a small, independent business person developed his skills and increased his marketability by creating a unique product and presenting it in a variety of packages.

Neil Young might claim that he was not "a business dude", and that commercial success was the farthest thing from his mind. However, his relentlessness and single-mindedness belie this. And McDonough's book outlines his subject's career trajectory that could serve as a series of lessons from both creative and mercantile perspectives.

Young, who has had a varied music career (to say the least), is tenacious and hardworking. He collaborates with a wide variety of partners, vendors and support staff to present his product (music and image) in a variety of packages destined for diverse audiences.

When opportunities to expand into other markets appear, he evaluates them and proceeds cautiously, committing only to short-term projects that are subordinate to his main product. While many of his peers fade from the radar screen through failure, death or lack of hits (same difference), Young grows in stature. Most of his recordings remain in print — no mean feat in these days of record company consolidation.

Young also owns several recording facilities, is an innovator in digital recording and an inventor of a number of technologies that led to his acquisition of Lionel Trains, as well as several devices enabling communication and transportation for the handicapped.

Along with Willie Nelson, he founded Farm Aid, the charitable organisation that supports family farmers. He's also an active supporter of other organisations aiding disabled children and their families.

McDonough spent more than a decade researching and writing this book. Originally, it was authorised by Young, who granted him access to nearly all the leading players of his life and work, and then sat for numerous interviews with the author. But by the time the book was ready to go, lawsuits shot back and forth between author and subject.

When the dust (and suits) settled, the book was released. The author shares the copyright with Young, who retains all "ancillary" rights, meaning that if a movie or play were made from the book, Shakey could (and would) veto it.

If you're a fan, Jimmy McDonough's absorbing and passionate study is a must-read. But it's also a terrific textbook for professional musicians and other independent entrepreneurs. Rust never sleeps, indeed!