“Believe it or not, there was a time when most people didn’t think music sucked, when they paid attention, when music drove the culture. Before the labels were owned by fat cats blaming their audience for not buying their overpriced, overproduced, overmassaged cartoon acts,” Bob Lefsetz writes for The Lefsetz Letter.
“Culture has changed. Stars are no longer unreachable. Rather they’re in bed with their audience, they’re like their audience, only talented. When you tart up some female and sell her records on her looks you throw in with Paris and Lindsay, you create an instant joke, whose appeal is anything but her music,” Lefsetz writes.
Lefsetz writes, “The music industry perpetuates the image of a female who’s uneducated, stupid and can only get by on her looks. In an era when so many women play a musical instrument, couldn’t the acts be respectable, couldn’t they be intelligent, couldn’t they be a little more like THEM?”
“I hope you’re following this Apple juggernaut. Because it’s what music used to be,” Lefsetz writes. “First there’s great products… Second, there’s innovation, which begets excitement. The iPhone is like when the Beatles came out with ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ It was beyond comprehension, it was MORE than we expected. Third, devotees follow the company for substantive announcements.”
“It is utterly fascinating to watch a company firing on all cylinders… I can’t believe I used to haunt the newsstands looking for ANYTHING about music. Now, I’m jonesing for tech news, for Apple news. Tech is what music used to be… Oh, my music sites are first. But part of my morning routine is the MacDailyNews, and there I saw a story about the new Apple ads,” Lefsetz writes.
Anyway, fire up this Genius Apple ad:
Lefsetz writes, “Where did they get this woman? Oh, she’s definitely not a girl. She’s not under twenty, hell, she looks closer to thirty! And she’s not all tarted up, showing her body, showing her sexuality. It’s about her MIND! Sure, it’s a commercial, but isn’t it great for girls to have a role model to ASPIRE TO!”
Lefsetz writes, “The music industry is ignoring MUCH of its base (every young female is now computer literate), targeting a lowest common denominator that doesn’t exist. Didn’t you ever hear the axiom that SMART IS SEXY!”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Matthew” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Does mentioning us in your article help get you posted here? Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt! But, much more important is that you have something meaningful to say; Lefsetz blog is packed with interesting ideas. Check out his other articles about the music business, downloads, DRM, pricing, the music itself, and more: The Lefsetz Letter
Gawd, just my kind of woman.
Sparking looks, sparking bod, sparking brain.
As she says, 11/10.
Pleeease… (sob)
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”cool smile” style=”border:0;” />
that’s why I only date PhDs
they have to graduate magnu cum laude or higher for me
Whackypedia’s definition of PhD:
“Piled high and deep.”
saw this one yesterday somewhere … not as funny as some, tho
“Gawd, just my kind of woman. Sparking looks, sparking bod, sparking brain. As she says, 11/10.”
And? And? And? AND?
A MAC USER!
(Definitely no squirt for you.)
Chicks Rule.
she aint that hot
OK… I know, and i agree but really? a role model? its a commerical that is marketing to 30 year olds with money not 12 year old girls making a decision on who to be for the rest of their lives. Not disagreeing that it is a nice change from the norm but its not going change the music business (or ad business) from selling sex.
Rule on ChrissyOne, rule my World.
That poor woman’s father, he tried to raise her right…. the one day she starting thinking….. and that’s where it all went wrong. She only needs to do two things, get pregnant, and get barefoot…. Doesn’t seem like there is any other market for these women types.
Yes dear…. I will take out the trash now… I already washed the car sweeter,,,
Sorry guys, got to finish my honey do’s
MDN Word “types” as in thank God for there being so many different types of women…. who all seem to be one organism installed in 3.5 billion different bodies.
chicks with brains == hotness
I thought the ads were selling Macs? cosmo.
I imagine that what others do is their problem and hence why they are failing, leading to them resulting to the lowest common denominator.
in my opinion she´s cool,but apple is missing something,a keyboard with fingertip reconogzacion built-in,but here goes the real one,it only comes outside the keyboard when the system needs the password,the keyboard also has a little memory in it that makes ppl go to another computers with the passwords without copy then.
This blogger is really on to something. When I first saw the ad last night I also thought she was perfectly cast…cute but that didn’t get in the way of her intelligence and social acumen. That is what is being sold here: There’s help readily available for you if you buy a Mac.
Hey a good looking version of Sarah Jessica Parker.
yeah, smart is good.
My GF has a Ph.D. She’s hot. She’s curvy. She’s got a cool accent. She uses a Mac. Can’t wait to get home!
Time to switch off, the vultures have landed.
(jarrettnewsdaily ((I spit at your blog, twah!)).
The problem with Feminism is it goes too far title. The gals of the NOW gang, and the brawless 60’s generation was not good.
It de-woman’d woman, and aspired them to be men. Unshaven, ugly, power hungry – you know, the women that largely lead these groups… Are they angry ugly chicks seeking revenge like geeky guys seeking to take out the football team jocks? To some degree, yes.
Don’t get me wrong, I like some of her points. The brainless women portrayed in music and video, movies and TV, and the shallowness that a body is all a woman is, the total devaluation of women is all twisted. But adding in smarts does not mean one cannot be good looking and smart. Why not have both?
And let us not forget men. Watch TV and ads this week, and notice how the male figure is bashed over and over again. The man is a lazy idiot, who trys to avoid all responcibility, is obsessed with watching sports, and overall a child-like human-being. Tell me this is a healthy portrait and reinforcement of men? It is deplorable. Often, it is the woman who is smart and the man is treated like a child.
Overall, if you watch with a discrernable eye, you will quickly discover it is the male in society that is bashed, and not the woman, although in music it may be twisted the other way around. I dunno. I’m not 20 and don’t listen to music much, do not have cable or a dish. I have a real life of family and responsibility, of purpose and of doing things that last – not watching the toob tell me what life is about…
You all are so hard on comedy… must be all the same people that didn’t realize zune tang was a mac user and was only posting to drive you all nuts. Not even the biggest microsoft devotees felt as zune tang ” thought” he/she felt.
The worlds biggest problems start with everyone having a lack of humor in their person. Just think of this humor along the same lines as your spouse telling people of the oppisite sex how lame you are romantically. Their intention is to make sure their friends don’t try to invite themselves over when they aren’t home. Which tends not to matter because most peoples friends would, or do, try to fornicate with their spouse’s at will.
So for all you guys wondering what your wife/girlfriend is up to while you are at work, What she is up to might be your brother, or friend, or your dad. Same for you young ladies….. Your man probably has no intention remainging faithful to you. Hope I brought cheer to your day. Next time I hope you will see my posts for the jokes they typically are so I don’t have to make you worry more than you currently do.
I have 3 daughters of my own, and a son..
My oldest daughter is a Senior at UT Austin, and sells macs and PC’s on campus. She is like that girl, but about 16″ taller. Anyway, my point is that, I’ve seen this change, this paradigm shift in what it means to be female, coming for a long time with her and her peers. Every time I’m around them I’m amazed, and feel much better for the future. The culture really is changing–about time!
I was in Fry’s electronics last night (something I’m loath to do) and I simply could not get over how mediocre everything was. Everything! Plastic boxes that share parts with a late 80’s ghetto blaster masquerading as a 5.1 surround system…Books on the shelves about software that is 5+ years old…row after row of crap digital cameras that take crap digital pictures…acres of flatscreen TV’s that make standard definition TV look WORSE than a 15 year old CRT, and STILL NO DECENT HD BROADCAST!!!
“Bagless” appliances that re-arrange dust and dirt (mostly by making it airborne) that kinda resemble a vacuum cleaner from days gone by…POS refrigerators with a veneer of stainless steel and a markup of $1000 over what they should be…cell phones–don’t EVEN get me started about that…
In our age, everything is possible, but everything is mostly CRAP!!
Why?
Apple, wonderfully, thankfully, is different. They, unlike the rest of the dungheap so beautifully typified by MS, understand that while technology is easy, a vision–a course, if you will–is most decidedly not.
Oh, and the music today…
@smart,sexy and cool
“Let me introduce you to my little friend!” – the period. (.)
Used frequently it can help you communicate clear, concise thoughts!
I’m just sayin’
Also, you might wanna check out my other friend, his name is “spellcheck.” He’s usually found hiding in the edit menu on most mac programs.
You all do realize that she’s an actress, right?
Sexy is smart…not the other way around.
has anyone one here ever had a real date?
jeez guys wake up and quit being such nerds
go find a real woman and get laid
it really is possible
and fun too!
I doubt that most MacGeniuses have a Ph.D.
What’s the salary for a MG? It is worth me quitting my job and listening to people bitch at me in the Apple Store?