The Daily Swarm

The long rumored Washington Post Bob Lefsetz profile has arrived.

“That’s the age-old question,” says Larry Solters, the spokesman for Ticketmaster, Nielsen SoundScan and the Eagles, and a regular Lefsetz reader. “How does Bob make his money? I don’t think anybody knows.”

Lefsetz says that’s because he isn’t really making any money.

Oh, sure, he gets checks from Celebrity Access and Yahoo! Music, which reprint some of his screeds. And Rhino Records pays him for monthly podcasts. And he’ll get a stipend for speaking at events like the Concert Industry Consortium and the upcoming Music Matters convention in Hong Kong.

He’s done some consulting work for record companies, including Warner Bros., which seems to run counter to his assertion that he’s beholden to no one. (“It’s not something I pursue,” Lefsetz says of consulting contracts.) And he used to have a radio show, too, until the station sold his hours for infomercials.

“I live on a no-cash basis,” he says. “I live in a rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica. . . . I don’t have kids or all these other expenses people have. If I’m going to dinner, somebody else is picking up the tab.”

The ski vacations? Cheap flights to Colorado and even cheaper accommodations: Lefsetz is dating Felice Mancini, daughter of the late composer Henry Mancini, and the family owns a condo in Vail. “People have this fantasy that I’m living some exotic, marvelous life. . . . I laugh when people think there’s a big pile of money somewhere. . . . NO! You’re just not willing to live and sacrifice the way I do. And believe me, I’ve sacrificed.”