We are back to the Middle Ages where creative professionals–um, troubadours–were whores and marginalized individuals. Except now, between the troubadour and the generous peasants, there is a clever middleman who makes money on bulk.
The 21st century America is a very strange place. Beautiful, bountiful, but strange. It tells me, “I want your music in my catalogue as long as you agree that it’s not special, and I want your booty in my catalogue as if it’s not special, either”. It wants me to line up and lick the conveyor. It wants me to play ordinary. It wants me to march with the crowd and participate in the global sexual act that has been stripped of all magic. The underlying emotion is of disrespect.
What do I say? First, I have no words. Then I cry. I don’t like any of it. It’s counter-everything. It defeats my humanity, my dignity, and my sense of self. It’s a man (and woman) eating machine (I stole it from Grace Jones).
Can we just honestly admit that we don’t know f*ck?
Full disclosure: I wrote this because I care. I am not an industry analyst and I am not trying to be one. But I have a brain, and I hate bullshit. Without further ado…
In a highly publicized BBC interview, British musician Ed Sheeran says that he “owes career to Spotify”. According to Sheeran, the 860 million streams he received on Spotify allowed him to play big shows in the US and sell out arenas in Korea and South-East Asia.
Something about it just didn’t feel right. Smelling a rat, I googled the guy.
Genuine respect for women will only come from healing; without healing, we are reduced to algorithms. Sadly, algorithmic solutions tend to hurt innocent people and are too easy to hijack.
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