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This reads as parody. Fawning over some self-important VC, doing 'analysis' that amounts to nothing more than shooting the shit with words and graphs that he do

This reads as parody. Fawning over some self-important VC, doing 'analysis' that amounts to nothing more than shooting the shit with words and graphs that he doesn't understand. Decrying mistakes startups apparently always make, and using Buzzfeed as an example of some apparently satanic definition of success. Pushing a worldview, not a thought. The music industry is immensely inefficient; the value of a piece is independent of it's economic value. It's smaller than the porn industry [3], and the top earners are not too distant from it artistically. It's a tenth the size of Apple, though much of the money is concentrated on zero-sum executives lacking a moral compass[5]. My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Pitchfork's best album of the 90's, never went gold, even in their home country [1]. It bankrupt a studio and broke up the band, and to this day is about 1/100th as popular as Drake albums on Spotify [2]. Still, there is a vast swarm of people for whom Loveless means the world, in a way Drake has never meant to anyone. It's a stoic, effervescent, and unmonetizable titan. It would be fallacy to assert that the developed world is improving emotionally [6][7], and for many in it music is a mood-regulating sidekick, thereby providing added value where TV et al. provide replacement. It is a levee against the disgusting world neoliberalism and tech utopianism has built for us. Final thoughts: * Never use the word 'consumer' non-ironically. * Or write that "there are in fact multiple paradigms that exist within the music universe, all of which operate according to very different rules." Amongst a few other choice phrases. * Or, in your profile bio, "Lover of Art, Poetry, Startups, Music, Journalism // Tech Founder and Deadpan Humorist". * Walled-Garden doesn't exist on streaming services; your demented Grandma has recordings of her playing piano on her Soundcloud. * Streaming does work... if only because nothing else does. And no, no one will tell you 'community'/'live' will work for artists who have enough integrity not to become a living meme. [1]: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveless_(album)#Certifications [2]: look it up. There are a few reasons for this, including that MBV listeners probably skew towards torrenting, and that those who stream tend not to leave it on as background music. [3]: nbcnews.com/business/business-news/things-are-looking-americas-porn-industry-n289431, statista.com/topics/1639/music/ [4]: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. [5]: celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/lyor-cohen-net-worth/ [6]: monbiot.com/2014/10/14/falling-apart/ [7]: nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html

zby 11y ago
monbiot.com/2014/10/14/falling-apart/ is an interesting link - it is about about how we become more and more lonely. By the way if the problem is that we are lonely - than all community solution like musicians relying on a community of supporters instead of 'music industry' is a step in the right direction.
rayuela 11y ago
I agree with you and there is plenty of room for technology to address some of these problems, both in facilitating the creation of music and getting it to the right audience.
truthexplodes 11y ago
Great comment. Lots of meat here. I had no idea that Loveless had such an interesting story behind it. It's such a brilliant album that I'll never tire of. P.S. Original, insightful comments like this never go unpunished at HN. Unfortunately, you won't last long here.

zby 11y ago

monbiot.com/2014/10/14/falling-apart/ is an interesting link - it is about about how we become more and more lonely. By the way if the problem is that we are lonely - than all community solution like musicians relying on a community of supporters instead of 'music industry' is a step in the right direction.

rayuela 11y ago

I agree with you and there is plenty of room for technology to address some of these problems, both in facilitating the creation of music and getting it to the right audience.

truthexplodes 11y ago

Great comment. Lots of meat here. I had no idea that Loveless had such an interesting story behind it. It's such a brilliant album that I'll never tire of. P.S. Original, insightful comments like this never go unpunished at HN. Unfortunately, you won't last long here.