3 Comments

This is such a fantastic post and not only because you linked to my newsletter. Thank you SOO much. I appreciate it very much.

All of us, including the media giants are up against capitalism. It's disheartening to see publishers, studios, record labels, etc., make financial, rather than artistic decisions, and I think that's why we feel that culture is suffering. We've put creative decisions into the hands of number crunchers, and the result has been is pretty much what you'd expect.

While the internet hurts my soul sometimes (is there any other way to put it?) I also it's is great because it defanged the gate-keepers. Anyone can put anything out there, and there's a chance that it will get traction. Before, the potential for an audience didn't even exist without the approval of an "expert."

The real tragedy is that the commodification of art creates an atmosphere where people are afraid to take creative risks out of fear of alienating an audience (whether it's the current audience or the potential audience). This is SO true for me.

For example, writing advice on the internet aims to homogenize voices. Remove adverbs. Simplify sentences. Let's all write like robots. They've even got the software doing it. The other day, Grammarly actually suggested that I change "I don't give a shit" to "I don't care." At one point, I got so paranoid about it that I was only writing three word sentences. Now, I'm struggling with how I approach my topics.

I think that sad songs actually help us feel better. Maybe they give us a chance to process emotions that might otherwise hang around in the background as undefined melancholy. When I played "Black Star" my cat stopped and listened. It's the sort of music that's his taste. Yes, my cat listens to music, and he watches TV.

Anyway, sorry for the super-long comment. Thanks again for the shout-out.

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Their best cover since "White Rabbit" -- thanks.

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