“For You” is not about pushing the limits of our artistic palates, as much a device to serve us what the platform projects — and wants us to be satisfied with, herding us into more predictable siloes that can then be targeted with more “precise” recommendations. Anything other than this is a liability to the business model.

Ted Gioia also comments... See more

On one hand, we have a booming Creator Economy, with an ever-expanding democratization of tools for production to anyone with an idea. So much so, that according to 1,000 surveyed Americans by ZINE, 86% of people believe there is an overwhelming amount of entertainment available today.

Yet meanwhile on the other hand, we seem to have also found... See more

But as seen from the macro view, a diverse, bottom-up media ecosystem is in fact

not thriving

.

Instead, the inverse is happening.

Homogeneity is winning.

We’re mistakenly still using dusty indicators of success in a contemporary media environment.

Where are the awards celebrating the small and mighty? Who are the megaphones to draw more attention and financing toward marginalized creators? Where is the campaign reminding us that creativity dies in the shadows of reboots, and that merely making... See more

Much of today’s mass-produced work aims to satisfy the average. As a result, we’re left with

average

. The middle is saltine-cinema: the largest financial opportunity.

Take or leave Martin Scorsese’s critique of Marvel, his take on the state of film — this “consolidation” — shouldn’t be controversial:

“The art of cinema is being systematically

... See more

In the absence of infinite time but facing infinite content, we actually need some gatekeepers. Further, we need financing for those who aren’t... trash.

How is it that during a moment of radical creator liberation and audience frustration, we’re finding ourselves with the same tropes and hooks?

Chris Anderson’s 2006 optimistic Long Tail vision promised us that “specificity” — the shallow and obscure — would be economically feasible as the internet would connect the niche to its audience.... See more

As Mastroianni writes,

“Movies, TV, music, books, and video games should expand our consciousness, jumpstart our imaginations, and introduce us to new worlds and stories and feelings [...] Learning to like unfamiliar things is one of the noblest human pursuits; it builds our empathy for unfamiliar people.”

If we stop watering “the new,” the new will... See more

Presented with an avalanche of opportunity, especially with entertainment — something meant to bring joy — we stick to what we know. After all, what we know feels good .

In Derek Thompson’s book, Hit Makers , he explains this tendency,

“Most consumers are simultaneously neophilic — curious to discover new things — and deeply neophobic — afraid of

... See more