Better ways to music industry
Musicians (and every other kind of artist for that matter) should revel in our inefficiencies. An overly-optimized creative process is at risk of forfeiting precisely what is most precious to it — idiosyncrasies, mistakes, accidents, spiritual urges, and other crucial intangibles.
Devon Hansen • The great process squeeze: How efficiency bias is choking the music industry
Introducing the Music Economy Development Initiative — Center for Music Ecosystems
centerformusicecosystems.com
Properly capturing the value of music globally requires investment, policies, education and political commitment to ensure that music—as property—can be owned, managed, monetized, and taxed.
Introducing the Music Economy Development Initiative — Center for Music Ecosystems
Meaningful, sustainable success with a moderate but deeply devoted fanbase can only arise and flourish when we nurture the very things that make the creative process seem, within an efficiency-biased culture, too inefficient. Far more than technology, this requires time.
Devon Hansen • The great process squeeze: How efficiency bias is choking the music industry
While a concept like “consumer-creator” might make the average artist wince, it’s nonetheless viewed as an exciting opportunity for anyone hoping to make commercial gains in the music technology industry. Not everyone sees themselves as artists, but everyone is a consumer. What could be a more efficient way to expand your total addressable market t... See more
Devon Hansen • The great process squeeze: How efficiency bias is choking the music industry
After some research – as well as first-hand experiences – I’m wrapping my head around the concept of clubbing in 2025.
We all know very well how for decades, clubbing, has been a strong form of culture: finding out what was ‘the plan’ for the weekend – and eventually where’s the rave at – was basically dogma. Also, raves and nightclubs were places f
... See moreThe pressure to be as efficient and productive as possible has a way of sneaking into one’s mind and body, reconfiguring one’s priorities, and directing one’s creative decisions without being detected and called out for what it is.
Devon Hansen • The great process squeeze: How efficiency bias is choking the music industry
And it will get worse as Spotify and other music streamers learn how to replace human music with AI slop. They are already doing this—and with more success than anyone anticipated.
Unless record labels develop exciting new human talent, they will have no response to these initiatives. Musicians and listeners will both suffer from the resulting creat... See more
Unless record labels develop exciting new human talent, they will have no response to these initiatives. Musicians and listeners will both suffer from the resulting creat... See more
open.substack.com
You see all these new DSPs in the wake of Spotify's ruthless efficiency trying to rescue the artistic context that’s been lost now that Spotify has essentially become the artist. How do we approximate even the simple immersive experience of buying a CD and reading the liner notes on first playthrough?Hint: The solution is not “immersive” audio!