Mark Johnson

the idea of your public library being what you turn to for universal music access seems so much more interesting than it being dictated by the major labels and streaming services, who are going to try to reduce the cost of content at every turn to shape what you hear.

I stick by my prediction that the anger and brutality will soon diminish. Cool will come back. People will stop shouting and start speaking again. Public leaders will be friendlier, nicer, less hostile.

It happened before—after the Civil War and World War II people welcomed peace and tranquility. Public leaders became more conciliatory. People embr... See more

I am negotiating how much a song should be recognized as a song , and whether it hurts or helps the artist at that juncture in their career to make music that more resembles supposedly “timeless” music, even though “timeless music” usually just means commercially released songs from the last 60 or so years. (If you want an easy way to out yourself ... See more

Being a phenomenon of the attention economy, streaming platforms rely both on vast quantities of content and a competitive, almost gambling-like environment to attract artists who hope to go viral in the playlist ecosystem, particularly on Spotify. This leaves an opening for various commercial parties to double down on the incentives that are float... See more