Sterling Proffer

In its early days, Substack primarily catered to a certain set of internet-savvy writers and journalists, lured by the promise of monetizing a direct relationship with their readers. But as it morphs from a niche publishing concern into a heavyweight start-up mentioned in the same breath as Twitter and Facebook, its user base is proliferating... See more

So to me, the problem is not with the buying, nor even with the culture-grifting of brands, but with some kind of insufficiency on the part of the companies themselves. If the meanings they have on offer are starved versions of cultural membership, then perhaps, I started to feel, the brands aren’t going far enough. Could we imagine a version of a... See more

Streaming has changed all the rules. Musicians can upload songs on to a streaming platform without a label. If they still want to sell physical albums, Bandcamp has made it very easy—no label required. They can deal directly with fans, journalists, promoters, booking agents, etc. without a label. They can set up a publishing company with almost no... See more

11. Sell a sync license: NFTs offer a potential opportunity for simplifying the sync licensing process. By embedding a complex set of rights and licenses into a fairly liquid digital token, copyright owners can simplify how they issue licenses and how everyone gets paid.

2. Fractionalize ownership with royalty-bearing NFTs: “Fractional ownership” is one of the more widely discussed use cases around NFTs. Here, a fraction of a song is sold as an NFT, with the owner then being entitled to the equivalent portion of royalties generated from the commercial exploitation of the song.

Are you actively practicing generosity and vulnerability in order to make the connections between you and others clear, open, available, durable? Generosity here means giving of what you have without strings or expectations attached. Vulnerability means showing your needs.

Practice too little, and you never become world-class. Practice too much, and you increase the odds of being struck down by injury, draining yourself mentally, or burning out.