Hi folks! As part of our collaboration with Penny Fractions, we are bringing you the first episode of a new format—David, Saxon, and Sam, thinking through our moment in an off-the-cuff convo about current events. We hope you like it!
The music industry was recently shaken by news around beloved marketplace/web-magazine Bandcamp, where half of the staff was recently let go (or, as press release from definitely-not-shady new owners Songtradr put it "After a comprehensive evaluation...50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr”). It’s…not great. Unfortunately, it’s also not entirely unexpected. To try to get our heads around what’s happening, we talk union-busting, the decline of music criticism, the death of tech optimism, the rise of the influencer economy, the zombie-like survival of grifting, and what the future might hold for a synch-happy tech-bro Bandcamp. Somedays, it feels like it's their world, and we just live in it. Today might be one of those days.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Follow us on Twitter!
Subscribe to Penny Fractions!
Merlin and What It Means (and Meant) to be Indie
The Great Music AI Contradiction (Live at Wavelengths Summit)
Blurred Lines and the Future of Copyright
Inside the Algorithm Factory: Music Recommendations (w/ Nick Seaver)
Streaming in the Dark: No One Knows Anything (w/ Meredith Rose)
Spotify Redux (Quiet Threats + Desperate Flailing)
From Houston to the World: The Political Economy of DJ Screw (with Lance Scott Walker)
Metadata Errors in the Lime Green Lamborghini (With Kristin Robinson)
Reggaeton Gets Sued
A.I. in Der Klub (And Your Next Playlist)
What Taylor Swift Tells Us About the Billboard Charts
The Rise and Fall of SST Records with Jim Ruland
Penny Fractions Live with Cherie Hu and Liz Pelly
Dan Ozzi on the Political Economy of Selling Out
The Music Catalog Acquisition Cool Down
Damon Krukowski on Unions, Streaming, and Musical Labor
The KLF: A Foolproof Way To Hit No. 1
Born to Sell: Springsteen’s Tickets + Meta Makes Moves
K-Pop Histories Beyond BTS (Featuring The Idolcast)
Kate Bush is Running Up Those Charts
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Superfancast
Derringer Discoveries - A Music Adventure Podcast
One Song
R&B Money
Bandsplain