⫹⫺ De-Platform Yourself
⫹⫺ De-Platform Yourself
Cheat Codes for Creators, Makers & Doers - CMMN WLTH 060
Hello my friends,
Being de-platformed is the death of most creators.
De-platforming yourself is a power move.
According to sources Kanye turned down a $100m offer from Apple Music for the exclusive rights to his latest album, Donda 2.
And when he announced that it will only be available via something called the ‘Stem Player’ it sounded like another publicity stunt.
What is the Stem Player?
It’s a $200 media player created (in collaboration with Kanye) by London based startup, Kano Computing.
There’s no screen. Instead, you control it with 4 touch-sensitive light sliders or ‘stems’. The stems allow you to remix songs by isolating vocals, adding loops and effects.
It’s half MP3 player, half midi-controller.
Why is it important?
Love him or hate him, Kanye has always been at the cutting edge of culture and in 2016 he set out a clear vision of the industries ‘Donda’ (West’s creative agency) could influence.
Tech being one of them.
In the face of difficulty and hardship, the 2020s have been positively transformational for artists.
Creatives can form direct relationships with consumers through NFTs or DAOs and validation comes in cold, hard (crypto)currency instead of views and likes.
Kanye is taking this direct and decentralized approach one step further.
Building a permissionless connection to his fans by combining digital platform and physical product.
Today, there are 5bn internet users but still, we rely on a small handful of devices and platforms to access content.
These devices and platforms require you to abide by their creative guidelines, optimize for their algorithm and take an often heavy cut of the profits.
“Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system." — Kanye West
Will this move by Kanye disrupt the iPhone or Spotify?
Probably not.
But hopefully, it pushes industry to explore new ways for creatives and consumers to connect with each other and technology.
In a world of digital transformation, there is plenty of room for product innovation.
Let's get into it.
Product
Barilla created Spotify playlists that correspond with the cooking time of a variety of pasta shapes. A reminder to not take your brand too seriously.
Having fun gets results:
330k Spotify followers.
2m TikTok views.
140 media placements.
Playlists here.
Limewire is making a comeback as a NFT marketplace. Is it a sign that music NFTs are the next wave of digital assets?
Walt Disney announced that it is moving from “storytelling” to “storyliving” and unveiled plans to develop real estate across the US. A HOA run by ‘cast members’ sounds expensive though.
People
Ethan Hawke encourages us to give ourselves the permission to be creative ↓
The experience of digital and pre-digital positions those born between 1980 - 1985 perfectly to thrive in the hybrid workplace.
There’s both bad and good news I guess :
I found out that I’m a “geriatric millennial”.
The hybrid workforce of the future depends on us.
"What's your single best piece of career advice"? Here’s 12 I wish I knew when I started my career. My personal favorites:
Reduce uncertainty for others as much as you can.
The answer to every question you do not ask is always No.
Learn to articulate the business benefits of what you do, not just your job title or tasks.
Methods
The Ben Francis, founder of Gymshark, episode is particularly good if you’re pursuing a side hustle or building a business.
→ I’ve added it to the CMMN WLTH podcasts of 2022 list here.
A vivid analogy of the tail-end consequences of risk. “We spent the last decade debating whether economic risk meant the Federal Reserve set interest rates at 0.25% or 0.5%. Then 36 million people lost their jobs in two months because of a virus.”
Patrick Collinson’s advice to his past self has some evergreen principles on life and learning. Even if you’re no longer in your ‘prime years’.
Out of Office
Increasing inflation means that you’ll have to make some critical household spending decisions.
And implement better supply chain management.
If you find this newsletter useful please share it with your most curious friends & colleagues ↓
Vault
🎙 CMMWLTH Podcasts of 2022 curated by you.
Last Week's Numbers
Weekly subscribers: 230 (+1) ⬆️
Open rate: 55% ⬆️
"sources" being Kanye himself... but still power move, and the player looks like a well-designed, functioning piece of equipment that will more than likely end up in the kitchen drawer in the next six months for the vast majority of users