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STOLACE's avatar

I'm not entirely convinced that a new platform is going to change anything — not in our lifetimes anyway. The slow, long-form game of commodifying of music, art, and other creative outlets is what has "destroyed" the arts (or more accurately, distorting our perspectives on the arts). Noticing that Spotify is the problem is like being a passenger on the Titanic and looking at the iceberg as being the problem, when in reality there were numerous decisions made along the way that led to the inevitable sinking of the ship.

Metaphorically the iceberg arose out of an extremely interconnected and complex set of circumstances — between the greed of commercial empires and our insatiable hunger for more as consumers, we all contributed to this reality, a reality that cannot so easily be undone. At our core we have an unquenchable thirst for more things, more possessions, more entertainment rooted from an evolutionary desire for comfort and an aversion to suffering (even suffering boredom). Big businesses with deep pockets take advantage of that primal desire for more and further manipulate us into buying things we don't need, subscriptions to keep us distracted, and divisive environments to keep the illusion of an "enemy", an "other" on the other side of that wall.

I think if a "solution" is to be found to the arts epidemic we find ourselves in, it's not going to be found in one more invention, one more system, one more plan. Counter-intuitively, I am inclined to think that the solution is less — to want less, desire less, embrace simplicity, and have a much more broad and honest perspective on how our consumerism (and at its root, desire) is at the heart of the problem.

As consumers, we want more music for less. We want cheap entertainment. We will pay handily to not be bored, to not have to sit alone with our thoughts for more than 60 seconds. Corporations know this, and out of that has arisen our current consumerist landscape of endless apps, endless options for music and other forms of entertainment, and other possibilities to satiate us in our boredom.

As musicians and artists, I am inclined to think that we've forgotten about that flow state, about the joy of creating as being the reward, valuing the process over the results. We've grafted into the arts numerous capitalist concepts, corporate values, and have pandered to the whims and shifting sands of consumerist mindsets. And it's all entirely unnecessary.

If you're looking for a solution to the problem we've created collectively, go lock yourself in a room by yourself — paint, draw, make the music you like or want to hear, make beautiful handcrafted things that bring you delight — and revel in the joy of making, of simply creating. There's no system needed. There's no need for metrics, or popularity, or chasing after inclusion in some arbitrary playlist that someone else put together. There's no need for chasing after the affection, validation, and admiration **of complete strangers**. Your joy and your peace comes from the simple act of being and doing.

So just some grist for the mill — there are plenty of people with opinions that would suggest otherwise, but I can't help but ask the question "why do we need more _______? How about less? Can we be happy, content, fulfilled with less?" And the answer, at least found in my experience, is a resounding _YES_.

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John Lanyon's avatar

Love this idea. Filling in form now!

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