I’m always interested in stuff around ‘work’ and/or ‘labour’ around DIY music scenes and how it intersects with wider criticism of capitalism etc. I wanted to note and share a handful of resources that you might find as useful as me.
First, a couple of newsletters. Cherie Hu describes her journalism as ‘covering the nexus of music, technology, and business’. Her newsletter Water and Music is frequently insightful. Also, David Turner’s Penny Fractions covers similar territory, often taking a slightly stronger stance which I enjoy.
Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon’s Interdependence podcast focuses upon interviews with ‘figures shaping 21st century culture’ which is pretty broad but the main focus is generally around music, tech, ai etc.
I’m very interested in the way independent music culture is romanticised and now reproduces the power structures most of us (I’m talking like-minded DIY artists within my circle) wish to reject. I do feel there’s often a lack of deep critical engagement with such issues, robbing us of the political power our work suggests. Dryhurst outlines his interdependence in this graun piece.
Dryhurst’s interdependence isn’t without fault though and Robin Jame’s piece is thoughtful, insightful, and helps round out and deepen my understanding.
On a more practical note, Ampled is an interesting project. It’s designed to be, a bit like patreon, a platform for micro-subscriptions to support artists. In someways, not that dissimilar to subscription models available in bandcamp too. What’s really interesting with Ampled is it’s set up as a cooperative. Artists become the owners of the platform. It’s worth reading in a bit more depth and they offer a primer on the website.
There’s Jehova’s Fitness Ampled page if you’re interested:
