In the Music Business, 80 Is the New 20 It's never been better for dead and dying musicians

In the music business, 80 is the new 20. www.honest-broker.com/p/in-the-mus...

15 Observations on the New Phase in Cultural Conflict If the old motto was watch out below, the new one ought to be: Watch out above!

More here: www.honest-broker.com/p/15-observa...

If you're puzzled or disturbed by the response to the United Healthcare shooting, let me share these 6 observations on this new phase in cultural conflict (THREAD...)

These come from an analysis I published just 22 days ago.

Streaming platforms can do this, because they are switching users to passive, algorithm-driven listening. By substituting AI slop for human songs, these platforms can reduce costs and boost profits significantly.

Today musicians only keep 8% of streaming revenues, but AI will squeeze them further. Four years from now, musicians will only receive 6.4% of streaming revenues (Source: CISAC).

New study predicts that AI will steal almost a quarter of musicians’ income within the next 4 years (Source: CISAC).

The gaslighting is over. Artists now fully grasp the AI business model—which is to destroy their livelihood and replace human music with bot slop.

A lot of people are arguing about the influence of Joe Rogan, but the issue is much bigger than him. He's a symptom, not a cause.

Communication styles are changing EVERYWHERE. Here's what is happening (in politics, media, business, education, etc.)

More at: www.honest-broker.com/p/the-6-new-...

How Coffee Became a Joke The crisis at Starbucks is a sign of our un-serious times

How Coffee Became a Joke (my latest). www.honest-broker.com/p/how-coffee...

9 New Albums I'm Recommending Right Now I'm looking for music in all the wrong places—because that's where the best stuff is hiding in 2024

9 new albums I'm recommending right now. www.honest-broker.com/p/9-new-albu...

How to Survive as the Only Opera Fan in Elementary School My brother Dana shares a story about his unusual childhood

I share a story from my brother Dana about our unusual childhood. www.honest-broker.com/p/how-to-sur...

Journalist Séamas O'Reilly published an article criticizing Twitter—and his account was suspended a few hours later. But he is also at Bluesky, where you can folllow him at seamas.bsky.social.

I just did that—because I oppose the censorship of journalists.

How to Tell If You're Living in a Binary Crisis I try to draw wisdom from Tracy Chapman, Roman chariot races, politics, René Girard, Marie Antoinette, and the Texas A&M Aggies

In my latest article, I try to draw wisdom from Tracy Chapman, Roman chariot races, politics, René Girard, Marie Antoinette, and the Texas A&M Aggies. www.honest-broker.com/p/how-to-tel...

How Condé Nast bought and destroyed America's iconic music publication What happened to Pitchfork

How Condé Nast bought and destroyed Pitchfork. www.semafor.com/article/02/0...

Nine Ugly Truths about Copyright ...and five predictions about its future

Nine ugly truths about copyrights for artists (and five predictions). www.honest-broker.com/p/nine-ugly-...

I Ask Seven Heretical Questions About Progress And I offer seven radical hypotheses. But can you handle the truth?

I ask 7 heretical questions about progress. www.honest-broker.com/p/i-ask-seve...

Why Is Music Journalism Collapsing? This is a bigger problem that you can fix with a Pitchfork

More layoffs in music journalism—Pitchfork will be merged into GQ.

I write about it here: www.honest-broker.com/p/why-is-mus...

A Look at Bill Evans's 15-Year-Old Pianist Grandson And other updates on previous posts

You can read about Bill Evans's 15-year-old pianist grandson (and many other things) at this link. www.honest-broker.com/p/a-look-at-...

The Best Online Essays & Articles of 2023 Longform journalism is coming back (and deserves our support)

I share a list of my favorite articles and essays of the year. www.honest-broker.com/p/the-best-o...

How Bing Crosby Made Silicon Valley Possible The singer who popularized "White Christmas" was also a visionary tech innovator

How Bing Crosby made Silicon Valley possible (my latest). www.honest-broker.com/p/how-bing-c...

How African Musicians Came to Medieval and Renaissance Europe Western music has always been multicultural

How African Musicians Came to Medieval and Renaissance Europe (my latest). www.honest-broker.com/p/how-africa...

Car Drivers Torment a City with Celine Dion Songs An update on dangerous music

I've just published an update on dangerous and transgressive music around the world. www.honest-broker.com/p/car-driver...

18 Warning Signs of a Deadly New Lifestyle Here are the symptoms of a peculiar and self-destructive syndrome in our culture—it doesn't even have a name (yet)

This new lifestyle, now spreading everywhere, must self-destruct sooner or later.

But when?

www.honest-broker.com/p/18-warning...

My Ultimate Texas Songwriter Playlist I've handpicked 56 tracks from the Lone Star State (3 hours of music)

I'm sharing my ultimate Texas songwriter playlist—56 tracks and three hours of music! www.honest-broker.com/p/my-ultimat...

The 100 Best Recordings of 2023 (Part 1 of 2) All styles, all genres

Here are links to my survey of the best recordings of the year.

Part 1 (A through L): tinyurl.com/26shj44n
Part 2 (M through Z): tinyurl.com/286ry3x8
Honorable Mention list: tinyurl.com/4h7t9bzk