Rich Kolodziej

Writer. Artist Manager. Attorney. Ex-trial lawyer. Exploring culture and politics from the edges of the mainstream.

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

Roughly 38 million new tracks hit streaming services in the past year. And that’s before the AI sludge factory started running three shifts and a lunch break. We are not looking for music anymore. We are drowning in it.

That is why curators matter.
https://t.co/a4kETZE10N

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

Managing a band is a strange mix of ambition, patience, restraint and learning not to confuse silence with rejection or every small win with destiny. It is about trying to get the songs heard without losing your mind, your manners or your sense of humor.
https://t.co/itG17ysOeT

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

It would seem Spotify has decided the problem with Music in 2026 is that the listener is still required to listen to the song as the artist intended. I wrote about it here: https://t.co/YTqPSPbm66

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

Read some reporting from Wired and The Guardian about how “viral” music actually works now…

Short version:
It’s not organic. It’s engineered.

Longer version:
We might not even know our own taste anymore.

Wrote something about it ↓
https://t.co/kCx2x6v9PD

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

There is a growing gap between new rock music and catalog rock music. Whether we look at touring, radio play, or Spotify streams, less and less new rock music is getting spins, as the audience favors what they already know.
https://t.co/R1dYee8opS

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

I took my dog for a quick walk in my building.

Twenty minutes later I was in a full-blown negotiation with a stranger about her “right” to smell the lobby.

People are exhausting.
Dogs though… they get me.
https://t.co/qlMhlpHF7T

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

Apparently, attraction is now a function of global wealth distribution.

Which is news to me, and probably to anyone who has ever been attracted to another human being.

https://t.co/Z1h6gbmlAP

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

There’s always a version of the day you planned.

And then there’s the version you almost said no to.

This is about the second one.

Rain. Tuscany. Vespas. Grappa. And realizing I’ve been getting credit for ideas that weren’t mine my whole life.

https://t.co/VV4QkNOuQa

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

By now, you’ve all seen #ChappellRoan’s dress at the #GRAMMYs.
And in that simple fact lies the case I’ve made against her.
You cannot claim the spotlight is too bright while simultaneously aiming it directly at yourself.
@Medium
https://t.co/5bPsUtfAVD

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

The problem isn’t just Trump. It’s that the world no longer trusts American voters to stop him. How TACO Diplomacy is quietly isolating the U.S.
https://t.co/2MyYCdECST

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

The problems aren’t new.
The proximity is.
And we haven’t reckoned with that yet.

https://t.co/K214TxKj7G

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

We didn’t lose our way because we changed too slowly.
We lost it because we changed faster than we learned.
This is about friction, judgment, and why growth now feels so hard.

https://t.co/QE21puTSm8

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

People didn’t abandon family and commitment.
The economy made them harder to survive.
How Gig Work Is Reshaping Family, Risk, and Responsibility.
https://t.co/4yHCPVDo24

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

Everyone rushed to a verdict.
No one slowed down to examine the moment where everything went wrong.
This piece isn’t about taking sides. It’s about the space where confusion, authority, and fear turn lethal.
https://t.co/RBFsHfgfjQ

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

The U.S. captured a sitting foreign president.
The legal explanation came later.
What happens when jurisdiction is asserted first and explained after.
A look at precedent, power, and why the order of things matters more than it sounds.
https://t.co/LN9Mw0S0Bw

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

I loved Stranger Things.
I hated the ending.
So I rewrote it.
No secret episode.
No conspiracy board.
Just stakes, sacrifice, and Steve Harrington doing what Steve Harrington does.
Who wants to help me finish it? 👀🦇

https://t.co/XgZl4vOeef

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

If your first reaction to the arrest of Maduro was pure outrage or pure celebration, slow down.
This story doesn’t belong to tribes.
It belongs to facts, history, and uncomfortable questions we’d rather skip.
I tried not to skip them.
https://t.co/Id5Swwbh6e

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

Took my niece to see the Wicked movie. She dressed like Elphaba.

I came for the songs. Left thinking about power, belief, and why Oz feels uncomfortably familiar.

https://t.co/doOcRpc3SU

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

The end of work was never the real problem.
What happens when AI outpaces wages, demand, and the systems meant to hold society together might be.
I wrote about what comes next.

https://t.co/DKE2ZWlK4y

[Rich Kolodziej @TeleBender13]

“AI sucks” isn’t an argument.
“Fuck Spotify” isn’t a plan.
Free shows don’t build leverage.
I wrote an open letter to artists about the myths keeping us stuck—and what survival actually looks like now.
If you make things for a living, read this.
https://t.co/kWhFIFRCbQ