Let me trace the timeline here because nobody's connecting it.
Step 1: Scrape the entire internet. Every book, every article, every conversation, every piece of art, every forum post. Do it without asking. Do it without paying.
Step 2: Train a model on all of it. Call it "artificial intelligence."
Step 3: Go to BlackRock's Infrastructure Summit and announce: "We see a future where intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter."
Step 3 is where you sell people's own knowledge back to them. On a meter.
They took the collective output of human thought, compressed it into a model, and now they want to charge you by the token to access a version of what you and everyone you know already created.
One Reddit user put it perfectly: "They stole all this data from us, the people, our life's work, creativity, art, by devouring the internet and blowing through all copyright laws. Now they want to sell it back to us in the form of a utility."
Imagine if someone photocopied every book in the public library, burned the library down, and then opened a subscription service for the copies.
That's the metered intelligence business model.
And they're pitching it to infrastructure investors as though they invented water.
There’s no single formula, but these are my best practices for 5-year artist growth:
1. Get better at your craft
2. Build a catalog (release songs!)
3. Develop your sound, brand, & overall aesthetic
4. Find your audience
5. Own that audience (first party data)
Teasers and snippets work best when there’s an audience already in place to retain. These are fans who are hungry for something, anything from you. For unknown artists, you can’t retain what you don’t already have. Release the full song and market what’s available.
Daily reminder that racists hate you because you're Black, not because of "muh behavior." They'll hate you no matter what. Internalize this, and never tapdance.
One thing about adulthood that way too many people learn way too late (and have no choice but to learn the hard way): you have to be deliberate/proactive about everything. For the first time in your life, you can't be passive participant in anything.
feels like the internet is on its last legs for regular users. they don’t want you posting anonymously, they don’t want you searching, they don’t want you jerking off. the ideal user of the new internet is the “grok is this true?” guys
to every artist/person out there, your life & career will hardly ever just be vertical, and the purpose of art goes beyond charts, sales, analytics, algorithms. this shit has its natural & unnatural ups & downs, but the best thing you can do is create things that are honest, so that you never look back & have regrets. everyday you’re breathing you get an opportunity to reintroduce yourself & put something meaningful out into the world. do the work. have fun doing it. everything else is a bonus.
Whether you like it or not, if you’re an artist trying to make money off your music, you're a brand. Every brand needs an aesthetic that communicates the world they’re building. Can’t have one without the other.
you’re 22. you scroll 3 hours a day. it feels harmless
at 28 you can’t read an article without checking your phone twice per paragraph
at 32 you don’t understand why nothing you start ever finishes, you’re still dreaming of this project you wanted to start. still no time
at 40 you’ve never finished a book in a decade.
it all passed
everyone still thinks Dr Dre is going to find their dusty demo online and “see the potential” to sign them on the spot lol
buddy, labels are not handing out million dollar deals no more and they def not developing artists from scratch now.
YOU the label now, them days is gone.