#and if you buy any music there the artists get WAY more of a percentage of the profits

[ash-rigby]

“All of today’s music sucks”

Or; ways to tell me that you only listen to the radio playing the top 40s and haven’t even dipped a toe into the work of modern independent artists without saying that

[gregrambles]

How do streaming royalties work?

I've probably re-written this a few times now, because writing this post has been a pretty deep dive into streaming royalties and how platforms handle them. Anyways, in this way too fucking long subsection of a 3 part series, here's that. Original post here: https://gregrambles.tumblr.com/774783005911891968/

Before diving into what services pay artists best, it's a good idea to take a look at how royalties work in general. Spotify prides itself on being an easy place to self-publish, but not all artists choose to do that, and there's a lot of different ways royalties get paid out when streaming/buying music. This is important because pay per stream isn't the only thing that matters.

There's more or less three methods:

Direct to artist

Direct to label

Subscriptions

I'd like to acknowledge that the last one is more a sum of the first two parts, but I think it has its own problems as a result that should be discussed.

Direct to Artist

This is the most straightforward option. Whether streaming or buying, the idea is simple. You're paying the artist directly. Typically, payment processors and streaming services will charge a fee (15-30%) of the price or stream value, and the rest goes to the artist.

Direct to Label

For artists who don't self publish, or are signed with a label for distribution/marketing of their work, the money goes to the label instead. The service takes their cut, and this may be non-standard depending on how the label has negotiated their catalogue's availability. The label then takes their contractually agreed upon portion, and the artists gets the remaining revenue.

Subscriptions

The previous payment methods dealt with percentages, which make more sense when there's a general standard cost you can compare that percentage to. $12 for an album is an easy calculation. $12 a month for however many songs is not. Those percentages remain the same, but the value of your subscription doesn't.

Depending on who you are, what you're paying for and how you're paying, your subscription may be worth more or less than someone else's. If you're a student, on a reduced plan, listen with ads, bundle in audiobooks, stream white noise, etc. then the value of your listen may be controlled somewhat arbitrarily by the service you're paying. It's more likely your stream earns an artist in the realm of half a cent, potentially less.

Additionally, whether it's 1000 streams or $40, many services may attempt to prevent direct and immediate payouts of royalties or payments due to high regional bank fees or a cost to the service itself, effectively requiring them to pay more than the value of the stream in overhead for getting that royalty to an artist.

Wait why does this matter?

I think there's a lot of disinformation about how these services work, and a lot of obfuscation about where your money actually goes when you pay a service for the ability to listen to a seemingly endless number of songs. It's one of the reasons I'll always be an advocate for paying for music you like in a way that pays the artist as directly as possible.

Author's Note: I usually like to link sources for my posts like this. The reality is, I've grossly simplified an industry that's spent decades making its payment to artists as unfair as possible. As a result, this is more a summary than any kind of academic representation of the common payment models. I haven't even touched on master rights, MCLs, copywright holders and how labels can continue to earn on songs while an artist doesn't. I am also primarily focusing on North American distribution, because that's the information I readily have access to. I don't claim to be an authority, but I do want to help provide clarity for other people like me who are hoping to demystify some of this stuff. For deeper reading, I recommend Billboard's article here: https://archive.is/HO5Ma And this has been a broadly informative article too, that really set me on the path to digging deeper: https://www.indiemusicacademy.com/blog/music-royalties-explained

[bandzboy]

I saw you recently talk about directly supporting artists and was wondering if you could share how to do so?

tbh, to my own knowledge, it's kinda hard to directly support artists if they are under companies or labels because you know half of the money made by music and albums and etc a good percentage is going back to these people. but i would say a great way to do so is to talk about their music often and if there are any projects they are doing on the side that you know it's being funded by the artists themselves please support those

if an artist is a small independent artist, make sure to support them by subscribing to their patreon or donating to their kofi because that money is most likely going back to music production, to make merch and maybe be able to fund their gigs and get more equipment and etc. if there's a way to buy their music directly and you are able to, please do so and this means buy a physical copy or digital! buy their merch! go to their concerts if you can if they ever do a gig near you

[kelvin-loves-music]

TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY - KENDRICK LAMAR REVIEW

INTRO

I was sitting around thinking of my next album to review and just procrastinating mostly, which is a horrible habit I have. This album has been on my mind for so long because of the significance and meaning behind it and what I feel has done to rap as a genre. It's a great album and it's just so different than any other album I have listened to. I don't think anybody can replicate this except for Kendrick. So let's skip the intros my name is Kelvin and this is a review on To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar

REVIEW

Where do I even begin? I think just from the start I guess. Released on March 15th 2015, again, 2015 was an amazing year for music. The intro, "Wesley's Theory" is just legendary, the production, the lyrics, the Boris Gardiner sample with the “Every nigga is a starrrrr”, just beautiful. Then the narrating, explaining the butterfly breaking out the cocoon with a strong “HIT ME”. Thundercat's bass sounds heavenly, it's so bubbly and warpy, that's the only way I can really describe it. Can we talk about Thundercat’s bass skills? He's really one of the best bassists I have heard in this millenium! Kendricks soft soothing hook gets stuck in my head everytime I listen to this track. Kendrick spitting about being a new hit in the rap scene with his last album "Good Kid,M.A.A.d city" proves he will stay a household name for years to come. He is every white boys favorite rapper along with Eminem and Logic of course. The hook of the song basically explains the overall main theme of the album, a rapper being used by the industry. Calling the rap game “his first girlfriend”, it was true love at first but now turned into a lustful relationship just used for a nut. Moving on to the first verse it holds a lot more meaning and explaining the main theme in further detail, young black artists who had dreams and aspirations in the music industry but are basically "pimped" by their labels and used for monetary gain.

Thundercat with his soft vocals contrast from the first verse singing "We should never gave niggas money. Go back home, money, go back home". Which is right because when niggas get money they're gonna do nigga activities, buying cars, jewelry and everything that comes with the modern rapper today. In the perspective of the rich white who has "worked hard for their things" they see the average rich nigga as a lazy, untalented, useless person with no morals and no work ethic because they didn't have to "struggle like they did". Somewhat true, but what they forget is most white people are set from the beginning to the end of their lives. They forget about their generational wealth, privilege, and the feeling of knowing everything will be fine in life. After another hook, Dr. Dre interjects and brings in another theme of the album. When you have power and money, the hard part about it is keeping this power. There will be people who will want pieces and percentages in exchange for the best things in life, like fancy cars, lavish houses and things of the like. Forcing you to lose sight of yourself and soon losing it all because of how deep you were in the lavish, rich lifestyle. In the verse after the break, Kendrick elaborates more on it with a character named "Uncle Sam" offering him the best of the best thinking this is just an average nigga who got lucky and will get scammed before he even turns 35. The people who benefit the most from Kendrick's name will not be himself but the people who help him along his way. The business men, the shady record labels, the works. This just the first song and there's already so much juiciness in it. Gotta move on before this turns into a long ass William Shakespeare paper. Shout out Wesley Snipes.

Kendricks lyrics > William Shakespeare's life.

"This dick ain't free.” Everything is money, even dicks? Starting with a awesome saxophone leading to a harmonizing choir, then I'm getting demeaned and bullied by a sexy girl. What can be better about this song? In all seriousness the girl yelling at us is basically America and how they've been disrespecting and attacking black people since the beginning of this shit country. Black people have limited paths in fame; you can be a rapper or a sports star, maybe an actor if you're attractive but that's really it. America isn't satisfied with your money unless you have one of those careers. This fast rap, rhythm heavy and hard production will be so fast, it will go over your head the first few listens, hell maybe even the first 20 listens! But basically, the political commentary behind this is: America eats while black people get leftovers. Men have to pay to get into a girls pants but Kendrick’s fighting back against that, buy him a meal to get into his strong 9 inches and how hard he has worked to be in the spot he is in now. At the end the girl says she will get her “Uncle Sam” to fuck him up, meaning if he keeps trying to step out of line, the government will get involved and fuck his ass up in debt. The girl also says he ain't no king but next track is called "King Kunta" soooo who's lying here? There's more to it but again, don't wanna bore you with witty political commentary because I love this album but hate politics.

Moving on to "King Kunta", yo this song sounds good but it kinda falls short to me. I feel like Kendrick should've formatted it better, there's like too many pauses in the actual verses. I think the chorus is awesome and should set a tone for the song, but I don't think it flows well when he says a line, pauses, then another line, pause, then another line. It's just not satisfying my ears. Nonetheless that's like the only complaint I have for the song. The guitar solo near the end is something I didn't even know was needed in a song like this, but without it, I think it still would've been perfect. This song is such a victory lap type of song, you would play this after you just achieved something you really wanted. I feel songs like this are what establishes an artist like Kendrick, setting him apart from any other rapper. Kendrick puts deep meaning into rhythm heavy, melody driven songs like this. Kendrick is just a genius, I gotta suck his dick for second. Like bro he just sounds so good and comforting and it's crazy how timeless an album like this is. Fuck slavery, shout out Kunta Kinte and fuck a Toby.

"I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence"

(The start of Kendricks poem, being told to Tupac.) Man living in the ghetto sucks dick :/. The message behind all these songs just got me thinking about life. I think I'm gonna stop going song to song and just give my full opinion on this album because there's a lot of songs and I kinda got bored of writing. I just didn't know how to start. But now that we got the theme and narrative on this album, I think it builds a lot of self esteem and self love, especially with the song "i". This album just wants us to be more socially aware and think more about the situation we are in. But only for people that are actually willing to listen.

This album has so many hits back to back that there will be a song or two with strong meaning, and it will just fall on deaf ears because it just sounds good. I think many rappers should be writing like this, especially conscious rappers. Not exactly copy, or try to do something like this, just be more planned out and make it more beautiful than just fast rap about how you used to be broke or didn't have enough growing up, expecting you to feel something. This album will teach something, this album will give a you a new perspective on life, this album will help you no matter in what situation you're in or where you are in your life. If you can think and have feelings, listen to this once, you’ll come back to it. First listen might just be a vibe, next few listens you'll catch a word or two that will make you think, and then the next ten listens you'll be researching it day in and day out because of the amount of content in it. Kendrick came into this game with so much energy and love, and with his ideologies and thoughts. Everyone should listen to it no matter who they are and give it a fair thought and opinion. I am tired, I get tired a lot nowadays. Maybe it will be a while until my next review.

I already got tired typing like 4 songs in, but only because I didn't want you to get bored. Again, Kendrick came with so much energy and with his newest album being "DAMN", it makes me wonder, when will he get tired? This album has gorgeous, dreamy, psychedelic production, and jumpy flows, and I think all the songs can be deeply analyzed and taken part in their own ways.

RATING

I give it a 9/10, My name is Kelvin and I still love you so much.

Top 5 songs has to be

5. Institutionalized

4. These Walls

3. King Kunta

2. i

1. Wesley’s Theory

Honorable mentions: “u”, “The Blacker The Berry”, “Alright”

[townofcrosshollow]

How to use music in your projects the RIGHT way

So I was browsing YouTube to find royalty free music that would fit the vibe of my game and I came across this absolute clusterfuck of a comments section. For context, the music in question is royalty free, and there is a $20 licensing fee.

I am going to have an aneurysm from reading this.

So here’s a quick tutorial on what these words mean and how to get music for your projects, the right (read: legal) way.

ROYALTIES are an ongoing fee that depends on how many times the work is viewed or purchased. For instance, you might pay a certain percentage of the revenue from a YouTube video, a fixed amount for each time an ad is run, or a sum for every 1,000 books sold. When something is “royalty free,” you don’t have to pay the artist any ongoing fees.

LICENSING FEES are a one-time payment for permission to use the work in your final product. Just like you need a license to drive a car or use Microsoft Word. And just like Word, there might be some different licenses available, like a license for non-commercial vs commercial work, or a license to use it in multiple works.

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS ROYALTY FREE DOESN’T MEAN THERE ARE NO LICENSING FEES!

So knowing those very basic facts, how do you find music to use in your games (/other projects)? Well first of all, Kevin MacLeod. All of his music is both royalty free and free. There’s a reason every YouTuber and their mother uses his songs! But say all of his music is too overused for your taste (this is especially the case in horror!)

Go to Bandcamp and type in “royalty free,” then click “Music tagged with royalty free.” Boom. Tons of music and sounds you can use as long as you buy them once- and plenty are available for free, too!

But wait, there’s more! How do you know what you’re allowed to do with those songs? Let’s talk about Creative Commons!

A Creative Commons license is what many artists use to waive their copyright protections, and music that is free to use is often going to be licensed under one of these. They allow the artists to give permission for you to use their work under copyright law. It’s important to actually check the license on music you want to use, because it’ll tell you exactly what you’re allowed to do and what you’re NOT allowed to do with it.

Let’s say, hypothetically, I want to use this instrumental track in my game-

Awesome. Let’s check the license on that bad boy. It’s located right near the bottom of the page, under the lyrics if the song has any. If it says “some rights reserved,” you can click the link to see the license.

In this case, here’s the summary of the license:

So it looks like we can use this song and edit it however we like so long as we make sure to credit the artist (generally with a name and link) and link to this license. Here are some other possible terms for CC licenses:

ShareAlike: You can remix and adapt the work as long as the new version is distributed with the same license.

NonCommercial: You can’t use it in works that make you money, such as in a monetized YouTube video or in an ad.

NoDerivatives: You can’t distribute an adapted version of the work, like a remix, mashup, or extended version.

If your song doesn’t have a CC license, check the description or any websites they have- they may have a different license listed there or included with the download. If it’s a small creator, you can always reach out to them and ask for permission. Otherwise, it’s fair to assume you’re not allowed to use their work.

Bottom line: Artists deserve to get paid for their work. If you wouldn’t want somebody to rip the code from your game without your permission or make money off of your artwork without paying you a dime, why should you do this with somebody else’s work? Take the time to make sure you’re allowed to use music the way you’re planning to use it, and be appropriately thankful when an artist does you the courtesy of asking for nothing in return.

[anambermusicbox]

September 29 Day Countdown (27/29): 2021/01/15 Interview with iFeng Entertainment 凤凰网《非常道》

(11:20) Interviewer asks whether he’s more affected by hurtful words or kind words; Zhou Shen then goes on to talk about his relationship with his fans:

ZS: After all, I’ve now debuted for 6 years now- (*more subdued*) my skin has gotten thicker. Before, hurtful words had a very big impact on me. I’d see these words and think (*gasps*) What did I do wrong? Why do they have to say this about me? Do I have to change something? If I do this differently would they not say this about me? 

But later I realized, no (*waves his hand dismissively*) To them, the people that don’t like you, as long as you exist, they won’t like you. So before, I would be affected a lot more by hurtful words, but now its about 51% and 49%, with that 51% being the hurtful words. But I’m working on flipping the percentages. This way, I think, I’m also doing right by the people who support me.

Interviewer: I think there are actually a lot of people who like you. (*ZS bows and thanks her awkwardly*) The other day, I was online and saw your fans professing their love, fussing over you. (*ZS laughs*)

ZS: Oh that’s right, because- a few days ago, I was doing a performance and- I don’t know if this is just what this fan says to singers they like, but they said (*cups hands around mouth*) (*extremely high pitched shout*) “Rest for a bit!! You’re tiring!!! Yourself!!! Out!!!!” (*laughs*) (T/N: It was after he filmed the winter-themed Happy Camp with the Onmyoji movie cast; there’s a video of the exact moment—super hilarious, I’ll put the link in the notes.) [...] I want to tell them, I’m doing fine here, don’t worry—I can take care of myself.

Interviewer: I think the way they talk to you is quite 没大没小 (referring someone to being disrespectful and talking to someone their senior the same way they talk to their peers; Zhou Shen looks quite shocked at her choice of words) They really treat you like (ZS, interjecting: a friend) someone they can throw jokes at, a kind of idol that is very close to them. How do you view the relationship between you and your fans?

ZS: Oh, I really don’t know. To be honest, I really don’t know. [...] Even now, sometimes I think they’re quite stupid. I say this because, sometimes, even if it’s just to see me sing one or two songs, they’ll stand outside the venue waiting for four to five hours on a harsh winter day. I feel really bad for them. But it’s like, to them this is one way they feel that they can give me strength, and I can’t tell them not to, because that would hurt them even more. 

So sometimes I look at them and think, oh look at this stupid group of people, so idiotically supporting me. This kind of stupidity is really quite touching. I want to put forth my best effort to reciprocate what they do.

(14:55) Interviewer: “Do you have moments where you feel pretty rotten?”

ZS: Oh, too many. (Interviewer: Tell me about it, from the past to the present) Wow. Okay then we have to delay the program recording scheduled next (*laughs*) there’s a LOT. I mean, since my childhood, my classmates unintentionally- it was really unintentional, they didn’t have the maturity to know that their words would be hurtful. But to me, they were very hurtful. But you can’t blame them for it, because they didn’t understand anything at the time. (T/N: no you can totally blame them for it, you’re just a nice person shenshen)

And more recently, as an artist, I had my own “cold bench period.” I felt like, I was working so hard but no one was willing to listen to me sing. Not only that, I felt I didn’t have a way to be heard. Because there was a period of time when I didn’t really have any work and, wah, everyday I felt so purposeless; I was just a rain cloud, I was so discouraged (*laughs*)

Interviewer: What about now, now that you’re so busy?

ZS: If I’m tired, I’ll be happy because I’m happy that there are stages that *want* me to sing on them. [...] I worked so hard to stay in this profession because I wanted to be heard by others, and now that this day has finally come, with so many stages I can sing on, why wouldn’t I go?

(16:40) Talks about how he doesn’t mind labels, because that how someone remembers you; ZS: “I saw this one comment I really liked, this person was saying they always thought there were two Zhou Shen’s—a male one who was funny on variety shows, and a female one that sang deep emotional songs—until one day they watched a show and realized, what?? It’s one Zhou Shen???”

(18:30) Interviewer: As I’m conversing with you, I can feel very relaxed, very happy—that’s the feeling you give people. (*ZS bows and quietly thanks her*) But I know from looking at your past that your childhood was quite lonely. What makes you be able to still be so warm—that is, to go and bring others... happiness. 

ZS: I think it’s because I’m really fortunate. Because... (*looks up in thought*) I... I grew up in a very remote mountainous village, but I’m really fortunate to have so many opportunities—coming into the city, being able to learn and come in contact with all the culture I love, and later even being about to devote myself to a career I love. I feel very fortunate.

And I know that, when you feel extremely alone, if you suddenly feel something like a beam of warmth, the joy or the kind of hope that can bring—when you receive it, you’re so happy. I think, I want to do that, if there’s a possibility I could have the honour to do that for someone else. I think it’s so important.

(21:00) Talks about his parents:

ZS: Even now, my mom and dad are still wanting to- still are running their small business that they love; I think it’s very laborious. I keep telling them, you both are getting older, you should take advantage of your age and go relax, enjoy yourselves. They say, no, we want to take some burden off of you, to which I’m like eh? (*leans over and covers mouth to whisper*) Mom you’re losing money every year. *laughs* 

Especially with the pandemic, their lifestyles have had the most obvious impact. Because they’re not like the younger generation that can continue doing things online. All they’ve known is getting up early to open their storefront, staying there until it’s time to close at nightfall.

Interviewer: (21:55) Your parents, before they didn’t support you going into music. What about now?

ZS: They think it’s great now. But they worry because they feel they have no way to help me in this career. [...] They once said- I asked them something like this one day, how they want to help me now. They said they can give me their storefront. I told them, then don’t help me (*laughs*) Because I’ve used to help them watch the store all the time growing up! I used to be doing my homework at their storefront. Ever since I was little, I’ve always really disliked doing business. So I felt like, oh mom dad, no. 

I’m really lucky. Even though my mom and dad don’t have very high education—it’s really quite low to be honest—they still chose to understand me. I’m very grateful to them.

(1:45) Interviewer asks what his first job was:

ZS: After I graduated from high school, my first job was selling phones. (Interviewer: Were you standing all day?) Yup, standing. [...] (Interviewer: So you have experience in the workplace?) Well, to be honest, I didn’t converse with people much in my so-called workplace—I have a very introverted personality; I’m not too fond of or good at talking to people.

Interviewer: Would someone who doesn’t like to talk to people be able to convince people to buy phones?

ZS: That’s why I didn’t sell any. (*bends over laughing*) You really had to say it so directly. (*laughs*) Zhuang-laoshi, you’re an accurate judge of people! (*gives her two thumbs up*) (*Interviewer laughs*)

(3:30) Interviewer tries asking him a question related to emotional intelligence (”qing shang”, 情商) but gets her words mixed up and says romance instead (”qing chang”, 情场); ZS: “Well, if we’re talking about romance, that’s an area I don’t have much experience in (*gets up and pretends to leave*) (Interviewer, laughing: To be honest, that’s the thing I really want to ask about.) Zhuang-laoshi, I really don’t have any experience with romance (*laughs*)

Interviewer: Okay what I was going to ask is, do you think EQ is important in the workplace?

ZS: Super important! For one thing, every workplace involves getting along with people, and part of the way you interact with people depends on your EQ.

Interviewer: But some people say that part of EQ is a skill, a means to an end—would it come off as insincere to others?

ZS: ?? (*blinks*) Can you give me an example?

Interviewer: Like for example, if I compliment you like “oh you’re such a great person (*half-hearted clapping*)” when I don’t truly mean it.

ZS: Oh that was so insincere (*makes faces*) (*Interviewer laughs*) I’m starting to question myself (*laughs*) I don’t think that’s a problem for me though. That’s why you shouldn’t force compliments. I think it’s important to be genuine with what you say—then people won’t think you’re being fake. If people think you’re being fake, that in itself already isn’t a display of good EQ. Be sincere, but try your hardest not to hurt others.

Interviewer: I want to ask another question-

ZS: Is it about romance? (*laughs*)

Interviewer, joking: We’ll talk about romance in a moment.

ZS: no nO NO LET’S NOT DO THAT (*laughs*)

(6:10) About how Zhou Shen didn’t expect to get along so well with everyone else in “An Exciting Offer”《令人心动的offer》:

ZS: On the first episode, every time I put in my own two cents, I had to work myself up just to speak up. My heart rate was through the roof, it was like- (*takes a deep breath*) (*raises hand*) “Laoshi? (*exaggerated suppressed panic*) Can I aSK a quESTION? (*pretends to look back and forth between the others*) (*Interviewer giggles*) I think this is just like, you see, I believe in the workplace, people who are have this personality-” How was I supposed to converse like this? (*laughs*) 

So that was how I was for the first two episodes, but now in the later episodes, I got used to just casually interjecting whenever I felt like it. It was quite wonderful. The other teachers were very approachable, very friendly—it felt like, something you imagined before, but when you really are in such a group, it was like, oh this kind of goodness is something that actually exists. You feel very fortunate, very happy.

(8:50) Interviewer asks ZS if he ever lacks confidence; ZS replies that, even now, he’s not very confident:

ZS: Every time I’m on stage I get extremely extremely nervous. I’ll fear that, I won’t live up to the expectations of those who want to listen to me. But I’m slowly learning to- to get along with, to come to terms with this nervousness.

Interviewer: Then this year, you would’ve been so nervous all the time. Have you counted how many performances you had just this year?

ZS: I haven’t counted, but Shengmi, they compiled them all together and, excluding the ones that aren’t aired, there were over a hundred. Every single one of them, I’m behind the scenes like- (*makes loud deep-breathing-for-anxiety-reduction noises*) But I can’t let people see that so- (*dissolves into laughter*)

[spade-riddles]

Submission: Karma

I believe 🛴 had the rope around his neck. I dare to say that he is one step away from bankruptcy. He just sold all of his companies and lost the partnership that made it possible to buy the masters of Taylor’s and BM.

See the following facts: the most profitable artist in the BM was by far Taylor Swift. It was she who probably kept the company’s accounts in the blue for all these years. Shortly after her departure, SB2 still signed with Tim McGraw to try to have a big name in their catalog, but due to the pandemic, I think the new addition did not meet financial expectations, as Tim must not have done many shows after signing of the contract. In other words, after Taylor left, 🛴 only had damage.

Tay embargoed all possible ways for him to profit from her music (decrease in company revenue), BM signed with a big country artist (more expenses on the payroll) and 🛴 still had to pay the part that the Carlyle Group invested in the business. That is, 🛴 was up to his neck in debt.

Apparently, he can’t even count on the “success” of his two greatest artists, JB and AG to cover his bills, as it seems that the greatest revenue for both artists comes from concerts and, once again, the pandemic wiped out the money he could raise from it. And add to 🛴’s account the costs from canceling JB’s tour. And as for the sales of CDs and streams, I think that none of them(AG/JB) earn enough to earn a lot of money to keep 🛴’s accounts up to date, since, apparently, the “success” of both on the music charts, as well as whose is managed by 🛴 seems to always come from buying placement on the charts, as 🛴 was caught last week talking about the lack of Demi at the top of Spotify and that “he would soon solve this with them(Spotify)”.

Then, the dismantling of 🛴’s assets began with the sale of Taylor’s masters for the same price he bought them. Which leads us to believe that 🛴 was desperate chasing someone to cover his stuck investment. And almost all potential buyers were willing to pay as little as possible (the amount paid for the purchase), as they already knew how difficult it would be, or almost impossible, to have Taylor collaborating with them if the SB2 was connected to her masters. Tay had already said that she would continue to block the use of her masters and would still relaunch all of her songs, which would cause damage to the new investor and further damage to SB2. And the amount that 🛴 obtained from the sale of the masters apparently served only to pay the money that the Carlyle Group invested in the purchase, and they’ve only made losses since they became involved in this business with 🛴 (they were not making the profit they could to have with Tay and still had their name involved in the scandal as the sponsors of the purchase of Taylor Swift’s life’s work, kind of in a “dirty” way, since Tay could only buy your own songs if she got stuck 10 more years with the BM and give them new albums in exchange for the first ones). 

If the Carlyle Group were making a profit with the masters and BM, they would never break the partnership after this week’s new deal. Even more after signing with the company that is making millions with BTS (probably, this new agreement, keeps Big Machine out of the profits generated by the rest of Hybe, so CG ended the partnership, as they would only have a stake in BM, which so far doesn’t seem to have made them any profit). When an investment makes a profit and you have the prospect of more profits in the near future, it’s very unlikely that you’ll get rid of such an asset.

In other words, BM seems to be going from bad to worse. Even worse to 🛴! He sold all the companies he owned (Ithaca H and BM), where he was supposed to be the majority shareholder, to become just another member of Hybe’s board, and be one of the small shareholders. In other words, of all the profit collected by BM and Ithaca H, where before 🛴 kept most of the profit, and distributed a smaller percentage to its partners, now he’s the one who will receive only a small part of the profit of the company that previously it was just him (IH) and another where he was the partner who earned the most (BM).

Honestly, I think that if 🛴 weren’t the agent for AG, JB and DL, today he would be broke and banned from the music business. After all, he just turned out to be a lousy manager and an even worse investor.

It’s Karma that calls, right?! lol

[thesuitelife547]

WM Acquisition Thoughts

Let me preface this by saying that I’m no expert in business matters, let alone business matters in South Korea, and that this opinion comes from a longtime standing fan of WM Entertainment. Of course we’ll probably never actually know why this acquisition happened or why it came about but I just wanted to give my thoughts about the subject and give some overview. Also, I apologize if this sounds like a report at some points, I did look up some information to make sure that I understood the subject matter as well. This also isn’t trying to defend or look down upon the decision. I’m just using this as my outlet to express and attempt to gain an understanding of the situation.

 Also if anyone has any thoughts or opinions they want to share, feel free to reach out through any of the platforms that I’m on!

 Thanks! - Marisa

For those of you that may be unaware of the subject matter, it was released today that RBW had secured more than 70% of WM Entertainment’s stock and has thereby made WM Entertainment into a subsidiary of theirs. With the word subsidiary, the most common example that I’ve seen being thrown around is the agreement that happened with Woollim Entertainment and SM C&C. I think it’s important to note a couple of things with what happened there, though. Probably the most important would be that after signing the merger in 2013, it was actually undone and reversed in 2016 and Woollim went back to being its own independent company, kind of. So technically yes, they are a subsidy of SM C&C, I think, at this current moment but what happened in the beginning was a merger. Which brings me to my second point. It’s important to note that what happened between Woollim and SM C&C was actually a merger rather than an acquisition, which it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen, at this moment, between WM and RBW. Obviously things could change since they do apparently own more than 70% of WM’s stocks now so unless something is outlined in their contract regarding that type of thing, I guess I’d just say that anything could happen.

 But anyway, let me give a brief rundown on what happened between Woollim and SM C&C in 2013. First, I think we should understand what SM C&C actually is. That company itself is actually a subsidy of SM Entertainment that was acquired by them in 2012. The company currently operates as a production company, theatrical production company, and travel company but of course has actors, actresses, and various entertainers, it seems like mostly MCs or people who frequently or only do variety, signed to them. Anyway, so what happened is that the two actually merged to create Woollim Label. The definition of merger includes when companies join together to create a new single identity. SM C&C still was a company by itself, though, but I think it was just that Woollim was merged with a division within the company of SM C&C. See, this is a bit complicated, haha. But the creation of Woollim Label shows that it was a merger. However, in 2016, it was announced that SM C&C would be establishing Woollim Entertainment to handle its music business while they kept some of the stock, but not enough for a majority. What that essentially meant is that Woollim went back to being its own entertainment company in a way. SM C&C still has stock, but they weren’t merged together anymore. Rather, I think, Woollim then became more of a subsidy of SM C&C if that makes sense.

 Enough of that, though, let’s get back to the current issue at hand.

 I find it very interesting that RBW got 70% of WM’s stock. Typically, if whoever is buying the stock wants to become a majority holder, then they just buy enough to make them the majority. Most of the times it’s numbers that are nowhere near 70%. But those companies could be publicly trading their stock and the way that they get the majority is through buying out other companies and company individuals rather than the general public that might have that stock. That’s what different about WM, they’re a private company. That is something that could potentially change, though. Essentially with that 70%, RBW has the say to do what they want with WM but I’ll get into that later. But I think it’s strange that the number 70 just came about from somewhere. I wonder how WM’s stock was previously divided before this and if it was somewhere in the agreement about how the stocks should be divided upon the acquisition, I’m pretty sure it probably was. We’ll probably never know those details, but I don’t know, 70% is strange to me and doesn’t make sense.

 To put an example on how strange I find the number 70, let me set up an example situation. I’m not saying that this is actually what happened but just putting in into perspective why I find it so strange. So let’s say that WM’s stocks are divided amongst the people in the company and investors in a way that would make achieving 51% possible, or even 50.1%. Anything over 50.1% would technically give RBW the majority hold over WM. Therefore, in an administrative sense, the majority that they get at 51% would be the same control that they get at the 70%. Maybe RBW aimed for a higher percentage to ensure that they would actually have control and that they wouldn’t somehow get removed as technically “being in charge” or if they got more financial rewards on having 70% of the stock. I don’t know much about the exchanging of stocks, especially in private companies, but 70% seems like a lot even if they want to securely have the majority in the company. If they weren’t comfortable with sitting in the 50% range, they probably could’ve gone to 60% but even then that seems a little high when, in most public companies, the majority is seemingly secured at around 25% – 30%. Once again, though, we’re talking about a private company, two private companies really, so things are definitely different. Also, with private companies, they don’t have to release information about any of this because the general public isn’t involved in any of their business proceedings.

 So I’m not sure if it’s the same in South Korea, but at least for the United States, the private company is the one that approves the buying of the shares because they aren’t available on any public platform. It seems that for the most part, the people who have stocks in private companies are either the employees themselves or investors unless the company goes and seeks out people to purchase it. I think the case between the two companies is a little different. I already mentioned that WM is a private company but RBW is, too. RBW was also created from a merger back in 2015 between WA Entertainment and Rainbow Bridge Agency. Therefore I can only assume that either both companies sought out each other or one company went to the other with a deal. Either way, because they’re both private companies, there was no way for RBW to do an underhand deal on WM because WM would have to approve the stocks purchase in the first place. I never suspected that they did, but I thought I’d add it just in case anyone might’ve thought about that happening in the future.

 But then another question would be whether they plan to go public or not, as in make themselves a public company where the general public can buy stocks. If that’s the case, then is the 70% that RBW bought going to be available to the public? Then is RBW going to get whatever profits or stuff is associated with those bought stocks? Or maybe to put it in a different perspective, they’re saying the 70% because they already sold the 30% back to the company? If that makes any sense. I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe another way that this all went down was that RBW actually bought 100% of WM but left the 30% of stock out of it so that, I’m going to assume Lee Wonmin has that 30%, he is technically in charge of the subsidiary? But thinking about that and majorities, that probably wouldn’t hold true because then, if they go public, anyone could get over 30% of that WM stock and then be in the majority over Lee Wonmin. I guess it all just depends on whether RBW has any intention to go public or to make WM a public subsidiary, too.

 I know this is getting long but I’ll just end on my opinion about what’s going to happen in the future with this whole acquisition and subsidy stuff.

 Like I’ve said before, the 70% definitely makes me nervous a little. I’ve stated my reasons for why RBW might’ve gone for over the majority but at the same time, it just kind of doesn’t make sense why they would want 70% unless to make sure they have complete control. At the same time, they have said that WM will still be able to keep their management in place therefore I’m wondering if maybe the 70% has more to do with the future rather than the present? Technically, since RBW owns the majority of WM, they could essentially tell them to do whatever they want and they could, technically, dissolve WM as a company. They have the majority vote so it wouldn’t be illegal for them to do so, unless there’s some sort of law or certain requirements that must be met that I’m unaware of. I want to believe that there is probably something within their contract about that, though, that wouldn’t let for such a thing to happen. Still, it’s strange and I honestly always think that I’ll see the 70% as a strange number, especially in regard to stocks and shares of a singular company.

 I know that it’s been reported that WM’s management is supposed to stay the same but I hope it remains that way. I know that there are some things about them that people, me included, are unhappy with them about but they do treat their artists well and have created unique brands that fit their groups. I guess the only underlying worrying thing would be that 70%. But as long as this stays as an acquisition, and WM remains as a subsidy of RBW, then I don’t see any sort of issue, as long as WM remains in control of their own artists.

 Maybe this acquisition is beneficial for both parties. Like I stated before, if there is a decision to go public, they could get more capital overall since stock tends to go up when one company acquires another. Additionally, they may have better, or more, resources to work with since they’re technically working together. Hopefully there are some sort of strengths that each company have that they can work together to create an overall better situation, but that’s all stuff for the administrative side. On the side of the artists, from what it seems right now, it doesn’t seem like much is changing. The companies aren’t merging into one so it doesn’t seem like the artists are technically becoming labelmates. Sure, they may work together in the future, it would be easier to do that with this, but I still think that they’ll identify themselves separately and as part of separate companies since WM Entertainment still technically exists.  

 The closest example that I can think of where subsidies are involved is when people think about the Disney company or even about Comcast. Sure, both of those companies are huge and it doesn’t really relate to RBW’s acquisition of WM, but it helps to think about how subsidies work in a way, or at least I think so. Both Disney and Comcast are large companies that hold multiple companies underneath of them as subsidies, some that people might not even realize are owned by them. Take Comcast as the first example, I’m pretty sure one of their subsidies is NBC, which they actually 100% acquired in 2013 after only having the majority. Still, Comcast is the parent company. Parent companies are companies that own enough stock in other companies to be considered the majority. The other companies that are under a parent company are considered to be subsidiaries of the parent company. On the other hand, for Disney, they’re considered a parent company to ABC and even Pixar is considered to be their subsidiary.

 I guess what I’m trying to show is that sometimes companies are able to govern and manage themselves even if they become acquired by a different company. The definition of a subsidy is that they operate as a separate and distinct corporation and that their obligations are not usually a liability of the parent company.

 But I apologize for this being so long and congrats if you made it this far and my thoughts made any sense to you. I wasn’t really trying to get anywhere with this, I was just mainly just using it as an outlet to express my understanding of the situation at hand and maybe try to clear up things that others might have questions about. I wasn’t trying to look down upon or defend the decision made, just trying to gain a better understanding.

 If anyone does have any questions, if you want to say something that I might’ve missed, or if you have your own opinions on the subject matter, please feel free to reach out to me on any of the platforms that I’m on! I’m always looking to hearing what other people have to say about the subject. Or even if there’s something else you want to talk about, feel free to ask away!

 Thanks! - Marisa

[jackie-talks-about-starkid]

Thoughts About StarKid, Theatre, and Money

StarKid is severely underlooked within the professional theatre industry as a viable source for providing theatrical entertainment and performing professional theatre worthy of artistic criticism. 

Though the company has gained a significant amount of internet fame and name-recognition within the laymen theatre community over the past decade, their mode of production and artistic work has gone undocumented by the greater professional theatre culture and been either flat-out ignored or deemed not worthy of taking the time of noting in academic journals or wide-reaching theatre influencers. While watching the evolution of their productions throughout this semester and tying my recent rewatching experiences with my personal knowledge and history of StarKid as a theatre company, I’ve come to the (easily reachable) conclusion that the only reason as to why more production companies do not take after StarKid’s multimedia, digital-heavy access to theatre is a combination of the desire for capitalist gain and the elitism that accompanies modern-day theatre culture. I’ve outlined both positive and negative points of comparison for StarKid Productions and traditional, commercial musical theatre, such as one sees on Broadway or the West End, to simply sum up my overall final thoughts regarding the work I’ve done in analyzing how StarKid produces their shows and hope that in some way, the points I’ve made will impact at least how one other person sees theatre from now on. 

Before theatre was about the best way to make the most money, which in relation to the rest of human history is a fairly new development, theatre was simply about providing entertainment. Because StarKid emphasizes artistic value and the enjoyment of their audience upon watching their productions, StarKid Productions has become successful in a way that no modern commercial theatre company is currently (there’s a reason why there are blogs like mine dedicated to StarKid Productions and not the Shubert Organization or regional companies like the Los Angeles Theatre Center). The reason why theatre kids (and I mean kids in the colloquial sense of the term-StarKid has fans in all age demographics) appreciate StarKid so much and allow them to continue making musicals so successfully is because of the combination of their dedication to access and good content. That does not mean to say that StarKid is perfect by any means; they are, in fact, people too. It just goes to show that theatre does not have to live in the exclusive little bubble that it’s built for itself within the past hundred years or so. I think that within the next hundred years, as theatre evolves and thrives in various corners of the globe throughout whatever our society throws at it *cough* Covid *cough*, theatrical content creators will look back at StarKid and think, “Wow, I wish I would have done that first!”, not because they would have made a fortune but because they would have made art.

StarKid

Negatives

Modems (rip) and other tech issues

Camera lens chooses perspective of audience, taking away individual viewer’s experience of choosing who/what/where to look at in any given moment

Still a developing area for theatre-what are the protections for content producers

Can online performances be equity? Can equity members perform in non-equity online performances (like performances during Covid in which little to no actors are currently working or making enough money to balance out what their wages would have been if Covid did not impact their work)?

Should payment be different? Production costs are generally lower but people still need to make a living

To what amount can the community control the distribution of other people’s IP? Live theatre already debates the negatives and positives of bootlegs. Providing theatre online for free and to purchase lessens bootlegging and increases audience accessibility but opens up opportunities for people to take advantage of online creators and the content they put out. Anybody can transcribe an online production, perform it either online or in-person, and charge tickets for people to see that production, but because it was transcribed from a production and not licensed, no money goes back to the creator which prevents the creator for making more of their accessible content

Positives

Accessibility

People in different geographical locations can access the same production as people experiencing it live

Online performances generally cost less to view online

Travelling is not always an option for viewing theatre-some people don’t have the financial ability to travel to places where a specific production is being performed

Physical and mental disabilities-not all theatres are physically accessible for people with wheelchairs, eyesight issues, hearing issues, or people with invisible disabilities (MS, chronic migraines) that are unable to sit in the average theatre seat for the length of a production. People with emotional anxiety, spatial anxiety, or sensitivity issues (ex. autism) may find live theatre too overwhelming to attend. Any person with a physical or mental health issue that has the financial ability to attend a live performance may find purchasing a ticket or making travel plans too risky because health issues can happen at any time and canceling tickets and reservations at the last minute is difficult at best, especially when one is dealing with the added stress of coping with a health issue

Less elitism

The lack of accessibility has created a culture of elitism in theatre. People with more financial ability or people with higher professional education in theatre have more access to experiencing live theatre, making traditional commercial theatre, like Broadway and the West End, only available to a small percentage of the theatre community.

Rewatching

It’s just nice to be able to rewatch a live performance for fun

Rewatching for academic purposes!

Free or significantly reduced price

Negative: Risk of price gouging for online performances and non-explicit processing fees

Live performances are also at more reasonable prices - average highest value Starkid ticket that includes set tours and meet & greets are still less expensive than the average cheapest ticket on the commercial theatre market for Broadway or off-Broadway, which averages at $79

Commercial Theatre

Negatives: ACCESSIBILITY IN ALL FORMS

Extremely limited accessibility for people with financial burdens

Buying theatre tickets shouldn’t require hours of research searching for the best prices so that you can go to a single performance (ex. 5 Ways to Buy Affordable Theatre Tickets https://www.playbill.com/article/5-ways-to-buy-affordable-theatre-tickets, http://www.broadwayforbrokepeople.com/, https://www.cheaptheatretickets.com/, https://officiallondontheatre.com/tkts/, https://www.todaytix.com/)

Many of these websites and third-party apps charge high fees for discounted tickets that make the cheaper ticket only $15-30 cheaper than a direct purchase from the theatre)

Outdated accessibility for people with physical and mental health issues, etc.

Programs like the Theatre Development Fund and theatre-specific programs at the Segerstrom in LA, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, West End productions run by the Society of London Theatre, etc. are not commonplace and offer very limited performance dates

Not all audience members are respectful of live performances-talking, loud drinking/eating, etc.

Lack of accessibility provides incentive for people to make bootlegs that creators (actors, crew, directors, writers, composers) do not get any share of profit from. Producers have more to financially gain from a production than the average actor so making an illegal bootleg instead of a professional recording takes away an opportunity for a performer to make more money and get more financial recognition for their work

Cultural accessibility (see “Less Elitism” point in StarKid positives)

Historically disenfranchised groups have less access to live theatre because of social and financial burdens on top of mental and physical health issues that they get disproportionately less treatment for which would allow wealthier people with more access to healthcare attend the theatre more comfortably

Positives

Cultural capital!

Concentrated production areas in urban settings, regional or otherwise, give money back to the performance community in that area and boost the general economy by providing cultural centers in areas that rely on tourism for cashflow. It also legitimizes the production value of performances available in that geographic location by working with the given environment to create a culturally-specific niche for that location’s theatre scene (ex. The MUNY is St. Louis, The La Jolla Playhouse in California, Hartford Stage in Connecticut, etc. http://lort.org/theatres)

The live experience

Live theatre is simultaneously an individual and group experience. Each person attending a production interprets the performance differently and physically experiences the environment in ways unique from other audience members by sitting in different areas closer to/farther from/in different angles from the stage, lights, speakers, etc. Yet, the audience as a whole experiences the same unique production all at the same time, witnessing acting choices, understudies and standbys, or even stage mishaps all at once that a different performance of the same exact production may not have. The energy of a live performance in any venue changes with each performance and physical environment.

[whatcouldgowrong-ohthat]

Hi! I saw you had request open, so I was wondering if you could write Bucky reacting to overhearing someone tell his starving artist friend that their work doesn't mean anything? It can be in head canon style or an actual fic, whichever you prefer. Thank you!

The Artist and the Baker

Pairing: baker!Bucky x artist!Reader

Word Count: 2601 words

Warnings: This is fluff. Mutual pining, that sorta thing, guys.

A/N: I honestly really love this request especially with everything going on. I think it’s very common for people to take artists and creators for granted and I have certainly been on the receiving end of that treatment. 

I hope you like this. It was fun to make, but I’m sorry if it wasn’t quite what you were looking for.

-.-.-.-

Becca’s Needs for the Soul – a two story creation that was well-loved and adored by anyone who passed through the splatter painted door. Most people never understood the name, not even her brother, Bucky. Until Rebecca asked him to co-own and start working at the establishment. His little sister, always full of dramatics, had created something for everybody.

It was a coffee shop and a bakery.

A bookstore and a gallery.

They even had nights where people came in to perform music, standup, anything the heart desired. There were other days where artists from around would come and paint, sometimes provide lessons for kids, and other days there was simply nothing but quiet.

It took no time for Rebecca’s little hole in the wall to become one of the community’s favorites. Especially when her brother and his two friends came on. They had gotten it down to a science really.

Rebecca would come in, organizing the bookstore, managing everything behind the scenes, and setting up any special events that would come up. Whenever it was time to decorate the store for holidays? Or even something seasonal that came to mind? She spent even more time out with the customers instead of behind the scenes.

And when she brought in her brother and two hunks to keep people company? It was a genius plan on her part. Especially when female customers spiked. But she would never admit that maybe that had been a smidgen of the plan all along. No, her real reasoning was for the boys. They needed something simple after returning from their second and final tour.

So she stuck two of them behind the counter. Her older brother often spent most days tucked back in the kitchen creating God knows what, but it always smelled wonderful. Any time he came out of his little hole, it was usually to help man the register while Sam slacked because he was flirting with too many customers.

But that was to be expected when Sam was the coffee guy. He was always creating new Holiday specials, deciding the best coffee beans for purchase, and trying something different. No one ever knew what it would be, but normally the smell of coffee and something filled the store.

And Steve? Well, he was one of the store’s more popular artists. He didn’t “officially” work for them, but he spent enough time there where people started nicknaming him the “curator”. He was the one who usually brought in new artists.

That was how Y/N had become part of their little group.

She was a photographer, but Bucky would always say it was more than that. For those who hired her, she found a way to make sure they were comfortable in front of the camera. Y/N always said she understood being nervous because of her own curvy figure, but Bucky just saw how she glowed. And her work that she put here? It wasn’t just portraits or landscapes. She had a way of combining paint and photos to create a way of reminding the world that imagination and reality were always linked. While Sam and Steve teased her for focusing on events to pay the bills, Bucky was the one who asked about which works she had planned.

With a smile and paint in her hair or staining her nails, she would tell him. Her eyes would sparkle with excitement that could only come from being an artist. She was so animated with her words, hands flying about and often looking like she belonged in some sort of cartoon. Her cheeks would always flush when she would realize how fast she was talking or how much louder she spoke.

But he never minded.

He liked having a friend who got so excited about her work. It was a different sort of excitement than Steve. The blonde was always smiling and had that same spark, but he was infinitely calmer compared to Y/N. Their artwork matched their personalities. Steve’s were extravagant and beautiful pencil sketches of people – raw and honest and revealing something that no one else could see but him. Y/N’s were stunning and extraordinary paint and photos – raw in a way that reminded the world to see what they were missing.

Their creations often balanced the walls of Rebecca’s shop. At least they did during the times Steve’s work wasn’t flying off the walls. It was that popularity that had him drawing at the shop. He often invited Y/N, telling her that people not only wanted to buy their work, but they wanted to watch their creativity.

Still, her best work came from the privacy of her own home.

Every week she brought in something new. Something special.

And today was no different.

The rules for artists selling their work were simple. They decided the prices. They worked the transactions. The shop itself provided a place to see the work, but took no percentage. They didn’t interfere.

These were unspoken rules that everyone managed to follow because…well, it made sense.

Until this guy – arrogant and irritating and looking to buy art. Sam had nicknamed him “Sweater vest.”

He had come in like any other day, ordering some tea before complaining that it was “too hot” and “too watered down”. It made Sam’s blood boil not because it was a complaint, but because it was the same order and same complaint every time. And every time, it was those complaints that kept him from tipping anything.

Even if he finished his tea and stuck around for a couple hours every damn time, admiring the artwork, fingering through books, but never buying anything other than his “not good enough” tea.

Sam’s too-big smile was still in place as he watched Sweater vest take a seat next to Y/N’s newest work. Both men glanced at the painting, but for entirely different reasons. Sam did because he couldn’t wait for Bucky to see it. Sweater vest did because today was going to be his first official purchase. And Sam hated that the artwork on the wall had to go to -

“Sweater vest is back.” Sam spat as the kitchen door closed behind him.

Bucky looked up, setting down the dozen cookies that had just come out of the oven. He knew exactly which customer Sam was griping about, always finding it entertaining that someone had managed to get under his skin. “And?”

“And he’s buying Y/N’s new painting,” Sam harrumphed, leaning against the nearest counter as Bucky started decorating a cake.

Bucky paused when he heard that, cursing when he messed up the piping. Setting the instrument aside, he carefully wiped away his mistake and glanced at Sam. Oh, he wanted to wipe that smug smirk off his face. “You’re point?”

“Nothing. I’m just surprised you haven’t gone and looked at it yet.”

“I’ve been a little busy,” Bucky said, gesturing to the creations that covered the counters.

Sam bit his tongue, barely able to hide his laugh. So that’s why there was so much flour on Bucky’s cheeks and in his hair. “Trade ya.”

“Your hands are too shaky. You’d screw these up.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever, but – “

Sam’s sentence died on his lips when he heard shouting coming from the front. Bucky glanced up, ears recognizing Y/N’s voice. The two men shared a look, muttering, “Sweater vest,” before rushing out of the kitchen.

Y/N’s new painting was off the wall and at her feet, tucked behind her as if she was a mama bear protecting her cub. They’d never seen Y/N angry before. Passionate, sure, but never angry. Anger was something she never seemed to reach.

Until today.

“The painting is decent, but it doesn’t mean anything. And I’m not paying three hundred bucks for something that has no meaning.”

“Then why the fuck did you waste my time asking about it?”

“Because I thought you would come to your senses and accept a more reasonable offer.”

“And what do you think would be a reasonable offer?”

“Fifty sounds more than reasonable. And I would be doing you a favor with my connections.”

“Fifty bucks and exposure?”

Bucky and Sam moved fast, knowing that tone of venom and irritation. Sam grabbed the painting, moving it out of the way as Y/N launched herself at Sweater vest, ready to tear him a new one. Bucky wrapped his arm around her waist, putting himself between her and the idiot. “Y/N, breathe…”

“Let me tell you this,” Y/N snapped at Sweater vest, pointing at him around Bucky’s arm. “I would rather never sell another piece of work than listen to your drivel for another moment!”

Sam placed a hand on her arm, tugging her back. “Y/N, let’s go to the kitchen,” he told her, talking to her as if she was a small child that needed to be calmed. He steered her behind the counter as he assured her, “Bucky just finished making some cookies. I’m sure we can steal a couple while he takes out the trash.” Sam glanced over his shoulder, giving Bucky a thumbs up of encouragement.

While Y/N might be completely oblivious to Bucky’s feelings for her, Sam was far from it. And he was completely sure that Bucky would have no problem fixing this situation. He just wished he had a camera to record everything.

Maybe he could borrow the security footage from Rebecca’s cameras.

When the kitchen door closed again, Bucky turned to Sweater vest. He straightened, coming to his full height and towering over the man. It seemed his large build was a firm reminder that Rebecca had ex-military working here because Sweater vest calmed rather quickly.

“I’m so sorry for disturbing the establishment. Artists tend to be a little soft-hearted when it comes to critiques.”

“Not if the critique is asked for,” Bucky told him, taking a step forward as Sweater vest took a step back. Though everyone had avoided looking at Y/N’s and Sweater vest’s argument, all eyes were curiously watching the baker that was often far more quiet than he was now. “Y/N is one of our favorite artists. Her work and company are always welcome in our establishment.”

“O – Our? I thought this shop was owned by a woman…a Ms. Rebecca Barnes.”

“It’s co-owned,” Bucky assured him, offering his best customer service smile.

“By…?”

“Her brother.” He held out his hand. “James Barnes.”

Sweater vest swallowed thickly, throat bobbing nervously as he took Bucky’s hand. The strength in Bucky’s handshake was enough to make him wince, barely able to withhold a cry of pain. Bucky’s other hand, a heavy and metal prosthetic, squeezed his shoulder and earned a cringe.

“While Becca’s Needs for the Soul is open to anyone, we take great pride in reminding our artists that this is their community first and foremost. So you? Are banned.”

Another step and Sweater vest was stumbling through the front door, his shoulder and hand released. “I – “

“Have a nice day.”

The door clanged shut with a ring from the bell. Bucky watched Sweater vest recover, smoothing himself out and making himself presentable once again before he turned and walked away. Bucky shook his head, turning back to the rest of the shop. They all stared at him as if he had grown a second head, never having seen Bucky so outspoken or protective before.

“Show’s over.” Everyone looked back at Sam who was standing in the kitchen doorway. It seemed that was all that was needed for everyone to go back to what they were doing. Sam grinned, asking, “So I could’ve had Sweater vest banned weeks ago if I just…”

“Shut up.” Bucky walked back to Y/N’s painting, picking it up and finally looking at it for the first time. He was…shocked.

It was a full painting – Y/N’s first.

The person was solid black, a shadow with only their eyes visible to the viewer. What he guessed was blue watercolor filled the subject’s irises. Around the person’s outline, breaking through its barrier – endless skies, constellations, galaxies – all messy and brilliant and bold. The paint was thicker, heavier there. He could make out every thick stroke of the person’s figure, of the world around it. Deeper blues, yellows, purples, greens – colors no one would expect to see from a night sky…were there. It was fathomless, endless, and the longer he looked, the more he found something new. She wasn’t connecting the mind, but the eyes, the soul, to the rest of the world.

And that idiot had the balls to say there was no meaning to this?

“I wonder who her inspiration was,” Sam teased, leaning against the counter as Bucky looked over his shoulder.

Bucky stayed silent, hanging the painting back where it belonged. Instead of commenting or over thinking it, he went back into the kitchen. There, sitting on the counter, was Y/N with a cup of coffee and a couple cookies. An apologetic smile curled her lips as she set the plate and mug down.

“Thank you for…that,” she finished lamely, gesturing to the door.

Bucky shrugged. “It’s no problem. You’re my friend.”

Y/N smiled hearing that. She had always wondered if Bucky looked at her as a friend and hearing that he did, it made her heart flutter in a weird sort of way. “Do you…need me to go?”

He shook his head, already returning to the cake he was decorating. The sooner he finished it, the sooner he could put it out to sell. He stood close to her; his eyes focused intently on his creation as Y/N watched him. She loved seeing him in his element. Though he would never admit it, his own creations were art. He poured so much of himself and his love in each dessert.

And it was adorable. But friends didn’t say things like that, so Y/N stayed silent. She was content with this, happy.

Silence fell so easily between them. There was a level of comfort in this moment that couldn’t be replicated by her friendships with Sam or Steve or Rebecca. It was Bucky being Bucky and Y/N being Y/N. Exactly what the other needed.

And neither had any sort of idea that Sam and Steve were watching them through the kitchen door.

Sam looked over at Steve, returning to the register as Steve went to his proper side of the counter. “Think either of them will ever admit it?”

Steve glanced at the glass case that held all of Bucky’s sweets. The first one was a customer-favorite at the shop. A creation that was made of fresh fruit and sweets – something that Bucky had spent all night making the day after he met Y/N. His eyes then shifted to Y/N’s painting, knowing very well who inspired what he believed to be her best creation. Shrugging, he leaned on the counter. “Out loud? Probably not. But there’s always a weird sort of meaning that comes from an artist’s work. They’ll figure it out eventually.”

Sam glanced back at the kitchen when he heard Bucky laugh. No doubt Y/N had done something. “Well, I hope they hurry it up. It’s getting to be a damn romantic comedy around here. And not one of the good ones.”

Steve laughed. Though he’d never admit it out loud, there was a bit of truth to Sam’s words. There always was.

[nerianasims]

Billboard #1s 1988

Under the cut.

"So Emotional" -- Whitney Houston -- January 9, 1988

It's either a song about cheating or about being hung up on an ex. She's got a love of her own, but she's "so emotional" with this other guy, and keeps a picture of him by her bed. Um, does the other guy know this? Maybe she needs to have sex with the other guy so she stops being obsessed with the touch of the previous one. It's a dance song, and I like the beat, but it's painfully repetitive in the second half. Also, while I've known the chorus to this song very well since it came out, I thought it was a normal love song until I looked up the lyrics just now. Houston doesn't sing it like she's in any pain -- well, except I bet her throat hurt from the oversinging.

"Got My Mind Set on You" -- George Harrison -- January 16, 1988

Super repetitive lyrics. But the music's really fun, and I love what lyrics there are. I wish there weren't so few, though. "It's gonna take a whole lot of money" harks back to the many Beatles songs where they sang proudly about spending money on women they loved. Still, this is an example of how George was the best solo Beatle eventually. The video's cute, too, and obviously lampshades the idea of George Harrison doing backflips and dancing.

"The Way You Make Me Feel" -- Michael Jackson -- January 23, 1988

Michael Jackson was no Janelle Monáe. On so many levels. In this case, he wasn't anywhere near her artistic standard. This song does have the lyrics "Oh I'll be workin' from nine to five/ To buy you things to keep you by my side," but it sounds more like a Beatles rip-off than a tribute. I actually didn't remember this song at all, and the video is one of those annoying 80s ones that takes an entire minute to start the song. Then Jackson does a whole bunch of "woos" and "ows" and all that stuff he did that worked in moderation. But "moderation" was not what he was doing in 1988. In any way. He actually oversings in this. I turned it off halfway through. And immediately turned to Janelle Monáe's "The Way You Make Me Feel," which I adore.

"Need You Tonight" -- INXS -- January 30, 1988

This is one of my favorite songs. It's incredibly sexy, obviously. I didn't really notice it until I was around 15, and then I NOTICED it. As I got older, the song got better. The lines "You can care all you want/ Everybody does yeah that's okay" have meant so much to me ever since I started dating seriously. Because caring was not what you were supposed to do.

Anyway, this song is phenomenal and I love it.

"Could've Been" -- Tiffany -- February 6, 1988

This song was #1 for two weeks, and all the previous ones from 1988 have been one week. How? It's a heartbreak song that starts with the lyrics "The flowers you gave me/ Are just about to die," which is painfully on-the-nose. They'd probably work in a country song, but this is lite pop, not country. Tiffany occasionally seems to be trying to do some country stuff with her voice, which is smart. But that's not enough. It's not a terrible song, but it does nothing for me. I don't remember ever having heard it before.

"Seasons Change" -- Exposé  -- February 20, 1988

Speaking of songs I haven't heard before. I like this one though. The music's pretty interesting, especially the melody. The singing's excellent. And the music behind "seasons change/people change" sounds exactly like some of the music from Persona 4, so I wonder if Atlus' composer was influenced by it, unconsciously or not. It's just a couple notes, though. Lyrically, the song is about being in love now but realizing it might not last. It's good. I'm gonna look up more of their music.

"Father Figure" -- George Michael -- February 27, 1988

The music for this song is great, and George Michael as usual sings wonderfully. But um. There are some kinks that make me run screaming even when they're really mild. "I will be your father figure/ Put your tiny hand in mine" are two of them. So if you enjoy this song, I'm happy for you, it's musically lovely. I will be going to take a shower now.

"Never Gonna Give You Up" -- Rick Astley -- March 12, 1988

There was a time when I would have easily been able to have an opinion on this song. That time was long ago. It's hard to hear as a song now, rather than an internet meme. But I will not give up. (The video has almost 9 million views, sheesh.)

Okay so they're friends and now he wants a relationship. He says "You wouldn't get this from any other guy," which is a total jerkass line. Other than that, the lyrics are -- oh who am I kidding, I can't do this.

"Man in the Mirror" -- Michael Jackson -- March 26, 1988

I try to separate the art from the artist. That's in both positive and negative directions. If I love someone's art, that doesn't mean they're a good person. If I hate it, that doesn't mean they're a bad person.

This song, though -- "I'm starting with the man in the mirror/ I'm asking him to change his ways" -- uh yeah. Liar. And it's wedged in with all this "oh you should care about all the starving kids and homeless people" self-sanctification that Michael Jackson always protected himself with. This song disgusts me.

"Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car" -- Billy Ocean -- April 9, 1988

Speaking of disgust. Yay street harassment!  I've never heard anything bad about Billy Ocean as a human being though. But I'm not listening to more than 5 seconds of this song. Gross.

"Where Do Broken Hearts Go" -- Whitney Houston -- April 23, 1988

She's singing to a man she wants to get back together with after they decided they needed some "space." There's a lot of naivete in the song -- "And if somebody loves you/ Won't they always love you?" No. Even if they do still love you, that doesn't mean it will work. But maybe it will. I've never gotten back together with someone after a breakup, though I've been asked to many times (percentage-wise.) I've always had an allergy to it, both because my parents got back together after divorcing and should not have, and because I had a friend who broke up with her boyfriend and got back together with him at least 8 times in the space of a year and I had to keep hearing about it.

So this song doesn't really speak to me. But it's pretty good. Houston sings it well too, reigning in the oversinging until near the end.

"Wishing Well" -- Terence Trent D'Arby -- May 7, 1988

That's an awesome name. The writer of this song said he wrote it when he was half-asleep, which makes sense. "Butterfly tears", okay, just poetry, but you want to fall in love near a well of crocodile tears too? Doesn't that mean you're faking? I like the song though. It's sort of funk, but softer than full-on funk. I like the way D'Arby sings it. The whistling part (keyboard whistling) is very enjoyable. It's a fun song, and one I do remember from the time.

"Anything for You" -- Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine -- May 14, 1988

A pretty breakup song. But, of course, I have an issue. "I can pretend each time I see you/ That I don't care and I don't need you/ And though you'll never see me cryin'/ You know inside I feel like dying." Well that makes his life a lot easier, doesn't it. The whole song is about how she'll do anything to make him happy. Urgh. She needs to tell him to get out of her life so she can make a brand new start.

"One More Try" -- George Michael -- May 28, 1988

Yet another heartbreak song. It's not surprising that I remember so few songs from this year. I feel like I'm back in the 60s before The Beatles again. Though this year is musically better, I'm still bored. Anyway, in this one, the narrator doesn't want to try again, and he keeps addressing the person he doesn't want to try again with as "teacher," which is... a thing. The only time he seems willing to try again is the very last line, which is "Maybe just one more try."

It's slow, it's pretty enough, it would be unbearably boring if George Michael weren't such a good singer. I'm bored anyway. No wonder we ran screaming from anything smacking of this kind of thing in the early 90s. I feel stupid and contagious.

"Together Forever" -- Rick Astley -- June 18, 1988

He certainly had a brand, didn't he? The song title tells you everything you need to know about the lyrics. The song sounds a lot like "Never Gonna Give You Up," but much more boring. A massive drum machine intro can't carry this. I do recognize the chorus, but that's it. The song is fine, really. But that's it. It sounds like a lesser knockoff of "Never Gonna Give You Up."

"Foolish Beat" -- Debbie Gibson -- June 25, 1988

Heartbreak song. Sigh. There's a nice cheesy saxophone that I like, at least. She left him and she regrets it and thinks "I could never love again/ The way that I loved you." Nope, it's never the same. That doesn't mean it's worse. It's often better. I'm not listening to the whole thing, not even in case the sax comes back. The song's too dull.

"Dirty Diana" -- Michael Jackson -- July 2, 1988

It's about some groupie trying to seduce poor widdle helpless Michael. I don't remember ever hearing this song, and it's musically whiny too. Yuck. So much yuck.

"The Flame" -- Cheap Trick -- July 9, 1988

Heartbreak. Song. Again. "You were the first, you'll be the last" oh no they won't. I entirely approve of being honest about heartbreak, but this year is just crushing with the monotony of it. At least there's a beat to this one.

By the way, in the video, the lead singer's hair appears to be made of straw. Ah, the late 80s, when people thought cooking their hair was the way to go.

"Hold on to the Nights" -- Richard Marx -- July 23, 1988

A heartbreak song in disguise. He's in love with this woman but they can't be together. Are they cheating? I don't know. I don't care. It's so boring, words and music both. Even the piano is blah.

Speaking of late 80s hair, it looks like Richard Marx used an entire can of Aqua Velva on his in the video.

"Roll With It" -- Steve Winwood -- July 30, 1988

This was a #1 hit for four weeks, and I know why. It's not boring! Or depressing! It's got kind of an old-fashioned soul sound: Horns, groove, lyrics. When life is too much, roll with it baby. Not profound, but this is a really good song. One I've heard quite a lot, too, on purpose and everything.

Also, Steve Winwood's hair would work fine today. Coincidence?

"Monkey" -- George Michael -- August 27, 1988

This is actually kind of a heartbreak song, but not really. The one he loves has a "monkey" on their back and he wonders if they love it more than they love him. Addiction is my guess. It's a high-energy dance song, though -- it sounds a little angry, not sad at all. I find the melody sort of dull, but at least there's a beat. But I'm sorry, "Why can't you set your monkey free" is an absolutely hilarious lyric, and I can't take this song seriously in any way.

I think I had the hat George Michael's wearing in the video.

"Sweet Child O' Mine" -- Guns N' Roses -- September 10, 1988

Okay, yeah, sort of a heartbreak song, the relationship sounds like it's a mess with "where do we go now?" sung a zillion times. But it's so good. SO good. And it's rock. It's no wonder that it's one of the few songs that have stayed around from this list. It's not some kind of mass-produced pap without personality. Only Guns N'Roses could do this. Great song, I love it, and I love it more knowing what came before it. Man, Slash can play.

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" -- Bobby McFerrin -- September 24, 1988

Yeah, I'm guessing people were horribly sick of all the overproduced depression on the charts this year. A lot of music critics, and other critics, were really nasty about it because of the simplicity of its lyrics and its earworm-ness. And we made fun of the phrase plenty as young teens in the 90s. But now? I think it's pretty good. Philosophically, it's a mess, but the music isn't serious so I don't think we're supposed to take it seriously. And I like a-cappella. It was played way too much back in the day, though.

(Robin Williams is in the video, which made me tear up. Oof.)

"Love Bites" -- Def Leppard -- October 8, 1988

Technically about heartbreak I guess, but I feel like they're lampshading all the songs from this year which may as well have had the same title. Probably not intentionally. I can't take this song the tiniest bit seriously. It's rock, but not with a lot of personality. Any hair metal band from the time with interchangeable bleached blond frontmen could have done it.

I think this guy used an air fryer on his hair.

"Red Red Wine" -- UB40 -- October 15, 1988

One is supposed to hate this song, or was I don't hate it. I was a kid when it came out, the pop reggae appealed to me, and I still find it fun. Neil Diamond, the original singer, likes it. I certainly find it more interesting than anything with Neil Diamond singing on it.

"A Groovy Kind of Love" -- Phil Collins -- October 22, 1988

It's a cover of a 60s song. "Baby, you and me/ Got a groovy kind of love." This version is incredibly slow, and doesn't have any interesting drum work from Phil. It doesn't make me angry, but it doesn't make me anything. It's there. My brain wandered off and I started looking at stuff on the internet while trying to listen to it.

"Kokomo" -- The Beach Boys -- November 5, 1988

I loved this song as a kid and no one is prying it from me. It makes me happy when I feel down. I got the Cocktail soundtrack this is on for Christmas in my stocking 1988 -- me and seemingly every other kid, I think the tape was massively on sale. I loved the soundtrack, and I especially loved this song. I will never see the movie. I always felt that the song was a middle-aged man singing to his middle-aged wife ("pretty mama".) Which I thought was sweet. I figured that's what middle-aged people did, went off on vacations to tropical islands sometimes, even though my parents never did. I want to though.

"Wild, Wild West" -- The Escape Club -- November 12, 1988

"Heading for the nineties," hm? Well one of the lines is "give me, give me safe sex," and safe sex messaging being absolutely everywhere was an early to mid 90s thing. It's always funny to hear someone with an English accent sing about something extremely American. This song does sound like it's heading for the nineties musically, which is good. Only heading toward though. It's okay, but not very interesting. The music is repetitive. I got bored halfway though.

"Bad Medicine" -- Bon Jovi -- November 19, 1988

Your love is like "bad medicine" and he's addicted. Like a monkey on his back. What's with that phrase this year? I don't recognize this song. It's overproduced, it's shouty, there's too much going on, and it feels like it's trying too hard. Nope.

"Baby, I Love Your Way/ Freebird Medley" -- Will to Power -- December 3, 1988

I'm used to the 90s cover of "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Big Mountain. And I don't think I'm being biased when I say the Big Mountain version is significantly better. The lead singer of this one, a woman, is way too breathy and mannered.

The "Freebird" portion is bad. Just plain bad. The man singing is also breathy and there's absolutely no oomph. Also a lite, bouncy pop song in which the woman is singing how much she loves the man and the man's like "no I gotta be free" is blech. It does not work.

"Look Away" -- Chicago -- December 10, 1988

This was Chicago's biggest single. The narrator's ex called him to tell him she's with someone new, and he pretends to be happy for her, but wants her to look away so she doesn't see the tears of a clown -- er, no, that's a better song. Same idea though.

A heartbreak song, but I don't mind it, because it's got some blood to it. It's not slow and there's a real beat. Also Peter Cetera wasn't with Chicago any more, so Bill Champlin's the lead singer here, and he's so much better than Cetera it's ridiculous. Champlin brings some guts to the song, he doesn't sing through his nose, and he sounds truly heartbroken. Worlds better than Cetera. So it's a good enough song, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing.

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" -- Poison -- December 24, 1988

I never minded this song before at all, but I am so sick of this kind of song at this point. Whine whine whine every cowboy sings a sad sad song. You're no Johnny Cash, dude. He said something wrong, he doesn't know what it was, they broke up and he still doesn't know why -- okay, who does this? Actually wait, I know one person who did this, and he keeps saying he has no idea why either of his wives broke up with him and I do because I was there and they told him they would break up with him if he didn't change. Over and over and over and over. And now he's like "poor me, I don't know why this happened. " He probably doesn't, either. He cannot admit fault.

Anyway, projections of my own personal trauma onto a hair metal band aside, the narrator’s ex is now with someone new and he thinks "I never meant that much to you." Maybe, maybe not. Cowboy, change your ways today.

BEST OF 1988 -- "Need You Tonight" by INXS and "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses. WORST OF 1988 -- "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car" by Billy Ocean

[studiopeachz]

Task Brainstorm & Research

What am I passionate about?

Food

Cultures

Traveling

Music

tattoos/illustrations/designs

art/painting/drawing

Mental health

Self discovering/acceptance/explorations/expressions

What do you wish more people understood?

I wish people understood more about the different forms of self expression through different ways such as art, design, fashion, literature, etc. 

I wish people understood more about human rights, or general personal choices without judgement

What do you feel strongly about?

I feel strongly about self love and acceptance because the factors of accepting ourselves can be hard but can make us flourish, and gives us opportunities to express how we feel 

What makes you feel good?

Art in different forms makes me feel good has it drives my curiosity to learn and dig deeper for meaningful things

Beauty and self acceptance, embracing our imperfections

Wise words/sayings that inspire and impact me and others in a positive way

What makes me unhappy?

As an empathetic person, I feel unhappy for the one who also feels unhappy or any certain unstable emotions.

Making mistakes also make me upset as it is hard to admit our own wrong doings

Stereotypes, because it gives us an invalid label to individuals which do not define us as a whole

I don’t like when people judge you right away without knowing you

If you could fix something, what would it be?

I would want to fix the past mistakes i have done, wishing i could of done better

I would of want to fix the moments that I wish i could of done or fulfilled which leads to present regrets

What would you like to see in the future?

I would like to see everyone in the world to be kinder, and more understanding towards each other as it gives opportunities to get to know individuals truly, without having to judge them right away.

I would also like to see people normalizing natural and imperfect things and different creations of forms of self expression without any judgement, but curiosity instead. 

What would you like to shine a light on?

I would like to raise awareness about the beauty of differences and self expression, even in peculiar artistic ways

What do you see that others don’t see?

As an optimistic person, I like to see the good in everything, therefore I have this willingness to listen and to understand situations, stories, and journeys of others.

I find the most imperfect things to be beautiful. 

Things about Gen Z

https://www.livingfacts.org/en/articles/2020/meet-gen-z 

https://danschawbel.com/blog/39-of-the-most-interesting-facts-about-generation-z/ 

Demographics

Gen Zers are also the most diverse generation. Research by the Center determined that nearly half (48%) of 6- to 21-year-old Gen Zers are racial or ethnic minorities, compared with 39% of Millennials in that age bracket in 2002 and more than double the percentage of early Baby Boomers in 1968.

Attitudes

In many instances, the youngest generation’s views follow Millennials’ social attitudes, and are in stark contrast to the oldest group, the Silent Generation, with Baby Boomers and Gen Xers falling in the middle.

For example, 70% of Gen Zers say government should do more to solve societal problems, rather than leaving it to businesses and individuals. By comparison, 64% of Millennials and only 39% of Silents say government should do more. Similarly, roughly 6 in 10 Gen Zers and Millennials say increasing racial and ethnic diversity is good for society, compared with about 4 in 10 Silents.

Gen Z’s as consumers 

55% of Gen Z would rather buy clothes online and 53% would rather buy books and electronics online. [JWT]

Their favorite items to spend money on are food and drink (36%), going out with friends (32%) and clothes (18%). [Visa]

66% want to own both houses and cars in their lifetimes. [Deep Focus]

Gen Z’s most used tech devices are the smartphone (15.4 hours/week), TV (13.2 hours/week) and a laptop (10.6 hours/week). [Vision Critical]

50% would look on their phone to look for a better price while shopping at a retail store. [Gen HQ]

63% are concerned when it comes to protecting their identity when paying with a debit or credit card online or in a retail store. [Gen HQ]

Gen Z values

76% are concerned about man’s impact on the planet. [JWT]

79% of display symptoms of emotional distress when kept away from their personal electronic devices. [University of Maryland]

90% would be upset if they had to give up their Internet connection while only 51% would give up eating out and 56% would give up downloading music. [JWT]

84% multitask with an Internet-connected device while watching TV. [Forrester Research]

They have more than 10 apps on their smartphone with 10% having more than 40. [Visa]

60% of Gen Zs say “a lot of money” is a sign of success. [Deep Focus]

What are some general Gen Z issues/behaviours/values: 

Social anxiety (mental health)

Racial equality

Gender identity

Self esteem

Political and social issues

Technology/ social media content

Personal beliefs and values in comparison to older generations 

Speaking up/inner voice

Stress response

Optimistic attitude “it is what it is”

Three Campaign Ideas relatable to Gen Z demographic In Aotearoa:

(self expression)

gender identity / fashion & style / art & design / illustration / ink / skin art - tattoos

(self acceptance & confidence)

Body Image & Positivity / cultural roots / growth / well-being / 

(cultural diversity)

Culture / tradition / ethnicity / foundation / 

Research Gen z with self expression, self acceptance, and cultural diversity

WHAT DOES SELF-EXPRESSION REALLY MEAN TO GEN Z?https://www.havaspeople.com/project/what-does-self-expression-really-mean-to-gen-z/ 

We always knew that Gen Z would be distinctive. They are the first true digital natives, and grew up during times of uncertainty (the wake of the last financial crisis and Brexit in the UK). But over the last year the identity of this generation has been further shaped in a profound way as some of their most formative years are taking place against the backdrop of a global pandemic, with the significant interruptions that has wrought to school, university, and early working lives, as well as social connections. Gen Z were on the precipice of progress when COVID hit “pause” on life. And yet many Gen Zers are emerging as resilient, energized, and eager to express themselves and have their voices heard.

Rinsta (real) and Finsta (fake) social media accounts, often to keep certain aspects of their life hidden from family, potential employers, and others outside of their close social circles). Yet – on the whole – they trust the technology brands and platforms themselves.

69% of Gen Z believe that brands should make their stance on social and political issues known publicly. I believe this is what Gen Z mean by brand authenticity. 

showing us that authenticity does not just mean having a clear point of view, but also using your clout as a brand to share and amplify the causes that matter to you. 

showing your own alignment with the purpose and intent of a brand. Gen Z see the brands who they follow, ‘like’, and buy as a personal reflection of them as individuals, which is why they are prepared to pay more for brands that they believe support sustainability. If that’s how profoundly Gen Zers believe the impact of their consumer choices can affect the way they express themselves, it stands to reason that this will cut even deeper with regard to career choices, which is one of the reasons

This seems an important aspect of self-expression. Gen Z share a willingness to discuss issues in an open reflective way, and to seek out different opinions, which is one reason social channels are increasingly viewed as credible sources of news. To give another example, Gen Z are more comfortable talking about mental health issues than previous generations. While this can be attributed in part to the overall rise in awareness and acceptance of mental health issues over the last fifteen years, it is a noticeable shift from previous generations.

https://extremereach.com/blog/for-gen-z-consumption-is-about-self-expression/ “Consumption for this generation is an expression of individual identity.”

“Some people are angry and resentful because they feel like their voice isn’t heard, so clothing is a space where they can be self-governed.”

They’re experiencing brands in every corner of their online life and so these same “brands need to beware this generation’s discernment because they have a bloodhound-like nose for inauthenticity.”

We’ve been more empowered than ever, so why are Gen-Z the least confident generation yet? https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/gen-z-least-confident-generation 

Indeed, statistics show that, instead of a defining feeling of hope among Gen Z, there is a groaning sense of pessimism - of hopelessness. Long running research from University College London, revealed earlier this year that depression levels are two-thirds higher than millennials. The study found 14.8 per cent of 14-year-olds in 2015 said they were depressed, compared to 9 per cent in 2005. While 14.4 per cent of young people said they had self-harmed, compared to 11.8 per cent a decade ago.

“I feel like Gen Z and millennials occupy a really interesting place in politics,” says Nogia, 20 “- we’ve only known austerity, we’ve only know casual work, we’ve only know life long sentences of debt for getting an education and we’re living in an age of populism and hatred in politics.”

So, is this having a detrimental effect on a generation’s mental health and personal confidence? Pretty much.

Youth Engagement Officer at YoungMinds, “Young people today have to navigate a huge range of pressures, from school or university stress, to worries over their career and housing prospects, to the rise of social media, which can make problems like bullying or body image issues more intense than they were in the past.”

Social media is - predictably - a major cause of generational anxiety. Not only is it connecting us to the world’s most depressing news stories, it is also connecting us to a plethora of airbrushed, Facetuned accounts making us feel terrible about ourselves. No wonder confidence is low.

Gen Z demands more diversity and inclusion from brands https://www.campaignlive.com/article/gen-z-demands-diversity-inclusion-brands/1705491 

Gen Zers made clear throughout the study that they want brands to step up their efforts around representation. For example, 76% of Gen Zers said they feel diversity and inclusion is an important topic for brands to address, compared to 72% of millennials, 63% of Gen Xers and 46% of Baby Boomers who felt the same.

“Consumers don't want to see brands making an effort to be inclusive just for means of publicity,” said Jenna Stearns, researcher at quantilope and lead on the report. “They want to see something that's authentic and consistent.”

But brands that resonate most with Gen Z consumers are consistent in their support of social justice. Target, for example, has been vocal around LGBTQIA awareness and Pride month for years, said Steph Rand, senior research consultant at quantilope. 

“These brands are rising to the top because they are sustaining and consistently making [these issues] a priority, either in their communications or around the content they produce,” Rand said.

Responses regarding representation also varied by race, gender and sexual orientation. Individuals responded they feel their gender is more represented in mainstream media (70% male; 66% female) and brand advertising (71% male; 68% female) than their sexual orientation or ethnicity.

In 2021, consumers hope to see more individuals with disabilities represented in advertising and media, as well as more authentic PR backed up by action.

Integrated Awareness Campaign Examples:

Self Expression Campaign example: https://www.lsnglobal.com/youth/article/24865/a-kombucha-campaign-that-celebrates-self-expression 

Los Angeles – Health-Ade Kombucha’s latest campaign targets a new generation of health-conscious drinkers.

The campaign, You Brew You, introduces the brand’s new flavour and packaging concepts, as well celebrating the popularisation of kombucha. Diverging from traditional drinks advertising, it features a series of young models in bright clothing with colourful, neon-lit backdrops.

While kombucha brands tend to communicate in a way that focuses on health, wellness and fitness activities such as yoga, Health-Ade Kombucha is on a mission to change the image of the beverage and target a new generation of digitally-native consumers.

As the younger generation look to the future and consider how drinking impacts their health, they are turning towards soft drinks with additional health benefits. For more, explore the insight section of our macrotrend Anxiety Rebellion.

Self love/acceptance Campaign Example: https://fredandfar.com/blogs/ff-blog/banksy-made-me-do-it-transforming-everyday-ads-into-self-love-campaigns 

This stunt can have multiple meanings, as Banksy often uses his art to comment on such structures as capitalism, power imbalances, and corruption. 

Wrapped up in the Banksy frenzy ourselves, we started questioning art and its subjective worth. What makes art valuable? What qualifies as art? In what way can art be used or manipulated to impact our everyday lives? We live in a world saturated by advertisements, media and marketing targeting and manipulating us to be passive consumers. Thinking about what we are subjected to daily by multimillion dollar companies is eye opening, as is Banksy’s take on copyright laws and advertising.

Banksy urges, “any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.”

So let’s take back the power. We got the ball rolling by taking some campaigns and slogans you might recognize, and turning them into campaigns for self love and acceptance.

Join us by creating your own better slogan and use the hashtag #banksymademedoit. What we need is more self love in the world. Let’s saturate the world with our mission.

Cultural Diversity Campaign Example: https://www.refuelagency.com/blog/examples-of-brands-who-got-multicultural-marketing-right/ 

Rihanna’s brand, Fenty, is all but synonymous with authentic inclusive marketing, created on the foundation that everyone woman is beautiful and should feel included. In 2017, Fenty Beauty launched 40 shades of foundation, and that has since grown to 50. Chaédria LaBouvier wrote in Allure that Fenty Beauty’s sheer number of foundation colors is “a statement that women of color deserve complex options”. 

Rihanna shared that, “It’s important to me that every woman feel included in this brand.” Once this campaign launched, it had a ripple effect called “The Fenty Effect”, a movement calling for brands to challenge the status quo in advertising.

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

Behind The Album: Nevermind

The second studio album from Nirvana was released in September 1991 via DGC Records. This release would be their first on that label, as well as the first album to feature new drummer Dave Grohl. The album initially begin as a project for Sub Pop with producer Butch Vig attached to it at the suggestion of the label. They traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to record at Vig’s studio in early April 1990. At this time, the group recorded eight tracks including “Lithium,” “Breed,” “In Bloom,” and others, but Cobain was still working on more material for the record. On April 6, the band played a local show in Madison, but the singer strained his voice putting on hold temporarily the recording sessions as they had a short Midwestern tour that same week. After the tour, drummer Chad Channing announced his departure from the group putting everything on hold once again. Krist Novoselic and Cobain had seen the band Scream featuring drummer Dave Grohl and were impressed by his playing. By lucky coincidence, his group broke up around that same time. Grohl contacted Novoselic to see about an audition. He would join the band shortly thereafter as the bass player would say with Dave “everything fell into place.”

By this time, Sub Pop continued to have major financial difficulty, which worried the group. Cobain made the decision to forgo working with such an independent label, but instead signing with a major record company. After shopping around for a few months, they signed with Geffen Records imprint DGC after a recommendation by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. The label would suggest a number of producers for the second album, but Nirvana held out to continue to work with Butch Vig. The reason behind this came in the fact that they were comfortable with him. Another factor was that he did not ask for percentage points upon the release of any album. The group recorded the LP at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in May and June 1991. In an interesting twist, they needed gas money to actually get to the studio to begin recording, so the band played a show for extra money where “Smells Like Teen Spirit” would be performed for the first time. The other new song that had not been worked on in the previous sessions was “Come As You Are.” The recording sessions lasted 8 to 10 hours a day as Grohl and Novoselic completed their parts in a matter of days. Cobain‘s work took a little bit longer as he added more guitar parts and put the finishing touches on the vocals. He would sometimes only finish writing lyrics just before he would sing them for the album. Butch Vig would say that he only could convince Cobain to double track his vocals when he told the singer that John Lennon used to do it. The producer expressed frustration with the Nirvana frontman. “He'd be great for an hour, and then he'd sit in a corner and say nothing for an hour." Nirvana was unhappy with the first few mixes of the album after they finished recording. They made the decision to bring in another producer to do the mixing. Eventually, they decided to bring in Andy Wallace, who had worked on Slayer’s 1990 album. Krist Novoselic she would say, “We said, 'right on,' because those Slayer records were so heavy." Nevermind would be mastered at the Mastering Lab in Hollywood. Howie Weinberg began working on the record despite the fact that nobody else from the band had arrived yet. By the time everyone had gotten there, he was essentially done. After the release of the record, the band expressed a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction with how it sounded. Everyone in the group felt that it was too commercial. Kurt Cobain said, “Looking back on the production of Nevermind, I'm embarrassed by it now. It's closer to a Mötley Crüe record than it is a punk rock record." Butch Vig would later say in an interview that it was the artist in Cobain that made him complain like that. One simply could not say in public thank you for helping to create an album that sold 10 million copies.

The major influences for Kurt Cobain during the writing of Nevermind were Pixies , the Smithereens, REM, and the Melvins. He intentionally wanted to emphasize melody in a much more emphatic way on this album. A key development came when they released the single “Sliver” before Grohl had even joined the group. The singer said it “was like a statement in a way. I had to write a pop song and release it on a single to prepare people for the next record. I wanted to write more songs like that." His goal from the onset was to write power chords that could be combined with punk rock guitar riffs. He would use the example of trying to combine the Knack or Bay City Rollers with Black Flag. One new feature of the music on the album emerges in the band's employment of extreme dynamics, meaning that there exist abrupt changes from quiet to loud verses. Guitar World would say this about Cobain‘s playing on this album. “Kurt Cobain's guitar sound on Nirvana's Nevermind set the tone for Nineties rock music." Dave Grohl would later say that the singer always stressed that the music came first, not the lyrics. He was still writing lyrics halfway through the recording of Nevermind, while Vig has said that some of the lyrics are inaudible anyway. "Even though you couldn't quite tell what he was singing about, you knew it was intense as hell." Later on, Cobain would complain about journalists trying to understand him through his lyrics. “Why in the hell do journalists insist on coming up with a second-rate Freudian evaluation of my lyrics, when 90 percent of the time they've transcribed them incorrectly?" Charles R. Cross, author of the Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven, would claim in his book that half of the songs on Nevermind are about Kurt Cobain‘s ex-girlfriend Toby Vail. The first line of “Drain You” was something that she had actually said to him, “One baby to another said 'I'm lucky to have met you.” He modified the lyrics to “Lithium,” which had been written prior to meeting her in order to reference his relationship with her. The phrase “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was something that she came up with while living with Cobain. It was originally meant as a joke, but the singer took it as some sort of revolutionary phrase. Krist Novoselic would later comment that the track “Lounge Act” is undoubtedly about Vail.

The working title of the album had been Sheep, which Cobain thought represented a funny inside joke as to who would buy the album. The origin of that title comes from the public's reaction to Operation Desert Storm. The singer decided to change it to Nevermind because he also liked the fact it was grammatically incorrect and symbolized how he felt about life. Nevermind also referenced one of Cobain’s favorite albums by the Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks. He does mention the title once in the track “Smells Like Teen Spirit:” “oh well, whatever, never mind.”

The famous cover of the album was conceived by Cobain as well after watching a television show with Dave Grohl about water births. They first tried stock footage of water births, but the images were much too graphic for an album cover. They finally found at least one photo that may work, but the company wanted $7500 to use the photo. Finally, a photographer went to a pool to find a baby for the picture. The actual baby they found was someone named Spencer Elden, the son of a friend of the photographer. Eldonwood recreated that picture for subsequent anniversary photos for the album throughout the years.

The album debuted at 144 on the Billboard charts, but by January the record was number one in the country. The success of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” saw the demand for the album spiral in such a way that the record company could not keep up with the demand for a time. Geffen Records needed to stop printing any other albums released around the same time, so they could make more of Nevermind. At its height, Nevermind sold 300,000 copies a week. The LP would be certified platinum in November 1991, a mere 13 months after its release. The president of Geffen Records would say this to the New York Times. “We didn't do anything. It was just one of those 'Get out of the way and duck' records." The members of Nirvana seemed relatively unconcerned about the success of the album as Novoselic would say in an interview that achieving gold record status was cool, but not that important to him. By the time of their European tour in 1992, the sales of the album made any marketing ideas previously planned by the record label to be unusable.

Another interesting thing that came about through the phenomenal popularity of the album was the fact that not many places actually reviewed the album at first. Most of the reviews remained positive, but they seemed to stress the potential of the band. Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne would give the album an A minus, while the New York Times would say, “With 'Nevermind,' Nirvana has certainly succeeded. There are enough intriguing textures, mood shifts, instrumental snippets and inventive word plays to provide for hours of entertainment." The best review probably came from Everett True of Melody Maker, who had this to say. “When Nirvana released Bleach all those years ago, the more sussed among us figured they had the potential to make an album that would blow every other contender away. My God have they proved us right.” Not everyone loved the album though as evidenced by the Boston Globe saying that the record was for the most part generic punk rock. The greatest achievement of Nevermind was the fact that the record brought Seattle grunge, which later became alternative music, into the mainstream. The bands, the fashion, the culture that existed in Seattle now had made its way to Madison Avenue. The album led to the success of other groups like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, and so many more. Please check out the article later in this book on the story of grunge for further discussion on the cultural legacy of Nevermind. Rolling Stone named the album number six in its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, as well as number one on its list of the Greatest Albums of the 1990’s. In 2001, VH1 would poll over 500 rock writers and journalists for the greatest albums of all time, which led to their choice of Nevermind as the number one album. In 2005, the record was added to the national record registry put together by the Library of Congress. Even Pitchfork would name the album number six for the decade of the 1990’s. The site wrote, “Anyone who hates this record today is just trying to be cool, and needs to be trying harder."

[hollywood3015]

Apocalypse BaCC Ruleset

I've always wanted to try my hand at an Apocalypse Challenge but could never get behind the whole only one family thing. I am a avid rotational player. One family just bores me, so I came up with this challenge. This is based off of my own rulesfor the Bacc and not the original or one of the many variations.

Starting Out:

-Create a new neighbor and create your three founders. They can be families or single it doesn't matter.

-The three founders may NOT go to college. That would make the challenge way to easy.

-Build and Buy mode tabs are NOT allowed after you build the families house. Not even for a baby crib so make sure you factor that in when you make their house.

-The bunker can look however you want it to. It does not need to be up off the ground nor does it need to be 8x8 but you may only have a max of 3 rooms until Architect is unlocked.

-Sims may not have a stove, they must have the cheapest grill and Fridge.

-No sims may sleep outside.

-The lot must be enclosed by a fence.

-Only 3 restrictions may be unlocked a generation

-No Electronics may be used. Only the cheapest fridge and cheapest fridge

-Basic Electricity is unlocked when a sim has Max mechanical and level 8 logic. Once that is done $3500 must be paid from town funds.

-Taxes must still be paid. It can be whatever percentage you want but it has to be consistent.

-No smoke detectors, sprinklers, burglar alarm

-To unlock running water you must get level 5 cleaning and level 5 logic. That enables sinks.

-Basic airport is your ticket out of the city. If you plan for your kid to go to college you must have a basic airport. You must pay $25,000 dollars. With a basic airport you get:

Flooring

Wallpaper

Adopt Stray Pets

Higher quality furniture that has been unlocked.

-No cars, service sims, or delivery service.

-Pet adoption is unlocked when a pet store is opened.

-Nanny is unlocked when business is unlocked, and there 5 teenagers in town.

If you want to get more households:

SIM MULTIPLIER

+1 When the first community lot is built+1 When you have basic electricity+1 When you have plumbing+2 When you get an Airport+1 With every 5 community lots after+1 A sim tops a career. (maximim 1 per household)+5 Downton+10 University (Multiple universities are allowed)+13 For every business district.

-Community lots:

Are unlocked when the business career is topped.

-Downtown:

Is unlocked when the political career is topped and $100,000 dollars has been paid.

Universities:

Are unlocked when there is an airport and a population of 1,000

RESTRICTIONS

-Hopelessness

You cannot move in anyone until someone tops the career.

-Adventure

Sims may not go on vacation

-Architect

Sims may not move out until this career is topped.

Businesses may not be built until this career is topped

-Artist

A position opens when a sim maxes creativity

Sims may not use workbenches or the potty/clothing bench

Sims may not open any art type business or have any paintings on their business

No deco items may be placed

-Athletic

For teens and elders to leave the lot they must have level 10 body skill.

Can NOT have a gym or workout equipment on their businesses.

Cannot move anything bigger than one tile

Items received as date or outing reward may be moved once no matter how big they are but after that they may not be moved again. If they are restricted items they may be moved to inventory but not sold.

Sims may not sell items on community lots that are bigger than one tile

Sims may only sell things they made

Gym equipment may not be used or purchased

Sims may carry no more then three items in their inventory

-Slacker

Sims may not use vacation days

Sims who miss a single day of work lose the job

If a sim loses a job they may never take that job

No clubs community lots may be built or owned

Elders may never retire

You may not ignore chance cards

-Science

Sims may not use the phone unless it is tuesday

No cell phones or computers may be used or purchased

Sims may not use the robotics bench or have servos

You may not call the exterminator

No lights

No trash compactor or bass or guitar

-Politics

Sims may only have 3 rooms in there house

NO downtown may be unlock

Sims may not go to college

May not have a cemetery

No basements

May not have a second floor

No vacation hood

May not influence other sims

-Paranormal

May not plead with grim reaper

No cemetery lot

May not move a grave. If a sim dies somewhere the grave must stay there

May not place graves or urns into inventory

May not use the resurrect-o-nomitron

-Natural Science

No landscaping items

No gardening trees

May not own a pond

May only have a 4 plot garden that has to be enclosed with a fence

May not alter the ground color

May not flatten the lot

May not use fertilizer

No cow plants

No chef salads

No telescopes may be used

Sims may not watch clouds or stargaze

No flower arranging bench

No Greenhouses

-Business

Businesses may not be opened (home or community)

You may not sell items via buy and build tab.

May not sell paintings or workbench items.

Sims may not hire service sims

May not use workbenches

-Dance

Sims may not dance.

Sims may not do tai chi or meditate

Sims may not use the ballet bar or the dance sphere

Stereos may only be used to build body skill

Sims may not have a club business or a business where they sell music.

-Entertainment

Sims may not throw parties or use the entertainment menu

Sims may not buy anything from the party tab

Sims may not use the karaoke machine (also restricted by Artist and Science).

Sims with televisions are limited to the Yummy Channel, the Workout Channel and the News/Weather Channel.

Sims may not read a book unless it is a skill building book

Sims may not have wedding parties

Sims may not use wedding archs

May not place a wedding venue.

No toy crafting bench

Sims may not have a business with instruments or a microphone.

-Intelligence

Sims may not perform any action from the Ask pie menu that came with Nightlife.

Sims who are not friends with a member of the household may not enter the house.

Proposals to move in may only be offered by the Sim who is in love and will produce the next generation with the new household member.

Sims may not accept blind dates, jobs, or contact numbers from social townies.

Sims may not chat online, send emails, or blog.

Sims may not hire employees.

Sims may not give gifts.

Sims may not visit community lots alone—they must take a friend or family member along.

Sims may not Search for UFOs or Summon Aliens.

Sims may not go on vacation at all.

-Law Enforcement

Your sims may not purchase a smoke detector, sprinkles, burglar alarms, car alarms.

Sims may not use the emergency tab on their phones.

Teens and Elders may not go to college

Can not call the police to look for runaway teens.

-Medical

Showers and tubs may not be used

Dishwashers may not be built

Hot tubs, water wigglers, and pools may not be used

Sims may not use medicine to get well

If a sim gets sick you must roll to determine if they are going to die. 1-5 is live/ 6 is die

Whenever a sim woohoos they must try for a baby

May not purchase changing tables.

-Culinary

Sims may only buy a cheap grill and and fridge.

May not buy anything from the small appliance category

Sims may only prepare food once a day and may not store food in the fridge

Baby bottles do not count

No gelatin

May not prepare food on community lots.

Sims may not open restaurants or open anything that has to do with restaurants.

No pizza or chinese food delivery

Sims may not open a grocery store.

Sims may not hold food in inventory

NO birthday or wedding cakes

No buffet tables

-Life of Crime

Every Sunday all the sims income has to go into the town funds.

-Military

Sims may not travel to community lots

You may not invite sims over unless you are in love with them

Only a to be spouse may be moved in

No sim may move out

No parties, dates, or outings

Sims may not go to college

Must have level 10 body skill to go anywhere

-Show Business

Sims may not practice romance in mirror

Sims may not change clothes

Sims may not make their own clothes

Sims may not purchase love potion or purfume

Sims may not own a salon

You may not put down a salon type lot

May not use the makeover chair

Diva and Mr. Big may not be moved in

-Music

May not own a stero

May not Smustle

May not classic or slow dance

[morfyddofrheged]

from those cafe asks you reblogged earlier- jasmine tea, iced lemon tea, and herbal tea? (apparently we’re doing a tea only run, any %)

we love tea let's go

Jasmine Tea : If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

this is such a tough question because there are so many places i'd like to go for like different reasons...but i think i'd want to go to, like, a cabin in the mountains and just refresh. a change of scenery and some new walking paths would do wonders rn

Iced Lemon Tea : Favorite song/band?

i think the most recent song i couldn't get out of my head was déjate llevar by the marías. i heard it on the radio two months ago and it changed me. and i think the band who i like the highest percentage of their music (this is my criteria for favorite artist) (other than the mechanisms obvs) is probably marianas trench

Herbal Tea : You’re at a candle shop, what scented candle do you buy?

this is so hard without smelling them. peach is my go-to smell and i love fruity scents in general (wonder why 🤔) but i also like the more savory candles (this is the best way for me to describe candles like bath and body works sweater weather idk) flowery scents can be good but i'm not a fan of lavender so i avoid them a lot

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Hi, it's the anon that asked for your opinion on the boy's solo demographics… I realised I didn't give my opinion (i'm not sure if you want it? I assume you would in order to have a discussion but if not, just ignore this ask haha) so I think that both Niall and Louis's goals have been to broaden their male demographic, but in completely different ways. TT

Niall seems to be really targeting Midwest America, with his mature folk/country/singer songwriter vibe. He almost comes across as an older version of Ed Sheeran to me. He has the laid back style, with nothing polarising about him or his marketing; very wholesome. I get the vibe he would appeal to like 30-45 year old’s? (in terms of new listeners). TT

Louis is almost the complete opposite in terms of how he has gone about getting a heavier male audience. He is 100% on top of the trends at present. He is very relatable, he publicises his smoking/drinking (which is somewhat applauded and encouraged in young people), he just seems like one of the lads. TT

Niall seems to be really targeting Midwest America, with his mature folk/country/singer songwriter vibe. He almost comes across as an older version of Ed Sheeran to me. He has the laid back style, with nothing polarising about him or his marketing; very wholesome. I get the vibe he would appeal to like 30-45 year old’s? (in terms of new listeners). TT

Louis is almost the complete opposite in terms of how he has gone about getting a heavier male audience. He is 100% on top of the trends at present. He is very relatable, he publicises his smoking/drinking (which is somewhat applauded and encouraged in young people), he just seems like one of the lads. TT

I think he would be attracting the 15-25 year old male audience. This may sound silly but I think his style of clothing is very influential and I think it would play a big part in who he attracts in terms of new fans. TT

To me Harry’s is the strangest out of all of the boys. When solo careers were announced I really thought he was going to go in more of a troye sivan direction in terms of owning femininity and just being soft? His actual marketing is very hard, abrasive, and sex, drugs & rock n roll. Most of the time it comes across as a farce to me? Like he is putting on a show at most times. TT

(Last one) Thank you for reading my rambles, and hopefully they made sense! I look forward to you responses and ideas, I hope I haven’t made I dick of myself haha Thank you :) TT

*************

First I should apologise that it took me so long to reply to these points TT.  I read them at the time and they’ve played a huge part in me developing and articulating my thinking.  And (as often happens with the anons I’m most interested in) I put it off till I had the headspace, and then it slipped down my inbox.  So if you’re still around - I thought you might be interested in my thoughts.

And today’s actually a really good idea for me to respond, because what reading this really clarified to me is that I don’t think it’s useful to look at 1D solo careers in terms of the new fans they’re trying to attract.  I think any attempt to look at it in those terms miss what they are doing, what they’re trying to do and what they need to do to be successful.  The audience that matters most to each of their solo careers is 1D fans.

And we can see it today, yesterday 1D was the most listened to artist in the world.  But it was always true - any member of 1D who managed to capture a significant percentage of their existing audience would have a sustainable and successful career.  In most markets, Harry’s last tour had about a fifth of the audience of 1D’s last tour.  Getting about a fifth of the people who bought a ticket to a 1D concert to buy a ticket to his concert built a very secure base for Harry’s career.

Now in a way my thoughts are very dated, because they understood the best bet for a sustainable music career was to get someone to buy a ticket to your concert.  Which it was - now it’s an open questio whether there can be a sustainable music career.  But I think people were and are thinking in those terms, even if it has become a wild dream.

When I read your anons, I was thinking about the difficulty of maintaining voting coalitions (we won’t mention why - it’s definitely still too raw).  And I came to think that this is the best metaphor for understanding 1D members solo careers.

The largest part of any party’s voting coalition is going to be the people who have already voted for them.  The same is true of 1D members, the largest part of their coalition of people who make their career sustainable is people who bought a 1D ticket. The advantage that pop acts have over political parties is that they don’t have to win.  They just have to build enough of a support base so they can do it again. 

If you think of 1D members’ audiences not as a single unit, but as a coalition of different people, then I think things become much clearer.  Harry’s strength has been in appealing to both people for whom he is a fantasy boyfriend and those who identify with his queerness.  All while being considered credible by lots of gatekeepers (also a factor in politics).

One of Louis’ difficulties is that it is incredibly difficult for him to build together a coalition.  There are lots of reasons for this, which I have talked about and will talk about more.  But one of the important ones in this model is that the way he operates in order not to be outted, takes a real toll on his core fans - both directly and indirectly.

I’m interested in what happened with Niall, because my impression is that even without the pandemic, his coalition from Flicker wasn’t holding up - and I’m not sure why.  Liam I feel doesn’t have that core support, he has people who like his songs, but he doesn’t have a loyal base to build a coalition from (maybe he’s like a new political party).  Whereas Zayn does very well in streaming - which is a different project all together.

Anyway - that’s the model I’ve been using for thinking about their solo careers and understanding what they’re trying to do. Thanks for helping me develop it!