#we have this product and it's free but unless you pay up we will play cougar screams into your headphones 2-5 times/month at full volume

[drifting-knightjar]

God bless the uBlock origin team. The internet is so choked with ads these days, and I really didn't know how much it was bothering me and making my life worse until it all went away--a constant background buzz that got turned off.

Also my self-esteem was MUCH improved by not constantly seeing ads--it's so much easier to look at myself and my life and see what's there instead of focusing on what isn't.

I get that websites and creators have to make money somehow, and sometimes people give me a hard time for ""stealing"" but in that whole conversation there is always a missing piece. People really downplay the actual costs of constantly being shown this crap. If it was just an annoyance, that would be one thing, but the huge quantity of ads add up to have a real, tangible, and undeniably negative effect on mental health, and I simply don't agree that choosing to spare myself that is tantamount to stealing.

[stereax]

is it too soon to ask for some mock trades and analyses for Marner, Mo Rielly, and/or Tavares?

Not too soon, anon! Sorry I didn't get to you earlier, I've been working on this ask for about a week now, sorry it's taken so long! Let's take a look under the cut, shall we?

We're going to go backwards in this request - from Tavares to Rielly and last Marner. Bring up the drama and suspense, discuss what's easiest and move to harder topics later. Without further ado:

JOHN TAVARES: UNMOVABLE

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Tavares's contract is way too much money for his current production. He plays as a 2C and sometimes even 3C in Toronto's system. That's not a player you can pay 11 million dollars. Even if the "real price" is lower once his signing bonus is paid, it's still a terrible contract cap-wise. Additionally, Tavares's NMC makes moving him tough. It's been speculated that, even if him moving would benefit the team by allowing them to hold onto Marner, that he would not accept that proposition and would exercise his NMC to stay in Toronto with his family. It must also be considered that not many teams have room to add an $11m player who isn't playing to that potential.

This is probably one of the only trades I see making sense. Chicago is one of the only teams with the room to take on all $11m of that contract and not get an elite player out of it. We know they've been in the market for old men (see: the Foligno contract, the Hall contract, the Mrazek contract, the Perry contract...) and want players to play with Bedard in the short term. As such, you pay to dump Tavares's contract with Liljegren and a first. I don't think that's enough, but Toronto has no other good draft picks unless they add their 2026 1st. In both cases, you're hamstringing a potential retool at its knees.

Likelihood: 2/10. It makes sense but for Tavares's NMC. You'd have to strong-arm him to waive it. Additionally, the first(s) you give up are vital to a retool and could be used to trade for better players, not just the lack of players.

MORGAN RIELLY: UNFATHOMABLE

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Toronto needs good, puck-moving defensemen. Morgan Rielly is a good, puck-moving defenseman. Why are we trading him? What do I not see here? He has a full NMC for four more years, plus an M-NTC for the next two. Why?

Well. Um. Lemme think here.

Rielly is a left shot defenseman making $7.5m against the cap for the next six years. He's the only defenseman the Leafs currently have making more than $2m against the cap. That being said, there are questions about whether he's a true #1 defenseman or an above average #2.

To explain, let me pull up some JFresh cards of three #1 defensemen -

So we notice that Rielly is middling in EV offense WAR, bad at EV defense WAR, and very good at PP WAR. Karlsson is very good at EVO WAR, bad at EVD WAR, very good at PP WAR. Makar is middling in EVO WAR, good at EVD WAR, and good at PP WAR.

Past that, take a look at the microstats. Karlsson is only below average in entry denial rate, prevention of entry with possession, and hits; most of the rest of his stat sheet is bright blue, very good. Makar is only below average in d-zone retrievals (by one percentage point) and hits; past that, just about all of his stats are bright blue, very good. Rielly, however, is low on many microstat metrics, including primary shot assists, passes (yikes), and in-zone offense. This has led many to underline that he's not a "true" #1 defenseman in the way Karlsson and Makar are. Additionally, see the scouting report: he "plays too much" at 24:00 TOI, which is not #1 defenseman caliber.

All this being said, it still makes no sense to trade Rielly. He's your best defenseman by a country mile, you're in a contention window, and the rest of your defense isn't going to be able to replace that. The only way I see them moving off Rielly is if they pursue a top free agent #1 defenseman (Skjei, Montour) or someone who they believe can be a #1 defenseman (Ekman-Larsson comes to mind here). Unless they're going to try to trade for a top defenseman? No idea who would take that, though. Chychrun? But I doubt Ottawa would want to trade him to the Leafs.

Alright. Let's see a trade or three.

This is an idea where you're going Mittelstadt-for-Byram, Hall-for-Larsson, 1-for-1 trade. The difference between Rielly and Power is a little more significant, however; hence, I threw in some prospects on both sides to make it a little more palatable. Robertson is an NHL caliber player who's forced down the depth chart with the Leafs and could benefit from a team with fewer expectations and more chances for him to crack the top six; Kozak is a decent two-way player who could act as a third-line center; Hirvonen could probably will himself onto the Sabres' roster if his life so far has been any indication. Power gets a chance to be a true #1 without Dahlin in the way; Rielly acts as both a good "role model" and can play top-line minutes if needed.

Another 1-for-1, but one that's "easier", so to speak. Winnipeg has made it clear that Ehlers is on the trade block and that they're intending to contend for the near future. Rielly helps Winnipeg's defense, plus the term on his contract is enticing for a team that only has Morrissey signed past next season. Ehlers gives the core another top six winger to play with, one that's chronically underrated as well, and reduces the need to re-sign Bertuzzi and/or Domi. Here, however, you'd need to pursue a Montour or Skjei or other top defenseman in free agency.

This is a Gauthier-style trade that lets Toronto do what it really wants to - escape the cap hit of Rielly to be able to land a top defenseman in free agency. Attard is big, he's "offensive minded", and also he's very large. He seems to be a tweener at best from his career so far, but he may be able to thrive in the right system (and we know old-style hockey people like Treliving and Berube love their big defensemen). The picks get flipped later on for things like, you know, a goalie. Philly, for its part, picks up a player who is instantly their best defenseman.

Likelihood: 1/10. I don't think Treliving and company seriously want to move off Rielly. If the opportunity to upgrade presents itself, maybe, but I don't think Rielly is as "on the table" as they're saying.

MITCH MARNER: UNPALATABLE

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This is the big one. Marner's great. Nobody's doubting that. The problem is, Marner is expensive and projected to be expensive for the significant future. Additionally, Marner is, unlike Tavares, a player you can sell without having to pay for it. However, moving Marner means you either play Nylander with Matthews or play people like Bertuzzi and Knies with Matthews. Neither is optimal - Nylander has to drive his own line, especially without Marner, and Matthews needs a set-up man like Marner to unlock his full potential. Remember that one Quiz where they flat-out called Marner Matthews's superpower?

Let's take a look at trades before I go on too much about Marner's playstyle though. All of these will be assumed to happen after July 1, so that Marner's signing bonus can hit and the monetary payment for Marner drops significantly.

THE 1-for-1 trade. You thought the Rielly 1-for-1s were good, take a look at this. Nashville can afford the cap hit in full, would be able to give Marner top player time on a playoff team, and can move on from Saros by finally releasing Askarov from the Admirals. Toronto gets A Goaltender, specifically a top goaltender, which they are in desperate need of, with the possibility of extending him if they don't like what they're seeing from Woll or maybe Hildeby. It seems like Nashville is the foregone destination conclusion for Marner, but let's see some other ideas.

Toronto gets Binnington, who, despite being a... feisty player, is still a very good goalie, plus Faulk, who's a competent RHD to pair with Rielly, thus hitting their two biggest concerns. St Louis can clear a bit of cap here and picks up Marner, thus opening up Buchnevich even further for a trade to pick up assets. However, St Louis would have to grab a goalie as well if they intend on competing - Hofer is good, but not good enough to play 82 games a season. Maybe they can pick up Gibson at 50% retained, or maybe Martin Jones?

This is a fun one - Marner becoming the face of Utah Hockey. Toronto picks up a good offensive defenseman in Durzi and a solid, cost-controlled winger in Crouse, as well as what may be a near-first-round caliber 2nd and their own 2nd back. Utah is closer to contention - or at least wildcard playoff losses - than many of the non-playoff teams in the league. If not for that 14 loss streak (you know the one) they could have ended within striking distance of a wildcard. Marner might be what they need to get them there and is a clear upgrade on Crouse. Durzi's loss is compensated by the ability of Lamoureux to crack the lineup in a significant role.

Likelihood: 5/10. This seems to be what Treliving would want - to trade Marner off - but I'm not sure how feasible it really is. If I had to guess, I'm betting it's to Nashville, but the Utah idea is growing on me. It all depends if and how Marner waives his NMC.

Well! There ya have it, anon! Mock trades and ideas for all of Tavares, Rielly, and Marner. Sorry it took so long, again, and I really hope this answers your question!

If you enjoyed, drop a like, maybe reblog? It's up to you, though. Thanks for the ask, I really enjoyed working on it!

[oonajaeadira]

So ok, here's a Patricio question ... what nights does he have free aside from Thursdays? Does he have clients every weekday, and then again sometimes on weekends? I know they're both going to try and make it work, but unless there's a way to get them both off of that 'schedule' where she has a set time slot to be with him, things could get tricky and not feel much different for either of them, even though they'll no longer be in the massage room. The first weekend they spend together is going to be an interesting one, I think ... and I hope that they're able to make it special.

Hello, my wonderful pal. <3

They very much made their first weekend special. I didn’t cover it in detail, but hinted at it in the previous session. The nice thing about the way their relationship works is that they’ve got the sex part kind of out of the way...although it’s different now that there aren’t any barriers or rules. So they just get to breathe in each other’s spaces now, be around the person they yearn to share time with.

As for the schedule question, you won’t find a logical schedule laid out here. His clients vary in needs and wants, some of them are long term, some only once. Some are on a fixed and limited schedule and others come and go as needed. A long-term weekly schedule is actually kind of unusual for him. If they’re long term, they’re probably on a monthly or bi-weekly at best. Whereas some need a weekly short term. And some only need one or three sessions total.

But this sporadic and erratic schedule is bound to cause some issues. It will just have to be one of the many things they work on.

Kiss and Tell: Priority Aches and How to Soothe Them (GTTT PATS)

FANDOM: Calls - Apple TV (PATS is a character from ep. 3. “Pedro Across the Street.” This is not RPF.)

As with all of my PATS installments, warnings abound for explicit content.

Thank goodness you opted for the wide couch. Your ex hardly ever wanted to cuddle it seemed, but damn if it isn’t coming in handy now. While some gorgeously-filmed spy adventure movie plays on the tv, Patricio spoons you from behind, obviously not paying as much attention to it as you are.

Bright sparks of pleasure run up and down your neck as he tries to break your focus, choosing at the moment to center on one quarter-sized spot just behind your earlobe, circling it with the tip of his nose, rotating between light nuzzling and kissing and licking and nipping there. Every time the cocky spy with the silly belt buckle and electric whip shows up on screen, Patricio pushes his hips forward. And if you gasp, he simply cups a hand over your mouth, urging your silence and calm. He wants to take his time.

It had just been a lazy Saturday on the couch with a little Netflix. But when a dark-haired, mustachioed cowboy showed up on screen and you mumbled a breathless “well, hello, pretty yeehaw,” the and-chill portion of the day began. He pulled down the back of your leggings to find you instantly aroused, whispering that he was going to help you enjoy your new cowboy crush, and pushed himself slowly inside.

Now every time this ridiculously handsome and corny character struts onto the scene, your new boyfriend drags himself slowly through you, lightly skimming mouth and nose, lips and teeth along the back of your neck, intent on creating a Pavlovian response for anyone dark-haired and honey-eyed, broad and tanned…just like himself.

Thank god he makes you come before the end of the film or it may have created a poor connection. Your cowboy’s death illicits shared groans and laughter as his boots disappear into a huge meat grinder. Sad, really. You would have loved to see him come back in another part of the series.

But you have your own brown eyes and scruffy man to turn to and snuggle into.

“Can we do this every weekend?” you ask into his chest. God he smells good. Clean and spicy all at once, a combo of some personal grooming product and detergent, but also just a healthy aliveness and warmth.

With all your concentration on his scent and burrowing past his open shirtfront to meet your lips to the skin of his collarbone, you almost miss the fact that he takes a long time to answer you.

“Ah,” he breathes reluctantly, “Maybe Sunday? I…have a client scheduled next Saturday.”

Freezing for a moment with your forehead pressed to his neck, you don’t notice how your fingers dig into the fabric covering his shoulder. “You’ve never had a Saturday client before. They...must be new?”

“Kind of,” his voice rumbles softly against your brow and you close your eyes as a swallow ripples past, letting the vibrations ground you as he explains. “Started her on Monday. She’s an author, been sitting a lot lately. But her mom isn’t doing so great and she moved in to help her. She has to lift her mother and do a lot of the housework and yardwork and isn’t in shape like she wants to be. So between getting her strength back up and the sudden amount of physical work she’s not used to, her body’s having a period of adjustment. I almost rejected her because she could go to any masseuse…but her application said her father passed last year and now her mother’s slipping. Between all of that, she hasn’t had time for relationships and has just let the need become so much that it’s bringing her morale dangerously low. She’s stressed. I can help her. But Saturdays are the only time she has until another family member can start helping next month. It should only be a few weeks. Then I’m moving her to Mondays.”

You war with yourself, not wanting to dig for assurances out of desperation. But this is part of the work, isn’t it? For you and for him. So you ask.

“You’re seeing her every week? Like you did with me?”

And if he really wants this, he won’t ever tire of answering, just to make you feel safe.

He wants this.

“Just for the time being. I’ll scale her back as she gets stronger and able to find ways to destress. She hurt her lower back shoveling her mother’s sidewalks and needed help getting up to the massage room. She’ll need some work. But she was so much better even after the first three hours. Needed less help getting back down.”

“Oh.” It’s all you can say into his neck. You know you’re special to him, but it would be nice if he would cap it with some reassurance. You should tell him that. Pride stops you. You don’t want to beg, so you give him slack instead. “If you’re too tired on Sunday then that’s okay–”

“I want you Sunday. And Friday if you’ll have me.”

“I thought you had a Friday client?”

“That one’s once a month.”

“Oh.” Once a month, once a week, he knows them all so well…how many are there? You’ve never thought to ask. Maybe you should….

In response to your silence, his hands begin to slide along your back, coming to your waistline as he tilts his chin to your ear, murmuring low. “This muscle group here attaches here,” fingertips slide under your top, press into an intimate curve near your spine, the pads leaving heated imprints on your skin, “and here,” he whispers, sliding a palm down to cup your ass. After giving it a firm squeeze, he keeps moving to the back of your thigh. “And here.”

As he lifts your leg and pulls it over his hip, you finally lean your head back to look at him. And he smiles.

“There you are. Welcome back.” But as you crane forward to kiss him, he pulls back a bit. “I’m gonna show you how I’m fixing her, but if I do that, no kissing. Because I don’t kiss my clients.”

“You kissed me.”

“Yeah. And look what kind of mess that got me into.” His expression is serious, but gentle, the comment’s both a little affectionate dig at you, but also carries the unspoken weight of I don’t know how to tell you that you’re special. I don’t know how to tell you you were the best mistake I made. 

But he’s trying.

“Okay. Show me.”

And he does. Explains what he looked for in his client’s wracked body. How he targeted the connections and radiated to other parts of the back, explaining how a muscle in your chest can pull at your rib cage which can twist your spine here, how a spot in the arch of your foot connects to your sacral area, how finger pressure inside the back wall of the vagina just here can cause these back muscles to naturally release and pull downward….

At certain times he points out how your structure differs from hers, that if it were you, he would also be prodding here (“And I’m coming back to that when this demonstration is over–what have you been doing this week that got you all knotted up here?”) and an inch or two higher here.

It’s all very technical and magical at the same time and it’s exhilarating to see how very well he knows the human body, how he’s made an expert study of it...

…and of course he’d want to work on different ones constantly, solve their puzzles, examine their differences.

Even see how it works when he fucks it.

Even a mechanic likes to take the cars they work on out for a spin afterward.

But they still drive their pride and joy home.

When he’s done with his demo he kisses you long and deep, your fingers no longer clutching. No need to hang on so tightly when you completely melt into one another.

“Go start the shower,” he mumbles against your lips. “Get warmed up. I’m gonna take care of that knot you’ve got going on.”

“You coming with me?”

“I’ll meet you there.”

As you move off toward the bathroom, you see him reach for his phone on the coffee table.

And once you have your clothes off and are climbing into the warm steam, you hear your own ding from the next room.

You’ll have to remember to check that out.

But you forget the moment you’re enveloped in the combined warmth of hot water and naked man. ________________

Sometime during the night, the glass of water he insisted you drink after your massage comes calling and forces you to slide out of his heavy embrace and head for the toilet.

Force of habit makes you grab your phone on the way, just to double-task and check the notifications while your body gets its needs out of the way.

Email: Subject: Patricio has shared a calendar with you.

A...calendar?

Curious, you tap the notif. And stare at the note attached.

--For your eyes only. You can have any and every night that’s free.

And there is his calendar, days sporadically claimed, no pattern that you can yet see, although it begins to make sense the longer you look.

Nikki. Agnes. Carol. Rumiko. Jamie. Jody. TJ. Autumn. Ness.

The next two Saturdays read “Theresa.”

Theresa. Her dad’s gone and her mother is dying and she has no one to help her right now. And everything hurts. And her name is Theresa.

Your thumb glides over her name.

The light of the screen helps guide you back to bed.

Back to a man who doesn’t wake when you climb under the covers and into his arms.

He only sighs in his sleep and holds you tighter.

It only takes a minute or two to fall easily back to a relaxed and blissful sleep.

______

NEXT

MASTERLIST

SERIES MASTERLIST

[amazinglyspicy]

hello and sorry if i am barking up the wrong tree--do know of any good readings on media piracy, like critical theory, what forms do or do not affect certain kinds of creators, freedom of information/art etc? I'm struggling to find stuff online with the enshittification of search engines, and you seemed like you might know!

Hi there. The question you’re asking is very complex and there’s really no true one answer for it.

Media piracy as a whole is too new of a topic to really have much empirical studies or data to suggest if piracy hurts sales one way or another. We mostly have anecdotal evidence.

However, there is one study from the EU that suggest video game piracy in particular doesn’t harm sales numbers and in fact may help sales in some cases (i.e. trying out a game before you decide to buy, through the means of piracy). Going further, the same study found that piracy does negatively impact film and book sales, while music sales differences were negligible.

You can read about the study in this article, which also contains a pdf link to the study itself.

Generally speaking, I would suggest not pirating anything that’s worth buying. An indie game you pirated and ended up liking deserves to be bought.

Books always should be bought to support the author, and at local book store where the money actually helps your community too. Unless they’re overpriced textbooks.

If you use a cracked Spotify app and find a band you like, please look them up on bandcamp and maybe buy some merch too while you’re there. That does wonders more than paying for a Spotify subscription and streaming their music.

Big companies like Nintendo, Disney, Adobe etc. don’t deserve a dime. Always pirate their products.

As for what information/art should be free, I’m of the opinion, all of it should be free. No one should be denied the right to learn or engage with artworks because they are locked out behind a paywall. If you are privileged enough to help out independent game developers, authors, and musicians, then you definitely should! But just because someone doesn’t have that privilege themselves doesn’t mean they should never get to play that game/read that book/hear that music etc.

I know this isn’t exactly the answer you’re looking for, and I apologize for that. But you have to also understand things aren’t so black and white of “piracy good or bad?” Because it really depends on the situation of who is doing it and what is being pirated.

[puckpocketed]

Hey 👋 do you have any thoughts on the Zegras trade rumours?? Ngl there a part of me that wants him traded to a team that would treat him better!!

come back with a warrant etc etc.

no seriously what is this lmaoooo are there no other ducks blogs to harass with questions…. 😭 godbles. thanks for thinking of me <3 don't know if you'll like this answer.

I don’t think he is untouchable at this point, and I don’t mind that. I do get the attachment and protectiveness some fans might feel over him i suppose! Like i wasn’t there for it but he was thee face of the franchise for a while there. I simply don’t have that same attachment. For me he’s just a guy who is fun to watch, and I’d watch him play on whatever team he’s on! I do genuinely get excited to see him play setup-man — even if Frankie the Volume Shooter Vatrano can’t finish on the EASIEST chances ever!! <3 Z at this point is looking like….not a franchise-altering star in the same vein as Leo Carlsson. Look me in the eye and say you’d build around Z over Carlsson. I wouldn’t. I don’t think any GM would. Makes sense he’s not as much of a lock for the future as he was maybe 2 years ago when he was literally their best prospect. the ducks have a better prospect pool and a guy who can actually be The Guy. Why wouldn’t z’s place be a bit less secure?

I still don’t think it happens. Regarding the rumours, at first I firmly believed they were complete fabrications that came out of the drysdale trade (silly spec articles were fun but had no substance to them) and lately I’ve interpreted the endless noise as 1) click bait during off-season, and 2) teams probably are at least asking and it's because the center market is so thin — we all saw the egregious contracts that were handed out at the start of free agency. He is cheap, young, is a proven NHLer w/ two 60+ point seasons under his belt, and every other center is locked down or very very expensive, and teams are likely scrambling. Idk… what GM worth anything would hang up the phone in this situation? I’m sure PV is listening, as is his JOB, I just don’t think they’re as desperate to offload zegras as everyone keeps saying. We know Z wasn’t actively being shopped at the deadline. PV himself said he wanted Z playing with them as of the ducks migration event in March (albeit, on the wing).

i think even if they really wanted to be rid of him, it would be really stupid of them to trade him for anything less than a 1:1 NHL-ready player. They need warm bodies who are actually NHL caliber. They want to come out of rebuild, they’ve said this coming season they want to compete, so more picks are useless. PV is looking for a RHD and/or top 6 winger, they emphasised how much they needed finishing because of how many 1 goal games they played last season, so he’d probably want someone like that back if he’s smart. And given zegras is currently at his lowest trade value coming off a season of injury + poor production, I really hesitate to say anyone would pay that price. For more complex trade analysis I think you’ll have to go elsewhere, I can’t speak in more detail about what the market looks like for teams in the east, who wants to move bodies and who really needs what Z brings. It’s a circular problem… I don’t think it happens unless the return is big, and the return probably won’t be big because he was injured and wasn’t playing too well because he hadn’t recovered fully when he was back. There’s wiggle room for a GM to do something horrendously stupid and give away the farm for him or for PV to sell him off for nothing… but I’m doubtful.

can’t agree with you on wanting Z out. Not gonna dig into the ‘theyre killing his whimsy’ idea other than to say i dont think it’s that deep, I’m not in his head, and body language reading is a pseudoscience. don't think the ducks are evil or that they're, idk, harming or ‘ruining’ him by making him do stuff like uhhh play more defensively responsible and sitting him for dumb penalties (be serious w me here… Unless you’re a truly gifted goal scorer who puts up insane points + have the perfect linemates to make up for your deficiencies, seems to me like everyone has to learn to play a little on the other side of the puck eventually) and I tortured myself by actually watching ducks games UNLIKE some of the nhl media who claim they know whats up so i feel like i can somewhat speak to this… zegras is a talented but flawed player who hasn’t learned to keep his cool and costs the team precious minutes of his ice time in the penalty box. his stupid penalties were disastrous for game momentum. I don’t particularly agree w the way his short leash was handled by Cronin; the benchings were certainly deserved, but the optics were handled poorly. However, given that they get along quite well (reportage from people who actually witness them interacting) and Cronin uses every opportunity to praise Z for his work ethic and intelligence (actual articles and interviews that are direct quotes and not speculation) I’m more willing to chalk it up to cronin’s growing pains as a first-time NHL coach. There seems to be this weird idea around the league that they’re at odds that I’ve heard on podcasts and in desk segments speculating on trade rumours and i am begging them to actually pay attention to what is being said. God. Anyway.

On the flipside… he IS a driver of offence. The team just looks different when he’s playing vs when he’s out. They don’t have players who can do what he does. I want to believe that he is a highly valued member of the team purely based on how much he does for the team when he’s in. Is that too vibe check-y of a take? I swear there are stats and gameplay to back this up LMAO. Sorry to get overly sincere but… deep, deep down i just think he’s a special player. I knew fuck all about his personality when he first caught my eye. All i got was that he’s so, so fun to watch. Not for his individual highlight reel play necessarily (though that’s also fun), but as someone who manipulates defenders, as someone who has immaculate hands in tight spaces, his uncanny vision — for what he can do as a passing threat, the way he somehow always knows how to place a pass where it finds a linemate’s tape. And now he’s working to use that hockey brain and those fancy hands to defend, I just think that’s really cool. I believe in him. Barring catastrophe, I think he’s going to be so good. The way media paint him as one-dimensional/flashy but then turn around and say he’s a prime trade target for teams in need of a top 6 forward is insane to me. Which is it? Makes me a bit sad people aren’t giving Z credit for trying to learn + grow his game lmao (and uh a little insulted on his behalf i wont lie!!). Idk. Maybe I’m being too optimistic. I truly don’t care anymore. The rumours are just noise to me at this point, I’ve put enough thought into them to last a lifetime and I don’t have control over what happens in the end. No matter what, I just want him to do well <3

[ohthehypocrisy]

What if Pokemon Unite was an Anime? Part 1: The Pitch

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Before a show is made, the very first thing you need is money. Some would argue ambition and drive and a good idea is good enough, but time and energy is also required, and making a show would run a lot smoother if you had money to pay people to make your show for you. Also, there are some shows out there made without any of the above attributes, but I won't say what we're all thinking...

Therefore, if you were to approach Mr. Pokemon himself in the animation department of Game Freak, you would need a solid reason to convince him to make a Pokemon Unite anime. You would also need fluent Japanese to speak to him, but we're looking at the bigger picture here.

This is where having the demeanor of a door-to-door salesman would come in handy, as you, the concept pitcher, must sell Mr. Pokemon himself on the idea and why his company should spend money on a Pokemon Unite anime. Now, animation is not cheap, but the budget isn't all that important, because any dollar amount would turn people away from a product unless they understood what they were paying for first.

That said, don't push your luck. Understanding the market is how you play things safe when making bids. Currently, the animation studio responsible for the pokemon series is busy with Pokemon Horizons, having started a proper arc in Scarlet and Violet's Naranja Academy, and I'm personally looking forward to how the rest of Paldea will appear on the home television screen.

But I digress. Because of the series running on for the indeterminate future, you should understand that a similarly long-running series for Pokemon Unite isn't feasible. You also don't know if the animation studio is working on other projects, so play it safe and make the pitch for a short miniseries, not unlike Pokemon Concierge or Path to the Peak.

You also need to understand that the show has to make money, to make a return on all the monetary investments made by making a Pokemon Unite Anime. Pokemon Concierge got by since it is available to watch only on Netflix (legitimately, anyways), and Pokemon: Path to the Peak was made to sell cards. And also to tell a sweet story about an up-and-comer winning their first World Tournament. But also to sells cards.

And since Pokemon Unite is Free-To Play, any monetary returns have to be done through the in-game shop. Pokemon Unite loves to sell clothing not just for the Pokemon Trainers, but also the pokemon themselves, and it also likes to advertise these fashionable additions ad nauseam throughout the entire playthrough.

(Quick disclaimer; I myself have never made a purchase on Pokemon Unite for various reason. Chief among them being I'm not rich and I'm a responsible adult. Also, Cradily isn't in the game.)

So, if you're gonna convince anyone that a Pokemon Unite anime should be made, you're gonna have to appeal to the lowest common denominator, most of all Mr. Pokemon of Game Freak himself. The show would need to be short, sweet, easy to follow, fun to watch, and should overall make people actually want to get Pokemon Unite and spend money on it.

As such, the animation would be best pitched as a miniseries, focusing on the main character and their pokemon and their journey climbing the ranks from Beginner to Master. Since everyone has a different experience playing this game, each episode can focus on a single conflict that most players experience when playing Pokemon Unite by themselves, or with allies.

But who exactly are these characters? And what kind of conflicts do they bring to the table? That's what we'll be focusing on next time. Since Pokemon Unite is pretty sparse on story, having an animated miniseries is handy for a game to fill in the blanks. That said, the pokemon trainers are avatars for the players, so we can come up with something humorous but meaningful for the characters that represent the average Unite players.

Even the unlucky ones.

You know who you are.

[hot-take-tournament]

ok original submitter of the christmas halloween take here! i’ve seen this point being brought up that i’d like to speak on and that’s the following: ‘well there’s christmas stuff being sold like well before christmas so it’s not exclusive to the christmas season! therefore that point is invalidated’

here’s the thing; halloween stuff is also being sold before halloween season, and again it’s socially acceptable to have that kinda stuff around year round as it’s generally just spooky aesthetics. meanwhile having christmas stuff all year round is silly because it’s intrinsically tied to december. you can’t have christmas decor in your house and other relayed stuff in summer that’s just silly! (unless you’re doing a hhgregg joke) (and also you’re free to do whatever forever i just think it’s a bit silly :-P)

‘but it may be sold that time’ think about it; would you rather buy christmas stuff in advance and save it for the season, or buy it all in december during the Rush to buy christmas stuff? plus stuff is less likely to be sold out earlier you buy it

btw while some christmas stuff is general winter stuff, such as snowflakes, a lot of it (christmas songs, stockings, reindeers) is specific to christmas, and there is a distinction between general cozy winter aesthetics and christmas aesthetics so even then you can’t do christmas stuff in february.

ok, i know this isn't entirely the same point, but it is one that i feel really strongly about and i've been holding in this rant for a long time now without even realising it

i think pretty much every argument about why halloween is better than christmas is valid - but the one argument that i see a lot and 100% disagree with is when people say that halloween 'stays in october', while christmas 'spreads throughout the year'

i can understand why most people feel that way - it's true that the lead up to christmas usually starts the second october ends, but... for me, at least, halloween is worse

i've worked retail for a long time, and in my experience at least even though they're both sold super early halloween stuff stays on the shelves a lot longer than christmas stuff does - actually, halloween stuff never goes away.

(this is a grocery store, so we're talking about food specifically)

christmas products do get sold really early, but they don't stick around that long after christmas is over, either because they either sell out or just go out of date.

and we're never overstocked with branded christmas stuff. it's always more expensive, higher quality, and takes up more shelf space - things like shortbread tins, fancy chocolate reindeer, stuff like that - so we don't get sent as much, and we don't build up a surplus of stock - by new year's it usually gone

but our halloween stock consists of mountains of cheap shit candy - more than we could ever sell - that's filled with so many chemical preservatives it takes 12 months or more until it hits its sell-by, and since there's always a chance someone will buy it, we just leave it up there until it's replaced by more of the same halloween candy next year

at least christmas decorations go away eventually - we have a dedicated, decorated halloween section all year long.

i already have really bad memories associated with halloween, and i'm reminded of those memories every day because for me, halloween never fucking ends.

i know that people when people make this point they actually mean christmas adverts and songs and stuff playing too early... but i'm so done with halloween, i can't take it anymore

i'm trapped in a never-ending halloween hell and if listening to mariah carey in october is the price i'd have to pay for freedom then i'd pay it in a heartbeat

i'm so tired

just let me be free

[circusgoth-dotcom]

Bedridden Blues

Ship: Anton Chigurh x Salem Nickel Newman

Word Count: 1022

Summary: During a shootout, Salem caught a stray bullet through the ankle, making his life on the run more like a life on the moderately fast limp. Anton insists he get his rest in when he can and bars him from overstrenuious activity- including taking anymore hits. CWs for mentions of violence, injury, food, and drugs, some suggestiveness toward the end.

Tag List: @futurewife @canongf

About two days ago, Salem was shot right through the left ankle, by no real fault of his own… “Just one of those crazy flukes, I guess,” he had said once he and Anton had gotten away from the shootout before promptly collapsing. They had since gone off the beaten path to find a hotel to reside in, waiting for their next hit.

“What did I tell you about walking around too much?” Anton asked softly yet sternly as Salem re-entered their room. Anton had set out to get a scope of where exactly they were, so in the meantime Salem had gone down the hall to get a pop from the vending machine.

“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon and I was thirsty,” Salem limped to the bed and sat down, cracking open his can of Pepsi. “It’s not that long of a walk, Anton.”

“You have a hole through your leg and it’s not going to get better unless you lay off it.” Anton shooed Salem further up the bed, took his foot in his hand and propped it back up on a small pile of pillows at the end of the bed.

“You act like I’ve never been shot before.” Even as he said it, Salem grimaced, attempting to cover it up with a swig of his soda.

“You’re goddamn lucky you’ve never gotten badly shot.” Anton knelt beside the bed and took his partner’s free hand in his own. “I know, you like what we do, you’ve grown accustomed to living a majority of your time on the road, but can’t you just sit for a little while?? I’ve done all I can for you with what I could get my hands on, now you’ve gotta play the waiting game.”

Salem frowned as he continued to drink his Pepsi before finally setting it aside and looking down at his ankle. “When did you do all that cleanin’ and sewin’ and gauzin’ anyhow?”

“The first night we got here, when you were out cold.”

“‘Suppose that’ll do it.”

“Here,” Anton stood and strode over to the tiny television set on the dresser, picking up the remote control on his way, and turned it on. He silently considered the TV guide for a moment before changing the channel and bringing up Alien, in all the glorious, grainy quality of the 1970s. “Watch this. I’m going to take a shower.”

“Anton, you know I don’t like movies unless we’re seeing ‘em in the cinema…!” Salem groaned as he disappeared into the bathroom.

“Make do.”

Salem huffed and half-directed his attention to the TV across the room, exhaling as he leaned back against his pillows. He knew Anton was right about not putting too much strain on the wound, but the last time he had been truly cooped up like this was way back before Anton had even come into his life. Things were unfathomably dull, then.

Just as Salem felt he was about to drift off for the night, between the faint sound of Anton’s shower and the dull ache in his leg becoming background noise in his mind, the bedside telephone began to ring. Springing up in bed, Salem scrambled to pick it up.

“Anton Chigurh?”

Salem grabbed a notepad and a pen as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and his ear. “Just his business partner, who’s asking?”

“Someone who’d pay a pretty penny to find out who’s stealing his product and reselling it… tampered with. You’re not far from us, now, based on our sources. You ride into San Angelo and we’ll get you in contact with a middleman who’ll give you more information.”

“We don’t deal in vagueries, mister. Name the price up front and we’ll consider getting back to you.”

“$900,000, how’s that grab you?”

"You'll know by tomorrow." He promptly hung up and ecstatically waited for Anton to come back into the room. They didn't really do this for money- especially not Anton, who had a voracious taste for both the hunt and the eventual kill, and all the carnage that he would inevitably create in his wake, but they always appreciated cash to assure a roof over their head and food in their stomachs… the easy way.

"We got a call, Foghorn." Salem stated as Anton exited the bathroom in his jeans (he rarely wore anything "usual" to bed). He raised an eyebrow.

"You're using a nickname, you must be rather proud of yourself."

"$900,000 to go bust some drug trader's chops. Could be fun. We've gotta go to San Angelo tomorrow to get more information."

Anton thought for a moment. "I'll scope it out."

"Yes!"

"But you’re not coming."

"What?!"

"My word is final, go to bed." With that, Anton twitched off the light and slipped into the second bed. Salem opened his mouth to retaliate, but he knew Anton wouldn't respond, even if he did, and thus resorted to silent stewing as he tried to fall back asleep.

~~~

"Let me come, pleaasee!!" Salem begged as Anton went through his morning routine. He spat out his toothpaste.

"No."

"It’s an hour's drive, it won't overexert me!"

He combed his hair. "No."

"Antonn..!"

He put on his shirt. "For the last," and hoisted Salem over his shoulder as if he weighed no more than your standard bag of groceries, "goddamn time," promptly plopping him down on the bed while simultaneously minding his injured ankle, "I said no, Salem, and you're gonna sit tight here until I come back, unless you want to be in a mess of trouble with me, understood?"

His large hand traveled down their side until it came to his hip, his face inches above its as he gave its skin a flighty pinch. Salem winced and blushed.

"Understood, sir. Sorry, sir."

"That’s more like it, devil." Anton kissed him sweetly and even with all of their frustration, Salem melted, kissing him back with a smile and tousling the back of his hair.

"Well, at least be quick about it."

"I'll try. Room service will bring you breakfast in a couple of hours."

"Bye, baby."

"Bye."

[invisiblegarters]

Hidden Agenda Ep 7

Word on the street (lol) is that this is actually going to be 12 eps, which I am thankful for because Only Friends is going to start bringing that promised messiness beginning next week (I hope) and I will need more time with a palate cleanser.

Oh don't get me wrong I'm going to love every second of OF, but also I know me and I know I am going to be very frustrated so it'll be good to have this cute tropefest to look forward to after the mess.

Would a promotion to win headphones get me? Yes it would, because I am one, cheap, and two, always up for a challenge. Also I like rollercoasters so it wouldn't be too much of a hardship for me. Unless I had to get on the swings. *shudders* We don't do the swings here.

Is this the same theme park they go to in every drama? It's just making me want to ride rollercoasters.

Lol there's always the one who can't handle them.

Ah, my old friend product placement. It's weird to miss you but there you go.

These rides are not that challenging! Boo. I was hoping the fourth one was a free fall ride - I love those and it would be hilarious to see the faces Joke would make - bet he would scream too - but alas.

Pfft Joke definitely has Zo's number. He totally liked that line.

Wait is that a wild Title? Yes, yes it is. Pfft, now that GMMTV has him in their stable they're just gonna put him in all the things, huh? Not complaining. Although he's again playing an ass, lol. Are we gonna typecast him already?

Aw, heartbreak at a theme park. I am sure that there are worse places to have that happen, but still. Yeesh.

I find it interesting that Zo's hesitance with Joke wasn't due to freaking out about these new bi feelings though. That's nifty.

Sometimes, I just love me an uncomplicated, cozy romance, and honestly I feel like these two deliver on that front. They did it in SIMM too.

I love how they're always alone in mazes like this. In reality it's a freaking crush, and there's always the two or three girls in front of you who scream at literally everything so they cast all jumps at them and you're just kind of behind them feeling a little bored and checking out the decorations. I still love 'em, though.

If he doesn't go for the photo cheek kiss...

Huh. Literally every other trope but not that one, show?

AOU AND BOOM! I almost forgot they were in this show. I want to care about this hiding plot. I do. But the problem is we get so little of them that I just...don't. I don't know if there was supposed to be more of them and then they cut it out or couldn't film it for whatever reason or what, but I just don't feel like I've been given enough to care. And that makes me sad because I was especially looking forward to Aou.

Okay so is grandma homophobic or just not impressed that Joke didn't tell her that Zo is his boyfriend? My guess is the former since the whole thing with Jeng but who knows, really. At this point it could swing either way, really. I would guess it's the latter because this show is fairly straightforward romance but! But. Sometimes the straightforward romances will hit you with that kind of serious thing out of nowhere.

Aw go Zo. I like his optimism.

HEH. Nope we're going simple. That is not a complaint. Grandma is fun. Also what do you mean you're not dating, Zo? You literally just went out on an amusement park date! There was a headphones winning montage and everything!

Yes you know what I agree. Competence is hot.

Hahaha okay I love Joke. Literally any chance to get his shirt off around Zo. And his pathetic attempts to clean himself like he's never done it before. Oh Joke you transparent fool.

Oh yes the academic scholarship. I forgot all about that too. Why is he so devastated? Does he think that he surely won't get the Finland trip if Nita is also competing for it?

Joke dude. Chill out he probably just passed out after studying all night. Good lord. You are embarrassing.

Pottery date!

I am Old but all this paying by QR code freaks me out.

Oh hey Title's back. I guess I knew that would happen.

Okay NO. No, it is not your place to go off on the asshole former friend, Joke. Come on. What he did was wrong but it's been ages and if Zo wants to know what happened then it's on him to find out, not you. I do not like his high handedness sometimes. He really really needs to quit it with that.

Yeah I'd have blocked him too. I am super petty and I have blocked people for less.

JOKE.

"You could have been honest without being cruel." No but for real. This should be printed on a card and distributed because I swear sometimes people just don't get that memo.

Oh just make out already.

Thank you.

Hahaha all right, point to Zo. That was a good one. And since it ain't OF, I'm pretty sure Joke's not gonna turn around and sleep with someone else lol. So you know, it's a win. :D :D

Look, I make fun but like I said, sometimes you just need something sweet and uncomplicated and fun. And i firmly believe that there's room for both this and stuff like OF or even Dangerous Romance. We can have gritty and realistic, mean and fraught, and sweet and simple! They can coexist. In the same weekend even!

[fabcreature]

i was writing this in the tags but reached the tag limit, so i copy and pasted it here so i could finish my point. that's why the text bits are so short and formatted a little weird

look i'm not anti-piracy by any means

but as an artist myself i'm not a fan of seeing such a vast majority saying it's ALWAYS okay

you know that includes more than just giant hollywood movies? you know that includes music and films and games made by small indie artists?

and they could REALLY use that money that they could make if you purchased their product legitimately

unless you're brad pitt or beyonce level famous being an artists means being poor pretty much

i mean you all do know how little spotify pays artists right? and the fact that spotify is the standard for listening to music

means that's actually big. musicians only make decent money by touring and even then most of the profits comes from selling the merch

if you're a small artist that can't tour much just imagine how fucked you are

like that's one example. of an artist who could really use that money that you refuse to give them in favour of piracy

but yea indie film makers and indie game developers exist too. and i doubt they have it any better

i mean look as someone who's politically leaning towards anarcho communism i would love it if art was free

i believe people need and deserve art regardless of their financial situation obviously

but the way people feel entitled to art for free when it's obvious you would pay for clothes and furniture etc

it just seems like you don't respect how much hard work artists put into making their art

once again it would be a lovely idea if art was always free and accessible i seriously wish it was that way and think it should be

but we live in a capitalist society where you need to pay money in order to live. and that applies to artists too

and if no one pays for their art they can't live. or they have to stop making art

i know the economy is fucked and people are broke and don't have much extra money to spend

but i don't think paying 10 bucks for a digital download of an album is that unreasonable of an ask

and if your argument is ''well if i had to pay for this i simply wouldn't consume it so the artists isn't getting my money either way''

if you want a nice dress but you will either never be able to afford it or wouldn't pay for it even if you could

are you entitled to get that dress for free?

once again acting like you're entitled to getting all art for free makes it seem like you don't respect artists and the work they put in

in the end i consider myself pro piracy!! i'm all for pirating big hollywood movies!

i'm all for pirating things the creator/owner is refusing to put out there for people to see!

i'm all for pirating things that's creators are all dead. bc by that point the profit is made by some corporation instead of artists

i'm all for bootlegs of broadway shows too!

i think bootlegs and piracy can raise important questions about the accessibility of art

and bootlegs and piracy actually play quite a big part in preservation

like for example think about how many episodes of old tv shows would be lost media if someone hadn't put them up on youtube etc

so yea, i'm not against piracy as a whole, and i think in a perfect world art would be free and accessible for all. but. "piracy is ALWAYS okay" really rubs me the wrong way. because that applies to pirating from small artists too, ones who are just as broke as you are.

just wanted to put that out there.

We're talking about personal morals here, not legality.

–

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[ijustwantedtobeoneofthestrokesuk]

The Value Of Art?

Back in the ‘90s, a CD would cost around £15, a monthly subscription to a streaming service, where you have access to over 70 million songs costs less than that. That price hasn’t changed since they launched, despite, not only offering more content but also, inflation, everything else costs more. Their pricing structure doesn’t make economic sense but they are so competitive with one another, they are scared to lose subscribers if they rise their fee. 

Bill Ryder-Jones (The Coral founding member) “The rates need sorting out for artists but on the whole, I think it's good.” 

The value of anything is how much somebody is willing to pay for it. That price is generally dictated by supply and demand. Thanks to technology the entry level to being a musician is lower than ever, it doesn’t mean that the quality is lower, it’s just easier for potential stars to get out there. It’s now possible to create music, whatever the genre on a laptop, if you’re a talented songwriter it doesn’t matter what medium you use to create art. Long-term success will be based on how good something is.  

Dominic Masters (The Others) “I think it's a lot easier for artists to get stuff out there on their own these days which is brilliant. I think it's easier to have that DIY approach as there are certainly more channels/formats to get your music out there to the wider public from YouTube, BandCamp, TikTok etc.  

I needed to get a record label in the 2000's as if I was gonna leave my job? I would need to be able to pay the rent. I think now it's trickier to get a label and maybe people now don't look at music as something you do professionally but opportunities to put your music out there yourself are vast. We opted to use BandCamp to release the third album 'Songs for the Disillusioned' and again I think we will use the same format to give away the fourth album.” 

80% of music consumption came from streaming in 2020, an increase of 20% (thanks COVID!). Streaming is opening up people’s pallets and broadening tastes, which is great but it also minimises the opportunities for ‘scenes’ to develop.  

Dave McCabe (The Zutons) “I think streaming is good but artists need paying properly. It’s that simple, it’s very corrupt and very insulting what people are paid at the moment.” 

In 2021:

60,000 songs were uploaded to Spotify each day, that’s 22 million a year!  

Over 7 million musicians on Spotify  

90% of the streams on the platform were from just 57,000 artists 

800 artists generated over $1 million a year from Spotify  

7500 earned over $100,000 

The likelihood of being a $100,000 a year artist on Spotify is 0.094%.  

Zac Stephenson (Special Needs) “I think we live in a society now where our patience levels are incredibly low so it’s a product of that. We want everything and we want it now and we want it for free or virtually free and in actual fact it hurts artists.  

You get peanuts for having your music on streaming sites, and I mean literally not enough to keep you in peanuts over the course of a year, unless you’re getting millions of streams.  

Artists are fearful of not having their stuff up there though because having your content on Spotify or whatever is seen as some sort of badge of professionalism. And the more artists that comply, the harder it is for anyone else to protest. They’re seen as contrary rebels, or people think they’re not at a level to justify their content being on Spotify.  

Plus, it’s not just the fact that you get paid so little for the streams themselves that’s the only problem because the ability to instantly play almost any song in the history of music for free or a small monthly charge also discourages virtually everybody from actually purchasing music.” 

Has streaming improved the standard of music?  

An artist can no longer get away with one big single and fill the rest with trash like they previously did. The way music is released is ever-changing in the streaming era, some artists focus on singles, 7 to 9-track ‘albums’ are becoming a thing, too long for an EP, too short for an album (recording a song is expensive, why record 10 if 8 is good enough). Then there are albums, particularly in hip-hop with 18 or more songs which is far too long but it’s good for getting more money from streaming. Nothing is permanent anymore, Kanye continues to work on albums after they have been released on streaming platforms.  

Kate Jackson (The Long Blondes) “Streaming is good for discovering music or listening to a back catalogue but artists need to be paid properly for their work and that includes a fair percentage from streaming services. This has got to change. It’s still important to buy the physical release to support the artist.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic stalled growth for new artists, to minimise the risk of wasting marketing budgets on debut albums, new artists released ‘mixtapes’ which was essentially the singles that had already been released and a few other tracks, it worked in the favour of the label as it doesn’t count towards an ‘album’ on the record contract.  

Major Label Benefits 

The 3 major labels, Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music are benefitting as they are now worth a combined £73.8bn 

90% of the top 10 streamed songs on Spotify are generally by major label artists 

In 2020 Drake (who is on a major label) had 5 billion streams  

There were just 720 UK artists who got over 1 million streams in a single month in the UK in 2020, which would earn them just £1,500 

In the UK 47% of artists earn less than £10,000 a year 

62% earn less than £20,000  

The more streams, the less they are worth and the more artists there are, the harder it is to get discovered. 

Streaming services have turned music into marketing platforms to sell tour tickets, physical copies, merch and monthly subscription packages for access to exclusive content, the opposite to what it should be. 

Streaming has taken the music industry from its worst state with piracy to becoming stronger than ever but if it continues not to reward the creatives then it will no longer be a sustainable career option and art will suffer. 

 A user-centric system could potentially help niche artists as that would pay them for each stream that they have, not become part of a %. Just because you’re listening to your favourite band, it doesn’t mean they are being paid for it. Your subscription money just goes into one big pot but artists want the streams so they chart… 

Artists have to do more for less. For artists who use the traditional methods of making an album are feeling it the most, equipment, recording and creating the product still costs the same but they aren’t being rewarded for the art, unless they are part of the elite. It’s the ‘super hit economy’ however it isn’t necessarily the platform's fault. Spotify dish out their agreed % each quarter to the rights owner, it’s up to them to distribute the money fairly. But it isn’t fair. 

A song has to be listened to for at least thirty seconds and it cannot be on mute to count as a stream, platforms use technology to detect if a bot has been created to increase false streams. It has changed the way we listen to music which has changed the way music is made. A song used to average out at about 3 minutes, that is now getting shorter, towards the 2-minute mark and the structure has also changed with the chorus’ coming in at the start to draw the listener in. 

Jay McAllister (Beans On Toast)  “Music should evolve with the times and it is. Streaming has changed with the landscape and we’ve got to roll with it. As a music fan it’s unbelievable being able to listen to whatever you want all of the time. I’ve got a young daughter and every day on the way to nursery I put something different on, today I put on Stevie Wonder, having instant access to everything ever written is a great thing. 

As a musician, something needs to change. It’s still finding its feet but the fact that the guy from Spotify is investing money in weapons manufacturing says a lot. There’s money there that should be paid to musicians, not war.” 

Streaming has changed the role of a record label. With many musicians marketing themselves on social media, saving labels money they have cut their workload even further by working more like a music distributor, rather than a business that nurtures talent. They have never been richer, distribution is easier and cheaper than ever as they don’t need to make as many physical copies as they used to.  

Musicians have always struggled, financially. There are very few artists who ‘make it’ and ‘making it’ isn’t having a top 10 single. To be a career artist they need to be producing consistently successful albums, there’s only a handful who achieve this each generation and, with more and more people making music, there is less money to go around,

For a band to be successful there are a lot of people working behind the scenes to make it happen. Yes, artists should get the higher cut as it’s them making the product but there are managers, accountants, agents, assistants, record labels, producers, engineers, PR, marketing teams, lawyers, promoters, tour crew and many more who all need paying too.  

We now live in a world full of information, the behind the scenes stuff isn’t so secret anymore. Artists who had a couple of number 1 albums in the ‘60s, ‘70’s or ‘80’s would have struggled too, but they didn’t have X (Twitter) to be vocal about it. It isn’t fair but there are a lot of artists out there who think that just because they can write a tune or play guitar, they deserve the good life. Unfortunately, that isn’t how the world works, in any industry. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was a damaging time for creatives who could no longer earn money from performing and they had to rely on income from streaming. This new way of life highlighted the divide between artists on streaming platforms and a group of them spoke out, launching the Broken Record Campaign in May 2020.  

When one song is streamed on Spotify, the owner of the song (usually the label) gets £0.004. Once the artist has paid off their debt to the label (advance, recording costs, management fees etc…) and, depending on their contract terms, they could receive 20% of that, which means that their song will need to be streamed one thousand times to earn 80p 

Artists with the most streams receive a higher % of income from streaming platforms, you might have never listened to Drake but as he was the most-streamed artist in 2020 he and his label, Universal Music Group will be getting a slice of your subscription.  

Also in the same month, The Musicians Union and The Ivors Academy teamed up to launch the Keep Music Alive campaign with the goal to, ‘fix streaming’. The two associations are campaigning to change the way performers and songwriters are being paid as streaming services have become the main source when it comes to music but the law and agreements are outdated. The creatives are being exploited by the record labels and streaming platforms.  

Where Broken Record campaign is looking at the streaming platforms, Keep Music Alive is wanting change from record labels as well.  

Alfie Jackson (The Holloways) “Money is the toughest challenge for musicians today. Being paid fairly through streaming where royalties are distributed to the top artists taking from subscription fees where listeners aren’t even listening to those top artists. The labels and Spotify pay out the money as they see fit rather than it being a clear system where it’s fair for everyone involved at every level. 

I would overhaul the system completely and have it where you top up your credit for streaming and each play cost you like 2p a play or something and that two pence is divided four ways for Spotify, label, performer and writer. This would also mean the listener understands that there is a value to each song they play and they know also that the choice to listen to a certain artist is going to reward the artist that they love. 

As a listener, me paying £10 a month and listening to the artists I love but knowing my money is going to Ed Sheeran and Adele is ridiculous. 

Playing live has also got more and more difficult as so many great venues have closed. the British music industry has got more and more into drill, grime, electronic music and so on which is cool but for me traditional musicians have seen their livelihood cut off with the falling number of gigs featuring live musicians and the falling number of songs played on the radio featuring actual musicians. 

It’s less about musicians and more about producers and performers. 

The positives for streaming are anyone can get their music out there and anyone can find any music that they want regardless of their income. 

The negatives are that it’s rather fixed for artists with the right connections but that’s the way it’s always been. The labels are able to be shadier with the money and how it’s paid out which again has always been the case but now it feels cloudier than ever. I personally wouldn’t want to be a small artist on a big label. 

If you’re an independent artist on Spotify you can do well. It’s sustainable for some but not for others, as a writer the pay is really pitiful. I need about 10,000 streams to buy breakfast. For me,  personally, I am exploring lots of other ways of using my music and skills to actually make money from it. 

I often like to give the example whereby I’ve gone to a bike shop because I need a repair on my wheel. I am in the shop for half an hour, the guy repairing the bike is listening to my music on Spotify and at the end of it I have to pay him seventy quid and he’s listened to my work for free. 

It is a crude example that doesn’t cover all the bases but the principle is clear. 

Another thing that people might say about Spotify is oh but I can try all this music for free which I wouldn’t of known about otherwise. That’s like me walking into a bar and trying every beer for free and then walking out and going into a cake shop and trying all the cakes for free and then maybe paying £5 to the pub at the end of the week and £5 to a baker at the end of the week.” 

Adam Ficek (Babyshambles/psychotherapist) “Most musicians are financially struggling and there is not enough being done to help them. The industry is in decline with less and less reward for the upcoming tier of strivers. It is 'better than ever'  for mental health support but it's still not enough. There are more resources now but it is far harder to make any money. Live Nation and Clear Channel are slowly sucking the creative affordance from the bones of the young rebels. Venues are crumbling, DIY has been microwaved for far too long.” 

Blaine Harrison (Mustery Jets) “I think the key to being any kind of artist in the current climate is to constantly ask yourself how you can contribute something meaningful to peoples lives, whilst following your own ambitions. Yes, the internet has changed the way we listen to music, but it has also changed the way we read. It has changed the way we perceive art and it has changed the way we look at one another’s lives, not to mention how we view our own lives.  

I don’t think music is an industry which attracts those eager to make a fortune anymore, because the way we attribute value to things has completely changed. But personally, that was never what attracted me to it in the first place. I got into music to try and make sense of the world around me, and make a nice racket with my friends and hopefully see some cool places and meet some nice people whilst doing it. If getting your songs to people means getting better at using social media and learning how TikTok algorithms work then that’s something you’ve got to do. It’s part of the work. But don’t forget to keep writing songs, that’s where it all begins and where it all ends.” 

Kate Jackson (The Long Blondes) “As long as you attain a certain level of success it is possible to be a full-time musician. Getting there though is harder than ever because an artist can have a Top 40 album and still not earn the minimum wage from it. You need longevity.” 

Dominic Masters (The Others) “The way we listen to music has evolved. People don’t go in to a shop to buy music anymore and if they do it's for vinyl. Now you can listen to all The Others albums on Spotify, BandCamp, YouTube etc so what incentive is there for the listener to pay for the product. It would have been amazing for me when I was a teenager as I wouldn't have had to travel twenty miles to buy music. Now you can get everything for free, it's very good for listeners, especially if your broke, you now have access to almost any music you want for free.  

As a sustainable career, not for The Others. For other bands, well, I think if you are in band selling 100,000 units/albums at £10 a time a year then yeah, there is career. But I think for bands doing less than that it's just gonna be a hobby really and I think the time of guitar bands being the mainstream has gone. Now there is more choice and variety for the listener. The revenues that the artists get from streaming is little, so I see the future as live revenue only for bands and people buying vinyl and merch.” 

It’s just an evolution in the music industry, at one time it was the songwriter who earned the money then that turned around to the performer getting the cheque. Bands will return again but they won’t be made for our ears. 

There’s positives and negatives to streaming and social media. Streaming devalues music, makes everything disposable but it also makes everything accessible. A generation is coming through who’ve grown up with no real genres, there’s cross-pollination going on, they’ll still be kids who seek out subcultures but everything bubbling up in the underground gets a spotlight much quicker.  

Gemma Clarke (Babyshambles/The Suffrajets/JW Paris) “One of the main differences of being in a band in 2022 compared to 15 years previous is the need to use social media, it’s very DIY now. It used to be, just play gigs to be seen and then hopefully signed, then the huge machines would do everything for you! Bands have to think outside that box, use social media and find a way to stand out and be heard! (Still trying to work that out ourselves!).” 

Social media takes the mystery out of everything. The only things we knew about bands outside of our home cities was what we read in the NME, heard on record or caught on tv, now we know what they eat for breakfast. Oversharing needs to end but we have the tools to educate ourselves, learn from others. Everything is global now, we are just swipes away from finding out what is going on in other communities and cultures, it is an opportunity to gain more experience, empathise.  

There’s so much going on online, everything gets dated quickly.  

Conor McNicholas “Indie landfill was a result of mass production from major labels jumping on a trend. It was the beginning of the proliferation and ubiquity of music through Spotify where this just the mush of stuff being created, the tools are so simple that anybody could jump on Ableton or GarageBand and get a track up in twenty minutes, suddenly they are an artist. Look and story have never been so important, the dynamic and story around music, like Kanye. We’ve moved into music landfill.”  

NEXT CHAPTER

[nickgerlich]

Apple A Day

It’s that time of year again. No, not the changing of the seasons, the beginning of football, or the month Green Day wants you to wake them up when it’s over. Nope. Tomorrow is the annual September announcement—drumroll, please—from Apple and the release of the next iPhone.

Not that Apple doesn’t let the rumor mill freely run and play with wild speculations for the nine months leading up to this. The iPhone16 will officially be announced tomorrow, but we probably already know everything there is to know. If anyone knows how to play the hype game, it is Apple.

The question is will people be impressed enough to plan on lining up at stores in a couple of weeks to replace their old phones.

I remember back in 2007 when the first iPhone was announced. Much to my current embarrassment, I roundly dismissed it as superfluous, wasteful, and overkill. I already had a phone, pocket camera, and calculator. Why would I want to replace all of them with an expensive new device? That first-gen iPhone had a list price of $499, which is laughably cheap compared to today’s models, but it was still a huge expense to duplicate everything else you already had.

I quickly saw the folly of my way, and was ready to hop in the queue a year later to get my hands on what has arguably become the most important device ever released. It has been imitated by others and with different operating systems. It has been improved upon by Apple each year, adding more bells and whistles to that shiny veneer. And it has been the one thing that has kept Apple stock and profits in the stratosphere.

Of course, as with any innovation well into its umpteenth iteration, you have to wonder exactly what they could possibly add to make this worth buying, especially if the older iPhone in your pocket or purse still works fine. With new phones costing more than $1500 at the top end of the product line, it better be good, even if your phone carrier is willing to float you a 30-month interest-free financing plan.

The trend in recent years has been toward less frequent replacements. As of last year, data showed that more iPhone owners are keeping their phones three years or longer before buying a new one. As for me, my iPhone 12 will be four years old this November. Yes, the battery is showing signs of decay, but I bring along a small power brick for those times when it starts to run low. Photos and videos are enormous battery sucks, and if you shoot like me, it doesn’t take long. That brick was a lifesaver in Costa Rica last year.

This year, though, I am betting the iPhone16 will be a runaway success, because there is one significant enhancement: the arrival of AI, or as they like to call it, Apple Intelligence. A rose by any other name, of course, smells the same, but it will be cool to have a handheld computer that is capable of creating text and images on the fly without having to log in to other websites.

Were it not for AI, I doubt that I would be ready to make a move, and I bet that is the same story for many. We need something big when the product is so expensive. Never mind inflation, economic uncertainties, and all the problems plaguing us these days.

Not many years ago, some people replaced their iPhones each year, just like a few decades ago, it wasn’t uncommon for motorists to line up to buy the latest new model every autumn. How else do you explain the Cadillac Ranch, a tribute to the auto industry’s ability to wow drivers with a slightly larger tail fin every year?

But cars are too expensive for that kind of frivolity today, unless you are made of money, and the same goes for iPhones. Marketers can only dangle new products successfully when there are both willingness and means. If either are in short supply—willingness because the new item truly is impressive, and means translating into ability to pay—then we won’t jump.

I guess we’ll all learn a bit more tomorrow, about ourselves, as well as Apple’s ongoing profitability. I’ll be watching.

Dr “But Can You Make The Camera Even Better?” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[weaselsblaugh]

Not to mention, there's an inherent divide in how streaming presents its movies compared to how a rental store worked.

When my family used to rent movies, there were distinct shelves for genres. Broad, possibly ill-fitting ones, but distinct shelves nonetheless. A given movie was either an Action, a Horror, a Comedy, or a Drama, and never more than one of those things. But also, the way they were organized was frequently random, so you never really knew what kind of other movies were going to be nearby the one you were looking for.

Which leads into Discoverability, as the modern parlance goes. The really good mom-and-pop shops would frequently employ people who actually knew their movies, and would be able to recommend you stuff off-the-cuff, answer questions, and the like. But even if they knew nothing about a given movie, you could still turn the box around and look at what it says. This is, granted, stuff that Netflix can also do with their metadata, but coupled with the above point, you can just happen upon a movie at random that nobody knew existed. For every shelf where you'll find an Airplane!, there's one right above or below it where you'll find something like Bad Taste, The Stupids, or Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Maybe you'll happen upon a copy of Brain Donors in between Duck Soup and Captain Ron and wonder, "what on Earth is this?" And for just the $2/5-day rental (or maybe you'd throw it in with your "rent 2, get 2 free" deal, or whatever your store has), you could find out for yourself.

Which brings me to that sad fact of a given rental place having movies that nobody ever rents anymore. Solution? They sell 'em! So many little shops we went to back in the 90s and early-aughts would just dump all the stuff that hasn't been touched in a year or two into a "buy it today!" shelf, where the price of a regular rental would just get you that movie, forever, no questions asked. I don't have a ton of tapes anymore, but the handful I do have, still have some stickers on them from the old Whiz Bang Video, or the placeholder jewelcase from Sundown Video. A decent number of my DVDs are still in their Blockbuster Video rental cases, now serving in a place of honor in their forever homes, like an adopted senior cat or something. They've already lived a hard life in the homes of unknowable amounts of renters; now they get to live on my shelf, or in my PS2, or in the Goodwill rescue VCR I bought a few years ago just to be able to play my old Hitchcock tapes, or that weird old collection of public domain cartoons that I'd already rented 20 times or more, because of the "get 2 free cartoons with your new release rental" deal our shop of choice had.

Netflix does approximately none of that. You pay a flat subscription fee per month, meaning no matter how much you watch or don't watch, you're paying the same amount. Which leads to having to feel guilty for wasting money if you don't watch it enough. Discoverability is shot because your average streaming service is heavily algorithmic, promoting only the popular stuff, and constantly jumbling up the order in which it appears so that you're guaranteed to only see the big productions they want you to see. It's the equivalent of that one back wall at Blockbuster that had nothing but copies of Star Wars on it. You're never going to see that one weird obscure movie because you wouldn't know it's even ON the service unless you already knew to look for it. Not to mention they can just delist the stuff that they think nobody watches - because somehow, 8 gigabytes worth of movie is more precious than 5x9 inches of shelf.

i will never be against piracy ever but i also need physical media to remain

[lorbanery]

The thing about only engaging with Tiktok via Youtube videos talking about the drama du jour is that then I have the problem where, when I have strong opinions about something happening, my only outlet is yelling about it on Tumblr

so here we go, subtweeting about Tiktok drama: Episode 9876

NO ONE is responsible for the business decisions you make except for YOU. Unless they are speaking to you specifically and telling you to do the specific thing??? NO ONE. IS RESPONSIBLE. FOR THE BUSINESS DECISIONS YOU MAKE. EXCEPT FOR YOU. No, not even if you made them based on something that person said in some post or conversation that had nothing to do with you!

If you want an influencer to review your product? The LEAST you can do is give them the product for free. If you want to play Big Boy Influencer Brand? Then you should be PAYING the influencer for their reviews. But if they agree to do it for free? Then it's a VERY GENEROUS FAVOR and you need to accept that that, while it's good manners for them to actually post a review eventually? Frankly, they're under no real obligation to post that review and also? You have absolutely no say in how quickly the review is posted.

If you have expectations or needs around how quickly the review goes up? Then you need to discuss that with the influencer DURING THE INITIAL DISCUSSION. You need to EDUCATE YOURSELF on how much time and work would be required to review your product so that you have a realistic expectation for how easy or hard it is for them to get it done.

DON'T INVEST IN EXTRA STOCK YOU CAN'T AFFORD WHEN A REVIEW HASN'T EVEN GONE UP YET AND THE INFLUENCER HAS A HISTORY OF NOT BEING ABLE TO FULFILL THEIR PROMISES

DON'T TAKE LOANS FROM COMPANIES THAT AREN'T FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS?????? Like it blows my fucking MIND that someone saw Shopify sending them completely unprompted emails like "HEY SHOPIFY CUSTOMER, NEED MONEY? TAKE OUT A LOAN WITH US ;D" and was just like "*shrug emoji* sounds legit!" Like do you know how much junk mail we've gotten from mf Paypal BEGGING us to take out a loan with them? BUT WE DIDN'T, BECAUSE WHY WOULD WE TAKE A LOAN FROM A COMPANY THAT CAN'T DECIDE WHAT ITS RETURN POLICY IS FROM DAY TO DAY????? Like you can just search for Shopify loan reviews and every single result has at least one blaring red flag about the LACK OF TRANSPARENCY around how they make all of their decisions! Also just the fact that the loan can even be processed WITHIN A SINGLE DAY is a BLARING RED FLAG!!

You know fake tans so well you claim you can clock one from a single still photo . HOW ABOUT BEING ABLE TO CLOCK A PREDATORY LOAN FROM MULTIPLE COLD CALL EMAILS??????

Posting a callout video that you wrap up by declaring the person lied to you and the only evidence you can provide is some dubious claim that "[product] NEVER does this!"????

Then responding to their response video where they tell you they didn't lie and you say you're "not gonna double down" but then immediately follow that up with "i can tell cuz of the pixles"??????

Fucking toddler behavior.

Fucking rejected on a dating app and replying "ur ugly neway bitch" behavior.

Anyway TikTok drama continues to be a fabulous place to learn how to NOT run a successful business in a professional manner.

[stolenadopteesimmer]

this is wild sims 4 community info. I started using CC and mods after these mentioned incidents last year and after EA made their policy update. its mindboggling to me that unless those 4 creators+ are children and beggars, is the war worth it for free content you get a few donations for off products a huge company can sue you for anyway. sims 4 and EA said take what we have and run with it. plenty of people are willing to pay $1-$5 a month to get some early access, probably mostly content creators on tiktok looking to drop the newest item setset first. theres enough room and money for you to respect early access and also make it public within a month. let me explain this carefully, there will always be someone willing to risk their name for the little guy. thats why the vault exists. people who play this game as a distraction might not have 1-5 dollars to spare to multiple creators, but they can patiently wait 3 weeks for it to be free and everyone is happy. the more you fight back with CC the more of your CC will remain on free sites protected by EA that user generated content is free to do with as the users wish. you can delete it or respect the rules. those that dont release after 3 weeks deserve to go into the vault, they deserve to have their items reblogged for free, as it should be. if you share an Early Access items before 3 weeks, shame shame but if they consistently dont release items, you know thats on them really. they are fake items in a fake game and you werent going to get people to pay you indefinetly as you piss off the rest of the community. also some of us dont actually give a shit what you find of our names and locations. my entire childhood and adult life has been documented online, why does this scare people. we grew up with SWATing, kids call in fake threats to close schools and now as adults we have doxxers. my internet safety and chance of a 0 digital footprint went out the window in 2002 when i got on AOL for the first time. lol. this is silly. everyone sign this. also EA hello help? also fix your game. thanks

Petition To End Perm Paywalling Creators

Over the last several days, Perm Paywalling creators such as Bergdorfverse, Leosims, AggressiveKitty & Cowbuild have done organized & illegal DMCA attacks/takedowns on my content & several other creators. Due to this & Tumblr's lack of knowledge of EA's Custom Content policies, my Tumblr & other's are at high risk of being DELETED.

I recommend all creators that if you have linked to the Vault or any other free sites with the creators listed above, to please REMOVE those links & photos to avoid having a copyright strike on your account. If not, you are also at risk of having your Tumblr PERMANENTLY REMOVED.

You are able to counter strike the UNLAWFUL strikes these creators have done since EA/The Sims OWN all CC created if listed as a .package for download. Therefore, these creators are abusing their lack of DMCA rights to try to prove a point. However, if you do counter strike, you have to provide legal name, address, email, etc. to creators who are known for DOXING. So, I do not recommend countering if you fear your personal information being leaked.

Now, I urge you all to please join a movement that Jake, (@simstwink) has started by making a petition to have EA finally enforce the rules & policies they made LAST YEAR. We wish to put an end to these toxic Perm Paywalling Creators and protect the creative community of content creators like myself and YOU.

I have provided a link below to the petition that I urge you strongly to sign. Please help protect the content creating community for old simmers like myself and for the new ones to come.

I love all 22K of you IMMENSELY, and wish to say a massive thank you for the platform you've given me. Although this blog will probably be terminated, it will not be the end of me as a creator nor on this platform. The Butterfly Garden will flourish, and I will be back stronger than ever.

LINK TO PETITION

[lacenvs3000w24]

a chat about privilege

This week’s post is about privilege. In all honesty, it’s not easy to define such a loaded and multifaceted concept.

As McIntosh (1989) gave the analogy of the backpack to describe privilege, my own working definition of privilege is that it’s not like the trophy at the end of the race, handed to you while you huff and puff and feel the sweat trickle down your face from all the work you’ve just done. Instead, it’s akin to the trophy already on your bookshelf, with someone else’s (maybe your parent’s) name on it: you still get to admire the view of shining gold, but you never actually earned it, and you may take its superficial beauty for granted. it’s a fixture, one that you wouldn’t think to appreciate unless it was taken from you.

Privilege doesn’t necessarily give you everything, and you won’t always see it upon the silver platter. But it necessarily gives you something, some head start, some cherry on top.

In real life, privilege often manifests, crudely, as not having to worry about x, y, z, as an absence of these invisible barriers.

In interpretation and in general, our privilege is part of us, while also being completely separate from who we are. Privilege shapes who we become, without even consulting us (kinda rude, right?).

It shapes what we know

It shapes how we think

It shapes what we do, what we think we can do

images from Pinterest

But when acknowledged, it can also play a guiding role — through deep reflection we can grab it by the reins and use it as a sort of reminder.

I’ve talked in my previous posts about how I think it’s important to understand yourself so that you can understand what kind of audience you can best serve. But that doesn’t mean only considering like-minded, similarly privileged folks. It doesn’t mean ignoring the problem, it doesn’t mean being lazy.

We can appreciate that our privilege has shaped us and how we see the world, and then we can take that knowledge and expand our perspective.

Our textbook mentioned Pease’s (2015) review about privilege and underserved audiences. Reading this made the issues really tangible, and instantly had me thinking about what I could do to try and reach out to such audiences (and really, it’s not that hard!).

As I mentioned in my last post, my (current) ideal role as an interpreter might look something like developing guided nature journals. it’s unlikely that I can capture every audience in this endeavour, and it is a big feat to try to ensure absolute accessibility to any kind of person.

But we take it a step at a time.

For me, this might entail offering the journal in multiple languages (perhaps having an original English copy translated by fellow interpreters who natively speak those different languages). It could also involve offering the journal as a “pay what you can” product or offering free copies to schools in underserved areas.

image from Pinterest

The related concept of risk and reward was also thought-provoking in terms of my own motives as an interpreter. At this point, I must acknowledge that I’m someone with little experience.

I’m privileged to have grown up with supportive loved ones around me telling me to “just go for it”. But there’s a fine line between taking an opportunity for self growth, without fussing about the consequences, and misleading or taking advantage of an audience for the sake of self discovery.

Thanks for taking the time and stopping by for this one. Everyone’s story is so different and I’m looking forward to hearing them.

---

References:

McIntosh, P. (1989, July/August). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Freedom, 10-12.

Pease, J. L. (2015). Parks and underserved audiences: An annotated literature review. Journal of Interpretation Research, 20(1),11–56.