thesmokingman
@thesmokingman@programming.dev
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 1 hour ago:
You missed the market saturation. Again. You addressed everything except the last part of the sentence there. Music is a lottery, like most jobs, because there are too many people trying to do music. Streaming, radio, labels, exposure, these aren’t the problems at all. The number of people who are good at a thing and enjoy it are.
I follow maybe 30 artists fairly closely. I regularly listen to maybe 200. Across the genres I hit each month (way down from my music heyday), there’s probably 500 in regular rotation. I work in tech and make decent money. I can’t afford to support all of these amazing people. Sharing their music gets them more exposure which might lead to merch sales which is how they actually make money. If I had to sell their music every time I shared it, that would go away. Samplers, mix tapes, music videos, all of that is to drive merch sales. I buy on Bandcamp and still stream, meaning artists are getting more money from my consumption than back in the day when me buying a cassette was the final sale.
Unless you’re going to put some sort of barrier to entry in front of music, this problem does not go away. You’re advocating for the shitty cover band making the same amount of money as the original artist putting blood, sweat, and tears into a long career. That just doesn’t work. And, unfortunately, there are too many killer artists out there for all of them to earn a living doing music. Even if I could support all the artists I love in my country, there are that many or more in other countries.
Not everyone gets to do their dream job. Decent analysis if a bit scathing. My dream as a kid was writing. Turns out that dream was held by a ton of kids like me and none of can survive on that.
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 4 hours ago:
I said multiple times “lots of folks do music for fun.” You said “you’re undervaluing their labor.” That’s why everyone thinks you think money is the point.
You also seem to not understand market saturation. If a fair value for a recording is $20 (just pretend for a minute), consumers are happy to pay $20, and artists sell for $20, why aren’t musicians getting rich? It’s because there are more musicians producing an incredible volume of work than the consumers can completely support. Nowhere in that statement is an attack on the value of that labor just an acknowledgment that there’s too much to consume.
In addition, you seem to fail to understand the difference between value to the artist and value to the consumer. Physical and digital radio provide incredible value to the consumer. They don’t really provide value to the artist unless you have an incredible amount of fame. A very good question to ask is “how do we create a solution that’s good for the consumer and the artist?” I have no idea. Making music about money (like you continue to do) instead of about fun (like a good number of artists who aren’t topping charts do) makes it very difficult to balance what an artist should get paid against what consumers can afford to pay (assuming we remove all middle layers).
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 23 hours ago:
For someone opposed to capitalism, you sure seem to think everything should be a grind mindset.
You’re underpaying all of us for our labor in interacting with you. You’re late on your “pay everyone on the fediverse” invoice. Don’t forget to pay your family for their “putting up with insufferable bullshit” time.
- Comment on Tech workers should shine a light on the industry’s secretive work with the military 23 hours ago:
This isn’t new. Check out Yasha Levine’s Surveillance Valley. It’s a nice primer. Most of our internet tech was built for the military or funded by the military for military ideas (no matter what MIT or Berkeley theoreticians might try to convince you of).
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 23 hours ago:
At least 50% of the bands I’ve seen, toured with, or heard don’t record music to make money. There’s just too much music for it to be dependable income. They do it because they wanna share something neat with their friends. They upload it to sites like Spotify or a decade ago MySpace or a decade before that zines so other people can find cool shit. If they get lucky, that stumble upon nets a shirt sale which actually nets the band some income.
The sweeping generalizations you’re making do not apply. Stop trying to make music about money.
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 23 hours ago:
So you’ve bought every album from every artist you’ve ever listened to? Or, like the rest of us, do you have a limited amount of resources and have made strategic decisions about who to support? Because if you’re not dropping $20 in the tip jar of the next busker you see, you’re a huge fucking hypocrite.
I have not devalued music at all. You have, multiple times. You’ve also said that music has to be about money which is pretty fucking capitalistic. I’ve highlighted it’s about fun multiple times. You keep advocating for labels and ignore DIY which means you’ve already established a class system in music. You’ve provided no quantitative evidence to show you support any music and seem to hype up record labels whose business is built on licensing.
Should everyone get paid for all their music? Fuck yeah. Can I afford to pay every band? Fuck no. Did Spotify or streaming or even the fucking radio do that? Nope. Sure fucking didn’t. The market saturation did because music isn’t about money, it’s about fun. If you want it to be your job, good fucking luck. That’s just simple commerce. Not capitalism. If everyone on the commune is just making bead necklaces and there’s only one customer looking to buy one necklace, is that customer fucking all the people on the commune except the person they bought from?
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 1 day ago:
Who the fuck has a label? Do you know anything about music that isn’t already incredibly corporate? When was the last time you went to a DIY show and bought handmade merch off a band touring in their minivan? Compare that to the last time you bought a record from a label or merch from an online store run through not the band.
There are more than likely 300+ bands in a 20 to 50 mile radius around you. Do you support all of them as much as you’re pushing people on the internet to support all music? What about the really bad cover bands? Them too?
Your statements paint a picture that you have no idea what I meant by “levels of fame” because fucking no one makes money off music unless you get lucky. There’s just too much because music is fun.
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 1 day ago:
The thread you linked says what I said.
I’ve been doing DIY music since I was a kid. The vast majority of bands are never going to make any money ever. Spotify didn’t change that. Streaming didn’t cause that. The reality of every kid with a guitar thinking music is about making money not having fun is what did that.
- Comment on After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year 1 day ago:
Walk me through this.
Before Spotify, I’d buy a record (physical or digital) and listen to that. I pay the artist once. After Spotify, I buy a record and listen to it on Spotify. I pay the artist the normal record price and there’s a long tail from stream payouts (unless they don’t reach the payout threshold).
Before Spotify, if someone heard a song and didn’t buy the record, they didn’t pay the artist. After Spotify, if they still don’t buy a record, the artist now earns from stream payouts.
Finally, before Spotify, if someone bought a record but stopped buying after Spotify, the artist loses that record purchase. This is definitely bad. Was Spotify the real reason? Would something other than Spotify have pulled them away? What levels of fame are materially affected by this?
Do artists have to pay to be on Spotify? Is that the issue?
- Comment on Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda 3 days ago:
I’m not gonna lie I found he died today when I was double-checking the spelling with a quick google. I then had to check the timeline to make sure he was actually involved in the sale.
Basically selling user data from BNET didn’t work out and after the year of flops the board got antsy. Still blame Altman tho.
- Comment on Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda 4 days ago:
Robert Altman continues to fuck people with that sale
- Comment on What's a good graphics card for jellyfin? 4 days ago:
- Comment on anyone had a homebrew club have a faction split? 4 days ago:
I grew up in a town that had one brewery until the late 00s/early 10s. The food was okay but the beer tasted like rubbing alcohol. It was really fucking bad. The brewers were full of themselves and thought they had first mover advantage. A couple of new breweries opened up and things got way better. Suddenly the community was actually vibrant. A few more opened, a few closed, and that cycle started rolling. The overall quality of brewing improved drastically except at that shitty first brewery who constantly struggles to retain talent and compete (other than location which guarantees a steady supply of drunk businessmen who can’t tell good beer from shit beer).
Don’t limit your club. Stifling community will only harm the community. You don’t need to trade secrets; you should always trade ideas and be supportive.
- Comment on recruiting theocracy 1 week ago:
I don’t think you understand logic. You’re saying “all religion is wrong.” This is a stronger claim than “this specific religion is correct.” See, if someone says “there’s a giant kettle in space,” they need to justify that position. If someone else comes along and says “not only is there no giant kettle in space, there are no valid theories other than my perspective,” now the burden of proof is on the larger claim that everything is wrong and only this singular perspective is correct because, surprise surprise, it’s a repackaging of the first argument with the added attack on everything else.
I’m not on the fence. If you’re not a determinist and you believe in science you’re an idiot. I also understand others might have found meaning in some other way, no matter how dumb it is.
I tried to stick to smaller words this time. Was that better?
- Comment on recruiting theocracy 1 week ago:
So prove all metaphysics wrong. Your claim is “all religion is wrong” so you have the burden of proof. If you can’t do it, you’re unable to draw these conclusions. Note that this is loosely equivalent to someone saying “my religion is correct” so you’re going to face the same uphill battle those folks face. It’s a ridiculous and unfounded claim.
I also take umbrage at your unjustified personal attacks on some of my peers from academia and my professional life whose search for meaning has led them to vastly different conclusions than me. Some of the best people I know have faiths I think are dumb yet agree with me on empathy and class struggle. You’ve not empirically proven you have any high ground, much less the moral or societal ones, so you’re really firing half-cocked here.
- Comment on recruiting theocracy 1 week ago:
It’s pretty fucking childish to label metaphysics “childish.” Don’t conflate the shitty faith that gets shoved down our throats with the average person just trying to establish meaning (until their search for meaning infringes on your rights, of course). It genuinely disgusts me when people of one metaphysical persuasion are so rabidly antagonistic and make sweeping generalizations they’d be super offended about jf someone of a different metaphysical persuasion made about them. Adulthood involves maturation and maturation involves empathy. Get some.
- Comment on We can dream right 1 week ago:
I was Die Antwoord enjoyer until recently when I learned all the recent controversies they’ve been stirring up since at least 2013. It’s worth researching if you’re still riding off that old 2008 MySpace/OG Website high like I was.
- Comment on 🔔 SHAME 🔔 1 week ago:
That does not make one set more infinite than the other. You cannot be more unending than to literally have no end.
Your use of language is incorrect. But, since you’re clearly the only published expert with any experience in this topic on the internet, it’s really not worth pointing out that we fall on two sides of the standard axiom of choice debate since you already knew that. Have fun!
- Comment on 🔔 SHAME 🔔 1 week ago:
This is incorrect. There is not a one-to-one and onto mapping from the natural numbers to the real numbers ergo the sets have a different size. We have defined words to describe this. We can put uncountably many copies of the natural numbers inside of the real numbers so there are arguably infinitely more reals than naturals.
Granted you have to accept the axiom of choice for any of this.
- Comment on Critics question tech-heavy lineup of new Homeland Security AI safety board 1 week ago:
I’d expect Timnit Gebru to be on the board, not highlighting how ridiculous the board is, if we were meant to take this seriously.
- Comment on After 114 days of change, Broadcom CEO acknowledges VMware-related “unease” 1 month ago:
I think that’s a fair point. Trying to build a new virtualization company today would have huge initial investment and a steep path to the companies that run their data centers.
- Comment on After 114 days of change, Broadcom CEO acknowledges VMware-related “unease” 1 month ago:
WSL is also shit for any kind of containerization and HyperV fucks up everything else. If you’re not doing any DevOps/SRE stuff WSL 2.0 is fine provided you don’t mix the filesystems. I have been so frustrated with their claims on release for 1.0 and 2.0 that I haven’t evaluated the recent systemd release for WSL. I provision WSL for people that don’t know why they should care and Linux VMs for people that need to work with CI tooling.
In general if you use a Microsoft tool you have to use the Microsoft ecosystem. Sometimes that’s not a huge deal, eg VS Code just adds a ton of telemetry and GitHub reads all your public code. Sometimes it’s a huge deal, eg you want to do literally anything beyond Docker Desktop defaults in the container world.
- Comment on tesco and sainsburys hit with technical issues 1 month ago:
It doesn’t sound like you’re aware of PCI DSS
Regulatory burden aside, you don’t do data analysis at scale running “some big wigs’ nephew’s VB/C# app.”
- Comment on After 114 days of change, Broadcom CEO acknowledges VMware-related “unease” 1 month ago:
Wait what
virtualization is a legacy technology
AWS, GCP, and Azure run on virtualization. Do you think all these cloud providers are providing everyone bare metal? This doesn’t include containerization which is a subset of virtualization. Your average shop might not run virtualization directly unless of course your team touches VirtualBox or Vagrant or qemu or (probably shouldn’t) HyperV.
Either your understanding of virtualization is very lacking or you didn’t explain your point very well. I am really curious what you meant.
- Comment on FCC scraps old speed benchmark, says broadband should be at least 100Mbps 1 month ago:
Do you know why places don’t come close right now?
- Comment on FCC scraps old speed benchmark, says broadband should be at least 100Mbps 1 month ago:
Which sites are you using? TestMy.net is usually a good benchmark when your ISP is attempting to game things. Netflix’s fast.com is a good measure to see how well you can stream even if other traffic is throttled. Cloudflare’s test is a good measure of well you’ll be able to hit most of their infra. Many ISPs and majors (eg Google) just white label the Ookla speed test which is one I really don’t trust. On Spectrum I’d get an order of magnitude difference between Ookla and TestMy. However, collecting all of the tests will give you a good idea of the spread.
- Comment on Reddit user content being sold to AI company in $60M/year deal 2 months ago:
That’s how little they got‽ Holy shit. That’s the steal of the fucking century for all that content. Reddit clearly puts the same stock in its negotiators as it does its 3rd party ecosystem. Anyone who values them more than maybe 2x this price for their IPO is a fucking idiot. Forget Trump’s Art of the Deal. spez needs to write a book.
- Comment on "Gems stolen from British Museum seen for first time" Bruh, how are you going to get mad someone stole what you stole? 2 months ago:
It’s even more funny because there’s so much stuff that really doesn’t belong in museums if you talk to curators. The average person thinks a Picasso would go for millions and be on display anywhere; there are sketches Picasso did that only have value because Picasso drew them not because they’re good Picassos or moving art. This piece has a good perspective. If we hoarded everything ever we’d get to the point where future generations couldn’t make any new art because there would be no space.
I will never be able to actually touch one of these gems because no museum would let me. At the end of the day there’s not much difference between me flying across the world and standing in line with a bunch of people taking shitty selfies in front of a ton of protective glass to catch a glimpse of one side of this gem and seeing a virtual scan I can move around. Digitize it, send it back where it came from, and look toward new art.
- Comment on Codeberg.org Opinions? 2 months ago:
Do you want to work for someone that doesn’t understand there are alternatives to GitHub? Label it as your portfolio or VCS on your resume and share the link instead of GitHub when asked. If it causes issues( that’s a great weed out on your end.
- Comment on FLOSS communities right now 2 months ago:
Do you have trouble in other programs with Discord running, especially resource-intensive ones? That might have been a better way for me to phrase that.