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i would really like it if someone would build a soundcloud/spotify-like abstraction on-top of mastodon/AP, i dream of those companies one day falling to pieces

she hacked you

Do you realize how much waste goes into just these two companies?

People should just download it, and those businesses would cease to exist and we would buy just a little more time

@ekis it's the industry. They're just working within the limitations that were established a 100+ years ago.

@skribe @ekis What would spotify on top of Mastodon look like? Are we reviving Napster here?

Some of us never stopped keeping our own music files. So a better file sharing system sounds interesting.

@mike805 @skribe Just track the plays across all the instances, and the downloads

Then juse that to build a player that allows people to download

if people like it enough they will do fine

@ekis @skribe One thing I have learned since I started using computers: people will do things the easy and stupid way every time. You can try to offer them a better way, but if it requires an extra click, they won't use it.

Even here.

Example: here is a replacement for Dropbox that does not store the file in the cloud at all. But you have to leave your browser open until the other person finishes downloading. People won't bother.

TheUnCloud.co/

theuncloud.coUnCloud

@mike805 @skribe Many artists have said this already

But there is basically like a music cartel, and they mostly get the money anyone is paying into Spotify or Soundcloud

Music should be free, your culture should not be directly related to your class, or material wealth or whatever people want to call it

@ekis @skribe I remember the utopian articles from the mp3.com days. How evil the record labels were and how wonderful things would be once they were dead.

Now artists miss the old days of merely being ripped off by record labels.

A lot of people have proposed utopian schemes to get musicians paid, by counting plays and paying out from some fund. Nobody has figured out how people discover new music in such a system.

@mike805 @ekis people love art, they just believe it's too expensive. That's why streaming (music/video/games) is so popular.

@skribe @mike805 streaming is popular because copyright laws create a system in which these companies can maintain an essential monopoly on your ability to play the song

All this pretense to what end?

Certainly wastes a lot of fucking energy

@ekis @mike805 you still haven't answered my questions.

@skribe @ekis I haven't even seen your questions. Pleas re post.

@skribe @mike805 Their business model is many things but one includes down sampling the audio so people are encouraged to use their proprietary "mastering" so it sounds good after being down sampled

They have all sorts of ways to literally highlight it after uploading; incredibly predatory

@mike805 @ekis @skribe Simple answer: universal basic income (would help all artists and everyone else). Then musicians could publish their work everywhere and wouldn't need to worry about clicks, downloads, playtime, ... and people could enjoy music on their favourite platforms and recommend their favourite artists to others and so discover new music.

@steinstory @mike805 @ekis show me a fully implemented example. One where EVERYONE receives the benefit.

@skribe @mike805 @ekis Well, the internet is open to everyone, do your own research. I only know about smaller experiments (Finland for example) and my sources are all in German. Here is one american study (have just skimmed over it but might be a good starting point): openresearchlab.org/studies/un

OpenResearchUnconditional Cash StudyOpenResearch is a nonprofit research lab that seeks to answer open-ended questions.

@steinstory I've already done the research. I've used the concept in my stories. There is no full implementation. Most of the examples are similar to the welfare systems that have existed in many countries (including mine) for more than a century.

Until you can demonstrate UBI works at a macro and a micro level, I consider it in the same category as trickle down economics or faeries or similar magical thinking nonsense.

It's certainly not a realistic answer to the problems faced by artists.

@skribe I agree on your point of trickle down econonmics being a fairytale. It's been proven over and over. UBI - at least the idea of it as I know it - has nothing to do with the existing welfare systems. And I'm not willing to toss out the idea just because it hasn't yet been implemented anywhere.

@steinstory @mike805 @ekis @skribe yeah until everyone raises the prices to offset the ubi.

Shit dont work without price controls

@ekis @mike805 so, every artist should just work for free? They should receive no compensation for the years of practise, study, and effort to achieve excellence?

@skribe @ekis "...They're just working within the limitations..." I can't wrap my head around this. So it's like "hate the game not the player"? Or: "poor Spotify that cannot pay artists even if Spotify wants to"? Or/and something else?