Without jumping into somebody else's mentions, I just want to mention that unless you're popular, Kindle Unlimited is as shitty a deal for authors as Spotify is for musicians.

A small minority profits while the rest of us get fucked. "Spotify for X" is quintessential capitalism.

@starbreaker Andy Partridge’s (XTC’s main songwriter) quarterly check from Spotify last year was 12£ & some pence.

It’s a sick fucking joke. & they’re losing money? I hope they go under.

@Devils_Rancher I know. I've been using paid Spotify as a way to preview albums (rather than downloading bootlegs), but if I find myself liking an album & I can spare the money I make a point of buying a copy on disc.

It's not much & it shouldn't be my job as an individual to remedy what is obviously a systemic issue (Art & artists should not be beholden to the fucking market!) but between that & writing my reps in Congress to demand universal #basicincome there's fuck-all else I can do.

@starbreaker yeah, the cat’s out of the bag st this point. I get dejected & angry about it, as music was my first career choice at a time when it was a viable option, but I doubt we’ll see positive change for a long time. I can still vote with my wallet. Plus, I like owning my copy of music because I am an Old.

@Devils_Rancher I saw the writing on the wall in 1996 and figured there was no way I'd be able to make it as a metal violist. Instead, I became a software developer because I figured it was where I could do capitalist society the most harm without resorting to actual violence.

If people won't pay me to make art, they can fucking well pay me to write code and shitpost.

@starbreaker I make weird music that no one understands just to prove a point, & I’m not sure what the point is.

@Devils_Rancher I write about emo androids and swashbuckling soprano catgirls, and the point is mainly to say "fuck you" to capitalist society. This shit isn't commercially viable at all, and most of the time I'm OK with that.