What a May day.
What can we learn from a music scandal?
This original article in Wired had been occupying my brain for a good while this month. My kids love Geese. A LOT. So when this story surfaced that their hype was manufactured by a company called “Chaotic Good” I wanted to know more.
Delving into it here, here and here, you gain an insight into how these things work at scale and the way in which popularity is fashioned. You want your song to feel ubiquitous? Simply use your farm of small time creators to make a TON of videos - from monster trucks to epic fails, from cute cats to parkour and add your song. Then keep pumping that out. You want more? Make sure that when the band posts you are first in the comments and YOU tell people what to think about it “THIS IS FIRE - BEST SONG EVER”. Perhaps it’s the industrial nature of this deception that people found objectionable. The use of the tactical playbook from wedge issue political warfare. Maybe people just generally don’t like feeling as if they’ve been lied to. But perhaps it’s deeper than that. Maybe people don’t like it when you turn music into a product.
Have a read and see what you think but to my mind, it is a modern response to a modern problem. Musicians want to get their music heard. And in front of as many people as possible. It used to be about bribing a radio dj or “juicing the charts”, this is its latest manifestation. I still think their music is good. Above that it did get me thinking about modern tactics for marketing. And the ethics behind it. Could this be used in employer branding? And should it? Because there is always something to learn from consumer advertising. But as much as there are similarities, it’s also reeealllly different isn’t it? Because as much as authenticity counts when you’re an indie band. Is it even more important for a company hoping to sell itself as a place to work? Very interested to see what anyone else thinks.
But what else has been happening?
Employer brand stuff.
hmmm...this seems to be good news (more women hired) but also bad news (didn’t make much difference to the businesses in which it happened ie it didn’t cascade down to more representation).
Love the work of this guy. Good insight and funny too. This time it’s the changing culture of Silicon Valley.
One that hits home for many of us with parents getting older. More companies are going to need to manage this in a more systematic way I think.
“As AI mediates more of our thinking and collaboration, questions of recognition, trust, and accountability take center stage…here are eight AI-driven shifts reshaping how we lead, speak, decide, and relate in business.”
Add to this the latest thoughts from Only Dead Fish. Talking about the second and third order effects of technology. And how those lead to a reduction of space for argument against the technology.
“As cars became dominant, cities were progressively redesigned around vehicular speed. Zoning separated homes from shops and workplaces. Roads widened, footpaths narrowed, public transport was deprioritised. The built environment reshaped itself around the car, and in doing so made it increasingly difficult to live without one.”
The experience of AI interviews is turning people off going for the interviews. But for some that may be the point.
What I love about what we do is how you start seeing how economics and politics and sociology and psychology all knit together. This is incredible bit of explanation on how oil prices affect markets and the industries most exposed - leading to possible recruitment problems. Love it.
Other stuff
Why are companies leaving the UK? Well the weather…but it turns out that this affects how the business does too.
I absolutely love this. Data and visualisation and the classification and changes of London. Also a very good explanation.
“I’ve written about London’s pub closures, its restaurant algorithm, its segregation patterns. The whole time I’ve been circling the same question from different angles: is London’s divide just a feeling everyone recognises, or is it stable and structural enough, that you can actually draw it?”
Creative stuff
Isn’t this amazing. Look at these beautiful passport photos. I say this as someone who has had to go through the ignominy of taking my own passport photo and experiencing deep regret at the face that will be haunting my holidays for the next 10 years.
I love this font. The joy of hand crafting a font through potato printing. And it’s a lovely typeface an’ all.
That’s all I’ve got for now. May the month of May sprinkle joy on your day.
Byeeeee.
Will