The arc of change

Plus a cassette and zine from Thailand; a limited-edition ZIP file; and a meditative collection on the Anthropocene

Most creator lore encourages creative people to start your channel, get subscribers, be the star.

These instructions have zero relationship to making great creative work, pursuing creative fulfillment, or making something that becomes bigger than you. They just want to make you feel like you need to post more to benefit the growth rates of their own platforms.

On the other side of this language are a generation of creative people exhausted by raindancing for the algorithm just for their work to be seen, wondering how the thing they loved became a chore instead.

This is what Metalabel hopes to change.

Start a channel → Start a label

Starting a channel centers you the individual. Starting a label invites you and others to make work together that you believe in. A label is less about you and more about what inspires you to create.

Self-promote → Co-promote

The Creator Economy has made us all personal brands ready to sell our souls for likes and subscribers. Co-promoting invites us to talk not just about ourselves, but ideas and people we believe in and care about, and ensures they will do the same for you.

One byline → Many bylines

Number of followers has been our public metric of social value, but that’s changing. It’s increasingly who you’re in group chats with, who you drop with, whose work you edit, and what larger scenes you’re a part of that create influence and meaning.

Compete for legitimacy → Legitimize ourselves

The status quo needs us to climb over each other’s backs to fight for the crumbs of cultural legitimacy. This is what keeps legacy institutions so powerful. But instead, imagine we create our own forms of status. Make our own labels, give out our own advances and rewards. Rather than wait to be picked, we pick ourselves.

Be the star → Be part of a constellation

Being a star was the defining cultural goal of the past half-century. But is that really all it’s cracked up to be? We should think bigger. As a constellation you exist on your own, but also in the context of something larger. This is where meaning really lies.

This week’s new releases tap into this energy: from a piece that explores the shift from individualism to “post-individualism” to a cassette and zine from Thailand to an artist’s beautiful meditation for the Anthropocene. Enjoy this week’s dive into a new space for co-releasing and collecting unique creative work.

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New Releases

Rebecca Clark
Book of Hours: An Artist’s Book for the Anthropocene
Drawings, poetry, meditations
236 page PDF

Rebecca Clark’s Book of Hours brings together a rich and calming collection of drawings of the natural world, poetry, and quotes from literature (including a stunning opening dialogue from My Dinner With Andre) into a digital meditation designed for the screen.

Clark’s drawings are colorful and alive, and together with the curated texts, create a calming space ideal for escaping a digital cage. This free collect is highly recommended.

Open Edition | Free collect

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Korean Magpie Tapes and Elevator Teeth
Mastering My Environment
Hardcore Ambient
Pro-pressed cassette with Riso-printed booklet

Mastering My Environment is a collaboration between the musician Korean Magpie Tapes and the artist Elevator Teeth that translates a bad psilocybin trip in a rural village in Northern Thailand into an interdisciplinary mix of output, including a cassette of original music, original artwork, a mini-zine, and stickers.

We love the hyper-specificity of the subject matter and the imaginative explosion into forms and outputs. Inspired and inspiring!

50 editions | $20

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Yancey Strickler
”The Post-Individual”
The Dark Forest Collective
ZIP file containing .PDF, .MP3, .MOV
Digital download

“The Post Individual” is a new release from the writer Yancey Strickler (hi!) that experiments with a new way of putting out written work.

The piece explores how individuality has changed after the internet, and is released as a ZIP file containing a PDF of the essay, an audio file of the author reading it, a video introduction, and early research notes and drafts into one downloadable package. Only a few copies remain.

250 editions | $5 suggested (Pay what you want)

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Event tomorrow

The Metalabel Guide to Metalabel
(Or: Everything you wanted to know about Metalabel but were afraid to ask)

Tomorrow join Metalabel cofounder Yancey Strickler in an open session on why to start a label. Dial in to meet your fellow creative people, get a behind-the-scenes look into Metalabel’s product, and ask questions.

RSVP below:

Thursday April 25, 2024
12pm ET

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On rotation

Quality work in the Metalabel catalogue:

• The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet — With more than 1,000 collects across its two printings, the Dark Forest Anthology is the most-collected release on Metalabel so far. See what all the fuss is about. ($35 | 1,111 editions)

• Trying to Remember Not to Forget — A mesmerizing new photobook from Japan. ($31 | 200 editions)

• Shantell Martin, “Bad Ideas” — A deluxe album and unique print from one of the most vibrant artists working today. ($150 | 200 editions)

• Josh Citerella, “Class Fantasy” — A tabletop card game that invites players to LARP and dominate using various internet-derived ideologies. ($60 | 500 editions)

• Introducing Hard Art — Brian Eno, Jeremy Deller, and other members of Hard Art explain the group’s exciting model and plans. (Free collect | Open edition)