This got me thinking in very new ways, especially the part about more performance art, live, in person, bringing our bodies into it. I love this concept because for me as a writer, it breathes new life into my corresponding passion for voiceovers. Greatly appreciated!
I am about to launch Visualising Shakespeare, probably on more than one platform, including Substack and Metalabel. Inter-operability would make that so much easier. (Confession: I have never been a 'one-box' person, so I have previous. And I have been waiting for this facility since the mid-1970's.)
But even more so, I would really like to double up / multimediate (if that's a verb) into text and audio. Thandiwe Newton did a bio sketch (?) some years ago in audio/text, with bi-media scanning/search facilities too. Any pointers? I would love to be able to use that, for instance, with chunks of Joel Coen's 2021 film, The Tragedy of Macbeth, for starters. Or with the Donmar Warehouse / London version of Macbeth (2023?), which clearly has live audio tracks (hidden away, somewhere). But getting my hands on any of these? I have so far drawn a blank.
A 'media-bank' / text-&-voice-over bank, with easy to use facilities (and payment) would be such a great start. :((
I would be in the (paid) market, just for starters, for Lady Macbeth's speech "I have given suck, and know how tender 'tis ..." and Macbeth's response, later on in the play: "She (Lady M) should have died hereafter ... There would have been a time for such a word ... Tomorrow ..."
and just to make sure ... I do NOT mean the 'canned' voice-over option that Substack already 'offers'. No thanks. As I understand it, the whole point of Allison's post is "bringing our bodies into it" No 'warm bodies' in sight, so canned voice-overs don't pass the test.
Not on anything written by a real human / body!
What I'm interested in paying for - is the 'grit,' the 'contextualising dust in the gears' - not the plastic sound of a machine (with all due respect to hearing challenged people, who might have no available alternative - and they deserve better anyway - I know, I'm in that queue too!)
Thank both of you for this. Fun in parts. (I realise that building good software is tedious. Been there, got more of those T-Shirts than I care to mention, so no aspersions ....)
There is a rather pedestrian book about my Khoikoi(n) ancestors - otherwise known as the 'KhoiSan' (less said about that the better) - the point of this book is that it refers to the early (by 200,000 years, sic - five naughts and counting) culture, which this 'book' says describes the 'original society of excess'.
The point of all this is that I am pretty sure that we have already reached 'Society of excess 2.0' - a society in which we, already, have an 'excess' of food, energy, shelter, culture, etc. we just need to find a way to spread it around a bit better, and get rid of the pollutants.
So the challenge is: How do we create the 'Society of Excess 2.0? That, as Hamlet / Hamnet said, is the question. Otherwise ...
I listened to the entire podcast yesterday in rapt attention. Been thinking about these things for years and just trying to do what I can to make and share my work in whatever ways I can, and turns out many of these ways are the ways you're talking about. For example, I have a YouTube show called How Do You Paint where I make a whole painting while performing the struggle and thrill of making a painting. It's a combination of aesthetic philosophy, TMI revelations, slapstick, Bob Ross spoof, and a minute to minute tracking of the craft of painting. My audience is small, but obsessed. I make no money on it, but I do get people to join my Painter Friends group, which is like a private support/crit group for artists who are struggling with isolation and its discontents. Also your sermons on Infinite vs Finite Game and the CS Lewis Inner Ring... truly heartening. Thank you!
Your podcast quickly became one of the most anticipated moments of my weekly podcast routine. Thanks for sharing it with the world, for bringing not only great views on how to start a new era, but also tangible examples of actually making it work. It's refreshing, and it gives me hope! cannot wait for what is yet to come!
Firstly, I'm glad I found the podcast and Metalabel. I really think that we need a different model for creatives out there and I'm glad people like you are thinking about it and taking action.
The thing I'd like to see in the future if we are talking about a new era, is truly sustainable life as an artist. In my mind, it's the end goal for every artist. To be able to value your time appropriately, and have the time and space to create the art you want and need to create.
I think you've talked about it at times in the podcast and I'm glad you have. But what are the actual models out there to achieve that kind of independence as an artist? There's commercial art for commercial art's sake, but that's not what I'm talking about and I know it's not what you are talking about either.
Is this goal of living off the art you truly want to create achievable in any sort of broad spectrum sense? I think it would require a different type of economy. It feels like this is what Metalabel is trying for. But what actually gets us there?
I'm stuck in my 40 hours because I need health insurance. It's a hard minimum amount of time spent away from my practice. I can't work less than that. Or I haven't figured it out just yet.
Angelo, not only GREAT question, you've asked THE question. I do think that future is possible, and the door to it is through the things we've been exploring at Metalabel with collective wealth creation, etc. We'll have more to say about this in our bonus episode after the conclusion of Season 01.
Agree on the lack of scarcity, and have fought for this on our project @supercollector (https://release.supercollector.xyz), authentic editions for as many people that want them.
We've worked on this idea of a universal label for this new behaviour ("I'm a Supercolector" being shorthand for a more detailed process), I think is plausible to achieve in the specific lane of songs/music, a useful unit of cultural currency if you like, labels for music culture, is something I'd like to see embraced in a new era.
Anyone I talk to about MetaLabel has never heard of it. I’ve done a couple of drops with work people are a part of—tickets to a screening event and a digital copy of the film itself.
Half the cast decided to participate in the revenue-sharing model. The other half just didn’t seem interested. A month later, I’m running into the issue of pushing what feels like another online fundraiser, and it’s all on my own steam. But it’s not a fundraiser—it’s a finished work.
So, I’m feeling like I might give up on using MetaLabel for film-related releases. Just end the experiment. I’m not sure how to engage people in something they don’t have the bandwidth to explore.
Seems like i either gotta wait until MetaLabel scales a little more- Or build a different asset that’s better suited for the platform. Not sure.
How do I know when MetaLabel isn’t right for my releases - and when should I call it quits?
Hey Sasha, definitely still a new tool, especially in the film world. You're one of the first handful of filmmakers to try it. It's through people like you trying things and iterating that we're able to create new forms of value together.
Our hope is that it's not like an online fundraiser and it's more like a living catalogue of your work where people can support you, but that's not just about getting people to come by your thing. It's also about connections you make, collaborators you come in contact with, etc.
Like I said, it's a young tool with much space to grow. Always interested in understanding people's experiences and how we can better support them. Thanks for sharing what you're thinking.
Yeah — not a fundraiser. I like the catalog concept.
Do you see a version of this where certain types of assets or medias are better suited for the Metalabel community today versus, say, a year or two from now, once the platform is more established?
Also, how are you thinking about interoperability? Down the line, if someone buys an asset on Metalabel, is there a chain of custody that’s gonna be activated so holders are able to re-sell it — whether that’s on some future Metalabel resellers market or a secondary Web3 marketplace?
We're focused on a handful of types of releases and looking to create optimal experiences for releasing, collecting, and consuming those types of work. You can tell already the spaces we're building out: publishing, digital media, and limited edition artwork are the initial focuses.
I see film as absolutely in that universe, especially with an improved digital collecting experience where you can actually watch, read, or listen to something in a seamless way. We're well aware of how much filmmakers need spaces where their work be released, seen, and valued.
The underlying architecture underneath Metalabel was built in a "post-platform" way where all data is stored as self-contained objects that can be referenced, important, exported, and moved around the web. Which means Metalabel releases can be integrated into other parts of the web and other experiences. That's the kind of creative future we want, so we designed it that way at the root level. Have to get farther along in our journey before investing the time into building that out as a usable product, but the roots are there.
Good thinking. The next challenge is (simply?) to start building a new, and quite different 'economy'. The US 'MacArthur Awards' and the 'Mastery' awards by the Japanese State are established ways of putting this into practice (as are the German co-operatives which use the concept of 'greed-brakes' to good practical effect in cooperative company structures.
This got me thinking in very new ways, especially the part about more performance art, live, in person, bringing our bodies into it. I love this concept because for me as a writer, it breathes new life into my corresponding passion for voiceovers. Greatly appreciated!
Let us know what you try! We keep thinking about it too.
@Allison, @Yancey ...
I am about to launch Visualising Shakespeare, probably on more than one platform, including Substack and Metalabel. Inter-operability would make that so much easier. (Confession: I have never been a 'one-box' person, so I have previous. And I have been waiting for this facility since the mid-1970's.)
But even more so, I would really like to double up / multimediate (if that's a verb) into text and audio. Thandiwe Newton did a bio sketch (?) some years ago in audio/text, with bi-media scanning/search facilities too. Any pointers? I would love to be able to use that, for instance, with chunks of Joel Coen's 2021 film, The Tragedy of Macbeth, for starters. Or with the Donmar Warehouse / London version of Macbeth (2023?), which clearly has live audio tracks (hidden away, somewhere). But getting my hands on any of these? I have so far drawn a blank.
A 'media-bank' / text-&-voice-over bank, with easy to use facilities (and payment) would be such a great start. :((
I would be in the (paid) market, just for starters, for Lady Macbeth's speech "I have given suck, and know how tender 'tis ..." and Macbeth's response, later on in the play: "She (Lady M) should have died hereafter ... There would have been a time for such a word ... Tomorrow ..."
and just to make sure ... I do NOT mean the 'canned' voice-over option that Substack already 'offers'. No thanks. As I understand it, the whole point of Allison's post is "bringing our bodies into it" No 'warm bodies' in sight, so canned voice-overs don't pass the test.
Not on anything written by a real human / body!
What I'm interested in paying for - is the 'grit,' the 'contextualising dust in the gears' - not the plastic sound of a machine (with all due respect to hearing challenged people, who might have no available alternative - and they deserve better anyway - I know, I'm in that queue too!)
Thank both of you for this. Fun in parts. (I realise that building good software is tedious. Been there, got more of those T-Shirts than I care to mention, so no aspersions ....)
There is a rather pedestrian book about my Khoikoi(n) ancestors - otherwise known as the 'KhoiSan' (less said about that the better) - the point of this book is that it refers to the early (by 200,000 years, sic - five naughts and counting) culture, which this 'book' says describes the 'original society of excess'.
The point of all this is that I am pretty sure that we have already reached 'Society of excess 2.0' - a society in which we, already, have an 'excess' of food, energy, shelter, culture, etc. we just need to find a way to spread it around a bit better, and get rid of the pollutants.
So the challenge is: How do we create the 'Society of Excess 2.0? That, as Hamlet / Hamnet said, is the question. Otherwise ...
I listened to the entire podcast yesterday in rapt attention. Been thinking about these things for years and just trying to do what I can to make and share my work in whatever ways I can, and turns out many of these ways are the ways you're talking about. For example, I have a YouTube show called How Do You Paint where I make a whole painting while performing the struggle and thrill of making a painting. It's a combination of aesthetic philosophy, TMI revelations, slapstick, Bob Ross spoof, and a minute to minute tracking of the craft of painting. My audience is small, but obsessed. I make no money on it, but I do get people to join my Painter Friends group, which is like a private support/crit group for artists who are struggling with isolation and its discontents. Also your sermons on Infinite vs Finite Game and the CS Lewis Inner Ring... truly heartening. Thank you!
I really appreciate that and learning about your world. It sounds fun! Thanks for dipping into ours :)
hi Yancey and Josh,
Your podcast quickly became one of the most anticipated moments of my weekly podcast routine. Thanks for sharing it with the world, for bringing not only great views on how to start a new era, but also tangible examples of actually making it work. It's refreshing, and it gives me hope! cannot wait for what is yet to come!
Thank you so much! This made our day <3
Hi Yancey and Josh,
Firstly, I'm glad I found the podcast and Metalabel. I really think that we need a different model for creatives out there and I'm glad people like you are thinking about it and taking action.
The thing I'd like to see in the future if we are talking about a new era, is truly sustainable life as an artist. In my mind, it's the end goal for every artist. To be able to value your time appropriately, and have the time and space to create the art you want and need to create.
I think you've talked about it at times in the podcast and I'm glad you have. But what are the actual models out there to achieve that kind of independence as an artist? There's commercial art for commercial art's sake, but that's not what I'm talking about and I know it's not what you are talking about either.
Is this goal of living off the art you truly want to create achievable in any sort of broad spectrum sense? I think it would require a different type of economy. It feels like this is what Metalabel is trying for. But what actually gets us there?
I'm stuck in my 40 hours because I need health insurance. It's a hard minimum amount of time spent away from my practice. I can't work less than that. Or I haven't figured it out just yet.
Thanks. Glad you are having these discussions.
Angelo, not only GREAT question, you've asked THE question. I do think that future is possible, and the door to it is through the things we've been exploring at Metalabel with collective wealth creation, etc. We'll have more to say about this in our bonus episode after the conclusion of Season 01.
Enjoyed this guys
Agree on the lack of scarcity, and have fought for this on our project @supercollector (https://release.supercollector.xyz), authentic editions for as many people that want them.
We've worked on this idea of a universal label for this new behaviour ("I'm a Supercolector" being shorthand for a more detailed process), I think is plausible to achieve in the specific lane of songs/music, a useful unit of cultural currency if you like, labels for music culture, is something I'd like to see embraced in a new era.
Anyone I talk to about MetaLabel has never heard of it. I’ve done a couple of drops with work people are a part of—tickets to a screening event and a digital copy of the film itself.
Half the cast decided to participate in the revenue-sharing model. The other half just didn’t seem interested. A month later, I’m running into the issue of pushing what feels like another online fundraiser, and it’s all on my own steam. But it’s not a fundraiser—it’s a finished work.
So, I’m feeling like I might give up on using MetaLabel for film-related releases. Just end the experiment. I’m not sure how to engage people in something they don’t have the bandwidth to explore.
Seems like i either gotta wait until MetaLabel scales a little more- Or build a different asset that’s better suited for the platform. Not sure.
How do I know when MetaLabel isn’t right for my releases - and when should I call it quits?
Hey Sasha, definitely still a new tool, especially in the film world. You're one of the first handful of filmmakers to try it. It's through people like you trying things and iterating that we're able to create new forms of value together.
Our hope is that it's not like an online fundraiser and it's more like a living catalogue of your work where people can support you, but that's not just about getting people to come by your thing. It's also about connections you make, collaborators you come in contact with, etc.
Like I said, it's a young tool with much space to grow. Always interested in understanding people's experiences and how we can better support them. Thanks for sharing what you're thinking.
Yeah — not a fundraiser. I like the catalog concept.
Do you see a version of this where certain types of assets or medias are better suited for the Metalabel community today versus, say, a year or two from now, once the platform is more established?
Also, how are you thinking about interoperability? Down the line, if someone buys an asset on Metalabel, is there a chain of custody that’s gonna be activated so holders are able to re-sell it — whether that’s on some future Metalabel resellers market or a secondary Web3 marketplace?
We're focused on a handful of types of releases and looking to create optimal experiences for releasing, collecting, and consuming those types of work. You can tell already the spaces we're building out: publishing, digital media, and limited edition artwork are the initial focuses.
I see film as absolutely in that universe, especially with an improved digital collecting experience where you can actually watch, read, or listen to something in a seamless way. We're well aware of how much filmmakers need spaces where their work be released, seen, and valued.
The underlying architecture underneath Metalabel was built in a "post-platform" way where all data is stored as self-contained objects that can be referenced, important, exported, and moved around the web. Which means Metalabel releases can be integrated into other parts of the web and other experiences. That's the kind of creative future we want, so we designed it that way at the root level. Have to get farther along in our journey before investing the time into building that out as a usable product, but the roots are there.
Good thinking. The next challenge is (simply?) to start building a new, and quite different 'economy'. The US 'MacArthur Awards' and the 'Mastery' awards by the Japanese State are established ways of putting this into practice (as are the German co-operatives which use the concept of 'greed-brakes' to good practical effect in cooperative company structures.