This week I revisit a past edition of Liner Notes and I believe the topic is still relevant. The core theme is building content first and audience second. You can read all about it in this "rewind" edition of Liner Notes. robonzo.substack.com/p/building-c...

Building Content to Create Your Audience

A Strategic Approach to Audience Building

robonzo.substack.com

“Whether you’ve been sideswiped by a tractor-trailer on a two-lane road or dragged through an intersection by a furniture delivery truck, you can now easily plot a course that fully accommodates your mangled body.” — Jasmine Harper, lead product developer

Google Maps Introduces Crawling Directions For Cyclists Hit By Truck

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Touting the new feature as yet another innovation to help every traveler get where they’re going, Google Maps on Thursday began offering crawling directions for cyclists who have bee...

theonion.com

Today’s #FilmFreeway 50% off code: FEMALE Feedback Festival filmfreeway.com/FEEDBACKFema... The FEEDBACK Female Film Festival (FFFF) was created for women filmmakers and screenwriters. The goal is to showcase the best of female talent in film & TV from around the world. #femalefestival

How do you get into a music scene where you know nobody? Research who's active, reach out so you actually get a reply, then follow up? My conversation with Janette Berrios of Symphonic walks through the whole thing. www.unstarvingmusician.com/janette-berr... #independentmusic #musicmarketing

George Macias is cofounder of Lumoza, a free music rights-registration platform for independent artists, where you upload your song, and it’s registered where it needs to be so you can actually get paid. Hear our recent chat on The Unstarving Musician. www.unstarvingmusician.com/george-macia...

Capturing Ownership, Splits, & Metadata for Song Royalties

George Macias on the misunderstanding among many indie artists who register with a distributor and think they're done.

unstarvingmusician.com

Cory Wade gained recognition as a contestant on America’s Next Top Model and was working at a modeling agency when he realized the money wasn’t as good as he’d imagined. So he went back into music and private live event entertainment. robonzo.substack.com/p/private-ev...

Private Event Gigs that Pay the Rent in New York

How Cory Wade built a real income playing weddings and corporate events

robonzo.substack.com

Big video update! You can now post videos up to 10 minutes long, and they'll upload 2–3x faster. That's on top of the recent increase in maximum file size to 300MB. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create! NOW PLAYING: "Rent Control," by @shing.bsky.social and @jayackley.bsky.social

shing yin khor@shing.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The first four minutes of The Last Fifteen Minutes, a marionette musical short film by @shing.bsky.social and @jayackley.bsky.social.

The solution to dating dystopia.

The Onion@theonion.com · 2mo ago

Read The Onion to a girl. Become a member at membership.theonion.com.

The idea of what Meta has allegedly done is just grotesque. Bad incentives abound.

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 2mo ago

Opening arguments began in a federal child safety trial against Meta Platforms brought by the attorneys general of four states. on.wsj.com/4xEylYw

Singer Cory Wade is explicitly unapologetic about doing wedding & corporate gigs, and pushes back on the stigma some musicians attach to it. He's made original studio work sustainable and pays rent in New York with the income these gigs provide. robonzo.substack.com/p/private-ev...

Wedding and corporate gigs aren’t for everyone, but these types of private live events can generate real income. Singer Cory Wade, who has made private live event gigs his primary source of income. And get this, he pays his rent in New York on that income. robonzo.substack.com/p/private-ev...

President Trump has directed the Navy to tear out a complex system for launching jet fighters from its aircraft carriers and instead go back to using steam catapults. 🔗: on.wsj.com/4i2qDD6

Build your annual budget from historical cashflow data, treat wins as exceptions rather than a new norm, be conservative on forecasting, and own everything from day one onward. Some of the things Dan Scott spoke to me about on Unstarving Musician 356. 🎶 🎧 www.unstarvingmusician.com/daniel-scott/

Dan Scott on Financial Freedom for Independent Artists

Daniel Scott on the budgeting insight to build an annual budget from historical cash flow data and conservative forecasting.

unstarvingmusician.com

"In one case, a CBP officer allegedly used government databases to contact a flight attendant. In another, an officer was accused of pulling information from trusted-traveler applications to ask people out." This story is free to read because of FOIA, and disturbing as hell:

CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues

Records obtained by WIRED detail hundreds of allegations of Customs and Border Protection workers misusing internal tools to look up romantic interests and track colleagues’ cell phones.

wired.com

What to know about establishment Democrats’ unexpected Wisconsin savior: David Crowley on.wsj.com/3RYUge1

Who Is David Crowley, the Man Who Halted Progressive Momentum?

Crowley dropped out of the Wisconsin governor’s race temporarily, but defeated Democratic socialist Francesca Hong, saving centrist Democrats.

on.wsj.com

Dan Scott lives at the intersection of creativity, law, and financial freedom. What I love about him is that he's spent his career helping creatives build lives where their work, money, and purpose align. Hear my chat w/Dan on The Unstarving Musician #356. www.unstarvingmusician.com/daniel-scott/

Just dropped a new edition of Liner Notes – "Write for Your Fans, Not for Sync." The general idea is both perennial and universal. Worth a read if you're still figuring out or contemplating entry into sync. open.substack.com/pub/robonzo/... #IndependentMusic #Songwriting #SyncLicensing

Write for Your Fans, Not for Sync

Supervisors aren't looking for a good genre fit. They're looking for something real.

open.substack.com

Your fans bought tickets through the venue's platform. That data isn't yours. Cody DeLong (Sound Rink) on how indie artists can start owning their fan relationships. Before they're ready for VIP packages. unstarvingmusician.com/cody-delong #IndependentMusic #MusicBusiness #DirectToFan

The Fan Data Playbook – VIP, Pre-Sales, & Direct-to-Fan Revenue

How independent artists can start capturing fan data and earning incremental revenue from live shows, even before doing VIP packages.

unstarvingmusician.com

Jazz and Russian hip hop placed in an Oscar-winning film. Not because they fit the genre, but because the songwriter knew the supervisor. That's sync licensing. open.substack.com/pub/robonzo/... #SyncLicensing

Sync Licensing Is a Relationship Business

Sync placements go to relationships, not the best song in the library

open.substack.com

Fascinating thesis. I'm curious to know what the other humans think, particularly those of you who are in-the-know. open.substack.com/pub/limitede...

Apple Is the King of AI and Nobody Knows It

NVIDIA is a dead man walking. I’ve been saying this for months. Consider this my timestamp.

open.substack.com

"Focus on your mailing list 100%. Capturing data early goes a long ways toward the future." That was Cody DeLong's closing line. Worth the whole conversation to get there. www.unstarvingmusician.com/cody-delong/ #IndependentMusic #MusicBusiness #LiveMusic #DirectToFan #SuperFan

The Fan Data Playbook – VIP, Pre-Sales, & Direct-to-Fan Revenue

How independent artists can start capturing fan data and earning incremental revenue from live shows, even before doing VIP packages.

unstarvingmusician.com

Took me a minute, but...

Twonks@twonks.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🛸

Most music artists don't own their ticketing data. The platform does. Cody DeLong (Sound Rink) on what indie artist musicians can do about it – pre-sales, VIP, fan data, and why the mailing list is still the foundation. unstarvingmusician.com/cody-delong #Musicians #IndieMusicArtists #DirectToFan

The Fan Data Playbook – VIP, Pre-Sales, & Direct-to-Fan Revenue

How independent artists can start capturing fan data and earning incremental revenue from live shows, even before doing VIP packages.

unstarvingmusician.com

Without reading a word of this I ask, can't young men simply go out to some parties and bars, drink too much, and make fools of themselves? It seemed to work pretty well when I was young.

The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 3mo ago

In a new book about male friendship, men are suspended between the camaraderie of the pub and the safety of the office, or of the gaming chair—between a need for companionship and a fear of other men witnessing their vulnerability. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/ADlWbb

The sync licensing tip nobody wants to hear is that the barrier isn't your production. It's that nobody knows you exist. open.substack.com/pub/robonzo/...

Sync Licensing Is a Relationship Business

Sync placements go to relationships, not the best song in the library

open.substack.com

Sync licensing isn't a quality problem. It's a relationship problem. Music supervisors go to people they trust — if they don't know you, it doesn't matter how good the song is. This week's Liner Notes. ↓ robonzo.substack.com #SyncLicensing #IndependentMusic

"The problem is almost never the music." Lynz Crichton on why independent musicians who feel ready to quit are usually stuck on something else entirely. www.unstarvingmusician.com/lynz-crichto...

Whether you agree with Bernie Sanders or not, he's been consistent for decades about one thing: concentrated wealth threatens democracy. Now he's making the same case about AI. For the @wired.com Big Interview, I sat down with Sanders -- as vociferous as ever! -- to talk about that and much more.

Bernie Sanders Saw This Coming

For decades, Bernie Sanders has argued that concentrated wealth threatened American democracy. Now he’s betting that frustration with Big Tech, billionaires, and unchecked AI is reaching a tipping poi...

wired.com

‘Must Be A Waymo,’ Bystanders Say Of Moron Stuck Backing Up In Alley For Half Hour https://theonion.com/must-be-a-waymo-bystanders-say-of-moron-stuck-backing-up-in-alley-for-half-hour/