Comment by dmix | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dmix | Hacker News Reader

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HN needs to come together to reward 'dang's hard work keeping HN to HN quality.

I have this theory that with almost any great music groups there's usually one, sometimes two, great mind(s) working in the background, usually introverted, that really define the talent of the wider group (Brian Wilson, Quincy Jones, Phil Spector, etc are the rare few who got that recognition).

NYT did a great exploration of how this currently works in pop music:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/arts/music/100000005858557/wat...

This analogy is already starting to stretch a bit thin but my main point is there are always some smart people working hard in the background who don't always get enough recognition for what they do. The Aussie girl is in the NYT clip who basically made the song still lives in relative obscurity (you can find her on twitter, probably well paid, but still living without much fanfare), despite this song among others blowing up in the charts.

I am going to attempt to think of something on a personal level but it'd be great if we could organize something larger like a community backed gift/reward. At some level simply upvote internet points aren't enough thanks for the work people put into user forums like these to keep them healthy. I obviously don't have the full solution here just a seed of an idea.

Maybe something nice to do in these depressing pandemic times!

Edit: if anyone has any ideas about organizing such a thing please let me know, maybe a discord channel?

> The Aussie girl is in the NYT clip who basically made the song still lives in relative obscurity (you can find her on twitter, probably well paid, but still living without much fanfare), despite this song among others blowing up in the charts.

The sad part is they don't even name her in the summary. She's "a 23-year old songwriter". The famous producers and vocalists get named, but she doesn't.

Kanye might tweets some crazy stuff but his recent crusade against shitty record contracts (tweeting out his entire Warner contract deal for example and calling out real owners to stop robbing kids) and the general nonrecognition of the artists themselves is something I can get behind.

https://www.gq.com.au/entertainment/music/heres-the-rundown-...

I almost went into the music industry before programming which is why this stuff piques my interests and I'm happy I didn't in many ways due the lawyering. There are big problems in the music industry with plenty of analogies to SciHub/Aaron Schwartz and the academic paper world (10x). There needs to be a rethinking of how musicians and promoters get paid and how ownership of what musical artists are creating is controlled.

Not to totally sidetrack the main point of my original comment :p

Kanye is himself a shitty record label. He signs people promising to produce their record or feature him on his albums and then dumps them.

I was worried mentioning his name would take this thread off-topic and become all about Kayne. I'm neither an expert on GOOD Records's past nor seek to defend him in general. These arguments applies generally to the industry as a whole and are hardly limited to just to Kanye himself.

The way I came across his statements on the matter was that it was a sort of recent revelation he had. And that it's a thing thats out in the wide open, people have been talking about it for a long time, but it's still just the way it is. The labels have a ton of power, regardless of the changes in the industry.

It's reminds me of entrenched businesses exploiting out-of-date regulatory systems. Like trying to apply the old taxi car numbers cap / medallion model to Ubers system just doesn't make sense at all.

The internet changed the music industry even more than taxis. Especially with artists becoming social media 'influencers' in the process (and almost as a pre-requirement) and more of the power is going back into their hands.

So I support anything that gives the artists more control of their masters/content, more say in the room about distribution since it's not all backroom radio shows and record store deals like it used to be.

When you have soundcloud rappers getting famous with zero major label help its just basic logic that the old-school contracts, major parts of which are still apparently being used frequently by the big labels, will need updating.

Certain power dynamics have clearly changed.

I'm not a lawyer and don't have all the answers but it is an opportunity for more decentralized control and wealth going back to the creators and promoters more directly.

Very much the next Sia who lived in public obscurity for many years but was well known and highly regarding in the business and independent music scene.

Sarah won multiple APRA awards for her work (the ones the Australian music industry cares about) so she'll likely stay in high demand.

Some people might prefer lucrative obscurity?

Fame carries its own burdens.

Fair point.

I definitely agree.

Question: is dang paid for his work here?

Yes. 'dang is a Y Combinator employee working on Hacker News.

We can do small tributes on a subdomain. I'll do two small ones;

- dang.matcha.life

- dang.moka.moe

One tea related and one coffee related, of course.

I'll aim to have them live by December 1st.

If you're looking for a domain I recommend https://domainr.com for search (they get affiliate revenue but I don't) and https://namecheap.com for registration. Namecheap has done a great job of defending privacy and offering a solid product. Also no affiliation, but the CEO did respond to me on twitter!

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