Danica Swanson pfp
Danica Swanson
@danicaswanson
If niche music genres ever become a thing on Farcaster beyond a handful of hardcore music nerds, let it be known that I've been a crate-digger music writer with deep roots in the dark ambient + drone scene since the 1990s. I've done custom themed playlists for meditation groups, deep dive interviews with top artists, beginners' guides, underrated albums lists for goth/industrial music blogs, mini-reviews on Bandcamp... you name it. I only stopped because there was no sustainable way to fund that work.
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BrightFutureGuy 🎩↑Ⓜ️ pfp
BrightFutureGuy 🎩↑Ⓜ️
@bfg
I have to say that there's one thing I find very surprising ... and you may say it's natural, which it is ... but I have always expected and assumed that very niche communities would find a way to show reciprocity to those who put work into keeping them alive and curating "the thing", etc. You do a lot of non-mainstream stuff and you're the testament that reciprocity is not higher in niches than in general populus 🙄 just thinking out loud cos I have a moment between calls
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Danica Swanson pfp
Danica Swanson
@danicaswanson
Depends on what you mean by reciprocity. If you mean praise for good work, sharing it on social media, etc., there's plenty of that. But actually funding the work itself? Not so much. In the days when I was publishing a music newsletter on Substack, there was plenty of praise for my work, but very few paid subscriptions. Readers even asked me for full refunds without ever explaining why. I gave them refunds, but it really hurt. Completely demoralizing. I've earned more and been treated with more respect when I was waiting tables in a restaurant as a teenager. When I started working on a book manuscript about dark ambient music, I naively thought that having a good book proposal and a blog that was respected by the musicians and scene insiders would be sufficient to get the work funded. But publishing doesn't work that way -- especially not for writers covering underground arts, culture, and music scenes. Sorry to say it, but it's bleak.
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BrightFutureGuy 🎩↑Ⓜ️ pfp
BrightFutureGuy 🎩↑Ⓜ️
@bfg
yeah, interesting ... when I said reciprocity, I meant "paying for your work" in a kind of 1000 true fans way. I have this nagging feeling that I'm missing something. Or better said - you are missing something that would make it work. Can't say what it is - since every case is different and there's nuance to everything, but ... I will keep it at the back of my mind. It seems obvious that this is the way of the future, I mean - funding niche curators and passionate discoverers - from the fan base pockets because mainstream will never do it. It's too small for them to care. Like Microsoft or FB will never care about Farcaster until it reaches a scale that matters.
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