I would argue precisely that downright piracy is better than the Spotify model. It is based in micro-micropayments, so much so that even at internet scale very few artists outside of the uber-macro-Taylor-Swift size get proper compensation. Sending a single dollar through Bandcamp amounts to hundreds of listens on Spotify.
It really sucks, but I'd rather pirate and know I'm at fault with the artist – maybe I'll buy some tracks off Bandcamp to make up for it – rather than let Spotify cover the transaction with a legal blanket, while the artists get almost nothing in return.
I think RateYourMusic also allows for commenting pretty much on everything (and it also extends to film and, IIRC, videogames).
It might not be as friendly as last.fm on the surface, but it is surely richer in content, and more diverse. It's a gem, and I hope Sonemnic (?) doesn't drive it to the ground.
I immediately thought of this piece, especially the analysis on the writing style of each person.
On one hand, it is clear that the mathematical tools for confidently attributing authorship of texts were already present without LLMs. But it is striking that LLMs seem to very accurately identify authorship, through whatever process it might be, with no need for a data scientist in the loop.
Other than the uncannyness, I wonder what implications this will have. Public writing is still public; maybe we will require stronger proof of authenticity from an author (but this is arguably in place already; eg. personal websites, social media profiles, etc.). But for, say, public writing that must conserve anonymity, would people pipe their thoughts and writing pieces through a sort of fuzzing (local) LLM, that would strip text of identifying characteristics?
I take the lack of a concluding thought to your comment as a sign of your pondering, and in that case, I would love to read your thoughts on this matter. :)
I think a lot has happened since the 90's, and you rightfully point out that there was very little money in music to begin with. Labels generally always took a very large fraction of a physical CD sale, for example, so the model was rather rigged from the beginning (and recorded music doesn't have that long of a history, anyway).
In general, I'd argue that Spotify will be more toxic to the industry (or the artists' livelihood) than piracy. Streaming is even more predatory and centralized than labels in the 90's, but with an important caveat: it's legal. When people engage in piracy there is at least some awareness of, say, the pirate being at fault in the transaction — even though, as someone else already mentioned, people who pirate might contribute, or engage in other ways, with the creators. But with streaming, it got normalized to pay artists a fraction of a cent per stream (and the terms get progressively worse). I've countless times heard the argument "at least they get paid something!"
Bandcamp, for example, seems like a much fairer ideal for the industry. Luckily, the Epic buyout a few years ago did not immediately ruin the business.
As for the music in the 90's...music has changed. Naturally, one could argue that these are also exciting times: one can singlehandedly produce a record, distribute it independently, and be touring all over Europe without ever having to sign off to a major label. Is this not a good thing — or at least, a notable one? Of course, there's still great music around.
Oh my. Although I understand, and I do truly, that the em dash might be a tell for LLMs...I have been using it for years, now, and the last time this came up on HN I understood exactly when: Mac OS makes it very easy to type the em dash. You just long press the regular -.
I don't use a Mac anymore, but the first thing I'll do on a Linux build is configure my modifier key in such a way to produce — easily.
Not to deny that discourse on the internet, and reddit of all places, might be getting infested with LLM output. I just don't think focusing on the em dash is a good strategy to predict a tell.
The em dash thing is not very conclusive. I have been writing with the em dash for many years, because it looks better and is very accessible on Mac OS (long press on dash key), while carrying a different tone than the simple dash. That, and I read some Tristram Shandy.
Please don't mind my possibly simplistic question — but is this something that would bring Rust development closer to a Lisp environment? Seems like an interesting project.
This looks really cool! Might do a few hours travel to join.
I did not know about c-base either. Are there similar associations throughout Europe? I'd love to join one — seems to have a very cool hacker-y spirit :)
It really sucks, but I'd rather pirate and know I'm at fault with the artist – maybe I'll buy some tracks off Bandcamp to make up for it – rather than let Spotify cover the transaction with a legal blanket, while the artists get almost nothing in return.