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The Honest Broker

The Honest Broker
Why Is the Washington Post Talking to Substack? And updates on other recent articles
a month ago
The Honest Broker
The Most Dangerous Thing in Culture Right Now is Beauty You think I’m crazy, but just wait and see....
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Stupidity: A Reading List You get smarter by studying foolishness—so here's how I'd teach a 12-week course on stupidity
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Most Powerful Sound in the World Is Just One Syllable And it comes from you
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Rise of the Anonymous Music Star Do streaming platforms view famous artists as a threat to their brands?
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Best Online Essays & Articles of 2023 Longform journalism is coming back (and deserves our support)
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Your Brain on Art My Q&A with Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How Coffee Became a Joke The crisis at Starbucks is a sign of our un-serious times
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Why Creatives Will Win by Thinking Small In 2024, the path to success has been turned upside down
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How We Became a Techno-Optimist Family You can too!
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How Did Silicon Valley Turn into a Creepy Cult? Tech leaders once gave us coolness, but now it's just Kool-Aid
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Tell Us About the Person Who Inspires You Most It's Open Mic Day at 'The Honest Broker'
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Let's Just Admit it: The Algorithms Are Broken So I'm begging the tech overlords to let us opt out from their dystopia
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Is Silicon Valley Building Universe 25? How a creepy experiment from 1968 is eerily relevant today
a year ago
The Honest Broker
It's Open Mic Day—Talk About Anything You Want What's on your mind?
a year ago
The Honest Broker
An Open Letter to Taylor Swift I'm asking a favor—but not for me. I want you to do a favor for the music.
a year ago
The Honest Broker
A Failed Rock Adaption of Dune Might Have Starred Mick Jagger, Orson Welles & Salvador Dalí (with... This gets the top spot on my list of never-made films I'd like to see
a year ago
The Honest Broker
All Bad Music Will Eventually Disappear Or how I learned to stop worrying about those godawful playlists
a year ago
The Honest Broker
My Rule of the 6 Spheres Like most people, I'm reluctant to discuss personal matters, but I take this rule very...
a year ago
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a year ago
Like most people, I'm reluctant to discuss personal matters, but I take this rule very seriously—it's at the heart of my worldview and keeps me on the right path
The Honest Broker
30% of Children Ages 5-7 Are on TikTok And why did youth mental health problems accelerate after 2010?
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The State of the Culture, 2024 Or a glimpse into post-entertainment society (it's not pretty)
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How I Write I tell everything in an in-depth video interview
a year ago
The Honest Broker
What Is Really Inside the Briefcase in 'Pulp Fiction'? Here's the latest installment of my book 'Music to Raise the Dead'—currently available only on...
a year ago
The Honest Broker
"This Is a Hell of a Statement I'm About to Make—But He Superseded Miles" More on the mystery of Dupree Bolton, and updates on other recent articles.
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The 6 Laws of Dying Hollywood Franchises Here's how you kill an entire genre
a year ago
The Honest Broker
10 YouTube Videos I'm Enjoying Right Now My life is pretty much like yours. Except that total strangers send me all sorts of things.
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Are Harvard Graduates Better Than Harvard Dropouts? Or how I spent $503,402 on college education
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Open Mic Discussion: How Do You Deal with Disabilities that Put Your Vocation at Risk? A reader asks for your advice
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How Picasso Turned Me into a Strategy Consultant I share a shameful incident from my student days
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Where Do Music Genres Come From? A new section from my online book 'Music to Raise the Dead'
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
Nick Drake at Age 75 On a milestone birthday, I revisit a singer-songwriter nobody ever really knew
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Tell Us What You're Doing? Today is open mic day at The Honest Broker—and you can promote your own projects
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
Terry Gibbs Celebrates His 100th Birthday—but Why Isn't He a NEA Jazz Master? A newly-discovered recording from 1959 reminds us of this artist's greatness
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
The 25 Best Online Articles of 2024 Here's my favorite longform writing of the year
6 months ago
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Here's a Map to 'The Honest Broker' Let me take you on a tour
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Real Crisis in Humanities Isn't Happening at College Our problem is in the real world—not the ivory tower—and so is the solution
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Are We Now Living in a Parasite Culture? In the new consumer economy, you get consumed
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
A Landlubber’s Guide to Sea Shanties You don't need to be a sailor to put these songs to work
a year ago
The Honest Broker
He Might Have Been the First Jazz Star... But Ford Dabney kept making wrong bets at the wrong time
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Do Drummers Live Longer? And can listeners also enhance their health through rhythm?
12 months ago
The Honest Broker
10 Reasons Why Technological Progress Is Now Reversing Or How Silicon Valley Started Breaking Bad
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
My Secret Life as a Social Media Coach When people ask my advice on how to flourish online, I share these five rules
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
Nine Predictions for the Future of the Music Business I offer a forecast for 10 years in the future—and it's filled with good news (surprise!)
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
What's the Greatest Live Music Event You Ever Saw? Today is open mic day at The Honest Broker
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Should We Get Angry When Artists Sell Out? Is it really okay to take the money and run?
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Death of the Magazine Or what happens when journalism forgets about quality writing
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
Nine Observations on the Avant-Garde Has it disappeared? Does anybody care? Should they?
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Final Triumph of Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023) The novelist delivered an end-of-life masterpiece, but the culture machine was barely interested
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Why Love Songs Are Badass And how to read Sappho
12 months ago
The Honest Broker
Fela Kuti in Prison How Nigeria literally went to war against one musician—and lost
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
How to Know If You're Living in a Doom Loop Let's look at the warning signs
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
Tell Us About Your Worst (or Best) Day Gig It's Open Mic Day at 'The Honest Broker'
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
13 Observations on Ritual And other responses to my 'dopamine culture' article
a year ago
The Honest Broker
A Look at Bill Evans's 15-Year-Old Pianist Grandson And other updates on previous posts
a year ago
The Honest Broker
A 2000-Year-Old Argument Over the Flute Is the Most Important Thing in Our Culture Right Now This bitter debate from ancient times helps us understand today's crisis in music and other creative...
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
How to Read Greek Tragedy in a Netflix World If you dare
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
How Many Visionary Artists Are Mentally Ill? A surprising number of creative people have visions, hear voices, or have strange encounters in...
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
Crisis in the Culture: An Update I revisit past predictions
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Who Was Kid Bailey? I try to solve the last big mystery of the Delta blues
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Blue Collar Jobs of Philip Glass I praise his work as a composer—but also as plumber, taxi driver, steel mill worker, and other...
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Strangest Hit Songwriter in History He wrote one of my favorite songs, but was so much more than a composer
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Eleven Predictions: Here's What AI Does Next Are you ready? Is anybody ready?
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
When the Olympics Gave Medals to Artists They did it for 40 years—so why did they stop?
11 months ago
The Honest Broker
Live Music Is Coming Back! Is this the first stirring of a backlash against sanitized, algorithmic digital culture?
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Dying Singer Who Cured Himself with Music The strange case of Leo Kofler
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
I Had to Say Something at My Son's Wedding So I'm sharing it with you too
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How the Music Business Can Tame the Dangerous AI Dragon Here's a five point plan that makes a difference (and not just for music)
a year ago
The Honest Broker
I Receive a Letter from a High School Student I share this dispatch from 11th grade in its entirety
a year ago
The Honest Broker
8 Ways of Connecting Your Wi-Fi Can't Deliver They are the pillars of a happy life. So why are they under such fierce attack?
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Honest Broker's 20 Most Popular Articles From 2024 Phew, I published 171 articles this year—here are the ones you liked the most
6 months ago
The Honest Broker
Google Thinks Beethoven Looks Like Mr. Bean Instead of real portraits, Google serves up AI-generated garbage
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
How Do You Celebrate Truman Capote's 100th Birthday? Today is his centenary, but is Capote a hero or just an embarrassment?
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
Why Are Huge Tech Companies Getting Into the Book Business? Do they want to help writers or destroy them?
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
"I Told Three Big Lies That Changed My Life" A story from the comments section
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How Secret Practices of Magical Musicians Survived Into the Modern World A new installment of my online book 'Music to Raise the Dead'
a year ago
The Honest Broker
15 Observations on the New Phase in Cultural Conflict If the old motto was watch out below, the new one ought to be: Watch out above!
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
Healing with a Tin Whistle Also a story about Dave Brubeck (and more)
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Parable of Anna Akhmatova Who is more powerful, the artist or the dictator?
6 months ago
The Honest Broker
Why Gregory Bateson Matters Or what a counterculture might look like in the 21st century
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
What Happened to Sly Stone? At age 80, he tells his tale—but is it a story of recovery, or mere survival?
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Doctors Raise a Patient from a Deathlike State with Electronic Music Is ultrasound the healing song of the 21st century?
10 months ago
The Honest Broker
I Do My First Video Interview in More Than a Year Here's my guest appearance on Rick Beato's video channel
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Am I Wrong About the Live Music Resurgence? Am I crazy? Let's find out...
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
Western Music Isn't What You Think Or how my views on culture proved to be all wet
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How Miles Davis Hired John Coltrane A fascinating interlude from James Kaplan's new book '3 Shades of Blue'
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Dana Gioia on Stephen Sondheim An extract from his new book
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
I Say Forbidden Things About Sports What's happening in athletics is tragic—but don't expect to hear about on ESPN
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
How Did Pop Culture Get So Gloomy? Audiences seek out darkness and dysfunction, but why?
9 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Best Books of the 21st Century The Honest Broker assesses the NY Times list
a year ago
The Honest Broker
I Share Private Journal Entries Random jottings on music (and other topics) from my notebook
6 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Rise and Fall of The Village Voice A new book reminds us what we lost when the counterculture disappeared
a year ago
The Honest Broker
In the Music Business, 80 Is the New 20 It's never been better for dead and dying musicians
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
Why Is the Tesla Cybertruck So Depressingly Ugly? It's a bigger problem than just one sinister-looking car
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
The 6 New Rules of Communicating The era of teleprompters and talking points has come to an end
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
They Praised AI at SXSW—and the Audience Started Booing My survey confirms that consumers are getting angry about new tech (and not just AI)
a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Ugly Truth About Spotify is Finally Revealed A year-long investigation by an independent journalist is very alarming
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
My Search for Hidden Meanings in Beatles Songs Before the Internet, we often had no idea what hit songs were about
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
What's the Most Profitable Movie of the Year? (No, I Won't Watch It.) I share updates on ten recent articles
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
In 2024, the Tension Between Macroculture and Microculture Will Turn into War And I can already tell you who will win
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How to Dress Like Duke Ellington Today I offer fashion tips to clueless guys
a year ago
The Honest Broker
In Search of Dupree Bolton (Part 2 of 2) I conclude the story of my quest to find a legendary jazz musician who disappeared in the early...
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Mainstream Is Now Fringe, and Fringe Is Mainstream The current state of media is total anarchy
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
Are Social Media Platforms the Next Dying Malls? It was cool to hang out at the mall—until it wasn't
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
Is Honest Writing the Next New Thing in Journalism? And 21 reasons why writers are dishonest
a year ago
The Honest Broker
In 2025, Your Boss Will Launch a Podcast I warn about new grifts in my latest arts & culture briefing paper
6 months ago
The Honest Broker
12 Things I Learned from René Girard How a thinker who hated trends & fashions became trendy & fashionable
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Could Any Other Jazz Trumpeter Match Up with Louis Armstrong in the 1930s? The short answer is no—but these eight horn players came close
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Why Streaming Subscription Prices Will Continue to Rise You are a user—so get ready to be used
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
How Virtual Reality Died Meta, Microsoft, and Apple lost billions trying to convince us to live in the Matrix. Can you guess...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Meta, Microsoft, and Apple lost billions trying to convince us to live in the Matrix. Can you guess what they're doing next?
The Honest Broker
A Manifesto in Defense of Courtship Today the Honest Broker gives love advice
6 months ago
The Honest Broker
Dave Hickey on Dolly Parton and Richard Pryor I share passages from the expanded 30th anniversary edition of 'The Invisible Dragon'
a year ago
The Honest Broker
My Survey of 16 Classic Works of New Journalism Let's make New Journalism new again
6 months ago
The Honest Broker
Why I Don't Read Reddit And why I did read Reddit's IPO filing—here are seven things I learned
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Google Is Now the East India Company of the Internet Long ago, another company tried to control global connectivity—it had an unhappy ending
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
Open Mic: Tell Us About Anything You Want It’s Open Mic Day at The Honest Broker. And it’s totally open today—you can talk about anything you...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
It’s Open Mic Day at The Honest Broker. And it’s totally open today—you can talk about anything you want in the comments.
The Honest Broker
Why Is Music Journalism Collapsing? This is a bigger problem that you can fix with a Pitchfork
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Cruising for Classical Music in LA A section from Dana Gioia's new book
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
Help!—AI Is Stealing My Readers I thought piracy was bad, but I've now seen something much worse
a year ago
The Honest Broker
30 Signs You Are Living in an Information Crap-pocalypse The Age of Information has come to a brutal end—here's how it happened
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
I Give the Worst Writing Advice in the World But I believe every word of it
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
How to Read Plato And other remarks on teaching yourself great books
a year ago
The Honest Broker
What You Can Learn from Just Seven Pages by Hannah Arendt She wrote this book in the 1950s, but it's frighteningly relevant right now
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
Is There a Crisis of Seriousness? Back in 1996, critic Susan Sontag warned that seriousness was disappearing from society...
8 months ago
The Honest Broker
Why Did Social Media Go to War Against Writers? And can we ever get along?
a year ago
The Honest Broker
My 10 Most Popular Articles of 2023 Number one will surprise you
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How to Break Free from Dopamine Culture My quest for a healthier relationship with technology
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How I Stopped Hating Steely Dan I thought I was immune, but still became a Dan stan—this is my story
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Number of Songs in the World Doubled Yesterday Did you even notice?
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
It's Open Mic Day: Tell Us What You're Doing Here's a chance to pitch your own project
a year ago
The Honest Broker
I Ask Seven Heretical Questions About Progress And I offer seven radical hypotheses. But can you handle the truth?
a year ago
The Honest Broker
What Can Music Do Today? Here's the final chapter of my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead'
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
How to Survive as the Only Opera Fan in Elementary School My brother Dana shares a story about his unusual childhood
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Open Mic Day: Tells Us About Your Favorite Movies, Music, Books, Etc. of 2024 Share your best picks!
7 months ago
The Honest Broker
In Search of Dupree Bolton How I tracked down the most mysterious musician in the history of West Coast jazz
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Open Mic: What Should I Write About? And some coming attractions at The Honest Broker
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How I Survived (Barely) as a Jazz Musician at Business School Nobody was a less suitable MBA candidate than me at age 23
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Open Thread: What Is Your Spiciest Hot Take? Tell us your most controversial views on music, books, movies & other arts
a year ago
The Honest Broker
If I Ran a Major Record Label... I'd do these 10 things
a year ago
The Honest Broker
How Bing Crosby Made Silicon Valley Possible The singer who popularized "White Christmas" was also a visionary tech innovator
a year ago
The Honest Broker
I Revisit My Doom-and Gloom Forecasts What did I get right? What did I get wrong? And what will happen next?
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Are There Alternating Cycles of Hot and Cool in American Cultural History? (Part 1 of 2) And are we midway through a hot cycle right now?
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
A Tale of Three Songwriters: Duke Ellington, Joni Mitchell & Johnny Green Will Friedwald looks at popular composers who found fulfillment beyond commercial hits
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Twelve Brutal Truths about AI Music Ignore the hype—here's what the bots will really do to our songs
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
How We Lost the Ability to Listen In this extract from my book 'Music to Raise the Dead' I look at how texts replaced songs as sources...
a year ago
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a year ago
In this extract from my book 'Music to Raise the Dead' I look at how texts replaced songs as sources of wisdom and guidance
The Honest Broker
How 'American Graffiti' Invented Classic Rock (and Changed My Life) My favorite George Lucas film turns 50 tomorrow, and I love it for the soundtrack—but for a whole...
a year ago
The Honest Broker
When Louis Armstrong Conquered Chicago Grammy-winner Ricky Riccardi tells the story of a milestone moment in American music in this extract...
5 months ago
42
5 months ago
Grammy-winner Ricky Riccardi tells the story of a milestone moment in American music in this extract from his new book
The Honest Broker
What Happened to My Search Engine? Or why tech upgrades are now mostly downgrades
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Judgment Day Arrives at the Washington Post And updates on seven other recent articles at The Honest Broker
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Old Media Finally Wakes Up from a Coma The empire strikes back—or at least it will try
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Hottest Drummer You've Never Heard A new book pays tribute to the amazing Chick Webb, the hardest swinging jazz drummer of his day
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
"The Infrastructure of the Recording Industry Is About to Fail” The entire Hollywood ecosystem is tottering on the brink
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
How Songs Created Western Rational Thinking And Socrates sends me on a mad chase into the wild world of musical dreams
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
My 12-Month Immersive Course in Humanities—The Final Installment! I deliver on my promise to provide a full survey of arts & culture in just 52 weeks
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
Are There Alternating Cycles of Hot and Cool in American Cultural History? (Part 2 of 2) I grew up in a cool culture. But that era has now ended. Right now, we are clearly sizzling in the...
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Give Me Your Best Suggestions for Movies and TV Shows It's open mic day at The Honest Broker
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
How African Musicians Came to Medieval and Renaissance Europe Western music has always been multicultural
a year ago
The Honest Broker
What Happened to the Celebrities? Something has changed in the culture
3 months ago
The Honest Broker
My Ultimate Texas Songwriter Playlist I've handpicked 56 tracks from the Lone Star State (3 hours of music)
a year ago
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100 of My Favorite Things in Music (Part 1 of 2) And you can add some of your own
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Stoicism in the Gioia Family My brother Dana tells how our LA childhood gave us a direct connection to an ancient Roman worldview
a year ago
The Honest Broker
8 Pieces of Advice for Struggling Young Musicians (or Other Creative People) They keep reaching out to me with the same sad story—and here's what I say
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Death: A Literary Guide Can you really prepare for it or even understand it? These 10 books are my cherished touchstones on...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Can you really prepare for it or even understand it? These 10 books are my cherished touchstones on the matter.
The Honest Broker
Today is Open Mic Anarchy You can talk about absolutely any subject
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
An Executive Briefing Paper on the Creative Economy Here's my latest culture and arts survey
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Brilliant Bad Decisions of John Luther Adams He never finished high school, took demanding work outside of music, moved to a cabin in Alaska,...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
He never finished high school, took demanding work outside of music, moved to a cabin in Alaska, etc. Can you really win a Pulitzer Prize this way? Well, yes. . .
The Honest Broker
We Need More Jazz Vinyl Cafés And I have a hunch we will get them
a year ago
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Get Ready to Pay More for Music The power brokers have already squeezed musicians—so fans will be next
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The New Aesthetics of Slop Or what happens when vulgar technocrats control the arts
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
A Conversation with Jason Moran The celebrated pianist, composer, and Artistic Director for Jazz at the Kennedy Center talks with...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
The celebrated pianist, composer, and Artistic Director for Jazz at the Kennedy Center talks with Ted Panken
The Honest Broker
The Music Business is Healthy Again? Really? I express deep skepticism
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
My 'Personal Favorites' Carla Bley Playlist I pay tribute to the jazz pianist and composer—who left us yesterday at age 87
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Notes Toward a New Romanticism Or why it's 1800 all over again
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Is There Such a Thing as Western Harmony? Does anyone really own music theory, and who gets to decide?
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
How We Lost the Flow The flow state was our pathway to liberation—before it got taken over by profiteers
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
How I Disintermediated My Writing Career It's a clumsy word, but a lovely thing to do
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Hollywood Will Be a Ghost Town in Five Years Insiders worry that Hollywood is the next Detroit—but it's actually much worse than that
2 months ago
The Honest Broker
I'm Confessing that I Love Doris Day As a jazz singer—but I don't know if that makes it better or worse
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Hit Singles of Sun Ra On the 30th anniversary of the Afrofuturist's death, I explore the oddest discs in his discography
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
We Really Are Entering a New Age of Romanticism An update on the war against algorithms and technocratic manipulation
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
An Analysis of 47 Million Transactions Tells an Amazing Story about the Music Business Forget about streaming—physical merchandise is now the key to success
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The World's Largest Search Doesn't Want You to Search Why is Google abandoning its core mission?
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
How Musicians Invented the Antihero In this section from my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead', I probe the hidden musical origins of...
a year ago
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a year ago
In this section from my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead', I probe the hidden musical origins of Hollywood protagonists
The Honest Broker
Half of Waking Hours Are Now Devoted to Entertainment An Executive Briefing Paper on Arts, Media & Culture
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Netflix CEO Mocks Moviegoers: Theaters Are Dead! How fear and self-loathing took over Hollywood
3 months ago
The Honest Broker
John Coltrane's Love Is Still Supreme at Age 60 Today we're celebrating a very special album
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
I Talk with an AI Music Historian Maybe a chatbot can teach me a few things
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
12 Outstanding New Albums by 12 Artists from 12 Countries These under-the-radar records absolutely deserve your attention
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The World Was Flat. Now It's Flattened The state of the culture, 2025
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
The Death of Cool Can it come back to life? Or will we be angry forever?
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
How to Achieve Immortality Let's look at the options
5 months ago
The Honest Broker
Here's My Mission Impossible Article—But I Refuse to Talk About the Movie I just care about the theme song
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The 30 Most Intriguing Musicians of 2025 (Part 1 of 3) Join my on a voyage of music discovery
4 months ago
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I Offer Subversive Opinions Here are some highlights of my in-depth interview with Image Journal
3 months ago
The Honest Broker
Were the First Laws Sung? I make some radical claims in this extract from my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead'
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
How to Write Dana Gioia shares the secrets of his craft in this deep 3-hour conversation with David Perrell
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Dana Gioia shares the secrets of his craft in this deep 3-hour conversation with David Perrell
The Honest Broker
I'm Recommending These 12 New Recordings You can still find great music in 2025—you just need to know where it's hiding
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
Two Robots Talk About Me Behind My Back And other updates on previous stories
3 months ago
The Honest Broker
Classical Music Got Invented with a Hard Kick from a Peasant's Foot Or why we need less math in music theory
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
If William Shakespeare Came to Hollywood Today... “The first thing we do is, let's kill all the lawyers.”
4 months ago
The Honest Broker
9 Rules for New Technology Wendell Berry's list from 1987 is more relevant than ever before
3 months ago
The Honest Broker
Judgment Day Has Arrived for the Journalism Business From Upworthy to Buzzfeed, all the click chasing gimmicks have failed—but there is one sure option...
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Why Recording Studios Are Unplugging From the Internet And other recent articles of interest
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
Can Songs Really Replace Philosophy? Nobody has told you this before, but our rationalistic STEM worldview originated in magical songs
over a year ago
The Honest Broker
The Death of the Slow Dance (and Other Emerging Trends) My latest briefing paper on the state of the creative economy
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Car Drivers Torment a City with Celine Dion Songs An update on dangerous music
a year ago
The Honest Broker
Open Thread: What Are Your Picks for the Cultural Highlights of 2023? What music, books, movies, or other creative works made the biggest impact on you this year?
a year ago
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When a Single Person Controlled the Copyright on All Music (Even Blank Music Paper) Music copyright law is a mess today—but it's always been that way
over a year ago
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My 12 Favorite Existential Songs It's not a real genre—but should be
3 months ago
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Why You Should Skip My Articles and Go Straight to the Comments Here are some highlights from yesterday's open mic anarchy thread
over a year ago
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“The Only Sensible Person in the World” 10 Perspectives on Joan Didion
a year ago
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In 1970, Alvin Toffler Predicted the Rise of Future Shock—But the Exact Opposite Happened And it's much, much worse
over a year ago
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I Tamed the YouTube Algorithm... and now have these 17 videos to share
4 months ago
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More Entries from My Private Journal A few months ago, I shared private entries from my journal. People seemed to enjoy reading them—so...
3 months ago
28
3 months ago
A few months ago, I shared private entries from my journal. People seemed to enjoy reading them—so I’m doing it again.
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What's Happening to Students? Here's the latest news from the zombie wars
3 months ago
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How to Discover Mindfulness in a Nazi Solitary Confinement Cell This extraordinary narrative is now available again
3 months ago
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Today I'm Starting My 5th Year on Substack—But Have I Learned Anything? Thank you for joining me on this wild ride
2 months ago
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The Four Horsemen of the Pop Culture Apocalypse Do I have a horse in this race?
2 months ago
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Who Are the Real Experts Now? Q&A on the people I trust—and why
3 months ago
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Why I Ran Away from Philosophy Because of Sam Bankman-Fried Or how flawed thinking can make $10 billion disappear
a year ago
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How the Internet Went to Threads And how we can sew it back together
over a year ago
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Tony Bennett’s Greatest Jazz Collaborations I pick a dozen favorite tracks—each showcasing the vocalist in tandem with a jazz legend
a year ago
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How James Bond Can Fix the Crisis in Masculinity Here's what I'd do if I owned the 007 franchise
4 months ago
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The Best Recordings of 2023 (Honorable Mention List) I'll soon share my 100 favorite albums of the year—meanwhile here are 50 honorable mention records...
a year ago
26
a year ago
I'll soon share my 100 favorite albums of the year—meanwhile here are 50 honorable mention records of exceptional merit
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Jim Croce and Me 50 years ago today, the gifted singer-songwriter died in a plane crash
a year ago
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Is Disney Trying to Sell Star Wars? I pick out winners and losers in my latest culture briefing paper
4 months ago
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Why Do Heroes Always Have Theme Songs (Part 1 of 2) An excerpt from my new book 'Music to Raise the Dead'
a year ago
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Is This the Dominant Personality Type of Our Time? Or how we all became Clint Eastwood
3 months ago
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How I Learned About Great Literature from Comic Books Over the course of 169 issues, Classics Illustrated gave me a taste for mind-expanding reading that...
3 months ago
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My Lost Gumby Essay Or how I overcame ontological horror with the help of a rubbery toy
a year ago
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Why Are Music Fans Throwing Things at Pop Stars? The latest trend in music is injuring your favorite artist
a year ago
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How an Angry Woman in Baltimore Almost Killed the Jazz Age When Mrs. Martha Lee went to war against jazz (1922)
a year ago
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How Many NY Times Journalists Does It Take to Write 500 Words? And other dismal stories from the culture business
3 months ago
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Why Journalism Is Like Stinky Cheese And updates on previous stories
4 months ago
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Here's Why I'm Telling Young Musicians to See the Dylan Biopic And an update on transformative songs around the world
3 months ago
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How I Take Notes In response to reader requests, I share my 3 levels of note-taking
a year ago
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Investment Funds Are Now Selling the Rock Songs They Bought They will even take less than "fair market value"
a year ago
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Ugly Numbers from Microsoft and ChatGPT Reveal that AI Demand is Already Shrinking The only areas where AI is flourishing are shamming, spamming & scamming
a year ago
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Is Rock Dead? (and Other Questions from Readers) And I invite you to ask questions of your own
a year ago
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The New Romanticism Just Found an Unexpected Spokesperson Sometimes heroes really do wear white hats
2 months ago
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Nobody Will Tell You the Ugly Reason Apple Acquired a Classical Music Label But you need to know, because it offers a glimpse into the dark future of streaming
a year ago
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The Anti-Tech Canon: 30 Books My reading list for reviving human values in today's digital desert and liberating yourself from...
2 months ago
24
2 months ago
My reading list for reviving human values in today's digital desert and liberating yourself from tech overreach
The Honest Broker
40 Observations on Public Discourse What we have here is a failure to communicate
3 months ago
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We Have Entered the Self-Loathing Stage of the Internet Or why web platforms keep changing their names like criminals in the Witness Protection Program
a year ago
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For Keith Jarrett's 80th Birthday: 10 Key Tracks from His Early Career I celebrate the pianist's milestone birthday by sharing my favorite music from his first decade as a...
2 months ago
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Are We Living in a Time of Cultural Collapse? Some say I believe this—but do I really?
2 months ago
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How Musicians Invented Stand-Up Comedy Even today rhythm makes a joke funnier
a year ago
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The 30 Most Intriguing Musicians of 2025 Here's the second installment of my three-part survey
2 months ago
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A Tribute to Tony Bennett (1926-2023) I've been a fan since childhood—and it feels like I've lost a part of my extended family
a year ago
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Hey Madonna, Let Me Bring My Band to Your Concert My latest briefing paper on culture, arts & society
a year ago
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How To Kill a Superhero Hollywood embraces a desperate strategy—canceling franchise films before they're released
a year ago
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12 Predictions on the Future of Song Investing Who will eventually own all the dead stars of rock & roll?
a year ago
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An Ugly New Marketing Strategy Is Driving Me Nuts (and You Too) That's its purpose
a month ago
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Panic Among the Streamers Spotify's losses get worse, and the CEO dumps $100 million in stock—but that's just a small part of...
a year ago
20
a year ago
Spotify's losses get worse, and the CEO dumps $100 million in stock—but that's just a small part of the streaming crisis
The Honest Broker
AI Is Defeated in Hollywood—But What About Music? I describe a legit pathway to victory, but we need a general to lead the battle
a year ago
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How Musicians Invented the Law Songs are far more powerful than you think
a year ago
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Why Is Music Getting Sadder? Songs are a cultural indicator—so what are they telling us right now?
a year ago
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I'm Recommending These 10 New Albums Here are some highlights from my recent listening
a month ago
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14 YouTube Videos I'm Enjoying Right Now Today we cover everything from surf music to brain rot—and I tell you what really happens at an...
2 months ago
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5 Ways to Stop AI Cheating At 22, I left LA for a traditional Oxford education. I mocked it then—but this stodgy approach might...
a month ago
18
a month ago
At 22, I left LA for a traditional Oxford education. I mocked it then—but this stodgy approach might be our best hope right now.
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My 12 Favorite Problems A dozen things that drive my writing, research, thinking & actions
a year ago
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'The Atlantic' Visits Me at Home, and I Win an Award This has been quite a day at The Honest Broker
2 months ago
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The Rise and Fall of Sly Stone The soul and funk legend leaves us today at age 82—but the deeper story is that he abandoned his...
a month ago
18
a month ago
The soul and funk legend leaves us today at age 82—but the deeper story is that he abandoned his audience more than 50 years ago
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Can You Fool the Audience? The future of culture may depend on this question—and the answer is now evident
a month ago
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The Ten Warning Signs A huge change is coming
a month ago
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Tens of Thousands of AI Users Now Believe ChatGPT Is God Is this mental illness—or the next major religion?
a month ago
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The New 80% Rule in Culture It's ugly out there
3 weeks ago
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A Major Newspaper Publishes a Summer Reading List—but the Books Don't Exist The AI disaster is getting worse—and a new survey of 48,000 people in 47 countries makes clear that...
a month ago
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Today You Can Talk About Anything and Everything (Well, Almost) It's open mic day at The Honest Broker
a month ago
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The Nine Best Movies on the Creative Life I share my favorite films on artistry from the 21st century
a week ago
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"The Next New Thing in Music Will Not Come from New York, Los Angeles, or London" Highlights from my conversation with The Ankler
a month ago
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Does the Pulitzer Prize Hate Substack? And should we care?
3 weeks ago
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Welcome to the Worldwide Wall Why are web platforms turning into bunkers and internment camps?
a month ago
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Brian Wilson Is My Brick I keep a brick on display in my home.
a month ago
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Harrison Ford and the Origin of Western Civilization We cover lots of ground at The Honest Broker
2 months ago
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Tell Us What You're Doing Here's your chance to strut your stuff
3 weeks ago
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Audiences Prove that the Experts Are Dead Wrong Or why 'Abundance' is more than just a political agenda
3 weeks ago
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How Much Money Does Silicon Valley Make from Stolen Video? TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook are making billions on scrolling video feeds, and they all recycle the...
4 weeks ago
14
4 weeks ago
TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook are making billions on scrolling video feeds, and they all recycle the same (apparently pirated) video clips. Is this really legal?
The Honest Broker
Record Labels Are Running on Empty The latest news is ominous
2 weeks ago
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Yacht Rock Sails Again! Is relaxed jazzy pop music coming back?
2 months ago
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Substack Has Changed in the Last 30 Days The people who hate us now love us—should we be worried?
a month ago
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30 Ways to Revitalize Arts & Culture I can dream, can't I?
2 months ago
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The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public This isn't innovation, it's tyranny
a week ago
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How I Got Scammed A retraction and an apology to Pitchfork
2 months ago
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The 30 Most Intriguing Musicians of 2025 Today I’m sharing the third (and final) installment of my guide to the 30 most intriguing musicians...
2 weeks ago
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Beauty Is Stone Cold in the Arts, but Hot as a Consumer Product The state of aesthetics in the 21st century is very, very strange
a month ago
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How Lalo Schifrin Composed the Mission Impossible Theme Song I pay tribute to the Argentine composer who left us this week at age 93
2 weeks ago
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Where in the World Is the World's Fair? It's happening right now—but can you tell me where?
a month ago
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Now You Know the Rest of the Story... I share updates on recent articles
2 months ago
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I Get Into Dogfights on Social Media Did I win or lose? You can judge the results.
2 months ago
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Why I Take Gifts Seriously The digital economy is built on the unpaid labor of the gifted. What can we do to protect them?
a week ago
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How I Identify Heroes & Villains in the Music Business Or in publishing, movies, visual arts, and other creative idioms
2 months ago
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Live with Ted Gioia A recording from Ted Gioia's live video
2 months ago
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Indie Culture Is Great—But What's Coming Next is Better Things are about to change, and this is how it will happen
6 days ago
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I Answer 18 Questions I tell tales, give advice, and make wagers on the future
4 days ago
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How an Exiled Russian Noble Became a Great American Songwriter His story spans everything from Belarus to Balanchine to Bacharach
3 days ago
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Could Substack Challenge YouTube? 8 predictions on the battle for your eyeballs
2 days ago