FEBRUARY GUNK
feb shows on the last day of jan, a survivalist reality tv x music streaming collab, & indie rock is OUT in february's gunk playlist
The Tech Tribe Has Spoken
by Mallory Hawk
To begin, I’d like you to imagine yourself as a contestant on the legendary reality TV show Survivor. It’s day 20/39, you’re about to perform in a “reward challenge” with ten other contestants. The reward is a large cheese pizza. Before the challenge begins, the host Jeff Probst hands the contestants one single slice of pizza to share between the group. Everyone takes tiny bites and throws their head back moaning with delight. They monitor the size of each other’s bites with a primitive look in their eyes. This move from Jeff is an intentional tease of the nutrients they deserve, designed to make them work harder for the reward (and to make the viewers entertained by the dire situation they’ve put themselves in for sport). But that’s an important point, the contestants have chosen to enroll in a show that tests their limits as a human. This is what they signed up for. And what makes you more barbaric than… money?
Now that we’ve had our tiny bite of pizza, let’s remove ourselves from this scene and look at it from an aerial view. There are three crucial elements that we can characterize and reimagine. The Survivor contestants = musicians. The large cheese pizza? That’s rewarding musical success. And our hunky little host Jeff Probst is Spotify (sorry Jeff).
Now let’s replay the scene with our new characters. Spotify is dangling a slice of pizza in front of you and your fellow feeble musicians and you’re only allowed one bite. But! If you keep playing Spotify’s game, you might win a cheese pizza and some money to provide yourself the nutrients to survive. Of course, your only option to win the food is to further destroy your weak body through a demeaning set of obstacles and puzzles that Spotify has set up for you. Starting to feel familiar, right?
Now let’s say you even win the reward challenge, congratulations! Your song has landed a spot on the coveted “All New Indie” playlist. You’re usually on the playlist for about 2 weeks, which equates to ~$12. If you have the privilege of record label support (extremely difficult to reach a real human playlist editor without that support lately) only 50% of that is yours. So you’re down to $6. But streaming services can now choose to deem an album “incomplete” unless you pay someone to make your fucking album art wiggle around and provide loads of perfectly formatted video content and expensive “spatial audio” masters so… no pizza for you or your label. So wait, does anyone get pizza? Yes, Spotify gets pizza parties and catered lunches. Jeff Probst is drinking unlimited mimosas at brunch with his tech money. Jeff Probst even has enough money to get a little too much plastic surgery to stay hunky (sorry Jeff).
Okay, back to reality (not the TV kind). Everyone is scrambling for fractions of pennies to pay off thousands of dollars of debts. Seriously. You’re given morsels. Crumbs. It is barbaric. But the difference is, you’re not on Survivor. You’re not even guaranteed 1 dollar, much less a million dollar prize. And yet, you’re still required to invest your mind, body, and wallet in the HOPE for support from streaming services who can’t even turn a profit themselves.
If it comforts you, these companies are in their own barbaric game of survival, it just looks more glamorous. Their game is a little more like… American Ninja Warrior. Spotify is that fucking guy that no one can beat with 31% of the market share. Apple Music is sufficient, strategic, and oh yeah, the #1 richest company in the world. They’re the kinda contestant who can consistently fail, but always afford to come back. They’ve even built a Ninja Warrior obstacle course in their hometown just because they can. Tidal arrived by helicopter, dripping in jewels, only to fail on the very first obstacle. These companies are flailing in front of us, laying off thousands of staff members and disguising cost-prohibitive marketing schemes as “improvements” to their service. They are blatantly emulating one another for the top spot and gradually edging out independent music in the process.
If these companies listened to artists or their users, they’d know that we don’t need album artwork to be animated and pixelated (for the love of god just let us zoom in on the art and see the credits how the artist intended). We don’t need our music in “spatial audio” (this is clearly just a scheme to sell AirPods). Unsurprisingly, these things are expensive and largely inaccessible to independent artists. Most shockingly, Apple Music insists there’s no excessive color, abstraction, or tattoos in an artist’s press photos (this is literally censorship — I dare them to ask Travis Barker to put a turtleneck on).
As I watch other companies claw after Spotify’s “success,” I know that streaming won’t last. But while it does, my advice is to get a free Spotify account and use their backend as an informational resource. They are the only company who aren’t too ashamed to share their analytics and playcounts publicly, and you will need information as things get increasingly individualistic. Approach the data with caution and try to avoid Spotify’s influence. Remember that you are not data, and neither is your art. No one can ever police you on going to shows and supporting the artists you love. You will always have that power. Tell streaming services in feedback sections that you’re not paying for a luxury listening experience, you’re paying for a functional music library that they are no longer providing. And lastly, lean on each other. The industry’s infrastructure will have to be rebuilt by artists themselves if it has any chance for sustainability.
your February shows with a sick physical show paper designed by guest Sam Tiesworth. Remember, you can email us at thegunkyard@gmail.com to possibly design with us in the future.
you can reliably find GUNK at: honeymoon coffee shop (ridgewood) topos (ridgewood) normas (ridgewood) milk&pull (ridgewood), little roy (bed stuy), playground zine box (bed stuy) prima (clinton hill) the lot zine box (greenpoint). if you can’t find GUNK…we need your help with distro in your neighborhood! email us for a stack ;)
Your February GUNK playlist has been guest curated by one of NYC’s best bassists, Micah Prussack, to tell us what’s officially “In” for 2024, in case you’re still figuring it out…
Hello indie rockers. In 2024 i think we all know: indie rock is OUT! and yet, we persist. i made a playlist of things i believe are IN for 2024- including orchestras, large bands (that means florry makes the cut), long songs, heavy songs, and the beatles. the point of this playlist is not to create a cohesive listening experience. listen at your own peril. your curator, micah prussack
also the 70s are in 😔✌🏻
we are looking for writers for features or prose or show reviews, photographers to submit pics so we have more pics to post than our cat, and distro help as always, we can’t stop listening to the new dolly ep, happy feb, see u next time,
<3 gunk editors ceci and hannah
this is the earliest gunk has ever been ready : ) pls clap