#70: The Night The Line Was Crossed
A bunch of stuff to catch up on while you're practicing social distancing!
MARKETING THING:
How Instagram Live Became The Music Industry’s Saving Grace
This is a great 30,000-foot view of how the COVID-19 pandemic led to the uptick in entertainers using IG Live to connect with their audiences. For more on this brave new world, check out the NYT interview with DJ D-Nice about his record-breaking live stream and Taylor Lorenz’s great deep dive into the wild world of the strip clubs of Instagram
CULTURE THING:
“From the beginning, selling the self-made dream to those who hoped to live it was a lucrative business itself. In a country where everyone thinks he’s bound to be a millionaire, you can make a fortune selling the secret to making that fortune.”
Using historical examples from Andrew Carnegie to Horatio Alger to “Girlboss” creator Sophia Amoruso, this long-read analyzes the myth of the rags-to-riches “self-made man” in American society. SPOILER ALERT: We all got finessed.
“When the Pew Economic Mobility Project conducted a survey in 2009—hardly a high point in the history of American capitalism—39 percent of respondents said they believed it was “common” for people born into poverty to become rich, and 71 percent said that personal attributes like hard work and drive, not the circumstances of a person’s birth, are the key determinants of success. Yet Pew’s own research has demonstrated that it is exceedingly rare for Americans to go from rags to riches, and that more modest movement from the bottom of the economic ladder isn’t common either. In fact, economic mobility is greater in Canada, Denmark, and France than it is in the United States.”
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MUSIC THINGS:
Dua Lipa’s Unplanned, Uncertain, Unprecedented Album Launch
You should listen to Dua Lipa’s new album and then read this story.
NEW PLAYLIST - 🤙🏿
This lovely piece of work was the result of compiling a lot of modern yacht rock/disco, and then it kind of spirals from there. Honestly? Put this one when you want to CHILL OUT.
Don’t forget to take time for yourself this week. You got this.
Until tomorrow…
WASH YOUR HANDS!
STAY IN THE HOUSE!
CHECK ON YOUR LOVED ONES!
BE SAFE OUT THERE!
Office Hours is written by Ernest Wilkins. That’s me. Hi!
Follow me on Twitter/IG @ErnestWilkins or email me here.