Should We Get Rid Of Metrics? + 10 New Singles/EPs We Love
A look at the shortcomings of quantitative data, a sneak peek at our upcoming podcast, and ten recent tracks we’re loving.
Howdy, and happy Cinco de Mayo! This is installment #5 in our 🦺Under Construction🚧 series, since we’re still pre-launch, but keep an eye on July. That’s when we’ll kick off our official newsletter and our podcast, The J-Card.
In today’s newsletter:
Let’s Kill Metrics 📉
10 Great New Singles/EPs 🎶
Sneak Peek at “The J-Card” Podcast 🎙️
📉 Should We Get Rid Of Metrics?
Last month, when I went to DC for a King Hannah show, I got a chance to meet up with my friend mkay for coffee and to bullshit about art, capitalism, the usual. At the time, he was working on an essay and video exploring the present-day version of “scenes” (i.e. artist collectives, etc). During our conversation, we ended up drifting into the topic of metrics, which is something I’ve always had a pretty extreme opinion on.
I’ve worked in the world of internet videos for nearly 15 years, and a lot of perceived value (whether that’s from casual viewers, higher-ups/execs in the industry, other professionals, you name it) for whatever it is you’ve created ends up getting boiled down to metrics. When it comes to conversations with big-time decision makers in creative industries (and beyond, to be frank), it seems like quantitative data is always considered to be a cut above qualitative data.
Why is it that the figures a piece generates get more shine than the feelings a piece inspires?
Probably because it’s easier to understand a chart in 10 seconds than it is to understand how a song, a movie, a book, what have you, has impacted a group of people. (Also, there’re the obvious demons of profit, making shareholders happy, closing deals, etc, but I don’t need to get into that here.)
If you talk to anyone who works in social media or any adjacent sphere, I’m sure they’d be able to shine a light on just how fudged all those numbers really are. I mean shit, we could even just go back to the term “Hollywood accounting” – it’s been around forever!
The modern equivalent doesn’t just distort financial numbers; it also manipulates the social currency (views, engagement, etc). Need to grow a YouTube or IG channel? Just buy one that already has subs and change the name. Need to hit some arbitrary view number to impress folks or make good on a deal? Disable comments and buy views. There’re endless ways to game the system, and I’m sure many are more sophisticated than my little pea-brain could even comprehend.
So that leads me to my “extreme opinion” I was teasing in the opening lines: get rid of all metrics. Now, that might sound harsh, and realistically, I think it would come with a few caveats.
First of all, I think that blanket idea of killing all metrics should apply to non-professional social media accounts. We all know the “if it’s free, you’re the product” idea, and going hand-in-hand with that, I think it would make sense for all free accounts to not have any access to their metrics at all. You can’t see how many “likes”, “views”, whatever your shit gets. No one else can see that either. If you’re a hobbyist who is writing, photographing, making videos, whatever; sharing what you make should be the final step. No need for analysis of how it “performed”; no need for a post-mortem. Create art for your own sake.
In an ideal world, that idea would go even further: social media companies shouldn’t collect data on likes/views/engagement/whatever for unpaid users, period. Obviously, those platforms are designed to take advantage of users to begin with, so this is probably a non-starter.
Unfortunately, I do realize that advertising runs on metrics, and that’s what makes the world of YouTube, Meta, TikTok, etc, go ‘round. If we’d like to appease those people and strike a balance, “professional” accounts could cost a monthly fee and have access to metrics. Again, to me personally, that’s a weak half-solution to the metrics problem, but I try to be at least a bit of a realist.
A few days after our chat, mkay sent me this interesting article from The Verge titled “‘Views’ Are Lies” – ding-ding-ding! Good to know this is a common thought! I’ll end this section of the newsletter with a snippet from that article, since a professional writer can probably do a better job than I can:
“We’ve been doing this whole internet thing for a while now, and it’s pretty clear that just about all the metrics are bad. They’ve turned the internet into a game to be won, a system to be gamed, a race to the biggest numbers even when the numbers don’t mean anything. Maybe we’d all be better off without the numbers, but they’re not going anywhere. So all we can do is remember: “views” are not views. Views are lies.” - David Pierce
🕯️ 10 Great New Singles/EPs
When we launch the actual newsletter in July, we’ll be including new music round-ups more frequently, but for now, let’s take the format for a spin. Last newsletter we highlighted 10 of our favorite recent albums, and this week it’s time for EPs and Singles. Reverse alphabetical order by artist.
ARTIST: Wishy
SINGLE: Over and Over
ARTIST: Swimming Bell
SINGLE: Meet My Shadow
ARTIST: Slime Ring
EP: Slime Ring EP2
ARTIST: Phoebe Rings
SINGLE: Aseurai
ARTIST: Noonzy
EP: Puppies
ARTIST: Miynt
SINGLE: Blu-ray Land
ARTIST: Late Again
SINGLE: Ick?
ARTIST: Lampland
SINGLE: Holding Down Delete
ARTIST: Famous Friend
EP: Blue
ARTIST: Alien Boy
SINGLE: Changes
If you’ve got any ideas on how we could make this section of the newsletter better, send them over (hi@tapeclub.biz)!
📈 Help Out By Sponsoring The Tape Club
If you want to help out a small-time art project, support DIY creatives, and shine a small spotlight on physical media, get in touch!
🎙️ Plans for The J-Card podcast
Alongside the newsletter, we’ll be launching a podcast later this summer. It’s called The J-Card, named after the little paper insert that goes inside a cassette case and contains track listings, credits, liner notes, etc.
We’ve been slowly getting ideas of who to book on the show and coming up with segment/format ideas as well, so we figured it would be a nice little treat to let our early subscribers in on some of that.
In terms of guests, for our first few episodes we’re hoping to lock down Pictoria Vark, Ciao Malz, the founders of Brainrot Radio, the founder of Hope You Like It, among others. If you’re reading this and thinking “Oh damn, they should get ____ on the show!”... what’re you waiting for?! Let us know!
Format-wise, it’s shaping up to be a three segment show. The first segment we’ll talk more generally with our guests about what sort of music projects/experiences they’ve been up to lately, what they’ve been listening to, insights they can give us, etc. In the second segment our guest will unveil their “mixtape” track-by-track, and they’ll explain why they picked the songs they did, what the songs mean to them, etc. Finally, we’ll close the show in our third segment with a quick music-related game (like a bracket or a draft or something).
We couldn’t be more stoked for the podcast, and we hope you’re excited as well! Again, if you’ve got any ideas or questions, let us know!
🫶 Your Support…
We sincerely thank you for being a part of the Tape Club. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed, especially in these early stages.
We’re currently seeking music submissions for the first tape. If you’re interested in submitting or know anyone who might be, here’s the submission form: https://forms.gle/Mc7En6K8Tb2BbgxJA
We’re also happy to hear your general thoughts and ideas. There’s a form for those, too: https://forms.gle/nTgxrqL6oLfVKms27
Thanks again, and talk to you soon!
-RDTC