Music stacker Tamara Casey so elegantly worded how I feel about our musicstack community that I’m compelled to share it and more. Aside from the long and prestigious list of music stackers (many of whom I call friends whether the feeling is mutual or not 😉), I’d like to add my two cents on Tam’s suggestion that Substack focus on community building initiatives that could mirror what we’ve achieved organically within our collective family.

Top down tools and strategies, scaled systems, and good intentions won’t work. As the first designated internet content programmer at AOL in 1994, I say this with conviction, experience, and evidence. The environment we’ve created, nurtured, grown and shared is because we are kindred creators and fans. Linked by a common passion based on collaboration instead of competition. Listening (!) and writing and recording and gathering IRL and organizing and understanding the bigger picture that music paints for a life well lived. A collective effervescence that can’t be replaced and is typically destroyed by trying to replicate it or build it bigger and better and more profitable. Because, at the day’s end, the “company” will always design paths/systems to higher profits over Higher Purpose. AOL, MusicSpace, Yahoo! FB, Twitter/X, IG, TikTok, Spotify. Business models built on the backs of driven indie talents who are the first to suffocate and disappear under the pressures of quarterly reports and stockholder greed. I see Substack squeezing my Notes feed to the same 15-20 daily profiles (I follow hundreds) and feel the familiar slow burn moving in the cyclical direction of the inevitable. A reluctant nomadic exodus. Especially given the complete neglect in Substack’s enforcing harassment and safety protocols to protect those who built their business for them. That said, our music stackers and fans are the best of the best community in digital media for all the reasons mentioned. I’d eat a big sloppy helping of Rocky Mountain oysters if someone managed to replicate what we’ve made for music fans and ourselves. It’s an incomparable feat; my heart swells with gratitude. And I hope the song remains the same for as long as possible. Thank you, Tamara, for the recognition and being part of the fam. 🎶❤️‍🔥🎶