Ideas

Was just thinking ab attention rehypothecation right… so socials are a machine for extracting value & the algo has gotten, SO, fucking exceptional at tuning our feeds to amplify shit that pokes us & unearths primitive reflexes: outrage, fear, jealousy, lust, hope etc. cause that’s what keeps us scrolling. It’s less ab meaning & more ab selling; funneling reactions into impressions & clicks. The system optimizes for surface interaction, not depth, cause the algo can’t feel our deepest feelings, but it does know how long, to the ms, you left your finger down on this frame so you could read this. (but not here, this is my site not insta stories)

We are stuck in a loop, consuming stuff that’s crafted more to provoke instinctive responses than genuine thought. Who has the time to watch a 3 min vid w/ a cathartic arc? Nah, we are lazy. Conversations become shallow & fleeting, rarely offering anything truly insightful or lasting. Rather than enriching us, socials became a casino, feeding on raw impulse to monetize time, leaving only distraction behind. It is zero sum, but in this moment I’m excited by a recent convo with a friend - likening participants in crypto to characters from Wizard of Oz. I learned something. That will come back.

In 2010 I was 19, making edm mashups from my dorm at Wash U & begging blogs to share them. I played frats for free bottles of jack while trying to stay afloat as a finance major.

Dropping out of school to be a pro DJ was a lofty idea. To "make it" both financially and in the public eye, I aligned my music with the "current thing" - whatever could expand my audience & success metrics. I wanted to play big shows, hit charts, earn high fees. 15 years later, I'm 34 now; l've learned that none of those things created fulfillment or purpose.

While I might not be the best musician, I'm ready to make music purely as myself. I hope it impacts people deeply, which matters more to me than the ephemeral enthusiasm of infinite internet audiences.

I became deeply fascinated with Bitcoin in 2014 & Ethereum later in 2017. I've learned that crypto is THE force to fix music, an art-form that creates immense value, but is controlled by few. As Al music accelerates & content reaches superabundance, blockchains are more relevant than ever.

In 2021 I started a company called royal; our vision is to democratize the economics of music. We raised $71m from our friends @ a16z, Founders Fund, and Paradigm to solve music's deepest issues with distributed ledger tech. Artists only earn 12% of the $ in the "music industry" - a categorical typewriter bound by copyright laws, relationship gates, zero sum games & late-stage desperation.

Being a CEO has completely changed me. It has dampened fears of failure and pushed me toward better habits of iteration. I'm a different person now; they say "the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

From now on I'll go by my name, Justin Blau, because I want my digital identity to reflect my real one. I'll release new music, test crazy ideas, and invest my time at the intersection of crypto & music.

Pushing boundaries makes me feel most alive. As an artist I want to give the next generation of creatives the best shot at expressing their deepest and most potent emotions. As a CEO, I want to test the limits of what's possible with revolutionary tech, even in the face of resistance. It's time to build. I'm glad you're on the journey with me.