The arc of change

Most creator lore encourages creative people to start your channel, get subscribers, be the star.

These instructions have zero relationship to making great creative work, pursuing creative fulfillment, or making something that becomes bigger than you. They just want to make you feel like you need to post more to benefit the growth rates of their own platforms.

On the other side of this language are a generation of creative people exhausted by raindancing for the algorithm just for their work to be seen, wondering how the thing they loved became a chore instead.

This is what Metalabel hopes to change.

Start a channel → Start a label

Starting a channel centers you the individual. Starting a label invites you and others to make work together that you believe in. A label is less about you and more about what inspires you to create.

Self-promote → Co-promote

The Creator Economy has made us all personal brands ready to sell our souls for likes and subscribers. Co-promoting invites us to talk not just about ourselves, but ideas and people we believe in and care about, and ensures they will do the same for you.

One byline → Many bylines

Number of followers has been our public metric of social value, but that’s changing. It’s increasingly who you’re in group chats with, who you drop with, whose work you edit, and what larger scenes you’re a part of that create influence and meaning.

Compete for legitimacy → Legitimize ourselves

The status quo needs us to climb over each other’s backs to fight for the crumbs of cultural legitimacy. This is what keeps legacy institutions so powerful. But instead, imagine we create our own forms of status. Make our own labels, give out our own advances and rewards. Rather than wait to be picked, we pick ourselves.

Be the star → Be part of a constellation

Being a star was the defining cultural goal of the past half-century. But is that really all it’s cracked up to be? We should think bigger. As a constellation you exist on your own, but also in the context of something larger. This is where meaning really lies.

This week’s new releases tap into this energy: from a piece that explores the shift from individualism to “post-individualism” to a cassette and zine from Thailand to an artist’s beautiful meditation for the Anthropocene. Enjoy this week’s dive into a new space for co-releasing and collecting unique creative work.