Emily White

Streaming Flattened Music. Gaming Makes It 3D. The Daft Punk Experience in Fortnite is a blueprint for turning music catalogs into immersive, participatory worlds that build lasting fandom.

The recorded music industry has long been told to “be more like gaming,” a market 5X its size despite music’s greater cultural reach.

But the lesson isn’t to “gamify” music with points, leaderboards, or badges—it’s to make recorded music feel contextual, immersive and participatory.

Streaming Flattened Music. Gaming Makes It 3D. The Daft Punk Experience in Fortnite is a blueprint for turning music catalogs into immersive, participatory worlds that build lasting fandom.

Everything the music industry says it wants—superfan experiences, community, co-creation, fandom as identity—already exists in Fortnite.

Especially in light of the shutdown of @wcsb.bsky.social yesterday, it's important to know that college radio IS thriving and plays a vital role in many students' lives. Thanks to @emwhitenoise.bsky.social for this great piece that takes a closer look at why Gen Z is excited about college radio.

College radio stations are seeing a surge in student interest.

Stations that once struggled to fill airtime are now overflowing with student DJs. 

I spoke to 7 college radio stations across the U.S. to understand what is driving the revival:

emwhitenoise.substack.com/p/gen-zs-col...

The Rise of Fan-Driven Discovery How Playlisters Like Carly B Became Music’s New Tastemakers (+ insights from my Gen Z readers!)

Ever discovered a user generated playlist on Spotify and wondered who made it? It might have been one of Carly B’s 280 playlists with over 66,000 followers.

I interviewed Carly about how she started posting TikToks in her college dorm and turning it into a career as a music tastemaker:

Thanks for the support!

AI Music Is Going Viral, But It’s Not What Fans Want. Streaming is cracking. AI slop is flooding the feed. Artists are getting squeezed. But fans don't want more music—they want music that matters.

An AI-generated “rock” band called The Velvet Sundown is going viral, with over 600,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

And it’s not the only one.

The “Amazon Basics” of music is here.

But for the people who care about the experience of fandom, background noise isn’t enough.

Is Substack the New Fan Club Platform for Indie Artists? Substack is gaining traction with a handful of notable indie storytellers, but can it scale beyond that niche?

Substack wasn't built for musicians. So why are so many great ones using it?

Who are some of your favorite art & photography curators? Would love to check them out!

The next generation of independent music tastemakers Music streaming has an echo chamber problem. Curators with distinctive taste and compelling visual stories are filling the void.

Music streaming has an echo chamber problem. But curators with distinctive taste and compelling visual stories are filling the void. I wrote about the next generation of independent music tastemakers: emwhitenoise.substack.com/p/the-next-g...

Music is losing a generation of young men Key insights from this blog: Netflix’s hit Adolescence has renewed conversation around the radicalisation of young men, particularly in online spaces MIDiA’s research highlights that all entertainment...

Wow 👀

One in six young men did not stream any music in the past week, according to @midiaresearch.bsky.social

Engagement with live music for men under 35 in the US has more than halved.

Meanwhile, X has grown by 32% amongst young men over the past year.

www.midiaresearch.com/blog/music-i...

LGBTQ federal workers brace for a McCarthyist purge "They’re not asking people ‘Are you gay? Are you lesbian?’ They’re asking, ‘Who is participating in DEI?'"

LGBTQ federal workers say they're terrified they're about to be fired for their gender identity, sexual orientation, or past efforts to support other queer and trans employees—in other words, a second Lavender Scare.

Honored to have their trust with this story: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Making music more interactive can restore value to recorded music, not diminish it - but the ethics are key. @tpc.bsky.social nails it in this interview with @musically.com

More people want to interact WITH artists than replace them.

musically.com/2025/02/14/s...

TV screens have surpassed mobile as the primary device for YouTube viewing in the U.S. according to YouTube 🤯

You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism Authoritarians and tech CEOs now share the same goal: to keep us locked in an eternal doomscroll instead of organizing against them, Janus Rose writes.

You can’t post your way out of fascism

Authoritarians and tech CEOs now share the same goal: to keep us locked in an eternal doomscroll instead of organizing against them

🔗 www.404media.co/you-cant-pos...

“Music that plays a functional role will be replaced by AI- simple scoring for Ads and videos, mood music” Happening. Library music is definitely the most vulnerable to AI generated content.

“Creator tools continue to cheapen, we'll see an influx in amateur musicians” Definitely happening. But to be clear, I don’t believe the cost of creating music is zero.

“AI assisted music will grow- but AI can not replace the emotion required to create great art” <— I stand by this

I think I over estimated the decline of the album. Release cycles have certainly morphed, but everyone is still releasing on Fridays for the most part.

I just stumbled upon this 7 year old notes app list of music industry predictions I don’t remember writing in 2017…how did I do?