In 2025, Your Boss Will Launch a Podcast
I warn about new grifts in my latest arts & culture briefing paper
Important events in the digital culture rarely get announced in press releases anymore. In the current state of play, most companies do NOT want you to know what they’re doing.
I call it stealth culture.
I wrote about this new climate of deception a few days ago with regard to Spotify. But this is now happening everywhere—especially in emerging media and alt platforms.
So I search for hidden clues—trying to put the pieces together. Every so often, I share my findings and observations with you in these “arts and culture briefing papers.”
These updates are usually for premium subscribers, but today’s installment is free for everybody.
Let’s start with disturbing signs that indie culture is getting infiltrated by corporate grifters.
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Every company now wants its own podcast.
Do you remember the golden age of infomercials? People watched advertisements for a full half hour (or longer) because they were so entertaining.
I shamefully admit to doing this myself. Along the way, I bought a ShamWow cleaning cloth, a Juiceman juicer, and BluBlocking sunglasses.
But now corporations are using podcasts in the same way—as a kind of infomercial for alt culture audiences.
According to David Pierce of The Verge:
There’s something strange happening these days in the podcast world….companies that deal in money have been using podcasts not just as an entertainment medium but also as a weird hybrid of marketing, thought leadership, and networking….
It’s becoming a strangely central part of business in more ways than you might think. It’s kind of a weird, complicated web that goes both ways, and it’s not getting any less weird or less complicated once you add stuff like crypto and politics to the mix.
The most striking example is in the world of venture capital, where top firms are now using podcasts to connect with entrepreneurs and boast about their expertise.
Pierce calls this trend, the nefarious business-to-business podcast.
Of course, the trend goes both ways. Many alt media influencers are now turning into financiers themselves. One podcaster recently decided to launch his own venture capital fund—and raised $400 million.
This trend will spread faster than a fire in a toothpick factory. Every marketeer in the world spent 2024 trying to get on Joe Rogan. In 2025, they will try to become Joe Rogan themselves.
So get ready for your boss to launch a podcast (or a Substack).
I think I’ll stick with the ShamWow. At least it cleans up messes.
And on a related note…
Your next podcast might be a meeting in disguise.
There’s a new way of soliciting business—and it just requires a microphone and a Zoom connection
Over the past couple years, some enterprising entrepreneurs have turned to podcasts as a way to introduce themselves to an otherwise impossible-to-reach client. A cold call, email or direct message on LinkedIn likely would go unanswered. But when asked to be on a podcast, suddenly, people are intrigued.
This scam won’t go away—for the simple reason that it works. When you tap into corporate ego and vanity, you find that they are inexhaustible resources.
But this is just one of many ways businesses are manipulating indie culture….
Media outlets tried to kill Substack—now they want to imitate it.
I was taken aback when I saw the latest media initiative from The Verge.
It looks like Substack. It smells like Substack. It quacks like Substack.
Quack! Quack!
Hey bros, why don’t you just join Substack? You save on overhead, and get to tap into the community here.
And it’s not just The Verge.
CNN has also embraced the Substack model—with direct-to-reader subscriptions, low monthly payments, and a flexible paywall.
That very same day, Reuters announced the exact same move. The only difference is a penny, more or less. Reuters charges one dollar per week, while CNN demands $3.99 per month.
Meanwhile the Washington Post is investing in its “Third Newsroom.” I’m not sure what that means, but I have a hunch that it will soon be quacking like Substack too.
Even Facebook and Instagram are testing an ad-free subscription model.
On the other extreme, ChatGPT is considering a $2,000-per-month subscription fee. I don’t think that duck is gonna fly, but people who spend their days talking to chatbots tend to lose touch with reality.
Influencers will now sell you moldy meals.
The idea seems so simple—why don’t influencers launch their own products? If they are really so immensely popular, they should shill for themselves, not corporate bosses.
But trust me, you don’t want your meals prepared by an influencer. They may be great at clicks—at bites, not so much.
MrBeast has tried to do just that. First he launched the MrBeast Burger—which resulted in a $100 million lawsuit. Then he took on Hershey in the chocolate wars, with mixed reviews.
And now he joins forces with Logan Paul to displace Lunchables, the popular school lunch meal kits.
But let the luncher beware. “Early reviews of the product are flooding in,” according to MSN, “and some customers said they found mold in their Lunchly packs.”
Kids are not digging the new penicillin flavor.
It doesn’t help that MrBeast has recently been accused of crypto fraud and putting people in danger with unsafe filming conditions for his new Amazon show.
Not long ago, MrBeast acted like a rule-breaking outsider ready to topple the system. But with each passing month, he looks more like those familiar money-grubbing insiders who will do anything for a buck.
This is the inevitable result of boom times in alt media, where new voices could be part of a cultural renaissance but just as often will fall flat faster than you can say hawk tuah.
The new music counterculture is rejecting algorithms, and celebrating human creativity.
“A new music counterculture is emerging, rejecting algorithms and perfection for raw, authentic creativity,” according to Hyperbot.
Mark Mulligan, of the Music Industry Blog, reports that DJs are at the center of the revolt.
We are seeing a blossoming of scenes, both on and offline. While the former are shaped by platforms’ algorithms, the latter are inherently more human in nature and form part of a growing analogue revival…
In 2023, DJ equipment was the only major music hardware category to see strong growth (most other categories declined). Meanwhile YouTube is abuzz with DJ sets from a new crop of young, often female, DJs. DJs are an alternative to the algorithm: pure, human curation.
This is an inevitable response. It starts at the grass roots, but expect to see it spread elsewhere in the music business.
James Bond faces a crisis he can’t solve—as the family controlling 007 battles with Amazon.
When Amazon acquired MGM, it got rights to the lucrative James Bond films. But it can’t release new installments without the support of spy movie heir Barbara Broccoli.
Until she gives her okay to the story, no movie can be made.
And she despises Amazon.
“These people are f— idiots,” she told a friend, according to the Wall Street Journal. She distrusts the algorithm-driven business model of the huge digital retailer (who is now in bed with MrBeast, see above).
According to WSJ reporters Erich Schwartzel and Jessica Toonkel:
Broccoli has complained that Amazon isn’t a good home for Bond, since the company’s core business is selling everything from toilet paper to vacuums—a perspective Amazon executives find unfair. But since she makes the creative calls that come first—script, casting, story—Broccoli can hold Bond hostage from Amazon for as long as she sees fit.
I don’t blame her. I’ve already seen what Amazon did after acquiring my beloved Whole Foods—you can read the declining employee morale in their facial expressions at the checkout counter.
I’d hate to see the same thing happen to 007.
The Barnes & Noble turnaround is really happening—and everybody in the culture business should learn from it.
More than a year ago, I celebrated the arrival of a new boss at Barnes & Noble who actually loves books.
This led him to do all sorts of brave things. He stopped promoting new titles based on kickbacks from publishers, and instead showcased books that people might actually enjoy reading.
This was an example of stealth culture mentioned above. Shoppers had no idea that the promoted books at the front of the store were chosen on the basis of financial incentives, not quality. And new boss Jamie Daunt shook the entire publishing business by turning down the cash.
He also empowered employees in the store, giving them freedom to feature books that they loved. He told his local booksellers to remove every title from every shelf, and “weed out the rubbish.” He wanted the staff to be excited about the books they sold.
I now have a happy update to my previous report.
Barnes & Noble has more than 60 new locations opening this year, and store foot traffic is improving steadily.
In an especially inspiring move, the company recently reopened a huge retail space in DC it had abandoned in 2013. After more than a decade, it returned to the same location and opened a flagship store.
When he took over, Daunt saw that the stores were “crucifyingly boring.” But now the excitement is back. Some visitors even compare Barnes & Noble nowadays to a theme park for books.
Kendra Keeter-Gray, a BookTok content creator with over 100,000 followers, told CNN that she and her friends could spend anywhere between 30 minutes to a few hours inside a Barnes & Noble, usually in the BookTok section where they trade recommendations and flip through currently trending novels.
“When you go to Barnes, it’s like an excursion almost. I would equate it to when I was little and my parents would take me to Six Flags,” she said.
Meanwhile here’s a completely different strategy for the book business…
In Japan, writers can rent out their own shelf at a local bookstore.
The new trend in Japanese bookstores is to sublease the shelves to outsiders. The result is the exact opposite of algorithm-chosen books. Every shelf is filled with surprises.
According to the South China Morning Post:
“Here, you find books which make you wonder who on earth would buy them,” laughs Shogo Imamura, 40, who opened one such store in Tokyo’s bookstore district of Kanda Jimbocho in April.
“Regular bookstores sell books that are popular based on sales statistics while excluding books that don’t sell well,” says Imamura….“We ignore such principles.”
A new conspiracy theory claims ancient literature is fake.
Is it possible that Aristotle never existed, and his surviving books are just fakes? I’ve never met anyone who believed that….until now.
According to the South China Morning Post:
Chinese academics studying the Western classics are battling an increasingly popular conspiracy theory that Greek and Roman literature, philosophy and even famous monuments are hoaxes.
It’s worth noting the larger context. Western culture is often taken more seriously in Chinese universities than it is in the US. And these books tend to support an open society and free debate.
So—as strange as it sounds—you should expect more hit pieces on Aristotle and his ancient colleagues. His enemies think he’s too dangerous, and they just might be right.
Are chatbots destroying your home appliances?
What happens when AI companies set up huge energy-sucking data centers near your home?
Guess what—they disrupt your own energy sources. And with unpleasant consequences.
AI data centers are multiplying across the US and sucking up huge amounts of power. New evidence shows they may also be distorting the normal flow of electricity for millions of Americans….
The problem is threatening billions in damage to home appliances and aging power equipment, especially in areas like Chicago and "data center alley" in Northern Virginia, where distorted power readings are above recommended levels.
If you live within 20 miles of a data center, there’s a fifty percent chance that you’re impacted by its power use.
Chess champion Magnus Carlsen is ejected from a NY tournament for wearing jeans.
Can this be real? Are chess players really more uptight than country clubs and fancy restaurants?
Yes they are. According to The Guardian:
Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, has been disqualified from the World Rapid Championship in New York due to a dress code violation, refusing to change from jeans….
Carlsen responded with indifference—but did take a pot shot at New York:
“Honestly I’m too old at this point to care too much. If this is what they want to do I’ll probably set off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer.”
By the way, we have no dress code at The Honest Broker, and Mr. Carlsen is welcome here any time.
All these developments give me hope. People are finally pushing back against the algorithm. I just realized how awful so much of today’s TV has become, and I just want to read and go analog. The internet has become toxic.
Bookstores used to be fun to go to. Maybe they’ll be less full of trash and toys?
I can attest to the B&N transformation. My local store is now a joy to wander. It warms my heart.