20: Yancey Strickler - Constellations of Creativity
Dialectic
The Evolution of Crowdfunding
This chapter explores the origins and development of crowdfunding, focusing on Kickstarter's role in empowering creators and redefining artistic independence. It examines early challenges, community dynamics, and the potential future of the platform as more than just a pre-order site.
Yancey Strickler (Website, X, Metalabel) is a writer, entrepreneur, creative, and founder of Metalabel, a network and platform that allows creative people to release work together. He is also a board member, co-founder and former CEO of Kickstarter and is currently working on establishing a new kind of corporate structure, the Artist Corporation.
Yancey's life and work has revolved around what it means to be a creative individual, and how to improve the cultural and mechanical forms that enable artists and creatives.
We talk about how much of modern society is rooted in individualism, how that wasn't always the case, and how the internet is evolving our sense of self. We get into creativity, the term's surprisingly recent origins, and why Yancey believes the 21st will be the "Creative Century." Then, we go beyond the individual and discuss the deeply-rooted longing that all of us have to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. Yancey suggests that is not simply about being subsumed by a collective, but by maintaining our individual star while becoming part of larger constellations—like the labels that have empowered the distribution of ideas for centuries. Finally, we discuss the forms Yancey has or is helping to build and imagine a future where even more of the world creates professionally.
May we all shine more brightly and find others who inspire us to make wonderful things.
Full transcript and all links available at https://dialectic.fm/yancey-strickler.
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Timestamps
- 1:41: Individualism, Identity, and the Internet
- 19:13: Creativity — Its Origins, Art, and Reaching Toward Something Deeper
- 33:30: The Creative Century and a Case for the Continued Growth of Professional Creativity
- 38:27: Hampton
- 40:02: Something Bigger than Ourselves — The Post-Individual, Bentoism, Being a Star and a Constellation
- 51:51: Labels & Conspiring Together in Practice
- 1:07:15: New Forms & Kickstarter
- 1:18:44: Metalabel
- 1:31:56: Creativity and Commerce & A Brand New Form: The Artist Corporation
- 1:46:22: The Long Game: Supporting the Artistic and Creative Life
Key Links & References (all available at dialectic.fm)
- YOUTH MODE - K-HOLE
- Adam Curtis on the dangers of self-expression - Yancey Strickler for The Creative Independent
- Inventing the Individual - Larry Siedentop
- The WEIRDest People in the World - Joseph Henrich
- The Second Self - Sherry Turkle
- The Post-Individual - Yancey
- Bentoism
- The dark forest theory of the internet - Yancey
- The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet
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