Drowned in Sound Meet The Music Researcher Making Sense of the Techpocalypse
Aug 19, 2025
Cherie Hu, a music and technology journalist and founder of Water & Music, dives into the intersection of tech and music. She explores how current platforms prioritize profit over artistry, emphasizing the need for community building in an oversaturated landscape. Cherie discusses the evolution of digital journalism and collaboration in music, while shedding light on the vital role of trust and patience in creating sustainable online spaces. Plus, she connects the creative realms of music and mathematics, highlighting their shared emotional depth.
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Practical Futurism Framework
- Cherie Hu calls her work "practical futurism": studying fringe experiments and tools to predict tech's direction.
- She derives future models by meticulously analyzing present signals and experiments.
From Newsletter To Full-Time Project
- Water & Music began as a newsletter that aggregated Cherie Hu's freelance work and grew into a paid Patreon in 2019.
- She left freelancing to work full time on Water & Music in early 2020 as the project expanded.
Community-Driven Research Model
- Water & Music evolved into collaborative research where community input shapes multi-part "season" reports across legal, marketing, and creative lenses.
- Community members influence report structure from the beginning, not just as data contributors.