Ted Gioia, the great music and cultural critic, has never lived in New York and it has cost him. He knows he is completely out of touch. “I didn’t make the relationships, I didn’t have editors opening doors for me,” he says. “Things were harder for me at every step along the way because I wasn’t at those cocktail parties.”
But not being in New York has its upsides. Perhaps most importantly: it has helped Ted retain the mindset of an independent outsider, less vulnerable to the groupthink that can overtake the modern media. From his perch in Austin, Texas, and previously in Silicon Valley, the author of 12 books on music and co-founder of Stanford University’s jazz studies program sees things that his peers tend to miss. On his Substack, The Honest Broker, Ted has taken the music industry to task for its failure to discover and nurture new music; he has argued that despite a time of democratized access to publishing, society is missing a counterculture; and he has pointed to indicators of Facebook’s impending collapse. Occasionally, he’ll write a deeply researched series about a figure from rock history that would never find its way into a mainstream outlet.
In this conversation for The Active Voice, we discuss how internet platforms are changing our cultural industries for better and worse, how the rise of the likes of YouTube and Substack are helping creators subvert the gatekeepers to outshine traditional channels, and how social media has become a sameness machine—a perpetrator and victim of crowd psychology based on people’s intense need to be just like everyone else. “Platforms like Twitter, which should be independent voices saying fresh things, start to feel like everybody’s shouting the same thing all at once.”
The way out? Find the person who can rise above the fray. Find the honest broker…
Ted’s recommended reads:
https://lewisporter.substack.com/https://greilmarcus.substack.com/https://iverson.substack.com/https://jeffreysultanof.substack.com/
Show notes
Subscribe to The Honest Broker on SubstackFind Ted on Twitter, Instagram, and his websiteElias Canetti, Crowds and Power[02:39] The story behind the name, The Honest Broker[08:41] Journalism and the media[11:17] Avoiding politics[12:10] Perks of being a music writer[15:27] On being the outsider[17:02] Ted’s background[21:12] How the internet destroyed music culture[26:56] The role of TikTok in the music industry[33:09] Mimetic desire, René Girard, and social media[36:21] The exception of Kenny G[40:02] Choosing the writing life[44:05] Advice to young writers
The Active Voice is a podcast hosted by Hamish McKenzie, featuring weekly conversations with writers about how the internet is affecting the way they live and write. It is produced by Hanne Winarsky, with audio engineering by Seven Morris, content production by Hannah Ray, and production support from Bailey Richardson. All artwork is by Joro Chen, and music is by Phelps & Munro.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
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