I know Cory Doctorow has loomed large over this blog in its resurrected form, but anyone distributing art and music through platforms like Amazon and Spotify should at least think hard about the analyses of those platforms he and Rebecca Giblin present in CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM. I’m not an Audible member and don’t want to sign up for a trial, so I’ll have to wait until I get the book to read their chapter on Audible, “Why None of My Books Are Available on Audible: And Why Amazon Owes Me $3,218.55”; but anyone can listen to their chapter on Spotify and streaming, embedded above.
I’m not all that plugged into the indie author community, but I just don’t hear this stuff being talked about all that much. Even the more thoughtful and knowledgeable voices lean Big Tech-positive. And, look, it’s probably not going to stop me distributing my books on Amazon, at least in the short term–which is probably a big piece of why people don’t have the conversations. Then again, one of the loudest voices in the indie author community is Joanna Penn, who is both very enthusiastic about Big Tech and crypto and very enthusiastic about authors getting more money faster through direct sales. People are allowed to be complicated, I guess.
Couple of links, non-exhaustive:
Cory Doctorow on CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM
If you’re enjoying my writing, you can get some of my short fiction on your e-reader for the low, low cost of $0. Remembered Air is a collection of six poems and short stories not available anywhere else. Download it here.