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Speaking of, I have been fascinated by the gentrification of these atomized media sites -- the ways in which celebrity culture is flooding alternative media spaces which were initially populated by people who couldn't get into mainstream publications https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/bella-thorne-onlyfans-twitter-pricing-changes-1051389/
Only Fans, Substack, Cameo -- as @benyt has written, these sites are the gig economy for all kinds of information work, and a leading edge of where internet based information work (inc journalism, sex, scholarly info work) is going https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/24/business/media/new-model-celebrity.html
But it must be frustrating, I'd think, for ppl who've been doing newsletters or cam sex work for yrs (often bc they're locked out of the formal economy or can get publishing "jobs" and thus have developed gigs) to have big name journos or stars now flooding space they've built
To that end, for the kinds of ppl who choose to leave good jobs with responsibilities to a community of writers/makers & choose to forge out on "their own," it's politically fitting they don't go on "their own" at all but instead horde social capital within existing networks...
...which have been built by ppl who never had the kinds of opportunities the self-cancellers had. The newbies to Only Fans, Substack etc. prolly think no one was there until they arrived & give little thought to how their presences affects those networks...
...like gentrifiers!
...like gentrifiers!
Like a homonormative gentrifier who invokes having a family, Greenwald writes he's on Substack "as of now," but also makes clear he's securing financing for something else.
How do ppl who aren't just passing thru but who've spent yrs populating Substack, feel about this?
How do ppl who aren't just passing thru but who've spent yrs populating Substack, feel about this?
I also think it's interesting how when aggrieved journso storm out & it's all about them.
They seem to feel no responsibility to their co-worker writers.
A flip of the gig economy, happening with information work.
No union.
No communal care.
Everyone for themselves.
They seem to feel no responsibility to their co-worker writers.
A flip of the gig economy, happening with information work.
No union.
No communal care.
Everyone for themselves.
In this way, while many writers often posit themselves as not being laborers (physical or otherwise), we are the perfect ppl for becoming a perfectly atomized, individualized workforce.
The idea of the singular "author" is ripe for this kind of isolation, apart from everyone.
The idea of the singular "author" is ripe for this kind of isolation, apart from everyone.
Authors do not work alone, of course. We rely on editors, copy editors, researchers, editor, and--as anyone who has WFH in 2020 can tell you--all info workers rely on the labor of cooks, janitors, librarians, dishwashers, IT.
(Did I mention editors?)
(Did I mention editors?)
So as atomized sites proliferate & their communities are gentrified passing thru stars, I wonder:
In the way Uber disrupts taxi unions & AirBnB disrupts hotel worker unions, will Substack/Only Fans disrupt info worker unions & the bond of responsibility we feel to one another?
In the way Uber disrupts taxi unions & AirBnB disrupts hotel worker unions, will Substack/Only Fans disrupt info worker unions & the bond of responsibility we feel to one another?
