Tag: corpocracy

The Dismemberment of Disney

The Dark Herald offers a prediction concerning the future of the Walt Disney Company:

The Future of the Walt Disney Company

Not bankruptcy.

Dismemberment.

Given the absurd amounts of debt Bob Iger accumulated the only real way forward for the company is load up as much of its debt as possible on those sections of the company that have no future and spin it off.

Those would be the ones closest to Iger’s heart. Linear broadcasting and cable TV. Especially ESPN. There’s no way that Disney can outbid Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV for sports broadcast rights.

Although, once that happens stockholders will want Parks and Experiences spun off from entertainment. It’s been mismanaged for 20 years.

I don’t know about the IPs, but it’s possible. Roll Marvel and Lucasfilm together and then dump them with as much debt as possible.

Debt allows individuals and corporations to live well beyond their means for a time. And it looks like genuine success, as long as it lasts. But sooner or later, the debt ogres will appear and demand their interest-laden pounds of flesh.

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Fake Reviews on Amazon

The traditional publishers are actively manipulating the reviews of their books on Amazon and GoodReads alike:

Every “A-list” author from the major sci fi imprints seems to start out with 100+ “pre-release” reviews (almost all 4 or 5 stars) on Goodreads. Now, this could just be successful ARC promotion. That’s entirely possible.

Another explanation is that they have teams of people willing to pad reviews ahead of release. Idk, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

Especially since most of these A-listers see their Goodreads averages plummet once actual readers get their hands on the books. I’m not talking about a gradual decline. I’m talking about books that have a 4.3+ rating pre-release ending up in the 3.5 – 3.6 range within a few months.

If you go back through the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees, the trend jumps out of the data. A huge percentage of these books are extremely poorly rated by readers. Not at the time of release, mind you, but within a few months.

All of which is to say, nobody pulls more shenanigans and manipulates the book-buying public more than trad pub.

No, it’s not possible. While there is an organic element of pre-release review-stoking, the repetitive and reliable nature of the pattern indicates that this is a level of manipulation by favored players that Amazon is willing to tolerate. Amazon is not only confirmed to play favorites, but it habitually indulges in a level of charades and shenanigans much more comprehensive than anyone suspects, and has done so from the very beginning.

Ever wonder why Hugh Howey was never able to follow up on his incredible “success”? Or why his “super-popular” books were so mediocre? He was just a variant on the traditional publisher’s manufactured bestseller.

If it gets big fast, it is fake. Every single fucking time.

If I had more bandwidth, one of the things I would do is design a truly impartial and objective review site that aggressively resisted review-fluffing and review-sinking alike.

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MAILVOX: Advice From the Terminated

In which a whistleblower discovers that no one cares about would-be heroes.

Advice from the Terminated

I once was terminated from a long-term white-collar job and refused to take the generous severance package they offered. Here’s some advice based on what I learned.

Only Do Real Whistleblowing

If your company is doing something unethical or even illegal and you feel you must inform others, never do so internally, trusting your managers to be appreciative or even just reasonable. Sadly, sometimes no good deed goes unpunished. Go external to have proper protection, especially if you have a reputation for being difficult (where your “not listening” means not always being compliant enough!).

“Help”, “Guidance” and “Protection” = Corrective Action

If you are being given “guidance” or “help” or even “protection” by your managers or HR person or Dean of Diversity – even if this is framed as “friendly concern” – consider that such actions can easily be characterized as discipline or corrective action later on. Especially if you are told you need to sign what you think is just something like an “incident report”, even when you think that your supervisor is supporting your actions – or even just acknowledge the reception of an email seemingly containing both praise and what could possibly be perceived as a subtle warning. I’d immediately start looking for a new job if you get one of these.

Your Excellent Reputation is Only as Good as Today

Years of past successes, impressive references, compliments about communication and social skills, professional accomplishments, glowing talent management evaluations, etc. can become irrelevant in a minute. If you are perceived by higher-ups as being insufficiently supportive of your organization’s direction or “problematic” in any way, watch out! And do not think for a minute that one manager will ever overturn the termination decision of another.

Just Shut the Hell Up

If you are involved in a meeting with higher-ups and you suspect that they are not open to concerns about how you are being treated unfairly do not try to persuade them at all. Just listen very carefully during the meeting, taking notes if that seems acceptable, and saying “Thank you”, and “I understand” a lot (maybe ask if you can record the meeting, as you truly don’t want to miss anything important – this, of course, will also serve to protect you). Later on, you can do more reflection and try to figure out what to do next. All of this is especially important if you are feeling frustrated or caught off guard by what happens. Unlike me, try not to show any lack of prudence or a dearth of absolutely impeccable manners and poise. Any weakness you show here might enable groups to create accounts about how they felt victimized by you.

You Can’t Afford to Think You are Smarter and More Clever Than Them

If it comes to legal manners, do not represent yourself, ever. Even if you are highly ethical, that won’t help and could even hurt: they know the legal game better than you ever could. And take heed: If the state is involved in the case, be aware of what ultimately will be made public and what won’t be made public. Also note that there is nothing Illegal about a company selectively choosing to enforce their own internal policies. Combine this with at-will employment, and this combination also will make getting any unemployment benefits that much more difficult.

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Trade Deficit = Whip Hand

Donald Trump makes the textbook economics explicit:

The countries that deem US tariffs on their goods to be too high can just stop doing business with America altogether, President Donald Trump has suggested. He further insisted that his latest trade policies have made the US “strong,” bringing “billions of dollars a day” into its coffers.

On Wednesday, the US president slapped stiffer “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly 90 nations, only to announce a 90-day pause and a “substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%,” in a post on his Truth Social platform several hours later. The pause however does not apply to China, with which the US has engaged in a tit-for-tat exchange of ever-higher tariffs, with most of Beijing’s imports now subject to a 145% duty.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump proclaimed that “ultimately, we pretty much can do what we want to do. We can set the tariff, and they can choose not to deal with us, or they can choose to pay it,” he explained, asserting that “if they think it’s too high, they don’t have to do business with us.”

It’s a simple and obvious power equation. When you have nothing to lose, and you’re the one who owns the market in which everyone is interested, then you’re in control. No country with a trade surplus with the USA has any leverage at all, because the US is obviously better off not trading with it than continuing to trade with it on the basis of the system that has impoverished and hollowed-out the US economy.

This is why the threats of returning the favor are so empty and stupid. The USA would BENEFIT from pure autarky, so trade restrictions are not a viable threat. The President’s move is brilliant, because it not only protects the US markets, it prevents US companies from leaving the USA as well.

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Foreign Interference

It’s fascinating to see the Clown World puppet states of Europe complaining that the US government is interfering with the activities of their corporations by applying its laws to them, while at the same time attempting to directly interfere with the activities of US corporations like Gab.

France’s Ministry of Foreign Trade has denounced a request by Washington that French companies working with the US government eliminate their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, calling it “unacceptable interference” in a statement to AFP on Saturday.

The statement came after French media outlets reported that the US embassy in Paris sent letters to several companies urging them to end internal anti-discrimination policies. The request follows a January executive order by US President Donald Trump aimed at dismantling DEI initiatives across federal agencies and contractors.

According to Le Figaro, French firms working with the US were given five days to scrap their DEI or explain in writing why they could not. Each letter reportedly included a “compliance form” and warned that failure to meet the new requirements could result in larger customs duties or even the termination of US government contracts.

“American interference in the DEI policies of French companies, such as threats of unjustified customs duties, is unacceptable,” the French Trade Ministry told AFP. “France and Europe will defend their businesses, their consumers, but also their values.”

The strange thing about control freaks is that they are always shocked when someone else applies to them the same principles that they apply to everyone else. I mean, a) how do they not see it coming and b) why do they expect any sympathy from anyone when they cry about having done to them what they’ve been doing to others?

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The Unreliability of the Corpocracy

It’s not just a problem for the outcasts and the unauthorized anymore. The ease and speed of AI production are removing any need for low-level artists producing buffet-style art for mass consumption. This article refers to how Spotify is now directing listeners toward its own fake artists, but Amazon is doing exactly the same thing with ebooks and audiobooks.

In early 2022, I started noticing something strange in Spotify’s jazz playlists. I listen to jazz every day, and pay close attention to new releases. But these Spotify playlists were filled with artists I’d never heard of before.

Who were they? Where did they come from? Did they even exist?

In April 2022, I finally felt justified in sharing my concerns with readers. So I published an article here called “The Fake Artists Problem Is Much Worse Than You Realize.” I was careful not to make accusations I couldn’t prove. But I pointed out some puzzling facts.

Many of these artists live in Sweden—where Spotify has its headquarters. According to one source, a huge amount of streaming music originates from just 20 people, who operate under 500 different names. Some of them were generating supersized numbers. An obscure Swedish jazz musician got more plays than most of the tracks on Jon Batiste’s We Are—which had just won the Grammy for Album of the Year (not just the best jazz album, but the best album in any genre).

How was that even possible?

I continued to make inquiries, and brooded over this strange situation. But something even stranger happened a few months later.

A listener noticed that he kept hearing the same track over and over on Spotify. But when he checked the name of the song, it was always different. Even worse, these almost identical tracks were attributed to different artists and composers. He created a playlist, and soon had 49 different versions of this song under various names. The titles sounded as if they had come out of a random text generator—almost as if the goal was to make them hard to remember.

  • Trumpet Bumblefig
  • Bumble Mistywill
  • Whomping Clover
  • Qeazpoor
  • Swiftspark
  • Vattio Bud

I reported on this odd situation. Others joined in the hunt, and found more versions of the track under still different names. The track itself was boring and non-descript, but it was showing up everywhere on the platform.

Around this same time, I started hearing jazz piano playlists on Spotify that disturbed me. Every track sounded like it was played on the same instrument with the exact same touch and tone. Yet the names of the artists were all different.

Were these AI generated? Was Spotify doing this to avoid paying royalties to human musicians? Spotify issued a statement in the face of these controversies. But I couldn’t find any denial that they were playing games with playlists in order to boost profits.

By total coincidence, Spotify’s profitability started to improve markedly around this time.

If your brand and your sales are dependent upon a major platform, you need to be prepared for the fact that you are going to lose it sooner or later, because once established, it is always much more profitable for a platform to generate its own content than serve as a middleman paying out the majority of its own revenue to external content creators. And the combination of algorithmic influence with the total indifference of the modern mass consumer means that there is no brand loyalty on a major platform.

As the analyst observed: “This is what happens when distributors take control of a creative industry, and outsource content.“

And it is why it is absolutely vital for a creator-centric community to stick together and relentlessly find ways to work together, because the larger economic forces are now operating in a way to eliminate independent creators. Fortunately, we have a small, but strong and battle-tested community, as well as several loyal creators who understand the importance and the necessity of standing together.

We have a lot of talent in the community. This is why I’m always encouraging people to take on new projects of which they conceive, like Vox DAI, just to give one example, and to support external creator projects like A WORKING MAN – which launches today, by the way – because it gives us all a much better chance than those poor bastards who still think they can rely upon YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon going forward.

And that’s why, although some of my music can be found on Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes, all of it is available in the very highest quality on UATV, including the 8th track on the Soulsigma album, THE WORD DESCENDED.

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Microsoft Shutting Down Skype

This is not good. Microsoft is shutting down Skype:

Microsoft has announced it is shutting down the popular video calling service Skype.

After a 21-year run, Skype’s 2 billion users will no longer be able to access their accounts starting on May 2025.

Microsoft is encouraging users to migrate to its free Teams app.

‘Over the coming days you can sign in to Microsoft Teams Free with your Skype account to stay connected with all your chats and contacts. Thank you for being part of Skype,’ the video calling service posted on X Friday.

Feel free to post your suggestions for any reasonable alternatives, because I have zero desire to utilize Teams. I suppose we’re lucky it took Microsoft this long to getting around to killing it.

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These are Not Our Principles

But they do make for a good point from which to begin contemplating them. From Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography of Steve Jobs.

Markkula would become a father figure to Jobs… “Mike really took me under his wing,” Jobs recalled. “His values were much aligned with mine. He emphasized that you should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you believe in and making a company that will last.”

Markkula wrote his principles in a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy” that stressed three points. The first was empathy, an intimate connection with the feelings of the customer: “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.” The second was focus: “In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.” The third and equally important principle, awkwardly named, was impute. It emphasized that people form an opinion about a company or product based on the signals that it conveys. “People DO judge a book by its cover,” he wrote. “We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.”

It’s not for us to say, but I think we’re doing reasonably well on all three scores. The biggest failure, I think, is impute, with regards to which we very much need to improve our Internet store game. And, obviously, we need to reduce our release times, but we’re already focused on that.

The only way to improve is to contemplate one’s failings.

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The Japanese Know

Japanese corporations are preparing for the Chinese takeover of Taiwan:

Over half of major Japanese firms said they are prepared or are making preparations for a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan amid Beijing’s growing military assertiveness, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday. Of the 114 companies surveyed between late November and mid-December last year, 53 percent said they had concrete measures in place for a potential Taiwan contingency, including drafting manuals, planning evacuations, and stockpiling inventory. Another 12 percent said they did not have plans but saw the need for consideration, according to the survey, which covered a range of industries and included companies such as Toyota Motor Corp and ANA Holdings Inc.

There are also reports of China building large Mulberry docks of the sort that the US utilized in the invasion of Normandy. Which means I’d better provide my promised analysis of the latest US military simulations before the actual results are in.

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No Meritocracy Without Nationalism

With apologies to Lee Kuan Yew:

“In multiracial societies, you don’t hire in accordance with your economic interests and social interests, you hire in accordance with your race and religion.”
– Vox Day

Despite its grandiose and universalist pretensions, ideology is ultimately nothing more the detailed rationalization of an identity group’s immediate interests, and it will always be subject to further modification and mutation as that group’s interests evolve over time. A co-ideologist from a different identity group can never be more than a temporary ally, as his identity will always hold priority over his current ideology in the end.

A Russian commenter provides a salient and logical perspective on the matter.

I am not an American and I have never crossed the Atlantic – but, as a general point, any line of reasoning that assumes:

1) that a country with a population the size and quality of America (or Russia, France, Germany, etc) cannot produce its own highly-skilled IT, research, engineering, etc. professionals;

2) that it is normal and and acceptable to brain drain the entire world using economic incentives and globalist ideological propaganda;

3) that it is normal and acceptable to deprive your own population of socioeconomic opportunities to save a few bucks by claiming 1) and engaging in 2);

is not only morally reprehensible and psychotic, but also the sort of self-serving, hypocritical lie that incites homicidal rage in the people who are being damaged by it, and permanently erodes the social fabric on every level.

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