A Story We Know ‘All Too Well’
This article is adapted from Midnight Oil Collective’s newsletter, “The Wick.” The original newsletter was published on November 23, 2021. You can sign up for future newsletters here.
It can be easy to think of Midnight Oil Collective like an ambitious handicraft that we picked up during quarantine. Locked inside, some unemployed, all of us processing a catastrophic global event, we’d naturally come together and turn our impassioned diatribes into something more.
But unlike the Peloton bike in the corner and that ball of yarn under the couch, we didn’t drop MOC as the world began to open again.
We couldn’t.
Our core tenets — the reasons we founded our ambitious venture studio — are still being challenged on a large scale, played out in the media, and we couldn’t help but notice. Here are some examples.
MOC AIMS TO DECENTRALIZE THE ARTS INVESTMENT AND PRODUCTION BUSINESS TO TAKE THE POWER OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE FEW
The challenge: Penguin Random House just tried to absorb Simon & Schuster
He’d be so proud.
Nice try, Penguin.
In a bold enemies-to-lovers move, Penguin Random House tried to merge with their rival Simon & Schuster. Penguin doesn’t just print those charming classics you had to read in school; they put out 15,000 new releases every year. This giant wasn’t satisfied with that, so they tried to acquire S&S before being shut down by the Justice Department. They essentially said that, given the bidding wars between these two in the past, it would be almost impossible for any other publisher to acquire the rights to a highly sought-after book. And if smaller publishers only ever get the smaller, riskier, and more low-profile contracts, that spells doom. Doom for the independent houses that will have to fold; doom for a culture that wants to expand to more diverse voices, as it could turn fearful again and wither at the thought of not being able to profit lucratively off of them; doom for unique voices, for risks, for weird little works, because there will be no one left who can take a chance on them.
While we’d love to laugh this ambitious deal off with an “oh you thought, Penguin,” this made headlines because these mergers aren’t always nipped at the bud. Remember the 2018 AT&T/Time Warner merger?
MOC PUTS THE CREATIVE CONTROL IN THE ARTISTS’ HANDS — AND THE ART BELONGS TO THE ARTIST
The challenge: Taylor Swift is back in the news with the re-release of her album “Red,” which is like the old “Red” but just… re-recorded. It’s an unprecedented move by a major artist, but it’s not the cash grab it appears to be. When Taylor was a wide-eyed country-leaning teen, she signed with Big Machine records, which then owned all the masters of her songs. This is pretty typical. But when you don’t own your masters, you have no say in whether or not those masters get sold and whose pockets your songs will line with money. And that was the problem: her songs ended up profiting Scooter Braun, a music manager Taylor Swift wants nothing to do with.
We like to think that her 10-minute version of “All Too Well” is a metaphor for the relationship between a budding T-Swift and the music industry. Why, did you hear something else?
MOC BELIEVES THAT ARTISTS DESERVE TO BE PAID A LIVING WAGE
The challenge: Tensions have been rising among the working class and their employers. In March of 2021, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would call for a $15 minimum wage by 2025 — proposed by Democrats, but also voted against by 7 Democrats.
In April, resignations peaked.
Oddly, minimum-wage employees aren’t the greatest percentage of people exiting; mid-level employees are. But that’s not to say it’s not a contributing factor. After all, movements aren’t usually born from one injustice.
Timing also has to do with it. The massive wave of people leaving their jobs has been a symptom of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many former employees cited their company’s lack of care towards them during this difficult time as the straw that broke the camel’s back. However, others argue that we shouldn’t be looking at this as a one-off event; staggering amounts of people who are still at their jobs are considering leaving it.
And you probably know someone who didn’t let their pandemic handicraft roll under the couch; instead, they’ve turned it into a business. We’re crossing our fingers that they’re the best employer they’ve ever had.
This article was written by the team behind The Wick, Midnight Oil Collective’s twice-monthly newsletter. You can sign up for The Wick here.
