Art is not made on a grand scale in some mythological process. It's made with long hours and attention to detail, and shaped in small, crucial exchanges and inputs over weeks and months or longer. These exchanges happen everywhere, from listening to a work in a new space, hearing thoughts from a friend on a new demo, getting an alternate hook idea from the producer, or sending a pre-release album sent to writers. The workflow is a chaotic patchwork of generic file-sharing services, text exchanges, email attachments, and platforms designed for mass usage and corporate compliance, not collaboration between people who need functional and intuitive tools for listening.
Artists Deserve Enshittification-free Tools
People talk a lot about the problems with streaming services, but we often overlook the tools artists are using just to get their work done. These tools, like their consumer-facing cousins, are susceptible to the same circling of the drain, a process Cory Doctorow named "enshittification." A platform that starts as a simple way to share... anything... can, and often does, become a bottleneck designed to extract value from the users and the act of sharing itself. AI hype and LLMs have spun these platforms into a frenzy, scrambling for new and exciting ways to siphon data in search of revenue. Look no further than the update (and quick about face) of WeTransfer.
To build an artist (and human) centric future, we need to focus on creating collaboration and sharing tools that are categorically opposed to this decay. The blueprint for is in two main principles which Doctorow outlined back in 2023: the end-to-end principle and the right of exit.
The Tool That Gets Out of the Way
The end-to-end principle is a foundational concept of the internet. It states that the network itself should be simple and "dumb," with its only job being to move data reliably from one point to another without interference. All the intelligence and functionality should live at the "ends"—on the devices of the sender and the receiver.
Imagine the ideal mail service. The best mail service doesn't open your package to see what's inside, suggest you use a different type of box, or staple a third-party advertisement to whatever you're sending. They just deliver it, securely and intact.
In the context of an artist's workflow, an end-to-end platform is one that facilitates the creative conversation without meddling. When an artist sends a new mix to their mastering engineer, the platform's only job is to deliver that file perfectly. It shouldn't compress the audio without permission. It shouldn't analyze the track to sell data to labels about "emerging sounds." It shouldn't force the engineer to watch an ad or sign up before they can listen or download. The "intelligence" (the critical feedback, the inspiration) happens between the two human people on either end. A tool built on this principle respects the sanctity of that creative exchange. It is a facilitator, not a gatekeeper or a spy.
Your Data, Your Agency
If the end-to-end principle lays groundwork for how a tool should behave, the right of exit is the users ultimate guarantee of freedom and control. This right isn't just about being able to pack up and leave; it's about fundamental data sovereignty. It’s about ensuring the artist is in charge of their work and how it is shared.
A core tenet of this principle is resisting forced account creation. Imagine sending a private link for a demo to a music supervisor or journalist, only for them to hit a "Sign Up to Continue" wall. That friction is the platform putting its user growth goals ahead of your professional opportunity. An anti-enshittification tool respects the artist's collaborators by allowing them to access and listen to tracks without being forced to hand over their own data and create an account. The platform's relationship is with the artist, not their network.
Further, a true right of exit means the artist is always able to manage and delete their data. Your work is yours, your data is yours. You should have clear, simple controls to remove them permanently. A platform that makes it easy to upload but difficult or impossible to delete is not a tool; it's a trap. The ability to completely erase your footprint from a service is the ultimate escape hatch. It ensures that if the platform's values no longer align with yours, you can walk away completely, leaving nothing behind. This transforms the power dynamic: the platform must continuously earn your trust, knowing you can revoke it (and your data) any time you want.
Building a Piece
The ideal audio platform for the future is not a monolithic streaming service owned by shareholders and managed by cloud lords. We hope for a future of many tools, artist-focused, worker-owned, and staunchly anti-enshittification.
We know it's just a small piece, but we've created a digital environment where artists are in control. We've built a workflow tool that is intuitive, private, and portable. You can try it with the confidence that we aren't using it to get in your way, or take away your agency and ownership over your expression. We hope you love it.
