Tipni Time: three charts, three lessons
Milestone 02 | A century and other things 🚀
Optimizing for analog behaviors in a streaming world.
Hi folks! Welcome to The Industry Playlist🎵
You’re getting this after an unexpected break due to a family health emergency that threw off my usual schedule. Thankfully, everything’s good now, and I’m back to regular programming.
Recently, a TIP reader suggested weekend deliveries to avoid the usual inbox clutter—weekends might just be the perfect time to catch up on reading. Whether it’s a happy accident or a sign that I should rethink the timing and themes of these posts, this milestone edition arrives at just the right moment to gather some valuable feedback on TIP. 🥸
TIPni time
For those who don’t know, "Tipni" (टिप्पणी) is the Hindi word for 'comment'—a personal opinion or added insight. The name of this Substack, The Industry Playlist (TIP), almost feels like a fitting pun for what I’m trying to accomplish here: sharing thoughts, sparking conversation, and offering insights.
During the recent downtime, I reflected on TIP’s progress and my journey as a writer. In my first post months ago, I shared how we’ve lost some of the analog behaviors that once created deep, emotional connections with music. The serendipity of discovering new music has been replaced by algorithms, and artists now have to win on streaming platforms before hitting the stage.
I started this newsletter to figure out how we can optimize those lost behaviors in today’s streaming world, focusing on the intersection of music culture and the business behind it.
Yet still, choosing writing as a medium to share such ideas, is like picking the tortoise in a rabbits world - this format moves slowly, is characteristic of a small and engaged audience (shoutout to newsletter junkies!), and a far cry from the ‘sexy’ choice in an algorithm-driven digital landscape.
Long-form writing may not be the quickest or “sexiest” way to share ideas, especially in a visual-first world, but it’s the format that allows me to dive deep, add nuance, and make the process enjoyable (for me, at least).
From sending weekly emails to a private industry list to now growing into Substack with triple-digit subscribers, it’s been a learning curve I’m excited to keep pushing 🚀
Three charts, three lessons
You’ve seen the newsletters, the deep dives, and the evolving themes week after week. The process of creating this newsletter mirrors a lot of what’s happening in the music industry itself - creators learning to adapt and grow an audience is a marathon, not a sprint. You got to fall in love the process than the outcome.
There’s experimentation, consistency, and a lot of unexpected growth along the way. With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on three key lessons I’ve learned since launching TIP, using three charts that tell the story.
Lesson 1: Quality comes with consistency
If there's one thing I’ve learned, it’s that committing to a regular cadence is everything. Platforms thrive on it, and so do we as creators. Consistency isn't just about getting content out—over time, it sharpens your work.
As I've written TIP, I’ve seen my quality evolve with each iteration, gaining a subscriber base genuinely interested in my take on the future of the music business. It’s simple: commit, and the rest will follow.
Lesson 2: Get started by getting started
This builds on the first point. You don’t find your path before starting—it reveals itself as you move.
I went into TIP with a whole list of themes I planned to explore. Yet, as I began writing, new, more relevant topics popped up, steering me in unexpected directions.
This journey has shown me that getting started creates momentum, and momentum brings clarity. Music industry folks are joining the conversation, and that speaks volumes.
Lesson 3: Growth hacking gymnastics is real
Let’s talk about engagement. Growth hacking has been a learning curve, and while I am yet to get a hang of it, I’m more focused on understanding the nature of engagement in this content class.
Writers, particularly in long-form content, get less "quick feedback" compared to the viral posts of our short-form counterparts. Yet, to my surprise, TIP subscribers have been regularly engaging—whether it’s opening links, participating in polls, or dropping likes.
This journey has given me a newfound respect for the resilience of creators across the industry. We are all performing our own gymnastics to connect with our audience, and I’m thankful you’re here for the ride. Keep the feedback coming!
How you can help
Thank you for reading this far!
I’d love for you to engage more with me - thoughts, reactions, agreements, disagreements, enthusiasm - maybe even co-author pieces on important themes. There’s so much to unpack in the industry and I suspect there are many smart thinkers waiting to share their ideas.
Specifically, though, if you are motivated to help/support/collaborate, I’d love to ask for the following -
If you think my thinking is awful and you have better ideas for me, please let me know!
If you are a fun and interesting person and you want to chat for any reason, I’m a big believer in having agenda-less conversations with new people, so please let me know!
If you think there’s stuff I should be writing about, or something you’d like to dive deeper into with me, please let me know!
If you think I can be helpful to bounce ideas off, please let me know!
You can do this in several ways - reach out by replying to any of the weekly e-mails, DMing me on Instagram, or directly e-mailing me at rohit[at]undertheradar[dot]in.
Or just follow UTR Labs till we find an excuse to chat.
OK, that’s it! Thanks again for reading, and actually...for everything.
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TIP Mixtape #1
I’ve put together a mixtape featuring all the artists and tracks shared on TIP since day one. And one for this post - Treble Puns are a Blr based (married) couple-duo making prog rock music; so much of their sound took me back to the days when I listened to the likes of Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Ros - they were recommended by a friend and I have a favorite to share. Check out No Teacher’s Pet 🎵
If you’re curious about why these tracks made the cut, dive into my past posts for the stories behind them. Give it a listen 🎵
📚 CURATED INSIGHTS
Lore Is the New ‘Core’ - Microtrends based solely on visual aesthetics are fading, with audiences primed for a more thought-provoking connection
How Adele’s Stadium Pop-Up Paradigm Changes The Game - Adele’s Munich residency has redefined the live concert experience and how.
Streaming's model is broken - Rob Abelow on how to fix it.
The battle has begun to own the creator through all-encompassing ecosystems - The battle of creator ecosystems is among us, with engaging and wholistic workflows being key to keeping creators and consumers engaged for longer.
How Charli XCX is pushing boundaries and shaping future Pop trends - Charli XCX’s brat is more than an album—it’s a blueprint.
Unfree Agents - Spotify pushes an Uber-like model for independent artists. Ouch. Lots to dig in here, perhaps for a future TIP post.
🔥 KEEP TRACK OF
Australia moves to ban young people from social media - This is nothing short of a coup against Big Tech and the attention economy. Aussies have been at the forefront of instituting public health measures to protect against harmful consumption - for instance, Australia has long been recognized as a world leader in tobacco control, dramatically reducing tobacco consumption in its population through both behavior change campaigns as well as hard regulation. Now it is honing its eyes on the information diet of young people.
❄️ INTERESTING STUFF
New boiler room music scene that is filling the music festival gap - A new dance scene has emerged with young Aussies partying in disused tunnels, just as festival and concert attendance has dropped across the country.
Adele launched her own tabloid newspaper - Tables were turned.
Goa’s New Cashews - With every third person in Goa a hobby DJ these days, someone is out to make fun of all the new local hipsters in town. This satire meme page is a riot.
That’s all for today. We’ll be back in your inbox next week.
Thanks for reading,
Rohit