The game Peak is a "co-op climbing game" and it sold more than 10 million copies in 2025. Co-creator Nick Kaman was interviewed by Gamefile about the game and, specifically, the pricing of the game. It's a short piece and worth reading every bit of, as Kaman proposes that a game priced at $7.99 holds the same mental space as a $5 game.

“We had this joke of, like, how much is a game really?” Kaman told me, as we chatted last month.

“In a player’s mind, what does it mean to spend five bucks? Well, that’s five bucks. But six bucks? Well, that’s still five bucks.

“Four bucks is also kind of five bucks,” he continued. “Three bucks is two bucks. And two bucks is basically free.

“So we’ve got these tiers: You know, twelve bucks… that’s ten bucks. But thirteen bucks is fifteen bucks.

“And we found that eight bucks is still five bucks. It doesn’t become ten bucks. Seven ninety nine, that’s five bucks, right?

“So, eight bucks going to five bucks is the biggest differential we could find in pricing, so we found it very optimal.”

That Calvin and Hobbes meme about the mental exercise summarizes it quite well. $8 is $5.

I mentioned Switch Angel in a recent Friday videos but their work bears repeating. Even if you have zero interest in trance or dance music, you should watch this process of creating music in Strudel. What's Strudel? It is:

a new live coding platform to write dynamic music pieces in the browser!

Put another way, it's a text based interface where you write music instructions that change in real time. As you can see from Switch Angel, it also has just the right amount of visualizations to take it from boring command line interface to futuristic hacker style goodness.

Like any coding language, it looks confusing and foreign at first but as you learn the shorthand, it makes more sense. Switch Angel's narration (which must be practiced, it's too perfect) provides another layer of comprehension.

I am sure there are other Strudel artists out there but just Subscribe here and enjoy the recommendations that will now come your way. It's a treat every time.

HORSE is a new Browser that completely does away with tabs. Creator Pascal Pixel has, instead, created the concept of Trails, a very simple tree structure for your browsing that shows what links you followed. The whole thing is presented in an amusing and light manner but it's a legitimate offering, not a joke. The trails concept helps you to stay focused on what you're reading about and provides a clear history of where you got where you're at. The intro video explains it quite nicely.

This thing has been around for at least a year but it's new to me. So maybe it's new to you as well? If nothing else, please go to the Website and scroll to the very bottom - what a treat!

I'll admit that I like the idea of Record Club more than I actually enjoy using it. It's a solid offering of a site but it's very hard to introduce new habits. Maybe 2026 is my year?!

They recently released their 2025 Year in Review and I'm extremely impressed by the aesthetic of it all. Really love the illustration style, the countdown style and, especially, the YouTube embed with Giant Text Overlay. Very cool. I know almost none of the music but this is a great way to make some discoveries.

Reminder that you should be subscribed to Damon Krukowski's newsletter - Dada Drummer Almanach. His latest transmission, Revisiting the Pyramid of Inequality that is Streaming Music, is an excellent reminder on the state of streaming media. I'm going to regurgitate several of the facts here but please go subscribe. The free version is very worthwhile and the paid version is even better. A few facts from the article:

• 88% of all streaming tracks on Spotify do not quality for royalties - this means despite being played, Spotify does not pay those artists
• The RIAA calculates that streaming accounts for 84% of all recorded music revenue - but streaming is only paying 12% of its tracks!
• If you are lucky enough to qualify for payments, it's a third of a penny per play. In many cases less than that if you do not own your music.

Spotify gets the majority of ire in write-ups like this because they are the biggest offenders but please remember, all streaming platforms are interested in not paying artists. There may be an exception here and there but, by and large, capitalism is not trying to support the arts! To me, if you want to continue enjoying recorded music, you should buy stuff on Ampwall, Bandcamp and the like. His piece doesn't say that explicitly but given how dire that streaming situation is, it's a sensible conclusion.

Oh, there's also the Living Wage for Musician's Act that would help to level the playing field. My faith in politics to do the right thing is at an all time low at this point but I'm in full support of the Act and hope they can make some traction!

This essay from Anu Atluru entitled "Make Something Heavy" is an excellent read about the idea that meaningful work takes iteration and intention.

"The modern makers’ machine does not want you to create heavy things. It runs on the internet—powered by social media, fueled by mass appeal, and addicted to speed. It thrives on spikes, scrolls, and screenshots. It resists weight and avoids friction. It does not care for patience, deliberation, or anything but production."

It's a little bit of ant-AI thinking sprinkled on a much bigger idea that the work, the process, the act of making are crucial to the end result. It reminds me of the advice I think about the most often - "learn to love the process." It often sounds trite but it's a nice reminder that hitting a wall is part of finding the solution.

Anyway, great read! Get it into your brain.

I've been a regular user of Clean My Mac for many years. I can't tell you the number of times I've filled my hard drive and CleanMyMac has been able to find and purge many gigs of unnecessary data. It's great!

I recently became aware of Mole - a command line tool that cleans to do much the same thing. In fact, it says it's a "All-in-one toolkit: CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus combined into a single binary" Ok!

Both are good options but Mole is free and feels powerfully nerdy running it from the CLI.

Gotta give props when props are due! Bandcamp recently announced they are banning AI on the platform. They are specific in their guidelines:

• Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp.

• Any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles is strictly prohibited in accordance with our existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement.

That policy leaves plenty of room to integrate AI tools into the creative process but not entirely.

Happy to see it but also curious how they are detecting AI generated content? Is it completely community driven and Bandcamp validated? Do they have their own internal magic for detection? Many questions!

While we're on this topic, it's worth checking out Ampwall's content policy in regards to AI. They have a similar policy (and have had it in place for some time) but with more nuance.

I am not an anti-AI person but I also understand the need to protect human creativity. I am happy to see these platforms taking a stance.

---

Update: Experimental AI artist Holly Herndon has an excellent rebuttal to all this. It's worth reading and, moreso, worth having a nuanced conversation about. I don't disagree with her about the future but I think Bandcamp is making rules for the present; things will change over time.

The Creative Works crew is back at it! The next iteration of the 2026 West Coast Conference has been announced and the speakers look great! I mean, they got Rob Sheridan! Need I say more?!

Tickets are on sale now. While you're checking that out, give a listen to the State of the Union podcast - loads of great guests on there and they're barely 10 episodes in!

I've been a fan of Count Bass D since I was first introduced to his work back in 1998. His first album, Pre-Life Crisis, is delightful but I got really hooked with the release of Art for Sale; a unique blend of hip-hop, R&B, soul, jazz, DIY, beatmaking and delightful vibes start to finish. Honestly, "Beno" is a song that will be in my regular rotation until the end of time.

I've always admired Count's take on the music industry, his efforts to be self-sustaining and focus on his craft. He's been making music for over thirty years and has some great insights on existing as an independent artist. So, when I saw that he did a two part interview with Sounds Visual Radio,* I was very intrigued! I've just finished up Part 1 and am diving into Part 2 now. I'm happy to report it's as insightful as I'd hoped.

I suggest letting yourself take the deep dive into both Count Bass D and the Sounds Visual Radio archive.

* A podcast from Justin Meyer; veteran of Spongebath Records!

Despite my best efforts, news still comes my way via X from time to time. For instance, someone passed me this post about director Boots Riley reportedly developing a film adaptation of Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play. The accompany image is... striking to say the least!

The play was developed in 2012 by Anne Washburn with music by Michael Friedman. The plot follows a group of apocalypse survivors that retell the plot of "Cape Feare" to distract themselves. Over time, the plot evolves and morphs into something much bigger. By the third act, it's taken on a wildly different life.

You can watch the stage play on YouTube if you like. I've scrubbed through and certainly see the appeal; especially in that surreal third act. Boots Riley filmography feels aligned with this.. so I'd love to see it happen. Seems unlikely but I'd still love to see it!

Lots of bad news comin' at ya at all times. It's rough out there! You should consume it and make sure to take action where you can. You should also browse every jjjjjohn GIF available to you and enjoy the aesthetic of it all. Make sure to follow on IG as well. Here are some more distractions:

• Everyone Dies - public access performance that takes a wild turn around 40seconds. Soak it in and enjoy it (spoiler alert: NSFW). There are additional performances worth watching too.
• Do you know anything about techno? - right when you're in the middle of galactic ecstasy, it goes acid! Incredible clip from Vibrations (1996) which has one of the most outlandish plot synopsis I've read in some time. Apparently the whole thing is on YouTube and the final scene is.. quite something.
• Coding Music for Cold Machines - frankly this deserves its own post but Switch Angel is a musician that uses a live coding environment called Strudel to make these compositions. The narration is intentional and the results are fantastic. It's ten minutes and it's consistently riveting. Ironically, well connected to Vibrations in its own way.
• Professor crashes out over cheating students - 11 minute sketch that escalates in a way that you don't see coming. I know 11 minutes is a long time but stick with it. If you don't have time for that, watch the IG edit.
  
  I also suggest diving into the whole Almost Friday account - lots of treats to be found.
• My Pet Toucan, Chester - this bird sounds like dinosaur and is delightful. It's 90 seconds, enjoy.
• Taylor Swift > MF Doom - quality Doom impersonation.
• Train Timing - competitors must time dropping a ball into a train car. It's ridiculous. It's 13 minutes long. And it's oddly soothing!

Figma shared this blog post / mini-site extolling that Software is Culture. Specifically, the distance between ourselves and computing has decreased exponentially in the last 4 decades - interactions with computers are now much more ingrained in our every day lives (and culture) than ever before.

I don't really have much commentary on the point they're trying to make but the site looks great. Love the aesthetic of it all; especially this grid of heatmap gestures. You don't need to tap through and read everything but do give everything a visual gander - delightful!

Jenkem mag did a little mini documentary tracking down the Around the Fur girl from the Deftones album cover. Half of the piece is with photographer Rick Kosick (Jackass) and designer Kevin Reagen (Maverick) but then they do track down Lisa Hughes and get her perspective on the experience! Fun to see.

I recall hearing a rumor some time ago that she had sued the band for using her image without permission and never got compensated for it. Doing the tiniest bit of digging, Reddit confirms that is BS:

For the Google impaired: Her name is Lisa Hughes. She gave permission to use the shot after Stephen called her amd asked permission. No, she did not sue the band. She is still proud of this feat. She works in healthcare.

Amusing that I'm part of the problem but happy to see that Hughes was not screwed by the band, the photo is a good memory for her and all is well. Rare to see!

As you may know, I enjoy the saga of Chris Gaines, Garth Brooks fictional rock persona that released one Best Of album in 1999 and kind of pumped the brakes on his career.* I enjoy the whole thing so much I made a podcast about it with Ashley Spurgeon. I'm biased but it's a good listen.

Putting the podcast together took a lot of deep diving research, so when I saw that 33 1/3 was releasing a book on Garth Brooks in… The Life of Chris Gaines, I knew author Stephen Deusner had quite a challenge ahead of him! I finally picked up a copy and can confirm that research was well done and manifests quite enjoyably in the book.

While brief, the book does a good job of balancing the history of the album, the history of Brooks and throwing in some meta-commentary that blurs the line of reality. There's a sizable chunk of the book that is supposedly taken from an erased blog post that I still can't tell is true or not. I choose not to know; the presentation was just perfect.

I wouldn't have minded a few more nitty gritty details about what happened behind the scenes, how the songs were written, why they were all R&B instead of pop but I also understand that I'm a particularly nerdy kind of reader on this subject. For anyone with even the most casual interest on this topic, pick up this book. You'll finish it in 3 days and enjoy every moment of it.

* This is debatable and nuanced but also accepted as kind of the general line of thinking

Whenever a new version of any software launches, someone complains. It's inevitable. No change is ever good. I'd venture that most of the reviews - and damn near all of the comments.- on Brand New are not positive. Change is hard. Graphic design change is almost impossible.

This blog post from software engineer Nikita Prokopov about the problem with Tahoe icons could easily be have been another routine barrage of complaints about the latest version of MacOS. It's not. It's an incredibly well articulated teardown of how Apple didn't listen to themselves and ended up making a user experience that is objectively harder to use. That said, it's a great read and makes nothing but incredibly valid points! Do read.

Throughout 2025 I've been contemplating ditching Spotify. They pay artists terribly, including authors. It removes podcasts containing music, even if that music is licensed. They advertise working for ICE. Their CEO Daniel Ek invests your Spotify money in military defense. That's certainly not all of the reasons but that's enough of the reasons. So, I'm out!

My Spotify subscription has been cancelled but I'm not so naive that I think any alternative is that much better. Royalty rates on Apple Music, Amazon and Tidal are the top 3 but they're still abysmal. There are some alternatives like CodaMusic that look interesting but are unvetted (to me) at this time.

The majority of my listening happens via Bandcamp and Ampwall; two platforms that are decidedly not streaming services but benefit artists much more directly and sustainably. As I previously mentioned, I picked up about 208 releases last year on Bandcamp alone - paying for each one. That's not a brag, its a conscious choice!

All that said, I am not ditching streaming entirely. I already pay for YouTube Premium, so that makes YouTube Music my new platform of choice; simply because I'm already paying for it. I'll be keeping a playlist of 2026 Enjoyables over there, as well as albums I'm trying out. I think if I can get the embeddable playlist to be a little nicer, it won't be such a bad option.

In longwinded summation, there's no perfect choice. I'm not shaming anyone for sticking with Spotify. They're bad because they're vocal about how bad they are. Every single other streaming platform - even the beloved Tidal - is negotiating to pay less. Pick your battles and support artists where you can! Your choice of streamer is not your 100% participation in the arts. Just make sure you go see a live show every so often or pick up a t-shirt.

Back in May 2025, Make Yourself at Home released their album Set. It's a bit noisey, a bit shoegazey and a lot immersive. I've listened to it many times and suggest you do the same.

The song "Blue Apollo" is one of my favorites from the record and the band recorded a taped session of it back in 2024. It's a simple performance video but captures so many of the things I like about the band.

Not sure when or where I stumbled on this but Chip Player JS is a massive repository of MIDI tunes from every conceivable system you can recall. Have a hankering to revisit Legendary Wings Arcade edition music? They got you. Intrigued to hear Beethoven's 5th? You're in luck. What about a Windows 3.11 demo song called CANYON? Uh huh! It's all there! Honestly, it's thousands of songs ready for you to explore and enjoy.

A lot of this MIDI music is either too corny or too nostalgia based to be worth your time but there are some legitimate gems in there. Furthermore, the interface is right on - perfect balance of keyboard navigation and clicking around; the Tandy 1000 would be proud.

I can't say for certain but I am 99% positive that I've had this New Yorker article open in a tab "to read" for over a year. I finally got to it this week and it was absolutely worth the wait.

"The Man Who Broke the Music Business" ($) is the story Bennie Lydell Glover - an employee of a CD manufacturing plant in the mid-90's that leaked over five hundred albums through the mp3scene group Rabid Neurosis (RNS). The piece tells the tale of how he did it, what the leaker scene was like at the time and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. For someone that grew up in the age of mp3's emergence, it is a fascinating read. It's also compelling to think about the lineage of nfo files and how they relate to ANSI crews and hacker groups from even earlier in the decade. A delightful cycle.

Once you're done with the article, treat yourself to a browse through the mp3 scene archives. Any names you recognize from the Napster days?