Join us on Wednesday 12th February at 5pm GMT for our next FORUM where we will be discussing if Anyone Really Cares About Music?

The question intentionally cuts to the core of how music is experienced and valued today. From the artist, consumer and industry perspectives, the way we engage with music has changed dramatically — highlighting a fundamental tension between convenience and authenticity, accessibility and depth. We've lined up Martha Bolton (Not Bad For A Girl), Austin Robey (Subvert) and Henry Bruce Jones (SQD.ZIP) to discuss:

  • Whether our connection to music is still as profound as it once was?
  • How music has become commodified in a world where streaming and instant access have transformed our listening habits?
  • How streaming and instant access has affected artists identity, self-expression, and community?
  • And a whole lot more …
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SEEDS

(That you might have missed ...)

Instead of adding to the blancmange of predictions that no-one really needs/reads, we thought we'd focus our full moon energy on some of the more pertinent people and ideas that we planted last year — in the hope they'll continue to grow into a better future for us all.

We explore why brands are throwing raves and ask what kind of research can emerge from these spaces of ecstatic participation?

Memes have dominated internet culture since the mid-90's, originally capturing niche social interests, but have now becoming a mainstream form of communication for countless online communities — holding a mirror up to culture itself. So what happens when AI gets involved?

Initially inspired by typography, and mostly from YouTube thumbnails, the theme of Medieval nostalgia has been on my mind. In some ways, I couldn’t help it. The fascination with an ancient world populated with heroes and myths was seemingly everywhere I looked.

We've updated this SEED to include highlights from our recent FORUM with Ruby Justice Thelot, Daisy Alioto and Charlie Robin Jones — there's also a link to the recording for anyone who missed it.

Four years ago, on the fringes of the message-board internet, many started to argue that no, most users on Facebook and other social media platforms were AI bots. In fact, the internet made by real human beings had died back in 2016 or 2017. In a widely read article in The Atlantic, this idea was called a “conspiracy theory” that was probably “wrong” but “feels true”. Then, at the end of December 2024, Meta told the Financial Times that was, er, the plan for the future.

The narrative around death is no longer being avoided. To start exploring this broad and complex issue, we’ve asked a few of our contributors to offer their thoughts.

Last week's Reframing Death prompted a range of responses in support of our call to create a new positive movement around death that takes it beyond a niche introverted conversation. One such DM was from Jonny Banger, the man behind the renegade clothing brand Sports Banger and co-curator of the latest iteration of The Peoples Pyramid, a project initiated by the electronic duo KLF.

I want to be bored this year. I want to swim in unstructured hours that allow me to catch up with myself, where I can realise thoughts I didn’t know I had; to let my imagination roam and bloom into shapes only possible without the constant distraction of a screen blurring my vision.

Every time I check the news lately, I go to bed thinking, “It cannot possibly get any worse tomorrow”. Yet, somehow, it does. We’re past the point where blocking trolls or writing “stricter” community guidelines is going to fix anything – these are band-aid solutions for a systemic problem, a broken arm, a bleeding artery.

It would be an understatement to say that opinions on the matter are divided. What’s more, defining subcultures has always been a complicated task. After Shang Salah sowed the SEED in our Contributors Forum, we asked five other members to share what subcultures mean to them and which ones, if any, they’re currently into.

SEEDS

(That are still germinating ...)

ONLY IMAGES

(c/o @theythatdo)

CONTRIBUTORS

A massive thanks to all our wonderful contributors for showing up and sowing so many incredible SEEDS in our cosy corner of the internet:

@joe_muggs, @jade, @caro, @jack_stanely, @mariarubio, @sophia_french, @the2noelle, @MAL, @MalenaR, @mike, @valentina_p, @shikar, @COLETTE, @luisa_ferreira, @janne, and @anodromedan, @luigiab8te, @mohamedragahmed, @jannebaetsen, @kaitlyndavies, @kevaepale, @henrybrucejones, @charlierobinjones, @euro_kurd, @vpalange, and @theradesound

We're always looking for culturally curious curators to get paid to contribute to Protein XYZ and collaborate with Protein AGENCY, so if that sounds like you apply here.