23 Comments

Substack Reads is becoming a parody of itself - ditching discovery to feature Substack publications that are already wildly successful. Having someone of the prestige of Jeff Tweedy on Substack surely benefits all other music scribes here (myself included) but surely this week's hosts of this space could have dug even a little more deeper to feature someone who is doing good work on the caliber of Mr. Tweedy and who deserves the exposure.

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That’s because Substack has a very small ‘inner circle’ where the management supports certain writers who bend over to be part of this circle and in exchange Substack asks them to put these lists together of other writers in that small circle. It’s like a small Mafia within Substack. You never see anyone from outside of the US who are asked to put together such weekly reads or their publications supported. It’s like how Elon Musk supports certain Twitter users who always kiss his a** so he retweets their tweets. It’s the same on Substack. When I criticized the CEO Hamish, he blocked me and also blocked me from Substack Blog. When I reported this to Chris Best, I was told it’s temporary but it’s been like 6 months 😂. Well.

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It sounds like you’ve experienced some frustrating dynamics within Substack... Do you think this kind of favoritism is common across other platforms as well, or is it something unique to Substack and its community?

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I can’t help but agree with this. Substack Reads and the Homepage Features used to be where I discovered cool new/lesser-known publications to follow. These days, it’s mostly just massive accounts writing about “culture”. Sometimes gems sneak in, but not often.

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I agree and I say this as someone who was featured on Substack Reads in 2022 as a complete unknown. I try to do my part on Notes featuring many of the great music writers here but in turning over Substack Reads to guest curators, they seems to be content with often obvious and lazy (The Free Press was included once, for crying out loud) picks.

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True. They should have stuck with those Notes asking writers for recommendations. I apreciate that Sam Kahn did that when he was asked to guest curate for Substack Reads, and he featured many of the posts which were recommended to him.

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I would've loved to see Ben Wakeman's fiction podcast in this list. His 'Departures' serial is a gem.

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Claudia!

Totally agree—'Departures' by Ben Wakeman is a standout. It’s such a well-crafted series, with each episode drawing you in deeper. It’s a shame it didn’t make the list, but those who’ve discovered it know just how special it is. Hopefully, more people will catch on and give it the recognition it deserves.

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Ugh. So I guess I’m on a first name basis with “Jesse,” based on this? That guy is not my friend and, honestly, I don’t like being on the same platform with him; much less having that platform’s official recommendations pushing his appearance on Joe Fucking Rogan.

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What a good guy! You're such a good guy. You said "Ugh" about the bad man. Now everyone knows what a good guy you are. ☺️

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"honestly, I don’t like being on the same platform with him"

Oh do please grow up. Crikey.

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Here’s my comment: How can I stop other peoples random choices from being placed in my feed? Is there an ‘unsubscribe’ option?

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Please I would like to unsubscribe as well this was total BS.

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What a bunch of garbled half story’s that are not even worth the read, what has some dolly bull board have to do with some other person… what the ????

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So a matrixy singer does a faux cover of a matrixy parody and that is supposed to move the needle? Meanwhile guys like Ethan Tasch and Ken Yates are tearing it up out there introducing the world to the next generation, but no...let's just hang back with our old life, one where we can pretend.

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Thx for the recommendations! Would be honored if you took a listen to my Substack podcast Herizon Music https://www.herizonmusic.com/publish/podcasting/herizonmusic

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سلام من یک افغان هستم شما میدانید که در کشور ما طالب حاکمیت دارد و من از قوم هزاره هستم که در تبعیض است وخودم انجنیر هستم طالب ها من را تحدید کردن ومن درپنهان زندگی میکنم لطفا "کمک کنید ویزا ضرورت دارم من را میخوام بیان کانادا لطفا"ویزا برایم روان کنید لطفا 🙏

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Listen to the music of Fela Kuti!

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Jon truly sounds a fun person

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Writing like never before 🫡🧠✍️

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