New podcast 'Appetite for Distraction' explores how technology is re-shaping the music industry

In episode 1 Yash Bagal and Maarten Walraven talk about Music NFTs

A new podcast about the intersection of music and technology has been launched, discussing how new innovations such as Web3 are re-shaping the music industry as we know it today.

‘Appetite for Distraction’ was created by Yash Bagal, a writer who started the newsletter the new podcast is named after, and Maarten Walraven, co-editor of the popular MUSIC x newsletter.

In a statement about the new show, Maarten Walraven wrote: “We speak about the latest technologies and innovations hitting the music industry today. There’s always something to get hyped about, but we aim to bring nuance to the table. We bring our own takes and try to speak as plainly as possible about new tech often filled with jargon.”

In episode 1 Yash and Maarten talk about Music NFTs, asking whether they’re just cryptographic records that have nothing to do with music, or the very future of the industry itself. They talk about this and more as they discuss the pros and cons of operating in Web3 as a musician, manager, or label.

Some of the topics they discuss in the first episode include the blossoming economy of independent artists turning towards Web3, the common arguments for and against music NFTs, the philosophy behind Web3, and why the opportunity to re-think ownership and community in the music industry shouldn’t be taken for granted.

“In less than 15mins we go through the pros and cons, taking the common tropes around music NFTs and laying bare what they actually do and mean,” Walraven elaborates in a tweet about the podcast. “The inspiration for the podcast came from our Mic Drop at Future Music Forum Barcelona last month. This short 10min presentation elicited feedback from multiple people that we should turn this talk into a podcast. And so we did.”

Stream episode 1 ‘Music NFTs don’t exist’ below: