Muddy Paw PR

✨ 8 Important Takeaways From the Measure of Music Conference 2026 ✨

I had so much fun covering for Hypebot! It’s been a little bit since I got to whip out my music journalism chops, so this was a really nice way to dive back in. ❤️

Check out a taste of the recap & takeaways by swiping through and when you’re ready to read the full article head to Hypebot.com or DM me for the link. (I’ll also post it in stories today)

As a millennial, I still remember the early days of AOL and that beautiful, blissful squeal that came right before YOU’VE GOT MAIL!

There was the dark side of the internet—chat rooms, perverts, and the chain mail that I was terrified to receive but always opened. But there was also the beauty of something new unfolding right before our eyes. Neopets and Geocities and so much Flash.

But magic fades, and novelty wears off, and we adapt. We’ve gotten so accustomed to the World Wide Web that we can’t imagine a moment without it. YOU’VE GOT MAIL is no longer pride, but punishment. And where we once agonized over which allotted hour we’d spend online, we now can’t manage a twenty-minute power outage alone with our thoughts.

The problem is, the internet was supposed to bring us together and help us find our tribes. But actually, it’s made it harder than ever.

I wrote about this on Substack and what indie musicians can do to counteract it. Full post is on Substack, linked in the bio.

I love an EP. I adore an album. Music is the whole reason I get to do what I love every day. But it isn’t the whole picture and it definitely isn’t what makes most musicians able to do this long term.

For better or worse, the music isn’t THE thing that pays the bills for full time musicians anymore, and to ignore that if you’re an artist who wants to either do this as a career or make any money is a mistake. Good music is still what drives this engine, so please don’t take this as me saying the music doesn’t matter…it is ultimately the most important thing!! But if you want people to *hear* that music and you want to build something lasting off it, there are other things to consider.

What do you think? What else is part of an artist’s ecosystem or, do you think it’s simpler (or more complicated?) than all this?