Author: Franz Malten Buemann

There are still pockets of our culture where a single individual can create and share a body of work that’s resonant and unique.

I’ve become hooked on a podcast called A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs.

I’m now a backer on Patreon. The show is at https://500songs.com/ [My suggestion is that you start with a song you know and love instead of beginning at the beginning.]

It’s simply extraordinary. Trivia connected to cultural commentary connected to the endless web of the pop music world. Hundreds of hours of insight and connection, all written, narrated and produced by a single person.

There’s a lot to be said about the power of teams to create art and magic. But there’s still room for individuals to do this as well.

[While we’re talking music, happy to suggest a piece of software that might change how you find and play it. Built by a team, not an individual, Roon is a game-changer.]

The non-networked world was driven by push. The merchant stocked goods and waited for you to come buy them. The manufacturer made things in advance and advertised so you’d go buy them. The cab waited by the corner hoping you’d come out and hail it. The door-to-door salesperson went door to door…

But the web amplifies pull instead. When you need something, you tell Google or Amazon or Lyft or Shopify and they bring it to you. The ratio of inventory to demand has shifted dramatically–instead of one encyclopedia in every single house that sits idly waiting for you to need it, there’s just one Wikipedia, available to be pulled by anyone, at will.

When we seek to make change, our instinct is to start pushing. But shifting to pull can create efficiencies that can’t be matched by mass promotion.

It’s one of the best metaphors for life, marketing, achievement, community and possibility in all of TV cartooning.

The coyote is always looking for a quick win. Because he doesn’t persist with a plan that builds over time, all of his outlandish stunts add up to nothing but frustration.

The coyote is obsessed with gaining at the expense of his enemy. As a result, he’s faced with either defeat or short-lived and ultimately empty victory.

The coyote is obviously immortal, but he’s always in pain. Either in the pain that comes from hitting a wall at 100 miles an hour, or the pain of knowing that yet another short-term plan came to no good.

The coyote challenges the laws of physics in the belief that he, and he alone is entitled to his own rules.

The coyote is happy to spend money on ludicrous devices that make promises he must know are empty, but instead of investing, he keeps chasing the gimmicks.

The coyote picked the wrong goal. Even though it’s clear he can’t succeed, he doesn’t switch, obsessing about sunk costs instead.

And even though he has experienced the frustration of the short-term selfish shortcut again and again, he never pauses to consider what would happen if he created something of value instead.