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30 minutes ago, Zeus said:

Damn 22 women accusing him of sexual assault, it's over 

https://channel22news.com/group-of-21-women-speak-out-accuse-joe-rogan-of-sexual-assault/

On the bright side, corporate media shilling for big pharma was wrong, and scientists and doctors looking at data and results were right.

https://www.kowa.co.jp/news/2022/press220131.pdf

A Japanese conglomerate has found that the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin is effective and safe for the treatment of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, according to a phase III clinical trial.

Kowa Co. Ltd., a conglomerate with interests in trading, hospitality, electronics, along with health and medical applications, issued a press release (pdf) on Jan. 31 stating that ivermectin has been found to be effective against Omicron.

The company, working with Kitasato University based in Tokyo, said that ivermectin has the “same antiviral effect” on all “mutant strains” including alpha, delta, and Omicron. Kowa added that ivermectin suppresses invasion of the virus and inhibits its replication.

“[Ivermectin] is expected to be applied as a therapeutic drug (tablet) for all new coronavirus infectious diseases,” said the report.

Lol

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1 hour ago, TurkeyChew said:

For those interested in understanding Spotify's point of view and why they act (or don't act, or minimally act) the way they do, I read something about the business that helped me to understand why they as a business behave:

  • Spotify as a music streaming platform, which was its legacy use case and business model, was wildly succesful and cool.
  • But as it grew, due to having to pay out performers/royalties, it's gross margins plateaud at 25% (again, artist royalties are variable costs that scale every time more people use the product (listen to music).
  • Branching out into podcasts helps the business grow because Spotify is building a dynamic audio ad marketplace. By doing this, Spotify’s gross margins can get up 40%

So you can see then why Spotify in 2022 cares more about JRE and Call Me Daddy and The Ringer and all these other properties more than a Neil Young catalog or other D-list streaming artists, when push comes to shove.

However, one thing that Spotify is going to have to thread the needle on is moderation, which when you are just streaming artists (25% gross margin), you don't have that headache. You have to take on this headache of moderation and how to do it, for the extra 15 points.

But then again, that's Showbiz Big Business baby!

Further Spotify reading (again, to better understand motivations and behavior, by understanding the business). Bold emphasis mine:

Quote

 

Spotify has $3.5 billion earmarked to continue expanding to podcasting and more. When listeners stream music on Spotify, the company gives 70 cents of every dollar to the rights holders. But podcasts have zero marginal cost to reach more users. The more users who listen, the more quickly Spotify can recoup its podcast investment and increase overall gross margins. Plus, it gives Spotify more leverage in its negotiation with the major record labels.

To date, the company spent hundreds of millions on exclusive content licensing deals for shows like The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy. Spotify has also purchased major podcasting studios like Gimlet (over $200 million) and The Ringer (up to $196 million). To capture the long-tail of podcasters, it purchased Anchor for around $150 million. And to maximize podcast advertising, it bought Megaphone for $235 million.

Spotify is now the #1 podcast player in the U.S. with podcasting driving new subscriber growth. But this is happening while the app is still not designed for podcasting! It’s a music app jury-rigged to include podcasts. The podcasting tab is hidden at the bottom, and downloading new episodes is not convenient. But Spotify has still won on this front thanks to its existing user base and exclusive content.

 

JRE is massively important to spotify, more important than even a single A-list artist not named Taylor Swift, Drake or Adele, but 1000% more important than a Neil Young or Jonas Mitchell or a random guitarist from a known band, because podcasting hasn’t produced a big new hit in years.

Quote

Many listeners are happy listening to the same shows they’ve listened to for years. Podcasting struggles with discoverability to begin with, and Spotify’s self-produced shows haven’t been as successful. Spotify can try to acquire more established podcasters and shows, but there are only so many podcasts at a massive scale, and many companies want to acquire them.

And lastly an explanation to how the music/artists business is limiting and has a ceiling baked into it:

Quote

 

Some of the most interesting companies to study are those that sell moments of cultural influence. Despite the emotional power that they capture, they are unable to translate the results of the heart to results on the income statement. Book publishers, movie studios, record labels—all produce products that are deeply important to the human experience, and yet they are unable to produce consistent profit. Perhaps it is because so much of the value isn’t inherently monetary, so it is difficult to translate that into fiscal results. Spotify’s music business is the same. A 70% cost of goods sold business likely won’t hit a $100 billion valuation.

But Spotify works because of the artists and podcasters who top their respective charts. They capture enough attention to make up for the ones that struggle. Similarly, Spotify’s goal has been to find its own products that will generate the outsized returns to make up for the rest.

 

 

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My favorite part is them thinking the ivermectin stuff is sticking it to "corporate schills and big pharma." It's made by Merck, one of the flagship members of Big Pharma. Shoving horse paste up their ass to stick it to the man, lol. 

Edited by 'stache
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10 minutes ago, 'stache said:

My favorite part is them thinking the ivermectin stuff is sticking it to "corporate schills and big pharma." It's made by Merck, one of the flagship members of Big Pharma. Shoving horse paste up their ass to stick it to the man, lol. 

Not only is it made by Merck, but a year ago, Merck put out a statement and the overall theme was “do not give us your money to take our product for the purposes of treating COVID.”

And yet these same motherfuckers ignored all of that. So they hate big Pharma so much that they’ll give them money to buy one of their products, but they don’t heed their advice not to take it for that purpose because “Big Pharma is full of shit, man.” 

There’s a word for that kind of tortured logic and we have a poster who bears the exact name of that condition: incredulity.

I would wager all the money I have that if Merck had not released that statement, especially if it turned out that ivermectin does in fact have therapeutic value, and instead turned out a statement that read “send us your money and we will treat your COVID with this product,” they wouldn’t do it and they would find some other magical potion to deal with a very real illness.

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1 minute ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

I mean, it MIGHT carry more weight if an artist who wasn't a central figure in afternoon TV commercials for K-Tel Big Hits of the 70s bailed.  I'm just sayin'.....no disrespect to my Yacht Rock peeps and such.

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13 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I mean, it MIGHT carry more weight if an artist who wasn't a central figure in afternoon TV commercials for K-Tel Big Hits of the 70s bailed.  I'm just sayin'.....no disrespect to my Yacht Rock peeps and such.

If Playboy Carti pulls his albums I'm going to be pissed!

 

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10 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

Nash's solo stuff pales in comparison to his work with CSNY and The Hollies.  I wonder if CSNY will be pulled?  Crosby has said that he would pull his stuff if he still controlled it. 

You just mentioned something that got me thinking--

I don't think any of the old school heavy hitters even control their own stuff and own their masters-- they've all sold their catalogs for hundreds of millions. So you are left with people that you scratch your head and say, "Who?" are pulling their music.

Even Taylor Swift's masters are owned by Scooter Braun except that last re-release she did.

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Merck has been literally giving away ivermectin in third world countries since the 1990s.  I don't even know if they report it on their earnings anymore.  A lot of people don't seem to understand how drug markets where there is substantial generic competition work. 

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4 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Merck has been literally giving away ivermectin in third world countries since the 1990s.  I don't even know if they report it on their earnings anymore.  A lot of people don't seem to understand how drug markets where there is substantial generic competition work. 

Or how much a large drug company would love to claim the label of "savior of the world" with minimum effort or cost.  

If ivermectin really did work -- as in, take a cycle of this drug, and you're cured of the COVID, no more death! -- wouldn't you expect Merck to be proudly telling the world about it?  "Take our drug, Ivermectin!  It saves lives, and neutralizes COVID! The world can go back to normal now, thanks to the brilliant minds at Merck!"

That's what I don't get, this idea of some vast conspiracy to suppress information about magic-bullet therapeutics.  WTF?  Why would practitioners, who take a gutpunch when a patient dies, do that?  Why would drug manufacturers, who could see their product go way up in use (even if it's not the MOST profitable thing they do, more bucks is more bucks) suppress that information?  Why would they suppress an opportunity to paint themselves as saviors of humanity?  It's fucking insane.

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3 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Yeah, all the old people dying is bad for Merck’s business. They wanted to milk those old fucks for many many more years. Keytruda needs old bodies. 

Also that -- "currently alive people with comorbidities" are pretty much a cash machine for pharma companies.  Old dude with 8 conditions on $10k worth of meds a month?  Big Pharma says send us more of those!

Also, on Keytruda, it bought my cancer-patient mother nearly two bonus years of being alive and feeling really good.  The juice was definitely worth the squeeze.  Sometimes, drugs really do work miracles.

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1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Why would they suppress an opportunity to paint themselves as saviors of humanity?  It's fucking insane.

I admire the humility. Big Pharma has had so much good PR this decade I'm not sure the brand could possibly support any more goodwill.

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7 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


You jealous, puny simpleton. His gains are 100% elk steak driven. Bro.

Yeah and he kills it, butchers it and cooks it himself in his own ground pit which holds wood he personally cut and he lights the fire with flint and steel.

 

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David Crosby and Stephen Stills Join Neil Young and Graham Nash in Pulling Music from Spotify

 

No more "Southern Cross" for me it seems.  At least on Spotify.    Ah well.  I do find it amusing that if you go the Apple Music or Tidal homepages that the first artists they put in your face are all the ones who bailed on Spotify.

 

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