Jul 8, 2026 · 19 min · 8 segments
Is the problem systemic, or individual? In this episode, we sit with the messy middle. Creative industries are full of scarcity, gatekeeping, bad incentives, exploitation, and cooked economics. But…
Amie McNeeHost
James WinestockHost
right let's talk about this very big topic and what i said to james was we don't have to go all in on this topic it can be an introduction to a very complex
very complex topic which is this idea that comes up a lot about Is this a systemic problem or is this an individual problem? You know, we are living in a world where it's often like the right, one might say, it's like this is an individual problem and the individual needs to just buck up and figure it out for themselves.
And the far left or left saying this is a systemic problem where the system needs to change.
And, like, how do you have these conversations that are nuanced and that look at both sides? I
think it's particularly relevant for artists because we often live or we often work in industries that have a lot of systemic problems that are very obvious.
these big institutions, we've concentrated power in big institutions in the arts.
Like it's very obvious that people are rewarded for bad incentives in the arts.
Like, you know, for example, chasing popularity rather than what you would call their own personal style.
Or do we spend our energy like just trying to buckle down and better the odds, the better the odds for ourselves personally.
And if you try and speak about how the artists can navigate a system that is broken and how they can skirt around it and how they can make it work for them, then you're told that you're ignoring a systemic problem.
And similarly, if you talk only about the system, you make people feel very disempowered because they feel like individually they have no ability to change anything for them.
And I see a lot of artists speaking about the systemic problems and saying this is fucked and it is but it often leaves artists feeling like there's absolutely no power and no way to be a creative if we want to talk about a specific like conversation when we spink about spink when we spink
artists making money i felt personally as a writer trying to make money and trying to be a professional writer that the only conversations were you will never make it the system is cooked you're fucked And I was like, where is that true? Like, I felt so disempowered by the constant structural conversations.
And I needed someone to individually come to me and go, hey, how do you want to work around this? Because there are ways to work around it.
And I really want to endeavor in all conversations I have about any topic to speak about both the systemic problems and the individual's way of navigating that.
right let's talk about this very big topic and what i said to james was we don't have to go all in on this topic it can be an introduction to a very complex
very complex topic which is this idea that comes up a lot about Is this a systemic problem or is this an individual problem? You know, we are living in a world where it's often like the right, one might say, it's like this is an individual problem and the individual needs to just buck up and figure it out for themselves.
And the far left or left saying this is a systemic problem where the system needs to change.
And, like, how do you have these conversations that are nuanced and that look at both sides? I
think it's particularly relevant for artists because we often live or we often work in industries that have a lot of systemic problems that are very obvious.
these big institutions, we've concentrated power in big institutions in the arts.
Like it's very obvious that people are rewarded for bad incentives in the arts.
Like, you know, for example, chasing popularity rather than what you would call their own personal style.
Or do we spend our energy like just trying to buckle down and better the odds, the better the odds for ourselves personally.
And if you try and speak about how the artists can navigate a system that is broken and how they can skirt around it and how they can make it work for them, then you're told that you're ignoring a systemic problem.
And similarly, if you talk only about the system, you make people feel very disempowered because they feel like individually they have no ability to change anything for them.
And I see a lot of artists speaking about the systemic problems and saying this is fucked and it is but it often leaves artists feeling like there's absolutely no power and no way to be a creative if we want to talk about a specific like conversation when we spink about spink when we spink
artists making money i felt personally as a writer trying to make money and trying to be a professional writer that the only conversations were you will never make it the system is cooked you're fucked And I was like, where is that true? Like, I felt so disempowered by the constant structural conversations.
And I needed someone to individually come to me and go, hey, how do you want to work around this? Because there are ways to work around it.
And I really want to endeavor in all conversations I have about any topic to speak about both the systemic problems and the individual's way of navigating that.
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