Well, hello there. How are you?
Right now I’m planning some future essay topics and wrapping up my final freelance assignments for the year, which I’m very excited to share with you all once they’re done. This week, I wanted to pause to share a programming update about OPE!’s subscription plans.
If you follow me on LinkedIn or saw my closing remarks at the end of last week, you may have seen that I’ve updated my Substack subscription tiers to offer some more exclusive content and opportunities for y’all beyond the paywall posts. It’s true. I’ve been meaning to put these changes into practice for a while, though I was stuck on 1) What I could offer exclusively for paying members 2) What I wanted to offer. In the end, everything came down to a type of mentorship or writing assistance, which I love to do and want to do more of. I’ll probably add some more options down the line. For now, here’s how I want to get started.
FREE SUBSCRIPTION: STOP BY AND SAY HELLO (GIVE YOUR ATTENTION)
$0 A MONTH
If you’re reading this, then I hope (!) you know what OPE! is all about, but here’s my current elevator pitch: Each week, I send out OPE!, a music and writing newsletter that includes exclusive essays reflecting on the week's music and writing news and what else is going on in life, a link round-up of the best things I read in the past week, and music reviews about the new releases and hidden gems you should know about. I overanalyze the music industry and the internet so you don’t have to. This is pretty much the base experience, but I know a lot of you enjoy OPE!, either for all the links I round up or the songs I curate each week.
Obviously, I would love it if y’all signed up for a paying subscription tier. The more of you who become paying subscribers, the more time and effort I can put into delivering the best quality newsletter each week that I can. I’m also a firm believer in offering something that can be available to all people, especially those who can’t swing a subscription right now for whatever reason. If you’re a fan of OPE! yet are unable to pay for a subscription, you can still help out by sharing OPE! with your friends and family. At the end of each newsletter, I share more ways you can help out the newsletter for free (including considering me for freelance work; more below).
MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION: BUY ME A CUP OF COFFEE (SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION) / $5 A MONTH
I send out OPE! once a week on Wednesday mornings Los Angeles time, give or take a few weeks throughout the year when I’m out for vacation or sick. In the end, that amounts to about four newsletters a month. This means that $5 breaks down to $1.25 per newsletter. (Stripe, the service Substack uses for subscription payments, ends up taking a bit of that $5, so I end up getting closer to $4 a month, but the idea remains.) To me, that’s like buying me a cup of black coffee (my preferred caffeine style) for each newsletter. Subscribing to this tier is your way of saying, “Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to put together this newsletter each week—here’s a cup of coffee to help you make the next one.”
A monthly subscription and above also gains you access to exclusive longform and timely content (e.g., my upcoming 2024 Grammy coverage, which I’ll talk more about next week once the nominations have been announced).
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: BUY ME LUNCH (LET’S TALK WRITING) / $50 A YEAR
As opposed to paying month-to-month, paying one large amount upfront for a year is like taking me out to lunch in LA—in this case, a chance to connect and network. Once you sign up for this tier, I’ll reach out to schedule a phone call in which we can talk about anything regarding writing and freelancing advice. Subscribing to this tier is you saying, “Hey, I appreciate your work and what all you do—I want to buy you lunch and pick your brain about any insights you have into music, writing, and freelancing.”
And when the year’s subscription renews, we can schedule another call. These calls are also optional if you just wish to support OPE! with an annual subscription and don’t need a call.
COLLABORATIVE MEMBER SUBSCRIPTION: BUY ME DINNER (LET’S WORK TOGETHER) / $150+ A YEAR
This more flexible “Collaborative Member” yearly subscription means that you and I get to work on something together—a more in-depth discussion in the vein of an LA-priced working dinner. In addition to an annual networking phone, subscribing to this tier will allow me to help you with one optional writing project. This can be me reviewing and giving in-depth feedback on any essays, pitches, or general ideas you’re working on. This tier has a minimum base rate, but the more money you’re able to contribute upfront, the more time and effort I can set aside for you.
Same deal with the previous tier: When the year’s subscription renews, we can schedule another call. I charge much more for my normal freelance writing and consulting, so setting up some one-on-one time with me through OPE! nabs you a nice discount.
So y’all have some new options to buy me coffee, lunch, or dinner—or you can just stop by and say hello and share the news on what we’re about over here at OPE!.
But what if you’re not into monthly or annual subscriptions yet still want to donate some funds? You can always donate to my coffee fund. I set this up through PayPal and all the money goes toward buying coffee beans and filters. As previously mentioned, Substack’s use of Stripe for subscriptions includes a lot of fees; if you prefer to give a one-time donation through this fund, I can receive more of your generosity.
You guys rock—thank you again for your continued support of this newsletter.
OK, let’s get to the dang thing this week. Here are some links and tunes for the week.
LINKS
Your words are wasted.
This is from 2012 and feels truer today when talking about writing about the internet for the internet.Charles’ rules of (online) argument.
This is from 2004 and mostly still works. This bit of advice is worth sharing on its own: Never confuse correcting a factual error with changing the opinions that fact was being used to support. The opinion will survive in the absence of the fact until a new fact is found to justify it.Truth is what a comedian makes of it.
I love this analysis of a question that I think every artist has to wrestle with to some degree: It’s less “write what you know” and more “write what you see.” But, also, don’t intentionally mislead your audience to such a degree with your art while demanding it to be taken as factual and absolute truth.How is Conan O’Brien still funny?
Related to the above link. Y’all know I’m a Conan stan, yet even I am impressed with how willing he is to evolve his comedy to match his different mediums; Conan on his TV show is very different from Conan on his podcast.The fight between musicians and venues over merch profits.
Touring and merchandising is a part of the music industry I’m not as knowledgeable about, especially now since I’m not going to as many shows as I used to. Like a lot of conversations surrounding the music industry, much of this comes down to “Well, this is how it’s been done for decades, don’t rock the boat” vs. “Times, technology, and means have changed, it doesn’t have to be this way anymore.” It’s the classic and timeless political argument: Known goods vs. unknown betters.I love Tom Erlewine’s music newsletter, and I especially love his recent review of the new Rolling Stones album, which changed my entire perspective on a record I still only like but now like a lot more.
THIS WEEK’S MIXTAPE
Listen to this week’s mix on TIDAL. (After giving TIDAL and Napster free tier tries, I like TIDAL a lot more than Napster. Napster pays a little better to artists yet TIDAL has a nearly identical library and interface to Spotify. I’ll probably get back into making Spotify playlists soon, but for now, I’m happy to just stick to TIDAL.)
(The same note applies: Not every song is available on streaming services.)
The Beatles - “Now And Then”
We’re firing people and cutting jobs in favor of AI so that it can do this???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
MGMT - “Mother Nature”
“Mother Nature” is a better attempt at The Beatles than “Now And Then,” or at least a better attempt at solo John Lennon and George Harrison. I feel sorry for MGMT. They continue to fight the narrative that their first album is a classic and that their second album was a career-ending masterpiece and everything they’ve done since has been a reaction to peaking too early. Their first album is indeed great. “Time to Pretend” is my vote for the best song of the 21st century, or at least the song I would pick to sum up the popular sound of the 21st century so far. So much has been written about Congratulations that we can’t realistically call it underrated anymore. When you take away that context the album is fine, but maybe not as great as we want it to be. Everyone after, including “Mother Nature,” has been surprisingly nice from a band that has earned the right to just be surprisingly nice.
SPRINTS - “Up and Comer”
Strong Fontaines D.C. vibes!
bar italia - “worlds greatest emoter”
A reminder for bands trying to get into OPE!: Just write Blur riffs.
Rifle - “Warfare”
Loved this (new-to-me) hardcore find from the most recent Listen Up, Nerds newsletter.
House of Light - “NYC”
Some last-minute post-punk city spooks to grace us into November.
Hotline TNT - “Protocol”
I’m torn. On the one hand, this album is 100% in my happy zone. I received a promo of this record many months ago and loved it and was considering where to pitch stories. I even gave “Protocol” a shout-out in OPE! right when it came out. And then I started to see the press cycle churning and …. I don’t know. I found myself feeling and saying the exact same things as all my music-writing colleagues. It dawned on me that this is indeed another album that felt directly made for music critics. Talk to me in a few months and I’ll probably be in love with this album again. Right now, this feels like generic musiccriticcore.
Oasis - “Going Nowhere”
The Masterplan remastered edition is out now, and I will gladly take the excuse to write more about Oasis. The general vibe of The Masterplan, which is a collection of their most notable B-sides, is that it’s Oasis’s 3rd or 4th best album, depending on how you feel about Be Here Now. Like The Beatles and The Smiths, Oasis were smart to put as much quality into their B-sides as their biggest hits. At this point, tracks like “Acquiesce” and “Talk Tonight” are as famous and beloved as Oasis’ main hits. I like Stuart Berman’s recent Pitchfork review of this reissue for giving some much-needed context on how in the U.K., where all these singles had been steadily coming out, The Masterplan was seen as a lame cash-grab, while in the U.S., this was a necessary release for an audience mostly hearing these B-sides for the first time. I’m giving “Going Nowhere” the spotlight this week because what other rock act outside of Elvis Costello has done Burt Bacharach well?
And that’s it!
Until a future Wednesday, as always.
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Subscribe to a paid version of this newsletter. Here’s what you get with each paid tier:
NONE/FREE: STOP BY AND SAY HELLO (GIVE YOUR ATTENTION)
Each week, I send out this newsletter that includes exclusive essays reflecting on the past week in writing and music news, a link round-up of the best things I read, and music reviews about new releases and hidden gems you should know about. I overanalyze and music industry and the internet so you don’t have to. If you’re a fan of the newsletter yet are unable to pay for a subscription, you can still help out by sharing OPE! with your friends and family (see the end of this newsletter for more).MONTHLY: BUY ME A CUP OF COFFEE (SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION)
I send out OPE! once a week on Wednesday mornings, give or take a few weeks throughout the year when I’m out for vacation or sick. In the end, that amounts to about four newsletters a month. This means that $5 breaks down to $1.25 per newsletter. To me, that’s like buying me a cup of black coffee (my preferred caffeine style) for each newsletter. Subscribing to this tier is your way of saying, “Hey, I appreciate you taking the time to put together this newsletter each week—here’s a cup of coffee to help you make the next one.”ANNUAL: BUY ME LUNCH (LET’S TALK WRITING)
As opposed to a monthly subscription, paying one large amount upfront for a year is like buying me lunch. In this case, “lunch” is a chance to connect and network. Once you sign up for this tier, I’ll reach out to schedule one (1) optional phone call in which we can talk about anything regarding writing and freelancing advice. Subscribing to this tier is you saying, “Hey, I appreciate your work and what all you do—I want to buy you lunch and pick your brain about any insights you have into music, writing, and freelancing.” And when the year’s subscription renews, we can schedule another call.COLLABORATIVE MEMBER: BUY ME DINNER (LET’S WORK TOGETHER)
The “Collaborative Member” yearly subscription means that you and I get to work on something together. In addition to one optional networking phone call per year, subscribing to this tier will allow me to help you with one (1) optional writing project. This can be me reviewing and giving feedback on any essays, pitches, or general ideas you’re working on. This tier has a minimum base rate, but the more money you can contribute upfront, the more time and effort I can set aside for you. Same deal with the previous tier: When the year’s subscription renews, we can schedule another call. I charge a lot more for my normal freelance writing and consulting, so setting up some time with me through OPE! nabs you a nice discount.
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Here’s how you can help (for free)
Consider me for freelance writing work. In addition to music journalism, I’m available for digital copywriting and content marketing (writing SEO-friendly blog posts, articles, press releases, blurbs, and more about WCAG accessibility, UX vs UI, and SEO), technical writing (writing SOPs and technical documents like my beginner’s guide to ChatGPT’s API), and bio writing (writing long and short bios for artists and other professionals). Shoot me an email at bradywgerber@gmail.com and we can talk more. I also have more information on my website and LinkedIn.
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With love and all the other good things,
-b
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Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. words and cartoons by yours truly. stock photos by Substack unless credited. animations made using FlipaClip and EZGIF. all typos are intentional.