Dale-y Affirmation for 4/29/25

Yourstruly is becoming CONTENT with making CONTENT

Alright, y’all, as Yourstruly makes an ATTEMPT to stay on the daily(ish) writing train, why not spend a lil time PONTIFICATING the nature of being an incredibly talented, charming, charismatic, GENIUS, kind, talented, humble, selfless, talented, and handsome #content creator, because if we’re being honest, THAT’S WHAT EVERYONE IS NOWADAYS!!!

[Hold for applause]

Jokes aside, the nature of the beast that is the entertainment industry is that everything is built on the back of platform capitalism. Now y’all might be asking - “Dale!? What the heck is platform capitalism? I thought you were supposed to be a lovable himbo country music vague ripoff of Ryan Gosling’s character Ken from the 2023 billion dollar grossing blockbuster Barbie?”

Yes.

But also,

Platform capitalism is basically just a cutesy term for creating a foundation (platform) for businesses and enterprises to conduct business (this is a piss poor parroting of the definition provided by Nick Srnicek in a book Yourstruly read called Platform Capitalism; good read, if not a little deflating).

The simplest example of a platform capital business is Instagram - we all have one, we all spend too much time on it liking on, stalking on, DMing on, buying on, and spending ENTIRELY too much time on the platform, which in turn lends credence to Instagram’s algorithm continuing to feed the beast to increase said capital to continue to rake in THE BIG BUCKS all the time - and thus Instagram is worth billions (and should be broken up from the larger Meta ecosystem) in exchange for our little dopamine kicks.

Photo by Alec Basse

This is where today’s Dale-y affirmation comes into play - Yourstruly has a tempestuous relationship with platform capitalism as it pertains to being a “creative.” The nature of the entertainment business and being a creative WITHIN said business is that Yourstruly has to create and operate Yourstruly’s OWN platform capital business.

And Yourstruly is TRYING to be at peace with such a notion.

Yourstruly writes music (that Yourstruly likes), Yourstruly records music (that Yourstruly hopes someone else likes), Yourstruly performs music live (that hopefully the folks that like to listen to the music Yourstruly records like enough to buy a ticket), to… do it all over again???

Maybe that’s a bit reductive, but hopefully that makes sense (and possibly some DOLLARS! Get it!?).

Jokes aside, it’s a bit of a snake eating its tale (otherwise known as an ouroboros, there you can impress your friends with your $10 word of the day; don’t say Yourstruly never did nothing for y’all!) scenario, that has led Yourstruly down a very difficult and conflicting path as a creative these past 5 years of “really” being THE Country Music Superstar (Trademark Pending).

Yourstruly would be lying if Yourstruly didn’t admit that Yourstruly has placed undue value and pressure to feed the beast that is platform capitalism in an attempt to vie for y’all’s eyes in this “attention economy” and while sometimes that’s a benefit for the “platform” (see: business), it’s to the detriment of Yourstruly’s personal self.

Boohoo, sob story over.

But nevertheless, that is the nature of the beast, and Yourstruly is nothing if not a ringmaster in the circus that is the entertainment business. That being said, Yourstruly is trying to create a welcoming and open “platform” to which anyone and everyone can hop onto and off of whenever they please. And far be it from Yourstruly to act like Yourstruly has it figured out, but what Yourstruly does know is that Yourstruly is figuring out how to make it work in a way that doesn’t feel gross and icky, and Yourstruly certainly hopes y’all feel the same way.

Also, Yourstruly acknowledges that pontificating and opining about platform capitalism and the nature of the entertainment beast on Yourstruly’s SUBSTACK is nothing if not… obtuse.

But maybe that’s the whole point?

Yourstruly is simply attempting (poorly) to ascertain the best route to continue to do what Yourstruly loves (creating and entertaining) in an ever changing landscape of multiple multiples of platforms, and y’all are always welcome.

Or maybe Yourstruly is just trying to provoke thoughts, pull at heartstrings, be prosaic enough, and write for just the perfect length of time to SHAMELESSLY announce that YOURSTRULY INVITES ALL OF Y’ALL TO JOIN YOURSTRULY’S EXCLUSIVE NEW FAN-ONLY PLATFORM APP, HOLLOW WORLD and new and creative place for the REAL HOLLOW HEADS can hang with Yourstruly for the INCREDIBLE ONE TIME PRICE OF $299.99/month!!!!

Just kidding.

For now….

Until Next Time,

Yourstruly,

Dale Hollow

Photo by Alec Basse