One Year of Hearing Things
Renew those subscriptions cuz we’re just getting started!
When we launched Hearing Things one year ago today, the five of us were optimistic that the readers would come. Despite, or perhaps because of, the ongoing enshittification of the internet, we knew that there were others out there like us: those craving real music recommendations, criticism, and features from writers you can trust. Less individualistic than someone’s Substack, more personal and curated than the hivemind of “Mr. Pitchfork.” Something independent that keeps the listener not just up to date but steps ahead of online algorithms. It was important to us that the writing on Hearing Things felt fun and voicey while also communicating our collective stance on issues like the devaluation of music caused by Spotify and other streaming services.
We had lofty goals—podcasts! events! zines!—but at the time, anything seemed possible. We were working on Hearing Things full time, in an office space in Brooklyn, with modest funding and what we thought was a three-year runway towards profitability. It turned out to be more like a five-month runway for our prior investor. And so, the early months of 2025 were spent figuring out how to undo and then redo the formation of Hearing Things with our five writer-editors as the sole owners.
Basically, we lost our steady income but chose to keep doing our jobs. There were points where I expected someone to say “I’m out” as we sorted through the confusion, but none of us blinked. The site meant too much to us all. We paywalled more aggressively, we got part-time jobs, we improvised to best serve our readers, and subscriptions held us down. Our Five Albums newsletter? Andy had that idea while things were particularly tough this past winter, and I honestly can’t imagine Hearing Things without its consistency. This whole process has reasserted once again that it’s DIY or die, baby.
Upgrade to a paid subscription and you’ll get access to subscribers-only newsletters, a Discord full of music fans with impeccable taste, weekly online listening sessions, and more. Hearing Things is truly a community, and we depend on readers to help support it. We’d love to have you on board.
We still have lofty goals—like throwing more events, producing a second season of our Waste or Taste podcast, and compiling a zine for subscribers (which is in the works). Especially given everything that came our way in year one, we’re proud of and grateful for the community we’re building. So thank you, dear readers, for listening alongside us.
