Whew boy, are you ready for a story that’s so topsy turvy, has various twists and turns, even loop-de-loops, so much so that it’ll make you vomit by the end of this very article? You will be so sick you’ll be questioning who’s more magnetic: Adam Dunn or Amsterdam? Hold onto your butts. 

I first saw deadmau5 open for Ferry Corsten at Global Dance Festival at Red Rocks Amphitheater in 2008. He was still pretty unknown but blew up soon after that. Personality, not for everyone: sharp, sarcastic, and openly allergic to the DJ influencer look. Can we really blame him though?

He’s a real one. A real internet dork through and through — it’s kind of part of his charm, at least to me. I mean, I saw him die in hardcore mode playing Diablo live at the first TwitchCon in San Francisco, year 2015, so his video game and Twitch credentials is not anything new. He’s still on brand… just now that brand is owned by CMG. He probably doesn’t give a flying fuck cause he cashed out high but let’s deep dive into this anyways.

At the end of 2006, I found a Bassnectar track on my iPod where I shared the same iTunes with my brother so I had all this music from his times at Wakarusa on it that I explored. And, I remember I was driving my silver Volkswagen Bug about to turn onto I-169 off of Memorial in Tulsa, OK and a song/sound clip called “Inspire the Empathetic” by Bassnectar came on. I mean, it made me listen up IMMEDIATELY. Full sound up and was attentive… and this sound sample was about media concentration.

Welcome to the collapse—where billion-dollar media empires are eating themselves alive and blaming it on the algorithm. Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global just confirmed what many of us already suspected: the system is cracking.

Let’s cut the glowstick bullshit. Behind the lasers, the influencers with their Burning Man “status,” and that overpriced wristband that might as well light up on beat? There’s a stack of billion-dollar contracts, silent shareholders, and private equity deals that run deeper than your favorite bass drop… all while these same billionaires attend Burning Man to use as a tax write-off. Isn’t that something?