More context:

[inthehands@hachyderm.io]

More context:

https://www.essence.com/news/money-career/howard-intern-spotify-wrapped/

Basically:

- Spotify Wrapped used to be a dull email

- Design intern proposed turning it into an ~~experience~~, demoed her idea

- They didn’t hire her, but the redesign looks a lot like what she proposed

- Spotify says “nuh-uh, and besides lots of people contributed to it.” OK.
https://hachyderm.io/@thomasfuchs/115741043600230762

[inthehands@hachyderm.io]

There’s a lot to be said about that story beyond just “Spotify sucks:” how internships can be exploitative, how creators in general do not receive (and historically long have not received) proper compensation for their own work, how orgs especially treat women and especially Black women as disposable free labor. Details left as an exercise for the reader.

2/

[inthehands@hachyderm.io]

I’ll just say this: For the very most part, the systems of our society do not reward creators. They reward people who have power over what is created.

A deep part of our society’s mythology is that we reward people with great ideas, people who make great things — and therefore those who are rewarded must somehow be great.

That is false. If you see someone rewarded, the most likely explanation is that they had power to reap rewards.

3/

[davew@mastodon.social]

@inthehands

that's been my experience too, but sometimes there are little gaps where creative people can reap big rewards. i was in tech for three of those transitions. but they don't last very long.