Hey Daouda! Great piece. Re: the value of labor, you might be missing one thing?

8. The desirability of the inspired work product among a consuming audience, ie. Listeners, fans, screamers. E.g. “Without our fans, we don’t exist.”

You quote Goins, I’ll quote Derek Thompson from his book “Hit Makers.”

Quote: Rock’s best-selling song of all time, “Rock Around The Clock.” Recorded in 1954. Put on the B-side of a vinyl. Flopped.

Then, in 1955, movie director Richard Brooks needs a soundtrack for his new movie “The Blackboard Jungle.” Desperate for a song to kick off his film that depicts the ‘growing delinquency’ in American schools, Brooks visits the home of his leading man actor Glenn Ford— whose son happens to have handful of ‘edgy’ records. Brooks picks out “Rock Around The Clock” to open the movie and both song and film become breakout successes.

In fact, “Blackboard Jungle” pings something in the teenage American psyche that seeds the generation gap in American culture that exists to this day. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards. “Rock Around The Clock” as Thompson declares, launched the rock-and-roll genre.

But without that one single fan, flop city.

And there might one more thing, too. Kismet.

[This suddenly reminds me of when people used to tell me they thought of “one more thing” in “Primal Branding”; that there weren’t 7 things — there were 8 things. (No, still just seven.)

Sorry if I’m stepping in your space.]

With. Respect.