The Final Countdown- Every Stream Is a Vote (And Some of You Are Voting for the Wrong Side)

Melanie Bainbridge

5 minute read.

This is it, folks. The ultimate choice between two completely different visions of who gets to control culture in the digital age. And yes, we’re asking you to choose…

In one corner: Tech Bro billionaires who built trillion-dollar empires by extracting value from artists while getting users addicted to algorithms designed to harvest data and manipulate behaviour for advertising profit. And then buy AI Military tech companies with it. Spoiler: NOT the good guys.

In the other corner: The Pack Music Cooperative, proving that communities can own their cultural infrastructure, artists can control their economic destiny, and technology can serve creativity instead of exploiting it. Spoiler: The good guys.

Every streaming subscription is a vote. Every platform choice is a political act. Every dollar spent on music either flows to corporate shareholders who contribute nothing to culture or community artists who create the soundtrack to our lives.

The question is: Which future are you funding?

I've written a few blogs breaking down the economics, the algorithms, and the politics of streaming. But now we need to talk about what this choice, your choice, actually means - and why it matters more than you might think.

The billion-dollar question is simple. Do you want your music subscription funding people who create art, or people who create weapons?

Daniel Ek, the guy who built his $4.1 billion fortune by systematically underpaying musicians, has been investing heavily in military AI technology. While artists struggle to make rent on his platform's fraction-of-a-cent payouts, Ek's been pumping stupidly obscene amounts of money into defence tech companies developing autonomous weapons systems.

It's almost poetic, really. He's built an empire extracting value from creators, then used those profits to fund technology designed to... well, let's just say it's not for creating beautiful music.

Your Spotify subscription isn't just underpaying artists - it's potentially funding the development of military technology that most of us would find pretty horrifying if we thought about it too hard (at least, I hope we would).

Meanwhile, The Pack's model will ensure your subscription goes to the people actually making the music you love. No military contractors, no defence tech investments, no billionaire yacht funds - just artists getting fairly compensated for creating the soundtrack to your life.

The corporate streaming model has perfected a particularly insidious form of cultural vampirism. They've convinced artists that exposure is payment, that streaming is democratising music, and that exploitation is inevitable in the digital age. But here's the thing about vampires - they only survive if their victims don't realize what's happening. You have to invite them into your home. You have to be susceptible to the ‘glamour’.

The Pack breaks this spell completely. When you can see exactly where your money goes (straight to artists), and when algorithms work for community connection instead of behavioural manipulation, and democratic governance gives users actual power over their platform, the whole corporate extraction model starts looking pretty bloody ridiculous.

The choice we're facing isn't just about music - it's about whether we accept that technology must inevitably serve corporate interests, or whether we believe communities can own and control their digital infrastructure. The Pack is essentially a proof-of-concept for cooperative technology that serves users instead of exploiting them.

And we think that it could have far reaching benefits and opportunities. If we can make cooperative streaming work, why not cooperative social media owned by users instead of surveillance capitalists? Why not ride-sharing controlled by drivers and passengers instead of extractive corporations? Why not delivery services operated by worker cooperatives that share profits democratically? Seriously… Why the heck not?

The Pack opens the door to reimagining the entire digital economy around cooperation instead of extraction. We want that for us, and for you. It’s a vibe.

The historical precedent here is pretty clear. Every major advance in economic democracy came from communities organising alternatives to exploitative systems. This is not new… but it does require action.

Credit unions challenged bank monopolies and now serve millions of members. Cooperative electricity companies brought power to rural communities abandoned by profit-focused corporations. Community radio stations broke broadcast monopolies and gave local voices a platform.

The Pack continues this tradition, but in the digital realm where much of our cultural life (sadly) now happens.

Let’s not pretend that this will be easy. Revolutions rarely are. But here's what gets me excited about this moment… we're not asking anyone to sacrifice convenience or quality for ethics. The Pack’s model will deliver better outcomes for everyone except billionaire shareholders (soz bros… we’ve given up caring about you… it’s called karma).

Artists will get fair compensation instead of exploitation. Users will get community connection instead of algorithmic manipulation. Local music scenes will get sustainable creative economies instead of extraction. This is good for everyone. It’s not compromise - it’s improvement!

As we’ve mentioned in other blog posts, the international implications are massive too. If The Pack model proves successful in Australia, it becomes exportable to every country where local music cultures are being homogenised by global platforms. Cooperatives are, by nature, modular and exportable.

But this window of opportunity won't stay open forever. Corporate platforms are already adapting, buying up competitors, and lobbying governments to prevent ethical alternatives. It’s what they do. Remember the first electric car built in the 1830’s? No? Well there’s a reason for that… And the longer we wait to build genuine alternatives, the harder it becomes to challenge their monopoly power.

The choice is happening right now, with every subscription decision, every platform choice, every stream. It’s happening every time our government chooses to sideline ethical alternatives. But this means that we continue funding systems designed to extract value from artists while enriching tech billionaires who invest in military contractors and we accept that cultural participation requires surrendering our data to surveillance capitalists who use it to manipulate our behaviour for advertising profit. I don’t think we have to accept this.

We can build something different. We can build something that gives communities ownership of their cultural infrastructure.

The Pack is proof that another world is possible for independent musicians. A world where artists control their economic destiny through democratic ownership.

Music Australia’s recent research shows us that 42% of Australians are ready to join this revolution. The technology is in development.

When you join and support The Pack, you're not just supporting Australian artists - you're voting for a future where communities control their technology. This could have implications that go far beyond the music ecology. The future could be beautiful - if we're brave enough to build it.

The Pack Music Cooperative: Join the revolution. Own the platform. Create your culture.