Welcome to:
Unleashed & Unlimited
By 🅝🅘🅒 🅑🅡🅘🅢🅒🅞🅔🖋🎸🎵🎥🎙
Subscribe to get infotainment with two strands:
1. Podcasts & Articles, regarding anything I find interesting and/or inspiring.
2. Posts relating to Freedom of Speech, because without it, we're all f#cked.
Content you can expect includes...
WORDS. THOUGHTS. IDEAS. CONVERSATIONS.
My, and others’ takes on social, political and cultural developments, media and events.
At the time of writing (late 2023), I’m just getting started with this project, however, so far topics covered have included: food & veganism, psychedelics & shamanism, AI and the music industry, spiritual awakening, decentralisation & independence…
And, of course, there is a whole section dedicated to Free Speech Absolutism.
Why?
You don’t have to agree with what I say, about anything. However, at least in most of the West, and at least for now, I still have the right to say what I like — right or wrong, true or false, wise or stupid. However, this right is right now being systematically eroded.
We, you and I, also have — again at least for now — the right to openly discuss all our opinions, and to share our points of view about our differing opinions. It does not need to be an argument. It can be a dialogue. These dialogues are how one gets to understand differing opinions in depth. The idea is not to change minds or create division. The idea is to better understand others, and how they perceive the world, and how they think about it. To look for common ground and build bridges. That is indeed the beauty of free speech.
Maybe you’re already thinking perhaps you’re in the wrong place…
I have another substack — The Song’s the Thing! — where I post podcasts, articles and content related to music.🖋🎸🎵🎥🎙
Subscribe to The Song’s the Thing! to get deep-dives, commentary and opinion regarding:
Songwriting, Songwriters & Songs. 🖋
Guitaring, Guitarists & Guitars. 🎸
Music Theory & Practice. 🎵
Performance, Recording & Gear. 🎥
TUNES. INSIGHTS. THOUGHTS. SHARED EXPERIENCE. CONVERSATIONS.
Why subscribe to Unleashed & Unlimited? And how much is it going to cost me?
First of all — at least for the time being1 — the content will be totally free and public (so no paywall). At some point in the future, I’ll change this — so make some content paywalled and/or publically time-limited. However for now it’s all free!
So please subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website, and never miss an update.
Of course, it would be amazing if you would become a paid subscriber!
Obviously creating this content takes time. Time is valuable. For content creation one needs equipment, some of which is expensive. If you enjoy Unleashed & Unlimited, find its content interesting, thought-provoking and useful, and would like to support my work as an independent creator, then please do consider becoming a paid subscriber.
You can become a paying subscriber for just £3.50 a month — so much less than a quid a week — or £25 a year — so a 40% discount.
Of course, you can also choose to do this in you’re preferred currency ($, € etc)
There are several other paid subscription options, for example, you can gift or donate a subscription, and get a group subscription discount.
At the time of writing this, late December 2023, I’m at a crucial point in developing and expanding this venture. Apart from the fact that it takes resources to keep the lights on, I also need resources for long-term development.
So, I’m also reaching out to potential founding subscribers, to assist with growing and establishing my project long-term.
You can become a founding subscriber starting at £180 per year.
Founding subscribers instantly convert to a lifetime subscription!
Pay once & never renew again!
As a paying subscriber, you’ll get full access to all content on the website, past and present. You’ll never miss an update. Anything new will always be sent directly to your inbox, and instantly available via the Substack mobile app.
Supporting independent creatives — like myself — helps the development of independent media and its long-term survival.2
Thank you for all your support!
First cont@ct
Do you want to know more?
Or want to tell me what you think?
Or suggest someone for me to interview, maybe you?
Perhaps there’s a topic you’d like to hear being discussed?
Maybe you have a collaboration, professional project or sponsorship offer you’d like to discuss?
Maybe you would like to become a patron?
You can email me at nicbriscoe@substack.com
I also have a website. nicbriscoe.com
Posted late December 2023.
Why Substack? My Stack mission statement.
TUNES. WORDS. INSIGHTS. THOUGHTS. IDEAS. SHARED EXPERIENCE. CONVERSATIONS.
I am a totally independent creator.
My main platform is Substack, the beauty of which is that I can keep my creative projects all pretty fluid and dynamic.
There are no ads, no clickbait. I don’t answer and will never answer to sponsors (although there may be sponsored gear reviews etc, but I’ll always tell you this upfront). There’s no WOKE-checking editor on my case, nothing institutional behind this at all.
I am totally independent.
And at the same time, I am an interdependent collaborator.
I cannot do any of this without the collaboration and financial support of paying subscribers.
Why Substack?
It’s going to sound cheesy… The honest answer is a wish for a real community. A wish to create real connections.
I’m almost allergic to social media. In the past, I just didn’t get it. I don’t mean I didn’t understand it. I mean I didn’t feel that there was anything social about social media. It left me feeling empty.
I don’t think I’m alone. I think that many people feel this way. Yet at the same time, they also intuit (as do I) that there is something deeply and profoundly useful in combining the (vastly untapped) potential of social media, and social media connections with real-life, and real-world connections.
How?
Firstly, let’s say I think we’re all still trying to figure that out, the exactly how.
However, for now, to start with…
With everyday people just talking about, and/or demonstrating and sharing their skills online, about a field they are passionate about, and sharing the depth of their knowledge and experience about that field.
With totally transparent long-form interviews and nuanced conversations (not short bursts of propagandistic text or ideologically media-manipulated soundbites).
With everyday people speaking freely and pushing back against those who would silence independent voices and freedom of speech.
By speaking with honesty, authenticity, and intelligence.
The result is that spontaneously a public archive is being created. This is all so valuable. I will try to reflect all this in my substack content and the substack content I recommend.
I think it’s just the beginning…
Institutional mainstream media is on its way out.
Infotainment has arrived and is now firmly rooted.
Podcasts.
Text-based publishing platforms, in particular independent journalism platforms.
Public video platforms.
Video conferencing platforms.
Global digital distribution platforms.
Social media platforms.
And more…
All these public platforms are now easily available and function well. As little as eight or ten years ago this was not the case. Infotainment is now here for the long haul. We just have to figure out how to make the best use of it. For me, this means that — even though without doubt the communication will be mostly one-way traffic (in this case from Substacker to subscriber) — in spirit the sense of this should at least feel warm, and collaborative, like a true connection, like a dialogue, like a relationship, a friendship.
Also, please do keep in mind that these interactions do NOT have to all be one-way. The Substack development team are constantly introducing new features which not only make transparent two-way interactions between a Substacker and fellow Subsatckers possible but also transparent two-way interactions between Substackers and their subscribers/audience possible. So an interactive relationship between a creative and their audience has become truly viable. Building a community has become viable.
The easiest and most obvious way to do this is for subscribers to post their comments and/or join a Substacker’s chat forum.
Too often social media platforms have quickly become battlegrounds, or propagandistic ideological soapboxes that became closed echo chambers, with no alternative dialogue or opposition. A better description of these platforms would be antisocial media.
So my being on Substack is my attempt to actively help figure out how to make social media truly social, and how to create meaningful real connections between real people, individuals that want to build something meaningful with a sense of real community. I want to be part of that process.
Being on Substack, and the hopefully meaningful and useful content I post is my small experimental contribution to this new paradigm.
