Why All at a Sudden Streaming?

August 2025. The following is yet another fictional interview, where I interview myself.

The image above is created by use of Midjourney AI.

Q: Over the past month much of Aandssløw’s music has been released for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms, as well as for single purchase on iTunes. Do you expect to become famous and make money?

A: No, that requires a much bigger effort and it’s not at all what I’m seeking. For me, the works themselves — my images and music — are the primary thing. I want to make them accessible for those who might be interested.

Q: But you also make shows/videos, which are a whole in themselves. How can you suddenly split them up? Wouldn’t it make more sense to create music specifically for streaming, instead of just reusing it?

A: Well, that might happen along the way, and yes, it is all connected. Some shows can’t really be separated into a music part and a visual part. When I do split out some of the songs, it’s for two reasons:

The first is that many people don’t listen to YouTube with equipment that does justice to the work I put into the sound mix. With streaming, people can listen through stereos, soundbars, and so on.

The second is that I realized YouTube, unlike Facebook, doesn’t have anything like memorial pages that guarantee access to your content after death. When you die, your channel is gone after six months unless someone takes over and keeps posting. Websites also require active effort through payments. If handled right, music can stay online until a tech giant shuts down.

Q: But what about your photos in that context?

A: The best are secured by being printed individually or included in books. That doesn’t make them immortal, but it preserves them for a while.

Q: Why is it so important to preserve your art?

A:As biological beings we ensure future generations physically. As thinking beings, we create thought patterns (memes), which are a kind of higher life form too. It’s only natural to foster and protect their future as well.

I embrace the Vikings’ idea of immortality through being spoken of after death. You sat at the table in Valhalla as long as people talked about you and remembered your deeds. So the goal was to make an impression while alive. In modern times, it’s about creating memes (in the original sense of the word) in the form of books, films, music, inventions, politics, and so on. To live on in the minds of others, carried through objects of memory, heirlooms, creations.

I will, in all likelihood, die— but my creations may as well last a little longer. If I don’t prepare it myself, no one else will.

Q: Isn’t it a bit self-important to even write about this on your website?

A: If someone has made it all the way to this section, the answer lies there. Beyond that, the algorithms need to be fed with content, so that one isn’t forgotten in the meantime but actually lives on.