When you're reducing art down to something that can just be computational,

just ones and zeros, you're removing that entire empathetic, connective experience.

Thank you. Hello and welcome to Tech Won't Save Us, a podcast that thinks any tech solution that seeks to maintain the social relations from which it profits will not actually solve the fundamental social problems that we need to address in our societies.

I'm your host, Paris Marks, and today I'm joined by Nika Rosa Danilova.

Nika performs and makes music under the stage name Zola Jesus.

Her fifth studio album is called Ocovi, and it was released in 2017.

In our conversation, we talk about the impact of COVID-19 on the music industry and on musicians,

but we also talk about the orientation of Silicon Valley and the impact of various tech solutions like artificial intelligence, algorithms, and the streaming platforms on musicians and on art in general.

If you like our conversation, please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.

Make sure to share the episode with any friends or colleagues you think would find it interesting.

And if you want to support the work that I put into this podcast, you can join patrons like

Danny Bednar by going to patreon.com slash Paris Marks and making a contribution.

Thanks so much and enjoy the interview.

Nika, welcome to Tech Won't Save Us.

Thanks for having me.

It's fantastic to speak with you today.

So obviously I wanted to have you on because last

year you wrote this essay about kind of your perspective of the tech industry and the impact

of tech on music. And so I certainly want to talk to you about those issues. But before we get into

that, obviously we're in this very unique period. You know, with this pandemic still affecting us around the world,

a lot of people are still in lockdown. And in that essay, you wrote that, you know, touring is

still a really important revenue stream and a revenue stream that, you know, hasn't so much

...