Inside the new economy where access trumps visibility.
There’s a new cultural infrastructure being created right under our noses. But you won’t find it on Instagram. Or TikTok. Or anywhere that begs to be seen.
Instead, it’s showing up in the background; lo-fi, discreet, encrypted, and decentralised. It’s a Google Doc passed between friends. A Spotify playlist dropped in a DM. A QR code peeling off a lamppost that opens a Dropbox folder full of unreleased tracks. WhatsApp threads organising flash gigs with hours’ notice. Signal groups coordinating citywide takeovers.
This is culture moving in the shadows. And for those paying attention, it signals a seismic shift. Because the most valuable thing a brand can offer right now isn’t reach. It’s access.
From Mass Visibility to Micro Worlds
For the last decade, we were taught to go viral or go home. To optimise every campaign for scale. Visibility was the goal. The algorithm was the gatekeeper. And every brand was in a mad scramble for attention.
But now? The most interesting things are happening away from the feed.
Take Drake’s infamous 100 Gigs: a digital archive of unreleased tracks, demos, and hidden gems surfacing like musical contraband in the internet’s underground. It wasn’t for everyone. That was the point.
Or Fred Again’s surprise pop-up shows? Group chats lit up with last-minute clues. If you weren’t in the thread, you weren’t in the room.
And more recently, Lorde’s secret DC show: it started with a cryptic SMS. No ticket link. No venue tag. Just scattered signals for the truly obsessed to decode.
None of these moments were built for mass.
They were built for insiders.
Continue reading on our Substack, Public Opinion.
