# How to use New Media to revive existing work Source: https://metalabel.substack.com/p/how-to-use-new-media-to-revive-existing ## Summary Metalabel reissued three of its past works as a New Media experiment, reframing older work with new context and forms instead of letting it stay on platforms it does not control. The three pieces are Introducing Metalabel, its first manifesto released with the unpublished essay that inspired it; After the Creator Economy, a sold-out zine co-published with co—matter and preserved as an editioned digital download; and The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet trilogy, which includes the private email sent to a small audience five years ago. The reissues are free to collect as handmade download packages with the original work and credits for early supporters, and collectors can optionally financially support the creators. The team used the Chrome extension GoFullPage to save webpages as images and PDFs, then uploaded them to Metalabel release pages with release notes. ## Article Two weeks ago we published New Media, a call for a new way of releasing creative work that: breaks out of existing platform boxes isn’t limited by formats, genres, or business lines invites the audience to engage with the work in new ways is opinionated about the internet’s scale We shared examples of New Media works that have moved us, like Molly Soda’s “mollystuff,” YACHT’s New Release, “The Post Individual,” “Introducing Hard Art,” the output of Chia Amisola, and other contemporary artists we admire. Those are new New Media works. What happens if you approach past work with a New Media lens? All creative people have catalogues of work we release over time. For anyone putting things online, that work is spread across platforms on whose continued existence and support we depend for that work to live on. Our creative output is only as safe as our interests align with those of the platforms, and it’s not uncommon for data to disappear or become inaccessible after a platform changes business strategies. More than once I’ve personally had platforms hold work hostage behind paywalls until I paid up. There are also questions of context. How can people who come across our work from years ago get the context of where it came from and even what followed? What if we could layer our own perspective over our work regardless of where or when it was first published? This week we’re experimenting with a New Media way of exploring this. We’re reissuing three pieces from our past in new contexts and forms: Introducing Metalabel, our first manifesto, released with the unpublished essay that first inspired it After the Creator Economy, a sold-out zine we co-published with co—matter preserved as an editioned digital download The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet trilogy, which collects the original private email I sent to my small audience five years ago that introduced the Dark Forest idea, as well as two other essays in the series and a video conversation with Peter Limberg from The Stoa Each is being newly reissued for collectors, who receive handmade download packages containing the original work and the ideas behind them. They also get credited for how early they supported the work, and can choose to financially support the creators if they wish. To execute this experiment, we combined a handful of free tools and simple steps: We used a Chrome extension called GoFullPage to download and save complete webpages of our work as images and PDFs in their original visual context. There are similar tools for downloading media. We uploaded the images and other core media onto a Metalabel release page We added release notes and a personal note to a downloadable package We made them free to collect, but people can choose to financially support the work if they feel compelled You can visit the release pages to go deeper into the pieces and experiment: We’re excited to continue this experiment and see where else this New Media way of thinking can take us. Does it spark something in you? Drop us a line if you want to try your own New Media experiment: hello@metalabel.com The wildest New Media reissue on Metalabel? A strong contender is the ambitious Inpatient Press Newsbox Set, which includes four print works, a limited-edition print, and a multimedia DVD-rom featuring the publishing SIM game Small Press Tycoon. YES. Artist Ruby Bailey dropped the first-ever video work on Metalabel this week and we can’t imagine anything more weirdly perfect. Bailey’s LOOBTOPIA_Chapter One_the film is a mesmerizing digital-art-universe exploring the self and the emptiness of, you know, allthis. Funny, alive, honest. We continue to love everything YACHT. Whether it’s New Release’s bounce, which literally only collectors of this release are even able to hear right now, the fact that first-edition orders are already getting fulfilled less than a week after the drop went live, or their general joie de vivre. Respect. We’ve been teasing it for a month and it’s finally here: tomorrow Metalabel and Creative Mornings will come together to host a deep and interactive session on promoting your work as a creative person. Join Yancey and 500+ other RSVPees tomorrow, Thursday, August 1, at 12pm ET. RSVP Can’t stop dreaming about releasing work with Metalabel? You’re in luck. We’re looking to hear about projects interested in putting out work this fall when the next chapter of Metalabel unfolds. Tell us what you’re up to: hello@metalabel.com <3 Metalabel ## Comments **timdaub.eth**: It's so wild. I checked out Metalabel the other day, and it really is indistinguishable from any EFAN NFT platform. They have ENS-like avatars, and you can "purchase" a work with... Stripe :D (For those out of the loop, here at Kiwi, we read basically every of Mr Strickler's posts, including the one where he quit crypto [1], for example.) Somehow, I find something amusing in observing him. Truth be told, every word I read from him, I kinda wish him bad fortune. ...this is so bad, I shouldn't write this. Anyways, he had this post a while ago [2] where he tried to tell us how to talk about his project at a party and, put in the context that he faded NFTs, it's actually so funny. Here are some quotes from the article. He's at a party and tries to explain his project to people: > “I’m a writer and I have a project I’m working on called Metalabel,” I gasped. > “What’s Metalabel?” she asked. > “A new space to release and collective creative work,” I answered too fast. > “Oh, okay,” the woman said, unsure. She kept looking at me, waiting for me to say more. > I felt overwhelmed by an impulse to get away from the conversation. “Well it’s nice to meet you,” I said, waving and wandering off, every atom of awkwardness clinging to my skin. I could feel how poorly that had gone. and then later with another woman: > “What about you?” she said. “What are you doing these days?” > “I’m working on a project called Metalabel. It’s a new space for releasing and collecting creative work.” Not sure why I find it so funny, but I think it's because I somehow respect his grind. But also because I totally know that situation. If you pay close attention to his writing, you get the impression that he actually kinda believes in NFTs, but he wants to do it in his way, but the pitch is REALLY hard at a party because people so easily gloss over the idea and categorize it as total nonsense (like they do with NFTs too!). And I just want him to be loyal... come back to us :D In today's post, he talks about preserving the work people purchase on Metalabel, he calls this New Media, and he's like: "Screw NFTs, if you really wanna archive creative work, we've created a Chrome extension" that... drum roll please... "let's you download files from the internet!" > New Media experimental toolkit > To execute this experiment, we combined a handful of free tools and simple steps: > We used a Chrome extension called GoFullPage to download and save complete webpages of our work as images and PDFs in their original visual context. There are similar tools for downloading media. - 1: https://www.fwb.help/editorial/after-crypto-yancey-strickler-metalabel - 2: https://substack.com/home/post/p-146180119 **timdaub.eth**: Btw. the ultimate irony will be when Stripe ads so much crypto support that you'll be able to buy Metalabel stuff with crypto again hahahahah **timdaub.eth**: Ah sorry I might have meant this post: https://www.ystrickler.com/climbing-out-of-the-rabbit-hole/ **macbudkowski.eth**: Haha, yeah, he surfed the NFT wave, but when the wave dropped, he tried to change the strategy. I think the better path is to just not mention the word NFT at all, but use it under the hood. With L2s, good onramp, and embedded wallets, it's quite doable.