#the answer didnt have to be put everything on a streaming service when there were plenty of other options

[s0fter-sin]

Thinking you shouldn't have to pay for Watcher content is you being entitled, actually.

did i ever say i shouldn’t have to pay for it? no, i said it’s disappointing that i would now have to after years of it being free. it would be easier to take if they were completely changing and upgrading their shows or established that the stream wouldn’t just have their current shows and maybe discontinued ones, that it would be different from their youtube channel and worth the sudden charge, but it’s hard not to feel like they’re throwing their audience under the bus

[admiral-hast]

Hi I Have managed to ruin your time here for 30 seconds

HELLO HERE I HAVE PART OF A STORY TO MAKE YOUR SCROLLING TAKE LONGER 

"**TROOPS! ALL READY?!**"

"YES, SIR!"

"**THEN FOLLOW ME!**"

*as the british watched, one man emerged from his trench, his metal armor gleaming. the british laughed, and then opened fire, but the laughter died quickly as bullets pinged off the metal on the man. Then, as he pulled the cover off the thing he held, the British eyes went wide, for he held a gun that looked like no other. It was no rifle.*

***but an antibunker gun.***

*he whipped the barrel, and the rifle belched fire, and a machine gun, and the men operating it, were obliterated. With the smoothness of a trained Arty, the man changed the shell in the breech, and fired again. the machineguns opened fire on him, their bullets ricocheting off just like the rifle rounds. While the storm of rounds slowed him down, he thineed it with each of his shots. Then, a massive wave of german troops climbed out of the trench far behind him, and another wave after that, followed by yet another. Rifle rounds filled the air, british ad germans falling enmasse, and then the armored man reached the trench, and jumped inside. in the chaos, he had jerry-rigged an explosive vest, and when his feet hit the trench bottom, the trench was filled with fire and death. Then, the armored man ran out of the smoke, seemingly fine, and began to cut down enemy soldiers as the normal troops flowed into the trench.*

*the remaining daylight was filled with screams*

**[Next Day]**

*the troops led on their march, the armored man at the head of their coloumn. The troops found it odd that the person was always silent, and calm - that is, until combat came. Then their commander became a demon, seemingly unkillable and always with the highest kill count of any encounter, whether it be a trench rush, a face to face confrontation, or a move against armored vehicles. there were several romours about him too - that he had won a 1v1 against an american 76 Sherman, had won against a force of flame-thrower troops, and had survived being attacked without his armor. Of course, no one believed the romours, except those who had stayed with the unit long enough.*

"Commander! Where are we going?!"

*the commander sighed softly in his helm, and took out a notepad. after he wrote down their destination, he handed it to one of the men behind him, and it was passed to the soldier who had asked.*

"Holy shi- you're going to kill us all!"

"Keep talking like that, and he might kill you himself!"

*the soldier grumbled at the soldier who said that, but went silent."

[2 hours later]

*a massive repairing grounds for allied vehicles came into view of the coloumn, and the Commander held up his hand, ordering them to stop. he then wrote another note, and passed it to the man behind him, who read it, then passed it.*

"Commander, you cant just-"

*the commander held up his hand, and then turned, and was gone. then, the sounds of gunshots came from the repairing grounds, and they watched as their commander ripped through the enemy with his sword in one hand, and killed tanks with his anti-tank pistol, causing massive fireballs as tanks exploded, and staining the ground red as he walked through the grounds, an always constant stream of insane laughter emmiting from him. The new recruits, seeing what their commander could do, what he was *happy* doing, turned white, but the ones who had been around for a while werent affected by it anymore. After about half an hour, the Commander came back to the coloumn, his armor blackened from fire and the uniform underneath stained red from the lifeblood of dozens. he made the gesture for 'Advance', and the coloumn started marching once more.

*as they marched, one of the early recruits turned to one of the veterans of the coloumn, his face still white from what he had just seen.*

"Has he.. always been like this?"

*the veteran nodded*

"Mhmm. you should have seen him against one of those Pershings when he was angry."

"He went against a *Pershing*?!"

"Not only that, but he killed it with his sword, and then.. well, you dont want to know what happened to the crew. That is, the crew that survived."

"He.. killed a Pershing.. with a sword..?"

"Yeah. Ripped the armor apart and hit the ammo rack hard enough to make it explode."

"He survived the explosion?"

"Oh, he was fine."

*then, a note was passed to the veteran, who unfolded it and read it.*

"Commander doesnt want me to talk about it anymore. But, bottom line is - everything you hear about him is true."

[1 hour before sunset]

*the coloumn had made camp, with cooks making and serving stew, and the soldiers servicing their rifles. However, despite the warm attitude outside, and the food, Commander sat in his tent, silently cleaning his massive weapons and cleaning his still-donned armor. As the troops outside went to bed, Commander sneaked from the camp, with nothing but his sword, a belt of rigged grenades, and his 50.cal revolver. As he walked, he caught a glimpse of a group of British troops, and headed towards them. As he entered the light cast by one of their fires, he heard the rustle as the troops looked over at him, and then the sounds of them all grabbing their rifles and taking aim.*

"What do you want, German?!"

*As the troops waited for an answer, Commander walked forward, hearing the clicking of rifles readying to fire. However, he didnt stop, and then sat down infront of the fire.*

"Well?! Why shouldnt we shoot you hear and now, eh?!"

*Commander sighed softly, and then took out his notepad, wrote a note, and handed it to one of the troops.*

"He says.. he wants a cup of tea.. by the fire?"

*Commander nodded*

"Then why do you have grenades and weapons?"

*Commander wrote and passed another note*

"Because you thought we were going to immediatly shoot you?"

*Commander nodded, and then shrugged, and passed another note*

"Are you mute or somethin?"

*Commander nodded again*

"How?"

*another note written and passed*

"Shrapnel to the throat.. alright then. And are you serious about tea?"

*A small nod from Commander, as he put his hands to the flame*

"Alright, fine. Boys, lower your weapons, and lets give this man a cup of tea, because we're not like the Masacring Reich."

*Commander listened as the British troops lowered their weapons, and sat by the fire, not moving. Five minutes later, a cup of tea was placed beside him, and the British who had spoken to Commander sat beside him.*

"Whats your name?"

*commander wrote on his pad, and showed it to the British*

"You're just called Commander? Have you forgotten your name?"

*Commander paused, then nodded.*

"My name's Johnson. What's it like in the German Army?"

*Commander began to write, and Johnson watched as his pen, which had moved moderately before, not became a gray blur. After writing for a minute, Commander ripped the pages out, and handed them to Johnson, who began to read*

"It's not great.. but you have it better than most.. because you have achieved legendary status as being.. 'Unkillable', and 'An unstoppable force of death'?"

*another nod from Commander*

"Then why should I trust that you wont attack us..?"

*another note, another pass*

"Because at night, you can shrug off the legend and just be a person again?"

*another nod*

"I.. see. alright then."

*Commander nodded, and then lifted his helm up to expose his mouth, and began to drink his tea, smiling whilst he drank. After a few minutes, Commander put the teacup on the ground near the fire, and then leaned on Johnson, and fell asleep. After a few minutes, Johnson fell asleep too.*

[A Few Hours Later]

*Johnson awoke to a light clanking, and opened his eyes to see that he had been layed down. He saw a note left beside him, and read it. 'Thanks for the tea'. He smiled, and looked in the direction the german named COmmander had come from, to see the moonlight reflect off a familiar helmet before it dissapeared. He got up, and went back to his tent, bringing all the notes Commander had left him the previous night with him, to make sure it wasnt a dream when he went back on march the next day, and entered his tent. He put the notes in his pack, and fell asleep in his cot.*

[The Next Morning]

*the coloumn was on the march once more, the sound of boots hitting the ground rythmatic, like clockwork, with the men talking between themselves. Commander could hear it all, but acted as if he couldnt, and so he could hear many of the whisperings and romours about himself. This is how he heard that his absence had been noticed during the night, and another tale spun about him, as the troop who had found his tent empty whispered to one of the vets*

"He wasnt in his tent-"

"Commander?"

"Mhmm. do you know what he could have been doing?"

"Aye. Tales say that he stalks in the night, a silent terror to the sleeping enemy. So if he's gone, just trust that he is gone for our safety and the gory of the Fatherland."

"..I see. How often does he do this?"

"Almost every night, when he can find a group of enemy. Just dont mind it."

"Alright. I'll try not to."

*the troops fell silent, and Commander smiled under his helm. So, no one had tried to think too much about his dissapearences.. Very good. Then, he saw a glimpse of metal, and raised his hand to halt the troops. As they stopped, an anti-tank shell smashed against Commander, errupting in a massive fireball and engulfing him. The enemy could be hear shouting to reload, and then the smoke was blown away as Commander opened his arms wide, revealing that nothing except a minor dulling of his armor's shine had happened. Then, as one, the coloumn stepped back as the saw the red, demonic glow in Commander's helm's eyeslits. The enemy laughed*

"What? Are we supposed to b- HOLY SHIT"

*COmmander seemed to dissapear with a shockwave, cracking the ground as he pushed off, and then he was inside the enemy formation. These troops were American, and their faces morphed into masks of fear as the felt the insanity coming off the angered German. As they raised their rifles, Commander pulled his own pistols out, and began to fire, each shell blowing apart whatever they hit. the men in the coloumn also began to open fire, pullets ripping through soldiers, tents, vehicles, and other weapons. As the last enemy man fell, Commander turned to his men, and surveyed his losses, before taking out his notepad and writing another note. once he finished, he gave it to the closest man, who read it aloud.

"...Take what you can off the dead, and leave the bodies, and take the vehicles and weapons."

"But shouldnt we stop?"

*another note written, another note passed*

"We can stop, but you'll go on?"

*Commander nodded at this, and the men murmered amongst themselves*

"Alright then, sir. But will you be coming back?"

*another note, another pass*

"Possibly not, so we should shoose another commander?"

*Another nod from Commander*

"..Very well. Goodbye, sir."

*and with that, Commander turned on his heel, his greatcoat swishing with him, and he advanced, leaving his unit behind so that he may continue his slaughter*

[Several hours later]

*Commander had been running for hours now, only stopping when he came across enemy troops, and even then he moved like lightning, destrony armored vehicles, men, and artliery alike, and then taking the heavy guns for his own use. However, the consequences of leaving his unit behind showed, as his armor was pocketed and scarred, the cloth covering underneath burned and slashed. However, what was underneath wasnt skin, or another uniform, but rather a full suit of armor. As he ran, he seemed to clank and squeal as armored plates hit and ground against one another, until he tripped and fell face first into dirt, his speed making him skid forward, his stolen weapons and metal going flying. As his momentum stopped, he sighed, and ceased moving, simply laying there, unable to go further.*

[Hours later]

*Commander could begin to hear a rumbling in the distance, after a countless amount of time had passed, due to no light entering his helmet. As the rumbling came closer, he recognized it as an engine, or rather, several. Then, as they became almost too loud, they stopped.*

"Well, lookee we got here boys. A sleeping German. What should we do it?"

"Dunno, Stev. Whatcha think?"

"I say we take it for questionin'"

"Who gonna pick it up, then?"

"Shouldnt be that hard. Most o' them half-starved. But I'll do it. Might have one of dem Luger thingys"

*Commander then heard the thunk of boots hitting the ground as one of the Soldiers - American, no doubt, their accents too country and stupid - Dismounted from a vehicle, most likely a tank. Then, he could feel the American try and lift him up, and hear as the soldier strained, then cursed and gave up.*

"The hell? This one be heavier than the rest of 'em. You try, John."

*As the other American approached, Commander sighed, deciding he would get up after this idiot tried. And, like the other one.. 'Stev', probably short for Stevon... 'John' gave up just as fast, if not quicker.*

"God Damn, this one is heavy"

*After the American stopped talking, Commander pushed himself up, standing fully before the soldiers realized he was up*

"Holy-"

*in silence, Commander smashed his fist into John's stomach, sending him flying into one of the tanks, the impact accompanied with the crunch of bones breaking. Commander whipped around, his fore-arm smashing into Stev's head, making the skull crunch and crumple like paper, and then bullets began to ping off his armor. As he swept around, breaking soldier after soldier, one of the tanks began to target him. As he broke the last standing soldier, it fired, sending him to his knees as the shell hit him in the back.*

"Gottem!"

*the smoke of the shell's impact parted suddenly, when Commander launched himself at the tank. In a flash of metal, cloth, flesh, and anger, he ripped the top hatch of the tank turret off, and dropped inside. Still moving too fast for the crew to see him properly, he crushed the gunner and loader against the walls, and threw the commander outside the tank. As he heard the commander hit the ground, Commander threw a tank shell hard enough into the driver compartment for it to explode, and jumped out of the tank before it detonated. As he hit the ground, he could see the tank commander look up at him in fear, frozen, and then his expression turned from fear to confused as he looked at the ruined armor and clothing of Commander, or rather, what lay beneath.*

"What in the f*ck?"

*As commander looked down at themselves, they could see why this person said that, for their armor was shredded, revealing the truth about them*

"You're a girl in a f*ckin suit of armor? Pretending to be a man?"

"..."

"What? Wont talk now?"

"... I havent spoken in more than half a decade. So pardon if my English isnt that good"

"... You sound like a goddamn rich persons daughter."

"I should just get this over with"

*As Commander ripped the machinegun out of the recently exploded tank, and leveled it at the soldier, he raised his hands, and his face turned to fear once more*

"Sorry! I didnt mean to-"

"Have you heard the legends of an iron man, bulletproof, who doesnt give mercy?"

"Well, y-yes, from retreating units, but its just a story-"

"I am that person. Now then."

*Commander pulled back the bolt on the gun*

"How long has it been since you've been able to come out of that suit?"

"... why"

"I mean, you could come out now, and-"

"I don't require another person to get out of this armor."

*After saying this, Commander pulled the trigger, and the last man dropped. Dropping the gun, she sat down, nd reached for her back, grabbing a handle, and twisted it. As it clicked, the front of the armor opened, and she stepped out, and began to repair the armor with uniforms from dead men and armored plates scattered from vehicles and personal armor*

[1 1/2 hours later]

*Commander was on the move again, her armor completely repaired. She was running for another 15 minutes before the rumble of airplane engines could be heard overhead. Commander grinned, as she had found both rope and a metal pipe she could bend into a hook, and now she intented to use them. As the planes passed overhead, she turned, and threw the pipe, with it's curved edge catching on the edge of the plane's wing. As it flew away, is began to lift Commander into the air, and then the wing creaked, and ripped off from her and her armor's weight, sending the plane in a spiral, and then as it hit the ground, a fireball.*

"..."

*she turned, and continued deeper into enemy territory, leaving the failed experiment behind.*

[3 hours later, dusk.]

*She slowed to a walk as a light flickered on the horizen, brightly. she ducked, as a spotlight went over her head*

"I saw something moving! By the Queen, I did!"

"Eh shaddup ya british prick. If ya saw it, then where it be?"

"It fookin ducked, I swear it!"

"Bah. Why dont ya go see what it is, eh?"

"..Fine."

*As the soldier began to walk her way, Commander lept toward him, smashing into him, and sending them both to the ground*

"What the hell is that?!"

*Commander sighed, laying on the ground, and decided she would see what they would try and do*

"I dont know. seems to be a giant metal puppet"

"... what"

"It just jumped out at me, its made of metal, and its just laying there now! What, you wont believe it until you see it?!"

"Yea"

"Then get over here!"

*the rusling of clothing sounded as the american came over, and crouched beside Commander*

"...Looks like you're right. Want to bring it back to camp?"

"Sure. But what if there's.. like.. someone inside?"

"Eh."

"..."

"..."

"Ok then."

*each soldier took one of Commander's legs, and began to drag her to their camp, huffing from the exertion*

"This things heavy!"

*in the next moment, she stopped moving, and one of the soldiers grabbed the rim of her helm, trying to pull it off*

"Damn thing's sealed or somethin. Wanna get a cutte-"

"Enough."

*as Commander spoke, all noise around her stopped*

"It can speak.."

"And it's female"

"I know what we shou-!"

*Before the soldier could finish his sentence, Commander grabbed him by the throat, and stood, lifting him off the ground*

"I.. was going.. to say.. food.."

"Really?"

*the soldier nodded, clawing at COmmander's metal gauntlet*

"...Very well"

*she released him, and he fell to the ground. She looked around, seeing several troops with their hands on weapons, and then spotted a kitchen truck. In an instant, Commander was sitting against the kitchen truck, in the most heated spot*

"Did she just.."

"Like a cat."

"..."

"Huh. Oi, may we ask - where are you from? Your coats got a lot of symbols on em."

*Commander looked down at the quilt of coats she wore, which contained british, american, german, and russian symbols on it from patches through the years*

"Would you shoot me if I said Germany?"

"Some of us would, but just aint right to shoot a girl."

"Then.. perhaps i should not say."

"Damn, are the Germans draftin' women now? Must be desparate!"

"... You do realize there is only one way to get this many coat patches from so many countries, correct?"

*at this, the soldier's laughter stopped, and he raised an eyebrow*

"So, you sayin yer a ruthless killer?"

"Doubt me?"

"Very."

"then i propose a bet"

"What? gonna be sewin or somethin?"

*Commander stood, and crossed her arms*

"Fight me. I win, I get a meal and a place to sleep by a fire"

"And if i win?"

"Then I'll do what you want for a day"

*At this, Commander saw a flicker of male hunger for female companionship in every soldier's eyes infront of her, if only for a moment*

(we need blyatle boi)

[keigoloveminty]

Sweet Angel

Bnha Night club AU

I have a suddenly urge to write this x3 Please enjoy it!

Everyones aged up for this !

Chapter 1: Something new to try 

You slammed your head down as you tried not to cry, you were just kicked out of your previous office work, even though it barely paid you,’This is so bad.. ... what am I going to do now!?’,you internally screamed as you scratched your head with both of your hands. You tried to hold back a sob on the papers that screamed ‘You are being relieved from your work, we thank you for your services. Please receive this generous amount of 400,000 yen as thanks’ the money is great an all but you didn’t want to be a burden to your roommates for paying the rent.

You sniffed has you tired to wipe off your tears off while clutching the already wet papers that are now drenched in your tears,”I don't get this! One day they’re are telling me I'm doing great the now I’m being asked to gather all my stuff to cause I’m getting fired. ...”, You placed the papers on the table and walked to the couch and flopped your whole body on it and screamed at a cushion. You friend Ryukyu walked out from the kitchen and gave you a worried expression, she knew you were suddenly fired because you came home crying your eyes out and went straight to your room closing the door quietly. Your roommates including her, Nemuri, Uwabami were quick to try and comfort you, you told them after hours of convincing you to come out and explain but you ended up crying your eyes out while eating your favourite ice cream.

Ryukyu walks to where you were and pats your head,”Maybe this is a sign that you need to try something new, how about that little side Job you do as an artist that takes commissions?”, she says with a soft voice. You looked up form the cushion while sniffling,”I don’t mind that but I don't want to stay cooped up in my room drawing for at least 100+ hours just for commissions, the pays great but mostly all of them are rush orders which is really tiring for me...”, you say. ”Hmmm..Oh! how about streaming?”, She says you tilted your head to the right with a questioning face,”I’m quite shy Ryu-chan and besides it takes awhile to even have a huge fanbase but either way I’m way to shy to even let people see my face anyways...”, this time it was Uwabami’s turn.

“How about working as a model for me? All my models are cool and all but they all have trash attitudes and zero cooperation on shoots”, she huffs as she walks in with two mugs. She hands you a mug,”Its nice and sweet, just how you like your tea”, she smiles. You sat up putting the cushion on you lap and reached for the mug taking a small sip form the tea,”Plus I think you’ll do well as a model with that great body of yours! I’d say you’d do well as a lingerie model”,you almost spit out your tea. You pouted as you looked at her,”I get the ‘Try new things’ but I don’t think putting my body out in billboards or advertisements is too much for me! I’ve done it twice now for you and my coworkers kept asking me if I was working as a part-time model”, you squeaked as you quietly thanked Ryukyu handing a tissue.

“Whaaat? You should flaunt that cute body of yours, besides you're already wearing some of my trial clothings and you look super cute in them already”, she squeals while Ryukyu laughs nervously. Ryukyu was a film director as well as streamer for fun, Uwabami is a fashion designer as well as an online celebrity, and you used to work as a full-time artist that does commissions but decided to try something new and tried to work at a office as someone who basically works their butt off of dozens of papers.

Everyone was user nice and you did considered that you didn't mind working full-time there but after 3 years of serving them you got fired for no specific reason, you were damn sure that you did everything right, learned from your co-workers. You had a suspicion going on that someone who hated you had spread false rumours about you and managed to get to the president which lead you into to being fired. Lastly, is your friend Nemuri, you went sure what her job is, you tired to ask Ryukyu and Uwabami about it but they always say ‘I don’t think you should know..’ or ‘Her work is... something else its like a form of art? But if I tell you it’ll be too much on your soul’ or any answer to redirect your attention.

After 5 years of living together you still didnt know what Nemuri’s job is,”How about working at my job? You should try something wild!”, speak of devil- your friend Nemuri walks out of her room with a towel on her shoulders drying her hair. Ryukyu coughed at her suggestion while Uwabami rolls her eyes at Nemuri,”Nemu I think that work is too much for Y/n, besides thats too wild I don't think y/n will even consider working there even for a week”, she huffs out. Nemuri laughs at this and smirks,”Wanna bet?”, she cheekily says. Before  Uwabami could reply to that Ryukyu was kind enough to step in-between the two,”Stop it you two, we are supposed to be comforting y/n and help her find a job. A job that SHE likes working at”, Ryukyu says while gesturing you to face away for her so she could braid your hair as that clams you down a bit.

Uwabami quickly agrees with Ryukyu,”Yeah! Which means she could work with me as a model for my clothes!”, Ryukyu looks at her a straight face,”A job that y/n doesn't MIND working at for awhile or if your’re lucky she likes the job as your model then she’ll your there full-time”, she says as she returns to braiding your hair. Uwabami sighs sadly grumbling ‘She has a small experience for last time and I think she would do well!’ Nemuri laughs at her friends demise and looks back you,”Theres an open spot for waiters/waitress at my job and plus we have a new rule of no touching the waiters/waitress since that incident. Aaanndd we also have a tight security now! five in every floor, room and in the bar as well!”, she walks in the kitchen to grab a beer.

“Isn't is a bit too early for you to start drinking? Don’t you have work later on?”, Uwabami looks at her with a pout on her face. Nemuri waves her off as she take a huge gulp of her favourite beer,”I could take her there to day for an interview plus! y/n already has great experience cause she works at a cafe before! But I wouldn't force you to do it but then again your always open to trying something new and I think--”, before she could finish her sentence Ryukyu cuts her off,”--its y/n decision to either go with you or work with Uwabami or she looks for other jobs that are open to her or continue doing commissions. It up to y/n to figure out what she wants to do next, also I wouldn't mind letting you work as a graphic designer or be my assistant”, Ryukyu says as she now finishes braiding your hair, she leans back to admire her work.

“Thank you Ryu-chan, I think that calm me down a bit. I'll think about your offers”, you say as you look at your roommates, Uwabami silently celebrates and squeals, ‘What ever you pick I'll respect it’ Ryukyu says softly while patting your head. Nemuri rolls her eye at Uwabami,”You haven’t won anything yet Medusa”, she sneers. Medusa is a name that she uses to insult to Uwabami’s hair but Uwabami doesn't care about but rather likes it cause it suits her,”Like your one to talk, what makes you think y/n would work where you work?! You’ll scare her to death”, Uwabami rolls her eyes and scoff at this,”She’s working as a waitress, Uwabami and the pays actually good since its a really popular place and I wouldn't let her go near ‘That’ place, the no touching the waiters or waitresses rule is basically non existent there since its VIP only”, Nemuri reasons out.

The two went back and worth with reasons and all while silently insulting each other, Ryukyu sighs heavily as she looks at you who was silently watching them roast each other,”Well I’m really curious about where Nemuri works at and she did say there's a spot for a waitress and Ive got some experience when I worked at a cafe before, so I guess its not that different, besides I can't stay cooped up in here working on commissions all day everyday. I wanna try something new!”, you stood up with a determined face as he looked at Nemuri.

Ryukyu laughs nervously at your enthusiasm,’I don’t think thats the right expression your wearing, y/n’,she sweat drops at this Uwabami drops her jaw and lets out a loud groan saddened that you didn’t choose her, Nemuri squeals in excitement and quickly runs to your side and grabbed both of your hands,”You won't regret it, I swear on it! I have to call the Prez. to secure a spot for you”, she lets go of your hands and reaches for her back pocket for her phone.

“Now hold on just a second! Y/n hasn't technically agreed AGREED to fully work there anyway!”,Uwabami shouts clearly annoyed that Nemuri is celebrating early, Nemuri sticks her tongue out like a child. Ryukyu deadpans at their childish behaviour,”As long y/n is safe in working-- like you promised, Nemuri-- then I have no problems with y/n working there-- as a waitress--”, Ryukyu says with s strict voice as she puts emphasis on Nemuri’s name and you working as a server there.

Nemuri visibly shakes in her place clearly excited for you to come with her later and check out the place before it opens, her phone rang a few times till the call comes through,”HEY PREZ.!! I finally found someone that could fill in the spot if the previous waiter who decided to quit... ..Yes... Could she check out the place later before the place opens? OH don’t worry use the door from the back.. okay..SHE CAN!! OKAY I’ll tell her right away!!”, she quickly ends the call and turns to face you with a grin.

“Wear your most comfortable outfit y/n!! Im taking you to my work place in 2 hours!!”, Nemuri quickly run back to her room and slams her door close. She opens it again and looks at Uwabami,”Aaanndd if you want her to still test out your cute clothes my work allows waiter and waitresses to wear what ever they want as long as they have thier server badge around them”, she then closes her door again. Uwabami huffs in complete defeat but grumbles out ‘I guess that kind of a win for me, I’ll make sure to have something she could wear-- super cute too!!’ and goes to her room to scavenge and continue her cute designs for you wear.

Ryukyu looks at you with a serious expression,”Well... . seeing as you've decided on going to that work, I guess I can tell you that this job no regular job sure there's some aspects of serving a person their orders or drinks but it goes sometimes goes beyond that, y/n”, you looked at her with a confused look. “How is it different Ryu-chan? OH! Will you finally tell me what kind of work Nemuri has now?”, you asked excited flapping your arms with excitement, Ryukyu cough nervously and looks at your with her eyebrows furrowed and a small smile,”Erm I think you have to seat down for this one Y/n”.

---

Its currently 3:26 pm and Nemuri’s work starts at 6:30 pm, you were squirming in your seat as Nemuri drives you both there. You were wearing your most comfortable clothes you could wear a huge jacket that reaches halfway to your knees, leggings and running shoes while Nemuri was wearing a tight fitting dark purple dress that was way to high up her thighs. You already knew what you chose to work at as Ryukyu explained to you back at the house, but then again you have to be accepted into working here but knowing Nemuri she wouldn't hesitate to pull some strings to make them accept you applying there.

‘A stripper club?! I though Nemuri works for a lingerie model... BUT A STRIPPER?! I would've never guess that if Ryukyu did not tell me this..’,you rubbed your arms as you looked at the road ahead of you. Nemuri looks at you through the rear mirror seeing you were feeling unsure,”Hey, were just checking out the place I'm not actually letting you work there right away, we’ll basically give you a tour of the building and at the end of that tour you have to make a decision that your either want to work there full-time or just keep it as an option. But you have like less than a week to decided cause Prez says that there are a lot of people coming in seeing if they could work there, I'm friends with everyone in the building so if anyone tries to get to touchy with you they have to get through me first, got all that?”.

You looked at Nemuri with a small smile not feeling nervous anymore,”So um.. whats it like being a stripper?”, you asked feeling curious. Nemuri grins at your question,”Weellll its kinda fun and art in a way, it also lets me be myself, let out my true self-- not that I cant outside but this place allows me to get down and get wild! And the crowds cheering as well get me going and I do get down and dirty when someone offers it--- cant say no to that and the money as well”, she laughs.

You sat there laughing nervously and looked at the window,’I don't mind working here well not forever but I'd like to just try it out, after all I still have to look for an actual job. Maybe I should just work for an animation studio?’, your mind began to wonder what jobs you should apply at next since the office life just wasn't for you. You were kind of sad cause the people that surrounded you were super sweet and kind-- except that one person-- you’ll miss Shino, Ryuko, Tomoko as well as Yawara (The Pussy cats real names)

But you could always keep in touch with them after all they literally asked you on a hangout this weekend to comfort you, you agreed to it and can't wait to meet them once this week it over and you finally have a grasp of the job you’ll now be working in which in your case you were quite excited as you don’t know how big of a difference being a waitress in a stripper clubs differs from a waitress in cafe. Your legs were jumping in excitement as you pass the third stop light, you could see a building that has all kinds of lights and expensive--like hella expensive-- a few cars parks in the front as well as moving lights,’I-is this how stripper clubs look like?! This place is almost packed and its not even 6:30 pm yet.. .’,You looked at Nemuri with a confused expression.

Nemuri laughs at you as she turns her car to the back part of the building-- that has three floors??-- where workers could park there car there,”We’re here y/n, try not stay close to me this place is quite big and I don’t really want to lose sight of you”, Nemuri easy has she turns off the engine and got out the car and you followed as well. You pulled on your jacket sleeve as you wait for Nemuri while she get her gym bag where she had all her clothes and all her other stuff. She closed her trunk and walked to my side with her gym bag slung on her left arm,”You ready? You know once you walk inside its a whole new world and scene for you, I’m just giving you a tour along with the prez. as well as the rules. You won't start working here unless you sign the papers”, she says as she walks beside you to the back entrance.

You gave her a soft nod as she opens the door to you, as soon as she opened the door a blast of sexy music can be heard-- but a bit muffled-- and the lighting was so dark you could barely see anything if it wasn't for the floor lightings that could guide you,’What the heck-- why is it so DARK HERE?! To be honest Nemuri I'm not sure if I'm in the right place’, you internally cried as you walked right behind her. You made sure to grab the lose sling of her gym bag as to not get lost as waiters and waitresses scamper around to make sure the place was spotless before it opens its doors to the rich people, each of them had this two things around their thighs--wait a second is that ARE THEY CARRYING TWO HUGE ALCHOL BOTTLES?!-- and are those the uniforms you’ll be wearing- this is getting too much.

Your whole body quivered,’Not only this whole place is super- and I mean super expensive looking-- all the people serving here are wearing those kinds or clothes’,You observed the servers running around trying to get ready some were even strong enough to get change at the corner, your guessing they came in late and didn't want their manager to scold them. From what you’ve observed there were some that decided to wear their own outfit with their server badge of course but majority wore the clubs uniforms. “Hey.. Nemuri are we almost there yet?”, you looked at her as you guys were going up the huge stairs to the second floor.

Th structure of the building was honestly new to you, from what you could observe, it has three floors counting the ground floor-- which had a Two small pole stages levelled on each side of the huge pole stage that had a DJ stationed just behind the huge stage. Surrounding the stages had lounges and seating areas for people to watch the performers from, there were railings on the 2nd and 3rd floors to watch the stages on the first floor from above, there were also seats that curved around a super small stage in the center of it,”We’re almost their no need to be nervous! Everyones super nice here”, you laughed nervously,’I’m basically the odd one out here in this place-- Oh please tell me I can wear legging and not shorts to work, PLEASE’,you prayed silently.

You finally reached the managers room at last, you shuffled nervously on you spot as you looked at Nemuri,”Go inside, I'll meet you in her in a second I have to change into my outfit”, she pats your head softly as she walks to the opposite direction. You looked at the sign on top of door ‘Dancers only’ you sighed heavily,”Figures... well here goes nothing.. ..”, you knocked on the door trice and you heard a faint ‘Come in!’, you slowly turned the knob and peaked at the door meekly.

---

You poked your head out as look inside the room, before you were three people and two of them were in stripper outfits,’I interrupted something didn’t I... GWAHH NEMURI SAVE ME!!!’, you cried internally as the man gestured for you to come inside. You swallowed and stepped inside and closed the door behind you and walked in front of the table,’Don’t look at them, don’t look at them, dont look at them-- will he start or do I have to’, luckily you didn’t have to start the conversation as the-- cute small bear?-- started it for you. “A pleasure to meet you! I’m guessing your’re the new waitress that Nemuri told over the phone, I was just talking to this two about something but I will continue that later seeing that you are here now!”, the manager? jumped down the chair and walked around the huge table to you.

‘Oh my god-- SO CUTE!!! THIS IS THE MANAGER THAT OWNS THE PLACE?!’, you blushed at this, you were cooing how cute the manager was. You held both of your hands on you chest,“N-nice to meet-- YOUUuu?!”, you flinched when someone blew on your left ear. You covered your left ear as you looked the person,”Hello, precious listener”, the person grinned as he looked at you with a playful expression. The person has long silky yellow hair that framed his looks and is wearing a black mesh crop top, yellow tinted glasses, some necklaces, yellow shorts and black boots. You walked backwards only to land against someones chest, the said person held your shoulders softy with his large calloused hands which might be from dancing on the pole.

“Don’t scare her too much Hizashi..”, you flinched at the husky voice behind you--you didn’t know you’d be would be working with a bunch of handsome men-- ‘I don’t know if I should be happy or scared at this.. Nemuri please save me huhuh’, the man that was behind you was wearing a grey mesh top, black leather fingerless gloves, black cargo pants thats tucked in his black combat boots, a few ear piercings and silver chains around his neck. You quickly muttered a ‘Sorry’ and pulled onto your hoodie to hide your flustered state,’NEMURI WHERE ARE YOU HUHUHUHUHUH’, you internally cried. The prez laughed at your flustered self,”Sorry about them! The one who blew on your ear is Hizashi, his stage name is Present Mic and this other fellow here is Aizawa, Eraserhead is his stage name”, the prez says as he taps your leg.

You peaked out from your hoodie to look down at him, he smiles softy,”Your quite shy but thats okay!I can tell your’re going to be a breath of fresh air here at the UA club!”, he laughs softly and all you could do was nod softly, the two strippers in room the can agree to that.

[numberfivefinn]

who: @numberfivefinn​ & @krt-hmml

what: kurt pays finn an unexpected overnight visit after the big fight with rachel.

where: finn’s bachelor apartment

when: wednesday august 23rd (i think)

triggers: none 

KURT had left the apartment so quickly he hadn't even packed a change of clothes or his moisturizer, let alone a proper overnight bag. He didn't even take his keys. All he had on him was his wallet and his cell phone. While he had no specific plans on where he would go when he left, there was really only one option. Finn was the only one in their friend group who didn't live with either Jesse or Rachel, and he was Kurt's family so he had to take Kurt in. The smaller boy knocked on Finn's door and, as Finn answered, he realized he couldn't really explain why he was there. "Hey, what's up? Are you free tonight?"

FINN had just settled in his couch after a long day at work, a Dr. Pepper in one hand and the Apple TV remote in the other, scrolling through streaming services to find something to watch. He eventually landed on something he'd watched before, only because he was feeling his eyelids getting heavy and he didn't want to miss anything in case he fell asleep. With one foot rested on the table (a habit he gained after having to constantly elevate his injured knee), he leaned back in his seat, ready to chill for the rest of the night. Just when he put the remote down, he heard a knock, much to his surprise as he wasn't expecting anyone. He got up, opening the door that revealed Kurt behind it. "Hey brother. I am now," he half-joked, but he knew with himself that he definitely did not have plans. "I was just relaxing. Long day at work. Why this surprise visit?"

"Good!" KURT exclaimed before inviting himself into Finn's place. His back to his brother, he allowed his smile to falter for a brief second as Finn asked why he was here. As he turned to look at him, his expression was back in place. "Because we're going to officially be brothers soon! With the wedding coming up, I thought it would be good to spend some quality time together"

FINN closed the door behind his new company, settling himself back into the couch and patting the spot next to him for Kurt to sit. "That's cool of you to think about that, Kurt. I appreciate that," he said sincerely, the corner of his mouth tweaking up into his signature smile. "Things still busy at Vogue.com?"

KURT kind of felt bad that Finn was so happy about quality time, as it wasn't his primary motivation for the visit. But it was certainly a happy unintended consequence - a silver lining to the shit St. Berry had caused. He closed the door and sat down next to Finn. "Incredibly busy. I'm going to miss it when I resign, but I'm sure my fashion career will keep me incredibly busy."

You're always so good at what you do, so I'm sure you'll be awesome taking the next step as well," FINN nodded, lowering the TV volume down so it wasn't interfering with their conversation. "Can I get you anything to drink? Or snack on?"

"Thanks, that's very kind of you." KURT couldn't help the slight blush and smile that reached his face. He glanced at the TV, not really interested in whatever Finn was watching but perfectly content to have it on in the background. "Just water, please."

“Alright, water coming up,” FINN confirmed, getting up from his seat to get some water from the fridge. He came back with a glass of water and a bowl of cashews as he was feeling snackish himself. “So, did you wanna do something or talk about something?”26 August 2020

KURT watched Finn go into the kitchen, letting the expression fall off his face for a moment. But when Finn turned around and headed back to the couch, Kurt's mask was back on his face. He took the water, drinking a little bit of it as Finn asked him. "What were you watching?" Kurt asked, glancing back at the TV.

“Oh, this?” FINN asked, pointing at the TV. “Westworld. It’s pretty sick. I’ve seen it all before though so it doesn’t matter that I’m not paying much attention.” He shrugged, stuffing a few cashews in his mouth. “Have you seen it?”

KURT shook his head, he had not seen it. "It's the one about the virtual reality park, right? I've heard good things about it." Kurt's phone went off and, despite all the drama, he looked at it without a second thought. Surely, Jesse and Rachel weren't dumb enough to text him so soon after what had just happened. Except they were, or at least Jesse was. Kurt sighed at his phone and frowned

“Yeah, basically. They make robots who are as human as humans can be, so the people who go to that park don’t even notice the difference. And people go batshit crazy, killing and screwing people left and right,” FINN described with a soft laugh. He trailed off seeing Kurt’s phone go off and the reaction his brother had to whatever he saw on it, starting to grow worried for him. “What’s wrong, Kurt?”

"Hm? Oh, nothing. Just-" KURT was going to say fashion world drama, but he didn't want to lie. So he decided to downplay what really happened instead. "Rachel and I got into a dumb fight this afternoon. Nothing to worry about." He smiled back at his brother. "So, anyways, this sounds like a show Sam would like. Maybe him and I will start watching it soon"

FINN blinked in confusion and shock. Him fighting with Rachel too? What was going on? And why couldn’t he understand it? “What do you mean a fight? What’s going on?”

KURT hesitated. He couldn't tell Finn, because it wasn't his place to do so. Eventually he shook his jead. "I can't say much, it's Rachel's business. But she's been kind of awful to me lately and I called her out on it and it spiraled from there."

FINN knew Rachel had her mean moments, but they usually stemmed from her being dramatic or feeling strongly about something. “I’m sorry, bro. That doesn’t sound like fun. I know she’s your best friend.”

"We've had fights before and I know we'll be okay in a few weeks. But this isn't like other fights and I'm.....not sure..." KURT sighed again, not willing to say that he felt like they couldn't recover from this one, or that he felt like he was losing his best friend. His facade was long gone, and now he just looked sad and defeated. "I think even after everything calms down, it's going to be different between us."

FINN inched closer to his brother-to-be, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder for emotional support. “It’s really that bad?” He couldn’t even imagine what it could be, and without insight from either side, it was difficult to provide advice. “It probably feels like that now, but like you said, it’ll be okay again in a few weeks. You just both gotta take some time to cool down and talk again, and you’re gonna find out it was all a misunderstanding or something.”

KURT didnt stop Finn from putting a hand on his shoulder, but he also knew he had to be careful so Finn couldn't see his texts with Jesse. "It's not a misunderstanding." Kurt said, his voice so low it was nearly a whisper. "Things can still be okay if they're different, though. That's more the thought process I was going with here"

“I hope so. For your sake,” FINN comforted, squeezing Kurt’s shoulder lightly. “Are you talking to Rachel right now?”

"No, Jesse." KURT admitted. "Rachel and I fought in my living room, and Jesse was home so he heard all of it." That was technically true

"Oh," FINN uttered, pursing his lips into a pout. "How do you feel though? About being in this fight with Rachel?"

"Awful." KURT blurted out, then got another text from Jesse. He was in tears before he finished reading it. "God, sorry. I....hate crying. This is all so stupidly dramatic"

FINN got a little uncomfortable as Kurt started shedding tears, always unable to react naturally when someone in front of him cried. "Hey," he began as he wrapped his arm tightly around his younger brother. "It's all gonna work out. This is just temporary. I know it." Was he just repeating himself at this point? He wasn't sure what to say or do to make things better, but watching Kurt this upset was quite frankly upsetting him too. "Hey. The bakery across the street is still open for another hour. You want be to grab you some cheesecake?"

As Finn held him, KURT leaned into his brother and started crying harder. He didn't react to what Finn said....he knew Finn was trying to help while not understanding what was happening and he appreciated that. The Finn continued and Kurt's tears stopped briefly. "....Cheesecake?" He asked in a tone that confirmed he did in fact want some.

FINN let Kurt cry it out a little, knowing there wasn't much he could really do. Bottling up emotions were definitely not good either, something he had far too much experience with - hence the many chairs broken in his hands. His eyes perked up a little when Kurt got quiet, taking that as a green light on the cheesecake. "I'll be right back, then." He rubbed Kurt's arm gently before swooping out of his hold, grabbing his keys and wallet before heading out. "Help yourself to more water or whatever's in the fridge if you feel like it. I think I have some diet soda if you want that as well. And go wild on the Apple TV - I have pretty much anything."

KURT nodded at Finn's instructions. "Thanks." He responded, still crying but not as heavily. Once Finn left, he found Friday Night Lights on Netflix. It was a total soap opera, but he hoped Finn would appreciate the football aspect of it.

After facing a difficult decision of how many slices to bring, FINN finally came back from the bakery with a bag in his hand. "I wasn't sure how much you wanted, so I got four slices. Two original and two strawberry. I'll eat whatever you won't or give it away to my neighbor tomorrow," he stated, laying out the boxed slices on the coffee table in front of the couch. He proceeded to go to the kitchen for some spoons and forks, not really sure what one ate cheesecake with. "Enjoy." He took a seat himself, looking up at the TV. "What did you end up watching?"

When Finn got back, KURT was cuddled under a blanket. It was clear he had been crying, due to more texts with Jesse. He paused the episode, which he was only a few minutes into, as Finn set the cheesecakes down. He picked up a strawberry slice and took the fork from Finn. "Thank you" He wasn't as upset now, but he was still sad. "Friday Night Lights. I thought you would appreciate the football element of the show. It's like the OC meets sports"

"Oh cool. What's the OC?" FINN wasn't very caught up in the TV world, but he tried to be as cultured as he could, especially because he had met his fair share of actors during his career who his PR team had wildly encouraged him to photograph with, despite his lack of knowledge of who they actually were.

KURT "Youve never heard of the OC? It's a drama that takes place in Orange County, California. It focuses on four rich teenagers, its a total prime time soap opera!"

"Oh, is that the show with Rachel Bilson? She's hot," FINN realized, and it totally wasn't because she was a short brunette with the initials RB. "I never watched it."

"Yes, she's in that. With Adam Brody, and Mischa Barton and....oh my god, I'm blanking on his name - that guy who starred in Gotham." KURT left Netflix and went into Hulu, pulling up the OC. "You have to watch an episode of it with me"

"Yeah, that guy," FINN said pointing his finger, kind of connecting the dots because he had actually seen Gotham. "Whoa, this is like, old. At least older than I thought it was."

KURT "Yeah! I remember being in elementary school when it was on. Dad was usually too tired to monitor my TV viewing habits back then."

“Did he ever have the energy to monitor your TV habits?” FINN joked, letting out a quick laugh. “I remember that Mischa girl being really popular among the guys in middle school, though. I was busy playing football and playing video games so I didn’t watch a lot of TV.”27 August 2020

"Not really, no." The OC had started airing just a couple months before KURT's mom had died, though, so Burt's energy levels were even lower than usual at the time. But Kurt decided to keep that detail to himself, because he was already sad enough tonight without mentioning the immediate time after his mom's death. "I was a bit preoccupied, myself. I know she was partying with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie a lot, though."28 August 2020

“Whoa, really? Didn’t know she was that type,” FINN claimed. Not that he really paid attention to what celebrities were doing when he was 13. He took a sip of his soda, leaning back in his seat as he continued watching. “Did you like the cake?”

"I dont think she's that type anymore. There were a lot of mental health issues with her around that time." KURT explained, then looked up at Finn as he mentioned the cheesecake. "Yes, thank you" he smiled a little. "Uhm, would it be okay if I stayed here tonight? I realize Rachel's leaving for her show soon but I dont want to run into her before work tomorrow."

"Huh," FINN uttered, not too actively engaged with the topic. "I have to admit that I don't always know the best way to comfort someone, but you always order cheesecake when we go out for dinner," he admitted. He wasn't always the best observer nor was he good at paying attention to details; a flaw he wasn't quite proud of. It was definitely something he had to work on during his relationship with Rachel, so he always hoped he didn't mess up with the things he at least thought he knew. "Of course. The guest room is open for you. I just gotta clean out some stuff from there first."

"Oh, no. You've been great. With the cheesecake and a place to sleep and letting me gush about the OC. I really appreciate it, Finn" KURT turned the episode off, because he knew Finn wasn't really watching it. "You don't have to clean anything out, just as long as i can get to the bed"

“You sure? It’s kinda messy in there because it’s been unused for a while,” FINN stated, but shrugged since he didn’t seem to mind. “I’m gonna hit the hay. See you in the morning?” He grabbed the cheesecake that was left, putting it in the fridge and doing a quick, lazy clean-up of whatever was left out in the living room. “Oh, clean sheets should be in the closet in the guest room. I’m sure you’ll find it.”1 September 2020

"See you in the morning." KURT repeated in response, watching Finn put the cheesecake away. He nodded at the explanation on where to find the sheets. "Thank you, Finn" He added before disappearing into the spare room

FINN turned off all the lights before heading to his own room for the night. Something about having someone in the apartment made him feel less alone, and for the first time in a while, he went to bed feeling a little bit less lonely.

[peechugger-blog]

Her friend, "gave her sex toys"

Her friend, "gave her sex toys" and she was on her way, waking at 6am each morning in order to hit American-internet primetime. She hopped from studio to studio, at times living with her employers (and their unwanted advances), still far enough from self-sufficiency that she had to depend on them for support. One had a wife who insulted her constantly. She had to work, almost every day, on strict, long, tiring shifts, doing the same performances over and over and over again. She was an urbanite, but she was still a poor stripper in a small room. When one studio boss lost all of his money and had to move in with a friend, Anna had to go along, having lost her room, board and virtually all of her possessions.It is true that when I am up on stage I feel powerful. In my 7-inch heels and latex leotards and frilly skirts, my body feels beautiful in a way that I dont see it in everyday life, and I feel confident and empowered. When the music comes on, I go with it, when I dance it is natural and its fun. The money is ultimately what I am here for, but this isnt just something I do just to pay the rent. This is my art, and whilst I am making myself sexually desirable, nobody can objectify me, as I hold that power. I am in control, because I objectify myself, if you like.Studio 20 is the largest studio webcam franchise in the world. It has nine branches in Romania, including one employing "cam-boys" who service the gay market. Its other branches are in the Colombian city of Cali, Budapest and Los Angeles. There are still big ticket European customers these days, men who Anna is reluctant to call "addicted", but "spend more time... you need to entertain those people who are going to stay for hours and hours in your room, even if they finished what they came for — they want to get to know you. Either way, camming keeps Anna in comfy sweatpants and Fanta.

If abuse were such a big problem, Anna says, then why would any Romanian girls bother with it at all? Why wouldn't they just find some other job? In a country whose GDP only stopped shrinking two years ago, with 20 per cent of the population living below the poverty line and personal income levels far below Kazakhstan, Iran and Gabon, that question answers itself. There's a reason Anna's so happy to be independent from her former employers, a status she equates with nothing less than her "freedom".Sites do virtually nothing to curb or discourage this kind of treatment.I was shocked and cut the conversation short because a) I felt like I didnt need to deal with such negative bullshit and b) I needed to get ready for my next show. But her words lingered in my mind all night. The moment that somebody questions my stance on feminism I get overwhelmingly upset, as it is a cause that I put my heart and soul into. It is in everything that I do and say and it is in how I perceive the world. Feminism has come to be in every essence of my being, and having somebody question my core beliefs was incredibly jarring."I teach them about fetishes - what a fetish is, why a person has one… We study Freud and a lot of psychology. And we study a book of gestures because women must be sensual, smart and beautiful.

Yes, they work even when they have their periods. This model says she fortunately has "the world's shortest, lightest periods" so she just chooses to do shows that don't require her to remove her underwear while wearing a tampon and then occasionally takes a day off if she feels like it. Makes sense.Being a cam girl, specifically, can be a great option for sex workers because it’s a lot safer than when you are with a client in person. Cam girls still have to protect themselves, of course; making sure people can’t find out their addresses or real names. Those are things that workers in all facets of the sex industry have to worry about, whether you’re a stripper or an escort. But cam girls have the privilege of working from their homes or a studio, where they don't have that threat of violence or diseases. Or they just don’t have to deal with a client having bad breath.Today, things are different. After saving money and learning enough savvy to avoid continued exploitation, Anna is done with money-sucking studios, and so she works only about five days a month, from her own home. Five days of camming per month allow her to match the Romanian per capita income of roughly $US12,000 per year with a minuscule fraction of the labour. If she wants more money, she works more days.It took six years to reach this life of dilettantism and occasional sex work. Anna wasn't always free. She started camming when she moved from her backwater Romanian hometown to attend college in Bucharest for a degree in psychology. When she relocated, she knew no one and had no money. But, like Domino, heard things about the lucrative streaming flesh trade — a recommendation from a male friend who convinced her to strip from his cramped two-room apartment as he did the same in the other room. CONTINUED BELOW...

[irvinilisa]

Champions League - Scores & Fixtures - Football - BBC Sport

All champions league games today - UEFA Champions League schedule, scores, results: PSG beat Bayern, Chelsea top Porto -

The only free way to watch these games in English is to find a free online streaming todaj, Google should come in handy in finding them.

Again, UEFA fumbled these arrangements very badly. If we are lucky…. More matches will be all champions league games today on TV too just chapmions soon as the decisions are made on which matches will be on All champions league games today TV. Thank you Christopher Harris for all your help and information.

This page must have been updated to include a lot of all champions league games today and useful current information, which I had not seen before. We soccer fans appreciate all your good efforts. Stay well and wish you all the best. Today, July 25, all champions league games today, I checked what I read the following on the top of this page here: Manchester City vs.

It is possible that this schedule has not been updated yet …. If and when this information is ever updated and corrected please share it here. Of course, they can always change their mind. Hi Christopher Harris, thanks for your prompt reply and explanation. You could be absolutely right as I too expect toay scheduling information to be corrected todag updated closer to game day.

Thanks a lot for all your help and directory, we all soccer fans appreciate all that you champipns here. Have a wonderful day and stay well and healthy, we need you. The advantage is you can watch this all champions league games today on your TV with this new coming app and without needing to all champions league games today it through your Goday or Internet.

Check with your TV provider. Good luck all. Chris do you think CBS is really only going to show the final on all access? That seems horribly inconsistent with their prior claims. When Turner had the rights, none of the games were on over-the-air television. My question is will I able to watch the Champions League through my Prime account or will I have to pay for a separate subscription?

If anyone can answer this question it is greatly appreciated. Thanks Chris. If you pay…. You are right Christopher. Amazon Prime does make available many shows all champions league games today channels to Prime members, the sad fact is that many of all champions league games today available offers are Tames free, the customer is forced to buy their selected packages at extra cost besides this website for Prime membership.

I made this fact very clear in my earlier post which was deleted from here, I assume because I was unkind to Jeff Bezos. Hopefully this one will be fixed in time. There is no DVR offered. A great relief to have that in place. Or does coverage begin at the Playoffs? Group Stage on? How much do those rights in the past cost. How in the world does acompany only get half a tournament. I guess this is toady new streaming world we now live in. Is CBS interesting getting that or later?

Real played very poorly today to have any chance to eliminate Manchester City. The only consolation for Real fans is that at least we won the La Liga championship this season. Now we have to continued till the next season starts. It has been a very sad day for all Real Madrid fans. Real Madrid lost and got eliminated because of their French Connection. He picked all champions league games today players for this very important game and did not replace players till the game was almost over.

Even though Zidane is highly regarded as a brilliant coach his stupid stubbornness is also this contact form downfall. I will not be sad if and when Zidane departs Real Madrid.

His personal stubborn and poor decisions have hurt this team enormously, Had he planned smarter and more logically Real would have had a much better chance to win and advance to the quarter-finals. Champion: Bayern Munich. You are welcome to use my tips and call your bookie and get rich. Hi guys, anyone getting rich with my accurate picks? So far all champions league games today today I am right so far, correctly picked 2 out of 2.

Third match is next Sunday. I picked Bayern to be champions. Hi all, how about hitting the Trifecta……getting all my picks correctly and perfectly 3 out of 3. I hope some of you are richer now if you had listened to me and followed my 3 picks…. Good and enjoyable season, although Covid tried its best to leeague it for us.

See you soon here. Is there a continue reading to access them there? I cannot believe that TUDN is putting both channels of simulcasting.

I prefer the matches at 3 pm putting 3 games on tv instead of 2 games. Midtjylland vs. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Tuesday, April 13 pm EDT. Free Trial. Browse Offers. Collin Werner July 29, April 11, Each tkday of teams plays two matches with the results combined for a final score.

Bryan G August 12, Christopher Harris August 12, Bryan G August 13, Christopher Harris June 9, Bry G August 16, Didnt you just show legia warsaw on fox sports 1? Why are the channels changed? Christopher Harris August 16, CJ Armstrong January 14, Everything was a lot better when FS1 was showing the games! TNT sucks. Kirby Grimes August 16, David K September 11, Christopher Harris September 11, Christopher Harris September 12, Bobo Vieri December 7, AupaAtleti April 27, Christopher Harris April 27, Russia April 28, Mccort April 28, Unfortunately no!

Which sucks! David August 30, Robert January 10, Christopher Harris January 10, Oliver Tse January 12, Henry Reichman January 14, Christopher Harris January 14, Brian White April 9, Has this offer expired?

Christopher Harris April 9, Mark V Stivers May 1, That means the free-to-air FOX? David May all champions league games today, Yes, the final is over the air on Fox. Christopher Harris May 4, Henry Reichman May 4, LIguy May 4, Unless they make a deal with Turner no, they had a deal with Fox to rebroadcast a game.

UEFA Champions League Fixture Schedule & Results

Eddie May 4, Unfortunately the answer is no unless Turner does a deal with them, which is unlikely. AC10 May 17, latest blog post Christopher Harris May alp, No simulcast on FS1. Brendan May 17, Cantona May 18, Brendan May 18, Me to. Well said Cantona. Christopher Harris May 27, Gabriel July 5, Eddie July 5, What about univision deportees coverage? Christopher Harris July 5, Jb July 17, Eddie July 19, All champions league games today G July 6, Christopher Harris July 7, Gabriel July 7, Tony G July 7, Bobby July 7, Looking forward to this is Sept.

TonyG July lague, Is it live bleacher report. Brendan July 11, No commentary except the Celtic game. Naz July 11, Orgullosamente hecho en Ciudad Universitaria July 19, Christopher Harris July 20, Aldegundo Pineda July 20, Eddie July 22, When turner sports is gonna show a promo commercial on TV. Steve August 1, Are all 4 of these channels available in the US through cable or satellite?

Eddie August 1, Rakesh August 15, David August 16, Andy August wll, Bobby August 15, Tolulope Ajayi September 18, Does FUBOtv have an app that works on smart tv? Christopher Harris September 19, Christian August 28, Donald Burton September 12, Where can I sign up for TNT. David September 13, Christopher Harris September 13, Tony October 3, Justin Putter November 7, Henry Reichman January 8, Are the all champions league games today on Wednesday February 20th champons on TV?

Christopher Harris January 8, All of these games needs to go back to FOX! They need to get the leabue back! Scott March 10, Chris, Can you watch champions league replays, via the univision now supscribtion service?

Christopher Harris March 10, David the Yank April 11, Christopher Harris April 11, Azer April 12, otday Sarah April 8, Steve April 10, Christopher Harris Lrague 10, Elliott Butler April 10, Ajax vs Juventus and Manchester City vs Tottenham next week please! All champions league games today west May 20, Rich September 16, Ben September 16, How can we have access leaue tudnxtra? Ritchie September 16, To be honest, I consumed most all champions league games today my UCL last year via the univision networks anyway.

Monte Reed September 16, Kinetik December 18, Christopher Harris December 19, John February 16, Gammes Harris February 16, Mank February 26, Rich June 24, Turner opted out of UCL, and may not cover games in August.

FK Sarajevo. FK Sileks. Floriana FC. GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Inter Club d'Escaldes. KAA Gent. KF Drita. KF Tirana. KuPS Kuopio. Legia Warszawa. Linfield FC. Liverpool FC. Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC. Manchester City FC. Manchester United FC. Molde FK. NK Celje. NK Lokomotiva Zagreb. Olympiacos FC. Olympique de Marseille.

Omonoia FC. Paris Saint-Germain. PFC Ludogorets RB Leipzig. Real Madrid CF. Riga FC. Sevilla FC. ,eague Rapid All champions league games today. SK Slavia Praha. SL Benfica. SP Tre Fiori. SS Lazio.

Stade Rennais FC. Get more than schedules Follow your favourite club and stay connected to make sure you keep your calendar up to date. Nearly done. Copy link Link copied to clipboard.

Paste this link into your preferred calendar Outlook, Google, todau. How I can do this? Click on the downloaded file to add the fixtures to your calendar. Install in your calendar. Added to your calendar. How to add a calendar? If you're using Outlook 1 Read here for the 'Open calendar' button in all champions league games today upper menu.

If you're using Google Calendar 1 Look for the 'Open calendar' button in the upper menu. If you're using other calendars you should all champions league games today for similar options to add this calendar. OK, got leqgue. Filter by Filter. Tel-Aviv Man. City Man. MD Preliminary round draw. First qualifying round.

Second qualifying round. Chxmpions qualifying round draw.

[thisisnotacomp]

Best albums of 2018 11-20

11. Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still  - This is easily the most underwhelming release in the top 20 of my list. That is not to undersell the record, I just went into it with the expectation of hearing a follow up to his 2014 release Music for the Uninvited. That album is one of my favorite house releases of all time. I wanted more of that. I didnt get it... I was disappointed. It wasn't until I revisited it a few months later that it sunk its hooks in me. Instead of a house record Leon released and Ambient / Modern Classical concept record soundtracking his grandparents journey from the UK to New York City in the 60's. I reset my expectations, got over the fact that I wasn't getting a shiny new house record and pressed play. By the time I made it to Envelopes (Chapter VI) the 7th track on the record  I understood. This album has so much more gravity than any house record could. It is a deeply personal statement. A thing of beauty. 

12. VA - Black Panther OST  - Whelp, I broke another one of my rules. I included a multiple artist soundtrack on my end of the year list. That note was for posterity. Anyway, this is more than just a soundtrack, it is a great album and the songs were everywhere in 2018. Kendrick can do no wrong. This is how you do a Soundtrack. I had to see the movie in theaters just to hear how they integrated the songs into the movie. Honestly, not to many make the cut. I think that is why it works. It stands alone as an album, as its own work of art along side the movie. Let's hope Kendrick blesses us with another LP in 2019. Side note, one of my highlights of the year was seeing him live. 

13. Snail Mail - Lush  - This LP is just good music. If it's not on your radar you aren't paying attention. Change that. For more info check out Pitchforks end of the year write up here.  These beautiful songs will get stuck in your head for weeks. 

14. Proc Fiskal - Insula  - When I first listened to Insula it knocked my socks off. Usually when albums make their way onto my radar I either read a blurb about them or have a general idea what to expect. That wasn't the case here, all I knew is it was Resident Adviser rated it a 4 out of 5 and they listed Grime as the style. When I hit play I had zero expectations and it knocked me on my ass. I should have known it would be good since it is a Hyperdub release. This album fits in a long lineage great LP’s by glitched up beat makers. Albums like “Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives” & “One Word Extinguisher” from Prefuse 73, “ Room(s)” & “Vapor City” from Machinedrum and “Severant” from Kuedo. Now the albums sound is admittedly much different than all of them but the feel is very similar. 

This is obviously the product of hours tinkering away in solitude. At times it feels like it will burst at the seams with ideas, but it never overwhelms the listener. Instead he pulls back with moments like “Achiltibuie” which give you that feeling when everyone gets off a crowded bus and you have it to yourself, out of the madness of the city and the masses. The track and Scotch Precog which follows wouldn’t feel out of place on an album released by The Books. After the pause, the album gets back to its overstimulated core but never lets go of that sense of balance. It's a beautiful work by a 21 year old artist far removed from any of the artists mentioned above. If you liked the early work of Four-Tet & Mount Kimbie, the artists pushing the edges of footwork or really any beautiful electronic music make sure to track this down. Person favorites are Scotch Precog & Punishment Exercise.

15. A.A.L. (Against All Logic) - 2012-2017  - This LP is by far Nicolas Jaar's most accessible release to date. Jaar's output up until this point has been extremely heady stuff. Less songs and more thoughts put to music. 2012-2017 goes in the other direction. It is a collection of house tracks that feel equally at home on the dance floor as they do on a home stereo. It sounds like a version of the album you would have expected from him after the success he gained from the debut release. These are house tracks for sure, and while they are not nearly as off kilter as his music usually is, just listed to I Never Dream and tell me that isn't undeniably a Nicolas Jaar track. After hearing this album I wish James Blake would do the same thing... 16. Shame - Songs of Praise  - Songs of Praise is the fantastic debut LP from Shame, an upstart rock group out of the UK. It reminds me of a the following debuts from the last few years. 2017: Sheer Mag - Need To Feel Your Love & Idles - Brutalism 2013: Savages - Silence Yourself & FIDLAR - FIDLAR 2012: METZ - METZ 2011: Iceage - Brigade

If you liked any of those releases check out Shame. 

17. Galcher Lustwerk - 200% Galcher  - I held out for as long as I could but in 2018 I finally caved. I now listen to the majority of music via a streaming service (I went with Tidal due to quality). While I miss the MP3 game (tracking down and buying albums does have its benefits) the time required to keep everything organized just wasn’t worth it. Why is this worth mentioning now? Well, when you stream the 200% Galcher in Tidal it plays the album one time through with lyrics, then again with instrumentals. I found myself listening to both versions whenever I had time. That is saying a lot as I rarely listen to an album twice through. That alone should speak to the quality of this release. This is a electro-house record with a sprinkle of hip-hop. Solid stuff. Start with Life and go from there.

18. Altopalo - frozenthere  - What is Altopalo’s sound? What genre box can you paint them into? Who are the? Where did they come from? All good questions that I can’t or more accurately don't want to know the answers to. I just want to listen to listen to Mono on repeat and pretend that I live in a world where all music sounds as beautiful as it does.

19. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs  - Some Rap Songs is influenced by so many great Rap LP’s but also stands among them. In a year where Soundcloud rappers seemed to take over, Earl goes in the complete opposite direction. Its great, its pure and in 10 years we will look back and it will stand alongside the most important rap LP’s of its time. All Killer, No Filler.

20. Tirzah - Devotion  - In one sense Devotion captures the sound of 2018 better than almost anything thing else released this year. At its core it’s pop music but the songs are not made for the radio. It's beautiful and imperfect. 

[allofbeercom]

Can Adele fix the broken music industry?

Unless you fell into a post-holiday food coma, you know that Adeles album25just sold more copies in its first week than any album, ever. The average human being had been conditioned to believe this was not possible in 2015.

Remember that narrative?Napster destroyed the music business, the iPod stopped the bleeding, digital and streaming services are still nascent, and a Google search can find anything for free, so the good old days of multi-platinum records are pretty much gone.

On the heels of her first single “Hello,” Adele waved goodbye to that doomsday line of thinking, crushing decades-old sales records by such a distance that, if she were an Olympic athlete, wed immediately assume she healed her damaged vocal chords with PEDs. Putting aside certain idiosyncrasies of Adeles album buyers (it turns out old people still buy CDs!), getting more than 3.8 million people to doanythingin the same week is a triumphant feat.

The ripple effect of Adeles astonishing sales figure is already visible. This past week, Rihanna and her management made a last-minute decision to postpone the release of her new album,Anti, at the apex of the heaviest consumer spending moment of the year. It turns out the shadow of Adele is the one umbrella Ri-Ri wont stand under.

And who can blame her? Between Adeles album sales and Taylor Swifts cultural and touring dominance (FYI: She played to a stadium full of 76,000 people in Sydney last weekend), its tough to stand out at the moment, even for Rihanna, one of Forbes top 10 grossing female artists. Despite working in a music industry with a dearth of women in meaningful executive positions, the strength and power of female artists has never been more profound. And unlike Hollywoodwhere thanks to the North Korean email hack of Sony and a courageous Jennifer Lawrence, we now understand the starkness of the gender pay gapfemale musical artists get paid on par with their male counterparts. In music, the entire ecosystem earns a sizable percentage of whatever the artist makes; record labels make a percentage of album sales, promoters make a percentage of ticket sales, merchandisers make a percentage of T-shirts sold, and so forth. Which means we are at a unique moment in history where A-list women hold much of the real power in the music business.

The strength and power of female artists has never been more profound.

So what will they do with it? And how does their massive success shine a giant spotlight, for better and worse, on everything thats happening with the music business and the streaming business and the concert business and artist representation right now?

Adele and Taylor started this upheaval by each flexing a particular muscle that belongs to them and them only. Taylor used her pen as the sword, bringing the mighty Apple to the bargaining table to pay artists for streams during the free trial for Apple Music. Adele turned herback on streaming services to break an album sales record that had stood since Justin Timberlake was fronting a boy band with Britney Spears on his arm. But beyond the PR success and ego boost thats generated from seven-figure first-week sales numbers, these efforts did little to make a lasting impact on the business of music.

Like the rest of the news cycle, we celebrate heroic outliers, write think pieces, marvel at the numbers, and move on within the confines of the same old structure. As President Business from The Lego Movie would have us believe, everything is awesome. Only it isnt. While artists have done much to break through decades of exploitation and capture more of the value they create, the fan experience in most facets of music consumptionlive and recordedremains unconscionably broken.

Nowhere is the dysfunctional tension between Los Angeles/New York-based content creation and Silicon Valley-based technology more on display than in digital music services. In the Valley, we scoff at companies that ship their org chart in a product. (Note: Microsofts Steve Sinofsky who coined this phrase for mass appeal, and for some time it was Microsoft who was guilty of this en masse.) You can tell when groups within or outside a company arent working well together based on the way the products features play wellor dont play wellin production. This is displayed everywhere in digital music from convoluted hardware options and endless interconnected devices in the home to cutting-edge software that never seems quite ready for primetime. In particular, Apple Music still feels like a house built on the foundation of an old home that the owners never wanted to fully tear down for tax purposes. The compromises and technical debt are palpable.

The fan experience in most facets of music consumptionlive and recordedremains unconscionably broken.

But those issues pale in comparison to the evolving royalty structure in musicbasically, the agreements for how much artists, labels and songwriters get paid when you buy or stream a song. Without hit music from the Taylors and Adeles, those subscription music streaming services are essentially useless. Even if they have the best user experience for fans, without music that matters, their core proposition (the music you want for a flat monthly fee) becomes completely hollow. Disappointed fans know theyre being misled, especially when YouTube and BitTorrent offer even the mildly unscrupulous a holiday table cornucopia of free access to all the music on earth.

We know the economics of music streaming are still being sorted out, but we also know this happened with video content a few years agoand, eventually, major players like Netflix, YouTube and Hulu figured out how to window content, present it exclusively,and generate their own product. If music follows that model, then the biggest artists will sell their exclusivity to distributors like Spotify, Apple, YouTube/Google, and others. Our best asset to help that happen? Just keep complaining about this stuff.

What we are seeing and (not) hearing now as fans is the very public sausage making of a new recorded music revenue model, the loudly creaking rusty hull of an antiquated ship turning a bit too quickly in a swift current. For most of us downstream, it creates a suboptimal listening experience and never-ending frustration.

And its only worse with live music, where artists now make 70 to 90 percent of their income, despite a gallingly offensive fan experience.For one thing, the industry continues to lie to fansblatantlyabout the price of tickets until the very moment of purchase.An upper deck ticket for the Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas tour in Los Angeles on Sept. 17, 2016, is currently available on Ticketmaster for $49.95. After a $15.30 service charge, the actual price of that ticket is31 percent higherthan advertised. At StubHub, where between buyer and seller fees the ticket is routinely marked up 25 percent, the company tried to show pricing all-in. But after competitors didnt follow suit, StubHub reverted back to the draconian way of tricking fans into moving down the purchase funnel by baiting them with a lower price point, before dropping fees on buyers at checkout. Most artists are consciously (or navely) complicit in this dirty game. Many touring deals for large artists stipulate that artists are paid more than 100 percent of gross ticket sales. How can this be? Its because the promoter and venue make their money off of parking, beer, sponsorship, and importantly, service fees.

This wont change until fans start pressuring the artists to facilitate that change. Artists are intensely sensitive about their brands. With social media giving loud voices to all, artists are hyper-concerned with criticism for high ticket prices even though they have historically enabled a service fee system that exploits their fans. Its why so many good tickets often make it into the hands of brokers from venues, promoters, and artists directly. Ever wonder why you see so many VIP packages for sale? Theyre designed to charge market price for a ticket with a few low-cost add-ons attached. So why cant artists own their income desires and get paid what they are worth, or alternatively restrict transferability of tickets to ensure that fans get in at an artificially low price? Service fees are an extension of the ticket price, so why arent they presented as such up front in the buying process?

Apple Music still feels like a house built on the foundation of an old home that the owners never wanted to fully tear down for tax purposes.

All of the carnival barking about ticket prices comes against the backdrop of a swelling period of time between the onsale of a concert and the actual show date. For the concert example above, a fan buying four mid-level tickets would be putting down more than $400 of his hard earned money10 monthsbefore the show. That same week the tour plays a Wednesday night in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Who the heck knows what theyre doing on a Wednesday night 10 months from now in Albuquerque? The answers fall into three categories:

I dont.

Im one of the few passionate fans who will move my schedule around this show and give you my money ten months in advance.

Im a ticket broker, and Im buying bunches of tickets now to arbitrage and capitalize on all the people in #1 above.

This practice of ridiculously early sales has been expanded by the industry to bank money early, test demand, and reduce risk. Do they care that the best tickets go mostly to brokers, that fans pay more money than they otherwise would, and that the most passionate fans lose out on 10 months of interest on their money? Of course not. Were moving backwards.

The big question: Is all of this a calculated plan by the music industry to keep things as unfavorable for fans as possible, or can we chalk it up to sheer incompetence?

The recent Paris tragedy reminded us that the music industrys obligation to provide a better experience for fans are growing ever more urgent. The attacks on fans at a concert hall and a sports stadium were the manifestation of a longstanding fear we had at Ticketmaster about live eventscrowds are so much more vulnerable than we want to believe. We already learned this in air transportation after 9/11; 14 years later, we collect loads of data and restrict transferability of tickets between passengers boarding a 200-seat airplane. But with 80,000-seat stadiums, we continue to do almost nothing. With the use of cash, paper tickets, ticket reselling, and an average of almost three tickets-sold-per-order, upwards of 90 percent of individuals entering an arena or stadium can be unknown to event organizers.

The entire paradigm of music distribution is staring down the barrel of an evolutionary leap.

There are common sense solutions that would make live events safer for fans. By reimagining a ticket as a digital access credential replete with identity, payment, and location metadata, we could do the forensic work before and after events to identify bad actors. This need not restrict ticket transferability or resale; it simply means maintaining a centralized system of record where tickets can be sold and the data associated with buyers and sellers infinitely logged. Existing and emerging technologies, including blockchain, are candidates for handling this challenge. They can also prepare us for the dawn of virtual reality in live events, ensuring this technology becomes incremental and not cannibalistic to the artists live performance. To do so fully requires sunsetting the idea of a ticket as a piece of paper; identity and access can be tied to a phone, a card, or a fingerprint.

Guess what? This is precisely the course of technology across most consumer products today. Like other products, these advancements have the happy consequence of actually improving the consumer experience. This data can serve to personalize the live experience for each fan before, during, and after the event. It could allow artists to over-deliver on an experience for which they are charging astronomical sums, up to a year in advance. As usual, we fell way behind the curve in the music business. So maybe this is about incompetence over anything else.

Indeed, the entire paradigm of music distribution is staring down the barrel of an evolutionary leap. Twitter, like its many mobile social messaging peers from Snapchat to WeChat to Line to Instagram to Facebook, is really a direct-to-consumer distribution channel that could fundamentally transform the relationship between artists and fans. Katy Perry has 78M Twitter followers, Taylor Swift has 67M, Rihanna has 53M, and Adele, essentially without even trying, has 24M. Roughly half of the 100 most-followed accounts on Twitter are artists, and the technology is now in place for artists to commercialize their follower relationships by selling songs, tickets, and T-shirts directly on these platforms. Twitter led this effort; others followed suit. Its the fastest way to remodel the entire music industry. Any artist who pined for more control over the distribution of their art, as well as the artist-fan covenant, have the powers at their disposal to take command.

Which brings us back to what we learned this week, and this yearthat the biggest artists (including these stellar women who showed their might) have real leverage and real power right now. If they wanted, they could change a sedentary, broken industry. Conventional wisdom is that Adele is an outlier, capable of holding out for her own good but not much more. What if Adele, Taylor, and other elite artists united to force progress for all? Athletes in major sports leagues banded together. Actors held their own. So did screenwriters, directors, producers, and show runners. Music seems to be the only branch of entertainment where the collective voice of creators is mute.

The underlying driver of this silence is artist fragmentation. It is the key environmental factor upon which the 20th century music business was constructed: allow rare stars to extract their pound, but keep the bulk of the talent uncoordinated. Beyond the occasional telethon, its rare to find examples of artists working collaboratively for a cause at scale. Why is that? The leading culprit is that artists have traditionally outsourced a lot of their business decisions to their managers. Now that the time travelled from anonymity to stardom has shrunk to mere months, and artist-as-entrepreneur is a near requirement for success, the role of the artist manager has taken on increasing importance.

Sadly, management remains as fragmented and cutthroat as the days when Colonel Tom Parker was shepherding Elvis. In many cases, the speed to stardom brings along in its slipstream a relatively unsophisticated crew of hangers-on surrounding the artist. Cousins, classmates, boyfriends and the like, with little to no experience become entrusted with decisions that can impact decades of an artists revenue streams. Because most managers are paid on a percentage of the artists revenue streams, near-term money is usually prioritized ahead of long-term career value for an artist. Partnership and collaboration gets lost in fears and insecurities about acts being stolen away by other managers. Even the more sophisticated and professional managers suffer from the epidemic of the shark tank. Irving Azoff (Front Line Management) and Coran Capshaw (Red Light Management) are the two managers who have assembled artist management companies with meaningful scale. Ive apprenticed for them both, and they are excellent at what they do. But competition for the artists they manage (or would like to) remains high, and for their own business self-survival they are perpetually on alert. They do not operate in an ecosystem that fosters cooperation.

Music seems to be the only branch of entertainment where the collective voice of creators is mute.

Even the law works against artist representatives working together. California passed a law in 1978 called the Talent Agency Act that effectively says a person cannot be a manager and also book an artists tour. In practice, artists must carry both a manager and an agent, fragmenting the power of decision-making (and also the artists income). Entire cottage industries have been built on this church-state separation. Alliances are routinely built and broken between agencies and managers, further fueling the lustful competition and mistrust between artist representatives. One can surmise this is generally the scene that inspired the late Hunter S. Thompson quote: The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. Theres also a negative side.

Yet the opportunity for artists in the music business today is wonderfully beyond what even Thompson could have imagined (or hallucinated). And so it rests, finally, on the shoulders of artistsand the biggest ones, at thatto wrest control of this shallow trench of an industry away from those who have kept it in a state of morass, and give it depth. All that stands in the way of advancing the industry forward is overcoming the fragmentation within the artist community today.

And thats why Adeles eye-popping success last week is so confounding. Why, exactly, did she show her strength? The cynic will tell you it was for the money. But just as she could care less about what you think of her weight (somehow I dont expect the press to repeatedly address Chris Martins post-breakup body fat when the Coldplay album drops this week), she seems unmoved by the chance to make a few extra pounds. Which leads to the conclusion that like the rest of us, she falls somewhere on the scale between competitive and vain: She withheld her music from streaming services explicitly in search of setting a mark that none of her peers or predecessors ever did.

Having vanquished them now, will she flex her muscle for more than just the charts? She seemingly has willing partners in this effortin Taylor Swift and many of her now powerful female counterparts, as well as popular artists like Jay Z who have made recent business strides around artist empowerment. In so many ways, Adeles sales figures are less about her, and more a reflection of the continually crescendoing role of music in peoples lives.

In spite of all its dysfunction and fan neglect, our follower graphs on social networks hint that our accelerating interconnectivity is still threaded together most tightly by music. By following suit and binding together in this moment, Adele and the artist community can move the business and experience of music forward for all of us. As the Beatles knew: Come together, right now. Records are made to be broken. Adele and her peers have the chance to be indelible.

Nathan Hubbard is a former touring and recording artist, former CEO of Ticketmaster, and current head of commerce at Twitter. A version of this story was originally published on Medium and has been reprinted with permission.

Screengrab via AdeleVEVO/YouTube

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/can-adele-fix-the-broken-music-industry/