OK, the website is now available at https://stevesokolowski.com/.

The next step is to change all the links I have everywhere to reference this new website, do the basic search engine stuff, and so on.

Later this week I'll begin building a marketing plan. I also think that there are a few quick things I discovered - stereo widening being the most high-impact - that can "remaster" existing songs for cross-promotion.

Comments welcome on this brand identity from YES bidders. These two colors will be the color scheme. The "SS" in the lower right will be deleted.

@SteveSokolowski As a no holder, I think it's bold of you to lean into your SS initials when public officials are making Nazi salutes.

@WrongoPhD so there is such a thing as a YES holder? I salute that.

@KevinBlaw The argument for YES is, as far as I can tell, that perhaps advertising might work. But, having looked at SoundCloud & YouTube advertising costs briefly, even pouring a full $100 into advertising would not be especially likely to deliver 10,000 video views or track plays. Given that money is being used for branding and web hosting, I have convinced myself to purchase extra NO by writing this comment.

@Twig Good point. A previous track has reached 4k listens without advertising from Steve, so it is not entirely unlikely, but I will stick with my NO orders at 42% and 47% for the time being.

@Twig Only $6.98 was devoted to the website and branding. There is still plenty of money left, so you're incorrect that the money will not be used for advertising.

The best advertising is producing more content, which I will also release along with the website. But I also don't believe that simply buying ads on Google is likely to lead to anything. I've never had any success with general clickthrough advertising for any product, music or otherwise. Therefore, once I get the website together, I'll work with Deep Research to develop an advertising plan.

@WrongoPhD A while ago, I made a blog post somewhere and someone said the title was a Nazi title. And I've posted comments on X that get replies saying I support Nazis. Surely you know that everything on the Internet always will devolve into conversations about Nazis.

And to everyone: I was delayed a few days because, as you can see, the world is falling apart and I'm not sure whether I'll have any money left. I lost hundreds of thousands so far. I've beat the market by 10% CAGR in the past few weeks alone, which most people would call extraordinary, and it still doesn't matter.

I've also been driving around stocking up on stuff like a doomsday prepper - it's just like February 2020 when I did the same. But I still hope to get the website done by Tuesday now.

The Manifold money will arrive in the account by Friday; I just got a notification.

So my goal is to use only this $98 to dramatically increase the listeners to this song. I decided that the backbone of this is that I need to create a website, rather than just posting songs in different places. I will then feature all the songs on the website. There is now enough content for people to be able to like one song and listen to them all.

I'll have Gemini 2.5 Pro generate the site and for the human-written songs, assist in writing description of the inspiration, etc. Then, I will have it ensure it is optimized for SEO, and I'll link to it from all platforms and profiles.

The bare minimum of any "business" (even though there is no money to be made here) is to have a website. Even if for no other reason, simply having a registered domain makes it seem as if a person is a professional musician.

So I will get this website up by the end of the weekend. Then, the second part will be to create a distinct brand and logo and add that to the site and everywhere else; that will be next week. The third will be to post a newer song within two weeks, which also is designed by AI but is more radio-friendly, and cross-promote.

All of that should only cost $10, so there will be plenty of money left over once the fundamentals are in place.

I am sure this market is an April Fools joke.

Can we make this 10007 listens? It was so bad that I made 6 other people at work listen to it, and by all rights that should not count. I'm afraid if anything, it may go viral for being so terrible.

@KevinBlaw

This not on Spotify or sumn?

@LilSamzy It takes 3 weeks for a song to be published to Spotify after a "distribution" request is sent, so no. There's no advantage to doing it today as everything happens on Fridays, so I'll do it before the Friday deadline to get it there three Fridays after that.

A billion banana peels forecast market bust?
Maybe. Logic bends like heat-haze, fueled by must.

@KevinBlaw I take everything back. It’s like John Lennon and Bob Dylan had a baby. But isn’t there a typo? Shouldn’t it be “fueled by (Elon) Musk”?

You expect it to be bad and somehow it’s worse. I feel my mana is safe if a 10 second laugh and listen session doesn’t count as a listen.

Could one of the YES traders introduce the song to the LessWrong forums? I don't have an account there and someone will probably censor the new account claiming this is spam or something.

Is there a link that I can listen to it and mock it without negatively impacting my NO

wager?

@KevinBlaw What happened to your insightful legal analysis? Perhaps you hadn't considered that there might be a massive trove of evidence that wasn't attached to the first complaint?

Did you ever come up with your own opinion on the case's merits, or did you just go along with the "law students" who were claiming in January the case was nonsense?

@SteveSokolowski I was disappointed by the amended complaint. It seemed to be an admission that there were flaws in the original that the AI didn’t foresee that were pointed out by the motions to dismiss. I didn’t read the amended complaint though.

@KevinBlaw So you were disappointed in something you didn't read. I'm glad you cleared that up.

@SteveSokolowski lol. What I meant was that if you had to file one, it meant the complaint was deficient. I don’t have the time to read the amended one to see if it is similarly deficient. Is there a law student thread on the new one?

@KevinBlaw Well, if you're going to make markets on the topic, then I would suggest reading the complaint before spending mana on them.

As the "law students" (if they even were students) missed quite a bit the last time, I might advise reading the complaint yourself if you're going to make comments based on hearsay.

@SteveSokolowski I haven't made markets on it.

How about answering my question instead of attacking me?

@KevinBlaw No. I won't answer questions about the facts of the case or what law students are saying, only about the AI usage related to the case.

@SteveSokolowski why didn't your AI realize the deficiencies in the complaint that would have avoided the necessity of filing an amended complaint based on an apparently valid motion to dismiss?

@KevinBlaw I'm willing to answer questions about how I used AI, not about the specific recommendations or strategy it made.

@SteveSokolowski how did you use AI in such a way that it didn't realize the first complaint was deficient and therefore required another bite of the apple?