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RFF is entering maintenance/sunset mode. We've helped empower, amplify and motivate the music community within the Fediverse by celebrating artist consent and agency, direct support, and promoting quality sounds. If you've participated along the way, you can be proud of the gauntlet we've thrown down for community and vibes and the discovery, collaboration and support fomented. We'll accept music submissions until mid-Dec and the station will power down in Jan 2025. 1/ 58 comments
The response to my asking for help for over a year, the pivots I made to be accommodating have been all proven unviable structurally, temporally and now personally. All of this has been considered to N degrees and has been quite a weight. Please do not add to the many weirdly demanding comms I've been hit with during these desperate attempts to salvage the project. Asking at this time why or how or "what can you do" even if you think your intentions are sincere is not helpful. 3/ This isn't just about finances. The community were fast to answer the call for annual infra drives so that at least was never a burden on the human. I never wanted to ask, find, take staff funding on principle and was able to wear full-time volunteerism beyond what my health could afford. Sadly that debt has very much come due. The project was always too big for a lone hamster, and informed friends and colleagues who respect my privacy will understand: we've overshot any handover options. 4/ Assuming I or you will cancel any existing recurring infrastructure donations, we should still be covered for the transmitter over the sunset period. For those that have specifically supported me if you might delay cancelling to help through this end period, awesome, but no matter what thank you deeply for trying to include the human backstage in the equation of community service. 5/ Since inception, RFF has spoken in a resoundingly positive voice. It is something many of us need to hear and feel, yet often hard to sustain against web and life factors. It's one of most difficult and exhausting roles I've ever endured. I hope you might help carry the reigns of music and art chief positivity officer(s) in the feed at least around celebrating independent art. I will need to be less available for this during sunset. This wasn't tech, this wasn't a platform, it was people. 6/ I implore you to take what you hopefully have experienced from this project or the community that rallied and build it into other things you do and demand better from the technocrats or just kick them to the kerb. As independent and marginlised artists and as just good humans we deserve better. Rally communities that use tech don't build tech that makes demands of communities. I'm proud to have helped any and all that have felt seen, at home, connected with community or supported. 7/  @radiofreefedi OMG - I feel we have let you down. I should have done more to help but somehow it never happened. Sorry to hear there is no future for the station..... @radiofreefedi hats off and all the love to radio free fedi 💜 I wish I had found it sooner, and I'm sorry it's going away. Sincere thanks, and best wishes for the future. :artcapy2:   @radiofreefedi thanks for coordinating all this great stuff you were able to help share to the world. It's been a great ride and I hope your next adventures bring meaningful, if different, value with more sustainability. @radiofreefedi I'm really sorry to hear this but as someone who's worked on a number of volunteer/pro bono art projects and platforms over the years, I fully get where you're coming from. Thank you for the tremendous resource you created and nurtured, and let's hope it inspires someone else to launch their own cool project. @radiofreefedi this is sad to hear. Your support and work in the fedi music scene has been huge and wonderful. I’m glad you’re able to take care of yourself, though. RFF will be missed  It sucks to see this, but I get it. It's hard work, and I know how much you loved doing it... but one person can't hold everything together. I hate to see it, but I am glad you were able to make a brave decision like this for yourself, and frankly for the project. My heart is with you, friend. @radiofreefedi thank you so much for everything. You did something really remarkable with RFF.  @radiofreefedi every radio project pop up I've ever come across has been a delight and I appreciated them for the time they existed. (Probably because of my early experience with HS radio). Your efforts sit well in my mind as another source of delight. Thank you and all for everything that you provided, and thanks for airing some Banjo Patterson! @radiofreefedi Out of curiosity - what would fediverse APIs or infrastructure would have to have to make projects like yours approachable and maintainable by a single-ish person? Fedi would be a brighter richer place if there were more tools and low-budget options that are easy to pick up and run with long-term. A technical writeup would be amazing to read <3 That said - you have done remarkable job and I am truly sorry this amazing project had to end <3  @shved Technology isn’t the limiting factor, it’s meat. Most of the effort in running RFF has been people-type labour. Communicating with artists one-on-one. Vetting their music for adherence to the RFF ethos. Classifying tracks for inclusion in the Comfy or Specialty channels. Adding tags because they’re missing. Writing weekly station update toots. That stuff can’t scale without throwing more humans at it.   @radiofreefedi the sadest thing about this is, that it sounds like the current maintainers aren't interested in handing it iver to someone who feels like they have the mental and fimancial capacity to keep it running. Letting such a cool project die would be.. sad to say the least
 @radiofreefedi Oh damn, this is super sad to hear. Thank you for all the work you've done over the last few years and all of the opportunities you gave us struggling musicians on the Fediverse! @radiofreefedi Out of curiosity, would you be open to opensourcing the various hamster wheels that run behind the scenes? Even if it's just a big dump of unfiltered code somewhere and the WTFPL or whatever. It'd be super helpful as a starting point for someone else to spin up a similar radio station. (But I realize that's a lot of work too!) @radiofreefedi Sad news indeed, but understandable. Big thanks for all you've done!  …I discovered RFF only yesterday - and what a message to wake up to. I’m really sorry to hear it. Much love and strength to you! 💛  @radiofreefedi thank you for everything you did. It was a really inspiring corner of the internet. Wishing you all the best in your recovery and am glad you’re putting your health first. @radiofreefedi Really sorry to hear this but completely understandable. Running any kind of online community can, and almost certainly will, become an exhausting full-time job. Hope you are able to reflect on the amazing work you've done. You're an inspiration. @radiofreefedi That's extremely sad to learn. I quite enjoyed the radio and used it almost daily. @radiofreefedi You built an incredible community that will live on long after RFF is gone. It is not hyperbole to say that my work as a musician would be different if you hadn’t created this; I’ve connected with countless folks because of you. Thank you for everything, and I hope you can get some well-deserved relief. @radiofreefedi @radiofreefedi Thank you for your valuable efforts that I hope will serve as an inspiration for others. 👏 @radiofreefedi Really sad to hear this, but completely understandable. I hope you're able to get some rest and do so happily in the knowledge that all involved were instrumental in bringing a lot of people together. I discovered a lot of music thru the station, and it was always a little thrill when I'd see one of my tracks cycle through the lineup. Thanks for all you have done!  @radiofreefedi Thank you for everything you've done to support the music community, and to bring positive vibes to the fediverse at large! And for featuring some of my own music! Wishing you all the best! @radiofreefedi Really sad to read this but appreciate that it’s a huge undertaking and just want to say thanks for all you’ve done. Hope you enjoy a well-deserved rest. :BlobhajHeart: @radiofreefedi Thanks for everything. I had some nice interaction for people who found my music on your platform. It was a good project.  @radiofreefedi this is fucking tragic and the station will be missed, but i appreciate you all being upfront and prioritizing your health over keeping it going beyond what you can do healthily @radiofreefedi RFF has been both joy and solace to me since I first heard it. Thank you, truly, for creating such a unique and welcoming sonic space online.  @radiofreefedi to everyone who helped in any way, contributed music, or anything else that may not be as well known, thank you. @radiofreefedi Thank you for all your hard work on this project. The supportive community connections have been incredible to witness and experience. Even as it ends, the impact will continue to reverberate forward. @radiofreefedi you’ve really made an impact. It was great to tune in, and contribute my music. A great thing and a good run! @radiofreefedi Thank you for all your efforts! You should be proud: the internet ushered in a strange new era for music, in some ways making it more accessible to do independently, and in others making it more isolating and bleak. But RFF showed that there were people, community and a will for art to be more than a commodity to bolster some techbro's portfolio. I hope it has ploughed fertile ground in the online frontier in which the seeds of creativity will flourish! I'll remember RFF fondly! @radiofreefedi Thank you for all your effort. Sorry to see RFF wind down, but Aelyth and I send you every best wish for the future. @radiofreefedi While this is sad news, I am very grateful of all of the time and effort you put into Radio Free Fedi. Thank you! first reaction: we're just absolutely gutted over here 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 second reaction: i know what a weighty decision this was for you, and we're beyond proud and pleased that you put your personal wellbeing first. SO grateful for this amazing resource ❤️❤️  @radiofreefedi this is very sad. But understandable. Thank you for all your work on this. It was greatly appreciated. |
Gregory's Server
Even though some people might say that RFF is just a radio station, so much more went into our operation than simply running some media streams.
I've worked hard for RFF to be relentlessly pro-artist and positive, when offering artist support of all kinds and when framing critical analysis on struggles and dramas we as independent artsts were facing.
The sad fact of the matter is that RFF cannot sustainably stay in operation despite having put out calls for help throughout 2024.
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