The reality of chasing pop

It’s tempting for a creator. To make a pop hit, a song or a book or a meme that becomes a popular idea and part of the culture.

In our lifetimes, it’s become possible to imagine that you could even make a living creating pop.

But pop is a harsh mistress, because pop means popular, which is, by definition rare and unfairly distributed. As long as it’s easy to create and rare to have a hit, there will be a huge majority of people who don’t win this lottery.

And it is a lottery.

It’s tempting to believe that passion, skill and perhaps talent are sufficient to make a living in pop, but the math says otherwise.

It’s available to all of us, but there’s no guarantee that you can make a living at it.