Mix Your Own MTV, The Changing Patterns of Brand Growth, and What's So Great About Britain?

👋🏼 Hello!

🔔 Welcome to 2026. I’ve deliberately avoided including any 2026 previews in this newsletter, as, well, I’m not sure anyone really knows what this year will bring. Stay safe, stay curious.

💻 We’ve been digging around in data around music streaming this week at Storythings, so that’s where this week’s data nugget comes from. I watched a LOT of tv and film over the holidays, so it’s been interesting researching how streaming TV and music influence each other.

📢 Kate Bush earned around £2.3m in streaming royalties when Running Up That Hill was used as a major plot point in Stranger Things series 4. That will have gone up with Series 5, and the estate of Prince will have done pretty well too (no spoilers). Personally, I’m really glad to see the Cowboy Junkies getting a moment in the sun! #GenX

📕 The Short Story

The Changing Pattern of Brand Growth (5-min read)

Why MAGA Is Wrong About Norman Rockwell (6-min read)

Mix Your Own MTV (Lots of Nostalgia)

What I Learned About Newsletters in 2025 (10-min read)

Ryan Coogler Explains Film Formats (10-min watch)

How AI Gentrifies Culture (5-min read)

What’s So Great About Britain? (15-min read)

En Iwamura’s Gorgeous Ceramic Art (5-min read)

Peak Satisfaction Is Smashing The Von Duprin (1-min watch)

📣 Steven Johnson and Brian Eno On Art (5-min watch) 📣

📚 The Long Story

The Changing Pattern of Brand Growth (5-min read)
I really like Rei Inamoto’s newsletter. It feels like you’re tapping into the lived experience of someone who has done a LOT in their career. So I’m excited to hear he’s launching a new report about how brand growth works now. Just the list of insights had me nodding along in agreement, in particular ‘from funnel to flywheel’ - we’re big fans of the flywheel model at Storythings.

Why MAGA Is Wrong About Norman Rockwell (6-min read)
US politics is truly awful right now for lots of reasons, but this article about how MAGA misappropriates culture for propaganda shows how some artists are standing up against them. Well worth a click to remind yourself how much Rockwell used his art to comment on social issues, including poverty and civil rights.

Mix Your Own MTV (Lots of Nostalgia)
MTV long ago stopped being about music videos, and is now long repetitive schedules of reality show repeats. This great online app remixes Youtube videos so you can create your own best version of MTV with a mix of videos, live performances and even ads. Glorious.

What I Learned About Newsletters in 2025 (10-min read)
You know that I love the Inbox Collective, a constant source of great insights into writing and monetising newsletters. Bookmark this link, and follow their advice - I particularly like the one about only being on 2-3 platforms, and to ‘Do Your Own Damn Thing’!

Ryan Coogler Explains Film Formats (10-min watch)
This is an excellent video from earlier in 2025 posted to the Storythings Slack channel by Darren Garrett our resident design and film nerd. Using just a whiteboard, Coogler does a great job of breaking down all the different formats they used to film and present his movie Sinners. I’d sign up for Coogler’s film school in an instant.

How AI Gentrifies Culture (5-min read)
This is a great criticism of what we lose with AI, and why we need ‘sh*tty artists’. It’s a different take on the idea that art comes through failure and getting things wrong, and if we take that step out, we lose what makes it art.

What’s So Great About Britain? (12-min read)
As someone who grew up and lives in Britain, but has a very ambivalent relationship with our culture and history, I actually really liked GQ’s cover story. I’m a sucker for an oral history/interview format, and they’ve assembled a really interesting group of British talent who have diverse views on British Culture. I particularly like Mr Blobby’s insightful and philosophical takes.

En Iwamura’s Gorgeous Ceramic Art (5-min read)
Thanks to Steve Bryant’s excellent newsletter for introducing me to En Iwamura’s hand-coiled ceramic art. As a fan of Pottery Throw-down (new series just started!) the colours and textures he achieves with clay are incredible.

Peak Satisfaction Is Smashing The Von Duprin (1-min watch)
This is also from Steve’s newsletter, and I had to include it for putting a name to something that is part of everyday life, but rarely thought about. It’s Friday- go ahead and smash the Von Duprin!

📣 Steven Johnson and Brian Eno On Art (5-min watch) 📣
Reading the article about AI gentrifying art linked above reminded me of the video series Storythings made with Steven Johnson and Brian Eno 10 years ago. I love Eno’s definition of culture has ‘everything you don’t have to do’.

💌 Humans of LinkedIn

This isn’t a 2026 preview, but a great LinkedIn post about how to be more curious, from Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff. Curiosity is the key to creativity, and life is more interesting if you’re curious. As Le Cunff says “This isn’t about adding more to your plate but rather opening your life to new questions, new routes, new ways of paying attention.”

LEARN HOW TO STAY CURIOUS IN 2026 HERE →

Drop us a line if you have anything you’d like us to share in a future edition of this newsletter, or of course if you have any comments or suggestions for us!

Have a great weekend!

Matt, Anjali, Hugh, and the team