All posts by scott truitt

Posted on Nov 26, 2025 at 13:11 by scott truitt

It happens every week now. Something nudges this post from Andy Dunn about the four words behind his CEO job description to the forefront of my mind, and before I know it, I’m saying them out loud again: 1. Create hope. 2. Define reality. They are deceptively simple in isolation but uniquely challenging in tandem. Staying firmly grounded between these two extremes requires the ability to see the world as it clearly is today and project how it could be tomorrow with time, energy, and money. Th

Posted on Aug 4, 2025 at 09:08 by scott truitt

The idea that software is suddenly easy now because of AI is a fallacy at best or a ruse at worst. Especially when it comes to streaming music. And I say that as someone who is consistently in awe of what AI can do for software development. Presuming your product or service requires the legal rights to use music, which it absolutely should, the heavy lifting is all on securing complex agreements in multiple territories with an almost infinite number of parties or costly upfront payments for gl

Posted on Aug 3, 2025 at 08:21 by scott truitt

I have a new Sunday morning ritual: reading and reflecting on all the posts and links I saved over the previous week because I wasn’t in the headspace or didn’t have the time to give it. I saw an intro to a piece from Anna Branten—somehow, I had not come across her work before—and instantly knew I would love it. Surprising no one who knows me, her conclusion resonated the most: We must stop treating value extraction as innovation. When a company builds its success by underpaying creators, outs

Posted on Jul 24, 2025 at 23:00 by scott truitt

We live in a digital world. It feels strange to say it in 2025, but it’s true, and even I forget to step back and think about what that means. From my teenage years in the 1990s until now, the internet has been my constant companion, shaping both my work and play. It’s a part of me, like the air I breathe, the water I drink, and the food I eat. However, over the past 30-odd years, we’ve witnessed a shift from the early, hopeful days of the internet—when it was about connection, inclusion, univ

Posted on Jul 14, 2025 at 23:00 by scott truitt

Of all the things I did and all the decisions I made over the past year of building FOREPLAI (now Sawtooth), nothing has been more controversial than our name. I’ve questioned my wisdom, or lack thereof, more than anyone else. I know it complicates intros and first discussions. However, I didn’t name it for myself, our team, partners, or investors. I named it for the distracted masses. Those who face the daily deluge of unimaginative marketing from thoroughly unremarkable companies. Each one

Posted on Jul 12, 2025 at 23:00 by scott truitt

My experience in the music industry is slim, but I have studied the tech industry from the inside and out for 30 years. And I can say the following sentence with complete confidence: This moment is as good as it will ever be in the current system. It will only worsen from here, as it has since the needs of platform companies became more important than those of independent artists, labels, and fans. Spotify, YouTube, and the others will not suddenly come to their senses and decide to pay more

Posted on Jul 6, 2025 at 23:00 by scott truitt

In the early days of Sawtooth, we decided not to launch without securing the rights to the music we wanted to sell. That’s a lie. There was never any debate. It was always the only way. The original inspiration for Sawtooth came to me in the late ’90s and early 2000s. I wanted a way to share music with my friends that didn’t take away from the artist. I also wanted a way to show my gratitude and continued support by paying a small amount of money for every play. I would never even consider “t

Posted on Jul 2, 2025 at 05:43 by scott truitt

Modern music has always had someone or something—labels, agents, lawyers, managers, publicists, distributors, and more—between artists and fans. Many are thoughtful and transformative. Some are dreadful and destructive. However, even the worst of all is no match for today’s dominant intermediaries, social and streaming companies. They emerged over the last decade with weaponised technology, unprecedented reach, and brazen leaders willing to do anything for power and profit. And they are destro

Posted on Jun 30, 2025 at 08:46 by scott truitt

I didn’t go to Glastonbury this weekend, and I’m sad to say I’ve never been. However, the combination of an exhausting week and extreme heat led to a lazy weekend spent watching much of the spectacle from my sofa, courtesy of the BBC. And I was treated to a show unlike any other, blending genres, genealogies, generations, and genders on stage and in the crowd. It was a celebration of humanity, focused on the immense creativity of a few thousand artists and shared with a massive, momentary com

Posted on Jun 28, 2025 at 08:23 by scott truitt

“We bring music to fans and fans to music.” That sentence came to me on an otherwise routine morning walk with the pup last weekend. Bear in mind that I have spent the better part of the last year writing about our purpose, product, and plans for the future at Sawtooth, as well as over 25 years thinking about the ideas behind it. I never, ever approached anything as elegant or straightforward as this one sentence. It says everything in nine words. And it reminds me of a favourite anecdote ab

Posted on Jun 26, 2025 at 07:30 by scott truitt

I waited in line by myself to buy the first Apple iPod in 2001. I arrived about 20 minutes before the Apple Store in my hometown of Columbus opened. It was the debut of Apple’s first handheld device at one of its first retail stores in the US. Two experiments at once. Less than six years later, I queued for hours with thousands to buy the first iPhone at the Apple Store in San Francisco. The line stretched down Stockton St and around O’Farrell St. People dressed in costume (never a surprise i

Posted on Jun 15, 2025 at 07:51 by scott truitt

“Start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where to sell it.” Yep, Steve Jobs. In 1997. Here we are in 2025, almost 30 years later, watching tech companies spend wildly to embed AI in the customer experience without regard to human needs. Indeed, human needs seem to be last on the list of their features and benefits. And they’re not even trying to sell AI, much less charge for it; most are forcing it on u