Upsample with Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff

Chernoff Music
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Upsample is a music, tech, and business show co-hosted by longtime friends Carson Tworow (drummer, electronic music producer, and Big Tech professional) and Will Chernoff (bassist, writer, and music industry professional). New episodes on a 2-week schedule.

  1. JAN 30

    Post-American Internet

    "Move fast and break... Kings!" That's what Cory Doctorow calls for in his recent talk. We discuss a potential "post-American internet" future per that talk, then we weave in two related stories: Anna's Archive scraping virtually all of Spotify for torrenting, and Pitchfork launching a paywall. No episode 2 weeks from now (Feb. 13), we return later in February. (0:00) Intro (2:15) Cory Doctorow talk (38:35) Anna's Archive scrapes Spotify (53:17) Pitchfork paywall (1:02:17) Recommendations Legal complaint against Anna's Archive here. Recs: Will - listen to Catalog Club podcast series by Steven Hyden at Evil Speakers on Substack, which covered Lucinda Williams in January. Carson - read Richard Powers novels, including The Echo Maker which Carson gave to Will. FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    1h 10m

  2. JAN 16

    Now They’re Emailing Our Friends

    It's Year 2 of Upsample starting now, and the leading AI music company Suno has already intruded into Will's day-to-day in the local scene. What else is in store? (0:00) Intro & Self-Taught Legend (4:27) Hooks by Suno (12:50) Suno Partner Program (32:06) Bandcamp wants to ban AI music (45:35) Recommendations Recs: Will - listen to Julian Lage: "Opal", "Talking Drum", and "Night Shade" 3 singles from album Scenes from Above coming next week on Blue Note with John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, & Kenny Wollesen. Carson - listen to Blizzard by Dove Ellis. FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    49 min

  3. 2025-12-18

    Finally, Filterworld! Year-Ender at Carson's

    3 days after we published the Side Door episode, a tragic incident injured a loved one of someone from the Side Door community. There's a GoFundMe that the community organized to support them through the hospitalization and recovery. We're back at Carson's house to discuss a book that has influenced our show's entire first year: Filterworld by Kyle Chayka. Stick around for when we look back at all our recommendations across the first 25 episodes and highlight some of them. See you in 2026! (0:00) Upsample Wrapped (11:24) Filterworld (57:27) Recommendations we made in 2025 (1:08:54) Seasonal wishes & outro FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    1h 13m

  4. 2025-12-05

    Hide From Wrapped Season With Us

    After we rage against Spotify Wrapped and follow up on our previous episodes, Carson unpacks three recent stories related by the theme of AI blowback: a maximally high-effort and human album, an anti-AI revival of Vine, and a platform that might get enshittified by its buyer. (0:00) Intro (4:11) Does Will do year-end lists? (5:57) Canada Music Fund $16 million top-up update (7:42) Side Door correction & updates (11:38) AI blowback? (16:59) Lux by Rosalía (31:34) Jack Dorsey-backed DiVine: bring back Vine? (53:50) Spotify acquires WhoSampled (1:03:41) Recommendations Recs: Will - listen to Strays by Way Ahead Trio, Carson - listen to What of Our Nature by Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    1h 6m

  5. 2025-11-21

    Side Door Closing

    We discuss the story of the Canadian live show platform "where every space is a venue" called Side Door, from the company's founding to its coming end, as announced on Nov. 4. Correction: at about 53 minutes, we say Arlene invested out of Dragon's Den, and we later say that Side Door didn't raise again afterward. Per Simpson's comment on the YouTube version of this episode (Nov. 25), it fell through like many of those DD offers do, but Side Door did raise once more afterward: "Arlene did not actually invest...that's a long story, but just to say Dragon's Den is entertainment first. We did get further investment after this from BDC instead." (0:00) The World Series, the Grey Cup, & JP Saxe sang the anthem (3:28) Side Door Access is winding down on Dec. 31 (10:53) Act I: founding to pandemic (32:08) Act II: covid momentum (55:13) Act III: end of the runway (1:04:01) Aftermath & discussion (1:17:59) Outro & recommendations Recommendations: Will – Check out the New Feeling Co-Op of Canadian music journalists Carson – listen to Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2 by Chris Thile FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    1h 23m

  6. 2025-10-29

    Famine at the Aura Farm

    Carson declines to jinx the Jays. Then it's time to lock in for one of our most theoretical conversations yet, in response to the Never Post podcast episode titled "A.I. and New American Fascism". Will chases it with a Canadian story about the possible non-renewal of a $16 million boost to federal music funding. Correction: at pretty much the very end, I say Universal is the majority shareholder in NTS. They're not; they're merely the largest shareholder. Scheduling note: the next Upsample will drop three weeks from now instead of two. (4:07) Never Post episode overview (14:18) Walter Benjamin (21:13) Sora, OpenAI, and agitslop machines (28:32) Hackers, free marketeers, and their fascist fear-monsters (36:01) A CD with Aura - because you can't see it on the audio pod, it's Brighton Train by Madeleine Elkins (with Will on bass and Kevin Romain on drums) and it's out now! (38:49) How does PragerU fit into this?! (44:56) Activism around the Canada Music Fund and Budget 2025 (54:19) Will goes full Ezra (58:24) Recommendations: Will - listen to radio show Self Soothe by Margeaux on NTS, Carson - listen to album Nested in Tangles by Hannah Frances Canada Music Fund links: Letter/advocacy pageDetails of the fundRoots Music Canada piece by Heather Kitching FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    1h 1m

  7. 2025-10-15

    Co-Ops, Labour, Touring, & Streaming w/ Madelyn Read

    Madelyn Read (musician, songwriter, and BC Co-Op Association Community Engagement & Education Manager) is our first-ever guest! (01:07) Introducing Madelyn and her work (05:26) VSO musicians strike update (it's over) (10:33) How Madelyn set up her Europe tour in 2024 (21:54) Talking about streaming (26:44) Leaving Spotify(31:14) Madelyn's nuanced disagreement with us(32:45) Madelyn and Will's history at the Ampled co-op(37:26) The Subvert co-op as a Bandcamp competitor(42:29) Madelyn enables Sports Upsample!(45:26) What happened at the end of Ampled(50:23) Co-op considerations for Subvert's future (55:04) Recommendations Links: Madelyn wrote about streaming, on her websiteSubvert: "Q3 Transparency Report"Subvert features update Recs: Madelyn - listen to Wild and Clear and Blue by I’m With Her, Chandler by Wyatt C. Louis, Good Buddy by Fontine.Carson - listen to Getting Killed by Geese.Will - read Chokepoint Capitalism (2022) by Rebecca Giblin & Cory Doctorow FIND US: Madelyn Bandcamp: https://madelynread.bandcamp.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madelynread/ Will YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/

    1h 1m

  8. 2025-09-25

    VSO Musicians Strike

    Update from later today: VSO musicians have begun their strike. After Will vents about the Canadian Football League controversy, we discuss a potential strike by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) musicians (4:32), purported salary discrepancies (17:52), and we catch a brief response by the VSO in real time while recording (23:22). We jumped the usual schedule to talk about this news, so the next episode of Upsample will drop three weeks from now. VSO musicians' strike announcement videoDaily Hive story which includes response from the VSO1999 CBC story about Toronto and Montreal Recs: Will - watch, listen to, read anything made between 1941 and 1956, inspired by Ted Gioia "Is Mid-20th Century American Culture Getting Erased?" Carson - listen to Bleeds by Wednesday FIND US: Will -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@williamchernoff/ -Rhythm Changes: https://www.rhythmchanges.ca/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamchernoff/ Carson -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ctworow/ -Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/ctworow.bsky.social/ -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctworow/ Hosted by Carson Tworow & Will Chernoff. Edited and mixed by Will Chernoff. A Chernoff Music podcast. Theme music by Carson Tworow.

    32 min
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About

Upsample is a music, tech, and business show co-hosted by longtime friends Carson Tworow (drummer, electronic music producer, and Big Tech professional) and Will Chernoff (bassist, writer, and music industry professional). New episodes on a 2-week schedule.

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