Soapbox Sessions Episode 33: AI Music Contra-Versy, The NosVegas Show, and the Week Derek Broke the AI Budget Heather Larson and Derek Ross are back with a packed episode covering NOS Vegas, Tunestr.io 2.0, AI music, the new Ditto features, and a dive into the latest AI workplace stats. Plus: Right Said Fred joins Nostr, social media detox science, and a debate about whether AI-generated music needs a warning label. In This Episode NoSVegas April 28: tunestr.io Buy tickets! https://nosvegas.shakespeare.wtf/ Maggie Mae's Austin: https://maggiemaesaustin.com/ Derek's Nostr Resources: https://nostr-resources.surge.sh/ Ditto: try on web, Google Play, Zapstore, and now iOs! KC Bitcoiners Block Party RSVP: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOK7RiAhAhYqsKIYqNjI_mep9io8Gwbt-uNbhi_9tW6I0XIA/viewform AI has replaced work for 20% of full-time US employees: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/rcna267238 #NosVegas is April 28 at We All Scream nightclub (near Fremont St). We'll have talks in the Grow Nostr room to kick off the night at 7:00 with the party running from 7pm to 1am. Talks from Heather, Derek, Paul from Primal, Eric from Portland, and new talk from Car from Pleblab and Christian from OpenAgents. Live music from Sara Jade, Abel James, and The Higher Low, then DJ Tatum Turnup upstairs. One confirmed special guest, second still in the works. Tickets are $21. Stream live at tunestr.io. Tunestr.io 2.0 is dropping. New features, bug fixes, social content on events pages, and updated copy about what the platform is and why it exists. Derek and Claude coded it together, Tunestr Founder OpenMike approved it, and it goes live this week. Maggie Mae's in Austin rebuilt their entire website using Shakespeare and added a Nostr-powered events calendar. Every musical act, almost every day of the week, all on Nostr. The site is at maggiemaesaustin.com and it is a case study in how a non-developer small business can go full Nostr without starting from scratch. Annonymal is a real band. Six members, all anonymous by choice, writing and recording their own music. They did a Geyser Fund campaign to cover studio time. People assumed they were AI because there are no faces. They are not AI. Contra makes music with his son. His son plays drums and studies music theory. They use Logic Pro and some AI in the process. Contra has been taking heat for AI slop but the father-son angle has never been on the Geyser Fund page. It should be. Heather interviewed him on Radio Detox, episode out within 24 hours of this one. Should AI music have a label? Heather and Derek debate the line between AI-augmented and AI-generated, how Spotify has created fake AI playlists to cut royalties, and whether a song you genuinely enjoyed becomes less valuable once you know it was machine-made. No clean answer reached. 20 percent of full-time US workers say AI is already doing part of their job. 50 percent of adults used AI at least once in the past week. Only 8 percent are using autonomous agents. Half of workers using AI at work are paying for their own subscriptions, not using company-provided tools. Anthropic changed the Claude Code subscription model, blocking access to third-party tools like OpenClaw. Derek tried Gemma 4 from Google (did not go well), then switched to GLM 5.1 from Z.AI at $80 per quarter. It works but requires more prompting. Paying per API token for one week cost $200. Ditto launched new features including Blobbi virtual pets, Letters (decorated personal messages with 3D envelope animations), a full in-app article editor, badges, custom emoji packs with drag-and-drop, and the ability to run Nsites directly inside the app. Head to Ditto.pub, or get it in the App Store, Google Play, and ZapStore! Derek updated his Nostr resources guide. Videos, podcasts, articles, and guides all in one place for anyone new to the space. Nostr Nights Nashville is May 11. DM Derek Ross if you want to speak or just show up. Heather is speaking virtually at the KC Bitcoiners Block Party this Sunday, April 19. Chapters 00:00 Intro and Vegas Hype 01:15 QW Update: Where Has He Been? 02:33 NOS Vegas April 28 Details 05:40 Tunestr.io 2.0 Is Dropping 08:43 TikTok vs Tunestr Live Streaming 10:50 Maggie Mae's Austin Built on Nostr 13:02 Anyone Can Do This (Open Source Moment) 19:17 Is That Band Actually AI? 23:32 Contra Makes Music With His Son 26:27 Should AI Music Have a Warning Label? 31:57 AI Is Doing 20% of People's Jobs 36:30 Anthropic Killed OpenClaw Access 41:28 Only 8% Use Autonomous Agents 44:01 Gen Z Hates AI and Honestly Fair 47:48 Half of Workers Pay for AI Themselves 52:33 Don't Paste Patient Data Into Claude 57:03 Derek's Updated Nostr Resources 59:45 Nostr Nights Nashville May 11