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Joe Martin calls himself a 21st century troubadour. He is an independent singer-songwriter based on the Isle of Man, writing Americana and country, touring the UK, and selling music and merch for sats.

In this episode of Share Your Bitcoin Journey, Bitcoin For The Arts founder Dion Wilson sits down with Joe about putting the song first, the streaming economy that paid him almost nothing, and the week he uploaded one song as a podcast and earned about $100. That was more than years on Spotify.

They walk through his album Alone in Valentine, recorded in Nashville with Cal Campbell and Cornelius Webb, sons of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb. Joe went to Valentine, Texas, to shoot the artwork himself. He spent most of his savings. He made the record with no AI, on purpose. He wanted one fully human document before shortcuts became the default. The parallel is plain. Inflation eats your money. AI slop eats your art.

IN THIS EPISODE: Piano at five, a guitar in his teens, and a father who wrote songs at home Why he calls himself a 21st century troubadour It's all about the song: nothing left to take away Why he left the UK for the Isle of Man About $100 in the first week on RSS, more than years on Spotify The chicken and egg of value for value Alone in Valentine: Nashville, most of his savings, and no AI Inflation and AI slop as twin debasements Vinyl at Grimey's in Nashville, and why he would rather be paid in sats A room of 30 listeners over a room of a thousand Advice for a younger songwriter: Nostr first, then RSS, then save the sats What a $500 to $2,000 Bitcoin micro-grant would unlock: marketing the album

FIND JOE MARTIN: Website: https://www.joemartinmusic.com Listen and zap: Fountain and Wavlake U.S. vinyl: Grimey's, Nashville Nostr: Joe Martin Watch: https://youtu.be/MXUgrViBCaI

ABOUT BITCOIN FOR THE ARTS: 501(c)(3) nonprofit empowering artists with Bitcoin grants, education, and sovereign funding tools. https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org Grants: https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/grants/apply Donate: https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/donate X: https://x.com/Bitcoinfta Nostr: https://primal.net/p/npub15rnn220qfdyhpgv9apjt38nadc0dzj8a7zpcrd2q4spq5apvvt2suswnaw

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Classically trained in London, disillusioned with the arts establishment in Reykjavik, and now living with his wife and children in the mountains of central Italy, Anik Malcolm is producing some of the most rigorous fine art anywhere in the Bitcoin space today.

His practice carries a two-word tagline: Depicting Bitcoin. His most consequential work is a monumental oil painting titled The Whole Entire Universe, which debuted at Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas after more than 900 hours of labor. Twenty-one million beads. A cube of 276 by 276 by 276. Each face yields exactly 4,096 squares. The halving pattern appears in the image itself, and it only works cleanly at 21 million.

In this episode of Share Your Bitcoin Journey, Bitcoin For The Arts founder Dion Wilson sits down with Anik to go back to the beginning: classical training, the gallery-world moment that broke the spell, the move to Italy, how Bitcoin became not just a subject but the subject of his entire practice, collecting and exhibiting outside the museum circuit in places like Lugano and Roatan, fatherhood inside a sound-money household, and what a renaissance in serious craft looks like when it happens outside MoMA.

IN THIS EPISODE:

- Knowing he would spend his life making things since childhood

- Classical fine art training in London and pattern recognition as a way of seeing

- Disillusionment with the arts establishment in London and Reykjavik

- The gallery meeting that felt like the fiat system sitting across the table

- Moving to the mountains of central Italy with his wife and children

- How Bitcoin clicked after selling a Reykjavik flat, and why it became the whole practice

- Folding an entire artistic identity into Depicting Bitcoin

- The Whole Entire Universe: 21 million beads, math, meaning, and the Las Vegas debut

- Bitcoin patronage geography: Lugano, Las Vegas, and a planned sculpture in Roatan

- Building an artistic household and what his kids learn by watching dedication

- Where the practice is heading over the next five to 10 years

- What a $500 to $2,000 Bitcoin micro-grant from BFTA would unlock for a sculpture version

FIND ANIK:

Website: https://anikmalcolm.com

X: Anik Malcolm

Nostr: Anik Malcolm

YouTube video version: https://youtu.be/Uq8f4HcZYQg

ABOUT ANIK MALCOLM:

Conceptual multimedia artist. Classically trained in London. Based in the mountains of central Italy. Practice tagline: Depicting Bitcoin. Creator of The Whole Entire Universe.

ABOUT BITCOIN FOR THE ARTS:

501(c)(3) nonprofit empowering artists with Bitcoin micro-grants, workshops, and education. The first nonprofit paying artists exclusively in Bitcoin.

https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org

Donate: https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/donate

Grants: https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/grants/apply

Substack: https://substack.com/@bitcoinforthearts

X: https://x.com/Bitcoinfta

Nostr: https://primal.net/p/npub15rnn220qfdyhpgv9apjt38nadc0dzj8a7zpcrd2q4spq5apvvt2suswnaw

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

In this conversation, Bitcoin For The Arts founder Dion Wilson sits down with Philip Charter, the British author, editor, and ghostwriter behind Totally Human Writer, and the co-editor of 21 Futures, the world's first Bitcoin fiction anthology.

Philip lives in Gran Canaria. He is the co-editor of 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain, a collection of twenty-one stories from twenty-one authors including Knut Svanholm and Ioni Appelberg, released by Konsensus Network in 2023 and presented at Bitcoin Atlantis in 2024. He has published seven books, and his writing tips have earned over three million impressions on LinkedIn.

His thesis has quietly made him one of the most influential communicators in the Bitcoin space: "We don't need more technical explanations. We need to get better at telling stories."

IN THIS EPISODE:

- Walking away from a London marketing career in 2011 and teaching English across three continents

- The coaching client whose book about "something called Bitcoin" changed everything

- Founding Totally Human Writer as the deliberate opposite of AI-generated content

- Editing 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain, the world's first Bitcoin fiction anthology

- Working with Knut Svanholm, Ioni Appelberg, and Niko Laamanen to build the book

- 21 Futures becoming an imprint of Konsensus Network in 2025

- Building the Gran Canaria Bitcoin community and the monthly "Proof of Walk" gatherings

- Three million LinkedIn impressions on writing tips, and what content actually works for Bitcoin founders

- Ghostwriting for Bitcoin leaders: what converts, what falls flat, and what founders keep getting wrong

- Advice for creators and writers looking to enter the Bitcoin space professionally

- What a $500 to $2,000 Bitcoin micro-grant from BFTA would unlock for the next 21 Futures project

READ PHILIP'S WORK:

Totally Human Writer: https://totallyhumanwriter.com

Philip Charter: https://philipcharter.com

21 Futures: https://21futures.com

ABOUT PHILIP CHARTER:

British author, editor, and ghostwriter based in Gran Canaria. Founder of Totally Human Writer. Co-editor of 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain, the world's first Bitcoin fiction anthology. Author of seven books.

ABOUT BITCOIN FOR THE ARTS:

501(c)(3) nonprofit empowering artists with Bitcoin micro-grants, workshops, and education. The first nonprofit paying artists exclusively in Bitcoin.

https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org

Donate: https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/donate

Grants: https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/grants/apply

Substack: https://substack.com/@bitcoinforthearts

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/c--KiT8r8iI