Essays
Long-form writing published under the Johnny Suede name. The full archive lives on Substack; this page is the index.
The attention economy thesis
A series on why attention became the scarce asset in creative markets, and why a token can be a coordination tool rather than a casino chip.
The listing diary
A nine-part personal series that started with the MEXC listing: what actually happens when a self-funded company takes a token to an exchange.
One-click record label
How sync licensing, publishing administration and neighboring rights collapse into a single native stack when the registry, the license and the royalty engine are all contracts.
How this index works
Dates are publication dates on Substack, and each title opens the original post. The list below is a selection; the full archive, and every new post as it goes out, is on Substack.
Music, rights and gear
- The Suno and Udio Settlements, Explained for MusiciansAugust 5, 2026. The labels sued the AI companies. The users lost their songs. This is The Rights Beat, week one.
- The regulator just conceded the whole argumentJuly 31, 2026. Article 50 of the EU AI Act starts applying on Sunday. The most revealing line in it is the exemption.
- C2PA Tracks Media History. Suede Adds Rights Context.July 16, 2026. Content Credentials can show where a file came from and how it changed. They do not prove ownership, consent, licensing, or payment.
- Keep the inefficient circuits. Remove the inefficient permissions and barriers.July 13, 2026. NAM A2 makes amp captures portable, forcing guitar gear companies to compete on hardware, latency, workflow, provenance, and price.
AI search and visibility
- Google Says GEO Is SEO. The Scoreboard Changed.August 24, 2026. For Google Search, the foundation stayed the same. Retrieval, attribution, selection and execution now need separate measurements.
- The Machines Check Your ReferencesAugust 19, 2026. SEO, AEO, GEO, PR, and reputation collapsed into one job: building an entity record machines can corroborate. Who vouches for you decides whether you exist in the answer.
- In the Age of Infinite Content, Spam is Instant DeathJune 30, 2026. Your listicle is spam
AI agents and tool design
- The anatomy of a 71-skill agentAugust 8, 2026. Why memory files fail, what a NOT FOR line does, and why breadth stopped costing anything.
- MCP Tool Design: your surface is the productAugust 3, 2026. The largest MCP spec revision yet just moved the work into your tool parameters. A full course on counting, splitting, naming, securing and caching the surface.
- MCP Tool Design: your surface is the product (full course)July 29, 2026. Six passes to count the real surface, remove collisions, treat output as untrusted, and make the list cacheable.
- Graph Engineering: the layer between prompts and product that nobody teaches (full course)July 27, 2026. Six steps from one agent in a line to a verified fleet, with the receipts at the end.
- The Machines Are BuyingJuly 24, 2026. Software with a budget is a real customer now. Anything you can price and prove you own just became inventory it can buy.
Published elsewhere
In the Age of Infinite Content, Spam Is Instant Death also ran on Programming Insider, under the same headline.
- Programming Insider: In the Age of Infinite Content, Spam Is Instant DeathProgramming Insider, July 2026.
Audio and the company blog
- AI Suede PodcastPodcast feed from Jason Colapietro on Suede AI, creator ownership, music IP, programmable media, and solo founder shipping.
- Suede Blog: Search Visibility, AI Workflows & Creative WorkResearch and practical guides on search and AI visibility, managed AI workflows, music tools, and creator records from Suede AI.