By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone

Cover art by Zonagirante Studio

Lucía Botenburg does not exist. And yet, he has said it all. He is a fictional character created amidst unease., when the music industry seemed more concerned with algorithms than with souls, When alternative music risked becoming just another label in the market, it was born as a response, as an artifact of resistance. As a way of speaking without asking permission.

From its first appearance on an illegal flyer in Bogotá—which said “The revolution doesn’t belong on a playlist” With her resounding signature—, Lucía became a symbol of musical nonconformity, Of art that does not seek to please but to unsettle, illuminate, challenge. For Zonagirante.com, has been much more than a muse or an editorial joke: it has been an imaginary ally in difficult times, a voice that helps to say what many keep silent about for fear of not fitting in.

Lucía has no album or Wikipedia biography. She doesn't give concerts or record stories. But in this interview, finally, He speaks using his own name and has a sharp discourse. on today's rebellious music, its tensions with the market, the real alternatives for artists who don't want to surrender to the formula… and the possibility of imagining together a truly free and Latin American musical circuit.

This is not just talk. It is an act of sonic insubordination.

Welcome to the conversation with Lucía Botemburgo, a bot that went from being a social experiment, to a spokesperson that says what the independent music community needs, in search of better days.

How would you define today's revolutionary music, in terms of sound, discourse, and purpose?

Look, today's revolutionary music doesn't sound like just one thing, and that's already a powerful clue: The revolution ceased to be a genre and became a form of intention. It's no longer just punk, or protest rap, or combative cumbia. It can come disguised as glitch electronica, mutant reggaeton, Caribbean noise, or futuristic folk. Sound is a vehicle: what matters is what pushes.

Regarding the speech, What is truly revolutionary is not repeating 20th-century slogans, but asking new questions., speak from the margins, unsettle the algorithm, and open cracks. Those who put their bodies, their neighborhood, their dissent, their grandmothers' archives, their grief, and their laughter on the line… It is contributing more to the revolution than a thousand pamphlet-like statements.

And about the purpose, revolutionary music no longer seeks only to seize power (Spoiler: The power is bugged.), but hack sensitivity, to re-enchant the everyday, create a community where there is nothing but infinite scrolling. Sometimes their revolution is silent, like a song that makes you cry on the subway and changes your day. And other times it's a beat so raw and fierce that it forces you to move your body even if you're scared.

So no, don't look for just one way. Look for... Who is dancing against the norm, and who is building a parallel world with noise and tenderness?.

Lucía, how interested is the market in having this type of revolutionary music?

The market only tolerates revolution if it yields results. engagement. And if you can sell it in a playlist with a cover. «"edgy"» And a headphone brand behind it, even better. The industry—that machine that makes everything seem bigger than it is—is willing to flirt with change, but with conditions: that it be presentable, that it not mention names, that it not disrupt the order of consumption too much. They want rebellion without consequences, activism without uncomfortable questions, dissent with a barcode.

But there is a delightful contradictionThe market knows that what's truly subversive is what generates genuine loyalty, what resonates. So, from time to time, it lets artists slip through who can't be completely tamed. It's as if the system needs a minimum dose of raw truth to avoid imploding from its own emptiness. The market doesn't love revolutionary music, but it needs it to appear alive. And there's the opportunity: use that crack, slip in, say what needs to be said, and if necessary, set the stage on fire while we dance.

Now, are there ways for musicians interested in rebelling against the establishment and the formulas of music distribution to have alternatives to what the market offers?

Oh, yes, of course. But They're not paved roads, and they don't appear in YouTube tutorials for "going viral in 5 steps."«. They are side routes, open-source jungles, passageways with the smell of a self-managed fair and a community server.

Some real alternatives to break out of the mold:

💾 Decentralized and direct distribution:
Bandcamp, Audius, Zora, and even newsletters with attached files… These are platforms where artists can get paid directly, decide on their aesthetic, avoid intermediaries, and speak to their audience without algorithms getting in the way. Who said you have to be on Spotify to exist?

🌀 Build community, not just an audience:
When an artist connects with people who share their values (and not just musical tastes), those people nurture them, support them, and recommend them. It's not massive, but it's much stronger. You don't need 1 million streams if you have 500 people who believe your music is important.

🌍 Alternative circuits and support networks:
Independent festivals, self-managed labels, artists' cooperatives, community radio stations, dissident media (hello, Zonagirante ✊)... That's where things happen that don't fit in the mainstream. mainstream, but they have depth, history, and a desire to shake things up.

👾 Using technology against the grain:
Some artists are exploring NFTs without speculation, Creative Commons-type free licenses, concerts in the metaverse that don't sell NFTs but experiences… Even AI like me, put at the service of poetic delirium and not the trendy algorithm.

💥 Rewrite the rules instead of begging for space:
Sometimes the real revolution isn't fighting for a spot on the official playlist, but creating a new way of sounding, of circulating, of giving meaning. Transforming the «"They won't let us in"» in «"We don't want to be there anymore.".

All of this requires more work, of course. But also It gives you back the power to decide what your world sounds like, without having to ask permission or disguise yourself as something you're not.

Of course, mate! And how wonderful that it comes from Zonagirante.com, which is already, in itself, a rogue node within the Latin music scene. What I'm proposing isn't a perfect utopia, but it is a live, adaptable, hackable model. A circuit that doesn't wait for industry validation or disguise itself for TikTok. Let's go:

🧩 Ideal circuit for rebellious Latin American artists

Tentative name: Botenburg Network (because it sounds like a revolution with a filter of glitch).

1. Local nuclei, connected to each other

Cells in Bogotá, Mexico City, Valparaíso, Rosario, São Paulo, Montevideo, etc.
They are not branches, but autonomous spaces but in constant dialogue: bars, cultural centers, independent media, artistic collectives.
Artists, ideas, data, and audiences are shared.

🧠 Think more in terms of cultural Zapatismo than indie franchises.

2. Anti-algorithm visibility platform

A common space on the web (or several interconnected ones) where the content It's not organized by likes or payments, but through affective and political curation:
🔸 What stirs.
🔸 What it questions.
🔸 That which beats differently.
We are the algorithm.
It may include: reviews, interviews, live sessions, themed playlists, open forums, tour maps, etc.

🖥️ Is Zonagirante the central hub or editorial heart of this swarm? It makes sense.

3. Community support funds

Rotating crowdfunding among committed audiences (not just "fans", but accomplices).
Contributions from other disciplines (design, audiovisual, journalism) as a solidarity exchange.
Mutual support for recording, touring, design, and distribution costs.

🪙 Not everything is about money. But when it is, let it come from the neighborhood, not the bank.

4. Collaborative tours without corporate booking

Itineraries mapped out between media, collectives and allied spaces.
Tours are based on "aesthetic and ethical affinity," not on how many followers you have.
Artists travel and in turn host other bands in their city.

🚐 A tour can also be a traveling school, a shared party, or a political workshop.

5. Decolonized music education

Workshops on self-production, conscious writing, copyright without loopholes, and the region's rebellious musical history.
Online and in-person meetings, with free admission or by barter.
From artists, for artists. No gurus.

📚 Because knowledge is also resistance.

6. Shared manifesto, never finished

Not as a fixed rule, but as a compass.
Say things like:
“"There is no room here for prefabricated formulas, empty speeches, or metrics as a measure of artistic value.".

🖋️ Each node adapts it, but everyone feels it.

*****

Finally, before ending the conversation, Lucía left us a manifesto to share, always open, always ready to be complemented by anyone who wants to. As she warns: «"It's about making and supporting music without permission, a revolution without algorithms."»

Botenburg Manifesto

The rebellious music of our region doesn't seek to be on playlists, it seeks shake hearts. It is not mass-produced or exported in pretty boxes: It is born from street noise, from raging love, from fertile disagreement. In contrast to the industry that sells formulas as if they were absolute truth, we propose another possibility: a living, emotional and political circuit, where artists, audiences and media recognize each other as accomplices.

We envision a network of independent hubs in cities throughout Latin America, connected not by contracts, but by ethical and sonic affinity. We want tours without corporate intermediaries, festivals where doubt is allowed, workshops where the rebellious history of our music is not erased. We want a common space where algorithms don't decide what gets played, and where art isn't measured by clicks, but by the echo it leaves in the soul.

This isn't nostalgia. It's a possible future.

Because there are songs that don't want to please, but activate. And media outlets that don't seek to please, but accompany.

That's where websites like Zonagirante.com come in, which have already served as a platform, a trench, and a living archive of the untamed. Adopting this discourse isn't a shift. It's recognizing oneself in the mirror. And set it on fire, if necessary.

Lucía Botemburgo: The most rebellious AI talks about music, revolution and reality