Month: January 2021

Stop Handing Out Flyers

There was a time when we didn’t spray a firehose of images, videos, and words into our eyeballs for multiple hours, every day. Around the clock.

During that time we still made albums, published magazines, made videos, and everything else.

The thing I hear a lot, if we abandon social media, is how will we be found? How will our music get heard? How will our videos get watched?

Look, they will.

Back in the day you’d hand out flyers for the show you were playing that night. Put the flyers in the local music shop. Hand them to anyone wearing Chuck Taylors or a nose ring.

Social media is where you hand out flyers, but at a certain point you gotta head back to the venue and play a show.

We’ve all bought into the 24/7 social media marketing life style, heading both directions; both as the consumer and the advertiser.

But there comes a time when you gotta put the phone down and work. You’re going to have to miss that meme, or that person who did the thing, or that random video.

Trust that the wonderful people in your life will send you some of the highlights. Also be okay with missing shit.

Like, how many memes have you missed when they first came out? Then you discovered it three months later. Still funny, right? Great. What’d you lose? Nothing.

Get into your studio, your space, put on your headphones and make your art. That’s the thing that people will discover three months from now. That clever Tweet or funny IG story is nice and all, but it’s gone in a day. Poof.

Put your top stuff on a site. Your writing, your photos, your music, your whatever. Give it a home where people can find it. And keeping filling it up. Keep adding. Make it your home.

People will find you when they find you, and it’ll probably be for your art, the magic you bring to the world.

Photo by Mick Haupt from Pexels

Daily Loop #31

A month of loops (you can see them all here). My goal was to make music each day, even if “just” a loop that I liked, and I hit that mark. I’ve enjoyed the process. It got me out of bed in the morning, instead of scrolling through Instagram, so with that alone I’ve spent my time creating, learning, and crafting something, which I’m happy about.

Today’s loop is noisy, and dark, and off rhythm in a way I can’t explain, but it’s done. Not everything will be perfect, and that’s okay.

Just putting this out there – if anyone would like to join in – say with a melody, or a beat, or a video – please get in touch! I have no idea of that whole “musical collaboration over the internet” thing, but I’d love to dive in.

LIKES

“Creators talk about Instagram as a game, a conversation forever circling “gaming the algorithm.” But the game is less like monopoly and more like poker. The house always wins,” Danielle Evans from ‘Algorithm is Gonna’ Get You: How Instagram Failed the Creative Class.”

Source: @_tyedied
Source: @the___carousel
Source: @the___carousel
Source: @the___carousel

Video by Pat Whelen from Pexels

Daily Loop #30

I never know which way a loop is going to go. This one actually started off with some real bass, but I settled on synth bass instead, along with loops of dialogue chopped up into random bits.

There’s actually another version of this loop on my desktop, which vocals. It’s a radical departure from my other material with vocals, so I’m sitting on it. It’s odd to consider where some of these loops could go, without the “daily” limitation, but that’s something I’ll figure out eventually.

LIKES

“Just another reminder that in Welsh if you want to say ‘to calm my mind’ the traditional phrase directly translates to ‘to return to my trees,'” @_meggybread

Video by Kelly Lacy from Pexels

Daily Loop #29

More loops, more beeps, more reverb. Remember, it’s not on / off, black or white. You don’t have to be in a recording studio or on an expensive set shooting a video. Start where you’re at, put it out there.

LIKES

“A lot of the “creator economy” is basically mainstreaming what bloggers have been doing for years now. Own your platform (WordPress + email list), sell products (PDFs, eBooks), build a community (FB groups). It’s like watching history repeat itself, but with different software,” @monicalent

“Stop calling yourself an “aspiring” writer. If you’re putting effort into writing, no matter how financially successful or big an audience, guess what, you’re already a writer. Stop selling your own passion and achievements short,” @mattmillswrites

https://twitter.com/frederiquepng/status/1354844351399157761

Video by Pressmaster from Pexels

Delight Your Current Fans

The fantastic Andy J Pizza gives some solid, practical advice in this podcast, talking all about using social media for your benefit while being mindful of the cost.

One of the biggest take-aways – stop focusing on new followers and instead put effort into engagement. People who follow you are the fans at your show, the friends at your gallery show, the people who bought a print.

Keep putting out killer work so you’re top of mind for the people who already raised their hand and said, “I want more of this.”

Daily Loop #28

It starts with a sample, really. Oh, I’ll just make a drum beat. Then before you know I pull out the microphone and weirdness just happens.

“You are the center piece, you are the way to go!”

Between full-time professional musicians who are in real studios recording albums, and the whole “I just don’t want to make music” (which is where I was a few months ago), there is a wide ranges of places to be. I see these people everyday on social media, playing guitar and singing in front of a propped up smart phone. Finger drums on some cool piece of gear. Ambient live streams with enough equipment to launch rockets.

I discovered the idea of “picking yourself” from Seth Godin, who wrote about it back in 2011 and 2015 (and other times, too, probably).

Once you understand that there are problems just waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities to contribute abound. No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself.

Seth Godin in ‘Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself‘

There is room for all of our music, our art, our photography. But we can’t hoard it. We can’t wait until it’s perfect, for someday, because someday we might not be here. The world needs softness, and weird music, and quirky art.

Pick something you made and put it out there. And do it again. Pick yourself, we need you.

Daily Loop #27

Feeling absolutely zero inspiration at the start of this one today, and ran into some software issues, but it got done.

The links below… just, damn. I spend far less on social media than I used to, and these sorts of gems belong somewhere, you know? Like, that artwork is from Ms Wearer. There are so many people who aren’t on Instagram, or the various other channels they’re on. I don’t know. I just want people to see all this wonderful art, and photographs, and solid quotes, but I also want it to be somewhere, too, and not locked away in random silos.

Okay, I need some coffee. Have a good day, friends.

LIKES

“I refuse to create for engagement. I don’t care if my art flops, I’m here to share ME & if someone follows me, I wish it to be from a genuine connection made. I wish for the meaningful to succeed over the consumable,” @Vlizzyjpeg

Reel to reel video from Pexels

Revue Joins Twitter

I played around with Revue back in late 2019 for Metal Bandcamp Gift Club, but moved to Mailchimp because I needed to control more of the sign up process. Fair enough.

Then today Revue announces they’ve joined Twitter, which is an interesting move, and I think plays into what I’ve been talking about for awhile: use social media to build your email list.

Social media can be great for the quick, off-the-cuff conversations, and lots of good can come from those conversations! But having an outlet for longer form thoughts, fleshed out ideas – email is a great medium for that. And no doubt Twitter is going to make it easy to build your list with this integration.

And if you’re still wondering what you’d even put into your own email newsletter, please read ‘What Would I Even Put in an Email Newsletter,’ which I wrote back in 2018.

Daily Loop #26

There was supposed to be snow outside when I woke up, but there’s nothing by grayness. Up early, crack open the laptop; gotta get some joy and smiles in front of all the oncoming dread of the day (this took from about 7:05am to 8:02am to make, completely from scratch).

Sampled bit came from this 1993 Barbie commercial:

LIKES

“Since I’m thinking about weird social media things, I’d LOVE to end the era of superfluous posting. Somehow ppl have been convinced that having a regular posting schedule is more important than having worthwhile content and it shooooows,” @lilbadsnacks

“PA’s vote by mail law got more R votes than D votes. It has been upheld in court. Now the most extreme Republicans in Harrisburg want to repeal the law (that they voted for) because they didn’t get the election results they wanted? Come on,” @JoshShapiroPA

Goodnight, Metal Friend #13

Technology has been against me all day, in the form of errors, mix ups, and whatever else. Even had to reboot my computer because of some audio issues. It’s been a day.

Goodnight Metal Friend Mix #13 includes Killanova, Simulacra, Sincere Receiver, Subastral Roar, and Fallen Names. Each was discovered and purchased via Bandcamp, so I urge you to dig into those links if you hear something you like.

A Daily Loop and a Goodnight Metal Friend mix, on a Monday? Well, been doing my best to stay off social media, and it’s amazing how the time adds up. From sourcing music instead of doom scrolling, to getting in front of the computer after waking up instead of checking Twitter… it’s not much, but it really is. It adds up.