Month: September 2021

Had a Good Time with Whoop

Back in June I said Whoop changed my life, but lately I’ve fallen out of love.

It’s still a great device. A great tool. It’s helped me improve my sleep habits, and the importance of recovery. I love all that. It got me back on track with running.

Lately, though, it just doesn’t bring me any joy. It’s not really adding anything, and at $30/mo, that’s not good math.

My buddy Dino put it best – if it helped you create some good habits, it was worth it. He’s right.

I had a run coach once. That wasn’t forever. And neither is Whoop, I guess. That’s okay.

I run because of skies like the one above. I run to blow off steam, to work out some of the stress of life, and work, and everything else.

Adding a Garmin watch, and the Whoop… oh wait, gotta make sure they’re both charged. Wait, this one is saying HR is way up, this one is stuck at 80bpm. What?

Yeah.

I just want my running to slow and low, without adding more stress to my day. COVID has really crossed off a lot of the big races and events that I’d do this fall. I’m going rouge, going solo, keeping to myself, and running with some good people, that’s about it.

A season for all things. I’ll still recommend the Whoop to anyone who asks. It’s just not for me anymore.

The Social Media Party Sucks

I’ve been trying to nail down “community” with Metal Bandcamp Gift Club for a while, hoping to get back to the glory days of Twitter back in 2016.

I tried out Circle, but at $40/mo that was a steep learning curve. It’s a GREAT product, but I’m not looking to monetize and charge our audience for access.

So we started using Discord a bit, and it’s been nice to start having some conversations without spending more time on a social media network.

As you can see above, I’ve been linking notable albums that came out each day, however many years ago, just as a jumping off point for conversations (see, ‘We Love Anniversaries‘ for more on that). Maybe it leads to someone checking out an old album for the first time. Or they buy an album from three years ago.

I’m working with my friend Jocelyn and her Creative Guts community. There’s a Discord, with some conversations going on. It’s already led to an actual video call with something, and that’s more than Twitter in recent years, for me at least.

It just feels like with socials, you’re on a merry go round, and there’s a million things going on around you the whole time. Or a food court. So many choices.

But with a Discord, or a website, or an email newsletter, when you read that thing, that’s it, you’re reading that thing, and I believe there’s value in that right now.

Getting back to these conversations that aren’t in the public space. Putting the interesting stories, helpful articles, links to new releases – bringing them to the community first, rather than social media.

That’s how social media blew up. Everyone brought their best items to the party, so everyone kept showing up at the party.

Lately, though, that party sucks.

We Love Anniversaries

So you didn’t release a seminal record 20 years ago like Converge did with ‘Jane Doe,’ huh?

Notice all the articles written about that? All the buzzzzz from people chiming in on social media, expressing how time flies, and all that?

People love anniversaries. People remember bad anniversaries (deaths, divorce, etc). For whatever reasons our brains are wired to appreciate them a bit more, which is why they do so well on social media.

“Hey! This album turned 10 years old today!”
“Today is when we started our first European tour!”
“Our drummer has a birthday today!”

It’s free and easy, and it doesn’t feel like click bait because it’s just 100% true. Putting out an album five years ago, or releasing a video during a pandemic – that’s hard.

https://allfather1.bandcamp.com/album/century-sessions-vol-1

So document all your big moments – those first out of state shows, the first demo, the first print review, your singers birthday, the first guitar you bought (or the most recent one). I mean, be cool about it – don’t go overboard, but you can use this to mix things up a bit.

Bonus idea: write a post about the notable anniversary on your site. Write a paragraph about that first album, that first show, whatever. And of course, be sure to include photos, video, and a bit of text. Get everyone from the band to write a little bit. Hell, do a Zoom call or a podcast, and put that in there.

Then, when you post the anniversary to social media, include a link back to this new post!

Magazines and websites write big posts like this because they work. I mean, it helps if you’re Converge or Slipknot, sure. But start where you are – neither of those bands became who they are overnight. They did it one fan at a time, and that’s exactly what this helps with.

Connect In Ways The Giants Can’t

I wrote this back in 2014, in my Novelty & Nonsense email newsletter:

There are “social media tips” everywhere. Most will tell you to automate, schedule, blast, post every hour – every 30 minutes! Post more Instagram photos, images on Facebook, special deals every morning on Twitter. Day and night. Mind your time zones. Fill those schedules. Program your entire week. 

Let’s think about analog and digital for a moment. Slow vs fast.

:: There are Keurig coffee machines, and people who wait five minutes for pour-over coffee.

:: There are burgers you order from your car, and there are sustainable restaurants with hour-long waits. 

:: Stream music on your smart phone, or flip over a record when Side A is done.

One is not better than the other. Some people choose one, some people choose the other.

What do you choose? What does your audience choose?

:: The person who enjoys fashion and style may likely want to be inspired, not be reminded daily of your sale. Inspire, don’t annoy.

:: The person who enjoys fine coffee can only “like” so many photos of latte art per day. Tell great stories, stop dumbing it down.

:: A person that buys $22 magazines (like Offscreen Magazine) may not have need your 13 updates per day.

This flies in the face of the, “we finally reached 10,000 likes!” boasting, but stop imitating the corporate brands with your online marketing. That’s not you. You have the ability to connect with your audience in ways the faceless giants can’t afford.

We keep hearing about “being authentic,” even way back in 2014, and it’s even more true today. You don’t need to pretend to be something you’re not.

Don’t “fake it till you make it.” What if that fake-ness attracts a fanbase that you despise? Or you make work you’re not proud of. Do you think it’s going to be easy after five or ten years to suddenly change course?

Be who you are – there are thousands of people out there waiting to discover you.

WEEKLY LOOP for SEPTEMBER 5, 2021

LIKES

  • “People who still use facebook regularly are scary,” @fiveyearwinterx
  • “Everyone’s about to snap right?” @amil
  • “Can you name a movie you like that features a scene with a payphone that is not The Matrix?” – great thread from @TheCinemaTicket
  • “I think the problem started when we started calling everything content instead of what it is lol,” @erinisaway
  • “i can’t believe we’re all just supposed to keep going,” @hannahgiorgis

TECH LIKES

“BREAKING:  @GoogleAds has terminated its relationship with Gateway Pundit,” @nandoodles

MUSIC LIKES

  • “Most ClubHouse “A&Rs” aren’t real A&Rs and have no clue what they’re talking about,”@djboothEIC
  • “You’re gaining new fans daily, go back and promote some of the Episodes from last week, month, year etc,” @BigSto (great follow)
  • “Artists, it’s easier to sell 200 pieces of merch than it is to get 2 million streams,” @VaniceAlexander

One Turntable Loop Pedal Wizardry

I have a hard enough time trying to grasp making mixes with two sound sources for Goodnight, Metal Friend. But this?

This is bananas.

Start at about the 6:00 minute mark.

Here, Cut Chemist samples a bass line at the 6:44 minute mark, and loops it.

Then he perfectly cuts in a drum loop from a completely different record, and loops that at the 7:00 minute mark.

That just blows my mind.

This set was in support of DJ Mat The Alien, who suffered a really bad injury while mountain biking in October of 2020. The fundraiser (here) topped $200K, and he’s back to making music.

Inheritance, Existence

Via @simonwilliam, Deputy Music Editor at Rolling Stone

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry passed away this weekend, and above you can see two things in action. Two bold truths in the universe we live in now:

First, “I inherit words, songs, and power.” As an artist, a musician, a photographer – you’ve got the skill. The mindset. The talent. That doesn’t mean riches, or a payday, or even a career. But look at the list of artists paying tribute and respect to Perry in this piece by Rolling Stone; Mike D of The Beastie Boys, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

Second, “the publication that ran that interview is no longer existent.” I’m able to listen to the music of Perry because music is forever. It’s on YouTube, streaming services, it’s in used CDs bins in music shops around the world.

When a URL expires, it’s gone. Yes, there’s the WayBack machine, but for all intents and purposes, it’s gone. Vanished, without a trace (sans the screen shot above).

Do the thing that is your legacy endlessly. Cover your walls in prints, in art, in CDs filled with demos from 2001-2002. Leave pieces of yourself everywhere in whatever medium you can, as often as you can.

Yes, even online. Just make sure you re-up your domain name every year.

Quick Ain’t Always The Answer

We all have the ability to post something on social media, and every post has the ability to change your life.

You can literally write something whimsical and get 100K likes.
Your text can be on TV a few hours later.
A screen shot of your words could be on the late night shows.

It’s alluring. It pulls us in. Even a reply to someone else’s post can make you famous.

Or you can sit down and write. Maybe it’s a 500 word blog post. An essay. A book.

You can write a song. And then another.

Paint a picture. Take a photograph. Or a dozen.

It’s easier to post on Instagram, with a giant 300 word caption with no line breaks.

It’s a bit harder to pull back. It’s a challenge to just use one photo, and write “if you want to know more about how I did this / made this / wrote this, head to my website.”

Yeah. Algorithims sucks. I get it.

But you’re training people to remember that domain name. Start doing that today!

Maybe you notice that artist isn’t posting so much on Instagram anymore, so you check out their site, and see they’ve been posting something everyday for the last two months.

That’s not quick. That’s a grind.

There’s no LIKES on my site. No “shares.” No immediate feedback.

That’s okay. How much is a like worth, anyways? They’re on your site. That’s gold.

Slow down. Build up your site. Pretend it’s a monthly magazine, and you’ve got the cover story, week after week. Write your story, tell your story, share your story, bring others along for the ride.