Founder of the Social Media Escape Club
Had to get out for a mental health walk, which I think was just more about getting away from my laptop, but regardess, landed on some Don Caballero.
Don Caballero was a band a few friends talked about in the scene growing up. There was a buzz around their live show, probably some zine interviews and such.
They’re one of the few bands that make me wanna close my eyes and pretend like I’m in the band.
I never spent much time on SoundCloud, but then I read this interview with Tracy P. Chan, SVP of Creators at SoundCloud, from Mia’s Queue on Substack.
“We have an algorithmic discovery playlist called ‘Daily Drops.’ Every day we drop what’s new to you. SoundCloud’s catalog is about 320 million tracks. We have three times the number of tracks that the other DSPs [Digital Service Providers] have. You’ll find all this content that just doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
That’s how I found this live recording from Spring Rolls from Paris, France, and I love it so much. Perfectly minimal and soothing. I listened to it on a recent evening run.
Then I found his work on Bandcamp, a new release titled ‘Le Commencement [SPRNGRLLS001].’
I don’t know… I’ve been listening to BANDS since the mid 80s man. I still love them, of course. But I’ve also been loving electronic music, too. I don’t know… just something that sort of blends into the background and isn’t… guitars, you know?
How do I get more subscribers? More listens? More sales? More fans?
Are you kidding me?
The entire world of knowledge is in our pockets and you can’t figure out 10% of the answer?
Look at the top 100 marketing books on Amazon.
Search “marketing” on YouTube. There were probably 10,000 hours worth of wisdom upload in the last minute.
You could listen to one podcast every day about marketing for the rest of your life and never get caught up.
I’m paraphrasing Rick Rubin here, but “make cool things, show it to your friends.” Over and over again.
Complaining about social media is about as effective as complaining about the weather – it ain’t gonna change.
Make your art, write your novel, post your videos, play in front of four people… if there’s a shortcut, everyone already knows about it, which means you’re the nine billionth person in line with a tune and a poem.
This is a horrible sales pitch, but I’m offering coaching on this sort of thing now. Hire me for real, honest advice and ponderings from 20+ years of experience in the music world.
From today’s HEAVY METAL EMAIL, “FACTS ARE EASY AND BORING AND NO ONE CARES.”
Promoting your creative work should be art. It should spark curiosity, wonder, and delight.
That doesn’t mean spend 3 hours a week “engaging” on social media, or editing videos for TikTok.
Make stuff, then tell your friends.
Keep in touch with the creative, energetic, artistic people in your life.
Stop shouting it to “all” of your social media followers, especially when 80% of them won’t even see it.
Share the things you make directly with people who will appreciate it.
Since I’m done promoting things on social media, I should probably post about my new things here, right? Makes sense.
One of those things is a new HUNTERTHEN release, ‘ASCENDING TO THE DECOMPOSITIONAL TIMESCAPE.’
‘ASCENDING TO THE DECOMPOSITIONAL TIMESCAPE’ is a transport vessel to unknown, desolate worlds, destined for the monotonous hum of cold, futuristic data work lit by the glow of computer screens and datapads.
Since I’m spending less time on social media, I’ve put out a release in February, March, and April of this year (you can see them all here).
My last two sales on Bandcamp came from my Goodnight, Metal Friend mixes, not social media.
By putting out a mix every week this year, and also uploading them to YouTube, I’m getting more listens, all just because I’m putting things out consistently, and not spending so much time on social media.
And what about growing my HEAVY METAL EMAIL subscribers? How can I do that without social media? Well, that video interview I did with Laura Kidd led to my biggest rush of new subscribers ever.
While I did post that video a few times on socials, I wasn’t pushing for newsletter subscribers – I was sharing something big I did, without really asking for anything.
Do the big cool things, and maybe the subscribers and sales will come, maybe?
Had a fun talk the other day with my “Social Media Escape Club,” where we hopped on a Zoom call and talked about… getting away from social media.
One of the things I mentioned was instead of Tweeting out some random thought, or in the case of the image above, my “favorite 3 album run by your favorite band,” why not text a friend? Send a photo. Call a pal. Write them an email.
Someone on the Zoom call said something along the lines of, “why should I give my best material to Twitter?”
Why put so much into a platform that limits my reach anyways, when I can message my friends directly and I don’t know… grow closer?!?!
So in the spirit of putting my best material on a platform that I control, you see my “favorite 3 album run by your favorite band,” which are Helmet‘s ‘Meantime,’ ‘Betty,’ and ‘Aftertaste.’
I remember driving around town in my Nissan Sentra Wagon XE trying to play air-drums to the Meantime album.
Betty wasn’t nearly as crushing. Had lots more melody and dynamics, but having come out my senior year of high school there’s no way I can listen to this album without thinking about my younger days.
‘Aftertaste’ came out in 1997, three years after graduation, and so did Limp Bizkit’s ‘Three Dollar Bill Y’all’ and Deftones ‘Around the Fur.’ Oh, the 90s were a magical time for heavy music.
Marlee Grace really sums it up here:
I noticed in my month off social media the ideation phase of my practice felt so serene, I had less money then and yet I still found myself with so much more trust. Left without the reminders that everyone else is always launching, always sharing, always has something to sell. I found myself peaceful with my pace.
YES, this is so great: “I found myself peaceful with my pace.”
I’ve stopped promoting Goodnight, Metal Friend on social media. Each new mix just goes out to newsletter subscribers first. A day later they go up on YouTube and Mixcloud.
Less promoting, and I still got a HUNTERTHEN track featured in this ‘Spectra-Sonic Sound’ mix.
Less promoting my HEAVY METAL EMAIL newsletter on social media, and I’m still welcoming new subscribers, and some of them support my work financially.
Trust that your work doesn’t need to be plastered on billboards, you don’t need to stand outside a venue handing out flyers. Let the magic go where it’s going to go.
I’ve seen lots of discourse recently over the struggle for the press outlets to keep up with the unending wave of music releases each week.
For me I think it’s so many sites trying to cover so many genres.
And also trying to do interviews, reviews, and live gig coverage.
There is just too much, everyday, every week.
I’d love to see a site that just covers the metal shows happening in PA every month.
A newsletter that rounds up 10 great beat-maker videos.
A YouTube show like the old MTV Top 10 Video Countdown.
Be editors. Be tastemakers.
The internet is wide open again. Let’s fuck it up.
I’ve gotten super into watching DJ sets over the past few years. Yes, I still love my metal, but man… there is just so much music out there to explore. How many 1000s of songs have I still not heard? How exciting!
Love this nugget I found about these DJ sets:
“All of the gear you see in this and the upcoming episodes, from turntables to pre-amps & speakers – new and used, are available in @audiogold store.”
Just look at this amazing shop:
You can hear more from GUiNNY here on Mixcloud:
This looks absolutely amazing:
Producers show up to the venue, a folder of samples culled from old jazz and soul records to use as source material is passed around and each producer gets to work transforming the sample into a brand new piece of music. From there, each producer will play their new track, receiving encouragement and feedback from their peers onsite and around the world as the sessions are broadcast via zoom each month.
Yes, online communities have their place – the Discords and email lists, but in-person is where it’s at, even if I’m still hesitant to get out there (I’ve been to three shows since 2019).
The magic is isn’t just in people, but finding the right other people.
Read more of this article about Philadelphia’s Flip A Beat Club here.
