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I think a few of the commenters are misinterpreting the message he was attempting to convey (or maybe I am!). What I took from that article was that, as a musi
by Ixiaus 15y ago
I think a few of the commenters are misinterpreting the message he was attempting to convey (or maybe I am!).
What I took from that article was that, as a musician, spending too much time making youtube videos - posting stuff up on myspace music, keeping up with soundcloud track comments, &c... (those are my own examples of what I think he meant by online social media) harms your ability to focus, to create, and to ultimately cultivate a fan base that has a deeper appreciation for your music than the fleeting thousands that skip impatiently through a youtube video then go onto the next artist's video.
I fully agree, publishing yourself using social media is crucial - but so is doing live tours, shows, showing up to a random small beach party and playing some music (that will win you some fans), and spending time on your own creating...
That's what I got out of it, at least, please correct me if I misinterpreted.
- JL2010 15y agoThat's more or less what I read as well. Keep his audience in mind: Berklee music students. Talented, young, bright and ambitious - he's just telling them to sort themselves out and "find themselves" first. Promotion can come after quality content.
- jonnathanson 15y agoAs an added corollary: be careful about promotion, because it may succeed. And if your content isn't fully baked, and if you haven't perfected your craft, then you'll be exposed to the world as such. There goes your first impression, and more than likely, there goes your one shot.
- klenwell 15y agoI had a similar thought when I saw the Ok Go treadmill video about the same time as I was reading Keith Richard's memoirs. If the Stones had spent as much time obsessing over choreography of their Youtube videos in their early days as they did just playing gigs, would they have ended up as the Stones? Will we ever see a pop band again with a repertoire that deep? Then again I guess the Richards himself had time to nurse a heroine addiction and do some other extraneous stuff at the height of his creative powers. So maybe it is possible to be a prolific music composer and obsessed with social media. Just avoid the heroine.