Category: sethwCategory: sethw

One person on your email list can make a big difference.

I found out that Pearl Jam posted about the local nonprofit community art center Alice and I started, Art House Grandview, on their Instagram.

Three point eight million followers. A photo of a kid at Art House learning guitar, small hands on the neck of an instrument almost too big for them. Their foundation, the Vitalogy Foundation, picked Art House as the April recipient of their Future Days Fund grant. The money goes directly into the programs where we teach kids music for free.

Joshua Heath Scott wrote a newsletter, ‘HOW GUITAR CHANGED MY LIFE,’ and someone on the email list forwarded it to Pearl Jam’s foundation, which led to them highlighting Art House Grandview.

Joshua wrote that piece as only he could, talking about how Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’ album was a huge influence, and “I’ve spent a lot of time on this Substack trying to articulate why art and creativity matter — why guitar matters — why it’s more than an instrument, why it carries the weight of where music has been, why holding one connects you to something larger than yourself.”

This is the core of talking about what we do.

We don’t just play music, we change lives.

We don’t just write essays, we shape culture.

We don’t just take photos, we document the world around us.

When we reduce ourselves to commodity offerings (check out my song, buy my print, read my article), we can’t be surprised when it’s treated as “content.”

So talk about your work in the same creative manner in which you make it. Dare to say you’re a writer even if you’re not “published.” Call yourself a photographer, a musician, a poet.

If the ding-dongs running the United States right now can claim they know what they’re doing, you have my permission to be anything you wanna be.

Let’s not define ourselves by our primary source of income, as we were put on earth for reasons beyond comprehension, beyond punching someone else’s time clock to pay the rent.

---

Join me and the Social Media Escape Club TOMORROW, April 23 at 2pm EST, as we talk about this (and more), and you’ll leave with some new ways to talk about your work – sign up here.

From Lauren Bliss over at Thought Enthusiast:

I recently took a month off from social media, and while I initially thought it would be detrimental to my work, like I needed to stay tapped into trends and what other brands are doing, it actually had the opposite effect. I felt like I had more creative ideas because my brain wasn’t bogged down by endless content (and constant bad news).

This is why some people say to take walks without listening to a podcast, or eat without watching YouTube videos – we need to give our brains time to process and sort things out! By doing so we might actually think of our next great idea!

Got this from musician Dom Aversano on a recent live stream (edited for clarity):

“I was thinking about recreating the recommendation aspect (on my website), which is what social media tends to excel at. I remember when websites used to have links to other sites… My issue with websites is they can feel lonely sometimes — not in terms of traffic, but more in the sense that they tend to be about individuals rather than groups. My sense is that social media is popular partly because it feels like a party.”

Most of our websites are mullet marketing – business up front, party in the back.

We invest all this time and energy in the social media space – interesting videos, fresh updates, lively banter, etc. That’s the “party in the back” part of the mullet. Fun, fresh, exciting (for the 10% of your audience that even get to see it).

Then, when anyone does end up on our website, they see your head shots from two summers ago, seven month old blog posts, and twenty links spread across the header and footer for someone to make sense of.

I’m not even saying you have to stop posting on social media. I’m just saying put some of that same material on your own damn website. Stop the mullet marketing.

And to Dom’s point – yes, talk about other people! Link to other projects! I linked to Dom’s website at the top of this post – go check out his work! We’re in this together, learning as we go, and there’s no reason we should be doing this alone.

I wrote this back around the time my dad, a life long musician, passed away a few years ago.

The biggest lie is we have to make our entire living on the sale of our art, or else we’re just no-talent wannabes.

So many artists fall for this, feeling like 100 views isn’t enough, and they stop because “no one cares.”

I wake up thinking about the artists, poets, writers, and musicians we’ve lost because they couldn’t keep up with the “hitting it big” rat race of social media.

Somehow, 10,000 views aren’t enough because you really need 100,000. Having 12 people at a show on a Tuesday night is a waste of time. No one buys your art because you’re not making enough Reels.

It’s lies, it’s all bullshit.

Recently, a friend walked me around her apartment, showing me art left to her by a dear friend who had passed away. Just time together, picking up pieces, pointing out tiny details, and sharing the stories of each item.

I didn’t ask how many followers they had, or if they were a full-time artist. In the end, literally – when we pass away – no one will give a damn.

I’m no sales expert, but I’ve watched enough YouTube videos to know about “scripts.” Literally planned out lines of dialogue to making the sale in person or on the phone. Teams will even review calls from during the week, just to make adjustments and get better.

With most things, there are extremes.

(more…)