Category: CommunityCategory: Community

Vulfpeck’s Jack Stratton spoke recently about the streaming landscape and how Apple Music could be fixed.

Lots of people are writing about the death of Pitchfork.

Bandcamp saw 50% of its staff laid off last year.

In 2017, Spotify’s RapCaviar was the “most influential playlist in music.” Now, folks at major labels have “seen streams coming from RapCaviar drop anywhere from 30% to 50%” because “editorial playlists are losing influence amid AI expansion.”

There’s a Taco Bell commercial featuring Portugal. The Man – not for their actual music, but as a “feature” to highlight how broke the band was, but at least they could eat at Taco Bell.

It’s almost as if Seth Godin knew what I was going to write about today:

“When things don’t go the way we hope, one alternative is to look hard at the system that caused the problem. And another productive strategy is to figure out what to do with what we get, instead of seeking to find the villain that’s causing our problem.”

Right now, phones can shoot music videos, laptops can become studios, taking pictures with a disposable camera is chic, and we can post everything to the internet in seconds.

But the days of posting something on social media and getting 10,000 people to see it are over. That ain’t coming back.

If you’ve been a subscriber, you know I always say this – it will never get easier to reach your fans on social media.

Don’t blame Spotify, or Apple, or Meta – these are all companies that were built to make money for shareholders. They’re doing their job; are we doing ours?

Are we making the best art that we can?

Are we writing 1000 words a day?

Am I practicing my bass for 15 minutes a day? (No, I’m not)

If you were the lone creative weirdo in high school back in the day, well…, you’d better read some books and find some magazines because you’re on your own.

Now we have websites, Zoom, internet radio, email, and a thousand messaging apps – there’s no reason to do any of this alone.

We know the villains in the current landscape. We know what we’re up against.

Time to stop playing games we don’t want to play (and can’t win), and figure out what’s next.

My three quick ideas on that:

1. Write a good newsletter to your fans that they’ll want to read
2. Set up a website and fill it up with all the cool stuff you do
3. Delete the social media apps from your phone this week

Will that raise streaming rates and bring back organic reach on Facebook? NOPE. But it’s action, something we can do right now, and it’s a step toward new possibilities.

I was a one-man band called Seth W.

I played the drums with my feet, I played the bass, and I sang all at the same time.

I played “The Car Song,” “The Jock Song,” “Runny Nose,” and many more. I even covered Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” (The Titanic movie has just come out).

It did this from 1998 to about 2001 or so.

Around this time, I met Tommy (maybe he took the photo above, but I’m not sure). He drove from NJ to see another band on the bill, but he “got” what I was doing. He booked me for a show in his town.

I got to play with Folly. I met Ben Kenney from Supergrub, who would go on to play with The Roots and Incubus.

That was around 25 years ago, and me and Tommy are still buds.

Could I have kept playing shows, writing silly songs, and maybe started touring?

Sure. But I didn’t want to do all that.

As Scott Perry says, play your own game:

“You can’t win playing someone else’s game.

And you can’t win a game you don’t want to play.”

I never got to play arenas or do big interviews, but I met Tommy.

What has this got to do with the Social Media Escape Club?

Well, I deleted my Instagram account on January 1st, 2024.

I met many great people through that app, but after all these years, I didn’t want to play that game anymore.

Could I have met another “Tommy?” I don’t know, maybe.

But just like I don’t want to spend time writing silly songs, I don’t want to waste hours on Instagram every week for some mystical payoff.

I mean, I turn 48 this year. I have a limited number of years left on this flying space rock – do I really want to spend that time staring at my phone?

Sure, “growing my audience” sounds like the right thing to do, but how much time am I investing in the people who are already onboard?

It’s like when I see people on social media say, “Gonna send some goodies to my 1,000th follower!” Is that how you make your first 999 followers feel special?

Tommy invited me to his New Year’s Eve get-together, but I was already planning on hiking up the nearby Appalachian Trail to watch the sun come up with another friend I met years ago (also from playing music).

Instead of chasing more, let’s seek depth in the new year.

Can you name five of your subscribers? Do you know what state or country they live in? Have you seen photos of their pets?

Depth isn’t a growth hack, but it has much better rewards.

Happy New Year.

When Roy Wood Jr. was asked if he deserved a shot at hosting the Daily Show, he said sure, but also, “make your own shot.”

Roy Wood Jr. understands how the game is played; wait to get picked, or make your own shot.

Seth Godin wrote, “reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself” back in 2011, and it absolutely stands the test of time:

It’s a cultural instinct to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission and authority that comes from a publisher or talk show host or even a blogger saying, “I pick you.” Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you–that Prince Charming has chosen another house–then you can actually get to work.

Make your art, share your music, take your photos and then make your shot.

I write about newsletters – what you’re doing is probably a lot more interesting.

If no one asked you to share your 10 favorite things of the year in their publication, feature yourself on your website.

There’s no underground / alt flea market in your area? Make your own (a buddy and I are working on a pop-up flea market for musicians to unload their unused gear).

Wish you had a community of art freaks to hang out with? Start your own.

The technology is there (Zoom, Google Meet, Discord), you just need to ask some people to come hang out.

Because just posting and talking about what you do only goes so far, mostly because that’s what everyone else is doing.

We publish, post, and repost, hoping to get picked.

Pick your people, build a community, grow together.

Make your own shot.

How do you get people from Instagram to subscribe to your Substack?

By being on Instagram, unfortunately.

Don’t worry – Nail Mason lays it out nicely here:

Connect with 3 new fans each day, and you’re building a broad and deep audience.

Imagine — 1,095 new friends who can open doors to opportunities and insights.

Create value and connect.

Start there, then rinse, and repeat.

Beth Spencer of Introvert Drawing Club connected with her fans using a sneaky kitten character on Instagram.

I posted everywhere, begging folks folks to find, capture via screenshot, and share. I rewarded each person who helped with 3 months of complimentary membership.

Getting people on Instagram to do anything is hard, so you have to get creative.

Beth went from 150 Substack subscribers in November 2022, to 3,000 almost a year later (and nearing 200 paid subscribers).

You do that by building a real connection, not by just saying, “Join my newsletter for updates.”

And remember – this took a year.

Make sure you figure out a way to connect in a sustainable and energizing way. If it’s pure pain and misery, you’ll end up quitting the quest to get your social media followers to your email list.

Three Simple Ways To Start Connecting With Your Fans

1. Reply to the people in your comments in a sincere, human way
2. DM someone who liked a recent announcement (and include a link to what you’re promoting)
3. Reply to a fellow artist’s post and celebrate their wins – their fans will see it and maybe check you out – and that artist will appreciate your support!

Comments, replies, engagement – whatever you want to call it; do things that don’t scale for a few minutes a day, and see what happens. Like Neil mentioned above – do this with just three people a day, or just start with one!

Many of us in the creative world have a choice in how we tell people about our work.

It’s not just picking which platform to use but also how much time we devote to each. Do we make videos? Static images? Long captions or short?

And now, after years (for some of us a decade or more), we’re faced with the unique challenges of using (or even supporting) the platforms that are deemed so vital to our success.

This is why I changed the name of this newsletter to Social Media Escape Club – because people are being more intentional about how they use these platforms. Some people even consider not using them (gasp), like Robyn Hepburn Illustration said in our recent Zoom Club Meeting:

We’re not crazy for thinking there has to be a better way.

As I wrote last week, Bryan runs the As The Story Grows podcast with zero social media presence.

Softer Sounds podcast studio isn’t on social media.

I say all this as we’re barreling into the holiday season, where we’ll be drowning in marketing messages, commercials, and various media blasting in our faces.

The name of the game is interrupting everyone all the time, grabbing any bit of attention with ten thousand other bright lights and flashing messages.

BUT… in the middle of all that, it’s nice to get a call from an old friend, right?

A DM from someone you love hearing from—an email from someone you always have time for.

As artists, photographers, musicians, DJs, writers – that can be us, you know that, right?

Now, if you only show up every time you have something to sell, that’s not as endearing.

It’s hard to fall in love with mail-order catalogs.

It is far easier to have a pleasant exchange with the jovial mail-person who shows up daily with a smile and a bit of small talk.

Social media is about interruption, noise, and reaching only a fraction of your followers.

But with an easy pace of telling stories, showing up regularly, and earning the trust of your fans, you win the social media game of attention roulette by not playing.