Two things of note from our June 27th Escape Pod Zoom call.

Don’t niche too much. Or rather, don’t make two seperate newsletters, two separate Substacks, two separate websites – especially at the start. Show up fully as you first, before you go chopping yourself up into all these little pieces.

Then also, if you’re starting to move your Substack archive to your own website (just in case, ahhhh), take your time. It’s hard work moving everything over manually, and reformatting images, and cleaning up links. Find a pace that works for you.

◼️ Become a member of Social Media Escape Club to be a part of discussions like this every week!

That’s a little catchphrase I came up with: When you hit send, it’s not the end. Maybe I invented it, maybe someone else did—but it’s true either way.

Right now, it’s summertime—open rates are down, comments are down, “likes” are down. But when you hit send, that doesn’t mean you’re done. Especially if you’re on Substack, you have the direct URL for every post you send. Sure, it lands in inboxes, but that’s just the beginning.

Apparently this is a regular occurrence in the music streaming space:

i got an email from one of my music distributors (for another project, not fog chaser) essentially accusing me of seeking out artificial streams. they then threaten to delete my account and take down all of my music (which is years of my work)

Whether you’re someone building buzz on social media and waking up to your account being suspended, to stories like this, someone else is in control. Someone else has the keys to the kingdom, and if they deem you’ve done something wrong, you’re done.

These tech bros made a game that we feel we all have to play, and that if we don’t then “we’re nothing without them,” which is a common line we hear in abusive and toxic relationships.

If you don’t put all your music into their music platform, then no one will discover you, and you’ll end up broke and alone.

BUT… even if you do put all your music on those services, you’ll still probably be broke, right? Sure, there’s opportunities to be “discovered,” but you’re still competing with the 100,000 other songs that are being uploaded everyday, too.

Maybe the computer in War Games was right, “the only winning move is not to play.”

I’ve been saying that your email newsletter isn’t your permanent address, it’s a delivery truck – just make sure you’re delivering your audience to your permanent address!

I see so many artists hype their latest video in a newsletter and link it to YouTube. YouTube is a platform where you give up all control over branding, design, layout, vibes. The entire site is built to keep users (your fans) on their site – not yours.

Instead, put the video on your own site, and link to it. Deliver your fans to your permanent address.

Put something new on your website this weekend, and link it in your next newsletter.

Your newsletter isn’t your permanent address, it’s a delivery truck. Build an archive of work on your website and link to your stuff from your newsletter!

I moved my VOICE NOTES podcast off of Substack, changed the name to SMEC: CURRENTS and moved it to Transistor.

Today I talk about the many moves I’ve been making, and how I’m trying to make things easy and calm, and not feel like “homework” or something you need to catch up on.

This podcast is not listed on Apple or Spotify, so listen above, or use your favorite podcast player to subscribe directly using this link: https://feeds.transistor.fm/smec-currents

Camilla Wickman has a new album ‘Red Rock, Seal Skin‘ coming out August 22, 2025.

In this interview you’ll hear how Camilla started making frequent social media posts to promote their upcoming album, which felt out of alignment.

“There’s been a long period over the winter and early spring where I was just like, what now? You know, what does it look like to kind of try and play the long game, or just be authentic? And I think there was a minute there where I was like, maybe I just quit music.”

Thankfully there was enough goodness around to keep moving forward.

Life should inform the writing on your website, your newsletter, your creative output.

This from Lyly Dhommar, from a recent Email Guidance exchange.

Uncle Seth aka Lord of Social media escape club, confirmed that yes, connections and actions in the real world are the way I should live now. Then, I’ll write about them if something happens, not the other way around.

Do all the things. Go to the shows. The art openings. The ice cream stands. The hikes. The book shops. Live in the world as much as you can withstand, read, draw, dance, and dream.

Then, when it’s time to write your newsletter, you’ll have a rich life to pull from.