I'm not a natural promoter. In fact, I find it to be quite daunting most of the time. I don't think I'm much different from most artists who suffer from impostor syndrome. We all think that someday you, the listener, will find out that we really have no idea what we're doing. I know for a fact that I have no idea... I'm just winging it!
I was exposed to songwriting at a really young age. My dad was an aspiring songwriter and was very active when I was just a little boy. When you're that close to it at such a young age, it just seems natural to think people like us do things like this. Because of that, I've recently come to the realization that I never really made a choice to be a songwriter; I just am one
The Social Media Dilemma
That brings me back to the promotion thing. It seems logical that you would leverage social media to keep your followers aware of your activities, and I have for sure. But the ephemeral nature of these platforms forces you to shout the same message at people over and over again, hoping that they see it and hoping that it sticks. I'm starting to think it's a bad deal all the way around.
I say that because I don't want to shout at people. I don't want to beg for attention. I don't want to be an expert at social media... that's not what I signed up for. I'm exhausted thinking about posting schedules and ratios of personal posts to professional posts. I mean, WTF, who has time for that?
Of course, I'm flattered and privileged when someone takes the time and effort to absorb some of my work, but it rarely happens from a social media post. So I've been asking myself lately, why spend so much energy there for such little return?
Changing the Strategy
My plan is to slowly back away from social media, at least as a platform for me as an artist. I still enjoy seeing what old friends from the neighborhood are up to. I enjoy a lot of the memes I come across. I enjoy old movie clips. I think some of the AI stuff is super cool. I don't have a knock against social media; my problem is the way the system has kind of forced us artists into believing that shouting at as many people as we can, as often as we can, is going to be the secret to our success—and I don't buy it.
Maybe I'm wrong. I have been before, many times. I suppose I'll find out as the future unfolds, but I'm looking forward to changing things up a bit. I'm looking forward to a more personal relationship with a much smaller audience. I would rather send my message to 10 people that want to hear it than shout it at 1,000 folks hoping those same ten people hear it amongst all the other noise.
Before you say anything, let me acknowledge that I'm well aware of the irony of sharing this blog post to social media to try and attract that small number of followers away from the platforms and into this community. But that's why I've stated this is a slow transition and been very careful not to bash any certain platform or people for participating.
Connect with Me
If you'd like to learn more about me and what I create, you can get started [Here].
If you'd like to join the community and receive messages about things I'm up to, you can do that [Here].
Thanks for sticking with me as I figure out a different way to do things! With any luck, it will lead to more art and less shouting about it!
Your pal, Matt