Doing Something I Used to Hate
Look at the pretty sunset.
I’m flying on a client’s private jet.
I’m flying in a friend’s private jet.
I’m hanging out of a helicopter with a camera.
I’m filming something awesome with really cool cameras.
Look at how cool my baby is.
Check out my website.
Check out my friend’s website.
I’m doing a shoot for Red Bull.
I’m working with Apple and Ducati and Rolls Royce and…
This was what my social media looked like a few years ago.
My life looked “amazing” at the same time I felt miserable.
It is borderline (at best) cliche to point out that social media posts are often the happiest of happy moments and don’t highlight reality. As a consumer, everyone else’s life is cooler than mine. As a contributor (at least the way I used to do it), the stream of likes, comments, and shares fed a cheap (probably fake) feeling of happiness in the lulls when laundry, bills, and the inability to clean up a mess are the current reality.
With a few exceptions, I stopped posting or engaging with social media for the past few years. I didn’t want to make others feel bad because their life didn’t feel as awesome as my life looked. I didn’t want others to comment how jealous or excited they were for me when I was absolutely not happy—even though I posted as though I was. Everything about it felt dishonest and empty.
Also.
Social media is a powerful way for people and brands to engage with the world. I’m about to start writing music for me and with others. Like most industries, having a strong social media presence as a musician is incredibly helpful; a strong following increases the ability to be interesting to agencies, find quality collaborators, and release music. I’ve been struggling to figure out a way to post that felt honest, is beneficial and healthy for me, is worthy for followers to actually follow, and invites and helps collaborators.
For the last few years, I have a habit of pulling my iPhone out to record musical ideas: whether it be piano, drums, guitar, bass, or a melody I sing. If it inspires me, I can’t help but want to capture it for later.
October of 2022 is my past’s “later.”
I’ve come up with a social media plan that’s based on my strengths and what I enjoy the most: creating vibes and starting songs. I’m going to start posting videos with the hashtag #stackingtracks. The goal is to have a low-pressure content creation machine that starts with a simple idea and adds a few more no-pressure parts; it doesn’t need to be perfect. It will be split into thirds or fourths and stack each idea on top of the other. That’s it. Lots will probably not lead to anything. Some might.
The hope is to make the posts simple enough to create that daily posts are manageable: even when I’m on the road traveling.
The point is to lower the friction of posting valuable content, create good starts to songs, invite collaborators, and grow a following that can be helpful for me, friends of mine, and other collaborators.
I’ll keep you posted.
Once I start, I encourage you to follow #stackingtracks :)