Tonight I'm hosting a workshop in my hometown for 'Music + Crypto'! I'd love your input.
Starting with a great meme made by my boy @nickyhavey.
As I stated in a post a week or so back, I recently kind of re-analyzed why I keep my crypto ventures so separate from everything else I do. I won't re-write that post here now, but my conclusion was that it was more self-serving than anything else. I personally have faith in what's happening on the Steem blockchain (and a few others as well), and I decided it was time to share the experiences I've had on Steemit with my friends and acquaintances locally.
This is far from an attempt to recruit Steemians for the sake of the blockchain, bring new blood to the platform, try my hand at crypto-analytics, or anything like that (although it may be a side-effect). Really what I'm looking to do is just share my positive experiences.
The music industry has been in a hole for quite some time. There are so many independent artists out there who just don't have a platform to stand on. I was included in that demographic, and Steemit was the first place that I actually felt like I had any kind of traction on. Especially when you're producing music for others, and not really joining the spotlight yourself, it's very hard to find a place where I can talk with individuals about music, business, and networking without really looking the part or participating in the race. I'm just a super average guy who is relatively decent at what he does, and I have a platform here. I think that says something about the future of Steem, and how widely adopted it could potentially be.
Everyone loves an underdog, for the reason that they are a reflection of themselves. I think places like Choon and Steemit are the underdogs of the industry.
Image Source
Especially with the emerge of Choon, there has been a lot of talk about how little artists actually make in the current industry. They shared an article from CNBC talking about how artists make as little as 12% of their music after labels, producers, managers, distributors, etc. take their cut. Truthfully, I think that angle is a great marketing move on their part. Not only do I completely agree with them, but the independent tier of musicians and artists have been looking for a way out for a long time. They could be the explosion of independence that changes the game.
Anyway, so I decided I was going to share my experiences on this platform and some other select platforms (like Choon) with my personal circle that I have here in my hometown. I run a modern music program called Torches Academy here, so I have a lot of connects and acquaintances with local schools, businesses, entrepreneurs, and of course, musicians. I'm excited to share what I've learned in the past 1.5 years on Steemit, and I think more people deserve to know what a potentially lucrative, positive venture it can be. Especially those who are already struggling on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Youtube, trying to get similar results.
I'm very much looking forward to posting some pictures and/or footage from the workshop. I think it's going to be very modest, maybe a small group of 10-20 individuals, if that. Point being though, there are so many reasons to share these experiences with those who are hungry for it.
I know these blockchain platforms are very imperfect, as much as I appreciate them. But the bottom line in all of this, is that all of these opportunities are non-exclusive. You can keep your Spotify, your iTunes, your Tidal, etc. These are additional ventures worth looking into. Furthermore, I have never invested a dime in crypto. I built the modest little keep that I have from scratch, and I'm very happy with it. So with those things said, if the platforms I enjoy crash and burn tomorrow (let's hope not):
A) I will have lost nothing.
B) My music would be completely unhindered.
C) I personally believe the great seed has already been planted, and more of the same will emerge.
To my Steemian friends who are already here potentially reading this post, it would be awesome to hear some of your thoughts/advice in the comments to newcomers or anything you think would be beneficial for me to address.
I already have an outline of what I want to cover, but we're only going to run for a couple hours tops, so there's so much I have to leave out. I think it would be great (if we get any interaction here) to pull up some of the comments later during the workshop and read some of your words to the potential newcomers. I've had such a warm experience with this platform and I would love to showcase a little bit of that tonight when I'm with the group.
Anyway, wish me luck and thanks for stopping by! Much love to all of you!
You can join the 'Steemit Local Music Society' here:
Click here to join on Discord.
Great article man and thanks for the mention on the silly little meme too!
I understand where you're coming from with regards to feeling like crypto is a self-serving thing but I have a slightly different way of looking at it. If you truly want to earn a living from making music then there's no harm in doing what you can and use whatever platforms you need to get to that dream. But obviously, don't go around posting "Listen to my tracks on xyz because I'll get paid for it"... doesn't give the right message!
As for sharing experience - I really like Steemit, it's revitalised a love I have for writing blogs and just having something that seems a little more interactive than the conventional platforms. Although it does have a long way to go to get huge adoption, as do all the new crypto platforms out there.
I have invested in crypto, it was my decision and I chose an amount that I wouldn't go over, paying for it now since we're in a sh*t storm but it doesn't phase me as I won't be spending any more!
Personally, I'm as much of a fan as I am a musician and I have always liked commenting on people's posts whether they are full on monologues or little sprinkles of positive dust for the producer to go back with after reading it. I like hearing new music and if it's really well produced, even better but my advice is always, if you make a track from the heart and complete projects, you will be in a far better place in your music journey than if you just did what everyone else was doing and not finishing things.
I hope the workshop goes well :)
Haha of course dude, I love those meme's you've made.
My wording was a little off lol, but I kinda meant not that crypto is inherently self-serving in itself, but more so that I kinda kept it to myself, as Steemit was kind of my safe haven for posting and sharing things that maybe I didn't want seen by others. Not that I was posting anything bad or out of character, but it was nice to kind of have that separation, rightly or wrongly. When in reality if I believe in an avenue's potential to be fun, lucrative, and positive (which I definitely do), I feel like I should share it with people who don't know about it yet.
I'll definitely throw this out there in the workshop, really appreciate the input dude!
I see what you mean and yes, I am like that as well, I haven't really posted much about the crypto sites on the mainstream social media platforms as I'm worried about the image but then, I've created the Bluffer's Guide to Cryptocurrency to get people in to the space so seems counter intuitive to only post those blogs on Steemit haha!
I think it's an exciting time to be involved with it all although I'm starting to feel the effect of having SO many platforms to choose from, makes it harder but that's where you choose the one or two platforms that resonate with you and stick to them.
Would like to know how you get on in the workshop later :)