Quick blog thought on direct communication
by Tessa SmithSarah and Risa are prepping a fun project that’ll show up on the blog soon, so I won’t say too much…But it got me thinking about what blogs can do for artists. Here’s a very simple thought I had about a way for artists to use/think about blogs.
A blog is a place to show and talk directly about your work. Instead of being interviewed by someone who gets to make a story out of you. Instead of having someone review your work and say what they thought. Instead of having your work packaged by a pr person. You get to say and show what you think of your work. I actually think it works best when it’s less “instead of” and more “as well as” —there’s nothing wrong with media if people are doing good work to frame your art— but a blog gives you an added performative space to speak to your audience: off stage, outside the show, before the introduction, and after the last frame.
The Indyish blog is one place to show and talk directly about your work to other artists and non-artists. And I think the effect of hundreds of people talking directly about their work to a worldwide audience can be extremely powerful.
More thoughts on what and how and why to blog here.
Listen to this article
Published on: May 26th, 2008
Terms Used: artists, blogging, communication, indyish, media, philosophy, power
About: Tessa Smith
Tessa co-runs Fixture Records, plays in Brave Radar, and is Site Editor of Indyish.com
Email me about your art projects: Tessa @ indyish.com
Browse Indyish Content:
Use the tabs above to navigate between Featured Blog Columns, Product Categories, Popular Tags, and Recent Comments.
I’m still getting used to this whole blogging thing - truth is, I’ve long been one of those unfortunate artists that was all about creating, but not so much about self promotion. I realize how important the latter is, it’s just never been my bag. I’ve put up some blogs on this site announcing shows and what not (by the way, the Morph-tet plays a FREE SHOW this Sunday at L’Absynthe 1738 St Denis at 830 PM) but I’ve never thought about using a blog as more of a way to explain where I’m at with my music and its raison d’être (if it has one). As someone who has been misquoted and misrepresented more than once in the media - I should have thought of it right away, a chance to explain myself in my own words… thanks for the idea, Tessa.
Posted on May 27th, 2008 at 3:37 pm [permalink]
yeah, i think that’s it: “explaining your work in your own words”. and not just explaining, but it’s another expression of your work. a lot of people are more into the creating and not so cool with self-promotion, but blogging makes self-promotion a part of your creating, instead of having to play a whole different game.
Posted on May 27th, 2008 at 5:03 pm [permalink]