A Day Without Love is a creative endeavor focused on three things; self improvement, human connection, and creativity. When I think about the internet in the context of social media cognitive dissonance comes to mind. Why do I say this?
We’re living in a time where people look at images and numbers before we look at art. This is not a new phenomena it’s a modernized version of judging a book by it’s cover. Except the cover is covered in filters and curated “creative” projects made by marketing and advertising professionals. The “social” in social media is driven by engagement and conversions and not conversations. As a musician who is focused on human connection, I will be honest the internet does not make me feel “connected” touring does.
Independent touring on the other hand does not have this glamour. Cars break down, tires burst, you sleep on beds, air mattresses, couches and even floors. You may even have to succumb to using the bathroom in gas stations and relying in corporate fast food just to survive. But why isn’t anyone highlighting these honest realities of tour? One day you may be on top of the world playing to hundreds of people, the next day your in a desert on a 7 hour drive only to play to 3 people and have your merch bought as compensation ( and that only profits if you already paid off the cost of your merch). You may even be robbed or verbally harassed.
Unfortunately, many musicians and individuals create a narrative that doesn’t speak to these realities on their platforms. Some may not share this because of fear, and others are only in it for the algorithm. Is there a solution to sharing honest dialogue instead of curated dialogue? Am I self-righteous for calling this out? Or am I being honest about the cognitive dissonance between Social Media vs Reality? I am a musician not a solutions architect so unfortunately I do not have the answers.
I want to reignite this blog series as a place to talk about the honest, the nitty, the gritty, the positive, the insightful parts of being a musician. I want to talk to you about the realities of why “Tour is Not a Road Trip” I want to talk about what it means to be a human. The architecture of social media ( even discord) does not humanize the heartfelt feelings of what it is like to be a creator.
While the internet has it’s benefits , it has it’s set backs, and I just want to say thank you to all who have listened and who continue to engage with me on this journey that I am on.
For the record I also understand the irony of sharing this while being on the internet.
Thanks for reading