While Googling “jobs at Poler” back in 2014, I came across a quote from Drew Dayberry who does Creative / Product and Brand Development for the company:
"My goal overall is simple, keep the Internet and the digital world a wild place. A place where brands can co exist with everyday people without buying their way into their lives. There is still a lot of it to discover and tons of never been dones so there is no reason we should all hide in those social networks.”
The site doesn’t exist anymore (here’s a cached version), but that quote has stuck with me over the years. As bands, brands, and people, we are filling up social networks with lots of our “stuff.” Photos, memories, travel stories, births, wedding, new songs, your latest video – and for anyone not on a particualr social network, well, they’re hidden.
So here we are in 2016, and there is certainly still a lot to discover. There are “tons of never been dones,“ and not just with whatever hot new social media network of the day happens to be.
Today bands and labels are expected to sit on social networks and clack away with specials and semi-persnonal interactions with their legions of fans. Peopel who work in the field are expected to be experts within a year, and grow, and engage in brand new ways. Email lists bustle with tour dates and links to iTunes and Bandcamp. Epermeral videos on Snapchat and / or periscope, interactions that disappear like sparks in the night.
But where is the nightly podcast from a band in the studio, or stories from the road? Reatlity TV shows thrive because they’re cheap and they’ve got interesting stories. Your band, your label, you art – you’ve got so many stories bubbling inside you. You don’t need to scatter your stories to the social media winds and hope they find root somewhere – you have an amazing audience already in front of you hanging onto your every word. By using the world wide web your stories can remain for fans who discover three years from now, and who even knows if we’ll still be using Twitter three years from now?
Seth Werkheiser is the quiz master of metal trivia at Skulltoaster. He’s also the founder of some music sites you may have heard of, including Noise Creep (2009) + Buzzgrinder (2001). He’s anti-Facebook, anti-clickbait, and anti-growth hacking. You should most definitely follow him on Twitter. Yes, right now.
