Better Than Social Media, I'm Building a Big-Ass Website
Plus, behind the scenes at my Little Shop of Horrors gig + film and article recommendations
If we musicians aren’t releasing new music every 2-4 weeks, creating multiple alt versions and posting them on YouTube every few days, chopping those horizontal videos up into thrice-daily vertical reels and shorts, and following the latest trends on TikTok with 10 daily posts in our own “brand” of manufactured authenticity, then is there even any reason to try?
Not according to music marketing gurus today. This is literally the only advice you’re gonna get from them1. Apparently it’s the only way for a musician to succeed.
But I’ve tried to play this game for years and it doesn’t work - for me or anyone I know. It’s unsustainable for the artist and incompatible with good art. And, honestly, for me, I’d rather just not have a music career at all than to keep playing this soul-killing game any longer.
That’s where I’m at: figure out a different way or give up.
And I’m not ready to give up. So even if it means a bit of trailblazing and more error than trial, I’m gonna figure this out.
One thing I do know - my square one - is that I need a safe and inspiring place to publish what I make, that doesn’t gatekeep me from my audience or feel like a slavedriver, a place where my sweat builds my equity not someone else’s. It needs to be something that I own and can shape into whatever is best for my work, an HQ for all things Zach Sprowls.
For me, this is a website, and not a one-size-fits-all website either. I need it to be a portfolio, a blog, an online store, an EPK, a calendar, and a means of communication. If it’s gonna be sustainable for me and not bog me down, it needs to be flexible and versatile without being ugly and fully featured without being clunky.
As anyone who has built a website knows, this is no small undertaking. I’m not a programmer or designer, but I’ve been down this road enough times to know how I want to proceed. As much as I hate working with Wordpress, there really isn’t another platform that can effectively do everything I want this site to do. By integrating with Shopify for the ecommerce portion, I think I can save myself a lot of unnecessary headaches. And by keeping things simple on the backend, I can make it sustainable for myself. I’ve been really impressed with Kit, so I think I’m going to use that for my communication and outreach.
It will probably take me all year to get it where I want it, but I’m actively working on it, devoting a few hours several times a week to it, and it should only be a couple weeks more before I at least have some bare bones to go public with.
I know you’re wondering - how am I gonna get people to my website? Well, that’s a post for another day. I’ve had some significant success in one of my side projects over the last few months and that’s given me the confidence to try these strategies out on this project. I’ll keep you in the loop as things progress and fail/succeed.
Credit where credit’s due: the idea of a website HQ is not original to me. I got it from Seth Werkheiser over at
. His ideas, encouragement, and the community he’s building over there have been invaluable. Thank you, Seth!
Studio Log
I played Keys 2 for a run of Little Shop of Horrors here in Scranton the last couple weekends. Threw a camera up for the last show and put together a quick little edit of it.
I was using my Nord keyboard as a MIDI controller into Mainstage on my computer that had all the sounds. You’ll see my right foot pressing a pedal to advance to the next sound and my left foot (obscured) is operating a volume pedal.
It was fun getting to play music with a couple local legends I hadn’t gotten to play with yet. Esther, the music director, was excellent.
Recommendations
Film
Vangelis and the Journey to Ithaka (2013). A documentary on Vangelis (composer for Chariots of Fire and Bladerunner). What a great man. I’ve found myself deeply moved and inspired by him. Free to watch on YouTube:
Articles/Podcast
A few recent publications on the continued internet/tech rot:
On quitting Spotify
Ted Gioia’s latest “State of the Culture”
With Great Power Came No Responsibility. Cory Doctorow’s latest lecture on enshittification (the term he coined). You can listen to it on his page or in your podcast player.
Music
No music recs this week. Been listening to my current collection on repeat. But I’ll be on the hunt again soon. If you have any recs, send em along!
An exception might be
. I haven’t subscribed myself, but Cass is at least trying to help musicians build something apart from social media.
A few years ago I too realized that "making content" to "promote your music" is not something that is really helping. It's just another thing one has to do, and it is a full time job, so I decided that it was not worth it.
Putting up flyers at the local grocery store is actually better, but not as good as back when people would actually look at them :P
So, as someone who gave up, I support your effort :)
Hi Zach... when you figure out how to get the audience for your website please let us know the secret! BTW I use Bandzoogle and really like it....just sold tickets for a record launch right on my site: suterry.com. Also, do you know the drummer Marko Marcinko? I believe he's from Scranton. Used to play with him when I lived in the Poconos.