Hey what's up everyone!
I am Ed, a musician, singer, producer and crypto enthusiast 😃, nice to meet you.
My buddy @nickyhavey asked me to write an introduction post for the "Music for Life", and I thought I might give you some tips to help the newcomers started on the blockchain.
As for an quick introduction, I joined this blockchain (the previous one of course) in 2017, and got a good success and traction with my music thanks to @prc and his dapp dsound (it was an IPFS streaming application running on the previous blockchain).
Here is a cover of one of my earlier posts back in Africa 😁:
It gave me a much needed confident to create more music, and to come up with some cool concepts that I could transcribe well to the blockchain, the year 2018 was particularly good and we managed to make a living with crypto only, I also joined other streaming crypto-based platforms and became a brand ambassador, dedicating my life to music in the crypto world.
After this success, I decided to start working on a second album, based on the best feedbacks I had with demo tracks released on the blockchain. I also met so many amazing producers, musicians, like minded individuals, and this place was a little bit like home.
My second Album Aimée, released last year in 2020
I started a new concept called "Song Request" after feeling that I was getting too much money from posting covers on here, I decided to make people earn some cash by making them choose a cover they like. The goal is to change the cover as much as possible, and to make it my own
You can check the concept HERE that I've just relaunched for its 3rd season.
I got the honour to become head of curation for Artzone, who was one of the biggest art curator at the time, our goal (created by Jeff aka @surfyogi) was always to support the art scene on the blockchain, and we did great things throughout 2018 and 2019, went to the Steemfest in 2018 in Krakow where I performed on stage with many new friends, and met so many incredible people.
I made the decision to get a "real" job in 2019 in order to finance our departure to France from South Africa (during the bear run, tough times)
It was a decision that took 3 years in the making, and for now we managed to manifest everything (and more) that we hoped for, we are now in the South of France, on a farm, living the crypto life with our 3 children. Our dogs are on their way from South Africa, our family will be soon reunited.
I am currently working with a lot of musician on the blockchain, also outside of the blockchain, and give music lessons on the side. I spend a lot of time taking care of my kids, homeschooling, working on the farm, and I post about it every few days or so.
If you've just arrived on HIVE, welcome to you, I have plenty of tips that will give you a head start, and help you avoid the potholes along the way. Here are my precious advices I wished I knew when I arrived on the blockchain
1 - This isn't like Instagram or Facebook.
That's something I wished I knew when I arrived, because my first interactions on the blockchain were downvotes, hate, envy, and a lot of old habits I got from using other rotten-to-the-core social medias.
This blockchain isn't like any others, and its people is its force. What I mean by this, is that never forget that you are talking to real people, with a heart, that you can upset, offend, and that your insults will be forever encrypted on this blockchain. Try to keep a positive approach to every opinions and styles, as it is what makes the great diversity of this place. I know that it sounds like some woke bullshit, but keep in mind that everyone is different, what seems ok for you, might not be for someone else, always try to be encouraging to someone else sharing their experience.
2 - Go the Extra Mile
On other platforms, you can get away with spamming the same comment over and over again, hoping that someone will bite your bait, and get you an upvote or a follower. Here, this isn't how it works.
Someone will very quickly notice that you haven't read his/her post, and I encourage you to engage with people on a different level. It kinda goes hand in hand with the tip number 1, you are facing people that like you, have fears, dilemmas, insecurities, and it takes a lot of courage to be real. Reward that by being also real, which leads me to my next tip.
3 - Be Real
You can forget about the online persona that you have created on another platform, it won't cut in here.
It feels weird the first time, but trust me, you will get used to tell the truth, to talk about your financial problems, your sick aunt, your dead pet, you eczema that doesn't go away (with a new pic in HD to show it), because here, people are real people and there is no point of lying unless you are trying to project your own obvious insecurities, you will eventually get caught on your bullshit, and you will lose the community's trust. There are people on this blockchain with journalistic skills (cough cough @tygertyger) and they will find what you lied about, and make a post about it 😁, and also on twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube,etc...
I do not have enough ink to mention all the people that fell from grace, lying on this blockchain, for then being called up on it, this would deserve its own post, a wall of shame (you know who you are people).
4 - For Musicians/producers/singers , don't just post about your music
That might sound counter intuitive, but people want to hear about everything else but your music. People wants to know how you got inspired by your latest song, they aren't interested in just a link of your latest single, with 3 sentences and no redaction.
There are millions of things you can talk about, be creative about the way you present yourself, your life, your surrounding. What seems uninteresting to you, might be the epitome of exoticism to someone else.
Don't spare any details, remember that on the other end of their pc you have people like you and I , trying to understand what it's like to be human, our purpose on earth, and we all gain from each other experiences and mistakes.
When I arrive on this platform, I really thought that what defines me was my music. With time, I learnt how to trust my instincts, and this blockchain made me discover new ways of life, helped to shape the kind of individual I want to be, what example I want to set for my kids.
5 - Don't Hate
This one is very important and is the reason why I did not find instant success when I arrived in 2017. It took me a whole month to let go of the hate and envy I had for other people successes. I was seeing people making good amount of money for posts that I judged not worth it, meanwhile I was really in the wrong to judge them.
The truth is we never know what will touch someone, we never know when we hit that perfect spot and that the universe aligns itself and open a path for us.
It might be your post about your latest recipe, or that sunset you caught on camera out of nowhere, you morning routine, a drawing that capture the imagination, a sincere rant.
One thing for sure, people work hard for their posts, and the one that you see get paid, doesn't mean it's always been the case.
My buddy @dandays used to draw a lot in his posts with somewhat relatively sporadic success, and took a long time before finding his unique writing style that drew so much attention lately. I haven't seen such a huge pay-out in a long time, and it's well deserved. The dude spend his days encouraging other content creators to make more content, an incredible ally to have on here. He found his own style through trials and errors, unfair downvotes, never gave up like so many did.
You have to love to be here, otherwise there is no point of doing it, and everyone will feed of and feel your negativity.
6 - Don't post for the sake of posting
That's tough, you will notice that getting paid is addictive. Once you start seeing those big numbers, you wonder if you will be able to reproduce the same magic again, and before you know it, you are already writing a post about your cat, your sandwich half eaten, this "ok" pic of a pigeon 😁. Wrong!!!
Have a plan... I have currently 5 drafts of posts that I want to release, I have the next episode of Song Request in the work, but I will take my time to do so, and I won't press publish until I am fully satisfied.
What will differentiate you from the competition, is the quality of your content. Anyone can write a 5mn read that got somewhat mildly transformed from a google search, but writing a compelling story with sincerity, a great song, a good music video, it takes time, weeks, a month and years of practice. Some painters on here work for few months on a canvas before showing it to the world, be proud of your craft, and people will feel it.
If you are proud of what you are creating, it will also be easier if you don't get upvoted, because it will happen and you need to be at peace with the outcome.
7 - Create work that can live outside of the blockchain
It's the most important advice of all. Back in the days, I was living my life for the blockchain, and it was pretty uninteresting.
Now, I document everything that I do all day, some is used here on the blockchain, some on other platforms, but I am really doing it for myself and not for any form of self-gratification with a quick like or upvote, or any form of short term success.
I am building healthy foundations around my life, myself, that will allow me to be satisfied, successful, content, for years to come, a feeling of accomplishment that lives outside of the blockchain, something I am happy to share with my wife and kids, my friends.
8 - Find your Niche
Everybody has a thing. You might not even know yet what is your thing, but the most important way to find out, is to try.
It took years for me to be confident enough to talk in front of the camera, when I look at footage from the early blockchain, I cringe.
But it helped me to find my niche. So many example of people that started here with purely music at first, like @coruscate, for then explore new avenues like doing interviews, podcasts, vlogs, showreels.
Now she is invited around the world for speeches and conventions to talk about her experience with crypto and inspire people. She truly found a vocation that she would have never found if she did not try to be out of her comfort zone (she was quite talented to begin with though, fair enough).
Extra tips: Post in communities, use Discord to promote your content, and the most important advice of all, make some real connexions with people, real friendships, as all these people I met here:
@d-vine @lizelle @yidneth @derangedvisions @sports.guy55 @galenkp @minismallholding @splatts @jaybird @katrina-ariel @jeffleinwand @darqub @laritheghost @fionasfavourites @plantstoplanks @farm-mom @leiatalon
@edje @bashadow @blaze @ashtv @wav-dr @thebigsweed @tattodjay @dandays @puravidaville @aggroed @solarphasing @termitemusic @mariusfebruary @psionic-tremors @brittandjosie @ivan.atman @davidfar @autobodhi @drumoperator @enginewitty @tixinhacapitinha @ura-soul @angelica7 @cityofstars @offgridlife @pennsif @vachemorte @Isaria @shookriya @nathanmars @mermaidvampire @junkfeathers @jeffandhisguitar @saffisara @atomcollector @darrenclaxton @nakedverse @roelandp @danieldyemusic @surfyogi @tontin @mipiano and I forgetting many more , I hope you don't get mad 😁
That's it for my tips, good luck and don't forget to ask any questions ^^ that you might have.
Special thanks to my wife @lionmom 😍