Why I started a newsletter today...

A couple of months ago, I started to feel like social media wasn't the best place to share my art and connect with all of you anymore. Firstly, because it is getting increasingly hard for content in non-video form to reach an audience on instagram - even followers. Secondly, because I just love writing, which Instagram isn't built for either. Of course I thought of other sites I could join that cater to my creation methods more. Substack for example seems to be a great place for writers, hell, I even thought about joining Threads... But you are now reading this in your inbox or on my blog, and that is because I have two goals. I want to: a) connect with you all, and b) own my channels.

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a) Connect with you all

Since you took the extra step to sign up for this newsletter or browse around the blog, I know that you are genuinely interested in what I want to share. I don't have to clickbait anyone. There is no algorithm in between you and me. And that's exactly what I need. I want to think about creating art for PEOPLE, not computers.

b) Own my channels

I simply could not live with the fact that I am 100% dependent on a platform that I cannot control. And while I am fairly certain that my content isn't so controversial as to trigger moderation algorithms or ... get the attention of Elon Musik so he could ban me personally, it's nice to know that no one can take this away from me. Yes, I am still paying a company (Wix) to host this site and send out E-Mails. But if they went down tomorrow, I'd still have your E-Mail Addresses on file. I'd still have my texts on back-up. It would be a hassle, of course, but I could be, at least rudimentary, up and running again in a couple of hours. And notify every single one of you. Artists are dependent on platform capitalists in so many ways these days. Just think about where I would be without Spotify - certainly not with around 600 people listening to my music in the last month. There sure are benefits to platforms. But at least this one thing, this blog and newsletter for my most passionate friends, family and community, should belong solely to me and not some big tech conglomerate.

Thank you and see you soon,

Johann