Slave To The ‘Rithm…?

“Whilst early adopters have reached giddy heights… many like myself are now controlled by the ‘rithm”

​Social Media really isn’t a bad thing, It was hailed as the best thing since sliced bread for self-promoting artists when it first came out… no need for bricks and mortar galleries and if you posted and shared and commented enough well you’d go places. Not to mention the ego trip that follows when you have a gazillion followers. 

Of course all that has changed now and whilst the early adopters have reached the giddy heights of huge followers and social media influencing, many like myself are now managed and controlled by the ‘rithm. 

I have resisted it’s power… believe me. Why should I let my life, indeed my very fortune be dictated by an unknown set of numbers? Do I really need it? The fact is every little helps, no matter how little and if there is any lesson to be learned from this, it is that we cannot fully rely on only one set of circumstances.

So I find myself on the bandwagon and much as I have resisted it, I am getting comfortable with doing things I would never have thought of doing, but must be thankful I at least have a platform to use. It was not possible once upon a time.

There are so many things I still would rather not be doing; like as an artist, why can’t I just post images of my finished paintings as a when I finish them? What’s all this about posting regularly and consistently, and doing reels? Does the ‘rithm know how long it takes to prepare one of those? There just does not seem to be any middle ground. It has become an all or nothing thing.

So, what can I say…? If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! Use it as one of the tools in your repertoire and use your website more. This is the only place where you have real control! I am under no illusion that the ‘rithm is there to help me but I will take what I can get to help my cause. Every little helps…!

So here I am, with a one minute reel posted on Instagram recently, explaining how and why I’ve had to make some changes to a current work in progress. It takes a while to get it done and edited when you are the cameraman, producer, and editor, but I have to say I do enjoy doing these things. In another life or in a parallel universe I feel I would do well in film production. The truth is when you work alone in your studio, it doesn’t hurt to talk to someone occasionally, even if it’s an imaginary person behind the camera.

I do love watching other artists at work and have a boredom threshold of about 5 minutes, so find YouTube videos tedious unless the subject is absolutely gripping and captivating, so I’ve tried to keep mine to a minute or under with captions so you can ‘listen’ in quiet mode.

Who knows? This might be the start of many good things to come….

So how have you dealt with this ‘rithm thing my fellow artists? How are you turning it to your advantage? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.