Timeless advice for creators
The life of a creator can feel lonely. But you are part of a long history and thriving community of creators—writers, musicians, filmmakers, artists. In these articles, I share examples, principles, and frameworks to help you become a better creator. Sign up to get these sent to your email each week.
Seventy-Seven Scrapbooks: Six Days in the Life of a Pop Musicologist
Well, that was a week.
I went to Washington, D.C. to give a paper at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) conference and do research at the Smithsonian. The research is for Sway, my book arguing that promotion didn't just circulate American music, it shaped artists' images, legacies, and sometimes the music itself. The Ellington chapter is that argument made concrete, and Ellington's archives are at the National Museum of American History in D.C. So I went early. I got back in the stacks.
It started at the Lincoln Memorial at dawn and ended at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on a Saturday afternoon. In between: five days of archive work, a major conference presentation, and an NPR Tiny Desk story I'm still thinking about.
Let me take you through it.
The Humbug and the Nightingale: What we can learn about music promotion from P. T. Barnum
In a brand new academic article published by Musical Quarterly, I tell the story of how P. T. Barnum used strategies of branding to create the most successful music tour of the 19th century. The singer he brought to America was Jenny Lind. Lind was already a star in Europe, but was relatively unknown in America before signing a contract with Barnum.
Barnum did something unprecedented: