Wellbeing at work (when your workplace is your home) and the experience of music listening…
#weeknotes S06 EP13 – week ending 19 May 2019
Working on
This week has been a sort out week – I’ve finally moved back into my home office (it’s been a stock room for the label for quite some time) and having a dedicated workspace rather than perching on the sofa, sitting at the kitchen table (or any time the sun is out) laying in the garden has made a huge and positive difference. While freelancing gives me the work / life balance I’ve longed for (I LOVE doing the school run and checking on my veggie patch while the kettle boils between jobs) it can make it easy to blue the line between what is a home and what is an office. Sorting out my workspace has been overdue and I’m glad I braved the spiders, the records, and the broken blind to get myself sorted.
As it was Mental Health Awareness Week there were a couple of other things I pulled myself up on and finally actioned: getting some houseplants (and trying seriously to keep them alive), and giving myself time to do things for my wellbeing. This week that was time to read (and sitting under our apple tree reading a big thick hardback was definitely good for my soul), but I’m intending to pick up the exercise again. After injury and illness I’ve been off my game but I want to be back up and running again – who else has re-started Couch to 5k multiple times?
Music wise this week has been about production and campaign for the new LIINES single. This is their first new music since last year’s debut album Stop-Start and comes off the back of their 30 plus date tour with Sleaford Mods, and ahead of their headline shows in London, Nottingham and Manchester. Securing the 6Music premiere for it was a pleasure and I’m hyped to hear it get more airplay and coverage as we head into release week.
I’ve also been working on pre-production details for a new format for a single from Mark Morriss. I can’t say too much about this (we’ll announce soon) but I’m so pleased we’ve found a way to create a unique piece through an independent business which will provide a really lovely product experience for fans. I’m really keen to explore different ways to get music out – particularly where a smaller run is right. Vinyl is amazing, CDs are still popular and digital is certainly convenient – but both artists and fans deserve imagination and brilliant experiences around the magic of the music they create and choose. If anyone wants to have conversations with me about music products and listener experiences please let me know – coffee is on me.
Reading
Fiction wise I’ve borrowed Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust from my eldest child and am slowly getting back into the Dark Materials universe – just in time for the BBC adaptation.
I’ve not managed to find a consistent way to log what I’ve been reading online yet – maybe returning to an RSS reader is the way. Much of my reading online at the moment is around Facebook Ads to make sure the latest info is going into the Vital Facebook Skills workshops I’m running with Dan Slee next month – get the details and snap up one of the last few places here.
Listening to
I’ve been listening to the Other Labels podcast this week and loving hearing from other label managers and founders about the reality of running an indie record label. There’s a lot of resonance with Reckless Yes but I’m also hearing lots of experience outside of our own. If you’re looking to dive in I recommend the Team Love episode. I was lucky enough to deliver a campaign on the labels behalf a few years ago in the UK and love their ethos and their thinking on the how and why of modern labels.
What’s next?
Second week of campaign for LIINES new single and we’ll be following up on the 6Music premiere with lots of coverage elsewhere. This is part of my work as Head of Creative at Reckless Yes but if you’re a musician or band in need of some help you can find me over at Noble and Wild – I’d love to chat with you.
And of course it is election week next week too. I’ll be using my vote and hoping for the best from a personal perspective, while looking over how informing and reporting goes from a professional one.