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Daily Ideas For A Fairer Industry
By Pirate Staff / August 17, 2021
‘If you run an independent company, you don’t have to follow the ‘industry standard.’’ - @eli1ah
Elijah is a DJ and co-founder of Butterz records. His new daily infographics series lays out ideas which could lead to a better, fairer music industry.
I caught up with Elijah to find out more about where these ideas come from, and how the infographic medium has led to greater mass education on certain issues.
Your infographics series documents daily ideas for a better music industry, how did that project come about?
I have always tried to be transparent as an artist, and be quite open in terms of answering questions on social media, so this was a more regular way of doing it that was impactful.
Currently I'm working with Youth Music on their NextGen Fund and some of the posts are influenced by questions young people have been asking me leading up to applying too. So instead of just having to answer privately, I can answer publicly.
Artists applying for funding can use our handy guide '10 Tips To Help You Write A Successful Funding Application' by expert Mina.
You cover a lot of ground, from rethinking Bandcamp Friday to discussing the similarities between DJs and wrestlers, where do those ideas come from?
It's daily, so some posts are going to be more helpful than others, some are a one minute idea like the things DJs hate, and some are things I've been thinking about for years laid out in the easiest way, so people can have a discussion around it.
My DMs are certainly more interesting than the comments posted, as people tend to keep deeper questions private.
Infographics have exploded as a form over the past year, why do you think that is?
We are bombarded with information all day every day, so people laying things out in a way that doesn't feel intimidating is good for education. I've learned a lot of basic information this way over the past 18 months, so just doing my bit too.
Do you think infographics have the potential to incite real positive change?
With music in particular, there can be unwritten rules, and 'industry standards' that people follow without realising or even questioning. So changes may not feel that dramatic, but maybe even just someone knowing that they don't have to sign all their music to a label forever, may influence their creative practice in a really positive way.
Lastly, what’s your favourite post in the series so far & why?
When a scene is alive vs when a scene dies just as it has no words and people have different interpretations of it.
You can keep up with Elijah's daily ideas series here.
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