Welcome to:
The Song’s the Thing!
By 🅝🅘🅒 🅑🅡🅘🅢🅒🅞🅔🖋🎸🎵🎥🎙
Subscribe to get deep-dives, commentary and opinion regarding:
Songwriting, Songwriters & Songs. 🖋
Guitaring, Guitarists & Guitars. 🎸
Music Theory & Practice. 🎵
Performance, Recording & Gear. 🎥
Content you can expect includes...
TUNES. INSIGHTS. THOUGHTS. SHARED EXPERIENCE. CONVERSATIONS.
Specifically:
Interviews and conversations with music folk.
Intermediate to advanced guitar tutorials.
Insights into practising, and performing live.
Insights into recording and mixing.
Closer looks at the gear I use and like.
Personal glimpses from behind the scenes of the music industry.
Commentary and opinion on individual songs, songwriters and genres.
Original songs (from time to time).
Occasionally I’ll recommend, rant, and go on an extended road trip.
Maybe you’re already thinking perhaps you’re in the wrong place…
I have another substack — Unleashed & Unlimited — where I post podcasts, articles and content unrelated to music.🖋🎥🎙
Subscribe to Unleashed & Unlimited to get infotainment with two strands:
1. Podcasts & Articles, regarding anything I find interesting and/or inspiring.
2. Posts relating to Freedom of Speech, because without it, we're all f#cked.
WORDS. THOUGHTS. IDEAS. CONVERSATIONS.
Why subscribe to The Song’s the Thing!?
My aim is to help songwriters and guitarists become better at their craft.
If — like me — you’re genuinely and deeply interested in:
Becoming a better songwriter.
Becoming a better guitar player (most of my tutorials are for those already at an intermediate level, wanting to take that to an advanced/Pro level).
Becoming a better performer and recording artist.
Deep exploration of the worlds of dedicated musicians.
Joining and developing this ongoing musical conversation and community.
Why am I so focused on these particular areas?
Well. most obviously it’s what I know about.
Less obvious is that I steadfastly believe that creativity — the humanities, the arts, philosophy, literature and music — are the lifeblood of our culture. Being part of the process of passing this information on is important. There are serious attempts in the world to make the creative arts non-viable as a life path and as a livelihood. Also, the arts are being used subversively, as propaganda. If the authentic creative spark in the world is hijacked (and used subversively) and/or extinguished, if this flow of ideas is blocked or distorted globally, then humanity itself will stagnate, because almost all new wholesome (and many un-wholesome!) ideas in the world originate from this pool.
About my content, firstly, for sure I can guarantee you that it is and will be ever-evolving. Obviously, this all links to constant experimentation and becoming more experienced at this stuff.
Right now, today, I don’t have an exact content-creation formula, everything is more fluid and dynamic. And to be honest, I’m happy about this. I’m not attempting to achieve a perfect formula, and don’t really expect to hit upon one.
I’m more focused on sharing what I know and improving and deepening my area of expertise. So, yep, it’s a journey, not a destination type-approach.
As a paying subscriber, you’ll get full access to all content on the website, past and present. You’ll never miss an update. Anything new will always be sent directly to your inbox, and instantly available via the Substack mobile app.
How much is it going to cost me?
An arm and a leg, and it’s cheap at the price.
You can become a paying subscriber for just £5 a month — so less than a quid a week — or £45 a year — so a 25% discount.
Of course, you can also choose to do this in you’re preferred currency ($, € etc)
There are several other paid subscription options, for example, you can gift or donate a subscription, and get a group subscription discount.
At the time of writing this, late December 2023, I’m at a crucial point in developing and expanding this venture. Apart from the fact that it takes resources to keep the lights on, I also need resources for long-term development.
So, I’m also reaching out to potential founding subscribers, to assist with growing and establishing my project long-term.
You can become a founding subscriber starting at £180 per year.
Founding subscribers instantly convert to a lifetime subscription!
Pay once & never renew again!
I am a totally independent creator.
At the same time, I am an interdependent collaborator.
I simply will not be able to develop long-term without the collaboration and financial support of paying subscribers, founding subscribers and patrons. It’s invaluable to me, and you cannot imagine how much I appreciate it.
Supporting independent creatives — like myself — helps the development of independent media and its long-term survival.1
Thank you for all your support!
Why the paywall?
In reality, I am asking for less than one pound per week from an annual subscriber. I love what I do, and I really believe it’s worth every penny. Hopefully, that will shift any perception away from the paywall being a divide to be avoided, towards being an entry point with a welcome sign.
First cont@ct
Do you want to know more?
Or want to tell me what you think?
Or suggest someone for me to interview, maybe you?
Perhaps there’s a topic you’d like to hear being discussed?
Maybe you have a collaboration, professional project or sponsorship offer you’d like to discuss?
Maybe you would like to become a patron?
You can email me at nicbriscoe@substack.com
I also have a website. nicbriscoe.com
Why Substack? My Stack mission statement.
TUNES. WORDS. INSIGHTS. THOUGHTS. IDEAS. SHARED EXPERIENCE. CONVERSATIONS.
I am a totally independent creator.
My main platform is Substack, the beauty of which is that I can keep my creative projects all pretty fluid and dynamic.
There are no ads, no clickbait. I don’t answer and will never answer to sponsors (although there may be sponsored gear reviews etc, but I’ll always tell you this upfront). There’s no WOKE-checking editor on my case, nothing institutional behind this at all.
I am totally independent.
And at the same time, I am an interdependent collaborator.
I cannot do any of this without the collaboration and financial support of paying subscribers.
Why Substack?
It’s going to sound cheesy… The honest answer is a wish for a real community. A wish to create real connections.
I’m almost allergic to social media. In the past, I just didn’t get it. I don’t mean I didn’t understand it. I mean I didn’t feel that there was anything social about social media. It left me feeling empty.
I don’t think I’m alone. I think that many people feel this way. Yet at the same time, they also intuit (as do I) that there is something deeply and profoundly useful in combining the (vastly untapped) potential of social media, and social media connections with real-life, and real-world connections.
How?
Firstly, let’s say I think we’re all still trying to figure that out, the exactly how.
However, for now, to start with…
With everyday people just talking about, and/or demonstrating and sharing their skills online, about a field they are passionate about, and sharing the depth of their knowledge and experience about that field.
With totally transparent long-form interviews and nuanced conversations (not short bursts of propagandistic text or ideologically media-manipulated soundbites).
With everyday people speaking freely and pushing back against those who would silence independent voices and freedom of speech.
By speaking with honesty, authenticity, and intelligence.
The result is that spontaneously a public archive is being created. This is all so valuable. I will try to reflect all this in my substack content and the substack content I recommend.
I think it’s just the beginning…
Institutional mainstream media is on its way out.
Infotainment has arrived and is now firmly rooted.
Podcasts.
Text-based publishing platforms, in particular independent journalism platforms.
Public video platforms.
Video conferencing platforms.
Global digital distribution platforms.
Social media platforms.
And more…
All these public platforms are now easily available and function well. As little as eight or ten years ago this was not the case. Infotainment is now here for the long haul. We just have to figure out how to make the best use of it. For me, this means that — even though without doubt the communication will be mostly one-way traffic (in this case from Substacker to subscriber) — in spirit the sense of this should at least feel warm, and collaborative, like a true connection, like a dialogue, like a relationship, a friendship.
Also, please do keep in mind that these interactions do NOT have to all be one-way. The Substack development team are constantly introducing new features which not only make transparent two-way interactions between a Substacker and fellow Subsatckers possible but also transparent two-way interactions between Substackers and their subscribers/audience possible. So an interactive relationship between a creative and their audience has become truly viable. Building a community has become viable.
The easiest and most obvious way to do this is for subscribers to post their comments and/or join a Substacker’s chat forum.
Too often social media platforms have quickly become battlegrounds, or propagandistic ideological soapboxes that became closed echo chambers, with no alternative dialogue or opposition. A better description of these platforms would be antisocial media.
So my being on Substack is my attempt to actively help figure out how to make social media truly social, and how to create meaningful real connections between real people, individuals that want to build something meaningful with a sense of real community. I want to be part of that process.
Being on Substack, and the hopefully meaningful and useful content I post is my small experimental contribution to this new paradigm.
