Be good, be selfish

The best way to share is… being selfish.

Let me explain.

A few years ago I embarked on the adventure of posting regularly on social media. It’s been an insightful and even profound journey.

I’ve learned about what drives the algorithm; the best times to post, the best hashtags to use, the best hooks for retaining an audience…

But I’ve also learned some deeply profound things about being human. Social media is an extension of who we actually are. You see, I’ve discovered that the way we behave in front of others is mostly not who we really are, but a coping mechanism we’ve developed… because of many reasons.

Sometimes it´s for comfort, others for approval.

What we share on social media sometimes is just a reflection of what our dream life would be: sunny beaches, doing work we love, hugging our dog, dining at a gourmet restaurant, kissing our loved ones…

There are many things we can read between the lines. Or in between the pictures…

Content creators (something I used to consider myself) are usually looking for the best ways to please audiences and grab their attention, also in the hopes of getting new followers.

I had the noble mission of playing music that I found great, to share it with as many people as possible so that I could bring them the joy I myself experienced with those pieces of music.

But, it turns out that figuring out what people REALLY want is not that easy a task.

And I quickly discovered that even though many people did enjoy my content, there were many who didn’t. Or the things I thought more worthwhile didn’t get much attention if any at all.

After much trial and error, and plenty of thought and inner search, I came to one conclusion:

I don’t care.

I will just share whatever I want to share, whenever I want to share it. And I will play whatever I want to play. That would be my new journey.

No more trying to please. I became selfish. I did things just to please myself.

And guess what?

Ever since I started doing so, my numbers on social media and streaming platforms skyrocketed. I gained over 100 thousand followers on Instagram in less than 6 months, something most social media gurus would deem as a nearly almost impossible task, especially for an instrumental musician with a relatively tiny niche…

What happened?

The short version of my conclusion is the following (the long version would fill in a whole book): people dig honesty. REAL feelings. Real art. Real music.

It shows when you’re just trying to please by hopping on the next trend without owning it. It´s not cool.

The following video I’ll share is the piece of music that I wanted to play that I normally wouldn’t have shared before. Turns out it’s the first one that went viral, with many millions of views on Instagram across many clips. But here is the first video performance I gave of it:

I hope you enjoy this amazing masterwork.

And stay real. It will bring you more approval than desperately trying to please. That´s my own advice for myself. If you want you can also take it :) it´s for free

Have a great day.

Claudio.