It might only be week 46 of Unsung Sundays, but I’ve been writing Unsung officially for over a year now. Last summer I started writing this blog, and after a year, I’ve learned a few things about it. I’m about to be completely honest for the rest of this post, because I’m honestly not sure if there’s enough honesty in the blogging community, where everybody acts like they’re getting two million hits every month.
First of all, when I started this blog a year ago, I quickly realized two things. First, it’s an awesome idea. Second, nobody cares. That’s not to deride me or to say that everything has been vain, but rather, to note that it’s nearly impossible to catch people’s attention anymore.
After a year, as far as I know, missing less than one post a month, I can tell you that there are only two RSS subscribers. (I can’t track people subscribing via Feedly, which is the most popular subscription site around, but the numbers can’t be that much higher there.) I have two email subscribers, about 65 to 70 followers on Facebook, and a small handful on Twitter. On Tumblr, there are around 55 readers. These are low numbers.
I’ve also been missing a series of posts recently, partially because I was on holiday, and partially because I’ve just been too tired to do it every week. I run a small-but-busy business, I’m starting a nonprofit, and I’ve been keeping busy with a variety of personal projects — like a new website for myself and a podcast — that keep me busy about 14 hours a day. The rest of the day is spent sleeping, or visiting with friends and family. And although I’m not dropping Unsung Sundays, writing an in-depth series of reviews is just not something I have the time for anymore.
And that could be a good thing. People on Tumblr don’t tend to read — it’s so visual here — so, at best, there is space for an image or video, and then maybe a few words. It’s a social network like any other; time spent in somebody’s Tumblr feed is sacred. So cutting down on the words is a good thing for this medium. Were I writing this blog elsewhere, the solution could look different.
So yes, that means a new format. Every Sunday, there will be five recommended albums. There will be one every two hours throughout the day, starting at 8 am as always. Hopefully this means more people see the posts, and hopefully it means that more people subscribe in the long run. Instead of writing a review, I’ll just be writing a brief field explaining the sort of music listener I’ll recommend it to. The descriptions are, in my mind, like “Netflix descriptions for music”: “Icelandic folk with a hauntingly beautiful female lead”, for example. I think you’ll like it, and it’ll make it much easier for me to do.
So with that in mind, welcome to year two of Unsung Sundays. Enjoy.