I’ve been struggling a bit with the semi-regular blog crisis. Happens about once every year or so. It’s been especially rough this time around. I’ve dealt with so many deaths lately I’ve lost count, funeral after funeral, it starts to wear on you. And I’ve started a new full time job with a 3-4 hour round trip commute. You start questioning things. Why am I doing this? Who am I doing it for? etc, etc.
Anti-Gravity Bunny has not been fun for me as of late. It started out as a great leisurely way for me to share my favorite music but it’s grown into something else, something that takes a lot of work. I created a slew of self-imposed rules & guidelines that I was never able to keep up with. A post a day. Write about every submission I get. Ok, write about every physical submission I get. Write about a lot of Boston stuff. Way too much guilt. I imagined everyone hating me for not writing about the record they sent me and everyone else somehow knowing I had the record and that I wasn’t writing about it and hating me for that. It wasn’t fun.
These were the main questions I asked myself. Why did I start AGB? Why don’t I like it anymore? Can I like it again? The answers started to sound a little like a mission statement. Wait, I don’t have one of those. Hey, I should have one of those. So I made one. And now I feel like I’ve set up a framework for me to do exactly what I want to do and enjoy it instead of feeling bad about it.
So here it is. I’m curious to know what you think. From here on out it will be available on my About page.
Mission Statement
I love sharing music that’s crazy awesome and/or under-represented. That’s why I started Anti-Gravity Bunny and that’s why I keep it going.
I’ve always tried to maintain both quantity & quality in AGB but it’s a solo operation. I’m just one dude who, sadly, has more on his plate than a stack of records. I’ve chosen to focus on quality content without pressuring myself to keep up with a large quantity. I’m pretty sure this is a refinement everyone can get psyched about.
I’ve created content criteria to give myself some guidelines and so you know what to expect. Posts will fit one or more of the following:
1. It’s so great that I passed out from it’s sheer fucking greatness. Good music is good and all, but there’s too damn much of it. 100% great 100% of the time.
2. It’s from an artist I haven’t already written about. One and done (unless they’re that fucking good. see #1). Once I’ve introduced you, I’ve done my duty as a sharer and now it’s up to you to follow through.
3. It’s a hidden gem. I go crate digging and find some old bizarre LPs. It would be criminal to not pass such rare & unique treasures on to all of you.
I just crave music that’s weird & rad and I know some of you do, too. I do this for free. I do it for love. Sharing is caring.
P.S. Since AGB is all me, I can change the rules whenever I want.
I love this mission statement. I know exactly what you mean about those pesky questions coming up in the back of your mind. The ones that start to gnaw and you start to lose the inspiration you were spewing when you first started this awesome idea.
But I think you’re right – you’re only one guy, and you can only do so much without giving up the rest of your life to devote to this… And I think you can find a happy (and awesome!) medium that will give you something to look forward to, as well as please all of your amazing fans, which I can only imagine are mounds of.
Great job and keep it up, bro. :)
That’s funny — I thought this mission statement was what you were doing all along anyway! I’m sorry you had inner turmoil over it! I think you’ve been doing a great job with the blog. You already post more great things than I (with my plate full of things other than records, sadly) can keep up with anyway.
I would also encourage (but not obligate, of course) you to post stuff you want that’s not specifically sharing-is-caring re: music. Digital archive stuff, for instance. Don’t keep it all in your head when you have a good outlet. AGB is just you and you can change the rules! And if you get super fed up, you can always just say “Eff it, AGB is now only pictures of actual bunnies actually jumping from now on.”
GREAT mission statement.
Awesome mission statement bro! Although, like Michelle, I also thought that was what you were doing to begin with. Anyway, I look forward to all the rad music you’ll post up here in the future. Super fucking cool blog though, without your amazing recs I’d be missing out on mounds of fresh, cool tunes.
Great mission statement. This is my favorite blog. I rely on it to find some of the weirder stuff out there, which no one else seems to post about.
Thank you AGB, you have expanded my musical tastes tremendously.
You already post more than most ongoing blogs I visit…..one man? thats incredible keeping it up with all the other stuff. Take your time so it’s fun again is all I can think.
Cheers