Hi friends, it’s been a minute.
As this decade closes and new one begins, much reflection has taken place. A whole 10 years – that’s truly how long I’ve been doing this shit.
Flash back to 2010, my junior year of high school, when my concert buddies Trey and Ryan invited me to contribute to their music blog, Let This Colony Know. While my Blogspots and Xangas before had been scattered with musings on music here and there, this step was my first transition into more actualized music writing and blogging.
Later on, artists I gushed over on LTCK such as James Mercer of the Shins or Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards would become my interview subjects. Eventually, I would get paid to write, and when that wasn’t paying enough, freelancing would become the side gig to a full-time job.
Somewhere in between, I started Popscure. Despite the concept of music blogs being shoved to more obscure corners of the internet, I persisted. With the ability to stream all the music you’d ever want, including algorithmic pushes into new directions, who needs an independent music authority anyway?
I wanted to make it something different, bigger, and more impressive than LTCK, with video, podcasting, and events spanning all realms of media. Tyler and Jerome saw the big picture before I did and offered to help transfer my vision over to popscuremedia.com.
Popscure is a platform showcasing independent artists and diving deep into their creative process, acute analysis of pop culture’s past and present to dictate its future, and serves as a guide through the thick jungle of content straight to the cool stuff.
What started as a lowly Tumblr to practice journalism became a full-fledged media site after I graduated college. With no prospects in sight, I decided to build the blog up and create something to show potential employers.
Interviewers feared their offerings weren’t “creative enough” and passed on hiring me until my current bosses at Array Digital were excited instead of intimidated by my creation – they got it and they hired me. Thus, the blog I had put all my spare energy, time, and creativity into took a back seat.
In August, friends from No Preserves reached out to reinvigorate the project. Their team of eager writers, producers, marketers, and designers offered to take a load off my shoulders, and somehow marry our brands in a way we can work together instead of against each other.
It’s a win-win situation: writers like Darryan and Jasmine can build up a portfolio while also learning how to run and operate a blog; producers like Cam can feature artists they’re working with and expand their audience; designers like Tavis can have a media outlet to showcase his work with animation, video, digital art and logo making; videographers like Alex can create new content to hone their skills.
I feel like the biggest winner, though. Thankfully, folks have seen what I’ve manifested collectively over a decade and want to keep the train chugging along. I get to share all the doors Popscure has opened for me, the skills it has taught me, and all the joy it has ignited in others.
So with that, I announce a new partnership between No Preserves x Popscure; to expand our networks, work smarter not harder, and usher in the next generation of artists for the next decade.
– Shannon
Popscure 