A conversation with Seth Werkheiser, from Social Media Escape Club

Leaving social media as an artist can be way less complicated than you think…

Seth Werkheiser

Social media started out as a fresh and exiting idea, something that seemed like it could bring us closer together and make life easier. Today, the reality is very different. Most people recognize how harmful (and stupid) it's become, yet few seem willing to leave it behind. Even fewer when it comes to artists, who often feel forced to be part of that ecosystem. As if they didn't exist unless they're on there — which, to me, is the height of madness.

So I started looking into it a bit, and came across Social Media Escape Club, run by Seth Werkheiser. On his site, Seth writes: “I do D2C email marketing operations for Grammy Award Winning MNRK Heavy. I also write Social Media Escape Club, helping creative people ditch the algorithms and get back to reaching their fans with email newsletters.”

It felt like exactly what I needed, so I reached out and told him about my projects. He replied with a long email — it was clear he had done a deep dive into my work (he even found a review of one of my albums I hadn’t seen) — and a five-minute voice message offering a completely different perspective on what we usually mean by “promotion.”

I’ve always hated the idea of “promotion”. I do what I do, and I’m not interested in convincing anyone that my work is good. Still, I need people to see it. So why is it that, to make that happen, I have to take part in an environment that’s constantly trying to distract everyone? I’m not interested in that. I don’t want my work to get lost in a sea of posts. I do what I want, and I want to decide where I share it — that’s all.. Seth completely gets that, which is why I thought it would be a great idea to do an interview, to share it whit you.

Here’s our conversation:

What personally motivated you to start the Social Media Escape Club?

All my friends in bands! I'd see their social media posts with 5 likes even though they had 1000 or 10,000 followers, and it was a real bummer. And all these talented artists were sad, too, thinking no one liked their work, when in fact it was just the dumb algorithims hiding their work from their biggest fans. That's why I started writing about leaving social media behind, and finding more effective ways to telling our friends about our work.

I have to be honest —my opinion of marketing is pretty close to that old Bill Hicks joke where he says, "Are there any marketing people here? You? Great. Kill yourself. Seriously —kill yourself." That’s more or less how I’ve always felt. But your approach is completely different. In fact, it’s so different that I wouldn’t even call it marketing. Was there a specific moment or event that led you to take this path?

Lots of Seth Godin books, starting with Purple Cow. Make something remarkable, and people will make remarks. It five people like it, maybe they tell five more. If they don't, start again. Either re-work everything, or play to the crowd, or double down and find the right five people who might enjoy what you're doing. Not everyone is going to love what we do, and that's okay. Even the most famous people on the internet are complete unknowns to most of the world. So to me it's all about making a thing that you can make, making friends, having fun, building community. If that leads to paying some bills, great. If not, at least you've enriched the lives of those around you.

What’s your sense of the moment we’re living in now, in terms of art and communication, compared to a few years ago?

It's probably biased, because I talk to a lot of people who are looking to get away from social media. But that's okay, that's who I want to talk to. I don't want to talk to people about maximizing reach with paid ads on Facebook, I want to talk to people printing out their poetry and leaving copies around town. I think more people are seeing the beaitufy in the simplicity of that. Of an email, or a print zine, of a cassette tape, of not putting our music on Spotify, leaving social media platforms, and finding more peace and calm with a few buddies around town, or the few people we text on occasion.

People stopped using Myspace, and eventually they’ll stop using Facebook or Instagram too — but email has always stuck around, always in the same place. Why is that?

Every smart phone ships with an email app, and you need email to get a real job, to have a bank account, to order band shirts, or vinyl, or effects pedals. Email was built to last. Yes, it can get messy, but so can our rooms, our cars. It's up to us to clean things up, to work how we want to work. I don't wanna check the DM inbox of 13 different services. You wanna reach me? Email me. That's where the work gets done. Email is a record. You can print it out. It has a time stamp. It's historical. MySpace messages? Long gone.

Could you tell me about your work with Black Label Society? Did they approach you, or how did that partnership come about?

Their manager, who is also Ozzy Osbourne's bass player, reached out via LinkedIn! I do freelance email marketing work for the band's record label, and they saw my Social Media Escape Club newsletter, and we got on the phone to chat, and they brought it up.

Probably Meta’s craziest achievement is making people feel like they don’t exist if they’re not on that platform, which is just insane. What’s the number one piece of advice you’d give to someone who’s tired of social media but feels like they have to be there?

If you hustle and gain 1,000 new followers on a social media platform, the next time you post you'll be lucky to reach 100 of them. Might be better to just get 100 people on your email list, because the next time you send out an email list, you'll know they'll all see it. They might not open it, but hey, make an email that people wanna open. At least it's on you, and not an algorithm.

Probably you have worked with musicians who don’t perform live, It’s actually much more common than it seems, especially among people who work on soundtracks. What's the approach in those cases?

PEOPLE. I got a friend who does that sort of work. Since he's not on social media anymore, every Tuesday he emails a handful of people that are making great art. He'll comb the credit sections of YouTube videos, Bandcamp releases, all that... and just find email addresses and reach out say, "hey, I loved this." Expecting nothing in return. That person also has an Emmy and a Grammy award, so if anyone could sit back and expect things to fall in their lap, it's them, but nope, they're busy writing emails every week to people doing great work.

And you can just reach out to people who are doing cool media stuff, too. Do you follow someone who runs a cool YouTube channel? Reach out and say hey! I've done that, and it led to some more work and subscribers. Does that happen all the time? No, but it's more fun than shoveling "content" onto social media and hoping something good happens.

Is there anything you’ve been reading or listening to lately that’s been inspiring?

Noah Kalina's Hotline Show videos on YouTube are a Sunday morning treat.

Which five albums have had the biggest impact on your life?

Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

Helmet - Betty

White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000

Into Another - Seemless

Primus - Frizzle Fry

Last question. Which current artists do you consider relevant and think deserve more recognition?

Two photographers, for sure. Noah Kalina and Taylor Pendleton. Both make video work that's soothing and chill, and I think it's so creative and inspiring.

Music-wise, Ben Shipp (I think that's their name), who does Focus Soundscapes. Music is my everything. Third generation musician and all that, but I love the utility of mechanical ambient music that is utilitarian in nature, at least for me.