It's the 20th of December, just five days until Christmas. I'm feeling very Christmassy this year, maybe it's because things are more "normal" again? I don't know, but I am very excited to spend a few weeks with my family, loved ones, and eat some lovely home-cooked meals (thanks Mum). As 2023 looms, I thought I'd give a whirlwind update on what's been happening and what I'm planning for the year ahead.
I'm nearly a year into my Masters degree at GCU in marketing, how scary is that? It's also so exciting, thinking that 12 months ago, I knew very little about the world of marketing, and here I am now about to start my dissertation. I'm looking forward to starting it, even though the actual writing of it will be a loooooong process. My topic is looking into the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool for musicians in the Scottish traditional music scene, so still tying in the music somehow!
I'm planning on interviewing a minimum of 12 people, some who use social media thoroughly and are quite happy doing it, and some who are apprehensive and maybe don't use it as much as they want to. The world is moving to a much more digitised lifestyle every day, and we trad musicians have to try and keep up, even if we hate it! I'm hoping that once my project is finished, it'll be useful for lots of musicians out there, but we shall see.
Continuing the marketing front, I'm considering doing some freelance work, still in relation to music. A good friend put the idea in my head of developing a business as a freelance muso-marketer, who can basically plan your social media and do it for you, as well as helping those who are unsure of the digital marketing world, learn a bit so they can do what they want with it. Maybe not just for musicians as well, there are lots of things to consider - if you think this is a good idea then please let me know, I need all the support I can get (imposter syndrome and all!).
On the music side of things, I have a few gigs in Aberdeenshire over the festives, which I'm sure will be lots of fun. Ciar and I are heading into our second year with Live Music Now Scotland, which has been an AMAZING experience for us so far, lots of learning and playing music to lovely people. I'm also still working on getting some more EP gigs in 2023 as well, watch this space for more details soon!
That, again, was a massive brain-dump of stuff that I've been doing and stuff I'm planning - all good things though! Please do get in touch (there's a button on this website somewhere for doing that) if you'd be interested in being interviewed for my dissertation, or any other thoughts you may have about the huge rambling you've just read through.
Here's a nice picture of our Christmas tree to conclude with. You'll also *maybe* be glad to know that I am planning on doing a monthly blog for the foreseeable, so I'll see you next month ā„ļø
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