2 Years Gone: Bylin Reflects On Writing For Hypebot

This Sunday, I turned two as a blogger. That’s how many years it’s been since Bruce found me. It’s been a great and interesting ride. I’m amazed at how quickly that time passes, yet I’m attuned to how long of a journey that this has really been. There’s much to learn and every day I’m thankful for the unique position that I’m in. Looking back on my first post that ran on Hypebot, it’s interesting to think about how those ideas served as platform that I would use to explore the other aspects of the record and music industries and the impact of technology on our culture. 

I had no idea then that something as simple as publishing my thoughts online would change the entire course of my life. Throughout most of this process, I really had no idea where these essays where going. Only that this was the beauty of a journey that may never arrive at an absolute answer and that this, whatever it is, was worth pursuing. Even if I didn’t always understand why.

The biggest switch in my road to here is, of course, going from a regular guest blogger of sorts to a full-time writer. This transition is still taking place and I’m becoming more aware of the different methods to developing and displaying my ideas. Going from two to three thousand word threads, every month or so, to four to five short posts, five days a week really changes things.

At times, I do miss the struggle. The period of my life when I spent entire days—even months—wrestling with big ideas and trying to understand them.

Back then, I wasn’t as privy to the notion of letting people smarter than I do some of the heavier lifting and synthesizing their insights from interviews. Instead, I took these ideas on by myself and, by sheer stubbornness and abundance of free time, I tackled them. I still get to do that, but in different ways. Though I’m still left wondering how our different modes of thoughts shape the ideas that we have.

In this respect, I’m referring to the shift from what could be considered eight hour sessions of daydreaming verses—also called working for Target—the more focused and attentive state of thoughts that I engage with now. Daydreaming, more and more, is being recognized as a powerful creative force. Though, I don’t think I’ve lost my edge just yet; it is a curious subject to think about.

At present, I’m researching the impact that our attitudes toward technology—both on the scale of the record and music industries at large and those that we impose in our everyday lives—have on the development of the new digital ecology of music culture. It’s been a fascinating project to undertake. As well, it is the reason why you’ve been seeing a number of interviews with the same line of questioning. I’ll dive more into these subjects and many more later.

For now, I wanted to say thank you to everyone that takes their time to read what I write and comments on the pieces; it has been an amazing two years and I look forward to the many to come. Here’s a few of my best essays and interviews:

Interviews:
Jared Moya, Chief Editor of ZeroPaid
Rob MacArthur Of IOUmusic
Chris Vinson & David Dufresne, Founder/CTO & CEO Of Bandzoogle
Steve Knopper Of Rolling Stone And Appetite for Self-Destruction
David Meerman Scott, Author Of Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead
Aaron Ray, Partner At The Collective
Jeff Price, TuneCore's Outspoken CEO
Rich Huxley Of UK Band Hope And Social
Chris DeLine of Culture Bully
Greg Kot of Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music

Essays:
Why Stevie Nicks Is Still Wrong (Part 1)
Why Stevie Nicks Is Still Wrong (Part Two)
On File-Sharing: Are You Smarter Than A 12th Grader?
Paradox or Paradise: Music Choice in the Digital Age
Savor Your Music: The Effect of Abundance in Culture
The Paradox of Music: Is More, Really Less?
Top Ten Government Mandates Needed To Save The Record & Music Industries From Ultimate Ruin

The Past Best of Bylin:

Interviews & Essays