"Es hora de empezar a usar un ghost producer... para mis redes sociales". Así empieza el comunicado por el que Gareth Emery —del que meses atrás os contábamos había recuperado '100 razones para vivir' con su último álbum— anuncia que se aleja de la ventana digital. El productor inglés de Trance lamenta que en demasiadas ocasiones la música haya pasado a un segundo plano respecto a ser una celebridad en la red, y quiere ser recordado por la música que hace y no por los likes que reciban sus fotos. "Elegí esta vida por dos razones: hacer y pinchar música (...) en lugar de ser otra versión DJ de la Kardashians compartiendo cada detalle banal de mi vida".
Consciente de la importancia de las redes sociales hoy día en materia de márketing, siendo sin duda el canal más importante de información y comunicación entre artistas y su público, no cesará la actividad en sus perfiles —1,3 millones de fans en Facebook y la mitad de seguidores en Twitter— que a partir de ahora será llevada por su equipo de management mientras él se centra en lo que le apasiona.
¿Qué os parece la decisión tomada por Gareth Emery? ¿Debería servir de ejemplo a otros artistas?
A continuación os dejamos el comunicado íntegro que ha escrito —suponemos que por última vez— en su página de Facebook:
It's time for me to start using a ghost producer.
… for my social media.
I'm giving up my iPhone for a few months, quitting all social media, and going full 1990s by returning to a basic Blackberry that only makes calls.
Why?
Because I chose this life for two reasons: to make music and to play music.
I never was interested in being a social media celebrity or influencer or whatever but making music has too often taken a back seat being an online personality.
A large chunk of my time will always be reserved for family, and that time is non-negotiable, but I've had to think seriously about how I spend the rest of my time each day.
Do I want to be the guy who made music that people still were listening to after he was dead?
Or the dude who posted many immaculately edited picture of his meals which got tons of likes but were old news before he'd even shat them out.
For me the answer is music so I am consciously choosing to go 'all in' on music and spend every bit of my available time there. Because I believe that's my reason for being on this planet: rather than being yet another DJ version of the Kardashians oversharing every banal detail of my life.
And because if I manage to write another 10 tracks like Long Way Home or Concrete Angel that's probably going to do more good than every Instagram post I've ever done.
(Other benefits of kicking socials include less distractions when being a parent, being more present with the world around me, and being able to re-engage with other neglected life skills like reading books).
Of course my accounts will still be active. I know they're how you hear about new music, see where I'm playing etc, and more importantly, they're where you let us know when something needs fixing, when we failed to deliver your merch order, or didn't notice scalpers were ripping off real fans. These are important things which need to be listening to.
So I'm going to leave things in the hands of Sergei on my management team. He's been handling things when I've been traveling for a while anyway and he'll do a great job at the wheel.
I have no idea how quitting social media will change my life or career, and there's a good chance I'll miss it and will be back before long.
But I hope you understand why I want to try.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Much love,
Gaz xx
