Guest posting on Random Tidbits of Thought is a great way to get your thoughts, passions, and ideas out to the wider RTT community. In the past, folks have posted about their startups, fundraised for volunteer trips, shared comics, or sang songs. The possibilities are limitless. If you’re interested, guest post on RTT today!
My good friend Ki returns with his sixth guest post on my blog, the final installment on his experiences livestreaming DJ sets on Twitch during the COVID-19 quarantine.
Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
If you’ve read the previous edition of this series, I was just under 2,000 followers deep and the pandemic was still well underway. It is unfathomable to think the last update was published almost a year and a half ago. During that period, the world grew accustomed to new habits and behaviors – working from home, social distancing, remote learning, and Zoom meetings – while dealing with new variants (no pun intended) of the inevitable ups and downs of life. Throughout the pandemic’s duration, I have had the honor of sharing the music closest to my heart alongside a plethora of talent within the Twitch streaming community. After considering the idea for quite some time, I believe it is now time to place the Twitch channel to rest.
Where We’ve Come: 50 Episodes of “Cure for the Mondays”
One year ago, when the channel had been active for roughly six months, I spontaneously decided to play a stream on a Monday, and without much thought I typed in “Cure for the Mondays” as the stream’s title. Sometime after, I concluded that this timeslot was ideal for a weekly session, as Monday seemed to be a relatively quiet day for streamers as a whole. It was also a timeslot that somewhat accommodated all of the world’s major time zones, and worked out fine for me personally as I am generally an early riser. As the idea gained traction, the channel locked in its reputation as an unofficial cure for the Monday blues.
Looking back, having the stream to look forward to each week heavily facilitated living through a pandemic. The level of camaraderie and connection in the stream chat is something I have always cherished and gives me that extra push to put in my best effort whenever I go online. There are also certain memories I will always hold dear, such as when Oliver Smith raided my channel on his penultimate Twitch stream. Ultimately, the love and support from my follower base is what allowed “Cure for the Mondays” to carry on for 50 episodes, a feat all the more impressive considering that in April 2020 I assumed my streaming days would be over by the end of the month.
What I’ve Learned: Key Takeaways
Despite the joys of sharing music, there has been a fair share of tough lessons learned in the process. The first (and perhaps most important) is that you never know who you can really trust online. People on the Internet are sometimes not who they say they are. I want to delineate clearly between the relatively innocuous and universal phenomenon of people feigning to be a slightly better version of themselves online and the more pernicious phenomenon I am about to describe. Unfortunately, in any community there will be a sliver of toxic elements, and even more unfortunately, many times one does not realize who they are associating with until it is too late. For whatever reason, I was picked by the gods to experience this firsthand. It is my utmost hope that the vast majority of the community has evaded such nasty occurrences, but I am likely wrong.
Having to deal with #plur psychopaths has definitely been a nadir of the whole Twitch experience. These are people who go out of their way to slander other members of the community. The strangest part is that they actually believe they are helping or contributing to the community in some way with these actions. They hide behind their green swords (the Twitch symbol for a moderator) while pretending to be friendly with everyone. One scandal that I was thankfully able to avoid was that one such #plur member ended up getting indicted for sexual assault. I want every reader to be cognizant of this discrepancy, while also being grateful for the members in their respective communities who are indeed sincere. The amount of mental health issues I endured due to psychopathic behavior is not something I would wish upon anyone, as they placed quite the dent on an otherwise amazing experience.
The second key thing I have learned is that social engagement is not an automatic byproduct. Rather, it is something you have to actively work towards obtaining and improving. My primary moderator told me time and time again that my social media presence left much to be desired (I’ve always admired his ‘tough love’ approach to things). In my defense, I was trying my best in my own right, especially considering my Internet presence was almost nonexistent before I started streaming. Managing both Discord and Instagram was daunting when the only social media activity I was familiar with involved messaging people on Facebook from time to time.
Despite my best excuses, my efforts were clearly not enough. I admit I did have an air of hubris regarding social media. I believed that as long as my DJ skills were there, the people would follow. In hindsight, this was extremely fallacious thinking, considering the amount of talent that exists out there juxtaposed with the small proportion of people who actually “make it.” After my experience with social media, however, I began to understand the hype around it. There was that little dopamine hit whenever an Instagram post got a like or a comment. On the other hand, it was also a salient reminder to the potential dangers behind social media.
One thing I am grateful for is that I already had roughly 3.5 years of mixing experience under my belt prior to my time on Twitch. People may not realize that online streaming has a completely separate list of things requiring immediate attention (engaging with chat, thanking subscribers, etc.) that diverts the streamer away from the task at hand (in my case, mixing) at any given point in time. My years of practicing alone in a metaphorical basement were a windfall, as I was able to learn the ropes of streaming much faster.
Final Remarks: Thanking You
Despite all the hindrances borne from streaming and the whims of the internet, my experience on Twitch has been overwhelmingly positive. It gave me the opportunity to meet some amazing people, and I cannot wait to travel again so I can visit and meet some of these people face to face. It granted me some of the best memories of my life; I’ll never forget the feeling of playing out Orbital’s “Halcyon On & On” to 900 viewers. The type of emotional connection that music allows people to have will stay with me wherever I go.
One of my many Australian contacts recently gave me the heads up that Melbourne has finally opened up. For those who do not know, Melbourne was a city essentially synonymous with the word “lockdown” at this point, and their opening up is a clear sign that the world is gradually returning to normal. In my case, I am writing this from my office, as going into work five days a week has been reinstated here in Korea. I am taking this as a sign that perhaps it is time to leave this part of me behind.
I understand this story needs a corny ending or catchphrase, e.g. “you have danced with me remotely in my living room for the past year and a half, but someday soon I will dance with you in real life!” On the other hand, I am reticent about my viewers knowing how awkward I am. That being said, I am still beyond elated about seeing some of the community members next year. Although this is a goodbye, no goodbyes are truly permanent. Once in a blue moon or so I’ll probably do a popup stream. And when I do, I hope to see all of your lovely usernames pop up in the chat!
With love,
-coffee
Many thanks to my nearly 5,000 followers for supporting me in this journey. I want to thank my friends Hilary, Martin, and Jacob, and also apologize to them for making them endure through my mixes when I was first starting out; those must have been a very questionable experience at best. I would also like to thank Glen for always editing these posts to make me seem like a better writer than I am.
Special thanks to: gsxr808, lumenwright, mrsyorl, annabellesanchez, simonebuckley, gleanergirl, bathshebababy, nreisner, clnatr, joeyshimmer, sadderzp, pawsable01, surheal, heyitsdanielsan, corykuma, achillesmusicoz, musicianmusic, l4x0wn4g3, tweora, rdesvaux, kandikidzora, mikeylondon, spaceforceforyou
