And while I get that we’re all big kids here, I think that it might be time for some rules. In saying so, I present to you: Moods & Mixtapes’ Community Guidelines.

THE SNIPPET

Moods & Mixtapes is a safe, creative space where we can share our go-to songs and reoccurring feels. We love jamming with you, so please help us to maintain the quality of the blog! Let’s work together and remember to be a little kinder to one another (and avoid any noise complaints). 

THE FULL ALBUM

• We get it, we all have different tastes. But if you must disagree, do it intelligently. 
  • Having differing opinions does not justify offensive comments. If you wouldn’t say it face-to-face, don’t say it online. 
• Absolutely no hate speech. 
  • Any comments attacking groups or other users will not be tolerated and will be removed immediately. Moods & Mixtapes is a space that welcomes anyone and everyone. 
• If you feel offended by another user’s contribution or have noticed any distasteful comments, please report them to erica@moodsandmixtapes.com 
• Listen to Aretha, show some RESPECT. 
• If reposting or making mention to any of the cover art, blog posts, or playlists, this website, moodsandmixtapes.com, or @moodsandmixtapes on Spotify must be tagged. 
• In need of a certain mix or want to see a certain track featured? Feel free to email requests to erica@moodsandmixtapes.com!

BUT, WHY?

Short, sweet, and hopefully manageable. I chose these guidelines because this blog is a way for me to express myself and give a bit of a sneak peek into who I am. At the end of the day, I want visitors to have the same experience. Although, for this to happen, we need to be aware of the users (virtually) around us. After all, a spoonful of respect and kindness helps the comment section go down smoothly. That’s how it goes, right? 

BUT, HOW?

When it comes to finding these rules a home, I’m planning on either adding them onto the About page or creating a new section of its own in the menubar. Either way, we’re in the clear and out of the grey. 

Now that this business is taken care of, let’s get to listening!

If you’re also kinda (very) lost about what exactly this concept is, you’re not alone. Admittedly, it did take me a few Google searches and some article scanning to figure out what we’re dealing with here. But luckily we’ve figured it out, and now we’ve got a plan.

WHAT’S IN A WORD

In “Transmedia Storytelling 101”, Jenkins (2007) describes transmedia storytelling as “a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience” (para. 2). In doing so, “transmedia storytelling practices may expand the potential market for a property by creating different points of entry for different audience segments” (para. 6). 

So, after this much-needed guidance, I began to consider different ways that my content can be viewed and engaged with, as well as which channels it can be accessed through. 

THE PLAN OF ATTACK

At the moment, Moods & Mixtapes can be accessed via the domain itself, as well as through Spotify. However, as much as I would like to dip my foot into other channels, I don’t know which ones would be suitable for sharing this sort of content. Working with playlists, since they’re not image-based, platforms like Instagram or Pinterest don’t seem like they would be too effective, and while Facebook might be my best bet—it’s not quite my go-to. Heck, I don’t even know the last time that I logged in. 

To level the scales, I hope to become more visible by rolling out new blog posts more frequently throughout the week, as well as to start putting my playlists up on other streaming services such as Google Play Music. A few users who don’t have Spotify accounts have mentioned this idea to me over the past month, so I think I’ll give it a shot. No harm in trying, right?

I know, whatta surprise. 

LUCKY NUMBERS

All this talk about numbers and data suddenly had me questioning my own. I won’t lie, I’ve neglected considering my analytics for the past couple of weeks (because, life) but this gave me the motivation to get back into it. 

It’s always fun to see behind the scenes of user activity. I’d even say that Travis Gertz hits it right on the head in his article, “Design Machines: How to Survive the Digital Apocalypse” when he describes analytics as “hav[ing] seem­ing­ly god-like access to the ways peo­ple use our prod­ucts”. 

With analytics, we’re given information like where our users are located, what content they like to interact with, and what devices they use to get to our sites. It’s like using a highly-developed, electronic, statistically justified Magic 8 ball. (Okay, so it’s nothing like using a Magic 8 ball.)

In saying so, now that I’ve seen last week’s stats regarding which devices are being used to visit the blog, I know that I should give more thought into what it’s like to visit Moods & Mixtapes via a mobile device. 

YOU’RE JUST TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Although, as life-changing and beneficial as it all sounds, I need to remember to not get too ahead of myself. As Gertz bluntly puts it, “met­rics are the internet’s hero­in”. And despite how absolute we may think the numbers are, they cannot always be trusted. We can’t just be making all of these changes just because the data led us to think they were necessary. 

Take it all with a grain of salt, I suppose.

(Honestly, “curious” is just a polite way of me telling you that I wandered down a rabbit hole of grey legal areas. Sorry, I watch a lot of Suits.) 

Coming off a lecture that was focused on copyrights, patents, and content ownership, I suddenly had a new lens to view the music industry with. And in case I’ve got you wondering too, check out this crash course on copyrighting music below:

The more you know, huh.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out our remix playlist, here!

Til next time.

IN A WORLD OF MY IMAGINATION

For over a month now, I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that I’ve been engaging with people who I don’t really know. 

In fact, I didn’t even create Moods & Mixtapes with a certain face, personality type, or age-group in mind. Our presence on this site is the only common thread. Something along the lines of how Michael Warner puts it in “Publics and Counterpublics”, it’s a “kind of public that comes into being only in relation to texts and their circulation”. 

That being said, I hope you’ve been enjoying your stay so far!

WE’RE JUST FRIENDS

Now that I’ve been able to sit on it for a while, I’d like to think that my audience is simply a group of people that I’m comfortable being around. The kind of people who I can share my (mostly) unfiltered thoughts with, drop a dry joke with, and lounge around in my sweatpants with. 

The kind of people that I wanna drive around town with, with the windows down, and my phone connected to the car speakers. (Let the head bopping and the stream of screamed lyrics begin!) 

And as a result of this I-feel-like-we-know-each-other-but-actually-don’t situation we’ve got going, I have never felt pressured to put out particular content to meet the expectations of my audience. At the end of the day, I just want to be proud of this space that I’ve made and the content that I’m creating through it. 

So to that, I say, thanks for being here!

Am I a messy person? Hesitantly, yet admittedly, yes. Yes, I am. 

Now you can imagine how thinking about how to organize my content makes me feel. 

A little bit here, a little bit there

Just to set the scene in case any of you are new here, this blog was created as part of my coursework for an introductory publishing course, PUB 101, also referred to as POSIEL (Publication of Self in Everyday Life). Don’t feel bad if you couldn’t figure out the acronym right away, it also took me a hot minute. 

This leads me to the core of my contemplation for the past couple of days—how to house my coursework without it looking like coursework. It may seem silly, but I don’t want anyone to come across my new online home and immediately assume that this was made solely for schooling. Not to drop the L-bomb too early or anything, but I truly enjoy putting out this content, so we’re out here for both kicks and credits. 

So far, Moods & Mixtapes is broken up into three sections—Home, About Me, and Play When…. Short and simple (I’m unashamedly a big fan of the Magic 3).

So in another attempt to organize my life in some way, these were my attempts to come up with a new category to inconspicuously settle my Pub 101 content. 

Refresh the home page to find out what I settled on after much deliberation.

She is a thing of… the Internet

While it seems like I’ve been thinking solely about my online presence this week, being offline has also been a topic in question à la Craig Mod. In his article, “How I Got My Attention Back”, Mod reflects on his trip off-the-grid to unplug from his Internet-intense lifestyle. Do I respect his experience? Yes. Would I be able to do it? Probably not. Well, maybe. 

Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that the chances of me reading your messages promptly are up in the air. 50/50 at best. Not because I’m trying to avoid you, but simply because I don’t carry my phone with me all the time. My phone is not my lifeline. But not being able to have access to the Internet for a month? No thank you, sir. 

I think my hesitation is due to the fact that I’m not sure what I would do without Internet access. What would I do? How would I pass the time? Heck, I don’t even remember a time when I didn’t turn to a device for entertainment. And to be frank, I’m not too sure I want to find out.

Pre-Interaction Insight

I wholeheartedly agree with Hamblin that our behaviour changes when we’re around the familiar; when we’re around people that we know. But this observation raises a variety of questions. What constitutes a stranger? When exactly do you know someone?

As a kid, I used to think that anyone I didn’t remember meeting was a stranger. Simple. But now that I’m older, I’ve seen friends turn into strangers, so what good is that definition? Sorry, didn’t mean to get that deep. So to prevent any further rambling, let’s just say that knowing someone—surpassing stranger status—entails knowing their name and being able to say five things about them. 

Stranger danger?

Stranger encounters are always, well, strange. I enjoy being in my bubble when I’m on my daily commute, so I didn’t think that bursting somebody else’s would result in a fruitful conversation. Long story short, this is how I ended up trying to get non-regular customers at work to talk to me about more than just their order.

As it turns out, offering someone baked goods (I work at a bakery, I’m not a creep) is the gateway to a million kinds of conversations. Weekend plans, family drama, children’s allergies. And although I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my customers, it wasn’t always easy. For instance, how personal is too personal? What are the boundaries of our conversation? Not to forget, how do you end things? “Okay, bye…” is too brash, but “See you!”, is too friendly and implies another meeting in the future. In hindsight, I suppose the latter would have still been appropriate since I was at work, but much like this post, the question of how to say farewell is still up in the air.