on the pulse - 2021 - updates for the new year

Normally I would just post this on Patreon as an update to the folks who normally contribute to my schedule… and then I realized it would be a prime opportunity to say more here, so time for a brief update on my 2020.

In short… all things considered, it could have and should have been a lot worse. I can’t imagine what a lot of folks have been through in the course of the pandemic and the societal instability and uprisings that have surrounded it - which apparently are going to keep on happening in 2021, please stay safe out there, folks - but for someone who works from home full-time, it almost proved too easy to refocus full time on reviews and my big decade-end wrap-ups of which were long in coming and I found tremendously rewarding. Of course, the biggest story in 2020 for my channel - outside of the decade-end lists - was On The Pulse, my general wrap-up show where I’d cover 6-10 albums in a week in detail. Overall, it was mostly a success - I managed to get solo reviews off here and there, I was able to prioritize and cover more ground, you’d think everything was fine and dandy…

And yet it’s an experiment that by the end of this year may need some fine-tuning. See, as much as I was grateful for the engagement from all of y’all and so many albums requested, keeping a week-by-week schedule of it was a little draining and not always as fruitful as I was hoping, for a couple of big reasons. For one, as I’ve mentioned I got a fair few of the ‘let’s have Mark do homework and listen to 6-8 albums in preparation to cover new projects’… most of which did not warrant that amount of attention, because the bands were long past their prime. Then there were the retreads of specific sounds and genres that some people never seem to get tired of but for which bore me in record time - if you’re looking for a reason why so much rock and metal is so goddamn stale, these are the two preeminent factors. Probably the most obnoxious cases were where I got album requests, did all the work to cover the project, only to get a response from the Patrons ‘oh, well, it wasn’t really that good, but I wanted to just fill the slot on the schedule and I didn’t have anything else so I thought why not’. For someone who listens to albums in excess of 4-6 times in making On The Pulse, hearing this about hour-plus projects in this territory was genuinely infuriating.

But here are the two larger problems: a.) in trying to keep such a set schedule so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed, I couldn’t make as many solo reviews as I wanted to dig in more deeply to projects that probably deserved them because I had to get On The Pulse out weekly, and I didn’t want to delay talking about the albums because timeliness is so important on YouTube. And b.) I covered over an album a day’s worth of material, and to be blunt, I don’t think that’s healthy in engagement with art short or long-term - it becomes rushed, you don’t let things sink in the way you’d like, and while sometimes it felt fine because the projects didn’t give me much to say - and there was a lot of that this year too - other times I felt hurried in a way I didn’t want, or it hurt my drive to go hunting for new music because I just didn’t have time because I had to deal with the backlog. Worse still is that keeping such a rigorous schedule to stay on top of album requests, all those video essays I was promising and I had scripted I didn’t have a chance to film or work on to the same degree! And again, I still work full-time, it’s been a chaotic year, I moved for the first time in six years, and I’ve had personal stuff that’s demanded attention - spoiler alert, the way things are going, said personal stuff is a bigger priority.

And let’s get into the numbers a bit: the solo reviews of popular acts drew a lot of attention, more than your usual On The Pulse episode unless it had a major name or two. Having a lot of artists clumped together did help for consistent viewership… but it didn’t always lead to new viewers, and I want to see the channel keep growing. I think there’s a balancing act that needs to come forward and I think to some extent I let the balance get away from me thanks to the allure of routine. That being said, it was a solid year where i genuinely enjoyed covering a lot of music… but there needs to be a few tweaks to the formula to stay on track.

So here’s what’s going to happen: there will be more solo reviews coming in 2021, and I will be prioritizing them in what I want to cover, be they requested or otherwise… and that’s because On The Pulse will no longer be a weekly endeavour, more of ‘when I hear the album and have my opinion on it solidified, I’ll film something and when I have 8-10 reviews filmed, I’ll pull it together’ - likely more than monthly, but not weekly. For those of you worried about my backlog, suffice to say I’m going to be not just enforcing my rules surrounding lyrics being readily available AND my date range conditions to ensure recency, but also if albums aren’t getting votes on said schedule, they will get dropped. I’m also going to be a lot more active with my veto - some of y’all got off light this past year and pushed my rules, especially when so many of you have set hard caps on how much you’re paying per month, which is something I don’t enforce but very well could if people try to take advantage of my good nature. And that might mean I cover less - and I’m okay with that, because in 2020 I heard more albums than any other year I’ve ran my channel, and I don’t feel like courting burnout again. Also, it might give me a chance to bring back top ten lists of the best hits of previous years - given my schedule I couldn’t make them this year, but they’re a lot of fun and a great learning experience, so I’d be happy to do more. And yes, I really do want to get those video essays out the door - the worst thing you can do is tease something for two or three years and then never goddamn deliver, so much to the point where there are some theories I’ve seen circulated that it actually becomes demotivating to work on them!

Again, this is a move more for flexibility and channel growth, which I hope y’all understand, especially given how long I’ve been in this thing. And no, Billboard BREAKDOWN is going nowhere - it can be a headache and a half thanks to copyright nonsense which to my unfortunate prediction got worse this year, but I need to stay in touch somehow. And there are other things I’m looking to explore as well - I may do a few more streams, I may do a vinyl video or two, we’ll have to see, and again, I’ve got about six to eight scripts already written for video essays and I might want to hire some video editors for that added punch, if folks may be interested in some paid work, you can reach out to me directly on social media if you want to take me up on that. Speaking of social media, I’m way too active on Twitter and I post my song reviews on Instagram, but I’ve also created a TikTok where I’ve been shitposting very infrequently, and there may be some fast stuff I split between IGTV and there, so go follow me @spectrumpulse if you’re curious.

Finally… the part of me that’s a writer doesn’t want to be cliched in talking about 2020 and how y’all have stuck with me through a tough year or for the many that preceded it. I’ve seen a lot of YouTubers burn out after way more success and shorter timelines than I have on this platform, and last year had a lot of folks step away. But as someone who lives alone and literally could not see my friends or family for chunks of last year, and who was legit terrified of this pandemic because I’ve had family pass away from it and friends who work in hospitals, but also because, come on, medical science has indicated long-term effects on lung capacity, brain activity, and triggering erectile dysfunction, which effectively takes out all of my favourite recreational activities… YouTube was a lifeline for me. It gave me a sense of structure and focus and something to absorb all of my excess energy in unprecedented times. And while I have this gut feeling that 2021 will be better, the first week of it has proven there’s a long way to go. I hope in this little community I’ve built you’ve been able to find some escape, spirited conversation, and maybe a bit of comfort. It’s also a big reason why I haven’t pushed hard on the Patreon thing - please never feel obligated to join or get involved, only if you want to and are comfortably able, it offers some privileges such as my Discord or getting albums on my schedule, but if I didn’t have Patreon I would always find a way to make things work - I’m wily like that. Anyway, that’s my update - thank you all so much for your support, I know I’m not the most easy character to deal with, but I’m happy you’re here along the way. Cheers.