As a co-founder and creative director for a startup, I am finding myself reading more articles, tutorials, conversations, and rants than ever before in my life. Thanks internet.
One topic that has obviously been covered a lot over the last few years is the discussion around how music will never be the same due to technology. True. Technology has undoubtedly impacted the world at large and has ABSOLUTELY flipped the music industry upside-down. However, as a designer, and as a former professional touring musician and songwriter who spent many of my years in the industry surrounded by many of those who were terrified about the future of music, I would simply argue that CHANGE IS GOOD.
“As a content creator, I can’t believe I’ve lived my entire professional life without AVVAY.” — Caleb Grimm
Don’t get me wrong people. I am NOT saying that change is easy, or that it comes without painful waves of recalibration. And there are some REAL challenges that continue to exist in regards to how musical artists are compensated and other areas of change due to streaming, royalty distribution, and so on. These are massive issues that are indeed worthy of ongoing attention in order to protect creatives. However…there are way too many blogs already dedicated to these issues, and I really just don’t want to waste energy on another article focussed on the glory of yesterday or the pain of today. I’d rather talk about the beautifully vibrant future of creativity. I want to share what I am more and more convinced of, confident in, and excited about these days, and that is that authenticity always wins.
As cliche as that statement may sound, I fully believe it is true in the creative community at large. Since moving from touring and music back into the design world and now as I’ve merged into the tech universe with our AVVAY team, I have only continued to see the pattern of challenge>change>value.
“The space elevated the event immeasurably and afforded the photographers so many stunning possibilities.” — Alex Berger, 7×7 Productions
For instance, over the last 12 weeks our AVVAY team has been working night and day here in Boulder, CO with the amazing Techstars staff as well as our team of mentors, working on climbing countless mountains of friction and challenges within our product. While this has of course been immensely frustrating on certain levels, ultimately we have been able to grow our product and connect with our creative community in ways, and at a rate, we never thought possible. What does all this mean?
I’m realizing more and more that success is only possible when we accept the reality that change is the best vehicle for progress.
The smoother the path the less we grow. This is true in life, consistent in business, and even more strikingly pronounced in the creative process.
So why is AVVAY here?
Why is all this even on my mind? Because while AVVAY was born out of a need we experienced in our own lives in music through our need to find locations to create in, it’s the content creators like photographers, YouTubers, bloggers, event planners and others who have all joined the AVVAY community who have opened our eyes to a larger vision. The variety of creative people who have entered our doors continue to shape us as a company and repeatedly re-focus our perspective, much like they are carving the very trajectory of business and culture at large.
AVVAY is a social marketplace. A home for the creative community to find locations, resources, and each other, in order to bring their creative projects and events to life.
“As a band, the spaces we occupy can limit or expand our creativity and AVVAY immediately gave us a resource to dream up ways of creating exceptional content in professional spaces for a reasonable price point. AVVAY is now a strategic resource that we will use for video, photo and even creating unique live experiences for our fans.” — VEAUX
Much like the shift in music consumption via technology has changed things forever, the content creation market is not a trend. It is a fundamental shift in how things are done. Content is king and AVVAY exists to empower the wonderfully creative community of people making this content. Our mission is to make the process of making authentic content easier and more connective than ever before. We love serving our people. And we are honored to work with our community who continues to embrace change and harness it for progress.
