We’ve just launched our Creative Talent Network

“And when things get tough, this is what you should do...make good art’' — Neil Gaiman

In 2011, I was 5 years into a fascination with the internet, internet video to be more precise. I had not long graduated from Central St Martins, where my peers dreamed of cinema screens and white gallery spaces. But I wanted to connect with people…real people. Of course, not everyone had a computer and an internet connection, far from it, but the breadth and depth of the online audience far outweighed the stuffy, elitist world where my friends would place their work.

YouTube was where I had decided to lay my hat. It was as exciting as it was scrappy. Projects were quick — throwaway ideas that went from concept to completion in a matter of hours. Testing what our audience wanted to see. Every view, or ‘hit’ felt like a point of connection, someone I had reached — I daydreamed about who they were, where they were…a teenager in Nashville? Or a grandmother in Brazil perhaps? Back then it felt human, like there were people attached to every click.

But something has become lost on the internet

The internet fast became a fight, a scramble for views and likes. A vanity project inflated by click farms and robots. Insurmountable numbers claimed that lose their meaning with every zero added.

How ironic that we count in ‘eyeballs’ when according to a New York Times report half of all YouTube views are fake…HALF!

It seems technology has taken over and beaten us at our own game.

People that have worked hard to cultivate an online following are now labelled ‘influencers’, a term that by-passes their creative talent, giving them a collective noun based on their ability to manipulate those around them on behalf of bandwagon-jumping companies that are willing to pay them.

Whatever it was — a premature 7-year itch perhaps? — I had fallen out of love with the digital space, hard, a world I had once felt so excited to be part of.

So, like some kind of nomad millennial, I packed up my algorithms and headed out into the real world, to do actual things IRL. Secret Sessions stopped building and started connecting, and I let go of millions and strived for hundreds. We put on shows where we could meet our audience, get to know their names, shake their hands. We put on Artist Meet-Ups where we could talk to creatives, understand their challenges and try to find solutions.

We built a real life network one by one, person by person.

And, in doing so, we have built a space which can showcase the finest talent. Hunting down locations with the highest levels of production and working with skilled technical partners who create the environments we need to ensure quality. We’ve built an audience that trusts us and will leave the comfort of their screens to honour the effort of the artists we find. We have become truffle pigs sniffing out quality at every stage.

We are so confident in the level of talent we showcase, we don’t even release our line-up. Every month 300 people turn up to our show without knowing who or what they are going to see. We say hello, we look each other in the eye, we applaud, we feel.

We have become truffle pigs sniffing out quality at every stage.

But what’s next? Secret Sessions’ ‘North Star’ has always been about giving a platform to the finest creative talent. It’s about surfacing quality and spreading the message, which needs to happen in the real world AND online.

In February 2019 we made the bold decision to open up the talent network to those working in other creative disciplines, a move that is reflective of the current digital landscape and the industries that oxygenate it. We recognise the multidisciplinary nature of many creatives — musicians are no longer just making music, they’re often producers, filmmakers, designers and dancers.

How it works:

By being part of the Secret Sessions talent network, selected artists will be connected with 1000s of other creatives — to meet, collaborate, and find mutual support. They will gain opportunities to feature on the Secret Sessions platform and be part of our immersive live format. They will, if they choose to, become part of our creative services solution for brands and will answer creative briefs and feature in meaningful partnerships.

Secret Sessions represents the underground. It exists to resist the manufactured consensus, to exalt the unknown, to support ambiguity and complexity, to challenge, to disrupt. We offer an authentic forum for culture that seeks to invest in music and creativity long term, rather than to spin out viral hits.

We are now entering a new era of the internet, one that surfaces the good stuff, one that connects us as humans instead of pushing us further apart.

This is a new model, one that veers away from individualism in favour of collaboration. One that starts to grow a meaningful space that can be trusted by brands and consumers alike. Where content-creators support each other and celebrate the team, one that is reflective of life in the real world.

Success never comes from working alone and it’s time to celebrate collaboration and connection.

‘Humans can’t help it, we need to belong. One of the most powerful survival mechanisms is to be part of a Tribe, to contribute to and take from a group of like-minded people…’ - Seth Godin

Are you with me?

Harriet JW