The first part of my project will be music journalism. Since October I have been writing with a publication called Sheesh Media, a music-based journalistic publication. Music and writing are two of my biggest passions, so this is an incredible opportunity to be able to write on a platform such as Sheesh’s as I aspire to become a professional music journalist in the future. My goal during senior project is to write at least five articles a week, something that will only be achievable due to the amount of time I will have, yet will fill up a lot of it. There are many components that go into each article I write, from reaching out to the artist’s team if possible, to listening many times and analyzing each song, to the writing and editing process. I will also now have time to expand the variety of articles I write to more extensive topics, such as album reviews and broader music focused topics. There are a lot of other aspects that go into the life of a full time writer, including consuming lots of music every week to see what I want to write about, attending special events that spotlight up and coming artists, reading other media, and more. This is all something I am willing and ready to take on because it is something I am so passionate about.
The second part of my project will be working as a publicist for LA based music group Illusion Hills. This will entail a long, multi step process, starting with getting to know the group. From there, I will be writing many drafts of press releases as that will be the first thing many people will read about Illusion Hills. I will reach out and network with people all across the industry, from blogs, publications, individual writers, magazines, YouTube channels, Tik Tok accounts, and so many more – lots of research is required for this, and even more work and perseverance is necessary in order to really push the press release to as many people as possible.
Both parts of my project allow me to explore the depths of the music industry at an age that very few people are getting involved in, especially in as extensive roles as I’ll be taking on. It will challenge me to do more work than I have before, essentially compiling to full work days, at least 5 days a week. I will learn on both sides of my project, however, each can benefit from the other. My writing ability will be the focal point of my project, as I continue to grow my skills and become a more polished writer. Networking is something that comes with experience and time, so being able to have such exposure to that from both parts of my project will provide great benefits. Also, everyone that I reach out to can be beneficial to both my work with Sheesh and Illusion Hills, whether that’s expanding the pool of potential writers, getting closer to artists, contacting their team’s, receiving their press releases, having them share my articles, and more.
Both parts of my project will allow me to make limitless amounts of connections throughout the music industry that can benefit me as I move forward in life, while also benefiting me now. Connections that I make through my writing can directly provide assistance to connections I can utilize with Illusion Hills, while every person I speak to provides some sort of benefit to my work with Sheesh, whether that’s getting closer to artists, receiving their press releases, having them share my articles, and more. Furthermore, I hope to improve my article writing ability, press release writing ability, and networking skills, all of which will come with experience and lots of time to focus and research.
My overall goal is to be able to land at a place in the music industry that can become an incredible jumping point to pursue a further career in. While there’s no benchmark or unit of measurement that is applicable to this, everything I do that puts my name out there will not only help both sides of my work right now but anything I do in the future. I also want to be a big part of helping Sheesh and Illusion Hills grow into one of the premiere music publications and one of the premiere music groups. This is also something that I can’t measure, but being a big part of helping the Sheesh founders and Illusion Hills members achieve their dreams and aspirations is something I am very grateful for and will work very hard to help them as much as I can. Across this, I will fill the creativity, education, and experience buckets, while further work volunteering with the Challenger League will fill the service bucket.