A couple of weeks ago I announced to you I started active MANUAL curation with a focus on MUSIC. Something that I thought and still think is needed in our community.

Almost daily I go through many posts with music related tags, opening up 50 to 80 posts to scan and read and when I like the post in one way or the other, to vote for and comment to. Along the way I try to not only give some feedback to the authors, but also to give some support and guidance to eg newbies.

A real intensive task, but also a very nice and rewarding task, especially when I end up in some conversation with a musician, instrument builder or music fan in which we exchange personal experiences, favourites, knowledge and so on. I'm also very happy when I discover good artists and new music. I must admit: "We have some fine artists in our community, from solo artists, to bands, to electronic music producers!"

(Some) Good Quality and Value

Going through the music related tags so frequently, I get a good overview of who the active music posters are, the content of the posts, and the quality of the posts. Fortunately we have some very dedicated musicians, teachers, instrument builders and music fans in our community, frequently posting about their work, about their favourite music, and some of them even posting about their visits to shows, events and festivals. I see quite a few posts bringing value to the community.

I know, like 'quality', 'value' is also (somewhat) subjective. In an earlier post (here) I listed the things that I like to see in posts:

• First of all: the post needs to be focussed on music. The topic can be anything from own music creations and other peoples creations to music reviews, festival and event reports, interviews and so on.
• Secondly: the post must add value in some way.
• Thirdly: but maybe most important to me, the post must have some personal touch.

Some of the music producers/creators are also using the Steem based video and audio platforms (@dtube @dsounds and @viewly). Others are using the traditional YouTube and Soundcloud. And a very few are using off-Steem-Blockchain video/audio sharing services, but crypto based ones, like LBRY, Musicoin and Viu.ly. All have their advantages and disadvantages, but I like it when music enthusiast and creators are exploring crypto space in a wider context.

Improvement Suggestions

We probably see it across the board within our community; Not all posts are something we really like to see; Some can even be regarded as pure spam! Our community, like any other digital or none digital community, works by becoming part of a network, by creating connections and relations with other members. Adopting some guidelines will likely help in creating those connections and relations.

• Don't Post Too Frequently - I see users posting 5 to 10 and even more posts per day - these are mostly copy/paste from other Internet sources or simply only a YouTube link - these post I do not look at; I never open them; Therefore these posts and authors will not get my vote or comment - and probably many other Steemians will do the same.

• Add Value to the Music You Post - explain why you made a track, what your inspiration was, what your trigger was to post your favourite music, why you like the track/ artist, your personal connection with the track, album, set and/or artist, a personal story in which the music you share, plays a role.

• Don't Copy/Paste - I see quite a few posts with text copy/paste from other Internet sources, sometimes mentioning the source, but also frequently not mentioning the sources - When I curate and I'm suspicious about plagiarism, I check multiple pieces of text in a post with multiple plagiarism-checkers and I trust I filter out most of these posts; I'll skip them for voting or commenting. Even those post with little personal text and story with dominant part being text copy/paste, I skip for curation.

I think when having above guidelines in mind - for new Steemians but also for those who are with Steemit for a longer time - and following these through in your activities on Steemit, will increase exposure of your own posts as well as your account, will increase your network and followers, and will increase your rewards in any way, from hard rewards such as post/comment rewards, to soft rewards, from gaining knowledge and discovering new music and artists, to establishing and increasing your own (sub-)community.

Trust to See You Around!

NJOY

follow me @edje

check out my music channel @qsounds