Valitics. Web Strategies, Net Results

I have never really felt all that creative.  However, I feel surrounded by insanely creative people (I would make a list, but I don't want to embarrass J).  I read this blog post by Seth Godin and it made me reconsider some things about creativity.

One of the most creative people I have ever met, and I read his blog religiously, is Steve Kilbey.  We are not friends, or even acquaintances really, but man I love to read his blog.  Steve Kilbey is the lead singer/bass player for The Church.  I am constantly amazed at his creativity.  I think Seth's ideas about creativity clued me in on the fact that Steve Kilbey is way-out on the edges of my "sweater" (read the Seth Godin post if you don't understand), and that is why his blog is so fascinating to me.

Steve Kilbey and The Church have traversed several decades without losing their appeal.  They have always been on the edge (probably too far out for the masses) with their music and their promotion.  Their big hit was in '89, Under the Milky Way, but they spent the 90's in obscurity EXCEPT for their online following.  In the days before "social media" The Church survived largely to the credit of fans (evangelists) willing to maintain websites for no monetary gain -- www.shadowcabinet.net, www.hotelwomb.com, and a few others.  Now the band and its members have multiple MySpace pages and blogs. 

So what?  Doesn't every band have a website, a MySpace page, and a blog.  Yeah.  They do now.  But, The Church was on the web when it wasn't what every band did.  While Metallica was scrambling to protect their "intellectual property" and making money for record labels, The Church was giving it all away (btw, if you ever go to a show they encourage bootlegs).  Their approach was cutting edge at the time.  Funny thing is, you can't sustainably steal, buy, or borrow creativity anyway, but <sarcasm>who knew that in 1990?</sarcasm>.

Communication via web tools is unprecedentedly easy.  Most businesses are not on the edge of the web, otherwise it wouldn't be the edge.  However, on the web you can constantly challenge your own boundaries, and if you are willing to share your creativity, you just might get a few fans willing to make a post about how awesome you are.