When I first started writing this blog over 10 years ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t pester you with any personal solicitations. Today I’m bending that rule. Just a bit. For a good cause. LOL.

But before I do that, I’m sharing some experiences, which you might find interesting and valuable, from the front line of digital communications. It starts with our own story, launching quickSilver back in 2007. At that time, one of our clients asked us to develop a marketing program that was equal parts analog (print ads in vertical trade pubs) and digital (banners, buttons, webinars). At first we freaked out, since we knew next to nothing about online marketing. But once we got started, we realized it didn’t matter, because within six months we were experts, which didn’t really matter because the whole game had changed, and everyone had to learn a new online marketing trick, followed by another, and another…in short, the industry was morphing continually and we were all kinda making it up as we went along. SMH.

So it shouldn’t have surprised me that when my elder son decided he wanted to pursue music and music production, we found that colleges and universities were equally confounded in the digital age. Some of the more traditional schools required prospective producers to apply to their Music school – including an audition – and once they got accepted they could branch into production. Meanwhile, other schools offered production via their Computer Sciences department, but if a student went that route they were limited in what Music courses were available or that they could take. WTF.

This experience repeated itself when my younger son wanted to pursue digital video production. Communications schools required prospective students to follow a strict traditional syllabus (writing, speaking, analog production) before adding digital skills via the Computer Science department. While schools with a more Tech bent would offer lots of digital programs, but no analog hardware like cameras or studios, and very thin Communications training. IKR.

We lucked out. Twice. My elder son found American University, which offered a great liberal arts background, including deep dives into music history and theory, and which is also home to perhaps the most advanced music studio in Washington. And my younger son was part of a brand new program at Ithaca College called Emerging Media, which was created as a pilot for developing Communications students who are adept with digital media. W00T.

Which brings me to that solicitation. I’m happy to report that younger son has leveraged his IC experience into first an internship and now a budding career in La La Land. I could provide you a link to his latest project, a show on Adult Swim called Eric Andre featuring a character called Kraft Punk. But it’s… um… well… ah… google it for yourself. NSFW.

And older son used the AU resources to develop his first album as a senior project, and he just wrapped up his second, which will drop on June 1. You can give those a spin of support at thebandpath.bandcamp.com. THX.

Where will these first steps take these digital communications pioneers? Who knows. They are now experts in the fields of audio and video production, but YouTube and Instagram and Pandora and Spotify are changing the game every minute. ROFL.

And so, like the rest of us, they’re just gonna have to keep making it up as they go along. YOLO.