“I was posting to social media every day. It totally f**king sucks”: How Claude VonStroke uses social media as a fully independent artistClaude VonStroke has bemoaned the necessity of posting to social media as an artist, saying that “it totally fucking sucks”, and suggests that cultivating quality is more important than putting up “a bunch of garbage”.
Two decades into his career, the prominent producer and DJ, real name Barclay Crenshaw, is in what he describes as his “life of leisure” phase. In essence, he says, this is an era of complete independence. The former Dirtybird owner isn’t signed to a label; he’s only taking gigs he wants to play, and he’s releasing music at his own pace.

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In previous phases of his career, such as when he shifted from the funky house beats of Claude VonStroke over to the modern bass project he was running under his birth name, Crenshaw engaged with the daily grind of social media. While he did see the benefits, he absolutely hated it.
“I was posting [to social media] almost every day,” Crenshaw said in a new interview with MusicTech. “It kind of works, and eventually way more people are looking at your stuff, but it totally fucking sucks. It’s not even making music. It has nothing to do with anything. It’s stupid.”
Crenshaw is far from the only artist to decry the ubiquity of social media in modern music. The Guardian reported that pop stars like Charli XCX and Billie Eilish have left social media platforms to preserve their mental health. Sara Quin of Canadian duo Tegan and Sara went on to her frustration with how artists are ostensibly required to be active on social media in order to maintain their careers:
“Myspace or Facebook posts used to be an add-on, but now it feels like making music is about making assets for social media.”
Continuing his criticism of the demands of the online world, Crenshaw says that striving for a “consistent output” is futile. It’s better to stockpile your best ideas, he says.
“People think that the consistent output is better than the good output. Just keep hammering until something catches. You might win over a really long period of time. But it’s just a bunch of garbage. Why would that work? It’s not gonna stick out.”
Crenshaw recently sold all of Dirtybird’s entities to the large-scale independent label and distributor, EMPIRE. He is currently in the midst of his Life of Leisure tour throughout Europe and North America, having just released his latest EP, I Was The Wolf.
Read more about this new phase of Claude VonStroke’s career on MusicTech.
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