Jacqueline Smith may not be a household name – yet – but the Hudson County music scene has come to know and rely on her savvy, enthusiasm and dedication, thanks to JC Music Scene, the brand through which she shares information and foments participation on social media.
On Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, throughout the day and into each night, Smith posts news about upcoming events, recent releases, playlists, artist profiles and more.
It’s become her passion and her mission.
“I come from a media planning background, which is the very business-oriented side of the advertising business,” Smith explained. “It’s a lot of numbers and data management, and I don’t really consider myself much of a numbers person. I worked for seven or eight years in that industry and I just kept feeling unfulfilled.”
When cutbacks resulted in her losing her last job, the Jersey City resident made the decision to move forward and try something that spoke to her more.
“I was trying to figure out what I could do that would make me happier,” she said.
An opportunity came along to work part-time from home doing social media for a jewelry company.
“It was cool to have a chance to explore that world, it was new to me and exciting,” Smith said. “But it was difficult to transition within an industry. People questioned why I wanted to work in social media when that hadn’t been my background. So finally I just decided to pick a project and prove my value, and that turned out to be JC Music Scene.”
The idea of creating a networking web presence for a local music scene seemed like both a viable opportunity that could lead to a paying career, but also something that would feed the soul.
“I like working with people, I like being creative, I like music, I like the arts,'' she said. "So that all became part of how I got into it.”
Smith made it clear that she still has a day job that pays the bills, but JC Music Scene takes up much of the rest of her time, even more so since the COVID pandemic shut down the economy and made it impossible to network at shows and venues.
“I sound like I’m a crazy person when I talk about it, but I am always crawling through my social media feed every day, looking for shows, looking for bands, looking for information,” she said. “If someone follows my page and if they’re an artist, they’re in this general area, if they’re a local business, I follow them back. I make sure I’m keeping tabs on my audience, and that’s how I know so much of what’s going on.”
Besides reposting links to events, virtual performances, and even short profiles of local musicians, Smith compiles a New Music Friday playlist every week with links to the music she’s discovered. In so doing, she’s been able to bring together electronic artists and DJs, the hip-hop underground, and indie-rock artists in a way that’s never been accomplished before.
“I’ve been talking to people recently and I’ve realized that we’re in a very fortunate position in Jersey City because there have been ways here to do some live music, like at the Harsimus cemetery or some of the sidewalk shows that have been going on,” Smith said. “If you talk to musicians from Brooklyn and Manhattan, there’s not the same opportunities, not yet and not to the same magnitude. So even though it feels tiny what we’re doing, there is a small, opportunity here that is being capitalized on, which is insane to me. I feel very grateful to be a part of it.”
"Scene" - Google News
October 01, 2020 at 12:59AM
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Behind the scenes with the woman behind JC Music Scene - NJ.com
"Scene" - Google News
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