army of love family
Before diving into the details of the vision, let me give you a backstory for perspective.
The ‘army of love’ started before I discovered electronic music.
In 2017, after a magical experience, I became fascinated with the transformative power of authentic human connection. What do I mean by authentic?
No mask.
No judgment.
Unconditional support to be your true self.
This means the pretty stuff and especially the ugly stuff.
These authentic relationships were shifting my life. They were bringing me closer to accepting myself.
That is my goal with this project. To bring together like minded people. Embody a vibe that is welcoming & supportive. In this space, I believe connections will naturally occur.
Now that we have an idea of the core intention of this project, let me try to explain the vision…
Army of Love Family
It’s time to create a space for the members of this community to connect with one another. There’s many layers to this vision… I’ll do my best to keep this simple.
In September we will launch a monthly membership program. I’ll discuss the money aspects later on, let’s get into the offerings.
Group Chat via Discord
We’re going to use Discord as our messaging platform. This will be a private channel that is only available to members.
Open Doors for Connection and Support
We will intentionally highlight members from within the community. Whether you’re a music producer, a yoga studio owner or a 3rd grade teacher - we want to highlight you.
Once a week, we highlight someone and open the door for members of our community to connect with and potentially support this person.
Zoom Meetings
Once a month (at least),we’ll have a zoom call with the intention to connect members.
We’ll have breakout groups so you can connect with 2-3 people at a time rather than 40 people at once.
The nature of our Zoom meetings will evolve as we get to know each other.
Music Listening Sessions
Once a week (at least), we’ll have a formal listening party. We can come up with different themes as we grow together. Here’s some ideas..
New All Day I Dream album listening party
Unreleased Promo listening party
Group listening session - everyone brings 1 track
I’ve done listening sessions before and for whatever reason they’re extremely engaging to me. There’s something special here.
Community Calendar
This is more of a big picture vision and it’s important for you to understand.
A huge dream of mine is to create a community calendar. At first, we’ll probably have 20-30 members, mostly living in different parts of the world. As a result, the calendar will mostly be comprised of online events.
However, if you’re going to a festival on December 10th, you can post this on the community calendar. All of a sudden, you’re planting a seed with everyone in the community - do you wanna come to this festival? do you want to come to the opening of my yoga studio in Amsterdam?
Think about the value of this calendar if the members of this community used it intentionally…
In 2 years time, as the community grows, we may have 22 people in the Berlin chapter. 16 in New York. 9 in Zurich.
All of a sudden, there’s value in the LOCAL EVENTS on the community calendar. This will create a way for you to connect with other “lovers” in your region.
Also, if you live in Amsterdam, and you see a nice party in Berlin on the calendar, maybe you take a trip and meet up with the Berlin “lovers.”
This calendar embodies the bigger picture vision. Think about what’s possible if you have 200+ people who are intentionally using a platform like this to connect.
Over time, we will have something similar to “couchsurfing” within our community.
Some lovers have already visited each other and become real life friends based off an instagram connection. It’s time to intentionally lean into this idea with the people who want to be a part of it.
We need the right people. Which brings us to money.
MONEY
Something I’m not particularly comfortable with. There’s 2 levels to the money conversation.
1. I need money.
In order for this project to grow - I need to start raising money. Not looking to get rich, my personal goal is to get to $2k a month.
2. We’re looking to attract people who are serious.
At the end of the day, I’m looking to attract people who are here to take this seriously. The monthly payments helps to keep this place safe.
If it’s free, it opens the door for trolls and unintentional characters.
I want to attract people who see the monthly payment as an investment in themselves.
It’s a donation that is going to fuel this project, but it’s also an investment in your human experience.
I want to be transparent about all of this.
The standard price I felt is $10/month.
I also want to be mindful of those who may not have access to money and offer these individuals a discounted price.
I also want to open the door for those who have an abundance of money and want to contribute more.
In an ideal world, everyone would give what felt right to them. Those with abundance would pay a little more. Those without money can pay a little less. Everyone’s included and the project grows.
Having said that, I’m asking you for feedback. Please be honest, it will help me with the next steps.
Summary
This members group is the first step of a much larger vision.
The artwork for this blog post (original photo below) was taken in Hamburg a few years back. 8 people from the Army of Love community met up to party and we had the best fucking day of our lives. Without drugs, freedom was felt. Friendships were formed.
Let’s create more of that.
This is for us.
For those of us who want to connect with others.
I have the space in my life to dedicate energy to this movement. I’m just driving the ship, we create this together.
FEEDBACK
“Really looking forward to how this platform can be used to highlight newer, up-and-coming producers”
Yes! We want to attract up and coming musicians. Not only in an effort to connect with you other artists, but to connect you with our listeners as well.
I would love to have a “sub channel” filled with producers who are sharing their work and connecting with others.
