Remote-first is being Easy to Love!

Weaklings playin' a risky game

Fools, no independence to their name

Reasons I watched from the sidelines

It's a beautiful match, but it wasn't mine to play

But recently, I've had a change of heart

And I regret holdin' myself back from this part

I wanna be easy to love

I wanna love easily

From Song: Easy to Love | Songwriter: Tema Siegel | Easy to Love lyrics © DistroKid

This is one of the rare new songs that my college-going daughter and I both like! 

And its made by a long distance band named 'Couch'. 

Now, before we talk about the "long-distance-ness", I would suggest you to give it an ear, here on YouTube

So, (as you tap your feet to the rhythm and nod to the captivating notes,) let us dwell into how this band blossomed in long distance fashion. 

Here is what Molly MacDuff writes in her delightful interview blog (full link here)

"Couch is a long-distance band, with its members spread across the country. In their first few years, the recording process was completely remote.

Each member added their instrumentation and vocals and passed it to the next, like Popcorn. The members play this same game as they rotate calling on each other to share their prominent influences ...

All of these different backgrounds mesh into the strong lyrics and melodic forms that make up Couch’s music ... how sometimes a song can start with one particular vibe and chord progression, but it ends up sounding completely different through the production and collaboration process.

The identity of the song is flexible through all of the pieces beginning to come together through recording."

There have been and will be great bands, that bring together various backgrounds and make really timeless music. But what is really astonishing with this group is the long-distance-ness where the band members spread across the country worked completely remotely on this!

So, why can't it be the same when we are working remotely? 

Is it because we always want an orchestrator and the orchestrator needs to see everyone sitting in front? 

There was a time when people thought that great music cannot be produced without someone wielding a stick in front of the orchestra. But that was a long time back, and we are well past that!

When are we going to be past our notions of work and productivity vis-a-vis remote-first long-distance? 

If we have progressed ahead in the world of music from the notion of "no music without stick-yielding orchestrator" and even that of "all band gotta be in same place at same time", then, in work, why do we need the "tough love" of always being in the front of someone physically and not "easy love" of remote-first long-distance collaboration?