I Deleted 43,000 Emails At Once. Here’s Why It Matters.
I have one email account that I haven’t checked in years. Probably not since Google created the tabbed inbox.
But that all changed just now. I decided to check it out…
The primary tab had like 14,000 emails. The promotions tab had over 43,000.
This was for an account associated with an old music blog I used to have.
Look, here’s the old Wordpress, with the last date from 2009.
The emails were from random publicists at places like “Devious Planet” or “KidLogic.”
Bands and songwriters that you’ve never heard or you probably don’t want to hear from.
But you know, there was a familiar refrain in a lot of the emails.
The emails were from people like you or me, artists pursuing their “passion” hoping to get a break.
For someone to listen to their single.
For someone to read about their latest stunt.
For someone to buy their cool t-shirt.
Instead, their pleas and entreaties were digital detritus. The only thing they created was a higher inbox total. One stacking on top of another.
I selected everything in the Promotions tab. More than 43,000 messages.
All these messages…They were an indictment on the creative arts industry.
Because I was probably part of the publicists’ pitch.
“We have twenty quadrabillion influential music bloggers on our email list,” these publicists or their assistants said to some young, impressionable band.
But it’s a lie. Their email lists are probably filled with accounts like mine — ones that haven’t been checked in a very long time.
This is even more true as the nature of music recommendation and music blogs has changed significantly in the past 5 to 10 years. The exclusive mp3 doesn’t matter as much anymore.
These publicity companies didn’t clean their email lists after someone like me had been on it for years, not clicking or opening anything of theirs from years on end.
And yet.
And yet, the emails persisted. New bands got signed to new publicity companies who sent their pitches to old email addresses.
The number got higher.
Until I hit delete.
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