Why is it called Squares TV? Sent on 11 July 2022 by Michael Forrest
I’ve been asked why it’s called Squares TV. I’m not particularly good at marketing and branding so the reasons are confusing and relate to my personal history. Let me explain.
Why I care about online video
Back in the early 2010’s I ran a club night in East London called Squares - a showcase of ridiculously creative underground artists. These live shows were unforgettable, but you had to be in there to enjoy them. This seemed unfair to the artists who had put so much time and energy into their work, building elaborate machines, exploring new musical territory yet going unnoticed by the world at large.
I realised that the best way for my friends to be discovered online would be to produce high quality videos of their performances.
I had a lot to learn about video production.
An early success story
Graham Dunning was the first artist to perform at Squares. Together we produced a video called Mechanical Techno Demonstration.
This video accumulated several million views within a few weeks which created a lot of opportunities for Graham and spurred me forward to continue developing my video production skills.
When I discovered live streaming
Around the same time I spent a year living in Berlin, a town full of music tech nerds like me. I wanted to play as many live shows as possible. I sent hundreds of emails to different clubs and played a handful of shows as a result, but it wasn’t enough.
Then I discovered Twitch.
I watched people playing games and decided to try playing music instead. I played live music for two hours every night for several months. This was a crucible for both my musical and live stream production skills.
These days I even prefer to record videos live as it helps me avoid potentially spending weeks and weeks of editing.
What is Squares TV?
Squares TV is a platform where I’m bringing together everything I’ve learned about live streaming and video production. I’m learning from other people too, producing interviews with different people I’ve discovered through my app.
But why is it called Squares TV?!
I think of the digital realm - an image, an mp3, a video - all the stuff on the Internet - as being constructed of minuscule “squares” - pixels, samples, bits and bytes, or macroscopically as the frames around social media posts.
Obviously many things come in rectangles but rectangles.tv wouldn’t have the same ring to it!
What do you think?
Does that make sense or am I just being weird and confusing?! 😅
Best
Michael Forrest
Director | Good To Hear
