I run a site called Glossy Hooks, which is kind of a music blog. It features music from both well-known, Grammy-nominated musicians to lesser-known musicians from all over the world. What I found helpful in chatting with all of these musicians was just getting into the mood by playing their music before I’d introduce myself.
To this day, I still do this and pick out all the tiny nuances of their song and, oftentimes, start a conversation around that, because it lets them know that I’ve spent a good amount of effort listening to their musical artwork with as much effort as they’ve poured into it. It becomes a camaraderie before it’s even a camaraderie. Every time I’ve done this, I almost always get a compliment back. It’s at the essence of art appreciation, the mutual respect for someone who blended a bunch of musical layers together with someone who spent ungodly amounts of time, coding/testing/tweaking/hunting for giphys. What I love about this is that this appreciation transcends the physical boundaries, the different languages and cultures, which is something that I could’ve never done two decades ago. Long live the Internet, ze interwebz, The Information Superhighway!