Writer, musician, wizardly guide to platform independence
It’s been fun uploading my mixes to Mixcloud over the years, and I finally got around to building a Goodnight, Metal Friend website. Now I finally got around to uploading my mixes to YouTube, and it’s been fun.
Check out Goodnight, Metal Friend on YouTube.
People search for specific things on YouTube, like “dark ambient mix” or “background music,” so it’s been fun seeing some of these mixes getting 50+ views. And almost 23 hours watched in the last 28 days, which blows my mind!
In 2020 I think I ran about 1100 miles. Late last year I stopped even syncing to Strava. I’m still running, just doing my best to have less technical items to deal with. All my runs are logged in my watch, then to the Fitness app. Whatever. No one gets to see them, no comparing my heart rate to someone else.
Thinking how I wish I wrote big blog posts for some of my epic runs and races. Something to scroll through here on my blog, rather than just a bunch of numbers and metrics. Sort of like how looking at a playlist on Spotify doesn’t have the same pizzaz as a CD booklet or gate fold.
Bandcamp Friday is magical if you allow yourself to believe in magic.
“#BandcampFriday is a day of being overwhelmed by the power of creativity! Wow, there’s just so much choice out there!! Where do we begin?”
Penelope Trappes
Do I get a lot of emails? Sure.
Do I see a lot of Tweet threads from 100 people about music to check out? Yes.
Somehow this is a bad thing.
Without social media (at the moment), there is no source or curation for this. Music sites don’t do much around this probably (definitely) because a post about some band farting out a Nirvana cover gets more clicks.
So yeah… lots of people are throwing lots of links around to a lot of music, and it’s absolutely impossible to keep up with it all.
The best way to handle all of it?
Shut your mouth, click a link, and just buy something. The end.
The corporations bought up the blog thing and fucked it up (I was there when AOL was filling up the search engines, churning out websites, buying HuffPost, Seed).
The corporations bought up podcasts, and things ain’t working out, so now we’re gonna hear how “Podcasts lose their edge.”
No. Cheap podcasts that are profitable and also reach 1,000,000 per episode, and make lots of money for dude bros in suits are dead. RIP.
Now Spotify has a new AI DJ. Fuck off.
We had a thriving internet community with message boards, and email lists, and music blogs and websites, but then we relented. We all fell for the shiny objects called Facebook and Twitter and streaming music.
“That’s where everyone is,” is the biggest lie the devil ever told.
Not everyone is on Twitter.
Not everyone streams.
If you’re looking for the Superbowl Audience, sure, you better play your cards right and make the music that millions wanna hear.
But there are still record stores. Go shop at ’em.
Local music stores exist. Go buy some strings.
Bandcamp exists. Go buy a digital album, or a shirt.
Yes, the biggest players make the biggest noise, but the dam is breaking.
Layoffs, mismanagement. The consolidation of power isn’t natural.
Start your website, your email list, own your music, and talk to people and build your communities.
I’ve been on a tear against social media for like, a decade or so, so it was refreshing to hear Amelia Hruby frame my distaste in such a new way.
(Also available on Apple Podcasts)
She really breaks down this whole thing about running a service business (coaching, editing, copywriting, etc) without using social media, and using actual, for-real selling techniques like emailing people, and talking to people!
Going that route instead of just throwing things up on the social media, and when the algorithms throttle your reach you can say, “well, I tried,” and blame the social media platforms for your lack of new clients.
And also – if you’re offering a service, you don’t want to scale. There’s only so many clients you can take on. Only so many hours in the day!
Like I posted on socials a few days ago:
Buy a domain name.
Set up a website.
All the stuff you shovel onto social media every day?
Put that on your website.
And here I am, a few days later putting that social media post on my website.
Oh boy, James Victore never disappoints.
The quote below is in response to someone asking how to move forward creatively even though they’re older now:
Yes, “to do” is the answer. Action!
Action, action, action! Create, create, create
Shut up, stop waiting, and just make the thing. Take one step closer to the doing the thing.
Maybe you can’t direct a play tomorrow, but you can start writing the story. Sketch up the logo. Talk to someone who might want to do the same thing.
Action.
I have zero idea how he does anything with that Octatrack MKII, but it sure looks cool, and Jon’s delivery is my viiiiibe, man. Give me laid back and chill over all the glitzy, in your face, over the top music stuff any day. A true wizard at work.
I love how he talks about using presets, which goes nicely along with this video of Andrew Scheps talking about using less things instead of more. Just because you have 1500 snare sounds doesn’t mean you should take a month searching for the right one, when you can just focus on writing a great song instead.
Oh my god, I love this so much:
Their Bandcamp page says, “Happy Child is a record about exploration, play, and rekindling with a sense of childlike wonder,” and, uhhh… YES, this is amazing.
(via Foxy Digitalis)
Tired of everyone crying about Rihanna playing the Super Bowl? Or “overpriced” merch from Gojira? Then just go to Bandcamp, click on three random items that just sold on Bandcamp, and see if you can’t find a new favorite artist.
Glitchy, speedy electronic music. It’s tagged “psytrance” and it’s from Norway. Whatever, this is fun.
Selenoplexia present six songs of “Blackened Death in Chicago.” Good stuff!
Released today on Valentines Day, K, Le Maestro put out this remix, I think. Pretty groovy.
Since getting my new camera I’ve been intrigued by diving into more of what I can do with the manual settings. I mean, I’ve been using cameras for decades, but mostly in the auto-mode, shooting from the hip, and taking what I can get.
Now though it’s interesting to dig through PDFs, watch some YouTube videos, and figure out how to make some nice photos. I have literally no idea what I’m doing, as you can tell by how grainy and well, not great this photo is, but… but this is what I want to get to, taking good night time, spooky back street photos.
