Writer, musician, wizardly guide to platform independence
I’ve gotten super into watching DJ sets over the past few years. Yes, I still love my metal, but man… there is just so much music out there to explore. How many 1000s of songs have I still not heard? How exciting!
Love this nugget I found about these DJ sets:
“All of the gear you see in this and the upcoming episodes, from turntables to pre-amps & speakers – new and used, are available in @audiogold store.”
Just look at this amazing shop:
You can hear more from GUiNNY here on Mixcloud:
This looks absolutely amazing:
Producers show up to the venue, a folder of samples culled from old jazz and soul records to use as source material is passed around and each producer gets to work transforming the sample into a brand new piece of music. From there, each producer will play their new track, receiving encouragement and feedback from their peers onsite and around the world as the sessions are broadcast via zoom each month.
Yes, online communities have their place – the Discords and email lists, but in-person is where it’s at, even if I’m still hesitant to get out there (I’ve been to three shows since 2019).
The magic is isn’t just in people, but finding the right other people.
Read more of this article about Philadelphia’s Flip A Beat Club here.
The local university has a radio station, and I finally looked it up and of course found HEAVIER in their Mixcloud archive.
Letting a radio show just play can be hard, as DSPs and social media has made me so impatient. But I let it play, and to my pure delight Kublai Khan TX came on, which is one of my client’s bands, and a band I saw a bit ago on tour.
Over the past few years I’ve danced with the magic of the radio, mixes, and DJ sets, watching chemists mix together tracks like potions. I’ve watched hours of ambient drone made in real time using equipment I’ve never heard of.
All this stuff is harder to find, harder to “consume” while on a bus or whatever. But I grew up in a home with a music room.
There was a stereo, shelves of records, and that’s where you listened to music. I have memories of mom dancing to the Rolling Stones, Abba, Kris Kristofferson, and Dire Straits.
Some nights I just never want to go to bed. Hopping from one YouTube video to the next, looking up something on Wikipedia, then digging for a track on Bandcamp. On Spotify. Whatever.
A whole world of music is out there, still waiting to be discovered, and it’s so fun to just dig through so much of when you discover it from other people.
I got into heavy music because a good friend hauled my ass to a sketchy venue in NJ back in 1994 or so. Into Another, Life of Agony, Biohazard.
If our parents knew where we were at, they’d be furious. That was an experience. A life changing event when I was just 17 years old or so.
And 30 years later I just went to a show with that same friend.
So yes, we’re making videos and writing newsletters and putting out vinyl and tapes, and that’s all well and good.
But there’s only so far that online marketing can take you.
Those social media posts are stacked up against long drives, truck stops, and scary venues as a teenager.
It’s not about the product, it’s the experience.
Love love love this quote:
“What you need is a strategy to grow your fanbase. And as you’re growing your fanbase, you keep making music and improving your craft.”
If you write shit songs and get on stage and notice that no one is interested in what you’re playing, you’re going to make adjustments.
You work on your craft, develop your skills, and learn how to put on a show. This can take years, but that’s how it’s done.
This goes for writers, photographers, artists, whatever!
Goals are great, but what’s the plan?
Imagine waking up and posting garbage like this:
The audacity to post “Meg White was terrible” to the entire world is beyond comprehension.
Meg White won four Grammy Awards
She’s in Rolling Stone’s ‘100 Greatest Drummers of All Time’ list
She’s a 3x Platinum selling artist.
You know what most normal people do when they don’t like something? They don’t think about it.
There are 1000s of bands and albums and song I don’t care for. Think I’m going to spend energy and time and effort and mental bandwidth letting the world know?
Nah.
This, though? This new album from Carmen Jaci is amazing, and I just pre-ordered it today (it’s out March 30th, 2023).
Last week’s Spotify garbage announcements led to a lot of artists and bands and musicians speaking out in anger.
I get it, I really do, but also 90% of those same artists have multiple links to Spotify in their bio, on their feeds, on their websites (if they have a website)…
“Weird. I only link to Spotify on all my social media platforms and website posts, and yet no one buys any of the music from my Bandcamp because I never link to it or mention it, shhh it’s a secret I guess. So frustrating!”
Yes, I get it… making a $1 on Spotify is hard. But… I make music that sounds like a running dishwasher mixed with a 10 year old AC unit, and…
Like, I am not a full time musician by any means. Most of my friends don’t give a crap about the music I make. But like… my music isn’t available on any streaming service, and I made $30 last month, which is good for some groceries.
Yes, it’d be great if Spotify would pay more, and it’d also be great if people bought CDs like they did in 1998. But that’s NEVER coming back.
Some people value music, and will pay you for it. A lot of people won’t.
Don’t fall for the, “well, everyone just streams music.”
You’re not making music for everyone. None of us are.
So at the bare minimum let your fans know that they can support you by purchasing your music.
Imagine being one of the biggest music companies in the world, host of some of the most amazing music in modern history, and… this (the second one down) is the track you’re using for your big roll out:
It’s not just me, I swear:
Like… HOW is that the sound bed to your big new feature roll out?
Oh, that’s right – when your mission as a company is to replace all human-made music with AI bullshit so you don’t have to pay out to actual humans, this is what you get.
Look – Spotify as an app, a service, all that – yeah, it’s great.
But it’s also the worst.
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!
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.
