Category: Music

JOBBER SUMMERSLAM

Found this via a music blog – rcmndedlisten! In 2023!

I was listening casually, then came across this part:

Guitarist and vocalist Kate Meizner, drummer Mike Falcone, guitarist Michael Julius, and bassist Miles Toth aren’t just indie rock sports entertainers who can channel Helmet, Hum, and ‘99 era Macho Man in one fell swoop.

Then I was like, oh shit! It all clicked, and fuck, I love this song.

I GET PAID THE MOST

Neat interview with guitarist Steve Vai, on how he skipped making 0.25 cents per record to recoup and instead went and made $4 per record by going direct to the distributors.

And now, in 2023, artists are out here promoting the fuck out of DSPs so they can get 0.003 cents per stream on platforms that limit their ability to engage with 70% of their fans.

What the fuck are we doing?

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT DOESN’T TRANSLATE

Trying to catalog more of the things I come across on the internet, so I don’t forget about them. I could add to albums to my Bandcamp wishlist, or tuck away links in my notes app, but I think putting them here in the open is much more enjoyable.

“During lockdown I started playing a lot more games and becoming more interested in them as an art form, each song is its own little role-playing game. In my head, at least! It doesn’t matter if that doesn’t translate.”

From The Wire Magazine interview with Jayne Dent, talking about her latest album RPG.

SATISFIED, CALM, COOL, COLLECTED

I’ve known Sarah Saturday for well over a decade or more, dating back to my very first music blog. We finally got to meet in 2013 in Nashville for coffee, and have chatted on and off over the years.

Sarah recently released ‘Like You,’ and the opening line caught me off guard, in a good way:

Satisfied, calm, cool, collected

My mom used to say she was “calm, cool, and collected,” which made me and my sister laugh out loud, because she was definitely not calm, cool, and collected.

This is a sweet little reminder to put everything and anything you want out into the world because you just never know where it will land, or how it’ll be received.

DON CABALLERO STILL RIPS

Had to get out for a mental health walk, which I think was just more about getting away from my laptop, but regardess, landed on some Don Caballero.

Don Caballero was a band a few friends talked about in the scene growing up. There was a buzz around their live show, probably some zine interviews and such.

They’re one of the few bands that make me wanna close my eyes and pretend like I’m in the band.

REVISITING SOUNDCLOUD

I never spent much time on SoundCloud, but then I read this interview with Tracy P. Chan, SVP of Creators at SoundCloud, from Mia’s Queue on Substack.

“We have an algorithmic discovery playlist called ‘Daily Drops.’ Every day we drop what’s new to you. SoundCloud’s catalog is about 320 million tracks. We have three times the number of tracks that the other DSPs [Digital Service Providers] have. You’ll find all this content that just doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

That’s how I found this live recording from Spring Rolls from Paris, France, and I love it so much. Perfectly minimal and soothing. I listened to it on a recent evening run.

Then I found his work on Bandcamp, a new release titled ‘Le Commencement [SPRNGRLLS001].’

I don’t know… I’ve been listening to BANDS since the mid 80s man. I still love them, of course. But I’ve also been loving electronic music, too. I don’t know… just something that sort of blends into the background and isn’t… guitars, you know?

YOU’RE NOT OWED AN AUDIENCE

How do I get more subscribers? More listens? More sales? More fans?

Are you kidding me?

The entire world of knowledge is in our pockets and you can’t figure out 10% of the answer?

Look at the top 100 marketing books on Amazon.
Search “marketing” on YouTube. There were probably 10,000 hours worth of wisdom upload in the last minute.
You could listen to one podcast every day about marketing for the rest of your life and never get caught up.

I’m paraphrasing Rick Rubin here, but “make cool things, show it to your friends.” Over and over again.

Complaining about social media is about as effective as complaining about the weather – it ain’t gonna change.

Make your art, write your novel, post your videos, play in front of four people… if there’s a shortcut, everyone already knows about it, which means you’re the nine billionth person in line with a tune and a poem.

This is a horrible sales pitch, but I’m offering coaching on this sort of thing now. Hire me for real, honest advice and ponderings from 20+ years of experience in the music world.

CREATIVITY NEVER STOPS

From today’s HEAVY METAL EMAIL, “FACTS ARE EASY AND BORING AND NO ONE CARES.”

Promoting your creative work should be art. It should spark curiosity, wonder, and delight.

That doesn’t mean spend 3 hours a week “engaging” on social media, or editing videos for TikTok.

Make stuff, then tell your friends.

Keep in touch with the creative, energetic, artistic people in your life.

Stop shouting it to “all” of your social media followers, especially when 80% of them won’t even see it.

Share the things you make directly with people who will appreciate it.