If you've been following my Twitter feed, you'll know that I recently went to see Casee Wilson perform. It's the first time I've seen her live and it was also the first gig I'd been to in quite a while, as the financial crash meant gig attendance was the first thing I'd cut off as part of the drive to save money.
The gig itself was a free entry and in a pub bar. There were 4 acts in total over the evening, each with a half hour set. I'm not familiar with the pub in question, but given the price of the drinks, its location and the vast majority of its clientele, I'd say it was a student bar catering to the university, as pretty much everyone in the place including the bar staff appeared to be about 20 years younger than me.
Maybe it's the age difference. Maybe it's the thought that not so long back, what I saw in that bar... how I would have reacted..well, that would have been me. And maybe it's the fact that I've just come to the end of a month where I've been absolutely bombarded emotionally by encountering artists still suffering a combination of the financial crisis and just the music industry in general that's made me that bit more sensitive than normal. And this is what makes the observations I made that night a story worth telling.
So picture the setup. I'd got there early and scrunched myself into one of the tables opposite the bar and about halfway along its length, sitting on one of the most uncomfortable bar stools I've sat on in quite a while. I was also maybe halfway down in terms of table layout and the pub itself was quite small, certainly with seats for less than 50 and probably closer to 30 people, although you might squeeze around 100 in the space if most were willing to stand. If you look at me, I'm actually sat more facing the bar, so to my left are tables and the door outside and on my right there are tables and the performance area which in reality is little more than a microphone and temporary sound board/computer set up in a corner.
By the time it was decided the music should start (about 10 minutes later than I'd originally been told), the seats were pretty much occupied and there were a handful of people stood at the bar. From where I'm sat it quickly becomes obvious that there is a pub of two halves here and I am apparently sat on the dividing line. The tables and bar to my left are all sat with their noses in their pints, staring at their mobiles and/or deep in conversation with their respective groups. When the first song ends, only the more attentive group to my right clap while those to my left stay doing whatever they were doing. The applause is polite, expected rather than being through any genuine enthusiasm. The PA system is enough to carry the music over the conversation to my left but what the young guitarist says in between the songs he is playing is much more difficult to fathom because of the conversation in the room.
He finishes his set, there is more polite applause and he actually heads to the table immediately to my right as Casee attempts to get organised for her set. He realises there's an unoccupied stool on my table, asks if anyone is sitting there and I get the expected strange look when I tell him no, go on ahead and take it because I'm in there on my own. (A female on her own nursing a pint of coke in a pub is always something that gets people wondering, hence why I can be sure artists will usually find me even if they don't know me when I've told them I'll be there - I always stand out purely through looking out of place). One of his friends has gone to the bar to get a round in and once their table settles back down, I become aware of the change starting.
Casee attempts a bit more of an introduction and attempt to get some audience engagement than Chris (the previous act), but she's basically already got about all she's going to get. The pub is still effectively the same pub of two halves it was for the first act, only the table to my right is now much less attentive than when their friend was the one in the spotlight. They still somehow manage to applaud despite having only 50% attention at best on the music, but they're as much, if not more engrossed in their pints, mobiles and conversation as they are in the music.
Act three of the four is a couple, and the first noticeable thing is the fact they weren't actually in the room when the music started. They turned up about 15 minutes into the first set and were easy to spot arriving due to the guitar slung over his back. It seems he just plays the guitar while she sings, only she's singing so quietly that you'd think the microphone isn't actually plugged in. The pub itself is also at its peak of customers at this point, meaning that even from where I am halfway down the pub they are just turning into background noise rather than being music that people have any chance of listening to.
It's a couple of songs into their set that Casee's table makes a move. She's never laid eyes on me before, but due to my ability to stand out like a sore thumb I've already worked out that she decided a while back that either I must be me, or she's about to make a fool of herself because I didn't turn up after all. She makes the nervous enquiry and I confirm and she tells me that she has to go because she has a ride home. Whilst most of her group have wandered off, we manage to exchange a few words while one hovers with a definite "come on, COME ON we HAVE to go" aura. It's not much past 10pm and the music only started at more like a quarter to nine. She asks if I'm staying and I say yes and I try and fail to work out how much that is surprising her. What I don't say is what is flashing through my head, and that's something along the lines of "Why would it even cross your mind to ask if I'm staying? I may have specifically come out to this pub in this city on this night to watch YOU perform, but there are also OTHER MUSICIANS performing. What do you think I'm going to do? Show them the same RESPECT I showed you by staying and listening, or leave just because you are?"
The couple are now on a cover of "Bridge over troubled water" and the table to my right have just finished the round of drinks that I mentioned earlier. It's now a quarter past ten and lo and behold, they are off as well just a mere 10 minutes or so after Casee and her group of friends. The table is quickly gobbled up by a group who arrived maybe 20 minutes ago at best. They're not here for the music, so I'm now sat in my own little bubble and there isn't even any point in me applauding any more, because the few left who still are are all sat past the end of the bar right near the performers. I can still count them though - there's the host/sound engineer for the evening, a gentleman leaning on the end of the bar who, like me, looks out of place through being older than nearly everyone else in the pub and the group with the 4th performer. Who knows, there might be one or two lurking where I can't see because of the other groups in the bar area but that's pretty much it.
The couple finish their set and the last performer starts to set up for his turn. I'm no expert on instruments, but he's carrying some kind of ukulele or similar other small guitar. A guitar case swings past my view and I realise that the couple who arrived late have stayed until they have performed and they're on their way out already. This is getting truly depressing. So depressing in fact that as it becomes obvious the last performer is now essentially background music (and barely audible at that) left playing to a bar that has no interest other than the couple of friends he brought with him and the curious out-of-place oldsters, I make a decision.
And so to the confession I have. I did something I wouldn't normally do. I left before he had finished his set. Despite the fact half past ten wasn't that long back, I'd seen enough and to stay was just going to depress me further. And whilst I know it's not entirely fair to pass judgement based on the first gig I've been to in a while, maybe this was a one off, maybe because it was free entry and maybe this was the case or that was the case, I have still found myself coming up with rather a lot of maybes to dismiss what my eyes believe they've seen as just a series of coincidences.
Is there really going to come a time when I find myself suggesting to an artist that maybe most of the answer as to why nobody is listening to their music can be found by looking in the mirror? If young musicians are losing (or have lost) the ability to realise that they need to be out there supporting each other first and foremost and teaching their friends the same, then we really are on a slippery downward slope.
And by supporting, I mean listening to and talking to each other, not sitting cooped up in your own safe little friend bubbles that come and go with you and are only there for the spotlight moment. Sure, I'm willing to bet that over 90% of the people you encounter by connecting with those outside your bubble will land up as dead ends, but who knows what you'll find if people remember you further down the line? Fans? Your bandmates? Someone who went on to work in marketing? The guy who has the tip for mixing or creating that sound you've never been quite able to get your head around? Or any one of another hundred reasons I can think of that will help you if you're nuts enough to want to continue with this idea of a career in music.
And that brings me to the friends who get to see you tired, stressed, grumpy and whatever other side effects the attempt to create a career in music at the same time as having money to pay the bills and something approaching a social/family life leaves you with. If you can't make them see the importance of why you're supporting other musicians and what it could really mean for you and your career, even though none of you can quite see how that might work yet, then what on earth makes you think all those other people out there like me who DON'T get to see any of the stuff your friends do are going to pay any attention to you? And are your friends ever going to understand and support you when you really need it if you don't start teaching them now?
And when you finally wake up to the fact that actually, nobody is really listening to your music, how many wasted years and opportunities will have passed while you've been oblivious in your bubble? I've seen this age group of musician do much better than this before. So much so that they actually expanded the area of interested people in the room! It certainly doesn't always happen, but it never will when musicians don't stick together.
As a whole the evening reminded me why I climbed out of the consumer pile in the first place. But when that same cry of "because nobody else is listening" means I'm left wanting to rattle some sense into the musicians themselves (and I can't because they already left), it's not a good reminder. The result is one of those times where I'm left wondering why on earth I bother and why on earth I should still care.
Sunday 8 June 2014
Saturday 3 May 2014
The pain continues
I really don't seem to be having much luck. The house hunt is continuing after our second attempt at a purchase also fell through. In the meantime the housing market appears to be picking up in our price bracket and we've been struggling to view houses as a result (they keep getting sold and the viewing we had booked gets cancelled by the estate agent). Then on top of that the fact Easter and the first bank holiday in May have fallen so close together this year appears to have meant the number of new houses coming on the market in the first place has been rather slow for the last 2-3 weeks.
The pain continues - all our stuff is still in storage and we're still living in a combination of hotels and staying with friends/relatives with currently no end in sight. Limited availability of internet time (and in some cases speed) is also proving a pain as it is disrupting not only my leisure time and things like this blog, but also my ability to work and even communicate when an email I feel is important comes up.
As a result this is only another brief update with the hopes that our luck will finally turn and I can bring you some more positive news some time in June/July. I am however going to give you a bit of an update on what I have been up to since January as it seems rather unfair to have left you hanging quite this long, when I have somehow managed to at least do something about music despite all the problems.
Incredibly I'm STILL waiting on the actual physical CD from Cubworld, despite the fact these were released more than 6 months ago in August last year. I am now officially regretting buying the parts I spent here, as his funding completion date was well over 4 years ago. I thought his first project with Sellaband would have been a great learning exercise. Obviously I was wrong. I also passed the message about him needing to find funds in order to send the albums onto another of his believers who had contacted me to see if I knew anything, and I don't think they'll mind me copying their response to that information.
Ironically I've recently run into what could be described as a similar situation involving overdue items with another artist but my response to that one has been very different thanks to the reaction of the artist and what is overdue in this second case, shouldn't be for too much longer as a result. I'm basically waiting for them to get back from the holiday I interrupted, which should be within the next few days, so I'm not going to say any more about this one at this point.
Fox Amoore has announced that the "Come Find Me" album I funded last year on Indiegogo will officially be released on July 4th when he'll have copies available to buy at a convention he's attending. Copies for funders are due to be shipped out about a week before, but if you missed the funding you can also pre-order a copy from him now. He's been releasing snippets of the mixed but not yet mastered material and I already have goosebumps. This one is shaping up to be well worth it.
I have even managed to successfully buy music for the first time using my phone in the form of the EP from Nobody Likes Neville. Whilst it's not something I intend to be doing much of (at least at present) it was still nice to know that I can buy stuff when that's my only source of internet access. Although Brad is the vocalist and lyricist here, it seems this particular project is not one of his but rather is Eric's baby (so to speak). I obviously made someone's day based on the contents of the unexpected handwritten note that came in the package, and that note in turn made mine.
Matthew Ebel finally made the transition of his subscription service to Ziibra. The site itself still feels very beta, although I do find myself loving the high quality of the "meet me" videos (both in terms of the video itself and the content) they contain. Sadly the service seems to be only concentrating on the Seattle area at the moment, despite the website stating artists and creatives from around the world and it's also currently impossible to subscribe to anyone on the site (except Matthew) if you live outside of the USA. So much for the internet being global, and there's already one artist on there who has missed out on me spending money on them as a result. I'm told they may add international support later for (at least) digital goods, but at the moment I'm not holding my breath although it's likely I'll continue to take a listen to new artists in their music section.
I've been taking a read of Casee Wilson's blog whenever I get the chance recently. Whilst there's some stuff aimed directly at musicians, there's also quite a lot of interesting other stuff about her life as crew, individual track stories and her views on the music industry amongst other things. For recommended reading I'd start with this post on paid vs. free music but there's plenty you can spend your time with, whatever your interest in music and knowledge of the music industry.
And finally for this brief update, BONNIE are back seeking funding for their second full length album, this time on Indiegogo. You'll find their project here. I'm seeing a handful of names I recognise from Sellaband already on board and I've joined them. Whilst their music was never something I was that into when they originally signed up on Sellaband, it's clear they have grown musically since I last took a real listen and their sound is developing into something that actually, I might be a lot more interested in. It may only be a lyric video, but take a listen to one of their recent tracks called "Paradise".
The pain continues - all our stuff is still in storage and we're still living in a combination of hotels and staying with friends/relatives with currently no end in sight. Limited availability of internet time (and in some cases speed) is also proving a pain as it is disrupting not only my leisure time and things like this blog, but also my ability to work and even communicate when an email I feel is important comes up.
As a result this is only another brief update with the hopes that our luck will finally turn and I can bring you some more positive news some time in June/July. I am however going to give you a bit of an update on what I have been up to since January as it seems rather unfair to have left you hanging quite this long, when I have somehow managed to at least do something about music despite all the problems.
Incredibly I'm STILL waiting on the actual physical CD from Cubworld, despite the fact these were released more than 6 months ago in August last year. I am now officially regretting buying the parts I spent here, as his funding completion date was well over 4 years ago. I thought his first project with Sellaband would have been a great learning exercise. Obviously I was wrong. I also passed the message about him needing to find funds in order to send the albums onto another of his believers who had contacted me to see if I knew anything, and I don't think they'll mind me copying their response to that information.
Those excuses are a bit lame! What happened to "honor", "responsibility", etc., etc. We traveled from New York to Utah last fall and it seriously crossed my mind to see if he was still a resident of that state .... and track him down! BUT, we were having too much fun exploring the amazing national parks spread across the west to bother .... We've given up - if Jake's CD ever shows up - it will just be a surprise!The lack of communication and information here has been... disappointing... to say the least, and it's clear I'm not alone and that there are others out there feeling the same way who, like me, will probably now never fund him again even if those albums ever do show up.
Ironically I've recently run into what could be described as a similar situation involving overdue items with another artist but my response to that one has been very different thanks to the reaction of the artist and what is overdue in this second case, shouldn't be for too much longer as a result. I'm basically waiting for them to get back from the holiday I interrupted, which should be within the next few days, so I'm not going to say any more about this one at this point.
Fox Amoore has announced that the "Come Find Me" album I funded last year on Indiegogo will officially be released on July 4th when he'll have copies available to buy at a convention he's attending. Copies for funders are due to be shipped out about a week before, but if you missed the funding you can also pre-order a copy from him now. He's been releasing snippets of the mixed but not yet mastered material and I already have goosebumps. This one is shaping up to be well worth it.
I have even managed to successfully buy music for the first time using my phone in the form of the EP from Nobody Likes Neville. Whilst it's not something I intend to be doing much of (at least at present) it was still nice to know that I can buy stuff when that's my only source of internet access. Although Brad is the vocalist and lyricist here, it seems this particular project is not one of his but rather is Eric's baby (so to speak). I obviously made someone's day based on the contents of the unexpected handwritten note that came in the package, and that note in turn made mine.
Matthew Ebel finally made the transition of his subscription service to Ziibra. The site itself still feels very beta, although I do find myself loving the high quality of the "meet me" videos (both in terms of the video itself and the content) they contain. Sadly the service seems to be only concentrating on the Seattle area at the moment, despite the website stating artists and creatives from around the world and it's also currently impossible to subscribe to anyone on the site (except Matthew) if you live outside of the USA. So much for the internet being global, and there's already one artist on there who has missed out on me spending money on them as a result. I'm told they may add international support later for (at least) digital goods, but at the moment I'm not holding my breath although it's likely I'll continue to take a listen to new artists in their music section.
I've been taking a read of Casee Wilson's blog whenever I get the chance recently. Whilst there's some stuff aimed directly at musicians, there's also quite a lot of interesting other stuff about her life as crew, individual track stories and her views on the music industry amongst other things. For recommended reading I'd start with this post on paid vs. free music but there's plenty you can spend your time with, whatever your interest in music and knowledge of the music industry.
And finally for this brief update, BONNIE are back seeking funding for their second full length album, this time on Indiegogo. You'll find their project here. I'm seeing a handful of names I recognise from Sellaband already on board and I've joined them. Whilst their music was never something I was that into when they originally signed up on Sellaband, it's clear they have grown musically since I last took a real listen and their sound is developing into something that actually, I might be a lot more interested in. It may only be a lyric video, but take a listen to one of their recent tracks called "Paradise".
Sunday 16 February 2014
Service suspension
If you've been following my blog, you should recall I've been mentioning a house move for some time now. As you'll probably gather from the large pause since my last post, things haven't gone entirely to plan.
Well, if I'm being accurate they haven't gone to plan at all.
The upshot is that the house we were planning to buy fell through, but the house we were selling didn't. As a result this is now officially my third week without a house! And I have no idea how long this is going to continue. We have put in an offer on another property, but it's likely to be at least another month (and probably longer) before we're living somewhere other than a hotel and I can actually get some decent internet access, rather than a stolen half hour here and there from family and friends, or attempting to do anything with my rather old/slow smartphone in the local shopping centre.
As a result I've dropped by to give you this update, in the hopes I'll be able to start blogging again in April. If not, expect another update around then. I haven't forgotten about the blog post I promised you and that will be my first on resumption, but until we get settled with a new house, I'm not going to have enough access to internet available to finish off that post from the notes I'd started.
In the meantime I'm left waiting to see if my Cubworld CD ever arrives, seeing as it's well over 6 months since the album was released.
And if you're sending me anything, don't worry if the address is care of a solicitor - I haven't died (yet), it's just our current forwarding address for mail for anything the redirection isn't taking care of.
Wish me luck on getting a new house sorted. It's beginning to feel like I really need it.
Well, if I'm being accurate they haven't gone to plan at all.
The upshot is that the house we were planning to buy fell through, but the house we were selling didn't. As a result this is now officially my third week without a house! And I have no idea how long this is going to continue. We have put in an offer on another property, but it's likely to be at least another month (and probably longer) before we're living somewhere other than a hotel and I can actually get some decent internet access, rather than a stolen half hour here and there from family and friends, or attempting to do anything with my rather old/slow smartphone in the local shopping centre.
As a result I've dropped by to give you this update, in the hopes I'll be able to start blogging again in April. If not, expect another update around then. I haven't forgotten about the blog post I promised you and that will be my first on resumption, but until we get settled with a new house, I'm not going to have enough access to internet available to finish off that post from the notes I'd started.
In the meantime I'm left waiting to see if my Cubworld CD ever arrives, seeing as it's well over 6 months since the album was released.
And if you're sending me anything, don't worry if the address is care of a solicitor - I haven't died (yet), it's just our current forwarding address for mail for anything the redirection isn't taking care of.
Wish me luck on getting a new house sorted. It's beginning to feel like I really need it.
Thursday 2 January 2014
Review of the year 2013
It's time once again for my review of the year post where I share with you my favourite tracks and albums of 2013 as well as bring you up to date with various stories from the year.
Favourite Video of the year
As I usually start my posts with video of the month, it's only fair that I start you off with video of the year. Some may call this one a bit of a cheat as it actually uses a Walt Disney short as its basis rather than being something created from scratch, but something about it reminds me of the Tom Petty video for "Running Down A Dream". Enjoy "Matter of Time" by Dommin, which you'll also find in my favourite track listing for the year.
Favourite Songs of the year
You'll find most of these in the attached soundcloud track listing at the bottom of this section of post along with a few that didn't quite make the cut. With over 70 minutes of music in the playlist, it should give you more than enough to listen to while you finish the rest of this post. As usual, I have allowed no more than one track per artist and whilst the vast majority were actually released in the last 12 months, there is the odd track that was released earlier but which I've only come across in the last year.
1. All of Me - John Legend
2. Song For Someone - Vertical Horizon
3. Should've Said No - Katie Thompson
4. Hot Damn - Ivy Levan
5. Everything I Love - Katey Laurel
6. Carnival of Kings - Matthew Ebel
7. 'Til Infinity - IYES
8. A Night In Hell and a Sunday Morning - Skitzo Calypso
9. The Shore - Fox Amoore
10. Time to Live - Remi Miles
11. Bullet for a Broken Heart - Dillon Hodges
12. Matter of Time - Dommin
13. River Runs Dry - GD Allan
14. Heads Will Roll - Mary at Midnight
15. Broken Record - Little Boots
16. I Like Flowers - Reluctant Dragon
17 My Sky - Jaani Peuhu
18. Down Like Hip-Hop - Fiction 20 Down
19. Medikation Nation - Future User
20. The Call of Mektoub (Secrets of The Book) - Dirk Maassen with Sleepingenius
I was all poised to give the title to Vertical Horizon this year when I ran across the video from John Legend that I posted in my last blog post. Whether it's a consequence of getting older or what has happened to me over the past year, I don't really know, but in general it seems I've been heading more towards a mellower choice both in terms of songs, and more particularly favourite albums this year. In terms of some of the more unusual and unexpected choices, the two main standouts that made the list would have to be "I like flowers" by Reluctant Dragon and more particularly "Down Like Hip-Hop" by Fiction 20 Down which those who know me would have expected would be one of those tracks I'd run a mile from.
Favourite Albums of the year
1. Echoes from the Underground - Vertical Horizon
2. Calypso - The Traps
3. The Diving Board - Elton John
4. Nocturnes - Little Boots
5. Colours in the Dark - Tarja Turunen
Despite being overdue, the Vertical Horizon album definitely proved it's possible to get a place in my heart if the music still manages to hit the spot. A long time favourite of mine, Elton John also just failed to hit second spot from a fairly recent discovery in the form of The Traps. I'm not sure how the newcomers will stack up longer term though as I felt they had already released their strongest tracks from the album before I got hold of a copy.
In terms of what I'm looking forward to next year, there are only two albums I'm currently aware of at the moment. The first will be the new Poets of the Fall album, which won't be along until later in the year as they only just finished touring and so still have to decide which tracks they'll be finishing off and recording for the new album from all the scraps of ideas they've come up with since the last one. As they operate on a one year touring, one year recording basis there's even a chance it will be more like Christmas or early next year before it actually gets released.
The second album I'm waiting for will be "Come Find Me" by Fox Amoore. This got pushed back for release into next year as, after he blasted through his original IndieGoGo target and got nearly 4 times the initial funding request, the recording dates moved to the end of January due to the extra enquiries and arrangements required to get a real orchestra and guest vocalists involved. He has the English Chamber Orchestra on board for the album and I've been watching him stream live as he sets up the actual orchestral arrangements for songs ready for when they record in January.
Heroes and Villains
Given the movement with Sellaband this year, I was really hoping I'd be able to say in this post that I finally have what I paid for, more than 4 years down the line both from when I last bought a part on Sellaband and from when the last artist I bought parts in actually hit their target. Unfortunately that's not quite the case. I'm finally down to waiting for just the one CD. Whilst Cubworld released his album in the summer and it was made available for download on Sellaband back in August, the physical copies have still not been shipped. The last contact I had with Cubworld on the issue said that he'd run out of money and couldn't afford to send the CDs out until he'd saved some up. He's now officially become the second artist I bought parts in to have passed the 4 year mark since funding completion but where the CD hasn't arrived.yet. Ironically, I'm willing to bet it would have been possible to get a physical copy from somewhere by now if I hadn't funded on Sellaband, but instead bought the finished product when it was released in August. I believe I said in a previous blog post that I thought he'd been left to fend for himself as an artist too soon (as a result of the changes to Sellaband putting the artist in control rather than them controlling the budget etc.) and this situation looks to be confirmation of that fact.
Revenue from Sellaband has also basically dried up this year. Some of that is down to the fact that a lot of the artists I bought parts in are now out of the 5 year agreement, but there's been no revenue seen either for any of the late artists whose releases have been turning up slowly in the interim. In total, I've had just 2 sets of revenue credited to my account this year, the first in April and the second in the middle of December. This second one was a mere one eurocent, and both payouts combined wouldn't even be enough to buy half a chocolate bar. I suspect this is probably close to (if not THE) last revenue I'll see from the site.
With Sellaband now down to around one artist signed up for every day of the year, only around 10% of those with at least 1% in budget raised and when adding up the visible money on the site and coming up with a figure of less than 25,000 euros, I'll be pretty surprised if the site makes it to 2015 in its current form. It's definitely now not far from the point where the little remaining money could land up being moved to just the top few artists to clean up and close the site with very little adverse effect or reaction.
It hasn't all been bad news though. The rest of the items I'd been waiting for from Sellaband finally arrived, including the Lori Greco album which was the other one that took more than 4 years. I also finally got the Vertical Horizon album I'd been waiting for for well over a year from Pledge Music. But the whole experience with crowdfunding to date has left me somewhat more reluctant to spend compared to my early Sellaband days.
It was therefore somewhat of a relief to find that my faith in Poets of the Fall was rewarded. Whilst their live DVD was released a month later than originally planned, they still managed the shortest turnaround time of any artist I've crowdfunded to date, from the time the project went live for funding to receipt of the goods. And whilst I think there's a little too much chopping and changing of camera on the finished product (it feels like the director thinks the camera needs to be in at least 2 places gathering action at the same time), I'd say this still feels like the best music purchase I've made in the last 12 months. Definitely the heroes of 2013 where it feels like so many others have been villains.
Late Stories
As you can imagine there have been a few stories and discoveries that have happened since my last blog post.
Firstly 3-Dimensional People for which very little information is available at present except that it appears to be a side-project involving at least one member of Dommin. I'll be keeping an eye out for them and what music gets released under this project name over the next year.
It feels like a lot of musicians I follow have been the target of thieves this year. There have been some good outcomes for a few though. NRG Rising got a laptop back, although their bass guitar is still missing, and Dillon Hodges tracked his stolen guitar down to an ebay listing and has subsequently got it back. Unfortunately these haven't been the only victims and based on this seemingly sudden spike in thefts compared to previous years, I'd suggest that the main New Years resolution for all musicians ought to be to keep a very good eye on their stuff over the coming year in case it too goes missing.
Bambi Monroe of Civilized Tears announced she is expecting a baby. Hopefully they will get the video recording that was crowdfunded done before the birth needs to take centre stage.
Matthew Ebel's move of his subscription service to Ziibra still hasn't taken place. As he is apparently the artist with the largest fanbase to sign up with them so far, those smaller artists already there have found a number of bugs in the system that everyone would rather were fixed before he makes the move. This means that whilst he has been planning to get rid of the Entourage subscription and reduce it to the same level as the Robot Army subscription when the move happens, he's in for a shock next time he checks his mail, as he should have a mail from Paypal telling him I've renewed at Entourage level. I've done this on the principle that the move hasn't happened yet, so I therefore don't consider the change to subscription tiers to have come into effect yet (also not my problem if his system lets me renew anyway). I'll be interested to see how/whether he reacts to this, particularly as it marks my 5th year of Entourage subscription. I know he's busy tearing his hair out over his main website at the moment due to the hosting provider making a mess of things and breaking his site, so hopefully this will come as a pleasant surprise.
In terms of site discoveries, I've been taking a look at Pitchmystuff. On the surface it appears to be yet another site for musicians to upload their music to. What its true purpose is seems to be pretty much unknown though all the indications I've seen present the site as a way to try and get musicians to part with their own cash. How you listen to the music that has been uploaded is far from obvious, and I found the search options for finding music in the first place to be rather poor, rendering it too much hassle for the average listener to figure out compared to other sites out there. Instead the site tries to tempt you to log in and has a habit of annoying you with popups trying to get you to buy advertising on the site, copyright your music or persuade you to use their music uploading service to push your music onto Itunes, Spotify etc. which seems somewhat more expensive than other similar services I've encountered. And whilst their Twitter feed seems to suggest it's possible to connect with other fans and artists on there, I haven't seen anything resembling any community features in my trawl of the site other than a section of user images on the main page.
Whatever happened to...?
As is traditional at this time of year, I always mention one or more people or artists I've been thinking about and wondering what happened to them. This year's "I wonder what happened to..." came about as a result of the fact I've actually been listening to Talentcast a lot more than I used to in the days when they were only promoting Sellaband artists. I met Missy briefly at Sellebration in 2007, but after the changes and subsequent mess made by Sellaband to their site, she pretty much disappeared from Talentcast after getting disillusioned with the situation. So wherever you are now and whatever you're doing Missy, I wish you well.
In the meantime, if you are an artist, you may be interested in the fact that Talentcast has expanded from when I first knew them and now broadcasts their program on four different radio stations instead of just one. They are also always on the lookout for independent artists to upload music for them to play on their radio program, so if getting your music played on radio is of interest, you should check out their site as they don't charge you.
And finally... To the Future
I promised you a developing story in my last regular blog post of the year and here it is. Except that you could say it's still developing. You almost certainly won't have been aware, but I've actually had a pretty bad year health wise and as yet, I don't know how much further the story is going to unfold in 2014 or what its effects on me are going to be in the longer term.
It all started with me needing to go to the doctor back in March because I had a period that wasn't just heavy, but in fact just wouldn't stop. It is early for me to be hitting the menopause, but not overly early and it was thought I could be going into the pre-menopausal stage a few years earlier than expected. I got given some tablets and was told to come back either if they didn't work or the problem repeated. I took them and after a break (somewhat reasonable given the volume of blood I'd lost) everything seemed to be back on track. But in the summer, the problem came back only worse. I got given another course of tablets which thankfully also worked and sent to the hospital for 2 different sets of blood tests and a scan. The blood tests came back fine (or at least as fine as they could be under the circumstances) but the scan proved a different matter. Whilst I can't feel a thing, I apparently have a cyst on one of my ovaries, irregular in shape with the dimensions they have given me being 8cm x 4cm x 3cm. They don't think it's cancer, but apparently it's impossible to say for sure unless they actually remove it (and the associated plumbing). As a result it's currently "under observation", which basically means I'm having to undergo regular scans to see how it changes. If it doesn't go away on its own, the tablets stop working, or I start to develop any other symptoms I may have to have an operation, but in the meantime I'm left trying to cope on tablets and supplements for the 2 weeks of hell out of every 4-6 weeks I'm experiencing while they decide whether an operation is the only option. I'm hoping that the next scan due at the end of January will prove to be either make or break on what they decide to do as it's affecting my work, my ability to do things in general and the preparations for our imminent house move due to the side effects which result from high blood loss as things stand at present.
My next planned post is the one I promised you about what draws me to becoming a fan, which I'm hoping to get done before we have an actual moving date set (current expectation is late January - early February for that), as it's unlikely I'm going to be looking for much in the way of music until after the house move now. Until then, I wish you all the best for 2014.
Favourite Video of the year
As I usually start my posts with video of the month, it's only fair that I start you off with video of the year. Some may call this one a bit of a cheat as it actually uses a Walt Disney short as its basis rather than being something created from scratch, but something about it reminds me of the Tom Petty video for "Running Down A Dream". Enjoy "Matter of Time" by Dommin, which you'll also find in my favourite track listing for the year.
Favourite Songs of the year
You'll find most of these in the attached soundcloud track listing at the bottom of this section of post along with a few that didn't quite make the cut. With over 70 minutes of music in the playlist, it should give you more than enough to listen to while you finish the rest of this post. As usual, I have allowed no more than one track per artist and whilst the vast majority were actually released in the last 12 months, there is the odd track that was released earlier but which I've only come across in the last year.
1. All of Me - John Legend
2. Song For Someone - Vertical Horizon
3. Should've Said No - Katie Thompson
4. Hot Damn - Ivy Levan
5. Everything I Love - Katey Laurel
6. Carnival of Kings - Matthew Ebel
7. 'Til Infinity - IYES
8. A Night In Hell and a Sunday Morning - Skitzo Calypso
9. The Shore - Fox Amoore
10. Time to Live - Remi Miles
11. Bullet for a Broken Heart - Dillon Hodges
12. Matter of Time - Dommin
13. River Runs Dry - GD Allan
14. Heads Will Roll - Mary at Midnight
15. Broken Record - Little Boots
16. I Like Flowers - Reluctant Dragon
17 My Sky - Jaani Peuhu
18. Down Like Hip-Hop - Fiction 20 Down
19. Medikation Nation - Future User
20. The Call of Mektoub (Secrets of The Book) - Dirk Maassen with Sleepingenius
I was all poised to give the title to Vertical Horizon this year when I ran across the video from John Legend that I posted in my last blog post. Whether it's a consequence of getting older or what has happened to me over the past year, I don't really know, but in general it seems I've been heading more towards a mellower choice both in terms of songs, and more particularly favourite albums this year. In terms of some of the more unusual and unexpected choices, the two main standouts that made the list would have to be "I like flowers" by Reluctant Dragon and more particularly "Down Like Hip-Hop" by Fiction 20 Down which those who know me would have expected would be one of those tracks I'd run a mile from.
Favourite Albums of the year
1. Echoes from the Underground - Vertical Horizon
2. Calypso - The Traps
3. The Diving Board - Elton John
4. Nocturnes - Little Boots
5. Colours in the Dark - Tarja Turunen
Despite being overdue, the Vertical Horizon album definitely proved it's possible to get a place in my heart if the music still manages to hit the spot. A long time favourite of mine, Elton John also just failed to hit second spot from a fairly recent discovery in the form of The Traps. I'm not sure how the newcomers will stack up longer term though as I felt they had already released their strongest tracks from the album before I got hold of a copy.
In terms of what I'm looking forward to next year, there are only two albums I'm currently aware of at the moment. The first will be the new Poets of the Fall album, which won't be along until later in the year as they only just finished touring and so still have to decide which tracks they'll be finishing off and recording for the new album from all the scraps of ideas they've come up with since the last one. As they operate on a one year touring, one year recording basis there's even a chance it will be more like Christmas or early next year before it actually gets released.
The second album I'm waiting for will be "Come Find Me" by Fox Amoore. This got pushed back for release into next year as, after he blasted through his original IndieGoGo target and got nearly 4 times the initial funding request, the recording dates moved to the end of January due to the extra enquiries and arrangements required to get a real orchestra and guest vocalists involved. He has the English Chamber Orchestra on board for the album and I've been watching him stream live as he sets up the actual orchestral arrangements for songs ready for when they record in January.
Heroes and Villains
Given the movement with Sellaband this year, I was really hoping I'd be able to say in this post that I finally have what I paid for, more than 4 years down the line both from when I last bought a part on Sellaband and from when the last artist I bought parts in actually hit their target. Unfortunately that's not quite the case. I'm finally down to waiting for just the one CD. Whilst Cubworld released his album in the summer and it was made available for download on Sellaband back in August, the physical copies have still not been shipped. The last contact I had with Cubworld on the issue said that he'd run out of money and couldn't afford to send the CDs out until he'd saved some up. He's now officially become the second artist I bought parts in to have passed the 4 year mark since funding completion but where the CD hasn't arrived.yet. Ironically, I'm willing to bet it would have been possible to get a physical copy from somewhere by now if I hadn't funded on Sellaband, but instead bought the finished product when it was released in August. I believe I said in a previous blog post that I thought he'd been left to fend for himself as an artist too soon (as a result of the changes to Sellaband putting the artist in control rather than them controlling the budget etc.) and this situation looks to be confirmation of that fact.
Revenue from Sellaband has also basically dried up this year. Some of that is down to the fact that a lot of the artists I bought parts in are now out of the 5 year agreement, but there's been no revenue seen either for any of the late artists whose releases have been turning up slowly in the interim. In total, I've had just 2 sets of revenue credited to my account this year, the first in April and the second in the middle of December. This second one was a mere one eurocent, and both payouts combined wouldn't even be enough to buy half a chocolate bar. I suspect this is probably close to (if not THE) last revenue I'll see from the site.
With Sellaband now down to around one artist signed up for every day of the year, only around 10% of those with at least 1% in budget raised and when adding up the visible money on the site and coming up with a figure of less than 25,000 euros, I'll be pretty surprised if the site makes it to 2015 in its current form. It's definitely now not far from the point where the little remaining money could land up being moved to just the top few artists to clean up and close the site with very little adverse effect or reaction.
It hasn't all been bad news though. The rest of the items I'd been waiting for from Sellaband finally arrived, including the Lori Greco album which was the other one that took more than 4 years. I also finally got the Vertical Horizon album I'd been waiting for for well over a year from Pledge Music. But the whole experience with crowdfunding to date has left me somewhat more reluctant to spend compared to my early Sellaband days.
It was therefore somewhat of a relief to find that my faith in Poets of the Fall was rewarded. Whilst their live DVD was released a month later than originally planned, they still managed the shortest turnaround time of any artist I've crowdfunded to date, from the time the project went live for funding to receipt of the goods. And whilst I think there's a little too much chopping and changing of camera on the finished product (it feels like the director thinks the camera needs to be in at least 2 places gathering action at the same time), I'd say this still feels like the best music purchase I've made in the last 12 months. Definitely the heroes of 2013 where it feels like so many others have been villains.
Late Stories
As you can imagine there have been a few stories and discoveries that have happened since my last blog post.
Firstly 3-Dimensional People for which very little information is available at present except that it appears to be a side-project involving at least one member of Dommin. I'll be keeping an eye out for them and what music gets released under this project name over the next year.
It feels like a lot of musicians I follow have been the target of thieves this year. There have been some good outcomes for a few though. NRG Rising got a laptop back, although their bass guitar is still missing, and Dillon Hodges tracked his stolen guitar down to an ebay listing and has subsequently got it back. Unfortunately these haven't been the only victims and based on this seemingly sudden spike in thefts compared to previous years, I'd suggest that the main New Years resolution for all musicians ought to be to keep a very good eye on their stuff over the coming year in case it too goes missing.
Bambi Monroe of Civilized Tears announced she is expecting a baby. Hopefully they will get the video recording that was crowdfunded done before the birth needs to take centre stage.
Matthew Ebel's move of his subscription service to Ziibra still hasn't taken place. As he is apparently the artist with the largest fanbase to sign up with them so far, those smaller artists already there have found a number of bugs in the system that everyone would rather were fixed before he makes the move. This means that whilst he has been planning to get rid of the Entourage subscription and reduce it to the same level as the Robot Army subscription when the move happens, he's in for a shock next time he checks his mail, as he should have a mail from Paypal telling him I've renewed at Entourage level. I've done this on the principle that the move hasn't happened yet, so I therefore don't consider the change to subscription tiers to have come into effect yet (also not my problem if his system lets me renew anyway). I'll be interested to see how/whether he reacts to this, particularly as it marks my 5th year of Entourage subscription. I know he's busy tearing his hair out over his main website at the moment due to the hosting provider making a mess of things and breaking his site, so hopefully this will come as a pleasant surprise.
In terms of site discoveries, I've been taking a look at Pitchmystuff. On the surface it appears to be yet another site for musicians to upload their music to. What its true purpose is seems to be pretty much unknown though all the indications I've seen present the site as a way to try and get musicians to part with their own cash. How you listen to the music that has been uploaded is far from obvious, and I found the search options for finding music in the first place to be rather poor, rendering it too much hassle for the average listener to figure out compared to other sites out there. Instead the site tries to tempt you to log in and has a habit of annoying you with popups trying to get you to buy advertising on the site, copyright your music or persuade you to use their music uploading service to push your music onto Itunes, Spotify etc. which seems somewhat more expensive than other similar services I've encountered. And whilst their Twitter feed seems to suggest it's possible to connect with other fans and artists on there, I haven't seen anything resembling any community features in my trawl of the site other than a section of user images on the main page.
Whatever happened to...?
As is traditional at this time of year, I always mention one or more people or artists I've been thinking about and wondering what happened to them. This year's "I wonder what happened to..." came about as a result of the fact I've actually been listening to Talentcast a lot more than I used to in the days when they were only promoting Sellaband artists. I met Missy briefly at Sellebration in 2007, but after the changes and subsequent mess made by Sellaband to their site, she pretty much disappeared from Talentcast after getting disillusioned with the situation. So wherever you are now and whatever you're doing Missy, I wish you well.
In the meantime, if you are an artist, you may be interested in the fact that Talentcast has expanded from when I first knew them and now broadcasts their program on four different radio stations instead of just one. They are also always on the lookout for independent artists to upload music for them to play on their radio program, so if getting your music played on radio is of interest, you should check out their site as they don't charge you.
And finally... To the Future
I promised you a developing story in my last regular blog post of the year and here it is. Except that you could say it's still developing. You almost certainly won't have been aware, but I've actually had a pretty bad year health wise and as yet, I don't know how much further the story is going to unfold in 2014 or what its effects on me are going to be in the longer term.
It all started with me needing to go to the doctor back in March because I had a period that wasn't just heavy, but in fact just wouldn't stop. It is early for me to be hitting the menopause, but not overly early and it was thought I could be going into the pre-menopausal stage a few years earlier than expected. I got given some tablets and was told to come back either if they didn't work or the problem repeated. I took them and after a break (somewhat reasonable given the volume of blood I'd lost) everything seemed to be back on track. But in the summer, the problem came back only worse. I got given another course of tablets which thankfully also worked and sent to the hospital for 2 different sets of blood tests and a scan. The blood tests came back fine (or at least as fine as they could be under the circumstances) but the scan proved a different matter. Whilst I can't feel a thing, I apparently have a cyst on one of my ovaries, irregular in shape with the dimensions they have given me being 8cm x 4cm x 3cm. They don't think it's cancer, but apparently it's impossible to say for sure unless they actually remove it (and the associated plumbing). As a result it's currently "under observation", which basically means I'm having to undergo regular scans to see how it changes. If it doesn't go away on its own, the tablets stop working, or I start to develop any other symptoms I may have to have an operation, but in the meantime I'm left trying to cope on tablets and supplements for the 2 weeks of hell out of every 4-6 weeks I'm experiencing while they decide whether an operation is the only option. I'm hoping that the next scan due at the end of January will prove to be either make or break on what they decide to do as it's affecting my work, my ability to do things in general and the preparations for our imminent house move due to the side effects which result from high blood loss as things stand at present.
My next planned post is the one I promised you about what draws me to becoming a fan, which I'm hoping to get done before we have an actual moving date set (current expectation is late January - early February for that), as it's unlikely I'm going to be looking for much in the way of music until after the house move now. Until then, I wish you all the best for 2014.
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