Out Of The Streams, Into Your Dreams

Let's try something different

I ended my subscription to Spotify. I’m sure you know why. By now, most of us know music streaming is not good for musicians trying to make a living, but that particular company is the worst. Lowest revenue to musicians, keeping royalties if songs don’t hit 1000 streams, seeding their own playlists with internal music, donating to FOTUS, etc.

No shame, no guilt. If you still use Spotify - I’m just glad you’re listening to music somehow. Though I will tell you that if you want to jump ship, it’s easier than you think. I used a free service called Tune My Music to transfer all my playlists to a different streaming service that purports to pay musicians more fairly. Then, my friend told me they were also bad. I dunno, the whole thing makes me loathe all of this streaming nonsense- and really made me ponder what the future looks like for those of us who are trying to release music. I’ll talk more on that below, and I’ve got some ideas.

The silver lining in transferring my music, was that I found a few playlist gems I made in Spotify, and now I can share them on any platform. It all made me long for the good old days of crafting mix tapes.

The fine art of a good mix tape runs deep in my bones. This was a tried and true way to woo a lover, impress your buds, or just set a specific mood for cruising around in your car or with your walkman. If you were a selector like myself, you could go deep into your collection of tapes, cds and vinyl. And of course you’d tape stuff off the radio so you could get it on that glorious 45 minute side of a TDK cassette, before you decorated it with white-out and glitter. Life was better then, no Zuckerbergs, Eks, or AI bots between you and your copy of this one-of-a kind mixtape.

I know a playlist is a distant analog (no pun intended) to a real mix tape, but it’s the best we got. So for the next few weeks I’m going to drop some recently liberated playlist/mixtapes. This is a good one- you don’t have to do yoga to it (seriously, though, try it), but you might want to be reclining, preferably in the sun to get into it.

#1 Mix Tape : Slow Country To Do Yoga To

By the way- I have a new record coming out, so I’ve been thinking a lot about how we listen to music, especially how we experience new music releases. The standard convention is this: I drop singles on streaming services months ahead of the full record release. I ask fans to “pre-save” the record, and expect them to wait months until its actually out. In the meantime, you are bombarded in every direction from digital attention seekers pouring from your iPhone into your eyes and ear sockets every minute of every day.

What do you say we flip that a little? I want to give back to you - our little music scene, the one that isn’t a curated AI playlist made just for you…the one you discovered all by yourself.

Pressing Lost Padres at Fidelity

So when my next record Lost Padres comes out, you won’t have to wait. I used a very hi-fi special pressing method to make the vinyl, one I can’t wait to tell you about. The vinyl will be available to you as soon as we announce the record.

I want to connect directly to you- not through some middle man, and not through some algorithm that may or may not show up in your feed. That’s exactly why I started my own record label- Echo Magic Records - so I can put out the music I want, when I want, and get it directly to your beautiful ears.

Let’s do this together. No record player? No problem, I’ll get the digital music directly to you. And, yes, I will still put my music on these streaming platforms that will be the death of all musicians. But let’s carve our own space for a while longer.

In terms of touring, I’m also rethinking that. If you want to help me come play a show near you, hit me up. It might be somewhere I’ve always wanted to play. I love house shows and listening rooms over impersonal clubs.

A new record is an opportunity to do things differently. I’m going to keep thinking about how we can build something exciting together, and I want to hear from you too.

Drop me a line.

Stay tuned for more playlist / mixtapes and more news about my next record Lost Padres in the coming weeks!