I wish my favorite bands released new material all the time. I mean why not? Making music is their job. Ideas are always available and it just takes a little time and effort to turn a kernel of an idea into a completed piece of music that’s worth the time to listen to. Ideally.
Ok I know recording can be difficult and expensive and promotion is even worse. And I know writing can be more than a mechanical exercise if you’re trying to capture a specific emotion. To say nothing of how many of us often lack the time or tools to make something we actually like.
But what if we weren’t so precious about what we produce and just lowered all those barriers? You certainly don’t want to fall below a certain level of quality, but why not let each release be free to take its own shape with less pressure to make it consciously “special”? How much great stuff could we get?
Three years ago I decided to be the change I want to see and started my Patreon Musicianator Subscription Service. The deal: 15 minutes of new recorded music every month delivered to $3/month members. Some of it was better than others. Some of it was late. But it’s all been mixed and mastered to a listenable quality and was created with love.
Over the first 3 years of this Patreon project, I released 1 Opposite Day Album, 3 Jazz Perturbers albums, 5 instrumental electronic/hybrid albums, 5 singer-songwriter albums, a Dream Eater single, a SPAMB album, an Andrew Nolte album. Plus a handful of odds and ends that were Patreon exclusive.
I feel pretty good about all that. There’s some that looking back might have been rushed, performances and mixes not meeting my best standards. Maybe some songs that could have just stayed on my hard drive for the good of humanity.
But this is what I do. I make weird music and I show it to people. And cats.
What do you do? Hopefully your many heroic activities include (or about to include, wink wink) subscribing and being a part of what I’m doing.
