the world is still what you want it to be
I think it may be useful to look at streaming as a kind of catalog manager. Recently Ben Jordan was talking to Rick Beato and it got me thinking about this.
In my current space, which is just kind of loading up the streaming with improvisational music, I’m not releasing everything. Out of 30 tunes maybe 8 get unleashed on you poor souls.
So when you’re thinking about your position on streaming, you also have to remember, as an adult consumer of the 90s, I think there are a lot of bands with garages full of CDs and cassettes. What I mean by that is you never made money. Ever. Even these modern pennies are bonuses.
There are local record stores that sold my products that I never got money from, and I’m happy to have supported them in the journey. Really that is the whole point. It’s community.
My goal has always been to play more live, so I think you have to decide what you want to do and then go with it. But streaming being the bad guy is a little disingenuous.
Record companies were always shit. Managers were always shit. Bookers were a case-by-case basis at best.
All of this is kind of still the same. It’s just all degraded.
But if you’re consistent and do just the tiniest bit every day, you can find these people and you can find your little scene. You own the time and the headspace to work through these issues and get your thing in front of the people that would most likely want to see it.
There’s actually never been a better time to do something like this. Never easier to reach a wider audience.
And I guarantee you that every single person into your thing is looking for something authentic. And that’s not AI. It’s not “hey chat I wanna make an entry about X.”
It’s some kind of connection somewhere, especially now when the narrative out there is that everything’s falling the fuggs apart.