I found an old note to myself to look up the album Electricity from Tobias. It's an excellent blend of bedroom production, shoegaze-y guitars, noise and pop sensibilities. It's right up my alley.
As luck would have it, the first search result pointed me towards Catalog - a platform for selling your music directly to your fans. It's a cousin to Bandcamp, Ampwall, Nina, Artcore, Mirlo, et al. Curiously, it seems that they relaunched themselves as recently as Oct 2024. As far as I can tell, they may have started off as an NFT type site and now they're angling for a wider marketplace. Regardless of the history, I'll be keeping an eye on where it goes.
In the wake of Bandcamp's sale to Epic and subsequent acquisition by Songtradr, a number of alternatives have sprung up. I've talked about Nina and AmpWall specifically but there are many more!
One that came across my radar recently is Subvert - a "Collectively Owned Music Marketplace." At this time (Jan 2024), there's not much to speak of in terms of tangible tools or marketplace but there are a litany of good ideas. You gotta start somewhere!
Specifically, they have a lofty Roadmap that forecasts a collectively owned legal entity that could expand well beyond a digital marketplace. There's lengthy documentation about their governance, polices and ownership plans. There's a forum with some interesting conversations happening around all of the above.
It's a work in progress but the primary focus at the moment seems to be that they are raising funds with Vouchers - an alternative and transparent approach to gathering finances outside of the Venture Capitalist system. The Voucher options are fairly straightforward - donate early and get additional "credits" once the service launches. Those credits would be used in place of paying fees to Subvert (their example: a platform fee is waived b/c it's already been prepaid).
All and all, it sounds interesting. Their graphic design is on point and they are working in the open; two things that are hard to say about Bandcamp. But it's still way too early to know what will come of this lofty thought exercise! In the meantime, I'll continue to keep an eye on it, be supportive and see what manifests!
You would think that as of December 16th, I'd be winding things down for the year with yk Records but the treats keep rolling out. Today, we release the official video for Shaboi's song "The Day After Christmas," a Yacht-Rock-y number that serves as a reminder to take it especially easy once the holidays have passed. It's a treat you enjoy before Christmas as a salve for yourself after Christmas.
The video is a delightful blend of stop motion and modern animation with a big surprise at the end. It's also the first Shaboi song since 2010. Nothing like breaking a fourteen year hibernation! I hope it means there is more to come but, also, maybe he just drops a jam every 14 years.. only time will tell! I'm ready either way.
You can pick up this track (and 19 others) over on Bandcamp and Ampwall. If you buy it, we'll donate 100% of proceeds to CASA Nashville. No pressure tho, it's also streaming. Enjoy it however you'd like!
I am extremely happy about this one and really think you will enjoy it. With other yk Releases I could understand the audience may be niche (not a bad thing) but this one feels universally appealing. Truly! I know that's bias talking but I don't care - it's really good!
Please give it a whirl and consider saving it / sharing it. Ideally, you may even put it on your Holiday Favorites playlist!
To entice you to dive further in, New Man created this incredible animated video for their track "Christmas is a Mirror of the Mind." It's a healthy dose of cutting edge technology (plenty of AI at work here) and good ole fashioned animation experience. It's a great song and a damn fine video if I do say so myself.
Been spending some time on the Ampwall Discord and found myself listening to Megafauna's original score for Nosferatu - entitled To The Land of Ghosts. It's intended to be played underneath the film but it works quite well as an atmospheric, somewhat creepy, soundtrack to your day. Excellent find.
Today, yk Records released the third LP from LA based Talking with Hands (aka Matthew Smith). I'm biased of course but I think it's a particularly strong offering from Smith and am really pleased to have been involved in some part with bringing it into the world.
As the story goes, Smith was working on a follow-up to his previous album and decided to make two EPs - each tackling a different topic. The first would be about Generative AI's entaglemenents with human creativity. The second would be about the devaluing of music from big tech. Heady topics but good starting points for inspiration as they were near and dear to his personal experiences.
Over time, those two EP's congealed and transformed into one cohesive album - Organic Machine. It's a ready that covers a lot of big topics but doesn't do it in a way that feels cumbersome or dense. The songs may be about how terrible streaming (and Daniel Ek in particular) is for artists but it's a lot of big, memorable, hooks and buzzy guitars. It's a fun time!
We released threepreviewsingles ahead of the album. Each containing two remixes and each accompanied with a music video - you should watchthemall.
I made the cover art with Matthew Smith and am quite proud of how it turned out. I don't think it needs any heavy-handed explanation but I am quite happy with the subtle Black Mirror-esque vibes and the old school loading animation - both appropriate for the album themes, imo.
I've been working with Talking with Hands to help promote the upcoming album Organic Machine. We've released two prior singles - each with music videos and remixes of the album track. It's a lot of work to put together beforehand but the results are worth it. Today, we release the third (and final) single before the album is out but this time we've got a full-on short film!
Directed by TJ Masters, "Organic Machine" was shot in Austin, TX on Kodak film. The effects were created in pre-production and most everything in the piece is a first take, since film is expensive and time was fleeting! I think the results speak for themselves but if you need any further enticement to hit that play button, there's always this.
Maybe this is lazy but I get a Shane Carruth vibe from the short - ala Primer. If you stick around for the whole thing, there's a bit of a Michel Gondry vibe and a pixel animation by yours truly.
Along with the short film we also released another maxi-single with two remixes. It's on Bandcamp, AmpWall and everywhere else. Please enjoy.
Back when Bandcamp was sold to Epic Games, folks were skeptical of its future. A year later, Epic sold them off to Songtradr and laid off a sizable chunk of staff. Skepticism was at an all time high. Since that time, Bandcamp hasn't changed much. The site continues to function as it always has - they still do Bandcamp Friday, they publish Bandcamp Daily regularly and seem to simply be keeping things stable. On the one hand, this is good news for folks concerned that Songtradr was going to upend the service into music licensing opportunities but, on the other hand, they continue to lack any sort of notable innovations. The site feels a bit stagnant quite frankly.
All that preamble is to set the scene for a number of alternatives that sprouted up over the last few years to provide something different from Bandcamp. Last night, Ampwall went live. The new platform has been in beta for some time, working out kinks and polishing their tech. I signed up right away and started uploading. I'll share a handful of my first impressions below but the TLDR is: I like what they're doing and am excited to continue building out my presence there!
The Mission is Critical - to really understand what Ampwall is doing, you must read their Mission statement. It's lengthy but it's the guiding principle of the whole site. They are determined not to be driven by the pitfalls of other major tech companies, namely the "grow-at-all-costs" mentality. I applaud the manifesto and highly appreciate the openness that the founders are musicians that understand the hardship of finding a community online.
The Pricing Model Is Different - this will be the biggest hill for them to climb. Bandcamp is their closest competitor and it is free to start using (tho they definitely have a paid plan as well). AmpWall is asking for a $10 per year fee to add up to 5 hours of music. This is a much lower fee than Bandcamp but is required up front to get started. I don't think pitching in $10 (or more) per year to a platform that is actively working to support artists is a tough call but I can certainly see how artists will be hesitant to dive in without a free tier.
No Label Pages... yet - the platform doesn't offer much for labels yet. As such, my label profile is a little lacking. BUT I'm happy there are future features they can easily build that will improve things. Not a complaint, just an observation.
Artist Profiles Need Tightening - this is an aesthetic complaint. A subjective opinion. I hesitate to even cite it because of that subjectivity but I'm not loving the artist profiles or album pages. They feel unbalanced and lacking focus. The content within them is fantastic (headers, profile images, logos, et al) but I have hard time mentally parsing through them.
Uploading was Easy - no link for this but the process of getting hours and hours of music uploaded was not laborious in the slightest. They really have done a great job on the backend of holding your hand and explaining each field to make sure you know how the content is going to be used.
That's it for my first impressions. I'm excited to add all new releases and possibly do a full backfill on the entire yk Records catalog. Mostly I am just excited by a platform that is openly talking about adding features and listening to the community using it. I have a deep love for Bandcamp but can't deny that they don't seem the least bit communicative outwardly. Ampwall is taking a different tact and I'm here for it!
Go sign up! Fan accounts are free. Artist accounts are cheap.
My feathers still feel pretty ruffled from the recent Bandcamp transition. I don't even work there but letting so many staffers go, impacting so many people of color disproportionately and basically shuttering the Union does not leave a good taste in the mouth. Despite that, I am trying to be optimistic that the future of Bandcamp is much the same as it ever was - a destination for purchasing music that has some community features and a reliable editorial arm.
However, that doesn't mean I'm not also looking at alternatives. At VHX we always told filmmakers that ubiquity was the key to success - be everywhere. I still believe that. So, here's a few platforms I've had my eyes on recently that maybe you'll find interesting. The TLDR of it all is that nothing is anywhere close to Bandcamp in terms of feature maturity but features aren't important if your platform is headed six feet under. Anyway, here we go.
AmpWall - very early stages platform being built by Chris Grigg and John McKinney; two self-described metalheads out of New York that is established as a Public Benefit Company. They've got a working profile page and that's about all I know. This only started in September 2023, so there's actually quite a bit of growth for such a short period. I recommend joining their mailing list as they've sent out a number of surveys to help inform where they are headed.
Sone / Tone - this is a platform / protocol being led by Kevin Duquette; whom you may know from Top Shelf Records and calling out Bandcamp for trying to union bust. I'm in their Discord and find that there are plenty of smart people in there discussing interesting problems. To be transparent, I can't figure out why there are two names - are they the same service? Different pieces of the same service? I've no idea. Additionally, there's a foundational usage of blockchain at the core of this endeavor and that gives me pause. It's not NFTs or similar grifts as far as I can tell but it's still a curious aspect to keep in mind.
nina - out of all the options I've seen so far, this is the most mature. It's got album pages, flexible "hubs" to host labels & blogs, bonus material, allows for following and very easy uploading. I even made a yk Records Hub and tossed two records on the service to see how it worked. It was all quite smooth! I believe this platform also uses the blockchain - both to note ownership of a given release and to store the actual audio. Solana is at it's core, which is a "proof-of-stake" blockchain, so the environmental impact is nill. I'm hesitant about anything involving blockchain but they also allow for regular ole credit card transactions, so it's seems somewhat flexible.
Ampled - I'd like to also note this "co-op for musicians" endeavor that looks very promising but has announced they are closing in 2023. Bummer!
So far, that's about the extend of my research. I know there are more. Hit me up via email (yewknee at gmail dot com) if you have anymore you think I should check out.
