Bandcamp Friday... the Thirteenth

Well, this doesn't bode well. Two weeks ago, Epic Games, which had purchased the online audio distribution platform Bandcamp back in early 2022, surprised Bandcamp's employees by announcing that over 800 of them would be laid off and the platform was being sold to Songtradr, a music licensing marketplace.

Needless to say, this did not sit well with the Bandcamp staff, whose union has launched a petition for recognition by and negotiations with Songtradr's CEO. The artists and fans who've come to love Bandcamp over the years are also uncertain about their future with the platform, however. And yes, I'm among them.

Bandcamp gives its artists an average of over 80% of their music and merch sales, making Scrooges of Spotify and the other music platforms. On Bandcamp Fridays, that average goes up to over 90%. Between the platform's artist-friendly generosity and its fan community, it has long been a favorite of musicians. Epic didn't make any changes to the formula, but Songtradr has said that "[b]ased on its current financials, Bandcamp requires some adjustments to ensure a sustainable and healthy company that can serve its community of artists and fans long into the future."

So, yes, even though today isn't actually a Bandcamp Friday, it feels like it's Bandcamp Friday the 13th. It remains to be seen what those 'adjustments' will be, but independent artists can scarcely afford to lose as good a friend as Bandcamp has been to us. Here's hoping Songtradr doesn't break its new toy.

I'll Live

Time to dust off "Christmas Lonely," but I have newer and older songs to which you should listen as well. I've finally decided to call the next album I'll Live, and I've posted ten of the tracks (including that holiday song) to SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and of course ReverbNation.

A number of songs from Joy in the New will be included on the new release, though they'll all be getting a fresh mixing and mastering. A few of my already-recorded tracks are benefiting from vocal and/or instrumental tweaks; for instance, "Heavywait" finally sounds right. And then there are the new ones, such as the title track. I don't expect I'll be posting any more songs from the album until it's ready for release (I'm thinking April), but you never know.

The album was going to be called Tougher Than Flannel for years, and then I abruptly started considering I Can't Possibly Give More Than I Can Give early this year. That eventually gave way to The Unfortunate Truth (from a line in "I'll Live"), which jockeyed for position with Signifying Nothing. When I began thinking in terms of including a lot of the older material and making it a double album, I even considered using both names. In the end, though, I think I'll Live is the title it should've had all along.

This probably won't be the album art, though, just a temp

The song "I'll Live" is influenced, at least lyrically, by the Who's late bass player, John Entwistle, and the dark, sometimes macabre sense of humor he often showed in his songwriting. Songs like the Who's "My Wife" and "Trick of the Light," or his solo "I Believe in Everything," inspired me to write my own song about a guy having a string of really bad luck, for whom "I'll live" is not an affirmation but a curse.

For me, though, it feels like an exclamation of defiance. That's right, I'll live! So there! Heh-heh. I hope you will, too, and I hope you'll give my tunes a listen and give me your thoughts. Later.