Well, I unintentionally turned the Patreon release of A New Era into a sort of week-long online party, parceling out the new songs on this blog and through social media via SoundCloud while offering various avenues to download them. The enthusiasm with which they've been received has been very refreshing, with "Simplify" quickly becoming one of my top tracks on SoundCloud and the A ManicFeralJadedBitch mini-EP becoming one of my most pirated releases ever. A nocturnal mishap led to the publication of the wrong version of "The Nocturnal Dervish" on A New Era, and the correction has been my most pirated track ever! I'm not quite sure how non-patrons have been gaining access to patron-only posts on Patreon, but I am thrilled by the enthusiasm. This has coincided with "The Nocturnal Dervish" going into rotation on Darkwave Radio among songs by such hugely admired (by myself included) artists such as The Cure, Rammstein, and Dead Can Dance, and I'd like to think that there's a direct connection. "The Last Waltz" is now playing on Darkwave Radio as well, and I plan to keep on trickling my tunes to that station as I figure out how to collect royalties from sources other than DistroKid. In related news, the entirety of Occultation is now available on 8tracks.com and users can access it from the 8tracks library to add songs from the album to their playlists!
Add to all of this that the article for A New Era on this blog has, within a week, become the second most-read article. as well as the article with the most +1's. This amount of support has been stunning and has me filled with warm, fuzzy feelings!
Yes, it has been an exciting and eventful week. But I have to get a little more serious and a little less lighthearted on y'all, for as I've uploaded the new tracks from A New Era to promote it - and to make them freely available for everyone - I've reached the point on SoundCloud where I only have eight minutes worth of uploads left on my Pro account. This means I can only upload one more song, and I'm about to share "Jaded" with all of you, being the only song from the album that I have yet to share with those who haven't downloaded it or the Abbreviated version from the League. This also means that I've made just shy of six hours of material free for everyone to hear. I've put six hours of music out into the world.
Okay, now I've put five hours and fifty-eight minutes of music out into the world, with this one temporarily a private share for my dear readers. Except I deleted "The Trip Begins" because that track was just fucking atrocious and I'm ignoring that I ever published it to begin with. So that frees up a little time. Anyway...
That's what it comes down to. Deleting tracks to make room for more. No more complete back-catalog available on SoundCloud for free streaming. I'm okay with this. It's been five months since I initiated Operation Cloud Rescue to successfully upgrade to my Pro account, which I am extremely grateful for, and which has been very useful for promoting and sharing my music. SoundCloud has been a wonderful tool for me as a musician, though I'm not sure how important it is to my audience. And SoundCloud wants $103 a year (that's discounted from $135), or $15 a month, to upgrade to an Unlimited account. I'm fine deleting some songs and removing playlists to begin putting only what I am actively promoting into rotation. I can think of things I'd rather put $103 toward. However, I'm going to leave it up to y'all to decide whether or not you'd like to keep the entire back-catalog on SoundCloud. It's up to you if you want to keep the playlists of all of my prior releases intact.
That is why I've included the new "Support SnailCloud Unlimited" button in the right-hand sidebar. I'm leaving the choice up to you, my dear readers and listeners; my audience and supporters. All donations made through that avenue will be earmarked for a SoundCloud Unlimited account and will be used for keeping all of my past, present, and future releases publicly and freely available on SoundCloud, regardless of whether it's enough for $15 a month or ends up being enough for the year-long membership. It will be used as needed. If there's isn't enough for even a month, well, songs and playlists will start to vanish and be put into rotation as fits my promotional needs.
There is a little time until songs will have to be removed for such promotional needs. I'm in the process of writing and recording two new songs for a new Patron-supported EP with a Halloween-targeted release date. Those songs will become available on SoundCloud as I'm promoting that EP, which will also include "Simplify," "Jaded," and "The Tranquil Isles," finally made available for free download to the public. In the meantime, as an extra bonus for my readers:
That's what it comes down to. Deleting tracks to make room for more. No more complete back-catalog available on SoundCloud for free streaming. I'm okay with this. It's been five months since I initiated Operation Cloud Rescue to successfully upgrade to my Pro account, which I am extremely grateful for, and which has been very useful for promoting and sharing my music. SoundCloud has been a wonderful tool for me as a musician, though I'm not sure how important it is to my audience. And SoundCloud wants $103 a year (that's discounted from $135), or $15 a month, to upgrade to an Unlimited account. I'm fine deleting some songs and removing playlists to begin putting only what I am actively promoting into rotation. I can think of things I'd rather put $103 toward. However, I'm going to leave it up to y'all to decide whether or not you'd like to keep the entire back-catalog on SoundCloud. It's up to you if you want to keep the playlists of all of my prior releases intact.
That is why I've included the new "Support SnailCloud Unlimited" button in the right-hand sidebar. I'm leaving the choice up to you, my dear readers and listeners; my audience and supporters. All donations made through that avenue will be earmarked for a SoundCloud Unlimited account and will be used for keeping all of my past, present, and future releases publicly and freely available on SoundCloud, regardless of whether it's enough for $15 a month or ends up being enough for the year-long membership. It will be used as needed. If there's isn't enough for even a month, well, songs and playlists will start to vanish and be put into rotation as fits my promotional needs.
There is a little time until songs will have to be removed for such promotional needs. I'm in the process of writing and recording two new songs for a new Patron-supported EP with a Halloween-targeted release date. Those songs will become available on SoundCloud as I'm promoting that EP, which will also include "Simplify," "Jaded," and "The Tranquil Isles," finally made available for free download to the public. In the meantime, as an extra bonus for my readers:
I'd also like to draw your attention to the fact that there is now a tab for The Commercial Albums underneath the blog's header. This links to a new resource: a page with graphic links to all the major avenues for downloading and/or streaming Occultation and Instrumentality. Remember that when you download these albums (preferably as a patron on Patreon) or when you stream them and pay subscription fees (to services such as Spotify, Apple Music, or MS Groove) or put up with pesky advertisements, you are actively supporting a poor cyber-busker who makes their music freely available for everyone!
Thanks again for all your support, and may your inner snails remain resilient and determined.
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