Hey everybody, posting as simple, single-faced, little ol' Nym Raven here, 'cause I'm gonna be straight-up with y'all. Of course, I always am, but no identity-dancing or fantasy worlds going into this post. I'm writing to ask for help.
I've received generous payment in trade for my records and my records have been listened to and downloaded a generous amount, and this blog has grown popular quite beyond my initial expectations, but in truth I'm still considerably poor and everything I put into my art has had to be freely obtained. My tools for creating and promoting have had to not cost me a thing, because I simply can't afford to put any money into what I'm working my ass off to make a career of. That's been fine so far. I'm in a situation where I don't need much and what I have received in monetary donations has gone towards other artists and investing in my living situation. My own art has made do quite nicely with the free tools of wonderful resources such as Bandcamp.com and SoundCloud.
In fact, my call for help has to do with SoundCloud. I am six minutes away from filling the three hours offered freely by SoundCloud. That means I may be able to post only one more song on my stream before I have to start removing music to make room for more. I absolutely cringe at the thought of making some of the playlists and songs I've posted no longer available for free streaming from this site. Particularly this site, as it has been one of my most valuable resources. SoundCloud asks for nothing, does nothing to promote itself at artists' expense, doesn't virtually scream "Give us money!" at listeners...it's so freaking chill. Other sites that host my music do offer embeds and links that I can post onto websites and social media, but I love that SoundCloud doesn't project any kind of agenda, other than, "Hey, we're here, we're free; you can use us to listen, you can use us to share."
What I need to double my upload time in a pro plan is $6 a month (there are so many of you that that should be absolutely no issue if everyone who stopped by just gave a dime to say that they give a shit) or $55 for a year, which would save me 23%. Now, I'm making new music right now. There's an exclusive song, not available on any of the records, available on SoundCloud right now, which I'll share with y'all in this post, as I've only made it available to those who follow or visit The Lady anoNYMous' Facebook and Google+ pages so far. It's an alternate, piano-centric, less dance-rock version of "To The Grind" that I'm calling "The Ground Down," inspired by the Nine Inch Nails song "The Wretched." I started with "To The Grind" as my base, then took out one of the lead synths and a good chunk of the electric guitar and replaced them with piano and cello. After the initial beat that starts the song, I removed the rest of the drum track, then rewrote it with another drum track in tandem. The result is radically different, more deserving of being called a new song rather than a rendition, and I'm both addicted and in love with it, and I'm offering a direct download of the song from SoundCloud. It's a bit of a preview of what's to come, as I'm continuing to go in the orchestral trip-hop/industrial direction and away from pop and alternative rock. Of course, I'll still be exploring different styles of music, but the vibe of Pentacental and everything I've written after its release has been a good indicator of what my musical style is settling into...for the moment.
This is uncompressed, lossless sound quality, so the file size is larger than an MP3 and will take a few moments longer to download. I recommend compressing it before you put it on any mobile devices unless you know you have considerable storage space free (around 70Mb). And if you can't download it now, no sweat. This will not be one of the first to go if I have to start getting rid of songs.
As I said earlier, I'm already in the middle of writing new songs, so the time when I have to make space for them could be soon. I don't have a date planned for my next release yet, though I do have an idea floating around in my head to create a "deluxe" version of Pentacental. To be straightforward about what's at stake here, the first songs to go (I'm having to start bracing myself for this, just in case) will be the "non-essential" tracks that didn't make it onto Instrumental, starting with those on Progress Report, such as the original version of "Introducing..." Actually, the first to go will be "The Trip Begins," which is already available for download from my stream if you really want to grab it before it goes, and then the first two versions of "Introducing..." and the original release of "Winter's Salve" will follow, making the Progress Report, Alternate Tracks, and Alternate Spin playlists incomplete and therefore no longer available. I will post advance warning on Facebook and Google+ before any tracks disappear, and I'll also make them available for individual download for a short while before they go.
I hope none of this has to happen, or that I can upgrade my membership and re-post anything that goes if folks help me out a bit. I'm really hoping to get the year-long upgrade at $55. Month-to-month, as everyone who lives month-to-month can tell you, really sucks to stress about.
So...that's my cry for help, y'all. I haven't read Amanda Palmer's The Art of Asking yet, but as I understand it, the actual asking is the biggest part of the art of it. So, this is me asking: Will you please help me preserve my SoundCloud stream so I can continue to offer all my music freely and streaming?
Donations can be made by clicking the "Support Cyber Busking" button to the right on this page, or by leaving a tip when you download my music on NoiseTrade, or when you "name your price" for my music on Bandcamp.com. Thank you all for your attention, your time, your support, and your help.
- anoNYMous Raven
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