Sneak peak - album art and title

 We are officially onto the final straight with the next album, so it seems like a good time for a sneak preview of the artwork and title.

Partly this is to whet your whistle, but partly it's to give myself some kind of a deadline...

So here we go, The Bit Before Dying will be coming to streaming and download platforms in November 2026.

Cheery hey? What were you expecting?

The Platform Problem - a potentially unpopular opinion

Subvert.

Vocana.

Coda.

Even.

Sawtooth.

Crates.

Resonate.

Ampwall.

TheFlow.

Campfire.

These are all alternative music streaming / discovery / sale platforms. I have tabs open for all of them in my browser but I just can't get the energy to sign up and add my catalogue.

All of them promise better artist returns than the big streamers* and / or more ethical operating principles. They often have additional hooks, such as being artist-owned or non-profit.

And the chances are you've probably not heard of most of them and, unless you're a real muso, never looked at any of them.

Tidal.

Qobuz.

Soundcloud.

Deezer.

Apple Music.

These are all established competitors in the streaming space. All giving a better payout to artists than the market leader (by number of listeners) and having the same extensive catalogue. They often provide a better value service for lossless audio as well. 

But none of them have managed to really trouble the big, green giant either.

So what gives? Do people not know that Spotify pays out a lower rate to the artists that they follow? Do they not know that they've made some sketchy investments and accepted advertising from ICE in the US? Do they not know that Spotify have been very, very late to the game in flagging and de-monetising AI generated music (and even now are really doing the bare minimum that they can get away with).

Do users know this and not care?

Or is it that they know all this, they do care, but not enough to go through the hassle of switching to a new service? One where their friends aren't users? One where the artist disambiguation isn't good enough to give you a reliable feed of people you want to listen to, not just those with the same name? One with a decent app and player? One that integrates to other platforms for live music?

For me, the problem with all of the alternative platforms I've listed above is that they are solving for the wrong problem. Trying to get artists a better payout rate is lovely. But nobody cares. Trying to run a company more ethically is laudable and we should all be supporting that kind of thing. But we don't.

The end user's life is already stressed and complicated enough. They just want to see the link from their friend with a great new song on it and click play. Anything that gets in the way of that is not going to result in them signing up to yet-another-service, it's going to result in them just clicking close and looking at something else instead.

Because most people don't actually care about music that much. For a lot of people it's just a pleasant background noise that helps provide a vibe. Swap out one track or artist for another and they won't notice. For another big group it's not actually the music that's important, it's the cultural moment that comes with it. A song's meaning isn't intrinsic, it's because it links these people to a certain time and place, with all the emotions that come with it. You can't swap that song out for another, but there's no wider connection to the artist or the rest of their catalogue. 

For the people who do care about the music itself, who are fans of the album not just the song, the scene not just the single, then the chances are they're already on an alternative streamer or using Bandcamp already.

For everyone else Spotify (or Youtube with its even lower payout rate) is the best option.

If the general listening public really cared about artist payouts or ethical company management, they'd have already switched. 

So we need to stop trying to solve for these problems. If you want people to switch away from Spotify then you have to provide a better user experience. And, unfortunately, 'slightly better' doesn't cut the mustard. In order to break the habit, you'll probably need a triple play of incentives. If you can come up with three ways in which the service is better then you have a chance of shifting users. And it has to be three ways that make a difference to the user. Better artist payouts and ethical management aren't on that list.

Until a company tries to actually address the end user experience, and design a better platform for the casual music fan, then all of these companies will be scraping around for a share of the same niche audience of real music fans. And that's not big enough for any of them to scale into an actual challenger.

*I'm not counting Bandcamp as a streaming platform, because a) it's mostly a sales platform, and b) it's streaming player is crap.

Superhero - new single with G. Stoner Hilcot

This one won't be on the next album, it's a standalone track that feels pretty appropriate right now.

This might be the quickest I've gone from idea to release (about two weeks from idea to release) so I expect there's some rawness in there that's accidental - but it'll fit with the deliberate stuff as well.

G. Stoner Hilcot returns...

And he's still pissed off.

https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/superhero-feat-g-stoner-hilcot

Currently on Bandcamp advance release but will be hitting all the streaming sites in due course.

Maggie Carter and the Angels now on Bandcamp

 Whilst I work on the next EP, here's a little single to keep things ticking over. Inspired by a joke originally from Hancock's Half Hour.

On all the big platforms next week, but all you lucky bandcampers get it early!

https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/maggie-carter-and-the-angels

My poor neglected website!

Blimey it has been nearly a year since I updated this. Oops. Oh well, not a lot has happened to be fair. The album launch went well and some people said some nice stuff about it. I've started working on the next one - this will be a bit different I think as I've got lots of people collaborating this time. And this release went live last week.

(But those of you who follow me on bandcamp will know it's been there a while. Pro-tip, it's where the next one will be coming first as well. Hopefully fairly soon.)

The Lockdown Sessions Volume 1

I've been distracted by a couple of other projects recently, and wrestling with some of the longer term affects of C-19 I think as well, but I've finally got round to pulling together the audio from the live sessions earlier this year.

So here is week one of the lockdown sessions:

https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/album/the-lockdown-sessions-vol-1

Volume 2 will follow in due course.

But what's it all about?

Some people, via the miracle of social media, have listened to the EP and said, "well, it's dark enough alright, but is it art? I mean, really, when you get right down to it, what, in a manner of speaking, is it all about?"
Ok, they may not have said that precisely, but that's the general gist of it.
So here you are, song by song, the stories behind the stories...

A Prologue

https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/a-prologue
Way back in the days of The Driven Man album, I wrote a song called For The Record, about someone who's killed and is seeking permission (not sure from whom) to kill again, to somehow balance the books.
This song then became my idea of what had let to that confessional. Hence the title, and the repeating theme of the song!

Track 2 on the EP, Stone on Stone, was born of two widely separate streams of thought. 
Many years ago I lived in Amsterdam for a bit and used to drink occasionally in a bar near the docks. There had been a bar on that site since the 16th century and some of the flagstones were from the original building. I often thought about what stories they could tell and what, given the somewhat rough nature of the docks area, had been spilled on them over the years.
A couple of years ago at a song writing retreat in Devon I was sitting on an old slate floor, looking at the way the stone had chipped away in layers at the corners. Almost like a reverse accretion process, with each chipped layer revealing a layer of history underneath.
Sometimes you can't help but be overwhelmed by the inexorable drive of things beyond your control when you start having these thoughts.
https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/stone-on-stone

We actually have Asus computers to thank for track three on the EP, 300lb Brick.
I used to have a very nice little Asus netbook, but the motherboard died turning it into little more than an expensive doorstop, or a £300 brick as I described it.
At which point it dovetailed rather neatly into some thoughts I was having about how simple things become difficult when there is a weight of risk or responsibility. 
For example, walking along a 6" wide beam 2" off the floor is trivially easy. Doing the same thing 20' in the air suddenly becomes difficult.
The 300lb Brick became my metaphor for the effect of carrying that extra weight.
https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/300lb-brick

The last track on the EP comes with an apology to Tom McRae. I'd bought an album of his and put it straight in the car stereo. But at the time I had a 6 disc changer in the boot and I wasn't driving very much. I listened to it once and then it took a while until it came round again.
In the meantime I wrote this song, and I was pretty happy with it until that CD came round in the car again and I realised that I'd lifted a whole chunk of the melody. :(
But a couple of years ago I got the chance to speak to him and apologise in person, and he was very cool about it. :)
So here it is, Goodnight: https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/goodnight-2

Band on a budget - the recording process part 22

Well, here we are then, the EP:

About 13.5 months from start to finish.
It's been educational...
Not bad for a total budget of £50.

More seriously, I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out but I've had a lot of help along the way, for which I am hugely grateful.

New single out

Looking back over my posts it appears I have become so excited by International Hawaiian Shirt Day that I've forgotten to mention that I have a single out.
Doh!
It's called Road Song, and it even has a video:

As well as youtube you can also listen to it on:
Spotify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zOcXAxVZZk
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DNZVQVB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528918275&sr=8-2&keywords=drew+stephenson+road+song
Apple Music: I don't have itunes so I don't have a link yet, sorry.
And apparently on Deezer as well, but no-one uses that so it's not really important.

But the BEST place to listen to it (and cheapest place to buy it) is on Bandcamp, where you can get an uncompressed download if that's your thing:
https://drewstephenson.bandcamp.com/track/road-song

I'll sort that apple link out in due course.
I would say, "Enjoy" but it's not really that kind of song...

All quiet on the eastern front

Regular viewers of this page (once a year is regular right?) might have noticed that not a lot has been going on recently here.
This is true but not reflective of stuff.
Whilst I have done didly squat in the way of organising any formal gigs I have been continuing to play tunes at both the Habit and Rook and Gaskill for the last few months.
But that is not all, recording is still happening. Things have slowed down a touch whilst I read and attempt to apply various things from Mike Senior's Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio, but they will sound better when they're done.
Also plans are afoot for some full-band shenanigans. It's embryonic at the moment but, ever the optimist*, I'm hopeful for what may come.
I'm also hoping to kick off some stuff** playing the beast for another singer/songwriter chap as well - I would make a joke about this being another string to my bow but that would be a bit cheap wouldn't it?

So things will probably remain a bit quiet on here for the time being, but behind this staid masquerade plans are being made and wheels set in motion.
In the meantime there's still the bandcamp, soundcloud and youtube stuff that I linked to in the previous post, listen, like and share as much as you like. Especially you, you can do anything you want with it, you're cool like that.

* I'm not actually an optimist.
** Good word "stuff", very good word.

Name your price!

All our music is now available to download on a Pay What You Think It’s Worth* basis.

Over on my YAMDAC blog I’ve been harping on for a while about alternative business models for musicians and how the biggest challenge for an amateur musician is not piracy but publicity, so I’ve now decided to put my money where my mouth is and try one of these alternative models for myself.

For a long time the gatekeepers of content have tried to force the prices of digital content to match that of physical copies but it just doesn’t make sense. So what is the correct price for a download? Well, I guess it’s what the market decides is the right price. You’re the market, this is a chance to help decide.

So as of today all our music downloads are available on a Pay What You Think It’s Worth* basis (including “Free”) from our Bandcamp site**.

Personally I’d rather that more people heard and enjoyed our music than that we extract every penny from anyone who might like it. So please feel free to pass this on to anyone who you think might enjoy it (in fact, please please do that!) or anyone who writes / talks about music and the music business and might be interested in the experiment.

I put “Free” in inverted commas because if you go for Free then I’m going to ask you for an e-mail address and add you to my distribution list. You can opt out at any time and I don’t e-mail much stuff out anyway, I reckon that’s a fair trade.

N.B. the physical cds remain at fixed prices I’m afraid, because they cost a fixed amount to produce and I have costs to recover. If you download the stuff and then decide that you’d like one of the CDs (plenty of EPs left, a couple of handfuls of the Album) then I will happily knock off anything you decided to pay for the download.

Similarly if you’ve previously paid the full rate for the download and are now feeling ripped off (I really, really hope there aren’t many people in this category!) then drop me a line and we’ll see what we can sort out. I mean this, I’d hate for someone to be sitting there thinking that I’ve pulled a fast one on them.

* there is no good acronym for this.

** I’m working on setting up the same mechanism on other platforms.

Thank you!

Just a quick note to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped out and came down to the album launch. Top night all-round, hope everyone's enjoying the CDs.
Mail orders will be getting sorted this week, as will download options via Bandcamp. We'll probably sort something out on itunes in time but they're more expensive for you, less return for us and lower quality. So i really do recommend the bandcamp alternative.
Anyway, enough sales for this week, i'm knackered.
Thanks again
Drew and Hils

Two steps forward...

Well, as of thursday, the album will be complete. Just over two years and lord alone knows how many hours, but on thursday evening i shall be walking out of the studio with the master CD. A few days after that we will have some decent samples (and probably a couple of full length tracks) on Myspace and the website (i'll come back to this in a moment) and the downloads will be available to buy from bandcamp, thesixtyone and itunes (shortly afterwards).
In addition to the downloads, I will be making 100 cds, these will be rather nifty and come with the a full inlay, nice metal case and all the lyrics and the like. They will be £10 each and I am taking pre-orders.
After that we'll be back to download only I'm afraid. Though if there is significant demand we might do another, simpler, run (standard jewel case stuff).
Basically not enough people are buying cds for us to justify making any larger runs. You don't want to see the boxes of unopened EPs we have in storage...
I'm sorry if that means that someone misses out one. I'm investigating a potential solution via cdbaby that might allow us to do basic cds mailed all over the world without needing to take the massive up front hit. I'll let you know how that works out.


We're also working on some t-shirt designs, again, this means heavy upfront investment so let me know if it's something you'd be interested in.

As soon as my replacement graphics card turns up on monday i will be working like the clappers to finish the artwork but i'm thinking about 1 month until i have the cds.

Apologies for any confusion on gigs, bit of mix-up between me and the promoter. I am no longer supporting Andy Write on Nov 2nd. The good news is that you don't have to wait that long...
Next gig is on the 1st October, supporting Michael Weston King, at the City Screen basement. £12 on the door, but just £6 with a flyer (which i haven't produced yet but will follow shortly. See graphics card issue above...)
Should be a good night, here's what the venue says about him:
When Laurel Canyon legend, ex-Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers country rock pioneer Chris Hillman says you’re “as fine a singer-songwriter as Gram Parsons” you know you’re good. In fact, it’s difficult to know where to start with the quality plaudits, “ … an exceptional songwriter” (Word); “ … elegant, subtle performances … wonderful in a way that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up” (Maverick) and so the praise heaps up. Part Nashville balladeer, part alt country hero, Nick Cave meets Rodney Crowell, the ex-Good Sons is mentioned in the same breath as Phil Ochs, Townes Van Zandt and Tim Hardin. High praise indeed, and well deserved. This is a MUST-SEE show, and early ticket purchase is strongly advised!!

The other thing i'm trying to sort out at the moment is a proper launch night for the album, it's balancing the choice of nice, friendly, intimate venue where we like playing vs. trying to get somewhere at a weekend.
Not easy, but in progress.

If you thought all that sounds like things are going fairly nicely then you'd be right. So just to balance things out, here's the hitch:
My website is down. Well, that is, www.drewstephenson.com is down, as is my e-mail address of info@drewstephenson.com. You may think that that's what you're looking at, but if you check the url at the top you'll note some forwarding has happened.
Obviously i'm trying to get these reinstated as soon as possible, but in the meantime, you can get me on blinddrewsmusic@googlemail.com and you can get to the website on http://blinddrewsmusic.blogspot.com/

So there we are, two steps forward and just the one step back. That's progress right?

Progress (I know I've said this before!)

Quick update on the album. I have with me now the almost-final mix, i've found two little tweaks but each of them is nothing more than a fifteen minute fix, and then we're back into the studio for a couple of days mastering.
HDC in Bradford are going to do the manufacturing for me and here's how it will work.
There will be 100 cds produced, a few of them are spoken for (Dr Jones, me, a couple of other folks who've played on the tracks), the rest are available on a first-reserved basis. I.e. if you want a cd, leave a comment or drop me a line and i'll put one aside for you. I'm expecting to still have plenty to sell at the launch (aiming for the beginning of october for this to fit round a couple of key holidays (i.e. mine and Hils').
If you do miss out on a cd there will, of course, be downloads available from i-tunes, bandcamp and a few other places. You'll be able to get the full artwork for free from the website here.
Depending on how demand goes i may be producing more cds down the line, but they'll be standard Jewel case fare, rather than what i've got planned for the limited run.
So let me know if you want your name on the cd list...