I made you a mixtape
Open for some thoughts on streaming, new music to listen to and a few shows to come see!
Remember those? As recently as my senior year of college, I was still being gifted mix CDs from my friends. They live in the console of my RAV4 along with the entire discography of my college a cappella group, but they never get played anymore in the age of Bluetooth and CarPlay.
It should be common knowledge that music streaming is absolutely terrible for artists & songwriters like myself. Spotify in particular is just overwhelmingly gross and problematic. Educate yourself on it!
Since releasing my EP sad girl summer last year, I have made about $70 on streaming for that record. That’s it. Spotify streams account for roughly $19 of that. We used to buy music on iTunes and then illegally burn it to CDs and even that was more sustainable and lucrative for artists than the current music streaming environment.
Myself and every other indie band, artist, songwriter and musician out there are completely stumped on how to make this ecosystem work. We’re all ready for it to change for the better, but unless physical music truly resurges or everyone buys an iPod again, making money off of original music through streaming is nearly impossible. That’s why we sell merch, hawk you to buy tickets to our shows (scroll down for dates!), license our music to filmmakers, and have about a million different side jobs. We are all playing the lottery, hoping one day to win the jackpot and be handpicked by an algorithm for a chance to find our fans.
Personally, I don’t really enjoy gambling with my life’s work and passion. But I also don’t have the funds to burn and mail 240 mix CDs out for my newsletter subscribers, so in the meantime… I will share a playlist.
In the sincere hope that my ears can recommend music to your ears without involving an algorithm, the only way I know how to share music right now is within the broken system. It’s enough to make a woman go crazy.
I’ve updated this playlist periodically for the last few years. I should have been sharing it more often, but never too late to start. You can add this playlist on any service, so if you’ve recently ditched Spotify (thank you) or plan to, this should work wherever you’ve landed.
This list includes music by some of my favorite artists. Some of these artists are megastars that don’t need me to promote their music. But a lot of these artists I happen to know personally because life is very cool and I happen to have met some insanely talented music people over the years. I really dig their music, genuinely. I listen to it on repeat which is why it’s on this list.
Some highlights:
Quiet - Erynn McLeod - I’m obsessed with this EP and I think know all the words. I’m also opening for Erynn at her EP release show in a couple weeks and will be fangirling in the crowd immediately after my set. (Get tickets! I have 6 discounted tix left if you want to message me!)
If Life Was Long - Joe DeVito - I wrote about Joe’s record in my last newsletter, but this song in particular has a special place in my heart. I heard this song for the first time the day before I wrote “something in the wine” (also on this list) and I reference this exact song in the second verse. Listen back-to-back if you’re curious! The lyrics still give me chills.
Dreams - Carol Ades - I found this song on the soundtrack of this short film. This whole album has been in my heavy rotation ever since. It is my favorite genre of music: GIRL POP.
Familiar Face - Heather Maloney - another song that gives me chills. That bridge breaks my heart in the best way. I’m a meditator and have found the biggest challenge to my inner peace is (song spoiler) no one else but myself, which is why this resonates so much.
invisible hand - 4la7la (for layla) - this artist played Anyfolk last week and during her set, Chip looked up from the mixer and just said “…wow.” This music is uniquely beautiful and brainy all at once.
Consumed - Caroline Vain - another local friend of mine who makes stunning music. The dissonance in that first vocal line lives in my head rent free.
Okay so, how does a streaming playlist solve the problem of streaming being terrible for artists? It… doesn’t! You, the listener, have to take the extra step of engaging with the artists you like, whether that’s subscribing to their newsletters, following them on socials, buying their music and merch, or showing up to their shows.
In the world of algorithmic music discovery, even I will admit to becoming lazy. Painfully lazy. The kind of lazy where you’ve been sitting for so long that your leg fell asleep and you feel like you can’t move.
Shake off the pins & needles, folks. I used to call radio stations and request they play “Beautiful Soul” by Jesse McCartney several times a day as a kid. I bought a pillow case with Clay Aiken’s face on it because I loved his music so much. I’m not saying you have to have the music taste of a 9-year-old in 2003, but just think about the things we used to do for what we loved.
When we became a fan of something, we let ourselves feel that and follow it. We bought ringtones, we changed our MySpace profile to include our favorite song lyrics, we sported the band tee with pride. Is it all a little cringe? Sure. But what if our cringe is our only way back to ourselves?
I’m just saying our ancestors didn’t spend the last two millennia chasing breakthroughs in science, art, creativity and literally every other imaginable field that exists for all of us to just sit back and let a computer think and discover for us. I’m soapboxing on a larger issue here, clearly, but just some food for thought.
Upcoming Shows
The big one is on Tuesday, August 26th at In Your Ear Studios for Shockoe Sessions Live. I’ve put together a band to play some never-before-heard songs and all of sad girl summer. Very limited capacity! Get tickets ASAP. If you can’t attend in person, scroll down for the link to watch on YouTube.
August 14th - solo opening set at The Hof Rooftop (7 pm, FREE)
August 17th - solo opening set at The Southern in Charlottesville (TICKETS)
August 23rd - solo opening set at Brambly Park with Dead Billionaires (8 pm, FREE)
August 26th - Shockoe Sessions Live - if you can’t attend, you can watch live HERE
Thank you <3
I just ranted a lot about how difficult it is to be a musician. Thank you for listening to that. This might not be relatable to you, especially seeing as you’re someone who is subscribed to this newsletter/Substack and already doing more than the average person to keep up with a small independent artist. Thank you for being here and for allowing me a little bit of bandwidth in your feed. I hope you like the playlist and find a new song or artist to become a fan of. Let me know if you do.
Much love,
TM