For anyone who’s followed our feed lately, you’ll have seen that we’re no longer on Spotify. I’ve already gone on and on about the reasons why, but here’s a big one:

Spotify pays artists a pittance. Our most streamed song had around 5000 streams on Spotify at the time of it getting removed. And that equates to just under twenty pounds.

I put our latest single - ‘You Will Never Get That Feeling Back‘ - on Bandcamp for free. Despite this, eleven people chose to contribute over thirty pounds.

And I know, that’s still nothing in the grand scheme of things. But its showed me how little to gain I have from focusing all my energies on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Buy Music Like Pints

I - like many others - wouldn’t think twice about spending ten pounds or more at the pub on any given day. So why do I gaulk at buying my friend’s ten pound album?

Over the past month I’ve adopted a new philosophy: that I should buy music as instinctively as I would pints.

This has not been good for my bank account, because I still buy pints as instinctively as I would pints. But that’s my problem.

Knowing how much time, energy, money, heart and soul gets put into each individual song, isn’t this the least we can do for eachother?

Music I’ve bought in the last month

To put my money where my mouth is, here is some music I’ve bought in the last month:

What Do You Do All Day? by Autocamper

Beehive Mind by The Spatulas

Volume 1: The Music Scene Stands with Gaza

pluk puk pk by Fin O'Hare, Gaia Blandina

Widespread Vehicle by Vehicle

Needlework by Needlework

Take these as recommendations of stuff you can buy on Bandcamp. (It’s Bandcamp Friday after all).

Am I Virtue Signaling?

Yes! I am! But also consider this: I don’t care.

If I can get one person to change their habits, I see that as a win. And through the last month of barely-streaming I’ve recongised in myself that it is possible and it is worth doing.

Convenience comes at a cost. And that cost is most often placed on artists.

The most prescient song for this current situation is Gillian Welch’s ‘Everything is Free‘.

This is all to say

that its Bandcamp Friday, so everything you spend on the platform today goes towards artists. No fees.

And rather than asking you to buy our music, I’d like you to consider buying Frankie’s compilation The Music Scene Stands With Gaza.

It features some of my favourite artists at the moment, and all proceeds go towards Gaza Soup Kitchen.

In Frankie’s words:
“It is important for us to dedicate this compilation and its proceeds to the Palestinian people - subjected to apartheid and occupation for decades, now on the receiving end of a horrific genocide at the hands of Israel's military with full complicity from our own government.“

Also

We are launching our single (You Will Never Get That Feeling Back) tonight in York at the Fulford Arms. If you live in York and like me or my band mates (even a little bit) it’d be nice to see you there.

seeyasoon - Rowan