Random Blog Post #9

Much like when I record music, these Random Blog Posts are for myself more than for anyone else. So what follows might not be very entertaining to read. Either way, here goes…

Boobs, Butts, and Feets didn’t break sales records of any kind. I attribute that mostly to my lack of advertising. I’m planning on getting on that soon, but I hoped there would be more of a buzz about the without my assistance. I talked up Heat Stroke and Punk Rebel Renegade quite a bit, so the word was getting out there about those albums. My dream hasn’t been to be signed to a major record label or going on world tours. It’s been more of being some guy that an average person finds out about one of my songs organically, and then digs into the rest.

Now, I realize that since that’s what I want, I should have started getting my music published long before 2015. My songs in Rock Band did pretty well. “Everyone I Know Is an Alcoholic” performed best, and I have been recognized here and there on Twitter threads and such for years since it was released via the Rock Band Network. I won’t divulge numbers, but I mean, it’s in the hundreds. And that’s way more than I anticipated. I feel like if Boobs, Butts, and Feets was available back then, many more sales would have been made because there would have been that organic discovery.

But, as I’ve talked about before, I never envisioned putting my music up for sale outside of Rock Band. And that’s for two reasons. One, I thought it would be prohibitively expensive to get an album mastered and distributed. Two, I didn’t really like to let people I know listen to my music for free, privately, so the idea of making it so strangers could listen to it and buy it seemed insane. To this day, even though I have 3 albums out on the Internet that anyone could check out, I don’t usually like to play my music for someone. Earlier this year though, if the topic arose, sometimes I would play someone a few seconds of a select song or two.

It comes back to why I make music. I’m sort of at a crossroads because years ago, it wasn’t even debatable that I made music for myself. The fact that the bulk of what I made went unheard by anyone but me proves that. But now, as I’m electing to put my crap out there, it’s different now. I mean, I’m still making it for myself, but since other people are theoretically going to listen to it, I feel like the music needs to be different or better or something just for that reason. “Novelty” isn’t a song that most people seem to enjoy, but it’s one that gives me some pride. I’m not saying that I’m not also proud of “Everyone I Know Is an Alcoholic” and “Punk Rebel Renegade,” but not in the same way.

I don’t know. I think a big reason why this is floating in my head is because of my 2010 album, Modus Operandi. It has instrumental tracks on it, experimental type of songs. One day, I will give it the same treatment I gave Punk Rebel Renegade and Boobs, Butts, and Feets. It still hasn’t been officially released. It seems like a waste of money to master and distribute songs that people don’t even like. But I don’t want to sell out either. I suppose the obvious solution to this conundrum is to continue doing what I’ve pretty much always done: do both. Like, maybe the weird kind of songs and also the dancey ones.

Hm.