Moonlit EU #100!
I performed two short sets at the Trans Academy’s “Moonlit” concert series, for the milestone 100th week of Moonlit EU! For this one I made four new backing tracks and learned in real time just how bad I am at playing funk guitar.
Finally setting up CDs
I’m finally getting around to putting more of my albums on CD, thanks to the on-demand manufacturing capability afforded by Kunaki. You can see which albums of mine are available via this collection, and on each of them you can buy the album via Bandcamp, Mirlo, or direct from Kunaki.
If you buy from Bandcamp or Mirlo the album will also come with the digital download in your choice of formats.
Anyway, inside you can vote on which additional albums I should focus on making available!
Where’d your music go?!
Today I removed all my music, except The War Machine, from Spotify, for the reasons explained in that song (and also in this lengthy diatribe)1.
But doing so also required, for very annoying reasons, removing it from all other streaming platforms as well, because the distributor I was working with, TooLost, had no option for removing music from just one platform without deleting and re-uploading everything2.
So, when is my music going to get back onto the other streaming platforms? Ehhh.
Self-hosted streaming CDN
Performers who do streaming-based performances on VRChat and other places have a few options for actually providing their stream. Once upon a time it was preetty common for people to use Twitch or YouTube Live, but those are now being locked down due to advertising considerations. So, many people currently use VRCDN, an inexpensive but limited hosted service that you have to pay monthly for. But for folks with a bit more technical acumen, there’s another choice, Owncast, which is basically a self-hosted Twitch-like.
Here’s how I have mine set up and how I run it for (basically1) free.
Hello Internet Archive!
Today I had my first gig with the Internet Archive in their mini concerts series. It was a really good experience (and if you’re a musician, especially one who performs online, I urge you to sign up for it yourself!) and I’d like to share some thoughts with folks in general! (And if anyone from IA is reading this, hello!!!!)
VR performance stuff
Today was the second day of VRelium Enchanted, which I performed at and had a really good time. I’m going to talk a bit about how VRChat performances work and some thoughts about my most recent one, in particular.
UPDATE: This is obsolete! It might still be useful for some folks (especially those working on a budget or trying to get ideas of how to cobble someting together), but my current setup is completely different and much easier to work with.
VRelium Enchanted 2025
I performed at VRelium’s charity show, “Enchanted,” a weekend-long music festival on September 6 and 7 in VRChat in support of the ALS Associationon! Please enjoy the recording.
Please do not ask me about streaming distribution
Quite some time ago I posted my recommendations for streaming distributors but things have all changed in a very bad way since then.
Song Fight! Live! Five and Twenty
Song Fight!’s annual show took place in Seattle, WA at Jellyfish Brewing Georgetown (917 South Nebraska Street) on August 8 and 9. More information can be found on the forum thread.
Song Fight!: The how, the what, and the why
People sometimes ask me how they can start making music, or how they can get better at making music when they’ve hit a wall.
A thing that has worked for me quite a lot over the years is participating in Song Fight!, an online songwriting competition that’s been going for a bit over 25 years now. It’s an incredibly low-stakes yet highly-satisfying way of learning how to make music and how to hone your craft.
It also really could use more new people participating!
The War Machine
Demo reel
This is a playlist of videos which I made the music for, and some of which I also edited.
On Spotify, and listening to and collecting music
As a musician, I am often asked where people can listen to my music, and people express confusion about why my music isn’t on Spotify (aside from The War Machine, which is about why my music isn’t on Spotify).
I wrote this as an explanation of why I don’t support Spotify and why I ask listeners to return to buying and collecting music or, at the very least, moving to other streaming services.
Also, see Jeremy Blake’s very good video on this topic.
tl;dr summary: If you are able to, buy your music, ideally from Mirlo or Bandcamp. If you are going to pay to stream, use Qobuz or Tidal, and if you want to stream for free (and I totally get it! times are tough!), use YouTube Music or Pandora.
Some recommendations for digital distribution
As I talked about previously, there are many different services for getting your music online with the major streaming providers. Here’s my thoughts on a few that I’ve worked with, and a couple that are on my radar and I plan on trying out in the future.
Of course, the best place to sell your music is on places like Mirlo and Bandcamp, where you actually get paid well for things and your buyers are able to retain access to your music in exchange, but the unfortunate reality of music in the current era is that most listeners are going to the streamers to listen to stuff, so if you want your stuff to be listened to, this is where you have to put it.
RFFF ‘25 show
Radio Free Fedi hosted a series of summer concerts, and I’m thrilled to have performed a set on July 6, broadcast from VRChat.
You can read more about the festival on the NHAM blog.