I’m learning what it means to independently release music in 2021, as an artist with a background in technology.

One thing I know is that streaming is a broken model and I don’t want to center my distribution around it. Tech corporations owned by a handful of major labels are disproportionately profiting from musicians in a way that is unethical & unsustainable, and reduces music to “user generated content” to push shareholder value. Beyond that, they’re using opaque algorithms to gatekeep the discovery of music based on what works well for their metrics.

Music is sacred to me: as a spiritual practice for connection, and the music I record as transmutations of the innermost parts of myself. Technology is sacred too. I view it as an artistic medium for putting into practice our philosophical & spiritual views, and knowing this potency (& my ability to surf it), I can’t default to participating in a dominant system that is just “how things are done”.

I believe that music is too important to reduce to a KPI or a catchy hook, and I’m viewing my releases as an experiment to figure out, in public, what other alternatives could be.

I believe in artist-centric web3 platforms like Catalog as the new digital “master record”, and yet I also want to share my music freely as widely as possible in a way that feels coherent with the music and with my views as a technologist.

With that said, today I’m uploading my recent single Pulling Back to the Curtains to Bandcamp too, to slowly explore adding other venues it can be enjoyed on.