January Selections

So, back when I began thinking about this Dropify concept in early January, I found out I had already automatically renewed Spotify for the month. I'll really be cancelled at my next billing cycle as of February 2, so I'll have to settle for only 11/12 months Spotify-free.

Still, my goal of supporting remains on for January despite still having to also pay for my subscription. So here’s what I picked up:



It seemed logical to start out by buying my favorite record of 2017, Dent May’s Across the Multiverse. This is a pretty straight ahead piano-driven pop/rock album, with just the right amount of quirkiness. Comparisons to Elton John and Ben Folds are lazily easy, but couldn’t be more fitting.

Lyrically, the album is a pretty wry, sardonic take on his experiences having recently moved to LA from Mississippi. He flits in and out of parties, obsesses over celebrity images, and trips over himself to please people who treat him like crap. Imagine if Father John Misty had fun once in a while.

True to the “Multiverse” title, you’ll find references to science and science fiction interspersed throughout the record. Predominantly, May fixates on computers, pixels, and screens-- to underscore this, you'll hear a lot of ELO-esque electronic flourishes bubbling in the background. I have to presume this record is in many ways a commentary on how modern romance is carried out through technology.

Ultimately, this album is certainly not going to win any accolades for being a grand artistic statement, but damn it-- it is really fun.

I got the full album on LP (with download) from his bandcamp for $16, and download-only is available for $10. If you’re going to buy a single track, they are $1.29 and my picks would be “Face Down in the Gutter of Your Love,” “Dream 4 Me,” or “A Little Bit Goes a Long Way.”

Bonus!


This doesn’t count toward supporting artists per se, but it does fit in under the umbrella of building a collection and not relying on streaming services.

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard are an absurdly named Australian band with absurd chops. They managed to release five legitimately good, non-filler albums in 2017. Polygondwanaland is not only my favorite of these five, but also the one they decided to release as a free download. And, really free-- full usage rights were given to the point that many independent record labels have made their own vinyl pressings.

Overall, this is a prog-rock album, especially 10-minute guitar crunching opener “Crumbling Castle.” But compared to their other three previous records of 2017 (which touched on microtonal/eastern music, fuzz metal, and soul jazz respectively), the overall motif of this particular entry skews toward psychedelic folk. This becomes pretty evident once you get to the second track, “Polygondwanaland,” which is essentially the start of a 9-track suite.

You’ll hear a lot of acoustic guitar riffs in unfamiliar rhythmic feels, along with flute playing reminiscent of prog giants like King Crimson, Genesis, or Jethro Tull. Dark, grimy synthesizers round out the sounds of the record, backed by driving drumbeats. Some of the drier, slower tempo songs even feel close to the more tender moments of NIN’s The Fragile. If this all sounds a little weird, it’s because it is!

Download the whole thing right from their website here, or if you’re not ready to fully cut the streaming cord yet, it’s also up on their bandcamp. If “Crumbling Castle” wears on you, skip it, because it really switches things up from there on out.

Looking ahead to February, I plan to look for some singles to feature, and the artist-centric economics of streaming vs buying. 

Welcome to Dropify!

I guess I am making a blog, because it’s definitely not 2018 and really 2008. Is that even too late of a benchmark? But I have some stuff I want to say on a (hopefully) ongoing basis and am too lazy/cheap to make a real website for such a probably inconsequential discussion.

What is Dropify? 

If all goes to plan, this will be part thought experiment, part social commentary, and of course, part music discussion (“music review” is probably too generous to be used here).

As you may have gleaned from the punny title, this discussion will center around Spotify, the world’s 2nd most used music listening service. I am a longtime user of Spotify, and a more recent but still decently longtime premium/paying user of Spotify. To be upfront, I love it. It is a beautifully designed platform, has incredible amounts of music at your fingertips, and its playlist functions (both for your personal use and especially for discovery) are marked by an amazing use of data analytics and predictive algorithms.

But, of course, there’s this, this, and even this. 

Everyone* is aware of the ongoing debate that streaming services pay artists too little. And Spotify of course is not unique in this—all streaming sites are in a similar range. I decided on using them as an example because I use their services. I’ve struggled with this notion in the past, but ultimately made peace with it because, convenience!

This changed for me recently, when reading an article posted on Facebook by Brad of actual-music-website bradleysalmanac.com, which you can read for yourself here.

You should click it, it’s a pretty brief read. But if you didn’t, let me summarize with one key point. The article recounts an alleged conversation with the reporter (also an artist) and Spotify execs. Ultimately, the reporter says this to them:

“Stop calling your subscribers ‘users.’ They’re not ‘users,’ they’re listeners––our listeners in fact. You’re the ‘user.’ You’re using our music to monetize our listeners for your profit.”

As a creator and “artist” myself, this story rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, part of my subscription fee goes to the artists, but ultimately, the majority of my subscription fee is arguably going to the platform of Spotify. Of course none of this is really new information, something just clicked with me in that I don’t feel good about the peace I had made with paying for streaming anymore.

So, here comes the thought experiment!

I am going to cancel my Spotify premium subscription, and pledge to spend at least $9.99/month on content I can add to my music collection. Digital singles, albums, LPs, anything goes. It's something I already should have been doing, but admittedly, have not. I am planning to get as much as I can from bandcamp.com, a platform I prefer as an artist and know many others who do as well, but any store that will give me a physical product or download is on the table.  

Whatever I decide to buy, I will share with you (if there are any of you), and in doing so I will apply theoretical public pressure to stick to my pledge.

So there it is. Happy 2018, let’s see what happens.