I Will (most likely) Share Your Song
So, bands come to me often asking if I'd like to premiere a track or a video or even stream their album. More often than not, those requests come from people who seem to have a familiarity with the site and who appear to know what I like. As busy as it feels like I am sometimes, I really don't have a big backlog of posts in the queue, so lining up and coordinating a premiere is usually no problem; and we go for it.
I'd just like to share with you my maybe half-baked philosophy on these sorts of things because I've been thinking about it lately.
Basically, I do this site because I enjoy it. It doesn't make me any money. In fact, it costs me a whole bunch when you really add it all up; but I view that spending as supporting a hobby that I really love. I don't have any advertising. I'm not owned by Condé Nast or SpinMedia. I'm not an advertising agency with a side business in writing about music. I generally leave the big money, major (sorry, "Indie") label stuff to the bigger folks unless it's something that really, really moves me. Whether a post gets 2000 views or 20 views, as long as I'm happy with the content, doesn't really matter to me in the great scheme of things.
Just about everything you see posted here occurs in real time and is something I truly enjoy. There are times that I may post about something that's outside of my usual comfort zone, but that will be because I can see the talent, hard work, and -- yes -- niceness that went into it. When I post a song or an album or a video, it's because I want to do whatever teeny tiny bit I can to help that artist become successful. Lots of the artists I post about here are my friends; and I see, first-hand, how much blood and sweat they put into what they do. I imagine it's the same for artists I don't know personally whose music I share.
That said, if I don't post about something, it doesn't necessarily mean I didn't like it. I'm also very lazy and forgetful by nature; so, sometimes, stuff just falls through the cracks.
OK. So what's the point of all of that? Well, if I premiere your track, video, album, I don't require it to be "exclusive." I encourage you, in fact, to make it public; so that people who discover it via this site can share it or post it on their own sites, spread it around, let more people hear it. It would be nice for my ego if you shared my post and said, "Hey, we just premiered our track over at CoolDadMusic.com," but see that part above about my not having any advertising and not really caring about views on the site. It would also be nice, I guess, if you didn't have a different site simultaneously premiere your stuff, but again,... ...no big deal.
Also, if you do premiere a track somewhere else, or just share it on Facebook, or tweet about it, or whatever; and I happen to come across it, I may just share it because I like it and I think more people should hear it. It doesn't matter to me that it's 3 weeks old or that it premiered at another site.
Maybe my approach means that I'll never get any bigger than I am right now. That's fine. It doesn't hurt my feelings if bands premiere their track with bigger outlets who can get them more views. I'll see it eventually and probably share it, too.
So that's that.
TL;DR: I'll most likely post about your stuff if you ask me about it and I like it. Unless I forget or something. I don't require exclusives. I want people to be able to spread your stuff like the plague.
Here's a song by Oliver Ignatius & THEMS that I received about a week and a half ago. It's not a premiere. It's just a song that I like by someone who has already had a pretty big impact on what I do here.
Ignatius is the founder of Brooklyn's Mama Coco's Funky Kitchen collective, and he's also its studio's main producer. In that capacity, Ignatius has made a huge mark on the New York-area DIY, underground music scene. "Light and Dark" is his first release under his own name, and he promises several more in the future.
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