'New Song a Week' Campaign Launched by Me, Prophetnoise!

I've decided (with the 'guidance' of PR/Marketing Guru Bubbles) to do an 'Upload a New Song per Week' campaign. It's not a completely original task. There are many other marathon composers out there. They've set up their own parameters, be it a 60 second song a day, or a new song every week. Undertaking these tasks gave them a notable amount of press and created a huge buzz. But, they've done this already. I'd like to break new ground, not repeat what other have done. I'd like to raise the bar a few rungs for myself.

For the most part, these artists have put strict time constraints on their music. Essentially, their challenges usually centered around meeting the deadline regardless of the state of the song. It seemed to be more of an exercise in productivity and dedication than it was a means to a set of sellable finished songs, hopefully becoming a better composer and person by the end (or a stressed out psycho.)

This is where i diverge from their paths. I'm not so concerned about the deadline of 'one song per week.' The idea of composing a song from scratch, right down to a finished mixed version each week is not an overwhelming deadline for me. The fact of the matter is, my 'new song a week project' is more like a chronicling of a larger undertaking. I (again, under the auspice of Bubbles) have given myself the goal of 12 new EPs in 10 months. Each EP will consist of 5-7 songs, which will wind up being about 72 songs in about 40 weeks.

Being the perfectionist that i am, each song i upload needs to meet the standards of something i'm willing to release professionally. There will be no half-ass tracks thrown up just to meet the deadline. I have to meet the deadline, and it has to be a 'fully-realized' song.

So, from here on out every Monday night or Tuesday morning, you get to listen to a new song.
This week track is Urgency of Uncertainty. Listen to it on the Prophetnoise Myspace, Prophetnoise iLIke, and Prophetnoise Facebook pages.

Listen, enjoy, critique, spread the word, and pass it along.

See you in a week,

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

What i've gotten myself into

I recently received an email survey from a certain musicians' organization. One of the questions asked how many hours a week i spent performing music in front of audiences.
I gave a conservative 1-4 hours per week.

The following question asked how many additional hours per week, on average, i spend working on music for non-performance tasks. They gave some examples.

Well, i started doing a rough tally. Between doing live sound, producing, programming, composing, recording, engineering/mixing, learning new songs on bass, practicing bass, band practice, networking, phone calls, emails, expanding my online presence (myspace, iLike, my blog, etc.), expanding my real-life presence, promotion, designing graphics, attending seminars, trying to find my next performance or sound gigs, maintaining my gear & technology, cultivating a professional 'image', reading and research... The list goes on.

It turns out i'm putting in anywhere from 80 to 100+ hours per week.

On a great week, i probably pull in about $200.  And those weeks are rare. Do the math. And that's a great week. I'm usually not pulling in that much. (And to contrast music scenes in Portland and New Orleans, i was pulling in almost that much in one day in Nola.) That's not a livable wage.

And it's not that i'm bad at what i do. All conceit aside, i'm really good at what i do and i know it. The feedback i get about my engineering, bass playing, and electronic composition has gotten better and better.  Some amazing people have gone out of their way to help me because they believe that much in what i'm doing.  

So, my question is, where's the payoff? Bubbles says it's, "Work now, get paid later," and "[artistically] we're rich on the inside." Well, i do work now, and don't plant to stop working later, or ever. But how far away is the later when we get paid? And being rich on the inside is great. I love being happy. But that doesn't pay my bills. I won't be happy for too long when i'm out on the street with nowhere to plug in my computers and, inherently no way to practice my craft.

X24, ever the optimist keeps on telling me we're on the brink. That it's coming, we're right there and doors keep opening.  Well yeah, doors do keep opening to bigger an better things, i agree. Yet, they don't seem to be paying any more. 

Now, i'm not only in this for the money. If that were the case i'd pound out some mind numbing pop songs about melodramatic love loss. Isn't that what the whiny indie rockers are into these days? It's not only about the money. However, call me crazy, but i tend to believe that i work hard and should be compensated accordingly.  

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Moving on from the gripe of the week, i recently had a photo shoot with local photographer Victor Fitzsimons.  He takes a lot of tight pictures of a scene and then compiles them to create much larger images. I'm part of his series Working Portland. I suggest checking out his work. I used one of his pictures on the Prophetnoise Myspace page. The other is in my pictures section.

My MIDI controller is on the fritz.  I took it in for repairs once and it was mostly fixed but had to bring it back because the Joystick's X axis, when centered at rest, wavers anywhere from +1 to +5 (of 127).  The Joystick's Y axis only goes from +120 to -93.  For those who aren't familiar with what any of that means, essentially, when i play my keyboard, the pitch bend actually bends itself sharp and wavers on it's own, making everything i play out of tune.

That said, i keep on walking into my studio room staring at my computer for a minute, realizing i can't make music without my MIDI Controller (keyboard), and leave the room looking for something else to do. Repeat every few minutes. For someone (me) who spends 8-12 hours a day tracking new music, I'M GOING STIR CRAZY.  (That's probably why my blog post is so friggin long.)

With all that said, i'm the happiest i've been in years. My life revolves around music.  I do what i love, and i do what i'm good at, and they're the same thing. All the other problems are minor bumps in the road.

Until next time,

Noise!

Digital EP Orange & Silver
Prophetnoise Myspace
Prophetnoise iLike
Prophetnoise Facebook
Prophetnoise Band Radar
Prophetnoise Portland Mercury Band Page