Around 3 hours ago, I finally announced and made available my new album Manila Electronica. Literally, it took almost 10 years to make because it's a collection of different tunes I made over the years.
To get the promotion out of the way, you can head on over to my site and get the album at www.silverfilter.com
Now that it's out of the way, I'd like to take this opportunity to just share my thoughts and feelings about the whole release...
It's hard being an independent artist. I try as much to ask for help because I really don't want to be doing ALL of it but because I don't have much support, I'm left to do it on my own. I'm really not complaining. As tiring and stressful as it is, I have learned TONS of things in doing what I do after doing the music... and for those who know me, they know that I love learning.
Imagine, as an independent solo artist, I not only have to think about being an artist and writing tunes. Heck, that's only ONE thing from the WHOLE equation...
I have to be the sound engineer, then the mastering engineer... and so now I have a working master copy of the music right?
Then I have to be the webdesigner because I have to maintain a site.
Then I also have to be the marketing and promotions team. This is where it gets nasty... As such, I have to blast the news out to the virtual world. But it's not just about blasting right? I have to have some "text" to blast... and so now I'm the writer. I need to write stuff related to the release.
But what is a release without a cover? Well you thought right... I'm also the graphic artist and layout designer.
Then I also had to do some bonus materials so I also had to do the shoots, setup the cam, audio, etc.
I'm also the "secretary" when I need to send stuff out,communicate with people regarding the release, etc.
Then as it's released under my label, I also act as label manager overseeing everything, putting down my artist hat and looking at everything as a whole.
Phew... just thinking about the different roles exhausted me already hehe
Now why did I share this? Well, I just wanted to let you guys know how much all of it is really a labor of love. It's not like I simply whipped out a few tracks and just served it. Doing music these days is more than just making music I'm afraid.
I love music and I love the music that I do. I like to share it with the world and people know that I do. I have tons of free stuff over at my site. But of course, I also have to live and eat and so a little help is always welcome when people support the music that I don't offer for free especially this new album of mine. Honestly, it is priced to sell. I made sure it's of great value not only from the music offered but I'm hopeful that the whole package itself has added value in all the bonus materials available.
Now here's the tricky part... after all of these, I then took a step back. I gave it some thought and it made me think: what is the impact of all of this that I'm doing?
During the last days while I was spending hours in the studio before the actual release preparing and uploading, I just thought to myself, "maybe I'm the only one excited about this" or "maybe I'm seeing this bigger than it really is." Being an independent artist, one can't help but think about these things. It's really hard pushing and pushing especially these days when every musician/artist is clamoring for attention for their "next big hit."
I just couldn't help but think those things because honestly, I just don't want it to slip by. Regardless of whether it's an album of mine that's for sale or given away for free, I always feel the same thing for any release of mine: I hope it doesn't just slip by. What do I mean about this? Well, I just hope that A LOT of people are able to find out about my music and are able to enjoy it. I hope people get to share it with their friends and all so that the music reaches more ears. I hope it just doesn't get buried in the noise. Of course all musicians want this but I feel very strongly about it.
I'm not the type of musician who just uploads everything that I've finished. This is one reason this album took so long to finish. I'm my worst critic. I take time and MAKE SURE everything is OK with my critical self before I release anything and combined with all the things I wrote that takes to get a release out there, it now finally makes sense why I strongly hope that it reaches a lot of people. I go through the whole process with the hopes of creating something great or professional so that when people hear the music, it just doesn't entertain them. It becomes an experience for them... that the music serves its purpose... to be what it needs to be to the listener at that time.
If you bought the album or you plan to buy it, I'd like to say thank you very much. You don't know how grateful I am for your support. Seriously. It makes all the work and sacrifice worth it.
If you don't plan to buy it, it's all good. I'd kindly ask that you at least take the time to listen to it and perhaps share it with your friends to enjoy, and most especially to those who might be inclined to getting it. As long as it reaches more and more ears then I'd feel that all the work involved in putting everything together from start to the ears of people would be well worth everything.
Bottomline is, I make music to share to the world and that is the goal... I just hope that the world is willing to listen :)
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