I'm in the process of expanding some download-only releases to streaming. While that's happening, I'm experimenting with uploading my own full album streams to YouTube. First up is 健忘症 (Kenboushou) @eponymous4.bsky.social. youtu.be/TlOEncN_4GY?...

The stylistic distance between Tears for Fears and Sade is not as far as you think. Both those artists had an outsized influence on this song, which I wrote more than 35 years ago. I'm reissuing it today.

Pick a release date, then work backward.

One month out, register songs with rights organizations.

Two months out, submit masters to digital distributors.

Three months out, finalize your mixes.

Every track I released in 2024 was finished months before they went public.

In his first memoir, composer Philip Glass describes how his day is split between composing in the morning, then working on administrative tasks in the afternoon.

He says he's never had a musical idea intrude on him outside of his scheduled time to compose.

One idea I've adopted from my day job is the "minimum viable product." When I work on a new track, I think about what is the bare minimum it needs to be released. Just piano and vocal? A full arrangement? It depends. Once I reach the minimum, I feel comfortable knowing it can go out at any time.

I bought a thousand barcodes from a reseller so I could avoid paying extra to my digital distributor. It paid for itself after 8 releases.

The most mundane but nonetheless important thing I've done for my music career is registering for a business license.

Independent artists releasing their own music are essentially record labels with a roster of one. Unless you're me and go by six different artists names.

Back in April 2024, I decided to step up the release schedule from every two months to monthly. I'm aiming to keep this pace in 2025!