What's Happening: Week of September 25, 2017

I hope everyone is easing into autumn this week.

I have a new stock music track in the pipeline. It's titled "Ascending" and is in the inspirational, motivational style. While atmospheric, it also has a lot of rhythm and a strong four on the floor beat going too. I submitted it to AudioJungle first; if they reject it then I'll submit it to Pond5. I'm thinking of this as a potential candidate to include on my next Excelsior EP. Stay tuned for updates.

I've been playing around with Hootsuite the last week or so. Hootsuite is a social media posting and analysis platform that lets you post to up to three different sites for free. It's taken a little getting used to, but I'm finding there's a certain appeal to being able to post messages to Twitter and Google+ from the same platform. Their Hootlet app is especially cool because it allows me to share pages to either platform without leaving the page. However, I still go to Twitter for certain things that I haven't been able to figure out how to do from Hootsuite.

Otherwise, everything else is pretty much the same. As we head into October, I'll be focusing more energy on promoting my Christmas stock music on Pond5 and a little less on Halloween music. I also plan to produce some more intros and loops for podcasts and to get back to promoting those as well.

I can't tell with certainty because I don't have the Distrokid plan that let's me see daily sales, but it looks like some things are going on with my track 'Epic Achievement' from Excelsior: Volume One. Thanks to everyone who's checked out all my work on iTunes and other stores.

And that, in short, is where I'm at this week. I hope yours is a good one. If you need royalty-free music for your projects, please check out my Pond5 and AudioJungle portfolios.

Spotify Profile Updates

As I mentioned in my latest weekly blog update, I've added a short two-paragraph bio to my Spotify profile. You'll find nothing earth-shaking there if you've read this blog or my website.

In addition, I have a brand spanking new artist pick. It's Moving Waves, the 1971 album by Focus. Almost anyone outside Europe who knows of this Dutch band at all knows only of the instrumental rock hit "Hocus Pocus," which features keyboardist/flautist/vocalist Thijs Van Leer's yodeling. (Yes, yodeling.)

But a careful listening to Moving Waves shows this group to be much more than just a quirky band or a one-hit wonder. The tracks, varying from short ("Le Clochard" at just over two minutes) to epic ("Eruption" at 23 minutes) straddle light classical, jazz and rock genres with surprising ease. For guitar lovers, both "Hocus Pocus" and "Eruption" showcase the considerable mad skills of guitarist Jan Akkerman, who went on to a successful career as a solo artist and sideman.

Although Moving Waves could be considered "classic" Focus, it is far from the band's only output. At some point, I may revisit them with a future artist pick.

Another quick update: I've applied to join Apple Connect, which if I understand correctly would allow me to have control over my iTunes/Apple Music profile similar to the control of my profile on Spotify. Haven't heard back yet.

What's Happening: Week of September 18, 2017

I hope you're gearing up for an awesome week.

This week I'll be continuing to promote holiday stock music. My emphasis will be shifting more to Christmas tracks, including my latest, "Auld Lang Syne (Gospel Blues)." Technically, it's New Year's music, but I've lumped it in with my Christmas collection that includes traditional and more commercial friendly fare. If you haven't already, please check it out here. I'll also continue to promote my scary Halloween music collection.

Those of you who frequent Spotify can look forward to updates to my artist page during this week. Spotify is now allowing artists to write their own bios, which I plan to do. I'll also be picking a new artist to feature on my profile.

I have one stock music idea that I'm working on and thinking of submitting to AudioJungle when it's finished. Other than that, there's not much in the pipeline at the moment. I still have plans to release a more moody, new-agey EP and holiday single before the end of the year as I discussed in an update from last month.

Finally, please check out my just-released spoken word video project, "Humans," on YouTube. This is a follow-up to "The Man in the Arena," an excerpt from an old Theodore Roosevelt speech that I narrated and set to music. I'm surprised that "Arena" is finding an audience without any real promotion, and I hope "Humans" eventually finds an audience of its own. More about "Humans" in this mid-week update from last Wednesday.

And with that, I'll stop. Thanks very much for stopping by and checking out what I'm up to. Have a great week.

Just Uploaded New Video: Humans

I've just uploaded a new video to YouTube. The title of the video is "Humans." Like "The Man in the Arena" that I uploaded earlier this year, "Humans" is spoken word with original music. Unlike "Arena" though, the words as well as the music are entirely original.

The text of "Humans" is based on the psychological concept of cognitive behavior theory. Basically, we're bombarded daily with messages trying to manipulate our behavior by appealing to our emotions. Much of our attitudes toward the world have been influenced by these messages that we've absorbed from childhood on, and often don't think to question as adults.

We learn myths about ostriches hiding their heads in the sand or frogs slowly boiling in a pot of water as the heat is gradually turned up, and maybe never stop to ask "Wouldn't the ostrich have to come up for air?" or "Wouldn't the frog just jump out when it got uncomfortable?" More often than not, these myths are based on things that humans often do -- and don't have to.

What's Happening: Week of September 11, 2017

As we remember the anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we also have to deal with terrible tragedy in the areas affected by hurricanes in the southern U. S. in recent days and weeks. That's why I'm excited to share some news from CD Baby, the distributor of my album Circadia and single "Dream Catcher."

Starting from midnight (12:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time) on September 11, and running through 11:59 PM PDT on Friday, September 15, CD Baby will donate all of their net proceeds from digital downloads purchased at their store (https://store.cdbaby.com/) to hurricane relief. if you stop by and are interested in my stuff there or have held off for some reason, now would be a great time to check them out.

For Circadia (including the separately downloadable singles "Astral Tribe" and the title track),
CLICK HERE.

For my single "Dream Catcher."
CLICK HERE.

Note: only these two releases are eligible because my "Excelsior" singles and EP were released through a different distributor (DistroKid).

Even if you don't buy my releases, please go and have a look around https://store.cdbaby.com/ and maybe find something you like. Your purchase will add something awesome to your music collection, you'll be supporting deserving independent artists, and CD Baby's share of proceeds will go to hurricane relief. It's a win-win-win; I mean just profuse winning all over the place folks.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing promotion of stock music from my Halloween and Christmas collections. Expect to see those figuring prominently on my Twitter feed this week. Not following me on Twitter? You can do that right here.

Finally, because there seems to be interest in "The Man in the Arena," my spoken word video on YouTube, I've decided to put together a follow-up video. It's called "Humans" and has the same posivibe motivational outlook as "Arena." I plan to upload it sometime this week and will be posting here when it's up. Hope you'll check it out.

What's Happening: Week of September 4, 2017

This update will be somewhat short and to the point, because I'm busy doing things over the Labor Day weekend here in the U. S. However, there are a number of you who stop by from outside the States, so I didn't want to disappoint. So, right on to it.

First I want to thank everyone who has listened to my work on Spotify recently. I feel blessed that listeners in the U.S., U.K., Mexico, France, Germany, Denmark, Costa Rica, Hungary and Australia have been checking out my music there.

For the next two weeks, I'm featuring a very special talent as my Spotify artist's pick. Her name is Rachel Flowers and she is truly a musical savant. Listen is (I think) her first album of all original material, and after you hear it, you'll hope as I do that it isn't her last. You can check out Listen plus some of my own stuff from my Spotify artist page.

You can also download or stream my latest motivational EP  Excelsior: Volume One from several online outlets through links at the EP home page.

On the stock music front, my featured track this week is The Darkest Hour. This somber track can symbolize the depths of despair or the turning point leading to ultimate triumph. I've updated my Twitter feed but haven't updated my web site yet. I hope to do that tomorrow.

I have two new pieces of stock music for Christmas and am working on more as we speak, If you're looking for Christmas production music, please check out my collection.

And that is that. I hope everyone in the U. S. enjoys Labor Day and everyone gets off to a great week. Take care!