What's Happening: Week of July 2, 2018

If you stopped by in the past few days, you're probably aware of this already, but Excelsior: Volume Two is now out via DistroKid. I've added a page to the blog for the new release, and added it to the top menu for the blog. It includes links to every marketplace where I know the EP is live now, and I'll be adding others if and when they come online. Please click the link up top to check it out.

My featured stock music item this week is "Cause For Optimism (Full)." This is a nice, friendly little track that's great for presentations and training videos.

Check out "Cause For Optimism (Full)" now

With U. S. Independence Day falling this week, I don't anticipate working heavily on any new music. However, I can never tell when I'll surprise myself. I do intend to keep a regular schedule of social media posting, except perhaps for the 4th itself. Please keep an eye on my Twitter (also linked in the top menu above) for updates throughout the week.

In the meantime, enjoy the World Cup, the start of the Tour de France and lots of hot weather. Or if you're like me, stay in the air conditioning. Either way. Cheers until my next post.

Excelsior: Volume Two On YouTube Now

I've uploaded the full EP version of Excelsior: Volume Two to my YouTube channel. I hope you'll support me by downloading or streaming from the following sites.

Google Play

Tidal

Deezer

Spotify (Pre-save)

More coming soon.

Excelsior: Volume Two On The Way

Just released!

I've uploaded Excelsior: Volume Two. It's now officially making its way through the release process via DistroKid. I'm planning to put together a YouTube album cover video shortly. In the meantime, if you'd like to be the first on your block to hear it on Spotify, go to this link:

PRE-SAVE Exclesior: Volume Two ON SPOTIFY

You can also access the pre-save link now from my home page.

What's Happening: Week of June 25, 2018

After a lot of consideration, I've decided to limit my upcoming EP release Excelsior: Volume Two to just three tracks, and these will be:

Ascending
Hyper Efficient
For The Win

My planned release date is this Friday, June 29, 2018. Don't be surprised, though, if I debut some sort of preview on YouTube before then.

Meanwhile, I'm also beginning to plan for the release of my second full-length album, Extasis, near the end of the year (probably sometime in November). The style of this release will be more like my first album Circadia. If anything it will be more ambient and less rhythmic in its approach. I'm still mulling over track lists for the album and I may create new tracks in the run-up to the release. I also plan to release Extasis through CDBaby rather than Distrokid. Please stay tuned.

Meanwhile, there's nothing new in the stock music pipeline, but my featured item this week is Heroic Intro (30 Second). This is a stirring 30 second piece for full orchestra with percussion that's perfect for dramatic or patriotic podcasts (especially in the US with Independence Day upon us). I hope you'll check it out.

And that's it for now. I may decide to drop some music from EV2 before the "official" release date, so stay sharp for a chance to be the first on your block (or country or planet) to hear it. Take care.

B~)

What's Happening: Week of June 18, 2018

Happy Father's Day to all dads (including me)!

I'm "officially" rolling out my two new podcast intro music collections tomorrow, but you can get a sneak peek at them right now.

CHECK OUT CORPORATE PODCAST INTROS

CHECK OUT ROCK PODCAST INTRO MUSIC

As I mentioned last week, these are subsets of my larger podcast intro music collection, focused on these specific styles so you don't have to hunt through the bigger collection (which now has dozens of items with different lengths and loop options).

Meanwhile, I think I'll be releasing Excelsior: Volume Two a week from Friday, June 29, 2018. I still haven't decided whether it will be three or four tracks, but it will definitely be at least three. Keep an eye on the blog, as I may decide to announce the track list mid-week.

Finally, look for me to up my social media presence, especially on Twitter, starting next week. I'm going to pony up some of my hard earned funds to get a paid plan with Buffer, so I can schedule more posts and try to manage my social media presence better. By the way, if you have suggestions for the kind of content you would like me to share, please leave a comment or contact me through the form on this blog. You can also send me a line if you just want me to shut up (but I won't).

Until next week then . . .B~)

What's Happening: Week of June 11, 2018

I've been enjoying seeing pictures of my new granddaughter. I hope you've had a great week and are getting psyched for the one to come.

I'm thinking about a new "Excelsior series" EP. I know I had written earlier that I was going to let my DistroKid account go, but I think I want to give DistroKid one more year to see if I can generate any interest. I've even come up with cover art.

I'm thinking this will be another EP with four tracks. I'm pretty settled on three of them, but still thinking about the fourth. As with the first one, "Volume Two" will feature some of my upbeat motivational music tracks from my production music portfolio. I'll provide more information as I finalize my plans. I'm thinking of a release date in the very near future, maybe a couple weeks.

My featured stock music item this week is Hybrid Action. The title is pretty self-explanatory: pounding drums, orchestral and electronic elements make a great background for your frenetic chase and fight scenes. Please check it out.

And that's pretty much it. Thanks for stopping by, and keep an eye on my Twitter feed and here in case I put some new material in the pipeline.

What's Happening: Week of April 9, 2018

I'm plugging away this week, as I'm sure many of you are. There are a couple of interesting things going on, though.

First, I want to thank all the folks who stopped by from Facebook to read my series of articles on the making of "Sonny the Monster," a cover I did some 30+ years ago of a Robert Pollard song that became part of the Guided by Voices canon with the release of the third GbV "Suitcase" set in 2009. If you've not heard the track, there's a video of it on YouTube:

If you haven't read the articles and would like to, start here.

Meanwhile, I have new material in the pipeline. This item, with numerous variations, is a simple corporate background I (predictably) called "Simply Business Positive." Pending approval, it'll be available in full (2+ minute), 60 second, 30 second, 15 second, looped and six second bumper versions. Here's a sneak preview of the 30-second version:

Stay tuned here or to my Twitter feed for the heads up when it's ready to license.

Finally, I'm thinking maybe it's getting close to the time to release Volume Two of the "Excelsior" Series. I plan to spend some time this week reviewing candidates for what I anticipate will be a three to four track single/EP. I'' be updating this as I get a little further into the process.

Thanks to you for listening, supporting my work, listening or just stopping by. Please support my work by licensing my stock music or listening to my various stuff on Apple Music/iTunes or Spotify (search for "thisbrucesmith"). See you next week.

What's Happening: Week of August 28, 2017

The eclipse has come and gone, and my own big event went well too. Now it's time to look ahead, to a long weekend and beyond . . .

Excelsior: Volume One Online

I don't know about you, but I am definitely doing my 'Happy Dance' over the release of Excelsior: Volume One. The release went off without a hitch Thursday, and I've created a page for the EP where you can preview the trailer and download or stream tracks. The only site I don't have a link for yet is Microsoft Groove, but if you have Groove you may be able to search for it from within the app.

You can download from Amazon, iTunes or Google Play and stream right off the page from Apple Music, Spotify, or Tidal. There's a link off my official home page, or you can go to http://bit.ly/xlcrv1. I hope you'll check it out and enjoy!

Stock Music Update: Time to Get Ready for the Holidays

With that out of the way it's time to think about Christmas. Late last week someone licensed one of my royalty-free looped orchestral versions of "Jingle Bells." Guess some folks are getting an early start on promos and other media for the holidays, so I should follow suit. I'll be starting to feature my Christmas collection in my promotions beginning Monday.

I also want to work on some new arrangements of Christmas classics to add to that collection, and hope to have some new material by late this week or early next.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to promote Halloween stock music for at least a couple more weeks, and then more sporadically through mid-October. You can check out the full collection of chilling, spine-tingling tracks here.

If you're a podcaster (or know one), don't forget I have a pretty big collection of intros and loops for all kinds of podcasts, including:

Rock
Pop
Country
Jazz
Metal
Corporate
Light Classical
Baroque
Electronic

There's something for everybody, and I'm not finished creating new ones, so keep an eye on my podcast music collection at Pond5 as the weeks and months progress.

Other Stuff

If you have Spotify, please stop by my artist profile. This week my artist pick is one of my favorite drummers and genre-spanning musician Bill Bruford. If Summer Had It's Ghosts is a unique collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Ralph Towner and bassist Eddie Gomez that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

In addition to that, I have a new playlist on the profile. I call it "Excelsior Plus" and it features all of the tracks from the Excelsior series single and EP, plus my single "Dream Catcher" and some feel good instrumentals. Those are from the great Larry Carlton, Bruford (this time with his self-titled group from the late 70s), and Booker T and the MGs. If you want a lift on your commute or lunch break, please check it out.

And with that I am finished for this post. Have a great week and please keep the poor folks on the Texas Gulf Coast in your thoughts as they endure Hurricane Harvey. Take care.

Coming Soon, Excelsior: Volume One EP

I have some news that I'm excited to share with you today. Within the few weeks I'll be releasing a new EP under the informal banner of the "Excelsior" series. The three-track EP will be titled Excelsior: Volume One and will stick to the theme I've established for this series of releases. They're all former stock music tracks that I'm re-purposing to allow people to add them to their personal motivational playlists without paying a licensing fee. I've remixed and remastered all three tracks, and in one case even added some material.

The track listing for EV1 is as follows:

Happy Dance

Quiet Confidence

Epic Achievement

"Happy Dance" is pretty much what the title suggests. It's got a fun beat and a nice little arpeggiated synth hook. "Quiet Confidence" is the "slow" track of the three but has an uplifting melody. "Epic Achievement" has a a little faster beat and is a great soundtrack for celebrating your personal triumphs.

I'll be releasing future entries in the "Excelsior" series in this format: probably three or at most four tracks at a time every few months. Of course, I'll let everyone know when the EP is out. I think I want to wait until after the solar eclipse since I expect that to dominate the "non-Trump" news over the next couple weeks. Watch here or on my Twitter feed for more details as I figure them out. In the meantime, please preview and enjoy the track "Happy Dance" from my Soundcloud feed.

Quest for Transformation Released

I've now officially released a new single "Quest for Transformation" through DistroKid. This is the first in what I plan to be a series of singles under the "Excelsior" banner. "Excelsior" means "upward," and my intention is to make some of my favorite motivational stock music available for personal use. "Quest" is an electronic instrumental pop track designed to get you an a mood to succeed. I hope you'll check it out and add it to your personal motivational playlist. It's now available via:

Amazon

Google Play
Groove Music

iTunes/Apple Music

Spotify

. . . with more outlets to come.

Announcing Association With DistroKid, New Excelsior Series of Singles

After much consideration, I signed up with DistroKid this week. For those who may be unfamiliar with DistroKid, it's a music distribution system that allows artists to get their music on iTunes, Spotify and other major sites for a flat fee of $19.99 per year for a single artist (like me). I may have to do some extra stuff to ensure that my work is fully monetized on certain platforms like YouTube, and I'm looking into that. Overall, though, the ability to release unlimited singles seems to be the way to go in this new era of streaming.

With that in mind, I'm preparing to launch a new series of singles. Over the coming months I plan to release some of my favorite motivational and inspirational stock music tracks for personal consumption via download or stream. I'll be doing this at (I hope) fairly frequent intervals, and plan to call the series "Excelsior," which means "upward" or "higher." I hope you'll add these singles to your personal list to inspire you to persevere. to believe and achieve. My first single from the series will be "Quest For Transformation." Stay tuned for more information and to find out when it's available on your favorite download or streaming platform.