As part our Independent Album Release Calendar, we are starting a tradition of a dedicated post about album and EP releases that are happening each week. This week, we have an album from Frankie Sunswept and an EP from Taylor Bradshaw. Thursday, April 13, 2023, Frankie Sunswept releases Pink Noise. Purchase the album on Bandcamp: […]
Author Archives: bigcityfolks
February
19
The Localist: Pitching Publicists
posted by bigcityfolks
Just because you have money to be able to pay a publicist does not mean that a publicist will accept you as a client for your upcoming record release. I repeat, just because you have money to be able to pay a publicist does not mean that a publicist will accept you as a client […]
January
25
The Localist: How to Write an Album, Part 7 – The Importance of Singles for Emerging Artists
posted by bigcityfolks
Parts 1-6 have focused more on the theory of writing albums for public consumption, but I wanted to talk a bit about practical matters that affect artists that are starting to pitch records to the public or people in the industry. And so I thought it would be helpful to talk about the concept of […]
September
26
The Localist: The Birth of Imposter Syndrome
posted by bigcityfolks
I begin with the caveat that I am not literally giving an analysis of the birth of imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome has existed for as long as people have been doing art, and naturally arises from the tension between what an artist thinks they have accomplished, and what an artist has actually done. In this […]
January
04
The Localist: The Return of Scam Services, A Public Service Announcement
posted by bigcityfolks
The underground music world is buzzing from a recent mass casualties event in which many musicians have had songs delisted by Spotify because of an algorithm designed to remove songs that have been boosted by artificial plays via bots and fake plays. I won’t get into all the issues that one might have with a […]
December
26
The Localist: Public Service As A Genre
posted by bigcityfolks
I want to reconfigure public attitudes towards artists who write outside of the industry and proposed the term “pro bono musician” the other day but I think the concept deserves some more thought and I’m proposing that we have a genre term which I will call Public Service Musician. By Public Service Musician, I refer […]
September
20
The Localist: How to Write an Album, Part 6 – About-ness in Song and Album Writing
posted by bigcityfolks
In Part 4, we looked at a more expansive conception of what a “hook” is, describing good songwriting as involving a multiplicity of hooks in each song. But a good song isn’t just a random series of layered hooks, no matter how densely packed. The hooks support one another in a determinate way that helps […]
July
13
The Localist: How To Write an Album, Part 5 – The Process of Overwriting
posted by bigcityfolks
If you take the next ten songs that you write and make those ten songs an album, then you will have a mediocre album. If your feeling is that those ten songs are absolute bangers, then you have set your sights too low on what a banger is. On the other hand, if you acknowledge […]
June
29
The Localist: How to Write an Album, Part 4 – A Manifold of Hooks
posted by bigcityfolks
In Parts 1 thru 3, we looked at some more abstract aspects of album writing. Essentially, when you decide to write an album intended for release to the public, you are intending that the public listen to your album. However, asking the public to listen to your album places non-insubstantial burdens on you to put […]
June
17
The Localist: You Are Essential If You Make Yourself Essential
posted by bigcityfolks
A few days ago, a meme was being passed around showing a picture of a survey indicating that artists were deemed the “least essential” job, eking out the title by a slim margin over Telemarketers. (71% to 69%). The survey was not done in the United States – it was a survey of 1000 citizens […]
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