100 Awesome Independent Album and EP Releases You Probably Missed in 2019

Posted on December 29, 2019 by adammarx13

Welcome to the FIFTH annual list of independent albums and EP’s that probably slipped under your radar this year. I’ve been in the music industry for over a decade at this point (I know right?!) and it continues to floor me just how much talent is out there.

Yet here we are again, with even more incredible music for you to sink your teeth into. One of the truest things that keeps me creating these lists year after year is the excitement I derive from the serendipitous discovery of these wide swaths of creativity. Sometimes the best artistry emerges from the best-kept secrets. 🤘🎸

Since 2015, I’ve given you lists of 100 independent albums and EP’s you probably missed during the year. Here they are:

And so, here is the 2019 list in all its glory. I’m equally excited for the new crop of artists here as well as for those returning again. A healthy helping of the content on this year’s list is from artists I’ve known for years and who continue to crank out new material. It’s all balanced by an influx of new content from new artists whom I’ll certainly be keeping tabs on into the new year.

As with all previous lists, these 100 albums and EP’s come from artists all over the world. This year’s list includes artists from: Canada, Greece, Germany, Spain, Austria, Hungary, France, almost ALL of Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland!), Australia, Estonia, Argentina, Mexico, the Philippines, New Zeland, Indonesia, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, the U.K., Poland, and 21 different U.S. states. The independent world is massive.

It’s always interesting to see what each year brings in terms of style and genre, and this year’s list seems to heavily feature classic garage punk, pop-punk, shoegaze, alternative, metal, folk rock, and hard rock material.

With all that out of the way, here are 100 of the independent albums and EP’s that you probably missed in 2019. All were released during the 2019 calendar year.

As always, albums are in no particular order.

Remember, if you dig this and want to see more, follow me on Twitter @adammarx13 and let’s talk music, tech, and startups!

Come take a peek under the radar at the material you probably missed this year—live in my music world for a little while. 😎👍

1. What Happened To Us? (Vol. 1) — The Head — Atlanta, Georgia, USA

What Happened to Us

2. Breathe In Colours — Forever Still — Copenhagen, Denmark

Breathe in Colours

3. Ghost — Bloody Diamonds — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Ghost

4. I’m The Reaper — The Beautiful Monument — Melbourne, Australia

I'm The Reaper

5. Gone Off the Earth — Felic — Helsinki, Finland

Gone Off the Earth

6. Far Canal — Fox Ache — Brisbane, Australia

Far Canal

7. Ephemeral — We Are The Catalyst — Gothenburg, Sweden

Ephemeral

8. Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones on Audiotree Live — Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones — Los Angeles, California, USA

Hannah Wicklund Live

9. Retrospective | Reactive — Have No Clue — Esztergom, Hungary

Retrospective, Reactive

10. Mourning Vibes II — DownStater — Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Mourning Vibes II

11. When Daughters & Sons Revolt — Past Tense Of Never — Graham, North Carolina, USA

When Daughters

12. Show Me Your Teeth — Beth Blade and the Beautiful Disasters — Cardiff, Wales, UK

Show Me Yourth Teeth

13. The Extinction of Unicorns — The Dead Love — Sydney, Australia

The Extinction of Unicorns

14. The Wood Room Sessions — Just Like Honey — New York, New York, USA

The Wood Room Sessions

15. Useless Hands — Rival Town — St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Useless Hands

16. Not So Bold — Dance Contraption — Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Not So Bold

17. Main Street Revival — Main Street Revival — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Main Street Revival

18. Crowned In Frost — Frozen Crown — Milan, Italy

Crowned In Frost

19. Come What May — Oh See Demons — Bergen, Norway

Come What May

20. How Your Life’s Played Out — Montgomery — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Howw Your Life's

21. Alone in the Dark — In Good Nature — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Alone in the Dark

22. Brand New World — Desert Queen — Tartu, Estonia

23. Asleep in the Deep End — Andross — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Asleep In The Deep End

24. It Was Beautiful — Fawner — Bristol, England, UK

It Was Beautiful

25. Traya — Set Fire — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Traya

26. Notti di Follia — Out For Summer — Moderna, Italy

Notti di Follia

27. Slice — Spo — Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Slice

28. Feeding The Void — Hysteria — Dresden, Germany

Feeding the Void

29. Here & Now (EP) — Dangerfield — Brisbane, Australia

Here and Now EP

30. Celebration — CityState — Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA

Celebration

31. Dream Living — Lost Mind — Torrelodones, Spain

Dream Living

32. So It Began — Silvernite — Greece

So It Began

33. Bridges We Build | Bridges We Burn — Teresa Banks — Helsinki, Finland

Bridges We Build, Bridges We Burn

34. Serenity — Saint Raven — Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Serenity

35. Two Sides — Dirty Rugs — Seattle, Washington, USA

Two Sides

36. ATERA — Zea Mays — Bilbao, Spain

Atera

37. LP1 — Clouds & Satellites — Savannah, Georgia, USA

LP1

38. Three on Three EP — Jack Droppers & the Best Intentions — Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Three on Three EP

39. CRAFTING EP — CRAFTING — Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Crafting EP

40. The World Conspires — Birdeatsbaby — Brighton, England, UK

The World Conspires

41. Transcend — Hello, Mountain — Denver, Colorado, USA

Transcend

42. Spiral Down — Blue Velvet Drapes — Los Angeles, California, USA

Spiral Down

43. Redeemer — Red Handed Denial — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Redeemer

44. Maladjusted — My Secret Haven — Warsaw, Poland

Maladjusted

45. Glitter Trails — Glitter Trails — Los Angeles, California, USA

Glitter Trails

46. Memorias — Carla Monterrubio — Mexico City, Mexico

Memorias

47. The Toll — DUSK — Vienna, Austria

The Toll

48. Manic EP — Lie to Life — Detroit, Michigan, USA

Manic EP

49. Genetic Nobodies — Genetic Nobodies — Los Angeles, California, USA

Genetic Nobodies

50. Skull Flower — John Tessier — Paris, France

Skull Flower

51. Unbreakable — Keep Flying — New Jersey, USA

Unbreakable

52. Scream In My Dream — Strangers In The Attic — Zurich, Switzerland

Scream in My Dream

53. Stories in Time — Time Jugglers — Sofia, Bulgaria

Stories in Time

54. A New Dawn — AltHero — Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Spain

A New Dawn

55. On A Flow — Breitenbach — Frankfurt, Germany

On a Flow

56. L’hameçon — ATHECIO — Lyon, France

L'hamecon

57. Dusky Wing — Dusky Wing — Los Angeles, California, USA

Dusky Wing

58. PALIMONY EP — PALIMONY — Gainesville, Florida, USA

Palimony EP

59. On Fences — Between Bodies — Berlin, Germany

On Fences

60. Dormancy — Playing Pretend — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Dormancy

61. Woodland Rites — Green Lung — London, England, UK

Woodland Rites

62. Peachy Keen EP — Golden Cinema — Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Peachy Keen EP

63. Thunderjoy — West Valley Shakers — Sheridan, Oregon, USA

Thunderjoy

64. Queen of the Pill — The Jackets — Bern, Switzerland

Queen of the Pill

65. After Dark — Pale Lips — Montreal, Quebec, Canada

After Dark

66. Erebus — Returned To The Earth — Nuneaton, England, UK

Erebus

67. Schizophrenia — Altersight — Saint Petersburg, Russia

Schizophrenia

68. IV — OMAHA — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

69. Egress — TopLady — Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Egress

70. Blind by Midnight — Dino Bravo — Burlington, Vermont, USA

Blind by Midnight

71. Cool Evil — Glued — St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Cool Evil

72. Stressor — Wine Lips — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Stressor

73. Here It Is — Fragile Canyons — Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Here It Is

74. Feels Like Forever — Pretty Bird — Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Feels Like Forever

75. Larmes Confettis — Cosmophone — Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada

Larmes confettis

76. UNO — Black Betty — Villa Maria, Argentina

UNO

77. The Ghostwriter — The Ghostwriter — Detroit, Michigan, USA

The Ghostwriter

78. Pen Name — Pen Name — Canterbury, England, UK

Pen Name

79. Hoping, Not Hopeful — Low Vault — Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Hoping, Not Hopeful

80. Planet Hunter — Planet Hunter — Wellington, New Zealand

Planet Hunter

81. Butterfly Distortion — Dive to Blue — Buenos Aires, Argentina

Butterfly Distortion

82. Take Her My Life — Castle Black — Brooklyn, New York, USA

Take Her My Life

83. Starburst – EP — Truett & The Traitors — Springfield, Missouri, USA

Starburts EP

84. Go — MoND — Bandung, Indonesia

85. A War Within — Enmy — Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

A War Within

86. The Devil You Know — The Coathangers — Atlanta, Georgia, USA

The Devil You Know

87. Manic Mood — Easy Jane — Beirut, Lebanon

Manic Mood

88. Demonstration — Floral Canyon — Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Demonstration

89. Exhale — The Sleep Department — Brooklyn, New York, USA

Exhale

90. ep — Soft Topics — Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

91. SPLASH – EP — Service Delay — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Splash EP

92. Welcome to the Block — Stonewall BLVD — Denver, Colorado, USA

Welcome to the Block

93. The New Joys E.P. — The New Joys — Brooklyn, New York, USA

The New Joys EP

94. Superfuzz — Superfuzz — A Coruña, Spain

Superfuzz

95. Overnight — Insomnia — Milan, Italy

Overnight

96. EP 2019 — Dischord — Aix En Provence, France

EP 2019

97. Young & Dumb — All In Due Time — New York, New York, USA

Young and Dumb

98. Indeed EP — Indeed — Budapest, Hungary

Indeed ep

99. Mural — Mural — Cebu, The Philippines

Mural

100. No Missed Calls, No New Messages — The Ragetones — Pueblo, Colorado, USA

No Missed Calls

***

If you enjoyed this list please share and give these artists some love!

100 Awesome Independent Album and EP Releases You Probably Missed in 2018

Posted on December 28, 2018 by adammarx13

Another December just about passed, and another 100 independent albums and EP’s you probably missed this year. In any artistic industry, so much of the exciting content flies quietly under the radar, except for when you know where to look for it. 🤘🎸

Since 2015, I’ve given you lists of 100 independent albums and EP’s you probably missed during the year. Here they are:

Now here comes 2018’s. I’m so stoked for the new crop of artists here, as well as for those returning again. A lot of the content on this year’s list comes from artists I’ve known for years, producing music for new projects they’ve put together recently. This is a different kind of excitement; I love seeing the evolution of these creatives.

As with all previous lists, these 100 albums and EP’s come from artists all over the world. This year’s list includes artists from: Canada, Greece, Germany, South Korea, Belarus, Austria, Singapore, France, South Africa, Sweden, Australia, Norway, Spain, Estonia, Ukraine, Italy, the U.K., Switzerland, Russia, and 22 different U.S. states. The independent world is massive.

It’s always interesting to see what each year brings in terms of style and genre, and 2018 seems to have been heavy on punk, pop-punk, alternative, instrumental, metal, and jazz-influenced material, both in terms of my personal taste and overall releases.

With all that said, here are 100 of the independent albums and EP’s that you probably missed in 2018. All were released during the 2018 calendar year. Music is multidimensional, and all these artists should be treated as such.

As always, albums are in no particular order.

Come expand your universe and live in my world for a little while. 😎👍

1. Satellites — Chelsea Shag — Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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2. Painting with Scissors — Andy Gruhin — Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

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3. Feels — Fair Panic — Wayne, New Jersey, USA

Fair-Panic

4. Overseas — White Coven — Zaragoza, Spain

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5. Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones — Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones — Nashville, Tennessee, USA

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6. Dreamland — Just Like Honey — New York, New York, USA

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7. Personal Issues — Oh See Demons — Bergen, Norway

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8. My Only Hope — Adam Singer — San Francisco, California, USA

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9. Mind Tricks — Brownstone Inc. — Graz, Austria

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10. Thriving, Given The Consequences — Soviet Ohio — Syracuse, New York, USA

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11. In Moon We Trust — Hālley — Paris, France

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12. What The Wreck? — Stan Stewart — Ithaca, New York, USA

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13. Poor You, Part Two — Jinxbox — Middlebury, Vermont, USA

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14. Centipede – EP — Blooming Fire — Los Angeles, California, USA

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15. The Candleman and the Curtain — The Earth and I — Warwick, New York, USA

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16. Everyone I’ve Ever Loved — Valleyheart — Salem, Massachusetts, USA

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17. Kingdoms — Coopertheband — Nashville, Tennessee, USA

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18. Self Titled — Alias May — Melbourne, Australia

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19. Make My Millennium — Resident One — Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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20. FunnySexyCool — Hollywood Horses — Birmingham, Alabama, USA

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21. .ghostworld – EP — .ghostworld — Singapore, Singapore

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22. Heaven and Her Demons — BlackBeak — Johannesburg, South Africa

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23. Wherever That Is — Panhandler — Stockholm, Sweden

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24. White Roses EP — Dream Chambers — Nashville, Tennessee, USA

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25. Soul Transfer — Emphasis — Tallin, Estonia

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26. Westline Drive EP — Westline Drive — San Francisco, California, USA

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27. EP — Lampion — Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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28. Salvation — The Penske File — Burlington, Ontario, Canada

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29. Hypnotizing Euphoria — The Who Was Phone — Zurich, Switzerland

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30. Bridges – EP — For The Fire — Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

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31. Disposition — Young Animals — St. Louis, Missouri, USA

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32. Glow In The Dark — Rachel Rose Mitchell — Melbourne, Australia

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33. Dear Beer — The Bombpops — Los Angeles, California, USA

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34. Aftermind — HighView — Canberra, Australia

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35. It’s History, It’s Poetry — Detour North — Chicago, Illinois, USA

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36. Voices in My Head — Failing Up — Los Angeles, California, USA

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37. Omega — Shades of Dissonance — Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

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38. From the Wild Sky — Halie Loren — Eugene, Oregon, USA

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39. Up in Roses — Fever — Portland, Oregon, USA

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40. Passing Years — Looking For Alaska — Regensburg, Germany

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41. Desire Paths — Turnspit — Chicago, Illinois, USA

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42. Absolution EP — Keating — Columbus, Ohio, USA

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43. The Fallen King — Frozen Crown — Milan, Italy

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44. Heartwoken EP — The Revies — Los Angeles, California, USA

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45. Amnesiatic — ODD ROBOT — Fullerton, California, USA

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46. Everything Is Temporary — Between You & Me — Melbourne, Australia

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47. Duoyu — Duoyu — Athens, Greece

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48. Six People in a Dream — Baronaqua — Melbourne, Australia

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49. Hometown Static — Second Street — Kansas City, Missouri, USA

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50. Happy Thoughts — Midfield — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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51. Becoming a Ghost — Becoming a Ghost — Troy, New York, USA

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52. Bedtime — Pawn Pawn — Toledo, Ohio, USA

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53. Alliance — We Call The Shots — Phoenix, Arizona, USA

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54. Mother’s Keeper — Mother’s Keeper — Birmingham, Alabama, USA

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55. Is an EP — THIS — Buffalo, New York, USA

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56. Distraction EP — Paper Citizen — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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57. Nostalgia — deerfield. — Syracuse, New York, USA

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58. Street Talk — Big White — Sydney, Australia

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59. For Me This Time — Analog Heart — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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60. While We Dream — Lights & Motion — Gothenburg, Sweden

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61. Raw Sugar — L’Absence — Zaragoza, Spain

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62. Tameless — Buffalo Rampage — Moscow, Russia

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63. Never Asked for It EP — Sorry, Scout — St. Louis, Missouri, USA

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64. Old Soul — Sharp Sleeves — Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

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65. Aspire — VENUES — Stuttgart, Germany

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66. From Blue to Bone — Mama Doom — Poughkeepsie, New York, USA

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67. Heart Whispers (EP) — Grace & the Midnight Angel — Clovis, California, USA

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68. Cirque Du Skank — Skunk Funk — American Canyon, California, USA

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69. Spring Silver EP — Spring Silver — Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

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70. The View From Here — Stealing Home — Concord, California, USA

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71. Weird’N’Confused — Appocaloosers — Madrid, Spain

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72. Inception — Wallbangers — Nantes, France

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73. Wanderlust EP — Growling Rabbit — Minsk, Belarus

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74. Paper Saints — Paper Saints — Dallas, Texas, USA

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75. Spinneret EP — JEM — Singapore, Singapore

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76. Cashmore Demos — Cashmore — Brisbane, Australia

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77. Dakota — Go Murphy — Fargo, North Dakota, USA

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78. Categories of Colour — Either/Or — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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79. Facade — Boxford — Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

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80. Casual Corner — Blesst Chest — Portland, Oregon, USA

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81. Paper Hearts — The Brothers Union — Asbury Park, New Jersey, USA

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82. New Ruins — Candace — Portland, Oregon, USA

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83. Growing Pain — Envious View — Springfield, Missouri, USA

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84. Hangin’ On! — The Glycereens — Brisbane, Australia

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85. Digital EP — Anemoria — Fullerton, California, USA

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86. Agonize — Sever The Ear — Gwangju, South Korea

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87. Laugh It Off! — Domino & the Derelicts — San Jose, California, USA

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88. Glass Bones — WolvesMouth — Voorhees, New Jersey, USA

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89. Ashes — Led By Lanterns — Birmingham, England, UK

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90. A Quiet Riot Vol. 1 — We Are Riot — Bremen, Germany

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91. Membership Dues — Sad Girlz Club — San Francisco, California, USA

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92. Broken Codes — In Parallel — Nashville, Tennessee, USA

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93. The Deep Sleep — Unveil — Sherebrooke, Quebec, Canada

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94. The Nexstone — The Nexstone — Kramatorsk, Ukraine

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95. Comfort Zone — Superhaunted — Miami, Florida, USA

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96. Fault Lines EP — Aeve Ribbons — Manchester, England, UK

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97. Visions EP — Noise Maze — Udine, Italy

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98.The Outer Space (EP) — Fallcie — Saint Petersburg, Russia

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99. Jaren — Jenn’s Apartment — Lansing, Michigan, USA

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100. Nothing Left — My Favorite Fault — Moscow, Russia

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If you enjoyed this please share, and feel free to Tweet me. Let’s talk music and tech!

2018: A New Year with New Goals

Posted on January 1, 2018 by adammarx13

Perhaps the last picture I’ll post with my trusty iPhone 4S

2017 is over and 2018 is now here. That’s a good thing; last year was a tough one. A few very close relationships ended, and after a few years, I closed my first company. But I also learned that there is life after failure.

So here we are now in the new year, and I’m excited to start working on a bunch of new things. Here are some of the things you’ll see from me in 2018:

😎 🎸 I’m working on a new music project (company? 😎 ). That’s right — after a badly needed six-month hiatus (maybe longer?) from actually running a music-startup, I’m gathering feedback on a new idea which is incredibly exciting. So far, feedback has been very positive. Discussions with a select number of artists as well as a few journalists, founders, and confidants have yielded an ever-clearer perspective on how this can grow. I’m excited to read more people into this as the year progresses.
📝 I’m working on editing a very special document that I’m extremely excited to finish. I’m a word-nerd, and in editing this piece, I can honestly say it’s been one of the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve done in my professional writing career.
📝 🤘 I have an avalanche of new music articles written and in the works which I can’t wait to see published. Some of these will shake things up (I hope), but hey, what’s the point of being a music journalist if you’re not a little punk about it?
📝 📽️ I’m working on writing a rough draft of a screenplay (no, really!). Last year, I was kicking around an idea which I thought could be fun to work on, and over the last week, I’ve started mapping out characters and basic scene dialogue. I’ve never done a screenplay, so I am more than happy to have collaborators!
🙋 🙋‍♂️ 🙌 🤝 I will start driving harder towards being more central to the discussions on sexual harassment and how to fix the issues we have before us. This is less of a “me” thing, and more something I am incredibly passionate about; I am open to collaborating with anyone on projects which will help with the goals of creating a paradigm with more meritocracy, equality, and egalitarianism.
😎 🎙️ I’m incredibly excited (and flattered) to have an invitation to be on a few podcasts starting this year — because I don’t talk enough as it is ha!
🤔 📝 I’m working on plans for a new guide which will (hopefully) excite word-smiths everywhere; more on this project in the coming months.
📝 📖 I’m writing a pseudo-review of a book I’ve been reading which has changed my perspective on so many things, and has similarly confirmed a lot of the mantras which I try to live my life by. This will be out by the end of January.
📝 🤝 I will be releasing many new articles in my Minimum Viable Network series.
🎸 😉 I’ll be doing more work with artists (some have asked me to manage ha!) — maybe there’s a producer-credit in my future.
🤔 📖 There are a few of my past articles which I have been toying with revising into a rough pitch for a book. Let’s see what the year brings.
😄 I will be exploring more speaking opportunities.
😎 🤘With the 2017 list out, I’m ready to start working on the new “100 Awesome Independent Album and EP Releases You Probably Missed” list for 2018.
😄 🙌 I’m excited to start having * Many * More * Conversations * — I’m all about creating new things, and I look forward to picking up new projects throughout the new year, both with current partners in crime and new draftees.

Thank you to everyone who helped me pull through 2017. Your support means more than you know. Now, on to 2018!

***

Find me on Twitter @adammarx13 and let’s talk music, tech, and business!

100 Awesome Independent Album and EP Releases You Probably Missed in 2017

Posted on December 15, 2017 by adammarx13

Here we are, back in December, and everyone knows what that means: more “Best of…” lists trumpeting the best new music on the scene. And as always, so much of the independent world flies completely under the radar.

For the last two years, I’ve drawn up lists of “100 independent albums and EP’s you probably missed” during the year. Here they are:

Now it’s time for list number three, and I am so excited partly because of how the map is expanding to include places which weren’t touched in the first two lists.

As with the first two lists, these 100 albums and EP’s come from artists all over the world. This year’s list includes artists from: Canada, the U.K. (England, Scotland, and Wales), Australia, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Belarus, Romania, Slovakia, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, Greece, Myanmar, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Serbia, Austria, Argentina, Ukraine, Indonesia, Poland, and 28 different U.S. states. The independent world is very, very big.

I’m also pleased to see an evolution of my own tastes and appreciation; this year’s list includes more pop, electronic, R&B, and jazz influences, obviously mixed in with a healthy helping of alternative, rock, and metal.

So here are 100 of the albums and EP’s that you probably missed in 2017. All were released during the 2017 calendar year; imagine if the mainstream paid attention to all the artists out there, and not only the handful we hear about.

As always, albums are in no particular order.

Go expand your universe. You’d be shocked at what you discover.

1. Why Am I Swimming Around Like This? — Fishtank — London, England, UK

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2. Tube One — Okto Vulgaris — Chur, Switzerland

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3. Space — The Head — Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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4. It’s Butter – EP — It’s Butter — Los Angeles, California, USA

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5. Grace Blue — Grace Blue — Los Angeles, California, USA

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6. Machine — Hello, Mountain — Denver, Colorado, USA

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7. The Hurricane EP — Morganway — Norwich, England, UK

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8. Tooth & Nail — Freya Wilcox & The Howl — Brooklyn, New York, USA

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9. Orphan Planet — Orphan Planet — Portland, Maine, USA

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10. The Truth & The Lie — Skies Collide — Brisbane, Australia

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11. Commitment Issues — Anyone’s Guess — Orlando, Florida USA

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12. Dark Matter EP — Auditory Armory — Altamonte Springs, Florida, USA

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13. Golden — The Talking Hours — Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

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14. Animals — Blue Eyed Sons — Helsinki, Finland

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15. Dark Swallows — Dark Swallows — Boise, Idaho, USA

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16. Everything You Ever Wanted — Street Pieces — Brisbane, Australia

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17. The Trouble With Teeth — Little Coyote — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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18. A Flood — Twin Strike — Brooklyn, New York, USA

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19. Bad Habit — Beth Blade and The Beautiful Disasters — Cardiff, Wales, UK

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20. Skiddish — The Fallaways — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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21. Flux — Form Constant — Birmingham, Alabama, USA

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22. Background Noise — Treading Water — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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23. Breaking the Line [EP] — The Strikes — Souchez, France

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24. Wide Open — Weaves — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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25. Eclipse Of The Sun — Liquid Sunshine — Zurich, Switzerland

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26. Worn Out Heart — Hollow Sidewalks — Portland, Oregon, USA

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27. Start a Fire — The Burn Ins — Elkford, British Columbia, Canada

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28. Coyote Gunfight — Dynamite Thunderpunch — Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

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29. Monuments EP — Stereo Honey — London, England, UK

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30. The Gang — The Gang — Bratislava, Slovakia

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31. Drive — Sidewatcher — Detroit, Michigan, USA

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32. End Times — Brother Sister Hex — Denver, Colorado, USA

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33. Speak — Honey & the 45s — Chicago, Illinois, USA

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34. With – EP — Fencer — Los Angeles, California, USA

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35. Soul Sickness — The Versa Contrast — Revere, Massachusetts, USA

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36. A Sign of the Times — Cold California — Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

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37. Auto Racing EP 2 — Auto Racing — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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38. Note to Self – EP — Ready The Prince — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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39. Decade — Fighting Jacks — San Jose, California, USA

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40. Gates Of Expression — Wildchild — Sibiu, Romania

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41. virus. — Novembervägen — Stockholm, Sweden

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42. Hypnotic Illusions EP — Living Still Life — Sydney, Australia

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43. A Show For No One — Just Noise — Des Plaines, Illinois, USA

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44. All Systems Go — CODED — Cape Town, South Africa

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45. Wasted EP — Kreepy Krush — Minsk, Belarus

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46. Better Days — The Clock Tower — Fukuoka, Japan

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47. Tales of Betrayal and Deceit — The McMiners — Belo Horizonte, Brazil

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48. Black and Blue EP — Little Raven — Nashville, Tennessee, USA

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49. Hydra Plane — Hydra Plane — Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

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50. Arcadia Feliz — Attikus Finch — Pamplona, Spain

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51. Sublimation — Gravelarks — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

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52. The Words We’ll Never Say — In Good Nature — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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53. Polaroids — A Fire With Friends — Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA

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54. Plan Of Action — The Kingpins — Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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55. No Time to Die — Daeodon — Louisville, Kentucky, USA

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56. Relics & Cycles — Before And After Science — Oporto, Portugal

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57. In Arcadia — Field Of Giants — Oxford, England, UK

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58. REM — SIAN — Tokyo, Japan

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59. Aura — Set Fire — Boston, Massachusetts, USA

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60. Karate Break EP — Karate Break — Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

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61. Starla — Starla — Tacoma, Washington, USA

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62. Fine Motor — Fine Motor — Reno, Nevada, USA

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63. Clones — Naked Shark — Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

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64. Salting — Keeper — Washington, D.C., USA

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65. Radio Silence — Paranoir — Thessaloniki, Greece

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66. Secret Demo — Shadow Party — Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

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67. Flying High — Laneslide — Petrovsk, Russia

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68. Weight — Old State — St. Louis, Missouri, USA

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69. Playground — Paranoid — Lille, France

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70. Crash The Gate — Cab Ride Home — Manassas, Virginia, USA

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71. Space and Grit — Domestic Blend — Omaha, Nebraska, USA

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72. Attic Salt — Attic Salt — Springfield, Illinois, USA

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73. Demo — Piines — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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74. Heavy Dreaming — Painted Shut — Garden Grove, California, USA

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75. MUTT E.P. — Whorehound — Terre Haute, Indiana, USA

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76. Cinder Box — Cinder Box — London, England, UK

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77. Heavy High — Bruiser Queen — St. Louis, Missouri, USA

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78. The Endless and Unseen — Like The Ocean — San Francisco, California, USA

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79. In Plain Sight — Elastic Blur — Downingtown, Pennsylvania, USA

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80. As Far As The Stars — Nine Year Sister — Queensland, Australia

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81. Fever Dreamin’ — Billy King & The Bad Bad Bad — Austin, Texas, USA

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82. Sleep — Fawner — Cheltenham, England, UK

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83. The Forge Sessions — Hot Raisin — Norwich, England, UK

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84. Primeval — Iron Heade — Rancagua, Chile

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85. Escapade — Pandelic — Yangon, Myanmar

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86. Patterns — Longclaw — Portland, Oregon, USA

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87. Defector — HEAVYCRAFT — Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

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88. Change — Traces — Tamworth, Australia

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89. Thomas — The Shaftons — Vienna, Austria

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90. Parasite — The Coathangers — Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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91. Widower — Widower — Sydney, Australia

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92. Rock for Life — Early Grey — Moscow, Russia

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93. First Attack EP — Snappy Strokes — Krakow, Poland

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94. The Story — Oceantides — Kiev, Ukraine

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95. Forgiver EP — Shoplifters — Novi Sad, Serbia

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96. Skoll — Astro Diver — Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

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97. Alter Ego — Replica — Buenos Aires, Argentina

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98. The Best Things — Beat Off! — Kediri, Indonesia

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99. Kings – EP — August Tides — Cleethorpes, England, UK

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100. Demos 2017 — Goodnight Cairo — Seattle, Washington, USA

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***

If you enjoyed this please share, and feel free to Tweet me. Let’s talk music and tech!

Without Majors, SoundCloud Had The Potential To Be A Better, Independent Music Space

Posted on September 15, 2017 by adammarx13

Originally published on Crunchbase News on August 21, 2017.

It’s no secret that SoundCloud is troubled. Last month, news broke that the music streaming service slashed 40 percent of its workforce (173 jobs) and closed two of its offices (London and San Francisco). Two weeks ago, it dropped its founding CEO to secure new funding on the back of reports that it could run out of money within 50 days or so.

The developments weren’t without augur or portent.

SoundCloud’s current situation brings us back to our prior thesis: namely that the company’s shift into the major label paradigm was a tactical error. And due to that mistake, SoundCloud lost its focus on an exploding demographic in the form of independent music, which it initially showed signs of controlling.

Rising Red Ink

Let’s run the numbers quickly. As I noted in my previous piece, Soundcloud’s revenue has grown for years. In 2010, the company recorded $1.8 million in top line; in 2012, $9.6 million; and, in 2014, $19.6 million.

But those gains came with rising losses. Soundcloud lost $2.01 million in 2010; $14.9 million in 2012; and $44.2 million in 2014.

The trend of impressive losses continued into 2015, when SoundCloud’s revenue increased by 10 percent to $22.5 million. Unfortunately, for the company, its losses grew by a larger 23.5 percent to $54.6 million in 2015.

And according to a recent Music Business Worldwide analysis, even post-cuts, Soundcloud won’t cut expenses to fully ameliorate its rising costs and royalty payments.

Major (Label) Gamble

Its cuts in staff are indicative of a larger problem. Namely, SoundCloud’s royalty payments are expensive. If Soundcloud’s payout to the major labels is similar to Spotify, it could reach the 80 percent mark of its subscription-sourced top line; in related topics, SoundCloud has consistently declined to comment on how much the major labels own of the company.

Adding to its financial picture, SoundCloud opened a $70 million credit line to keep its doors open.

While major label deals grant SoundCloud access to the world’s most popular catalogs, the royalty payments accompanying that catalog can be a Sisyphus-like experience.

The accompanying costs are high. For example, growth only accounts for one factor in determining a royalty payment. Other factors can range from the labels’ own fiscal bottom lines (which no streaming service can control) to the labels’ employment of a Most Favored Nation clause in their streaming contracts.

Major label content is also available through an array of streaming options: Spotify, Apple, (now) SoundCloud, Pandora, Tidal, and so forth. Given the number of services offering major label tunes, access to that content doesn’t make a streaming service unique. Rather, it gives the major labels outsized influence on a streaming service’s content offerings.

In Soundcloud’s case, the new major label paradigm likely impacted the now-beleaguered music streaming company in two ways:

Major label deals changed SoundCloud’s value proposition. Due to its major label deal, Soundcloud could sell the same major label content as Spotify and Apple. SoundCloud would no longer be the home only for independent audio, putting a pin in what arguably made the streaming service unique.
The major label deals now required SoundCloud to pay the same piper as Spotify, Apple, and others.

All of this amplified SoundCloud’s already-noted strategic shift, and potential misstep: moving away from the independent music demographic—a group that it had performed well in previously.

Up until autumn 2015, SoundCloud primarily subsisted on independent music and user-generated content. But in the time it took SoundCloud to switch paradigms from the independent universe to the major labels, the market had changed. Whereas independent material up to 2015 was considered disinteresting to general consumers due to niche appeal, by the end of 2016, independent music streaming revenues made up $5.1 billion of the industry’s total haul of $16.1 billion. In fact, the independent market outsized Universal’s cut by more than $500 million.

Multiple arguments can be made about what has led the independent demographic to become the largest pie of the streaming-revenue pie. What’s clear, though, is that the old trope that’s been widely circulated about independent music—that nobody cares and it doesn’t make any money—is likely false.

From 2003-2012 alone, the independent landscape exploded in terms of participants. And it’s that market that Soundcloud likely ceded ground on due to its deals with major labels.

What Ifs And Takeaways

All this underscores SoundCloud’s decision to start down the major label path.

If it had made the same job cuts and office closures in 2015 that have now been enacted, then Soundcloud might look very different. The company might have been able to close the gap long enough for the numbers to show—as they are now—that independent music is a real area of growth in the music universe.

If that had happened, it might have given financial-credence to its massive independent catalog, independent-enthusiast userbase, and independent reputation. But the major label paradigm is like a lobster-trap; it’s very, very hard to back out of once you’re in.

Of course, all that assumes that Soundcloud would have been able to settle lawsuits and figure out a way to monetize its gigantic repository. Assuming it could, SoundCloud might now be the clear frontrunner in its own arena of music, almost completely removed from the whims and dynamics of the major label world which Spotify and Apple have to contend with.

What’s important to recognize now is that the music universe is multidimensional, and, with the explosive growth of independent content, it’s adding new layers by the day. SoundCloud’s plight should encourage—not dissuade—future would-be music-tech startups or entrepreneurs and investors. Let Spotify and Apple battle it out for the major label world; the independent universe is growing quickly anyway.

Whether it’s too late for Soundcloud to take advantage of that growth will depend on its ability to navigate its choppier, less-funded, waters.

The Streaming Wars Continue, And SoundCloud Is In The Balance

Posted on September 2, 2017 by adammarx13

Originally published on Crunchbase News on May 17, 2017.

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It’s been a challenging year for SoundCloud. And its last quarter hasn’t made things any easier on the music-streaming startup.

Amidst a streaming war between Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and others, SoundCloud’s orange cloud is greying. Spotify passed on buying the company in December, it’s seen a patent dispute, a high-level shakeup, and multiple reports (here and here) have explored the possibility that it might run out of money by the year’s end.

The news has not been good for SoundCloud. (When contacted, SoundCloud declined to comment on its financial situation.)

So what comes next for the music company? The answer to that question is anchored on three points:

The economics of streaming for non-label players.
SoundCloud’s efforts to expand past its original, core user base.
Its efforts to stabilize allegedly difficult financials.

We’ll approach each topic respectively to get a handle on how it will impact SoundCloud.

Streaming 101

To understand SoundCloud’s current financial situation, we have to understand streaming economics.

Streaming companies license material from two main sources: major labels and independent artists. In SoundCloud’s context, it’s the first content source which matters. Major labels set the standard royalty rates which services like SoundCloud must pay for access to their critical libraries.

It is notoriously difficult to pin down what a private music streaming company is paying in royalties. For companies like Spotify and Soundcloud, royalty payouts can total in the neighborhood of 70-85 percent of a company’s revenue.

To that point, rates released in reference to Spotify over the last few years have been all over the map. In 2013, Spotify released (via Stereogum) its own accounting of its royalty payout structure, which detailed that ~30 percent of generated stream revenue stays with Spotify while the other roughly 70 percent went to labels, publishers, and others. There was no mention of any additional costs.

In August 2016, however, Music Business Worldwide calculated that ~84 percent of Spotify’s topline went out the door for “royalty distribution and other costs.” Again, those other costs were not defined. Music Business Worldwide then followed up on its first statement and calculation with the note that Spotify’s precise royalty payout is believed to be just under 70 percent.

In 2017 alone, TechCrunch reported that Spotify’s royalty payout was 70-72 percent, except when other factors—like catalog geography and free vs. paid streaming—could bump the royalty payout as high as 84 percent. All this was before Spotify’s new deal that supposedly lowered royalty payouts in exchange for windowing. The aforementioned “extenuating factors” are so important to acknowledge precisely because they affect so much of any music company’s catalog.

So is Spotify’s royalty payout less than 70 percent, 70 percent even, 70-72 percent, greater than 70 percent, or even up to the low 80s? No one really knows except Spotify and the labels. Even using Spotify as a bar for understanding SoundCloud’s royalties leaves us convoluted

Of course, streaming services have an interest in limiting their payout rates, but streaming companies don’t have much leverage due to an imbalance of power. If SoundCloud or Spotify don’t have a major label’s catalog, either one could immediately start to shed subscribers to competing services not locked into the same label fight. In music streaming, platform diversification only flows in one direction.

Shifting Priorities

The streaming cost matter puts SoundCloud’s recent strategies into context.

SoundCloud cut its teeth licensing content in the independent world, a much different paradigm than Spotify or Apple Music. Because it built its success on independent material, SoundCloud wasn’t beholden to the major label oligarchy for material.

Priorities shifted when SoundCloud changed direction and pursued major label content on top of its independent catalog.

It signed deals with every major label, leading to a new direction for the company. When pressed last year, SoundCloud responded with the stark “no comment” on how much equity it may have provided to labels for access to the respective catalogs. Additionally, most of the deals hinged on SoundCloud releasing an on-demand premium service to directly compete with Spotify and Apple.

By summer 2016, SoundCloud had evolved into another major label distribution platform. This effectively posed the conundrum of potentially alienating its initial userbase, which might not have been inclined to see another mainstream music service as necessary in the first place.

Compounding the mainstream content conundrum, SoundCloud’s new catalog was the same mainstream content that its direct competitors were distributing. Further, SoundCloud was now compelled to build a new product to directly compete with Spotify, putting it in a position where it held less power for the content it licensed while burning money at a ridiculous rate.

Challenging Financial Realities

All that sums to the company’s current financial situation.

In order to understand the company’s fiscal situation as it stands today, it behooves us to remind ourselves what we know about its past performance.

As I previously wrote, SoundCloud’s financials in December of last year were as follows:

Revenue tracking upward (source):

2010 – $1.8 million.
2012 – $9.6 million.
2014 – $19.6 million.

With losses ballooning (source):

2010 – $2.01 million.
2012 – $14.9 million.
2014 – $44.2 million.

Based on the new numbers, SoundCloud’s revenue saw a 10 percent increase from $19.6 million in 2014 to $22.5 million in 2015. Its losses, however, increased dramatically by 81 percent, from $44.2 million in 2014 to $54.6 million in 2015.

Debt and Irony

Most recently, SoundCloud raised an additional $70 million in debt funding. With this round of debt funding, it’s likely that SoundCloud is trying to follow Spotify’s example by doubling down on their growth numbers long enough to find an exit. The problem with this strategy is that SoundCloud is nowhere near as big as Spotify, perhaps lowering its M&A potential. While this strategy presents challenges for Spotify as well, the analogy ends right there, since SoundCloud’s debt is barely a pittance of Spotify’s $1 billion debt raise.

Spotify’s delayed IPO casts a shadow of doubt on its smaller rival as well. If the company most obviously in line to acquire it has its own challenges to contend with, it’s clear that its attention will be on its own IPO, rather than a bail-out acquisition of SoundCloud—even at a fire-sale price.

Unfortunately, the reality for SoundCloud is this: the company has extremely unwieldy financials, and its main competitor—the company most likely to acquire them—just delayed its own IPO in order to figure out its own financial situation.

Uncertain Future

The faster that SoundCloud tries to shift to become more like Apple Music and Spotify, the more it runs the risk of highlighting it wasn’t trying to be like the standard streaming services at all.

Whether or not the summer will bring back the orange in our grey cloud remains to be seen.

Unbundled, Part III: Democratizing the Future

Posted on May 3, 2017 by adammarx13

Why democratization and identity are the future of music.

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This is the final entry in the Unbundled series on music dynamics. Read the previously published pieces here:

unbundled

Power, Gatekeeping, Scarcity, and Democratization

Which brings us back to the last step in the cycle: unbundled once again. Only this time, the unbundled dynamic refers to power and ownership. The new unbundled form of power—referenced above—removes the focus of power from the major labels and fractures it, splintering it to varying degrees among the plethora of new artists and startups now emerging.

This is the best thing that could happen because it leads to a more stabilized version of meritocracy in music. The top-heavy, unbalanced paradigm of major label control over everything that a fan is exposed to is ending, and being replaced with a much murkier—but more expansive—reality. This in turn affects scarcity and gatekeeping on a massive level.

Scarcity is obsolete; democratization wins.

Ownership

Perhaps the most prickly point here is the concept of ownership in the new age. This is a contentious topic even among friends, and no one really knows what the landscape is going to look like in the next few years. What can be surmised, however, is that concepts of ownership of musical material are evolving. Sampling and other trends in electronic and DJ music, along with self-recording and independent releases, have muddied the waters of who owns what and to what extent.

Now the action of covering or remixing someone else’s song and posting it online bristles feathers. But (most) artists who do this also attribute the proper credits to the original artist(s)—many times in the cover or remix’s title—simply because it’s the right thing to do and because it helps them to disseminate their new version.

Asserting that cover songs and remixes hurt the original artist is a cloudy and jaded argument at best.

Yet, the argument can be made that with this new overhaul in ownership orthodoxy, perhaps the right people are now able to own the things they should have been able to all along. Let us not forget the reality of master tapes (where a record label owns the rights to an artist’s original recordings) which so many artists have regretted. Controlling one’s own material, and deciding what to do with it, are the ultimate power plays an artist can make. Appealing to this new sense of power is the best avenue for emerging music startups to make.

Such a concept is fairly reminiscent of points made by bitcoin enthusiasts, wherein a control-dynamic is illustrated. Controlling access to the material—in this case, bitcoin—is the ultimate power, and any major purchaser can go directly to a bitcoin supplier (i.e. miner) and negotiate significant discounts for their volume of purchase.

In this scenario, the music fan is the purchaser, the artist is the bitcoin miner, and the service that serves as a conduit between the two is better off appealing to and providing value to the artist rather than only the fan. Both are important, but the latter controls the material which the former wants to consume.

Money and Community

One of the loudest major factors that floats around is the argument over money, from streaming, downloading, merch sales, ticket sales, etc. Let’s be clear though: streaming and downloading—the purchase of musical material—is not where the real money is for artists. It never has been. The money has always been in the merchandise and live ticket sales. What does this mean nowadays? Community.

While it is certainly arguable and many times probable that new unbundling dynamics have struck at artists’ ability to make money from the sale of their music, it is equally arguable that it has enabled them to make money from other, more lucrative, avenues.

An artist can only sell a $10 album so many times (unless you’re a major label darling). Their real bread and butter is in their community cultivation: growing their base, getting people to come out, getting people to spread their music and message, and capitalizing on those efforts. Streaming and downloading revenue is at best a holdover until a better stream is tapped.

The dynamics that exist now in this new unbundled world provide new opportunities for artists. Now, they don’t need to make their money off music sales or streams. Enough access to fans and communication/funding tools exist that they can actually give their music away for free and turn a profit somewhere else.

And this is exactly what a growing number of artists are choosing to do.

The dissemination of their material onto a global stage is much more important than a few album sales here or there, and leads to better things on the other side. A more expansive universe brings more shows, more exposure, more true fans, and more branding opportunities. These are the real things that grant artists staying power.

The Expansive Powers of Identity

Lastly, there is identity. I examined in a previous piece how we’re seeing the rise of “identity platforms” in media. Music is no exception to this. In fact, it might be the shining example of it.

Identity gives music—and by extension all art—certain powers that contribute staying power. Identity is so powerful precisely because it exists independently of genre, mainstream recognition, money, or history; it’s unique in it’s own ability to build bridges where previously there were none. Regarding music, identity brings together people on a core level that can almost supersede differences they might otherwise have.

The power identity—especially in relation to art and music—in its potential to create ever-expanding identities—to create communities. Money is certainly a factor in this, but if a shared identity which draws people towards one another, and can shield them—for better or worse—from outside forces seeking to compromise that unique, collective identity. As music is given the ability to disseminate more and more, more communities will arise around newly-minted identities, and art as a whole will become more lush and layered.

In the wake of these trends in art, music, and media, the power will lay with companies and platforms to not only cultivate these newly emerging identities, but to provide fertile ground for even more embryonic ones. Music becomes a vessel for the expansion of art and identity.

The Upswing

Where does this leave us? In unchartered territory to start with. Artists will continue to grow their power as new technologies make the opportunities possible. The companies which see this trend and capitalize on it will be the ones to stick around and do well. The others, however, who are resistant to this new set of events, will find it challenging to court artists and acquire material if they are determined to hold fast to a paradigm that was beneficial mostly to the major record labels.

Independents artists, and consumers of all strata (not merely the mainstream), will not be ignored or marginalized anymore. They will continue to experiment with the bundling/unbundling process until they find the right fit for themselves, and for their careers. There will be less of a set standard that all need to conform to, and more of a flexible set of possibilities and avenues for people to mix and match to reflect their changing personal experiences.

The future of music is three things: freedom, community, and democratization.

***

Find me on Twitter @adammarx13 and let’s talk music, tech, and business!

Unbundled, Part I: Reformatting the Barriers

Posted on December 20, 2016 by adammarx13

How unwrapping the previous barriers is changing music.

This is a continuation of the Unbundled series on music dynamics. Read the previously published piece here:

Unbundled: Introduction to the Bundle

The first movement in this symphony is the “unbundled” piece. It’s all about “reformatting” the conceptual barriers that initially existed for decades. It’s divided into two parts: Choice and Format.

The former is an exploration of how choice has evolved with the changing technology, and how it’s taken on a power it previously lacked. The latter, however, discusses how new formats have changed music and broken down barriers which artists historically were—most times—unable to scale. Similarly, it’s given light and life to format types which for decades have been ignored by the broad base of music consumers, except perhaps for the most die-hard fans.

unbundled

Choice

The first and most obvious form of unbundling in the music industry is the industry itself; no longer is there simply one music industry to partake in.

Now there are multiple, and they exist as completely separate universes; the major label mainstream, the exponentially growing independent industry, and everything in between. Along with this kind of unbundling of different musical arenas comes a freedom for music fans to explore in new ways.

Where non-mainstream fans were once relegated to shoddy mixtapes and bare-bones independent releases (which many times meant lower quality), now they have a plethora of music sources to choose from, as do all music listeners.

This leads to a level of choice the likes of which has never been seen in music. Now, it’s realistically possible to exist as a music fan outside the mainstream in a holistic way. You’re able to not only find the music that you like, and which speaks to you, but are similarly able to take advantage of growing communities of people like yourself. With the free access to all this new material comes access to other like-minded people.

This is community.

Chris Saad pointed to two distinct contributing factors which have lead us in this direction:

Reducing the cost of inventory and discovery to, in many cases, zero or near zero
Reducing the cost of direct communication and orchestration with more people at once—bypassing the need for manual mediators/editors/orchestrators/curators

Format

Saad’s post also mentioned this within the scope of musical format. What was once a record and CD has now become digital information, thus with more power to disseminate. Even the album format itself is restructuring, as fans looking for a single-song experience are abandoning the long form in favor of something musically shorter.

But this has a swing dynamic as well; while some argue that the album format is dying (or is already dead), many see the opposite.

The unbundling of the album format has actually given it more power than it had before. Now, when an artist chooses to create a full album, a fan knows that there is an artistic meaning behind that, rather than a record label’s fiscal bottom line.

It also lends long-overdue validation to releases that fall in between singles and full albums. EP’s and double-sides have long been ignored by most but the hardcore fans. Now, however, they exist with the same legitimacy as their gaunter and fuller peers.

The Ironic Thing

The ironic thing about these two points—choice and format—is that they’re inherently about one overarching concept: community.

As choice expands and begins to encompass formerly ignored genres and artists, new communities have the ability to coalesce and thrive. Choice isn’t merely about having new material for already established communities to engage in; alternatively, it can lead to a mixing of communities that otherwise might not happen.

Punks and jazz fans may begin to mix over a new punk-jazz fusion genre, and people who otherwise would never have met one another can now suddenly exist alongside each other. This leads to an increased level of creativity and an exponential production of creative material.

And this material is further disseminated throughout communities—splintering them and rebonding them—through new formats of information technology. Communities cease to be rigid and orthodox in their functionality towards music and instead become more elastic—they become living, breathing things which grow and continue to evolve.

This is the unbundling process within music as it should be: an unwrapping of previously rigid dynamics that lends more flexibility and power to the overall process of community cultivation.

The next movement in the symphony will be Part II: Shifting the Paradigm, which will take a look at the BUNDLED dynamic. Concepts discussed will touch on how bundling — but doing so incorrectly in the new era — impacts music consumption and community cultivation.

Stay tuned!

Find me on Twitter @adammarx13 and let’s talk music, tech, and business!

Unbundled: Introduction to the Bundle

Posted on December 19, 2016 by adammarx13

Why the unbundling of the music universe matters.

In recent years, the dynamics of bundling and unbundling have changed everything in media. But they’ve had an especially palpable effect on music.

This is an exploration of the bundling and unbundling dynamics taking place in the music universe right now. Because of the massive amount of information discussed herein, it is necessary to cover it in series of parts, each explaining a particular aspect of change and restructuring.

This series will appear as the following:

Introduction to the Bundle
Part I: Reformatting the Barriers
Part II: Shifting the Paradigm
Part III: Democratizing the Future

Additionally, all four pieces (including the introduction) will subsequently appear as a single, holistic text, entitled: Unbundled: The Story of Music.

This is the first entry in the story.

A New Emerging Dichotomy of Freedom and Reach

A few months ago, Chris Saad penned an article on the dynamics of bundling, and how they’re affecting a number of fields. In his piece, Saad addressed how concepts of bundling are impacting areas of creativity like art and music, among others. Ironically, it had a similar air to Joshua Topolsky’s earlier article on media companies, which itself prompted my response on music-startup realities.

Such examples were only briefly mentioned, but one can go deeper on them, particularly in the way of music. Things are happening now to the age-old structure of music that arguably haven’t changed for the better part of five or six decades. And even that is only the tip of the iceberg.

Part of what was so intriguing about Saad’s examination of these morphing areas is just how much change is going on which is not being discussed. In many ways, Saad’s piece shines a light not only on the changing bundling and unbundling dynamics taking place in music, but how these two different forms—yin and yang—are interacting with one another to shape a new musical landscape. What we see is an emerging dichotomy of freedom and reach that we haven’t seen in quite a while.

Three Trends in a Specific Order

Within the context of music, three trends—unbundling, bundling, and unbundling again—matter. And they matter in that sequence. This is so because each (un)bundling action touches a different area of the music arena, and thus their interaction together forms a new paradigm.

They lay out as follows:

unbundled

Covered in Part I, Reformatting the Barriers

Choice
Format

BUNDLED

Covered in Part II, Shifting the Paradigm

Bundled in the Wrong Way
Power and Paradigm Shift
Sexy vs. Unsexy

unbundled

Covered in Part III, Democratizing the Future

Power, Gatekeeping, Scarcity, and Democratization
Ownership
Money and Community
The Expansive Powers of Identity

The music industry, like all other forms of media, is undergoing such a massive tectonic shift that we’re only beginning to now see how big the fissures are. The most interesting thing will be how these changing power paradigms affect the music coming out, and the communities which are built around the material.

Stay tuned!

Find me on Twitter @adammarx13 and let’s talk music, tech, and business!

100 Awesome Independent Album and EP Releases You Probably Missed in 2016

Posted on December 14, 2016 by adammarx13

It’s that time of the year again — when all those “Best of…” lists come out telling us the supposed cream-of-the-crop releases in music. And as happens every year, they skate right over the slew of amazing independent releases that dropped into our lives.

Last year, I drew up a list of 100 independent albums you probably missed in 2015. Now it’s time to do the same for 2016.

In the interest of fairness, it’s important to note that most of these releases simply follow my personal taste in music genre-wise; they certainly don’t encompass all the amazing independent albums that came out this year in jazz, EDM, rap, classical, or other styles.

As with last year’s list, these 100 albums and EP’s come from artists all over the world. This year’s list has artists from: Canada, the U.K., France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, China, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Belarus, Germany, Israel, China, Mexico, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and from 20 different U.S. states. That’s how big the independent universe is, regardless of genre.

So here are just 100 of the albums and EP’s that you probably missed in 2016. All were released during the 2016 calendar year, so this gives you an idea of just how small a window into the music world the mainstream actually cuts. As always, albums are in no particular order. Do yourself a favor and go expand your universe. You’d be shocked at what you discover.

Forget About It – It’s Butter – Los Angeles, California, USA
I Talk to Strangers – I Talk to Strangers – London, England, UK
The Centauri Conspiracies: Part 1 — The Awakening — Sunshine & Bullets — Tampa, Florida, USA
Colours — Chelsea Shag — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Good Days — Skyline — Austin, Texas, USA
Muster Point — Jeeps — London, England, UK
Scars — Forever Still — Copenhagen, Denmark
Body Wars — June Divided — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Silent Elephant — Silent Elephant — Lille, France
The Parts We Save — Heel — London, England, UK
Breaking Free — A Truth Divides — Fall River, Massachusetts, USA
Emergence — Hour 24 — Temperance, Michigan, USA
Hardly Loaded EP — PhantomHead — Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
Tough Love — Bloody Diamonds — Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A Moment of Silence — The Funeral Portrait — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Epicentre — Bouquet of Dead Crows — London, England, UK
She Speaks — She Speaks — Kildare, Ireland
Wanderer — Red Handed Denial — Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dark Narrows — Lights That Change — Flintshire, Wales, UK
The ReIntroduction — Almost Kings — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Black — Suan — Athy, Ireland
Mean Something — Kinder Than Wolves — Orlando, Florida, USA
For Your Obliteration — The Dead Deads — Nashville, Tennessee, USA
No Mirror / Baby Steps — Birdeatsbaby — Brighton, England, UK
Screech Bats — Screech Bats — London, England, UK
Five Kites — Five Kites — Uckfield, England, UK
Pow Wow — Red Apple — Madrid, Spain
Hoopdriver — Hoopdriver — London, England, UK
The Mud Lords EP — The Mud Lords — San Francisco, California, USA
Stones — Cherry Water — Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Please Welcome Imperial Jade — Imperial Jade — Barcelona, Spain
From The Cave — From The Cave — London, England, UK
Imminent for Your Interests — People Like Us. — Los Angeles, California, USA
Otra Vez I — Sidewatcher — Detroit, Michigan, USA
Eraserhead — Eraserhead — Aurora, Illinois, USA
Alterhood — Alterhood — Tel-Aviv, Israel
Eugenia EP — Darla and the Blonde — London, England, UK
Cosmophonie EP — Cosmophone — Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada
Hit the Air — Basic Land — Monterrey, Mexico
Born to Dance — Pürple — Brighton, England, UK
Double A-Side — The Mis-Made — Sydney, Australia
Refuse to Shine EP — Mr.Mountain — Portsmouth, England, UK
Gaining Perspective — Glory Days — Brisbane, Australia
The Sky, the Lie, and Who We Are Before We Die — True North — Los Angeles, California, USA
Luxury EP — Patio — New York City, New York, USA
Phantasmagoria — White Claudia — Chicago, Illinois, USA
Cruise Deal — Mirror Travel — Austin, Texas, USA
Call Me by Name — Good Fiction — Albany, New York, USA
Bipolar — Kreepy Krush — Minsk, Belarus
Good Hangs — Lauren Patti — New Jersey, USA
Copper Crown — Copper Crown — Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Cuatro — Tranparentes — Alicante, Spain
It’s Too Bright Inside — Lush Vibes — Vallejo, California, USA
Ropes End — Ropes End — New York City, New York, USA
Only Roses — Carissa Johnson — Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Theories of the Universe — Haunted Ghost Town — Sunnyvale, California, USA
Soft Grudge — Mulligrub — Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Dirty Lyxx — Dirty Lyxx — Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Stages — Kopacetic — Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Much Love — Microwave — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Metadonna — Metadonna — Valencia, Spain
Break Down the Walls — Break Down the Walls — Hawthorne, New York, USA
Stuff EP — My Cruel Goro — Iceland
Shadowbox — Vivienne the Witch — Perugia, Italy
In the Arms of the Sun — Vox Vocis — Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Discourse — Sex With Strangers — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Sleep Tight, When You Wake Up We’ll Be Gone — The Few. — St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Harmony and Disconnect — Rising Down — Tampa, Florida, USA
Vectors — Yeah Sure Whatever — Marin, California, USA
DEVILTRAIN — DEVILTRAIN — Bamberg, Germany
Buried in the Sound — Lost Frontiers — Pomona, California, USA
Nosebleed Weekend — The Coathangers — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
The Eternal Sea — The Eternal Sea — Tauranga, New Zealand
Traces EP — Traces — Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Elevation — We Are The Catalyst — Gothenburg, Sweden
MABON SONGS — Crypt Trip — San Marcos, Texas, USA
Angel — Heroes — Los Angeles, California, USA
Swan Valley Heights — Swan Valley Heights — Munich, Germany
Abandoned — Counter Theory — Valparaiso, Indiana, USA
Ants — Ants — Rivergaro, Italy
The Journey (EP) — Rusty Joe — Casais, Portugal
Spectra — Myrrias — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Dimensionauts EP — Robot Jurassic — Edgewater, Maryland, USA
Believer — Weird Neighbours — Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Hell Is Not Other People, It’s You — The Republic of Trees — Scarborough, England, UK
The Lippies — The Lippies — Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Far Away, As We Fade — AggronympH — Yichang, China
The Departed — Summer Drive Home — Weymouth, England, UK
Mix Tape — The Hang Lows — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
SweetMeat — The BlackLava — Torino, Italy
Singularity — Fight Like Sin — Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Chasing a Phantom — Changing Scene — Bel Aton, Maryland, USA
Abandoned Homes — The Aesthetic — Seattle, Washington, USA
Connector — Fable Circuit — Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA
Inburn — Inburn — Illigan City, Phillipines
The Lost Ones (EP) — LUNGS — Sacramento, California, USA
Ambulance — The Amazing — Stockholm, Sweden
Detox — Pyke — Arendal, Norway
Start Again — The Middle Ground — Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Valley Queen EP — Valley Queen — Los Angeles, California, USA

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