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Apple Music

I am curious to check out Apple Music. The demo at the World Wide Developer’s conference wasn’t mind blowing but Apple usually gets their products right once they work out the kinks and I am pleased to see that they will not be offering a free version. The music world does not need another free music streaming service. Let’s just hope they make good on their promise to pay artists a more reasonable royalty rate than currently offered by Spotify and Pandora. Companies that profit from streaming music should pay the musicians who make it.

Moog cat

Moog cat

My cat, Moss, loves to play in the studio. I’m hoping to teach him to program my Mini Moog. He doesn’t seem to realize it is monophonic and his attempt at voicing a dense chord won’t work.

Fictional Radio is now available on iTunes and other online sites

FletcherBeasleyAlbum800x800

I’m very excited to announce that my new album of cinematic electronic music, Fictional Radio, has just been released to iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Spotify, YouTube and many other online services.

I conceived Fictional Radio as an exploration of organic texture and mood through instrumental electronic pieces. The eleven track album features interwoven melodies, rich soundscapes, mutated guitars, and intricate grooves that transport the listener on an introspective journey of auditory discovery.

The album was written over a period of two years between film and television projects as a labor of love and creative exploration. Many of the tracks were written with the title as inspiration or by establishing a set of compositional constraints as a starting point. Once the compositions gained momentum, the constraints were often modified or lifted. They were useful ways to focus each piece at its genesis.

I wrote the music from the inside out, starting with the center and working to the edges. I incorporated recordings of my daughter imagining silly monsters, created rhythms from signs I banged on and constructed patterns from the sound of my cat purring. 

Writing Fictional Radio has taken me on a artistic journey opening new doors of exploration. I hope you enjoy the music.

Criticism of Tidal by music artists is premature

Jay-Z’s purchase of Tidal’s music streaming service was announced with much hoopla last month as a number of big name music artists threw in their support claiming that Tidal would pay better streaming rates than other services such as Spotify.

Now a number of artists are criticizing the service saying that it will be a failure. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie makes some reasonable criticisms for the way the launch was handled – a lack of specifics about the rates Tidal would pay and the focus on wealthy pop stars, rather than the independent artists who are struggling as a result of diminishing sales and low streaming rates.

However, I say let’s give Tidal a chance and support it. This is the first streaming service that is artist owned and will not be offering a free version. I think it is important that streaming music move to a subscription based model similar to what Netflix provides for film and television if we want the artists whose music we enjoy to be compensated for their work.