takethisforexample | What I've Learned About Music Production & Distribution (So Far)

So with Corey and I making music, I've learned a great deal when it comes to creating and releasing music that I should probably write down for when I do it again. The album we released recently was a complete and utter joke from the get go which was the intention, but it still taught me the ins and outs of being a musician, if we even count as that. The album is called Wrapper In The Wind and it began production on September 30th.

Right after Corey agreed to work on this project, we got to work brainstorming and pursued a more organized, concrete plan that I feel sort of crumbled away once we got comfortable. By the time we were on maybe the eighth or ninth track, we knew what we were doing and how we worked. What I like about our songs is that they are pretty diverse but there is still a clear, distinguishable style. A lot of it is heavy and loud and droning but there are also these interludes and calmer parts, all of it infused with our personal layers of irony. Corey is more of a music snob than me which is annoying at times, but I can see the influence reflected in the music he makes. The last song on the album, "Mega Song", actually sounds good to me and when he initially drafted it I almost wanted to reject it because of that. I think that draft is an excellent reflection of Corey's ability to understand music, even if it isn't a traditional genre. As for my role in the music creation, I would mostly throw ideas out and work with tracks that Corey would send me. I liked writing lyrics on a whim with the weird time signatures we were using and providing laughably bad vocals to them. I made sure to use a horrible microphone which is an inherent aspect of our style now, along with the overuse of delay and reverb. I was also more involved with sampling in our music than Corey. I found I could apply more irony and meaning through use of other media, and part of the "mystery" or our album I feel is reflected through the samples we decided to use. I drew from everything I knew... American Psycho, Metal Gear Solid, Talladega Nights, and most notably an array of obsolete soundbites from old internet memes. While my contributions were not as many as Corey and I lack his skill, I was able to become familiar with music production software and reached a point where I could create backing tracks myself. On a much less complex level than my creative partner, sure, but in terms of what we were attempting to do I think it adds to it. The album is meant to be silly and we succeeded at that. The way I see it, you can either make a piece of bad media that is boring and worth nothing, or you can make a piece of bad media that is bad in a way that is still engaging and interesting. In my opinion, we achieved the latter.

I knew from the beginning that Corey would probably take a dominant role in the music creation which is great because it gave me the wiggle room to assume the role of PR manager and graphic designer. For the cover, I had a vision from the start and had Corey send me some of his notebook drawings to twist into a psychedelic, colorful, bastardized state. Once initial editing of those sketches was done, I actually used MS Paint to deface it even further. Obviously most people don't see MS Paint as a top tier design program but a lot of thought went into that album cover. It doesn't look like something an adult would make, but a five-year-old couldn't create it either. I think that sums up our album pretty well, so it's a pretty decent cover in my opinion. I also used some other sketches Corey sent me to design our jewel case tray cards and inside track list. Overall it is aesthetically pleasing. Of the 20+ CDs/DVDs that were burned, each disc had a custom design and number which ties directly into our distribution. The art serves its purpose.

Distribution and promotion is currently where we're at. Initially, the plan was to get our music on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. but the publishing company I used rejected our music because it breaks the terms of service of these types of stores. Music that is considered defective, even if it's on purpose, just can't be put on these platforms. It was painstaking to go back in forth with the publishers and trying to understand if there was any chance of releasing the album that way, but it seems you can't just name a song "Bohemian Rhapsody" and have it not be a cover of the original song. We named it that because we thought it was funny and there's no way we wanted to change it. Corey and I decided that mainstream platforms weren't worthy of our music and that the integrity of our album was more important, so right now the only way to listen to our music is on BandCamp. I'm not sure we own all the rights to the music we created so it's the best platform for our music at the moment. Unfortunately, it isn't exactly enough to get people listening, which is where the CDs come in. Seven were burned for the specific purpose of leaving them in public spaces and hoping people take them. So far I've only planted one on my college campus. However, in addition to the CDs I created a flyer that is intended to pique people's curiosity. I don't want people to get the feeling that our music should be taken seriously, so our poster looks like this:

If that doesn't get people interested I don't know what will. Most of the listens we have on our album at the moment are from my private Instagram account. Shockingly, one of my followers genuinely liked the music and donated us $20 which exceeds the production cost of the album itself which was $0. Neither of us expected that to happen so we were pretty fucking happy with it. A few people messaged me about what they thought of our music and it was funny hearing their comments. Wrapper In The Wind was not exactly a flop when you think about it. I'm satisfied with it. I'm also confident in Corey and I's ability to work as a team on projects like this. Making music is something I'm bad at but I've always wanted an outlet to get familiar with it and not feel pressured or judged for my undeniable lack of talent. That novicey, at least I think, makes Wrapper In The Wind worth listening to.

So go listen to it.