Scouting Music

I’ve been really lax in updating the site lately. I had this big plan to start writing again, to make regular updates and use these posts as the back-bone to my podcast episodes. But that hasn’t happened (clearly). I told myself that it was a lack of motivation, that I couldn’t come up with ideas. That’s complete BS of course, the solution to not writing something is to start writing, and the ideas will come with it.

With that in mind, I thought the best way to start writing is to…start writing! I don’t have anything to review today, but I am doing some “music scouting”. In the same way that scouts look for talent in professional sports, I am starting my step back into regular blogging by trying to find some new music to write about. I’m not overly concerned with reviews, either – I want to write what is interesting to me. So this is a quick look into my process.

Where I start

Currently I’m listening to Jamendo, specifically a playlist called Indie Playlist – a very simple title, for sure. As I listen through I’m marking songs that catch my ear, that I like; later on I will go back to these ‘liked’ songs and explore their discography. While I’m doing that, I am also clearing out my inbox.

I will also check out Bandcamp, where I know a lot of independent artists hang out and release their stuff. I’ve found some really great stuff in the past, and while I gravitate to music using a Creative Commons license, I don’t ignore the stuff that isn’t.

I have other places I check out, but those are probably two of my biggest resources.

Clearing Out the Inbox

My email, by the way, is altairwaves @ gmail dot com; feel free to send me a song or an album, but know that right now as I type this and listen to that Jamendo playlist, I am going through and unsubscribing from several PR outlets that I never signed up for. There are some emails that slipped through that look interesting, of course; those ones I am starring and will come back to later.

This is also a bit of a warning; I am less inclined to pay attention to mass distribution lists than I am to personal emails from artists. I find it difficult to keep up with my email, and even though I plan on doing better with that, I am still inclined to avoid newsletters that I never signed up for in the first place. I’m looking at one email that starts off with “Hello media contacts”, so that’s an immediate unsubscribe & delete for me.

Where I’ll end up

To be honest, I don’t know! That’s part of the fun. Right now I’m just finding music. When I do a deeper dive into the music I’ve found, then I will come up with something to write. In the past that’s been reviews, but I want to play around with some different ideas and directions. I’m a bit excited about that.

Thanks for following me along this quick insight into my process. I can’t promise regular updates yet, but that’s my goal.