Yes, poor readers, here it is again: another Bandcamp Friday. Other than one of the earliest times I posted about this glorious monthly holiday—during which Bandcamp waives its usual commission on sales through its site—I don’t know that I’ve ever made a sale hawking my musical wares via the blog.
Well, if at first you do not succeed, pester, pester again (alternatively, doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, but all musicians are a bit crazy… right?). Also, with my lovely new readers from the British Isles, it’s never been a better time to bilk them out of their hard-earned pounds sterling.
Fortunately for them—and you, my fellow countrymen!—my entire discography (seven albums!) is just $19.98, a whopping 35% discount (just £14.50 as of 1 September 2021, according to Bing). That’s $2.85 (£2.07) per release, the kind of deal you only get on cassette tapes at the gas station (or from yours portly!).
Bandcamp began doing Bandcamp Fridays during The Age of The Virus, when most musicians (myself included) witnessed a catastrophic drop in their revenue. Venues closed or stopped live music; parents withdrew students from one-on-one lessons; and private parties were cancelled, meaning fewer of those lucrative gigs. Also, fewer live performances meant fewer royalties for songwriters.
Fortunately, that situation is improving, and people are eager to get out and hear live music again. Still, pitching in a few bucks helps immensely—and you get some good music in the process, too!
So, on with the sales pitch! Here are my seven releases, in chronological order:
- Electrock Music (2006, $5) – Twelve tracks from my senior year of college, all instrumental MIDI tunes. I gave physical copies to my Fiction Writing Workshop class; I wonder if they still have those little homemade copies.
- Electrock II: Space Rock (2007, $7) – I’m obsessed with the idea of the sci-fi rock opera (I actually tried to write one for piano and vocals back in 2012-2013, but never finished it)—it’s the most decadent, self-indulgent form of musical expression. That was the driving spirit behind this rockin’ collection of out-of-this-world jams.
- Electrock EP: The Four Unicorns of the Apocalypse (2012, $4) – My younger brother introduced me to a song call “Biomachinery” by some melodic death metal band, and the rhythm of that word inspired the lead-off track of this four-song cycle, “Cyborg Unicorn.” Of course, the instrumental chorus of that track is basically Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” so it’s true what they say: composers swipe from each other all the time.
- Electrock Retrospective, Volume I: Dance Party (2013, $3.60) – I had a number of tracks stored up for a never-completed Electrock III, so I thought I would begin dribbling them out as part of repackaged “retrospectives.” This first one, Dance Party, features “Robobop,” which is also a perk for $5 subscribers to my SubscribeStar page.
- Electrock Retrospective, Volume II: Technological Romance (2013, $2.14) – Technological Romance features “Pwrblld (Ballad II)“—with apologies to Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration.”
- Contest Winner EP (2015, $5) – This album is my tour de force. I recorded it in a real-life studio, overdubbing my vocals with my piano part. It was an amazing experience, and these tunes are staples of my live shows (especially fan favorites “Hipster Girl Next Door” and “Greek Fair“).
- The Lo-Fi Hymnal (2020, $4) – I started playing piano at my little Free Will Baptist Church a couple of years ago, and I began taking little recordings of offertory, invitational, etc. I compiled the four very lo-fi recordings into a short compilation. I’m hoping to record a second volume at some point.
An easy (and free) way to support me is to “follow” my Bandcamp page and my Amazon author page. I post updates about new merchandise, new music, and other interesting offers about once a month to the Bandcamp page, and new books will pop up on my Amazon page as they’re published. It’s a good way to keep up with the latest news on my musical adventures.
Another free way to support me is to turn off your ad-blocker. The site delivers several thousand ad impressions monthly, but most of those are blocked, which means they don’t pay out. You can usually find the ad-blocker as a little widget or icon in the upper-right-hand side of your browser; click on it and it will usually give you the option to “pause” or stop the blocker from running on this site. I know ads are annoying, but seeing a few DuckDuckGo ads helps out in an incremental way.
Even if none of that entices you, no worries! I’m just glad to have you here, reading my self-indulgent garbage and my lengthy advertisement posts.
Happy Friday!
—TPP
I’ll do you a deal, Tyler. If you get some of those awesome Halloween Spooktacular 2021 T-shirts printed off, we’ll buy a couple of t-shirts plus your discography in October. I think that’s a fair deal! 🙂 🙂
For now, though, I’m going to share a scene from an excellent movie we watched last night, featuring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt dancing to the Neil Young song, Harvest Moon. It’s not often you watch a film where 2 people who are in love can relay it to the audience but these 2 (married in real life) pull it off superbly.
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Done! I’m going to send the 2021 designs to the printer soon, once I get a few more bucks in from lessons. I have two designs this year.
I also have several of the old 2020 ones still available. I can toss those in, too. If I’m shipping to England (no telling what that will cost!), I might as well send a lot of goodies all at once. Just let me know your t-shirts sizes and I’ll hold onto some of the new ones when I get them printed, and send along the old ones, too.
Thanks for sharing the scene! Such a great film, and a lovely on-screen and IRL couple.
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If I had to virtue signal about one thing, it would be that I pause the ad blocker for a handful of people. You are one of those people.
Also, my son enjoyed a sample of Greek Fair. I will have to buy it when I return to the normal world
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Thanks, Matt! I appreciate you, and I’m thrilled your son enjoyed “Greek Fair.” I try to stay humble about my music, but I think that’s the best song I’ve ever written. “Hipster Girl Next Door” is my “hit”—the one fans request, and the one with which I end my shows—but “Greek Fair” is the best musically, lyrically, and harmonically.
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