Spotify Redux, Pt 3

(copied from my other blog at http://Jaypeachproductions.com)

Spotify said it was going to clamp down on bots and botted streams, but it also going to clamp down on creators who created spam or other AI created content. I don’t know if they also decided to take long-term creators more seriously. I’ve been on Spotify as a creator for almost 4 years now and they’re finally boosting my content as never before.

Formerly, I got almost no streams from their playlists, all of my streams came from promoting my own stuff on various social media platforms. But lately I’ve been getting on algorithmic playlists and I’ve also gotten a decent amount from Radio and other autoplay features. It’s nice that Spotify is finally changing it’s ways, but the payout keeps dropping. Now it’s a mere $.0027 per stream, down from $.0043 when I first started. Which makes promoting my work on Spotify less desirable. The least generous platforms pay 25% more than Spotify, with the most generous 2000% more. Why wouldn’t I direct possible listeners to platforms that are willing to put more money in my pocket?

DoorDash Done? and Gear Musings

The pay I get from DoorDashing keeps on getting lower and lower. My income has dropped at least 50% from when I first started, almost 3 years ago. I talked to one of my fellow dashers one of the last times I was out and he’s forced to work more and more because people just don’t tip the way they used to. I choose to just forgo the more work for less pay and am searching for different ways to feed my need for cash to buy more music gear. My income from the streaming services keeps rising, and my gear fix is less extreme, as I need to get to know the gear I have better.

I’m reading (or re-reading in some cases) the manuals to get better acquainted with my gear. Some of the gear has manuals that exceed one hundred pages. And the Octatrack manuals are about 400 pages a piece. I bought a third party manual for the Octatrack because I found the factory one was a little dense.

I’m also digging through the SP 404 manual because the device is more complex than I originally thought. I know the Octatrack and SP 404 are both samplers, but they apparently have different workflows and different strengths. One thing the Octatrack has that the SP 404 is missing is the cross fader. I use the cross fader all the time. And the workflow on the Octatrack is smoother to me. But I love the SP 404 for the massive number of samples (160 of them) that are easily accessible.

The one thing I don’t like about the SP 404 is the hassle it is to get samples into it. There’s a piece of software on the Roland site that makes it less of a hassle, but I can’t get the Roland Cloud software to let me download the software. When I try to start the Cloud, it takes about 30 minutes to start on my ridiculously powerful MacBook and then it just hangs, so most all the Roland gear have is crippled. At least I was able to download outside of the cloud the stuff for my S-1, so at least that’s not crippled. But I’m wary of buying more Roland gear.

“New” Blog

Well, it’s not really new, I set it up about six months ago. I really wanted a separate space to blog about my musical endeavors, so I set up a separate blog at http://jaypeachproductions.com. I’ve commented a lot there, so you might want to go check it out. Enjoy.

Typos

Sorry if there’s typos I neglected to fix in my posts. WordPress seems to have problems keeping up with my typing. This has been occuring frequently lately. And the iPhone I use to post has a less than stellar interface. For some reason, if you put an image in your post, the web interface doesn’t want to to put text under the image. The text box under the image is displayed under the keyboard, and no coaxing will bring the text to where you can see what you’re typing. Annoying.

I suppose that on this blog, I’ll have to try Jetpack to do my posts to see if the experience there is better. It’s an app on my phone rather than a web interface.

Music Milestone

As I’ve already blogged about on my music blog, http://www.jaypeachproductions.com, I passed one million impressions, which are streams and track sales, back a few weeks ago. Mostly these numbers are from months ago, since my distributor only reports numbers from streaming services on an average three to four months in arrears. So basically, I passed one million back in February or March.

Some of the music that pushed me over the top was music that I created from scratch, no samples. A lot of the stuff I create uses samples, of which I have a ton of. In fact, the last time I checked, I have over 50,000 samples. I’ve had to move these samples off my internal hard drive to an external drive that I bought years ago. A lot of the samples are from Reimann Kollection, as I want to start to make more techno music.

Weight Milestone

A few months ago I figured I ought to do something about my weight. I was looking at having to buy new clothes because I was having trouble fitting into the old ones. So I started to change my eating habits. I cut back on sweets and other sugary foods, and redoubled my efforts to eat stuff more in tune with my need to cut carbs as I’m diabetic. I also have cut back on meals, one per day, along with light snacks.

This has resulted in my weight dropping from 217 lbs., as I weighed myself today, to 194. I’m trying to get down to about 190-192. I’ve done it without changing my exercise habits, just diet.

More Depressing Stats

Well, the stats for my music continue to flatline, with Spotify continuing to be a drag on my progress. Spotify now only contributes about 5-10% of my total streams in a month, whereas it supposedly has 30% of the streaming market. It continues to be in 4th or 5th place in my most popular platforms. Ugh. I get most of my plays (and money) on Deezer, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Meta platforms and YouTube.

Another “High pay” order from Door Dash

A Conversation on Mastodon

@randulo idk, spotify is in 4th or 5th place on my list of worthwhile platforms, with Deezer as number 1. I make enough money to be able to pay for new gear, and i enjoy making music. And i think i’ve passed 800,000 impressions in 3 years of publishing music. Hope to pass 1,000,000 early next year. Over 70,000 impressions in November.

Yet Another Night of Music Making

Yet another night of working on my Remixes Vol 3 and the yet unnamed Funk album that I’m working on. Trying to work out some sounds to be included in the songs.