Hi friends!
Hope all good :)
So just wanted to send out a quick post to talk about something I haven't spoken about before - streaming music.
Like many of you, I am and always will be someone who buys music - mostly albums both physical (CD, tape, vinyl) and digital from Bandcamp or elsewhere - I love beautiful things and it's by far the best way to support artists and help them continue to do what they do.
So it's with that in mind I'm so deeply grateful to all of you that buy our music, it's a commitment and an investment showing you care about the art and the people that make it - you've all been incredible in this first year and I can promise you that has been a fundamental factor in our ability to continue to do what we do and to have an amazing 2024 coming your way - so huge thanks as always.
I've got nothing against the the concept of streaming, it gives people access to an incredible catalogue of music and the more this helps artists and fans find each other, the better.
Unfortunately the figures are stark - to earn the £7 you'd pay to own one digital album, taking Spotify as an example which pays out $0.003-$0.005 per stream, the artist would need thousands of streams to get close to making the same. So it's just plain facts musicians do better when people buy music.
Having said that, the reality is many people (most likely the vast majority of listeners) use the various streaming sites. I do too, quite often listening to music I've already bought on Bandcamp via Apple music, then the artist gets a bit extra - nice way to give continued support.
It's also helped me find music - and I always make sure if it's something I'm going to listen to regularly I'll properly buy the album.
So I don't want to dictate to listeners how I think they should listen, or artists on how I should share their music, everyone's free to do what they want and I want to give artists as many opportunities as possible - so all the quiet details albums are available on Spotify, Apple and the rest (I've only really focused on the first two for now but please let me know if you've got a preferred alternative option) - and I've put together playlists so you can find everything in the same place.
qd albums are available on streaming two weeks after the release on our website and Bandcamp to show our commitment to selling music and to allow our fans who buy it first access.
After buying music, this is another way to support our artists and the label - so please consider following and sharing the quiet details profiles and playlists - and the artists' other music. If you do stream music, choosing to do so from here or other places means our artists get a little more on top of their full album sales.
Spotify - quiet details profile page
Apple Music - quiet details profile page
And here are my Fields we Found pages (Bandcamp link at the bottom) if any of you'd like to check out my music, on Home Normal, Seil Records, Fluid Audio, Ambientologist and self-released - more coming soon :)
Spotify
Apple Music - Fields we Found profile page
--
Another similar topic is social media - before I started releasing music as FwF or quiet details, I had no real interest in Instagram, Twitter or any others - but as friends suggested it's a good way to share music and meet people, I signed up.
Must be said, despite how sprawling, unknowable and full of things I have zero interest in interacting with it is, my preconceptions were wrong. I've met some wonderful people, artists and like-minded souls on the platforms - there's an amazingly supportive network out there, full of kindness, compassion and a sense of everyone helping each other. If you're on any of them, would be great to connect - I share what we do, things/music I like from any artists and chat - here are our profiles:
--
One last thing, while we're on the subject, just want to say a massive thanks to everyone that supports our Substack with an annual donation - I never expected that but a few of you have done it out of the kindness of your own hearts, was a big surprise when the first payment came through as I only ever set it up so I could regularly share what we're doing at qd.
Everything goes straight back into the label so it's truly helping us to keep bringing music we love out into the world.
--
So that's it - thanks for reading and supporting us - the more we can grow our followings on the above-mentioned platforms, the more we can share our music and help our artists - so if you stream music or use social media and want to connect, would love to be in touch.
Much love and more very soon - qd11 announcement coming next week, release date Wednesday 13th December and Listening Party Friday 15th December (I think 19:00 UK time but will confirm!).
Alex
quietdetails.com quiet details Bandcamp quiet details Substack quiet details studios - mastering and audio services
I agree with your comments on streaming. Thanks also for releasing CDs which keeps buying music just about affordable. I think the vinyl snobism of many artists (or the trend to release on the silly format that are cassettes) rather than just the existence of streaming services is a factor that is choking off the market for physical formats and pushes people to streaming, at least that's the case for me. With postage and everything, a vinyl usually costs around 40 euros, which is mostly prohibitive outside the core fanbase. (Not to mention I wouldn't know where to put all those vinyls) Of course I could then buy a much cheaper download, but with limited resources these tend to …