There are a lot of things that the industry tells musicians and creators, particularly independent ones, what they need to build, how they need to build it and what it must look like to make it… useful? Profitable? For it to have value?

It’s tricky to swallow that pill while these same companies try to automate things using AI, and pumping their platforms that they hearalded as arbiters of connections full of slop and siloing people into diametrically opposing realities.

As a creator myself there’s a dissonance I feel directing people towards these platforms of divisiveness and frustration because what I’m seeking to create feels so out-of-place there. I’m not aiming for self-promotion, a sale, a passive listen. I’m aiming for genuine connection, and a relationship of follow-through that can keep us connected with the purpose of undoing a lot of the injuries that we’ve caused one-another.

With the impending release of my debut album on streaming platforms, I truly wonder what it is I’m selling, if anything. If my complicity in this broken business-model of streaming disqualifies my intention of building or contributing to something meaningful.

Regardless, my album will be reaching a milestone of distribution soon, and while I’m okay with delivering it for free initially, I don’t know how long I’ll keep it on those platforms.

I think anyone, historically, that declines to go with the status quo can question their motives. Yeah, the question looms: am I cutting off my nose to spite my face? I’m not really sure. I know that with the amount of cash I make from the release of my music, I have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Yes, my album “Body in the Static” releases October 31st on all streaming platforms. I decided a while ago that it’s a milestone I would cross and I will continue to do so. I’ll be proud to have it there, i’m proud of all the people that helped make this happen. While the decision to keep it there ultimately rests with me, each of you helped me get it there and I think we all need to see this happen just so we can be proud of what it took to get where we are and recognize how far we’ve come.

October 31st I will still drink a toast to the music you’ve helped me create.

And I hope you’ll join me.

Here’s to more of where that music came from

-Rev

What it means to create in this moment