Public service announcement:
I don’t actually mind torrents that much for a number of reasons, but, honestly – buy a shirt, go to a show, or send your musician a tip or something if you want to torrent. It’s really important that you know in this genre especially, if you are torrenting the music, and not buying merchandise, or going to shows or requesting the music from your local DJ’s, or if nothing else spreading the word as much as you can, you are not screwing over some nameless faceless corporation or some huge record label.
This isn’t a matter of huge sales. No one in this genre is really trying to live on making music, that would be nice, but even self sustaining is fantastic in reality. Bringing shows to your town, producing albums, paying designers for artwork for merchandise, all the things that go into creating new music is all exceptionally expensive.
Your contribution by purchasing CD’s, Shirts, tickets, is how it happens that I can play shows, have shirts to sell, and make music. Your willingness to buy a ticket to a show is why a promoter is willing to cover the costs of travel expenses. If they think they will lose money, they won’t bring a show to your town. Your willingness to buy a CD, or an MP3, or a shirt is why I am able to bring out an actual album in physical format with quality booklets with lyrics, it’s why I am able to afford to take days off to come to your town and play a show, and hang out.
If you care about the music, the continued ability of artists to make the music, the continuation of nolongerhuman (these albums are telling a story and that story isn’t even halfway through) the ability to see bands live, to have better sound at better venues, to have better quality production on the CD’s and MP3’s, you, and me, are kind of in this together in all honesty.
In this genre unlike almost any other, you have a direct ability to help. People ask me all the time why I don’t play certain cities or countries. The reality is, you have as much to do with that as anyone. If you want a band to play in your city – I need you to get involved in order to make that happen. Bands have been dropping the genre, have been quitting music, have stopped touring, and it’s almost completely because there is no demand for it, no one has time or money to support it. Without you getting involved, no one has promoters willing to risk thousands of their own dollars to put on a show. Labels aren’t willing to invest in the risk of producing CD’s that no one will buy, and bands well, as I said, I don’t expect to live on this, but no one can hemorrhage money forever, no matter how much they love what they do.
This is not me blaming, nor me saying that anyone here is anything but the utmost in supportive. nolongerhuman fans have always been some of the most loyal of any band – and I thank every single one of you for that. I only hope I can repay your loyalty by never compromising the integrity of the music, never watering it down, and never being anything but honest. Each and every person who sends me a message, I contact directly, and try to answer questions or help in whatever way I can. Some of you are now close personal friends of mine for that very reason.
This is instead – a call to action and a reminder: You make a huge difference in the continued ability of bands to tour, to write music, to create music. The quality and availability of music, and this genre as a whole. You guys are as much a part of it as I am. It doesn’t matter if you have money, it doesn’t matter if you have time. If you have enough time to read this, you have enough time to help. Here’s some simple things you can do:
1) Request songs from your DJ’s, do some research on your favorite bands, so that you have unique requests. Keep requesting them.
2) Go out to the local club nights, bring your friends. Request bands from your local promoters, CD stores, and again, DJ’s.
3) Buy CD’s, or MP3’s if you can. If not, buy a shirt, even a sticker helps.
4) Talk to your friends, your co-workers, anyone about your favorite bands, get the word out there to anyone who will listen.
5) Share posts, pictures, updates, on social media. Social media is one of the *only* ways many bands have to spread music, information, news.
6) If a band you love has a show in your town, GO. Honestly. Don’t treat it as though they will just come back again. They may not.
7) Request stickers or promo material from your favorite bands, put them all over your town.
8) Put into the music what you get from it. Support it. Please. Not just me, but the genre as a whole. Support it. It’s a passion of mine, and I see it suffering, and we can – together, shake off this apathy and make a force to be reckoned with.
Once again. Thank you. To each and every person reading this.
-Clint (nolongerhuman)
nolongerhuman 