The Plan

My new album, La vie sous la mer, will be submitted to Jamendo next week.  As soon as that’s done, I’m going to start posting the tracks to DMusic as well, one track at a time, exactly the way I’m doing with evolution (my first album) right now.

The two sites serve different audiences.  Jamendo is a music site with a community section; DMusic is a community of musicians.

I’ve had far, far more downloads on Jamendo.  As of today, evolution and handmade have been downloaded more than 1,200 times — as entire albums.  Further, the albums have been streamed 11,300 times!

In stark contrast, these are the stats for DMusic:

• 277 downloads (that’s individual tracks, not entire albums).
• 1012 streams, grand total.

Now, let’s assume I’m here at the 11 month mark, and that there were 30 days in a month.  Also, let’s say I had 2 full albums of 12 tracks apiece on the site, plus a single or two, giving us a total of 26 tracks.  I can derive the following statistics:

• On average, each track I have on DMusic is listened to once every 8.5 days.
• And as far as downloads go, each track has about one chance a month: on average, once every 28.6 days.

Looking at stats like that, you have to say, “Why bother?”

And there’s worse.

The front page rarely changes.  Most of those artists, I’ve never heard of, I’ve never heard from, and I’ve never actually seen using the site.

On the other hand, artists who contribute to the site on a regular basis seem to be conspicuously absent.  Worse, artists I hold in high regard — the jazz musician Henri Roger, for example, or Rodrica Rudge — are nowhere to be seen.

Now, a while back, I made it to the front page.  And then — out, out brief candle.

But, that being said, this is not sour grapes.  I did, after all, totally abandon the internet for almost two months while I finished my album.  So hey, we can add — what — 11 / 9 = 1.11, or about 11% to those numbers above had I been there every day.  Woohoo!  I hope the server can stand the load.

Again, “Why bother?”

Well, how do you think I met Henri Roger in the first place?  Where else can you find the dry humor and oblique cultural references of Zedsalt?  Or the gentle, lyrical ballads of Fra Donaghy?  Or the eclectic jazz of Little Red King?  Or the wild, bard-like folk of Rocking Through America?

Ah, now you see.  It’s not for the numbers.  It’s for the community.  They’ve supported me, inspired me, and even collaborated with me.

I can’t let this section of ground lie fallow; I have to plant the seeds.