Mistor-ME

2015 was an amazing year. Huge thanks to our community for being such an incredible part of it!

As my team and I prepare to embark on another exciting year ahead, we must urge you all to frequent (expired link) and play as many songs there as you can weekly.

Big news is coming soon. As I am no stranger to change. We also know that the magic of music happens because of the sum of its parts – and when we do our thing, we feel the magic.

We are pumped for this next phase of our journey. We’re inspired by the music and the love, and know 2016 will be our most epic yet!

Onward and upward. It’s what we do! Expect some amazing vocalists – old friends and new – to join us for upcoming projects. We’ll keep you posted on the details.

YOU all are an important part of that magic; Thanks for being part of the adventure.

(expired link)

The music industry is not what it once was, and odds are, some of your favorite artists are fully independent and are no longer supported by a large resourceful infrastructure. So here's a little primer to help you help your favorite artsts. The more support we receive from the community, the more of our time we can spend on our art.


(Check out new music here: (expired link) before its taken down due to new label deal.)

1. BUY DIRECT FROM THE ARTIST

There's a million places you can purhcase your music online, all for basically the same price. The difference in the outlets is that they all pay the artists very different percentages. So where to buy?

- The artist's own website will always steer you to the outlet where they benefit the most from your purchase.

- CDBaby is great. They were truly built around the principle of how best to benefit the artist.

- BandCamp is great. Again, like CD Baby, this service was built with independent artists' best interest in mind. Plus, they serve their downloads in high quality lossless formats and DRM-free . . . so it works well for music consumers, as well.

- iTunes is OK. They do a pretty good job of paying the artists a reasonable amount, cause their business model isn't really to make money on music sales. Apple is trying to make buying music easy, so they can sell you nifty devices.

- Amazon & EBay both suck. Don't buy your music from them. Amazon's system requires so many middlemen that the artists generally get about a buck per album sale. And both Amazon and EBay allow the sale of used CDs and discounted new CDs. The majority of those items are promo CDs that some shifty writer or DJ has accepted, promotionally, and then turned around to sell at an undercut price.

1A. STREAMING SERVICES DON'T COUNT AS "BUYING" MUSIC!

Spotify and Pandora are awesome places to listen to music. I love them, myself. But just so you know, artists receive basically ZERO DOLLARS from them. You'd have to stream your favorite artist's album approximately 9000 times on Spotify for them to make the equivilent of 1 album sale. So, it's best to think of these services as great discovery engines. And then once you've discovered an artist you like, consider going and buying their album.

Here's a stunning visualization of how little money artists receive from the streaming services.
2. JOIN THE ARTIST'S EMAIL LIST & SOCIAL NETWORKS

The easier it is for your favorite artist to reach you directly with show information and new album releases, the less time, money, and energy they'll need to spend to promote those events through less efficient "broadcast" means, like press and radio. Plus, there's a huge side benefit . . .

3. SPREAD THE GOOD WORD

Joining the artist's email list allows you to easily become a more engaged and active participant in the promotional process. By fowarding announcements to friends and family on an artist's tour route, you become an invaluable assistant in the artist's ability to reach new listeners in new markets.

It used to be the role of the labels to make new artists blink onto everyone's radar. They don't have the money to do that for many artists any more. So now it's the role of the community to spread the good word, in a grassroots manner. The email lists and the social networks are great and efficient tools for spreading the word. And it's gratifying to feel invested in your artist's growth and development, from the ground up.

4. BURN SOME MUSIC

We love it when y'all turn on your friends to our music. But be mindful of the line between "sharing" the music, and "stealing" the music. Burning a mixed CD for your friends with a couple songs from each of your latest favorite artists helps us out a bunch. Burning entire albums for them deprives us of possible sales.

And either way . . . the best thing you can do is urge your friends, if they like what you've shared with them, to please please pretty please go to the artist's website and sign up on their email list. That way we can at least benefit in the way of concert attendance and future album sales, from the new fans you've won for us.

5. ATTEND SHOWS

This is where artists actually make their living. Simple as that. CDs and album sales tend to be a basically break-even venture. We make them cause they're artistically gratifying, and because they serve as our business cards. We make our living with the money you graciously contribute to us at the door at our concerts. Hopefully, the concerts are an enjoyable and fulfilling experience for you. But, also, consider your attendance to be a small bit of activism . . . your way of supporting the culture that's important to us all.

6. SUPPORT THEIR CROWD-FUNDING CAMPAIGNS

Kickstarter and IndieGogo are two of the many great resources out there now for artists to fund their projects. Think of it as pre-purchasing an album, while giving your favorite artist a big pat on the bag and letting them know you appreciate what they do. It really is a win-win situation.

THANK YOU!

I imagine that, if you've read this far, I've been preaching to the choir. I hope it wasn't all just a verbose statement of the obvious. Some things are obvious in their purpose, but not so obvious in their importance. I hope this maybe shed a little insight into how important some of these obvious measures are to the whole ecosystem of what we do, as indie artists.

If we want to continue hearing the music we love, we need to support it. Because without us, the artists we love will no longer be able to create. And then we’ll be left with what the major labels deem to be what we want to hear. Sometimes it is, but don’t you want to have the freedom to listen to artists that aren’t necessarily mainstream? Well, they are the ones who need you the most. Often, they’re the ones who are writing the songs that really mean something – the ones that REALLY speak to you. Yet they’re the ones that are likely struggling given the way the music industry is changing. Streaming is (at the moment) making it more difficult to make money from recorded music, and it’s these independent artists who are suffering. Touring can be expensive – and while many of the artists would LOVE to tour, they simply can’t afford to. Your support is needed, and it’s appreciated far more than you know. If you love an artist and want them to continue creating, they have to be able to earn a living. Otherwise, they won’t be able to continue pouring their heart and soul into the music you’re consuming.

For now you can find more of my music here (expired link)

My new project will be available globally very soon. Thank you for your kindness. Do listen on (expired link) for other tunes. You are truly a gift to me.

The gift of your follow is trulytruly an honor. If you have ideas or wish to network email me gseglobalartists@(expired link). Thank you for your love. Go to (expired link)

Please continue to share my music...(expired link). Truly I am blessed by your love and grace. I have written 500 new songs getting ready for the world.

Humble once again, took some time away after the death of my father on 3/3/14. Thank you for listening to the music I create. Follow here or (expired link). Share wit4h others and grow.

Thank you for listening to my music! My intention is the same with every song. It’s all about repeating positive life-affirming messages in a musical context. When I sing, rap, produce, I breathe, and hope to connect to your hearts. What could be better than that?

The music I create is my invitation to you to sing along, dance, pray, meditate, change words, make up
movements, sing harmonies – do whatever you need to feel empowered to make these songs your own. The lyrics are on my soul, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to share this music with you.

May you feel the love and heart that I put into making this music. My hope is that you are as blessed in
hearing it as I was in creating it.
mistormepresents@(expired link) (expired link)

Come enjoy some new music, let's network on major projects. Connect mistormepresents@(expired link), (expired link) or (expired link) or @Mistor_ME.
Always ready to network, and provide assistance to more artists worldwide.