Tag Archives: Music

New Album with Guitar and Ukulele, Tropical Jazz

Tropical Jazz album art

Almost exactly a year ago I started recording some song ideas for an album that would showcase the ukulele that I received as a gift from my mother-in-law Suzan.  I had never played an ukulele before last Christmas, but she thought that I would be able to make some decent sounds with it since I’m fairly musically inclined.  This album wouldn’t have been possible without Suzan and her generous gift of the ukulele.

I thank my dad for the name “Tropical Jazz”.  Thank you to Brianna for pushing me to finish this album.  Thank you, Alayne, for always encouraging and being honest.  Thank you, Pam, for supporting my music these many years.

I wanted to give a quick word about each of the songs on the album. Continue reading →

My latest song, Sailing on the Sunset, is available now

Sailing on the Sunset Album Art

Album art for Sailing on the Sunset. Original photo by Michele Littlejohn-Luccketta

I am pleased to be able to share another song with you.  This one is called Sailing on the Sunset.  I wrote this song a few years ago, but only recently have I felt that I had the production skill to mix, master, and release this song in an official capacity.  This song is now available on iTunes and Amazon.

When I set out to write Sailing on the Sunset, I had a very clear image in my mind of a sailboat sitting on the ocean.  I am West Coast, born and raised, so the sunset on the water was a familiar bit of imagery.  In writing the song, I made it a point to match sounds to what I could see in my head, and so you get various fades, stutters and glitches.  These represent the clarity or brokenness of the reflection of the sunset on the water’s surface.  At the end of the song, I set out to simulate dropping a big rock onto the surface, breaking up the reflection into little bits.  Trying to convey all of this in audio form was a fun challenge and you may not even be able to put that sort of visual to the song, but I hope you enjoy the song anyway.

Special thanks to my friend Michele for supplying the amazing photo of a sunset on the ocean.  The image was such a great fit for what was in my head, and I am proud to collaborate on a project with her again.

listen to Sailing on the Sunset on SoundCloud:

And my friend Moses made a music video for the song.

SAILING ON THE SUNSET Music video from movies by moses on Vimeo.

 

Original photo by Michele Littlejohn-Luccketta

You can view more of her beautiful photography at her websites:

http://facebook.com/shellsphotography

http://shells-photography.com/

How much Spotify (and others) pay artists

Updated: 9/14/2017

Being new to the world of selling music online, I had questions about the process and being a technologically savvy individual, I turned to the internet to search for the answers to these questions.  Unfortunately, the internet was less helpful than I had hoped it would be, and my search results were mostly null.

Since first sharing this information, other sources have opened up and it’s easier to find music distributor pay-rate information. Hurray for transparency!

I had previously written about my experience with RouteNote and how long it took to release my first song to Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, etc.  I wanted to share my experience with other independent musicians releasing their own music for the first time.

Continue reading →

My experience with RouteNote.com (so far)

Update, November 21st, 2018:  After using RouteNote for many years and now CD Baby, I can recommend RouteNote for almost anybody. They have worked to improve several issues I’ve had with them over the years. They always pay on time, and they have been willing to work out some of the particular issues I’ve had. Read on for more details on my long journey.

If you decide to sign up for RouteNote, please use my referral code: 2f72c02f

https://routenote.com/referral/2f72c02f

I’ve also written a guidebook on how to use RouteNote to release your music to the world, available at Amazon. If you’ve never used a music aggregator, this book takes you through the whole process from sign-up to submission.

routenote logo

Originally posted January 29th, 2014:

I’ve been bitten by the “create a bunch of music and then publish it” bug.  I wish I would have contracted this virus earlier, but timing can’t always be helped.  Since I am new (very, very new) to distributing my music online, and there was no help online when I searched for certain information, I decided to chronicle my experience to share with others.

I had some questions, like:

What services should I release my music on?

How long does it take for a song to be released on iTunes?

How long does it take for a song to be released on Amazon, or Spotify, or Groove (Xbox) Music?

Is it easy to release my own music online?

How do you pronounce RouteNote? (it’s pronounced like root)

How much do iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Groove Music, etc. pay artists?

So hopefully, by sharing my experience with some of the details, it will make it clearer for others trying to go the same path.  Maybe my experiences will even give you confidence, so it doesn’t feel like you are jumping into a big dark ocean, in the middle of the night, naked. Continue reading →

This is how I make burritos

My kids and I sat down to a dinner of Costco tamales (delicious) and homemade burritos.  My five-year-old daughter remembered a song that I wrote, that is well known in our house, entitled “This is how I make burritos”.  She sang the main hook and we all chuckled at the appropriateness of her reference.

Soon after, the three of us were singing it and making fun of it and replacing it with different phrases.  I love that something as silly as a song about making burritos can turn, years down the road, into a moment shared.  A father with his children, eating Mexican food and laughing.  Thank you God, for music, that it can bring relief and joy, repeatedly.