Brothertiger's World - 001
Fundamentals, Vol. V • On Creating and Releasing Music Today • What's Coming From Me This Year
Hello, and welcome to my newsletter! If you’re receiving this, you’ve either a.) bought a digital album or a physical product from my Bandcamp or b.) willingly signed up for this newsletter from my website. In either case, I thank you for letting me send you an email from time to time to keep you up-to-date with all things Brothertiger.
As you can see, we’re on Substack now, having moved from a more limiting platform. Don’t worry, this is a free newsletter that I strictly want to use for updates and random musings, and I don’t need to charge you to be able to read it. In any case, this is Volume 001 of this newsletter, and I hope to bring you many more in the coming months.
Fundamentals, Vol. V
I am so stoked to bring you another installment of my instrumentals, Fundamentals, Vol. V. If you’re an avid viewer of my streams, you might recall me telling you that I would be retiring the Fundamentals series and releasing subsequent instrumentals in a new model. Well, I changed my mind. As special as the I-IV series was, I feel that this concept has become quite memorable to listeners. Why change a good thing? In any case, I have no plans on slowing down this part of my musical repertoire. Hope that’s OK with y’all 🙂.
To celebrate this release, I will be having a listening party on Bandcamp on Monday, April 15th at 8 P.M. EST, which is Tax Day! I’ll be in the chat listening to the album live with you. So, if you’re feeling mega-stressed from doing your taxes at the last minute, I invite you to join.
RSVP to the Fundamentals, Vol. V Listening Party
On Creating and Releasing Music Today
I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to make some kind of living from the art I have made. What started as a pipe dream from my dorm room has become a project I get to tour behind, a project through which I’ve been able to collaborate with some amazing musicians and artists, a project that has helped guide me through so many facets of life.
I will be frank with you: releasing music has become a lot more complex in the past 2 years, especially as an independent artist. Trends in the industry are coming and going so quickly that it’s hard to know what strategies are best these days. Do you pivot fully to TikTok (soon to be RIP?) and pray you go viral, embrace the beast of streaming and release a new song every week (Spotify), or go rogue and fully embrace live-streaming (I, for one, have only scratched the surface, it seems!). Even 4 years ago, I wasn’t thinking about any of this. I was just happy folks were listening to my music at a steady rate (even if COVID-19 definitely ramped things up a bit).
Perhaps I’m rambling a bit. I don’t think I have any succinct points to get across in this segment. It’s not me complaining; it’s wondering what’s going to happen. AI, the economy, the global state of things, the climate; all of this is having an impact on how I write music, and on my place in this world as an artist. Many of my friends in music feel a similar aura of uncertainty about the future. I know one thing: I couldn’t think of doing anything else with my life. I love making music, and I sincerely hope the access to it becomes more sustainable for all.
What's Coming From Me This Year
Right now, I am feeling incredibly inspired to write music. I’ve collaborated with a bunch of artists lately who I really admire, and I am excited to get the fruits of our labor out into the world. Collaborating more with others had been a goal of mine for 2024, and so far, I’ve hit the ground running.
I’m still live-streaming, trying to do it on a normal basis, though life can get in the way sometimes. It’s always great to get on the web and improvise in front of folks, and the community we’ve built on Youtube, Twitch, and Discord through it all has been unreal to me. If you enjoy this kind of thing, I invite you to subscribe to my Youtube/follow me on Twitch, and join the Discord to follow along. You can also watch the streams on demand on Youtube.
I am planning on releasing new music this year, but I’m not going to divulge into when yet. Perhaps I’ll surprise you! I honestly get a kick out of releasing music out of nowhere. The reactions are what make putting out music so rewarding.
There also might be some shows in the works. Again, I won’t divulge, but if you live in the U.S., there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see me this year. Stay posted on that via my socials (absolutely hate saying that lol).
That’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed some of my random musings. As always, the dialogue is open, so if you have any thoughts, or just want to say hi, feel free to drop a message.
Spotify • Apple Music • Youtube • Instagram • Discord • Web
Talk soon.
x John
Excited to hear more Fundamentals, one of my top travel companion headspaces. :)