2023: A LINE IS DRAWN
Going forward, my new music will no longer be released to streaming services. CDs won’t be mass-manufactured. I will create exclusively for Backstage, my new website and membership program. My work will only be available to members.
Bare Wood 2, released in 2021, was my last mass-distributed album. I have been working on new music for over a year and I think the album Rain Poems contains some of the best work I have done. None of this new music will be available on streaming services. Perhaps the move I am making is surprising, unorthodox and unprecedented. I am going against the grain, turning away from the mainstream, and am doing my own thing.
Becoming a Backstage member grants you access to a host of media content. Members can download finished albums, works in progress, alternate mixes, and live versions.
- Members receive a 20% discount on my entire Bandcamp catalog and a 50% discount on physical media.
- Additionally, my photography, videos, and writing will be available to you.
- Occasionally, there will also be a podcast and Zoom performance.
Support monthly, annually, or go for it with a lifetime membership!
| Monthly | $10 |
| Annual | $100 |
| Lifetime | $1,000 |
The Backstory
I’ve been playing guitar for a long time – more than fifty years. For much of that time, I’ve been creating and recording music. So far, I’ve produced more than thirty albums.
At the time my first album, Nouveau Flamenco, was released in 1990, the income of a musician was derived from album sales. Concerts were advertising for the newest album release. Some musicians didn’t want to travel. Some chose not to perform at all. They wanted to create music exclusively in the studio. Thirty years later, however, streaming services have ensured that a musician’s income is almost entirely dependent on touring.
Here’s the rub.
More touring means less time to create.
Less touring means less money to create.
When young musicians ask me for advice, I tell them to create music they love. Make their music as personal as they can. Since their recorded music won’t earn them much, they might as well get the satisfaction of creating something they love.
Going forward, my new music will no longer be released to streaming services. CDs won’t be mass-manufactured. I will create exclusively for Backstage, my new website and membership program.
My work will only be available to members.
By not releasing my future albums to conventional distribution, I hope to give them some kind of intrinsic value rather than them being part of an endless stream.
Music can lead where text cannot. In music, we can imagine a future beyond tribalism and cultural separatism. I want to explore what it means to make human music. What is the sound of being human? Much will be taken over by AI sooner or later – especially pop music, but will there be musical expressions that remain exclusively human? What might that sound like?
I’m good at melodies and my music will always be about strong melodies. But now I ask myself how melodies can evolve to be more personal and, most importantly, uniquely human.
The idea of Backstage membership is pivotal because this kind of exploration can’t be done while touring. It will allow me to spend more time creating and recording music.
No, I’m not going to stop touring, but I’ll take breaks to work on recordings.
I don’t want to work for a company; I want to work for you, the listener. You who supported me for years, and you, who just discovered my music and are intrigued. And you who believe that this world needs more creative energy.
Peace,
ottmar
