Gary McMahon Perspective on Let 'er Ride

Thank you very much. It's sort of a mixture of darkness and light - which I guess produces our shadows. gary

I grew up with albums, albums often with wonderful cover art. I prefer a collection of songs with a thematic or soundscape connection. Perhaps the best I've ever heard was Paul Simon's "Graceland." Now, everything has been broken down into the smallest possible increment and we've lost the Gestalt of it all. Although, I've been lately just releasing singles, I have tried to keep some continuity through the cover art. I don't even like the word "streaming." It implies here and gone and sort of conditions our minds a certain way that I think makes intimacy with a song very difficult. Great music has that feeling of intimacy to it, but you have to spend time with it. Classical music is perhaps the best example of opportunity to create a personal relationship with music. Today, however, it is just a Hook Up relationship which is why so much popular music sounds the same. 

Genres? We seem to have such an incredible urge to classify things. Once we classify something or somebody, we can stop thinking about it. Thinking is hard work. So much easier to let an algorithm do the thinking for us. But, those algorithms are like sheep dogs, herding us all into one direction, and not necessarily a direction of our choosing. I prefer some diversity in my music. Create your own playlist! -  So, back to the question: what genre does this release play into? It plays into the heart. This song contrast the smell of a urine soaked motel rug with the glamour of the pop culture. There's nothing pretty about an addiction, no matter how much we may try to make it look so. Everyday, everytime when we do risky behaviors, we're putting all of our life's "chips" on the table saying "Let 'er Ride!"  The names of pop culture celebrities who have died from an accidental overdose is on a long list. The names on the list of people we don't know is far longer. Life is too precious. Take your chips off the table. With Big Love, Gary

Here in the USA, we have carnivals and fairs that travel throughout the country, mostly in the summertime. They all have a "midway" where the carnival games are. These games offer prizes like gigantic teddy bears and other plush toys. You work your way up to the gigantic plush toys by usually winning a plastic toy that is worth about a penny. You can spend a lot of money trying to win the teddy bear prize and the games are set up so that it is nearly impossible to win. On top of that, as you walk down the Midway, you have a worker, called a carny, yelling and challenging you to try to win the big prize. At best, you might win a gold fish that will die in a couple of hours.

That my friends is exactly what social media is like for an independent artist. The game is rigged (Spotify only pays 1/10 of a penny for your stream and only after you have 1,000 streams of that song in a 12 month period. If you had 50 songs, all streaming 999 times in a 12 month period, you could have 49, 950 annual streams and not even receive the 1/10 of a penny. Trust me 1,000 streams for a song is not easy at the Music Carnival Midway. Tidal Music is more generous and so is Apple - and less restrictive.

Still, the opportunity to win the big prize is still available to every artist including small independent artists like myself and the access to a worldwide audience is amazing. 

Given the odds though, there is no need to ever record a song that doesn't first please the artist - nobody else might even hear it. There is something incredibly satisfying about bringing a new song to life - with or without any social media successes.