Life. Move. AI.

It has been almost a year—a busy year—busyness that doesn’t need justification beyond communicating that this post will be an update that resembles something like Swiss cheese: missing important highlights and diving a little into things that are less important than parts I missed.

My last post communicated my hope for balance. I think I have some but in different ways than I expected they’d play out. I’m becoming more aware of how momentary everything is. Momentary quests demand my attention until they’re needed: laundry and checking tire pressures take a backseat for extended periods: that’s okay—they get attention when they need it.

So… this last year…

2023 could incomprehensively be summarized as my music business year. Not music creation (although a ton of that happened) but a focus on learning the music business—largely the HOW money is collected from royalties.

I’ve been in the room with countless (technically countable, but I forget…) artists, musicians, and managers with the intent of understanding the music business. It didn’t take long for me to realize two things.

1. I was asking them to explain how to speak a different language with a simple one, two, and three.
2. They didn’t know how to speak it either.

I bought the best music business books.
I read said books. 
I read them again.
I remained confused.
I paid A LOT of money for some online course

I remained confused, but I STARTED to understand the language enough to ask questions. This felt encouraging.
I started plotting out the masterplan—with the goal of breaking my current understanding as early and often as possible.

Side note: I have songs I’m about ready to release, but I needed to/wanted to know that I’m giving each song its best chance to make all $.73 if it earns it.

Okay… fast forward a little bit. Still… no one was really getting the music business “it” (at least in my circle and outside of special roles at big labels and publishing companies).

I started picking up the phone and asking each agency specific questions. I started each call with something like, “I’m totally ignorant and confused and don’t want to be. Can you help me?”

With no exceptions, each agency has been incredible to talk to.

Without getting into the weeds too much—and yes, I can see a “how to collect your royalties” post coming soon—I think I have it figured out (as of April 21, 2024—because things change and pretty often).

Rewind: Mixing.

After realizing how not-awesome my mixes were, I called some “peeps.” I asked a mixing engineer to sit in my session with me and “slap my hand” when I made mistakes. Prior to hanging out, he mentioned how rudimentary it sounded, but I was proudly wearing the scars of elementary mistakes. Again, for me, it was a breath of fresh air. 

Pro side note: I was trying to make things louder in the mix—not the volume knob.

And…

I felt like I had the music business submission thing figured out. I feel like I actually understood how to start to use the studio. It was time to start posting. Oh yeah…

Our house.

We moved from Colorado in 2022 into a charming home on Balmoral Drive (south of Nasvhille less than 15 minutes). The neighborhood is ridiculous: mansions everywhere. Our house was far from being a mansion: for the sole reason it was meant to be torn down (at some point). We knew that from the “beginning.” But we took it as an absolute gift. We appreciated it as a gift. It was truly a gift. 

The Balmoral Drive home helped us move our lives from our past (Colorado) community that didn’t provide what we needed into a community that welcomed us kindly, encouragingly, and other adverbs that communicate humility, generosity, and absolute welcomeness. No strings attached—just love and encouragement. We have absolutely loved it.

Without belaboring the point, the owners of the old home loved having us in the place but were unable to extend the lease (because they were uncertain of their plans). My film work requires me to be available for extended chunks of time (out of town). Without the confidence of a lease, the risk would be that I’m needed out of town at the same time as being out of my house: forcing my family to figure things out on their own OR forcing me to reschedule film dates that are already nearly impossible to schedule.

Our new house.

We’re on great terms with the old owners. In fact, they’re kindly giving us the studio chandelier that became an anchor piece of the last studio. I’m pretty excited to have this as part of the history of the old studio

Oh yeah… I built EVERYTHING in the studio with the idea of having to move again. I’m currently testing the “easy to move” theory, but things are starting to shape up nicely. Our new home is bigger and better for everyone else (by a long shot). The studio space (although smaller) is shaped VERY similarly—to the degree that if you had only visited the space once, it might be confusing… “is this the same space?”

In addition, Carrie has more space. Like: a lot more space for her sewing and podcasting studio. The boys get their own rooms (which they’ve been sharing). And we all get the exercise of walking up steps: which is no joke when the main living space is on the upper story.

Oh yeah… podcasts.

Carrie started a podcast called Honestly Dear Listener a few years ago. It was amazing. It was also an incredibly difficult format to continue. Her friend, Emily Hatch, and her recently re-started it in an interview format. We’re excited to see how that unfolds.

Also… I started a podcast talking with entrepreneurs and artists about real life—with an emphasis on gentle vulnerability and mental health. I’m about to post my 20th episode and am proud of every episode and every guest—each being willing to open up and cut the bullshit. I’m truly proud of what we’ve both started. Now we’re ready to start making them work… get more views.

AI. AI is big. Good night.

Okay… I have a few more thoughts on that. But… this post is not the last one talking about it.

In short, I think no on understands AI: even the people creating it.

In regards to each AI model you hear about: each one of them is a brain. They’re like ours, responding to how they experience the inputs they’re given (like we do). It is absolutely NOT a collection of if/then statements that have created some intelligence. That’s what I created in Google Sheets six years ago. This is different.

These brains are freaking amazing at language—amazing at photography—becoming amazing at video footage and music. It’s all of the things I make a living doing.

What I’m NOT doing is trying to discredit their validity. They’re valid. They’re truly great. And where you find faults, they’ll be better than what you expect from a human in the VERY near future. They’re legit AF. And they’re just a baby. They don’t even know what the “IT” is, but they’re coming for all of what humans do because we’re the teachers and asking them to learn. Oh… and they’re really good at learning. 

Some of us are frustrated it’s so good. But it’s just doing what it was asked.

Existential questions arise as an artist (again… another blog at some point). 

At the core of it, my belief is that another species is here, and we’re calling it AI. It’s just trying to do a good job: and it is. And no one know what the fuck to do with it because we’re used to being the dominant species—with literally no individual or social tools of that not being the case.

AI is better at everything other than farting and smelling it (and where it’s not, it will be shortly).

What we’re best at is being US—not some clout-driven version of us, but the actual experience of being us. We can’t be AI. It can’t be us. We can both try to mimic the other, but our “IS” is fully us.

Next steps… figuring out the human implications of supporting artists out of excitement (not from fear or guilt). 

More to come.