As 2025 approaches, it’s time to think about intentions — but forget the usual New Year’s resolutions. Instead, we’ll turn to music to capture and sustain our focus for the year ahead. In a world growing ever more unpredictable, using music to fuel our intentions offers a practical, grounded way to channel emotions and build resilience. But is this just wishful thinking, or can music truly guide us through what’s to come? Let’s dig into why setting intentions through music has lasting impact, revisit what this approach has already helped us accomplish, and focus on what can be accomplished by us all in 2025.
Aurora Compilations, likely the first netlabel established on a blockchain, has been around for a while. Before it came the INTENT series — a project launched just before the pandemic hit. At the time, some questioned whether setting intentions through music made any sense in such chaotic times. Personally, I saw it as a way to reclaim a sense of agency amid the uncertainty. Below, you'll find an infographic that lays out who we are and what we've accomplished so far.
Let’s move past this timeline for a moment. Here’s a quick rundown of my own intentions behind the music on the compilations from 2020 to 2024:
INTENT 2020: The track “New Light”, a collaboration with Riversky and Thomas Park, embodied the intention of a fresh start in life. In August 2020, I began my studies at Linköping University, frequently traveling between Stockholm, Norrköping, and Linköping. This track, along with “Open Sky Manifesto” (featuring Thomas Park) and “Polarities (New Day Mix by Riversky)”, represented a sense of new possibilities and helped me focus on personal growth amid the chaos of 2020, giving me confidence to keep moving despite the turbulence.
INTENT 2021: 2020 brought, indeed, a mix of setbacks, but "Darkness Dissipating", a collaboration with Chris DeBry, marked a commitment to resilience and the belief that things would get better. In 2021, I joined the uni.Sol_ community, founded by Slavek Kwi (a.k.a. Artificial Memory Trace), which provided a massive boost to my mental health and creative growth. The work of Slavek continues to be a major creative influence. Other collaborations, such as "The Mission" by Oriondrive, helped me find a clearer sense of direction in my studies. A "situationship" also emerged in 2021, influenced by tracks like "Love" by Oriondrive, making me realize the importance of clarity in intentions.
INTENT 2022: This year focused heavily on recovery. Tracks like “Amber Vision” with Brainquake unexpectedly defined my time spent in Turkey, a period marked by literal and metaphorical sunsets and sunrises that reshaped my perspective. This was a year of chaos but also a year of learning to manage it, and by year-end, things had stabilized.
INTENT 2023: The theme of rebirth ran through this year. My track “Anastasis” inspired my social life bouncing back during the year after the isolation of the pandemic. Moving to Linköping with my family and joining the local Toastmasters club marked a turning point in reconnecting with people and becoming a part of a community.
Aurora 2024: This year was about laying groundwork, making things happen and getting things done, in reference to the fourth track on the sixth volume of the 2024 iteration of the series. Health improvements, extensive travel, starting a business, and finally launching into grad school were highlights. I connected with new people in the netlabel community, joined panel discussions, and debuted at Burning Man, thanks to Wayne DeFehr. My focus has shifted toward sharing fresh ideas and concepts with the world, exploring topics like decentralized methods for content hosting that ensure verification of data ownership, and creating frameworks for emerging systems.
You can download the entire INTENT series in MP3 format (320 kbps) here.
Music has a unique way of bypassing doubt, reaching right into the core of our emotions. When you attach a track to a specific intention, you’re creating a personal anthem — a lasting reminder of what you aim to accomplish. It’s about putting your goals into a form you can revisit throughout the year, creating a timestamp, an anchor for your vision. This approach has been unexpectedly productive for me. Despite the chaos of pandemics, wars, and global upheaval, I stayed focused on my goals. Along the way, I developed skills in statistical analysis, data mining, software development, project management, linguistic analysis — and even delved into sound synthesis and music theory. This isn’t about bragging; it’s a reminder that staying intentional can keep you moving forward, no matter how chaotic the world gets.
The coming year brings a new level of uncertainty. No matter our backgrounds, beliefs, identities, or political affiliations, we’re all feeling the weight of an unpredictable world. This year, the goal is to create a musical space for resilience and hope — a sanctuary of sorts, permanently preserved online for those seeking motivation in the months ahead. Usually, I come up with titles for each compilation after collating all the tracks, but this year, let’s set the tone in advance.
Contribution Guidelines:
Create an Anthem of Resilience: Make a track that speaks to your own resilience. It should be an honest reflection of your inner strength and a hopeful note for the year ahead. Feel free to make it dark or intense if that’s what resonates — this isn’t about toxic positivity or wishful thinking. Think of it as setting a tone that will help you face whatever 2025 brings.
Genre and Track Limits: Any genre is welcome, and multiple contributions are allowed within reason.
Format: Send your track(s) in any lossless format to hello[at]aurora-compilations.org.
Support Preferences: If you’d like support in a particular way (e.g., sharing your work, purchasing albums, donating to a cause), include details of how you would like to be supported, along with your city and relevant links. I’ll add you as a clickable orange dot on the Outreach map.
Release Logistics: Tracks will be mastered and sequenced for a cohesive listening experience, and will be published through Aurora Compilations. The deadline for contributions is January 12th, with a target release date by the end of January 2025.
Non-Commercial Project: This project is strictly non-commercial; I’ll handle any publishing costs. Your own intention manifesting through music will be your reward; revisit the track later to see how far you’ve progressed.
Commitment to Inclusivity: Our compilations are meant to uplift and connect, fostering diversity and inclusivity. Contributions that don’t respect this ethos will be rejected, as well as contributions from individuals who have acted disrespectfully in the past (and haven't changed their behavior).
A Couple of Ideas: Strengthen your intentions by sending yourself an email through FutureMe, scheduled for delivery in one year. If you prefer not to share your intentions publicly, encode them as a hash using this website. Incorporate this hash — a string of letters and numbers — into your track. Just ensure the track name doesn’t include an excessively long hash.
Through music, let’s remind ourselves that we have the strength to grow amidst uncertainty.
