I wanted to start 2025 with some reflections on the last few years. This is because I started this journey with my first blog post, even before I released Real Friends. I sat down and, for the first time, wrote down my thoughts to try and process what this thing was I was feeling and wanting to create.

Why Blockchain Still Matters to Me

I can't talk about Sound of Fractures without talking a bit about why I experimented with the blockchain, or at least why it still feels like it matters to me. Even if you have no idea what it is, but you still like my music... you may be thinking, "Why does this guy keep going on about this thing?" Well, provenance still matters to me. Maybe it's mainly conceptual, but it drives me to create and document in opposition to the disposable and unreliable landscape dominated by social media platforms and tech companies that own what we do, and reserve the right to lock us out or delete us at any time. The other simple reason, to be open about it: releasing music independently is expensive! Not just in terms of time commitment, but mastering, marketing, press shots, running ads, videos and press to name just a few things. I feel it’s important to recognise that the audience I found while experimenting with the blockchain funded most of the more expensive elements of Sound of Fractures so far, and allowed me to turn down other work to focus on music. Which I can’t even put into words how impactful that is. The community I found there has become my friendship circle, support group, team and on a daily basis my teachers too. It would easier for me to not risk scaring you off by saying blockchain or crypto, and keep all my audiences separate in their safe space.. but as usual im going to take hard route, because its what makes me me.

Yes, last year's very fast shift in crypto/onchain/NFT culture (however you want to describe it) from "we love art and creators" back to "speculation" has been depressing, no doubt. But it has given me valuable insights into how all tech business models operate—something we should all keep in mind. After a break over Christmas to think, I still feel there are uses of blockchain as a tool that I find creative and interesting, I can’t shake it off. There's still stuff I can do that I can't do anywhere else, lots of which is unfulfilled potential rather than game-changing uses for sure. But it's been a big motivator for me that there is something else other than the norm, and in turn, that has made the norm more exciting because it changes the rules of the game and puts power back in my hands giving me agency in an industry built on chasing going viral.

Footnote: for this post i'm going to stick with the word blockchain, and not web3, or ‘onchain’ as people prefer to use now. Blockchain is more clunky and uncool but it is what it is, so for clear communication purposes I'm sticking with that for today… so stick with me, I’m going to keep this from a personal perspective and not a technical one.

The Bigger Picture

The way I see it, the same issues for music are everywhere online: over saturation, how people consume media, how people perceive the value of music, etc. After two years of experimenting, I don't see the main social media platforms as much better—they are, I would argue, getting worse and worse... or maybe harder and harder depending on how you look at it, especially for someone like me who wants to stay true to some kind of identity or values anyway. We are now even seeing the people who are amazing at content hit huge numbers and still find themselves questioning what they do; I see this especially in music. Is this a career model that will be alive in 10 years?

Yes, I do think if you bend yourself and play ‘the game’ in either system (Web2 or Web3) by its rules, you can create a good career... but it is ‘playing their game’ as a career (arguably still an amazing career compared to most), which I still don't find appealing. So, yes, I am trying to get more into content creation as a creative output, partly because creating audio files alone just isn't cutting it for me, but also I do want to reach more people, and it is the best way to do it right now... but that comes with a disclaimer that it still may not lead to happiness, so I want to do it better, but for me. This is why I still like the blockchain as a canvas/tool, and the audience it can attract... it expands my world beyond one that we are all playing—it's different, and that has opened me up to new possibilities.

Beyond the Web3 Hype

The concept of ‘Web3’ that most people got excited about has been totally "enshittified," I can't argue with that, but there's something healthy, I think, in learning there is no technological quick fix for music as a career. There's not just going to be a magical new revenue stream or value proposition provided by VC-backed business models. There could be from hard work, creativity, and community... hopefully.

I always find the "did Web3 work?" debate hard because I had low expectations for it as a fix for music (because of how IP works and the industry works), but it's still a great grey space to experiment in, and all the hard work has been worth it as it's funded that experimentation, a lot of personal growth, and new opportunities. It's been a mental amount of work though, no different from Web2 in terms of networking, showing up, creating content, etc.

On a personal note, Web3 has broadened my understanding of what my creativity can be used for, helped me learn to be more creative with technology, brought me to a new audience of people and creators, and made me more confident in using technology creatively... I no longer see music as the only thing I was meant to do.

Finding My Audience

I feel like an important thing to say, partly because crypto has such a bad rep, is that it introduced people to my work who spoke a different language when it came to engaging with art or artists they love. It's hard to communicate the value this has brought to me succinctly to other musicians because in the streaming and social media economy, there is this constant chance of scale, this algorithm lottery ticket that could rocket you to the masses and create a dream career.. which I can’t expect people to walk away from. But what it rarely does is help you find people who want more from the music or content... more than easy consumption. Exploring using blockchain as a tool has done this for me. I’ve experienced a world where people support art in a different way, collect it for a myriad of different reasons, and fund it to support a different narrative. The traditional music industry only knows one thing, and that is exposure rules all… it’s been life changing to step away from that, and still feel proud of my progress and output.

The flip side of this coin is that through Spotify and Instagram, I have found some of my biggest fans of my music. The people who message me about how listening to a song of mine has impacted them or helped them emotionally are equally important... they feed my heart and my soul... they make me want to make more music. They still are the ones where purly listening to the music is their world, but finding them, and asking them to lean in closer is hard.

An artist I was speaking to recently responded to my suggestion that they should collaborate more and build community by saying, "How can I when I feel like I'm in Squid Game with everyone?"—not a crazy analogy really; who will have the right skills, personality, empathy, drive, selfishness for the randomness of what comes? This is a feeling I'm looking to avoid this coming year. I'm going to play my own game at my own speed and look for my people. The quality of my work needs to come first.

Looking Forward

So, I'm going to continue to grow and work with whoever my audience is. I will continue to push music and art that lasts onto those who only see speculative assets, and push those who only listen and comment to do more, to sacrifice a posh coffee to support me instead and buy my music or merch. Because it's what I believe in, what i do for other musicians and honestly, now that I've stepped outside of a normal music producer career, I don't see any way I could go back to the grind of just relying on Spotify and making viral content—only relying on the algorithm and playing by its rules.

I'm going to make my own rules, and i'm going to play with the rules that are too deeply ingrained in modern culture to avoid. I'm going to keep trying to create a career for myself that there isn't an easy example of, that isn't clearly defined by tradition or our perception of what a music artist should be. Yes i’m going to need to continue juggling a crazy amount of things, but give more attention to what I think has value.

For this to work, I need you with me; I'm comfortable saying that out loud. Whether it's as a listener, a supporter, as a fly on the wall, a reader, or a friend. And if you've made it this far, then you are already one of those.

Thank you for being here xx

And on that note, yes I'm going to end on support. Here is how you can do it right now, outside of listening to my music in a way that directly impacts me and contributes to Sound of Fractures in a meaningful way, and you can join the community that I’ve found over the last few years via that Real Friends chat group.

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