Why I removed my music from Spotify (and other streaming services) during Covid

In 2020 I took my music off Spotify, Apple Music and the other major streaming services in a moment of angry retaliation. Now, as I prepare to release my third album Enamel, I have found myself torn between standing by that boycott, and wanting to give my music the best chance of being heard by people who will connect with it and want to engage with more of what I do outside of streaming platforms.

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Social Media and Creativity (in a time of Covid-19)

Until the Covid-19 crisis really took hold I had been taking an extended break from online life. I’d come to the conclusion that my relationship with social media was almost identical to my relationship with alcohol, and like alcohol I found moderation almost impossible. It was far simpler to abstain completely. I have tried setting many different rules around my use of social media, but like trying to drink only three days a week, or stopping after one glass of wine, the willpower involved in enforcing these rules is exhausting, and the times when the object of your addiction gets the better of you become a source of shame and anxiety.

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Sobriety and Creativity

Alcohol had become, for me, a way to find the old fashioned drive that the internet destroyed when it stole our attention spans and turned our personal interactions virtual. Drinking was a reason to sit down and work, or a reason to leave the house and connect with others. Without the romance of alcohol, creative activities are simply work, yet the work is the essence of the thing.

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The Life Cycle of Creative Work

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the cycle of creative work. In my own creative life I seem to go through distinct phases, and rather than each phase co-existing I cycle through them, usually to a point of burnout, triggering an abrupt departure from one phase to the next.

I have been attempting to unpack this cycle, to try and understand it better, and I think it can be best divided into three phases: Practice, Creation and Promotion.

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CutCommon career development #1: How to make the most of your friends

I have been working on a series of career development articles for CutCommon magazine, to be published in the lead up to my album launch at the Paris Cat on May 6.The first article, about establishing a mutual mentor relationship with a friend or creative colleague, has just gone live:

https://www.cutcommonmag.com/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-friends/

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SCP #197: Monday, Thick

I pulled myself out of the fog of procrastination to write this one.  Taking cues from the etymology of the word Monday, specifically "Murk Monday", the Scottish name for a solar eclipse that occurred on Monday 29 March 1652, and thermometer.  The harmony also comes from the word Monday, which I serialised.  I don't really experience traditional Mondayitis any more, as I work unconventional hours, but I had plenty of past office job experience to draw on for this one.

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