I started an email newsletter.
I know — it’s what all the cool kids are doing and it’s not often I roll with the cool kids. But I love the idea of newsletters as a place to work out opinions on a variety of subjects, to directly reach out to those who are inclined to listen, and to circumvent the nefarious grasp of social media oligarchs.
It’s loosely about music.
I think a lot about how technology affects culture and, as listeners and creators, the ways this dramatically influences music’s role in our lives.
My first record label had a CompuServe email address. I was touring as a major label artist the year Napster launched. I was in the middle of a music career crossroads when the iPhone started appearing in pockets. I declared the death of the big record label as soon as Spotify debuted in the US (ok I was wrong about that one). I can’t imagine living through a twistier music industry roller coaster than these past thirty years. But the reasons we love music — why and how we’re drawn to it — haven’t changed. And it’s the tension between those reasons and the seduction of technological shortcuts that’s brought me here. It’s the (guitar) string tying together the proposed episodes of this newsletter.
I’m sure I’ll ramble, too.
I run a music publishing and licensing agency. I manage a fledgling, artsy record label. Sometimes I’m a Q-Burns Abstract Message. I’m sure I’ll write about experiences and learned lessons as I navigate and fumble my way through those occupations. And there will be chatter about art, film, the creative life, and things that are fascinating.
Ringo Dreams of Lawn Care.
That’s the title of this newsletter and there’s no turning back now. I would be psyched if you chose to sign up. Ringo arrives in your inbox every Sunday.