Through The City EP - Distribution

"Through The City" was one of those songs that felt like it deserved a better recording. At the time I recorded the original SoulJahm version (above) I was working with very limited equipment. Of course, when I make re-recordings of older songs, I'm always aware no matter how limited the technical aspects are, there is a vibe and atmosphere to the original that can never be replicated, so I don't even try. Some people grow fond of a particular version and I respect that, and I myself don't see it as replacing the older work but that they are all separate entities in their own right. They can all have a place and for different reasons.

Sometimes as the artist, you hear a song a certain way right from the start but may not have the tools available to bring it to life that way so you do the best you can with what you've got. You can't sit around and wait forever for the right circumstances, sometimes you have to just put things out. Then when you are finally able to realise the song as you always heard it, someone will say "you've changed it! I prefer the original!". I really don't mind which version you like of a particular song, they all have validity as far as I'm concerned. But for my own sake, I need to fully realise them as I hear them.

So that's the back story to the new 'Through The City' EP. Two of the songs may be familiar to some from their SoulJahm versions. As with "Through The City", "Similar" was first recorded with limited gear, even less so - microphone and acoustic guitar. I felt these songs were also getting a bit lost being SoulJahm releases when most of my audience knows me through my solo work. So I'm happy to add these to the solo discography.

The release didn't quite go as intended and that's what I want to talk about here.

I am waiting to be able to make it available on more platforms and formats than Bandcamp and Audiomack. The reason for this delay is my distributor, CD Baby, have changed the way they do releases since last time I used them. It used to take 2-3 days from the time I uploaded for them to process the release and usually a few days after this it was up on all the streaming platforms. On this occasion it's been over a week and I'm still waiting.

Looking into this matter I discovered CD Baby has cut much of it's human staff and like so many other companies, is handing over more of the tasks to AI. They have also introduced a new Fast Forward service, which for an extra $29.99 on top of the current fee you pay for a release, means the delivery and inspection process is speeded up. I've read accounts of artists waiting a week then cancelling their submission and re-submitting with Fast Forward for it then to be processed in a matter of hours.

This is just another disgusting example of the way indie artists are being exploited and scammed. Just like with all the yearly subscription services replacing one-time purchases, the filter for creating art and being able to get it out there is money, not talent. The artists who can afford it will pay for this Fast Forward service and gradually cut out those who can't afford it. You may submit a release, be waiting a week, then someone else cuts ahead of you. All of this is clearly not a case of technology being useful tools, helping make things more efficient for artists, as some claim. It is clearly designed to fill the culture with meaningless, trash art. Those with money, whether they have anything to say or not, can and those without money, which is often the most genuine artists, are excluded.

Now let me explain... It's easy to throw the "you're just jealous or bitter" argument but here's the reason most genuine artists are poor. A true artist is interested in expressing Truth. Above everything else, whether that clashes with the society or not, which it inevitably does because Truth always clashes with society in every era. Society is always fake because it is a fake construct to begin with. The individual is the only reality. Society turns individuals into cogs in a machine. As you make people more machine-like you take away their humanity. This is ultimately what every true artist is rebelling against. Rebelling against being forced to be a cog in the machine. Not because they want to be a rebel but because they are connected to Truth, to Source, to God, and they inherently know what Freedom is and means.

So it goes without saying that those who have the means and pay for all these services are weak-minded people. These are people who will do anything to get fame or attention. People without any sense of what freedom, beauty, art and truth actually are. It's all just business to them and whatever must be done, whatever you have to pay, so be it because it's a means to an end for them. So naturally, the system would want to gatekeep and let those people in, because they are no threat to it and have nothing much to say, whilst keeping true art out. As long as they give the illusion to the masses that they are being fed some kind of entertainment what does it matter?

What is missed is art is not a means to an end. The process is just as important as the end result. I see the same kind of mentality amongst the pro-AI "artists". They don't understand the journey and the struggle of that journey is what makes the art meaningful, interesting and long-lasting. The artist has lived through something, has gained insights or wisdom through that living and has expressed their findings through their art. AI can never do this because it has no story, no struggle, and it can't touch the realm of wisdom, which is a form of intelligence higher than thought. It's not really surprising that the biggest champions of this AI art are computer programmers and tech-minded people. These types of people may be very good at what they do in the tech world but they rarely make great artists because it's a different type of intelligence being an artist. That's why in the music world producers and engineers have rarely made great artists or performers and vice-versa. They are two different types of intelligence. If it carries on like this the most well-known "artists" will be those with money and computer tech skills. It will be pseudo-art or ego art, not real art. In the long-run it will not satisfy those with some humanity left in them, and more and more people will crave the real thing.

It's incredibly disappointing that CD Baby have went down this road as they seemed one of the better digital distributors. Unfortunately, this AI takeover is swiftly moving through all companies, all walks of life, and it is no accident. It's all by design. It connects with Digital ID, Agenda 2030, the WEF, transhumanism. It's all part of the same matrix attempting to superimpose itself on natural, Source-connected living.

Bandcamp also recently announced they are changing their payment system from Paypal to Stripe at the end of 2026. I received an email about switching over and when I went to do so found I was expected to consent to giving them my biometric data, at which point I stopped. My work is still up on Bandcamp but when this change comes in I will most likely have to leave if there is no other way I can accept payment and be paid. I would like to encourage fans of my work to purchase downloads direct from my website instead. You get a ZIP file, which is just a compressed folder (to make file size smaller), with the MP3s in it as normal.

The release date for 'Through The City' was 28th October as I felt this collection suited an October/November release and usually it would have all worked out fine. The social media promotions were also largely underwhelming, which is again highly suspicious. Most of this is down to the algorithms cutting the reach, meaning it showed the promotional stuff to virtually nobody. What is the point of the internet and this great idea we were promised in the early 2000s that you'd be able to reach the world. They never told us the same old gatekeepers would reappear in a new form.